SAN FRANCISCO PRIDE 2011 Edition of the Bay Area Reporter

12

Reno-Tahoe travel

29

Tough times for nonprofits

57

Olympia Dukakis in SF

The

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

Happy Pride 2011! • Vol. 41 • No. 25 • June 23-29, 2011

by Seth Hemmelgarn

P

ride’s almost here.

The 41st annual San Francisco LGBT Pride Parade and celebration is this weekend, Saturday and Sunday, June 25-26.

And with all the parties and of course, the parade, there will be one group receiving some extra attention.

“The big focus is on LGBT youth this year,” said Pride interim Executive Director Brendan Behan. “The biggest message is how we as a community can do more to help LGBT youth, to be aware of the impact of bullying, and to create awareness in our communities about the kinds of resources we need to provide See page 4 >>

The Kaiser Permanente float at last year’s Pride Parade extolled the theme of liberty for all.

Jane Philomen Cleland

LGBTs largely absent in CA redistricting debate

by Matthew S. Bajko

C

alifornia’s LGBT community has largely been absent, so far, in the debate over how to draw the state’s legislative and congressional districts.

Few LGBT people have spoken up during the Citizens Redistricting Commission’s public meetings to date, said the oversight panel’s lone out member, San Francisco resident Cynthia Dai. “We have had several LGBT speakers at our meetings in Los Angeles, Salinas and Oakland but it was not a huge number,” said Dai, an electrical engineer who is an out lesbian and Asian American. “If a community doesn’t speak up, it doesn’t get represented.”

LGBT leaders concede the fight over how to create political boundaries based on the 2010 Census for state Assembly and Senate seats, as well as California’s 53 House seats, hasn’t been a top priority.

Prior to the June 10 release of the commission’s draft maps for the new political boundaries, “frankly, the gay community was MIA,” said San Francisco resident Chris Bowman, a gay man who has closely watched the redistricting process for decades.

Jane Philomen Cleland

Cynthia Dai, the redistricting commission’s only out member, encourages people to attend the upcoming public hearings in the Bay Area.

That day Equality California, the statewide LGBT advocacy group, did submit a letter requesting that the commission take the LGBT community into account

in determining district boundaries and sent in maps highlighting LGBT neighborhoods in various cities around the state.

EQCA’s letter stated that LGBT communities “should remain intact ... especially those that exist in a particular political subdivision as a minority community.”

Communities of color, however, have been more engaged in the process than the LGBT community, acknowledged Clark Williams, northern chair of the state Democratic Party’s LGBT Caucus. In many cities, said Williams, LGBT groups have focused instead on the redrawing of local districts for city council and Board of Supervisor seats.

“Where I am hearing more concerns about is on the local level,” he said. “There is more advocating on that.”

Yet the lack of LGBT voices weighing in on the decennial state redistricting process is expected to reverse course this weekend as the commission holds meetings in San Jose Saturday, June 25 and in San Francisco Monday, June 27.

Local LGBT leaders requested the commission reschedule its San Francisco meeting once they learned it had initially been set for Sunday during the city’s annual Pride Parade and festival. The Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club,

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<< Community News

2 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 23-29, 2011

▼

Rick Gerharter

Bank delivers for Pride I

n advance of Pride weekend, Patrick Strieck, Bank of America senior vice president, west region executive, was in the Castro Tuesday, June 21 to speak to representatives of the nine LGBT organizations that will divide a $130,000 contribution from the bank. The organizations include Lavender Youth Recreation and Information

Center, Our Family Coalition, the National AIDS Memorial Grove, the San Francisco Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Community Center, Horizons Foundation, National Center for Lesbian Rights, Project Open Hand, the San Francisco LGBT Pride Celebration Committee, and the San Francisco AIDS Foundation.

Trans, Dyke marches on tap

by Heather Cassell

S

ebar.com

an Francisco is getting geared up for the Trans and Dyke marches this Friday and Saturday, respectively.

The eighth annual Trans March, which starts with a rally in Dolores Park June 24 at 3:30 p.m., is taking place under the theme, “Serving Up Human Rights Since 1966,” a reference to the Compton’s Cafeteria riot. The march to UN Plaza starts at 6:30.

Organizers are commemorating the historic riots that launched the transgender movement when people rose up against police brutality and

harsh discrimination from the LGB and straight communities.

