Highlights in first week’s features, documentaries & shorts.
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Shirley Q. Liquor drag show in Guerneville sells tickets and brings complaints.
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Frameline 34 opens
– ut e s. in al ko nl on ec r o ers Ch rte p po nd Re , a a s re fied y A ssi Ba cla he ts, s t ar It’ s, w ne
A Pride Month kerfuffle
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BAYAREAREPORTER
Vol. 40
. No. 24 . 17 June 2010
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Serving the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender communities since 1971
Academy of Friends lags in charity payments
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Some of this year’s Academy of Friends beneficiaries attended a party last month during which portions of their pledges were distributed. From left: Dana Van Gorder of Project Inform, Bill Hirsch of AIDS Legal Referral Panel, AOF Executive Director Mike Horak, AOF board member Jon Finck, and Rick Dean of Face to Face.
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DADT repeal moves to full Senate the revised regulations went into effect. “The revised regulations have not stopped investigations and will not stop discharges,” cautioned Sarvis.
by Chuck Colbert s early as the end of this week, the full Senate could take up the Defense Authorization Act of 2011, this year’s version of a Pentagon spending bill that has attached to it an amendment to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” In advance of the Senate’s action, repeal advocates are gearing up, asking the LGBT community to keep up pressure on lawmakers to lift the nearly 17-year-old federal law that bans openly gay service. For repeal proponents, vigilance is the watchword for the next few weeks or months. A Senate recess is scheduled from July 4-12 and then again from August 9-September 10. And yet conventional wisdom holds that Democratic leadership would like to see Senate legislative action sooner rather than later, well before Congress recesses for the midterm elections in early October. Meanwhile, in asking senators for their vote, one message from lift-the-ban advocates is clear. “Follow the lead of Senator [Carl] Levin,” said Aubrey Sarvis, executive director of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network. Levin, a Michigan Democrat and an ardent advocate for DADT repeal, serves as chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. The message, Sarvis added, is the same for all members of the DADT repeal coalition, from SLDN to the Human Rights Campaign to the new grassroots, direct-action organization Get Equal. Sarvis made his comments in a conference call with LGBT media outlets earlier this month. SLDN also sounded a warning in light of recent action in the House and on the Senate panel that moves repeal forward. “‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ has not gone away,” said Trevor Thomas, SLDN’s communications director. “Every day the law is on the books,” gay and lesbian service members are “at risk” of being discharged, he added. Indeed while Congress deliberates and the Pentagon Working Group continues its review – including a plan to survey 30,000 troops and their families – gay and lesbian soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marine corpsmen remain in limbo. Just last week, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs
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Bob Roehr
Courtesy San Mateo County Sheriff’s office
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by Seth Hemmelgarn gay doctor was arrested Monday, June 14 at San Francisco International Airport for possession of the drug ketamine, according to the San Mateo County Sheriff ’s office. Dr. Keith Loring, 47, a trauma physician at San Francisco General Hospital, had recently arrived from Burbank and admitted to being in possession of the drug, according to the sheriff ’s office. A bag containing drug paraphernalia was found on Dr. Keith Loring his seat onboard the flight, the sheriff’s office said in a news release. San Francisco Police Department airport bureau officers and San Mateo County Sheriff’s office detectives at the airport conducted the arrest, the sheriff ’s office said. A San Francisco police spokesman said Loring was arrested by the San Mateo Sheriff’s office. Loring, who according to the sheriff ’s department lives in San Francisco, was booked into San Mateo County jail on possession of a controlled substance. A jail staffer said Loring posted bail Monday, but she couldn’t say what the amount was. According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, ketamine is a tranquilizer commonly used for horses. Lieutenant Ray Lunny III, investigations bureau commander for the San Mateo County Sheriff’s office, said he didn’t have information on the case other than what was in the news release. Loring could not be reached for comment Tuesday, June 15. Los Angeles held its 40th anniversary Pride festival last weekend. Many people visiting the city of Los Angeles use Bob Hope Airport in Burbank. According to Loring’s Facebook page, besides working at SFGH, he’s regional medical director at CEP (California Emergency Physicians) America. Charles Festo, CEP’s general counsel, referred to Loring’s arrest as an “unfortunate and regrettable situation.” Loring’s duties “have been assumed by a different individual until the investigation’s completed,” said Festo. CEP staffs emergency departments for area hospitals. Festo, who said he didn’t know whether Loring was LGBT, also said, “First and foremost is our concern for the protection and well-being of the patients and institutions that we serve.” Eileen Shields, a spokeswoman for the San Francisco Department of Public Health, which includes SFGH, said in an email, “Inasmuch as the incident with Dr. Loring is under police investigation, we are making no comments other than to confirm that he was working as a part-time courtesy physician in the Emergency De-
San Francisco organization that has contributed more than $8.5 million to over 70 Bay Area HIV/AIDS service organizations over the years cannot make full payments to this year’s beneficiaries. Academy of Friends, which is popular for its annual Academy Awards gala, has only distributed $31,380 of the $220,000 it had pledged to this year’s 11 partner organizations. None of the 2010 beneficiaries has yet received the full amount that AOF had pledged to them. Leaders from most organizations who have worked with AOF and agreed to interviews for this story indicated split payments are nothing new and they previously received the full amounts of what they had been pledged.
