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Work starts on SF’s Eagle Plaza
Vol. 49 • No. 25 • June 20-26, 2019 Eagle owner Alex Montiel, left, grabbed a shovel at the groundbreaking for Eagle Plaza, joining Supervisor Rafael Mandelman. Loring Sagan of Build Inc., Mayor London Breed, Supervisor Matt Haney, Victor Ruiz-Cornejo from state Senator Scott Wiener’s office, and Bob Goldfarb, president of the Leather and LGBTQ Cultural District.
Mariette Pathy Allen
Former high school gym instructor Steve Dain
Trans man on list of nominees for Emery high gym
by Meg Elison
E
mery High School in Emeryville is in the middle of a debate over the name of its new gymnasium and sports complex. The community and student body have submitted a long list of names, from the celebrity and unlikely (Bob Marley) to the local and specific (Elio Abrami, a 38-year gym teacher and coach at Emery High who died in 2018.) The list of nominees also includes Steve Dain, who taught gym at Emery High from 1966 to 1976. In 1975, Dain took medical leave to have gender confirmation surgery at Stanford Medical Center. Dain returned to work having transitioned and legally changed his name, eager to resume his duties. Upon understanding what had happened during Dain’s time off, then-district Superintendent Lewis Stommel first suspended and then fired Dain for reasons of “immoral conduct,” and accused him of conducting unauthorized lectures on school premises about his “sex change” operation, according to Alameda County Superior Court documents obtained by the Bay Area Reporter. The text of the suit itself is a testament to historical transphobia. Dain attempted to keep his medical records sealed and private, but the court subpoenaed and read them during the proceedings. Dain’s attorney genders him as male in all filings, while the respondent’s description of the petitioner range widely, defaulting to “he/she” in many places. Dain won his suit, despite these difficulties and the rarity of being an out trans man in 1977. He was awarded his salary from the year he lost his teaching income (about $19,000) plus the cost of the suit and attorney fees. The initial judgment outlines the possibility of “such other and further relief as the court may deem proper,” but no amount is given. Dain, who died in 2007 at age 68, was unable to return to teaching as a career after the case, instead going to school to study chiropractic medicine in 1985, according to his East Bay Times obituary. Christian Patz, current vice mayor of Emeryville, thinks that naming the gym after Dain would send the correct message, and help right the district’s wrong. “It’s an opportunity for visibility and inclusion,” said Patz, a 48-year-old straight ally.
by Matthew S. Bajko
S
ix years after the owners of the Eagle bar first raised the idea of building a leather-themed plaza, city officials and LGBT community leaders gathered Tuesday, June 18, to break ground on the $1.85 million project. It is the world’s first public parklet dedicated to the leather community. While construction of the outdoor space
in front of the gay bar on 12th Street won’t be complete until December, at the earliest, the plan is for a new flagpole to be erected in time to raise a leather flag Sunday, September 22, to kick off the city’s Leather Week ahead of the annual Folsom Street Fair, taking place this year September 29. “This is a special day for everybody, not only for me,” said Alex Montiel, an owner of the Eagle Tavern who is a member of the
Friends of Eagle Plaza group supporting the project. “What makes it so special is we will have a permanent public recognition for the community. We have always been here and now we have a monument for our diversity.” Beth Bicoastal, 37, the events coordinator for the Eagle who worked as its manager when it reopened in 2013, noted the community has spent years trying to get the plaza off See page 7 >> Bill Wilson
Dem prez hopefuls offer LGBT proposals by Lisa Keen
A
head of next week’s Democratic presidential debates, several candidates have been showing their Pride. Twenty candidates have qualified to appear in the first nationally televised debates of the Democratic Party for the 2020 presidential primary season, including gay South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg. One of four questioners for those candidates will be lesbian political analyst Rachel Maddow. All that, and the fact that the second debate takes place just one day shy of the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots, makes the odds pretty good that LGBTspecific issues will come up during the June 26 and 27 forums. Several Democratic candidates have been prominently showcasing their support and commitment to the LGBT community all month – speaking at Pride celebrations, making statements in recognition of the third anniversary of the mass shooting at the Orlando, Florida LGBT nightclub Pulse, and – in a few cases – announcing very specific priorities for how they will tackle the needs of the LGBT community should they be elected president. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-New York) was the first to release a plan, introducing her “LGBTQ policy agenda” May 31. The 30-point
Rick Gerharter Rick Gerharter
Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke
Kirsten Gillibrand was the first of the Democratic presidential candidates to release an LGBT plan.
proposal calls for signing the Equality Act immediately upon passage. The act, which the House passed last month, seeks to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in public accommodations, employment, housing, and other areas. It faces an unlikely vote in the Senate. Gillibrand’s proposal also calls for directing the Department of Justice to treat sexual ori-
entation and gender identity as a protected minority under non-discrimination laws, ending President Donald Trump’s ban on transgender service members, “permanently codify[ing] marriage equality as the law of the land,” prohibiting federal funds to child welfare agencies that discriminate based on sexual orientation and gender identity, addressing the high suicide rate among LGBTQ youth, ensuring pro-
KEEP UP! See page 10 >>
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