The cafeteria no longer exists, but a marker is in place at Turk and Taylor streets, said Felicia Elizondo, one of the original “screaming queens,” who is the keynote speaker.

An after-party takes place at the Lexington Club, 3464 19th Street.

For more information, visit www. transmarch.org.

Dyke March On Saturday, June 25 Dolores Park will be filled with dykes – however they identify – for the 19th annual Dyke March, themed, “Better Together,” in response to the wave of teen suicides and the It Gets Better project. A rally takes place from 3 to 7 p.m., followed by the march.

“The Dyke march isn’t about, ‘it’s going to get better later, it’s going to get better now,’” said Claire Henry, a 26-year-old lesbian who is heading up the volunteer security team. “It’s about bringing attention to make a difference to those kids today.”

Dolores Park is undergoing renovation this year. Disabled individuals will have to enter the park

Rick Gerharter

Paulina Rojas screams with enthusiasm as part of the City College of San Francisco Translatinas Club group in last year’s Trans March.

on the tennis court side between 18th and 19th streets, according to Happy/ L.A. Hyder, a core committee member of the march.

March organizers are still looking for donations and volunteers. Individuals interested in volunteering the day of the march can contact Hyder at info@thedykemarch.org or (510) 533-5489.▼

Read more online at www.ebar.com

June 23-29, 2011 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 3

<< Community News

4 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 23-29, 2011

▼

Woman sentenced to 16 years in manslaughter case

by Seth Hemmelgarn

A

www.ebar.com

woman convicted of manslaughter in the deaths of her domestic partner, her partner’s brother and her partner’s 3-year-old twin sons has been sentenced to 16 years in state prison.

Tiffany Reynolds, 28, had been convicted of four counts of gross vehicular manslaughter while

intoxicated. According to news reports in 2009 and a relative of the woman, Reynolds was domestic partners with Sara Terra, who died in the crash.

A statement last week from Alameda County District Attorney Nancy E. O’Malley’s office said that Reynolds was seen at 1:30 a.m. May 25, 2009 “speeding and weaving” on Interstate 880 in Oakland at up to an estimated 90 mph. She lost control and crashed.

Terra, 23; David Terra, her 20-year-old brother; and one of her 3-year-old twins died in the collision. The other twin died at Children’s Hospital after being taken off life support, a statement from the DA’s office said.

Reynolds had a blood alcohol level of .21, nearly three times the legal limit, according to O’Malley’s office.

The sentencing was announced

<<

Banking on Pride From page 1

LGBT youth.”

He noted that this year’s national organizational grand marshal is the

last Friday, June 17. Reynolds pleaded guilty to a negotiated disposition April 14.

“The grief felt by the family of the victims is immeasurable,” stated O’Malley. “I hope that today’s sentence offers some closure and solace to them. I also hope that the message is loud and clear that every impaired driving situation is a crime that will not be tolerated in Alameda County.”

Outside court on a day a hearing had been set for Reynolds in early June 2009, a woman who said she was Reynolds’s sister said that Reynolds and Terra were domestic partners, but she said that they were not registered. The woman would not give her name.

Bob Mertens, the Alameda County public defender who at one time had been assigned to Reynolds’s case, didn’t respond to an interview request this week.▼

Trevor Project, which operates a 24/7 crisis intervention line and has a call center in the Castro. Pride officials have asked Academy Award-winning Milk screenwriter Dustin Lance Black, a Trevor board member, and others to speak about anti-LGBT bullying.

This year’s festivities begin Saturday with the festival in Civic Center, from noon to 6 p.m. Sunday, the celebration in Civic Center runs from 11 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. The parade kicks off at 10:30 a.m. at Market and Beale streets and ends at Market and Eighth streets.

Besides Black, other celebrities expected this year include celebrity grand marshals Olympia Dukakis and transgender activist Chaz Bono, the child of gay icon Cher and the late Sonny Bono. [See the Bay Area Reporter’s Pride section for profiles on the local grand marshals.]

In some ways, the LGBT community is fortunate to be celebrating Pride this year. The LGBT Pride Celebration Committee has had a tough year, both in terms of finances and staff and board turnover. Among other problems, the city controller’s office reported in December that the nonprofit was $225,000 in debt.

Behan said last week that the deficit was down to $116,000.