According to Mike Horak, AOF’s executive director, beneficiaries’ contracts state payments from ticket sales would be distributed in up to three installments. However, the 2010 beneficiaries have been invited back for a second year, and groups who last participated in 2008-09 won’t get to take part again in 2011. In an exchange of e-mails with the Bay Area Reporter, Horak, who said most 2010 beneficiaries have agreed to come back in 2011, discussed what’s happening. “The simple truth is that AOF is realigning its processes this year and therefore will not have an open application session at this stage,” as the group has typically had around June or July, wrote Horak. AOF “will announce our progress as the board meets and strategizes its plans” for the 2011 fiscal year “and
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by Seth Hemmelgarn
SLDN executive Director Aubrey Sarvis
Admiral Mike Mullen, speaking at the University of Southern California, referred to the troop survey, saying it was an important piece of the review process, to ensure that all voices are heard and to make certain implementation of repeal does not “electrify” combatants currently serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. According to a video from the USC appearance posted on the LGBT POV blog run by news editor Karen Ocamb, Mullen reaffirmed his “personal view” that DADT be repealed as a matter of service members not having “to lie about who they are” in an institution that values honesty and emphasizes “integrity.” Meanwhile, gay service-related discharges are continuing even under the regulations that require a flag officer – one star admiral or general – to initiate an investigation and sign off on discharges based on “homosexual conduct.” Defense Secretary Robert Gates implemented revisions earlier this year as a way to end discharges based outings by third parties or jilted ex-partners. One SLDN attorney is currently representing a service member facing a possible discharge initiated after
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Sarvis’s caution comes at a critical juncture of DADT repeal efforts. Last month the House of Representatives voted 234-194 in favor of an amendment that included repeal language, a measure sponsored by Representative Patrick Murphy, (D-Pennsylvania). The vote came as congressional leadership working on DADT repeal reached an agreement with the White House, requiring that before any repeal, President Barack Obama, Gates, and Mullen must sign off – or certify – that implementation of openly gay service can be accomplished without undermining the military readiness, effectiveness, unit cohesion, and recruitment and retention. In a key concession, repeal proponents agreed to leave out non-discrimination guarantees, a move that, after repeal takes full effect, may well require the president to issue an executive order to ensure equal employment opportunity on the basis of sexual orientation. Finally, after the sign off on certification, a 60day review period must pass before service members can serve openly. The non-discrimination concession bothers the Bay Area’s retired out Navy commander Zoe Dunning, who serves as co-chair of the SLDN board of directors. “I am keeping an eye out for it,” Dunning said in a recent phone interview, adding, “The job is not done until every gay, lesbian, and bisexual service member can serve without fear of losing their job.” With the Senate now poised to consider the defense bill, along with its repeal amendment, proponents remain on guard as the ranking minority leader of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Arizona Senator John McCain, has already threatened a filibuster. At the same time, GOP repeal opponents may seek to change the certification process by amendment to include approval from all service chiefs. An expanded amendment would present a significant hurdle insofar as some of the branch chiefs have made
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SF doc arrested for drug possession
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