The debt doesn’t appear to have dampened this weekend’s festivities, though. Behan said this year’s celebration would include the same number of venues as last year. Pride will have more than 20 community stages and venues.

The Pride Committee is also making good on its payments to beverage partners, some of whom received only partial payments last year. Pride still owes about $38,000 to community partners.

Pride officials announced Tuesday, June 21 that the remaining payments would be distributed “in the coming days.” With the payments, Pride will have paid a total of approximately $167,000 in grants to Bay Area-based nonprofits that participated in the 2010 program.

And with all the entertaining distractions, money troubles could be the last thing on people’s minds this weekend.

Music and more As always, there will be lots of music this year.

The international stage, located at Van Ness and Grove, takes place Saturday from 12 to 6 p.m. The stage is presented by Bench and Bar and Club 21.

Valentino Carrillo, marketing See page 19 >>

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<< Open Forum

6 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 23-29, 2011

Volume 41, Number 25 June 23-29, 2011 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 • Matt Baume Erin Blackwell • Roger Brigham Scott Brogan • Victoria A. Brownworth Philip Campbell • Heather Cassell Chuck Colbert • Richard Dodds Raymond Flournoy • David Guarino Liz Highleyman • Brandon Judell John F. Karr • Lisa Keen • Matthew Kennedy David Lamble Michael McDonagh 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

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HRC should take over GLAAD I

n a stunning turn of events last weekend, Jarrett Barrios quit under pressure as president of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation.

Barrios drew the ire of LGBT bloggers when several of them criticized the organization for writing a letter supporting telecom giant AT&T’s proposed $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile.

In addition, Politico reported that AT&T had given $50,000 to GLAAD, as well as money to other nonprofits that also sent letters supporting the merger.

Bloggers were also outraged over Barrios’s letter to the Federal Communications Commission that questioned the agency’s net neutrality rules. Politico reported that Barrios’s letter “appeared to mirror AT&T’s talking points on the policy issue” and that he later “asked for that letter to be withdrawn from the public record and told the FCC it was submitted without his knowing or permission.”

GLAAD board members haven’t provided a lot of details about Barrios’s sudden resignation.

Co-Chair Roxanne Jones said that Barrios would “help us with the transition” and assist in finding a successor.

So here’s a suggestion for the embattled GLAAD board: you don’t need a successor, at least not a standalone chief executive. This could be a prime opportunity for the larger LGBT community to increase its clout nationally if the Human Rights Campaign takes over management of GLAAD as an HRC project.

Many community members have questioned the need for GLAAD in recent years, and it’s worth considering that there might not be a need for a second, separate organization to monitor media outlets. GLAAD served its purpose when virtually all mainstream media outlets were hostile to the community and often provided slanted, biased, and inaccurate coverage of LGBTs. But that has changed significantly and now GLAAD is best known for its lavish media awards parties (more on those later).

There would be obvious savings in administrative overhead, office expenses, and other duplication. HRC’s large headquarters

building in Washington, D.C. might accommodate staffers to work on GLAAD programs. And while we’re skeptical of the need for separate organizations, we do believe the community should have a media watchdog.

GLAAD has achieved results by talking to leaders in the entertainment industry about various LGBT issues, and that work could easily continue under HRC’s name.

But when it comes to calling out celebrities on their anti-gay rants, GLAAD is no longer alone, nor is it always able to respond quickly. When comedian Tracy Morgan recently let loose at a Nashville appearance and suggested he would stab his son to death if he was gay, it was LGBT bloggers who quickly called out the 30 Rock star. HRC issued a statement critical of Morgan at about the same time that GLAAD did; in fact, particularly in the last year, HRC has issued numerous statements in response to antigay tirades from celebs and athletes.

A GLAAD merger with HRC might put an end to GLAAD’s Media Awards, which has devolved into a celebrity and mainstream media lovefest in recent years. There’s something creepy (and unethical) about an organization presenting

awards to outlets that they actively associate with and lobby. From television networks to newspapers, GLAAD’s primary purpose is to foster an accurate representation of the LGBT community. It shouldn’t then turn around and bestow awards on those companies for doing their jobs.

HRC’s annual galas, held in several cities annually, including San Francisco, have attracted star power in recent years and that is probably adequate celebrity wattage.

GLAAD’s budget is around $11 million. HRC’s budget is in the neighborhood of $41 million. A combined organization would provide the LGBT community with a large national organization of about $50 million. That would help level the playing field when confronting anti-gay groups, some of which have millions of dollars.

In short, it seems like a win-win to us. The community would continue to have a voice in the entertainment industry along with HRC’s legislative lobbying work at the national level and its election work at the state level.

Far from being a disaster, we view Barrios’s impending departure as an opportunity for the LGBT community to flex its muscle and combine forces and resources. A merger should merit serious consideration by the boards of both of these LGBT organizations.▼

Out of work and low on Pride

by Gloria Nieto

A

h, the fabulous month of June, Pride as far as the eye can see. Rainbow flags festooned up and down Market Street, the flag atop the Seattle Space Needle, lots of revelry throughout the country.

For those of us who are queer and unemployed, it is not really a celebration. June becomes another month with no income, no hope, and certainly not pride. I am not alone in this. There are millions of Americans who are unemployed, millions who are LGBT. I won’t bother with the statistics. If you are not unemployed, surely you know someone who is or has been out of work in the last few years.

At this time in my life, I am 56 years old.

I have not had a job in over two years. My unemployment is long gone. I am part of the elite 99er club, people who have used up 99 weeks of unemployment and have no income from this safety net. Every discussion about extending unemployment has not included us – the most severely impacted unemployed workers. With the exception of Congresswoman Barbara Lee from Oakland, not one scintilla of effort has been made in the House of Representatives to assist us in this horrific economic downturn.

Unemployment is a problem for people of all ages but particularly in my age group. No one wants to hire us. Experience means nothing. We apparently need more money to pay bills for things like car payments and mortgages.

I remember trying to explain this to a congressman last year at Netroots Nation. First, he didn’t know what a 99er was so I explained to him the situation and that we were not included, again, in the latest unemployment extension. This was news to him.

Then I made the point, politely, that someone with gray hair will not get hired. It just is not happening right now. I have seen more people my age working at PetSmart and

Longtime LGBT community member Gloria Nieto

Michael’s than at any time in the past. They are all grateful to be there. I would be too if I could work in a job, most any job.

I have been plagued with undiagnosed excruciating pain in both my feet.

It makes walking farther than a block impossible. Standing up?

Not a chance. I have had three foot surgeries, none of which helped.

Prior to the surgeries I had eight different sets of cortisone shots in my feet. That is really not any fun.

Then last year I had the medical crises from hell.

The short version is that I was hospitalized twice in a week. I am now the proud owner of two stents in heart arteries and my gall bladder has gone away.

I have done everything I am supposed to do since then. Followed all the directions, all my numbers are perfect. Yet, I have this horrid pain that keeps me from enjoying anything.

Either of these conditions leads to lots of depression. I am now in a chicken/egg spiral.

Job? No. Pain? Yes.

It is hard, really very hard to feel proud when it is difficult to get up in the morning to face another day with no hope. I was the number two finalist a number of times in my job search. But the longer I am out of work, the more suspect I am. It’s not as if I am the only person going without a paycheck for years now. But combine the age factor and a resume with some gaping holes, I now don’t even get interviews. No responses come to me at all.

This is a whole new phase of hopelessness.

I know I have many things to be grateful for right now, too. I am not homeless, although we did lose our house during this time. I have transportation. I have a beloved spouse who I adore and animals who always give me unconditional love. My mother and sister have helped me both emotionally and financially.

The generosity of so many people has been a wonderful surprise.

Millions are suffering in this country now. LGBT people are among the millions struggling to find work, to find financial security, and the self-esteem that comes with working, paying bills, and being able to have a little extra money for a dinner out one night.

Our institutions struggle with lack of donations. The organizations that work to bring us equality don’t have the same financial support due to this economic crisis.

Individually, those of us without jobs for these long periods of time are left on the sidelines, crippled by the multiple rejections and the loss of faith in ourselves.

This lack of resources plays a huge part on my ability to be proud. When I am dodging the bill collectors on the phone, I do not feel good about myself. When I have been turned down by hundreds of would-be employers, how do I face the world proudly after being told I am not good enough again and again and again?

There are no easy answers. But if you have a little extra Pride, can you share it with folks like myself who could use a smile, a hug, or some act of kindness? We would appreciate it.▼ Gloria Nieto lives in San Jose.

▼

Letters >>

June 23-29, 2011 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 7

Circumcision is barbaric I’d like to express my opinion about the story, “LGBT Jewish leaders cry foul on anti-circumcision campaign” [June 16]. The matter is that circumcision is a 100 percent barbaric act and any religion is just a cover for this. I finished at the very prestigious medical university in Ukraine and I have never heard that circumcision makes men “healthier” than non-circumcised men. So, my advice for all Jewish leaders is, don’t cry foul. It doesn’t matter who you are – Jewish, Muslim or Christian – do not circumcise the body that doesn’t belong to you. Remember, our body is more fully than any religion in the world.

Georgy Prodorov San Francisco

Saint Fauci? Not! Your article [“Fauci at the center of the AIDS story,” June 2] delivers only Dr. Anthony Fauci’s whitewashed view of himself. As I dimly recall those early years, Fauci was the major bureaucratic obstacle to AIDS research.

First, he would repudiate work of other scientists

grappling with basic identification of the illness: pathogen? parasite? virus? and routes of transmission – airborne, spit, blood, vital fluids? Second, he frustrated work of other scientists. Fauci is an ambitious overachiever, with an underdeveloped ethic. When French scientists were first to isolate the AIDS virus, they sent a vial of it to Fauci’s lab. Fauci used the Frenchmen’s virus to claim that he had isolated it in his lab, and that it was genetically different from what the French claimed to have discovered.

The scientific scandal endured for years, and only an international court decision, which the U.S. refused to recognize, found that the French virus was indeed the first discovered, and that Fauci’s virus was copied from the French.

Fauci is a man to be feared because he has power and will use it to destroy perceived enemies that he has peopled his worldview with. He cannot be respected because he lies and continues in his lies. Dump the bastard.

Ron Deziel Richmond, California

SF AIDS walk approaches compiled by Cynthia Laird

A

IDS Walk San Francisco will mark its 25th year of raising funds for Bay Area HIV/AIDS services when it takes place Sunday, July 17 and people can register now.

The walk benefits the San Francisco AIDS Foundation as well as dozens of other nonprofits throughout the Bay Area. As in previous years, there is no minimum amount of money people need to raise and walkers can sign up the day of the event. People can start or join a team and the website provides fundraising tips for participants.

The 10-kilometer walk begins and ends at Sharon Meadow in Golden Gate Park. Opening ceremonies will start at 9:45 a.m. and the walk begins at 10:30. The walk typically takes between two and three hours.

Organizers are expecting to raise several million dollars; last year’s walk brought in $3 million. Since 1987, AIDS Walk San Francisco has raised more than $76 million for HIV prevention, testing, and care programs and services.

MZA Events produces the AIDS Walk. SFAF officials said that the cost of the production fee paid to MZA was $185,000, the same as last year.

For more information and to register, visit www.aidswalk.net/sanfran.

CUAV offers Pride safety tips Staff at Community United Against Violence, the LGBT anti-violence organization, want to remind people to be aware and stay safe during this Pride season, particularly this weekend when there are lots of parties and other activities. The following tips are provided by CUAV. • Trust your gut. If something doesn’t feel right, it’s probably not.

• Leave a trail. Tell a friend the exact location and time of where you’re going.

• Watch your drink. Buy your own if possible, and make sure nothing extra is added.

• Bring an entourage. Have or make a buddy to and from your destination.

• Boundaries are beautiful. “No” is a complete sentence, no need to explain.

• Make an exit plan. Have a cute line and a quick strategy to get out.

• Meet in public. Talk for a bit to see it it’s a match before getting busy.

While Pride is a time to celebrate, people should use common sense.

CUAV offers a safety clinic on Fridays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at its offices, 427 South Van Ness Avenue (between 15th and 16th streets) in San Fran-

Lydia Gonzales

Valerie Joyce holds a framed photo of her sister, Katie O’Conner, who was lost to AIDS, as she began the 10k San Francisco AIDS Walk last year.

cisco. Its safety line number is (415) 333-HELP (4357) and more information is available at www.cuav.org.

Bayard Rustin Coalition to honor African American grand marshals The Bayard Rustin Coalition will host a reception honoring the African American grand marshals in this year’s Pride Parade Friday, June 24 from 5 to 8 p.m. at Som bar, 2925 16th Street in San Francisco.

Honorees will include Bishop Yvette Flunder, the Lifetime Achievement grand marshal; and community grand marshals the Reverend Roland Stringfellow, Graylin Thornton, and Christiana Remington.

The coalition is northern California’s largest political forum concerning African American LGBT interests. It advocates for legislation that advances the rights of all oppressed people and builds a base supporting the black LGBTQ community’s political agenda. Earlier this year the coalition selected Susan B. Christian and Joshua Smith as its co-chairs.

“The reception ... will showcase a Bay Area African American LGBT community that is alive, visible, and ready to renew political ties – and ready to party SF Pride-style,” Christian said in a statement.

The suggested donation for Friday’s event is $25 to $100, sliding scale; no one will be turned away for lack of funds. To donate online or for more information, visit www.bayardrustincoalition.com.

CARE Council’s trans women’s panel to meet The San Francisco HIV Health Services Planning Council, also known as the CARE Council because it prioritizes Ryan White

Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency Act funds, has announced that its Consumer and Minority Affairs Committee has formed a short-term work group to conduct a needs assessment of HIVpositive transgender women living in San Francisco, Marin, and San Mateo counties.

The panel will meet Monday, June 27 from noon to 2 p.m., at the Shanti Project offices, 730 Polk Street, 3rd floor, in San Francisco.

Call for art entries A Hayward art gallery is seeking entries for its Queer Perceptions exhibit, a celebration of diverse artwork produced within and about the LGBT community that opens in September. The Sun Gallery is calling for submissions from the LGBT community and those associated with it in all media, including painting, mixed medial sculpture, glasswork, metalwork, photography, ceramics, and video.

To submit art, email contact information, including phone number, along with .jpg images (minimum 300 dpi) to lgbtart@yahoo.com with “Queer Perceptions” in the subject line. Files should be named as follows: first initial.lastname.title.jpg.

Submissions may be sent via mail to: Sun Gallery, 1015 E Street, Hayward, CA 94541-5210. Artists should also submit a one-page biography/artist statement for inclusion in the exhibit.

The fee to show art is $40 for up to four pieces for Sun Gallery members and $60 for non-members.

Add $5 per piece for more than four. The non-member fee includes membership in the gallery through December 2011. Art may be sold; the gallery will take a 30 percent commission The deadline to submit art is August 21.

For more information, visit www. sungallery.org.▼

8 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 23-29, 2011

<< Politics

▼ White House invites bisexual activist to Pride event

by Matthew S. Bajko

B

ay Area resident Lani Ka’ahumanu, a longtime leader in the bisexual community, this year will miss her hometown Pride event, at which she served as a grand marshal in 1994.

Instead of joining the throngs in the Civic Center this Sunday, June 26, Ka’ahumanu will be boarding a plane for Washington, D.C. that day. She is one of the select few who received an invite to this year’s LGBT reception at the White House June 29.

Along with being “deeply honored,” Ka’ahumanu said she was surprised to receive her invite in the mail in early June. She said she has no attachments to President Barack Obama or his re-election campaign.

She suspects her invitation has to do with her decades-long involvement in the fight for LGBT rights and social justice movements.

Ka’ahumanu was the first out bisexual member on the board of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and helped launch a number of bisexual groups, including BiNet USA, the first national bisexual rights organization.

“I have been a pretty public figure,” said Ka’ahumanu, who turns 68 this year and has been living in Cazadero near Guerneville working on her memoirs.

Allowed to bring one guest, she asked fellow bisexual activist Kuwaza Imara, an emergency room nurse at Highland Hospital in Oakland, to accompany her to the event. Imara is a member of the SEIU Lavender Caucus; Pride at Work, the AFL-CIO LGBT labor group; and the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association.

Like the president, Ka’ahumanu has mixed race parents and is of Hawaiian descent. She plans to wear a flower lei to the reception that she hopes to be able to place on Obama.

What message she may be able to tell the president has also weighed heavily on her mind.

“I have thought about it a lot,” she said.

Using the Hawaiian term “hapa,” which means mixed race and is associated with people who are half white, Ka’ahumanu hopes to convey to Obama some understanding about the bisexual community.

“Being he understands hapa, I am going to put the two together and tell him I am a hapa bisexual,” she said. “I am trying to get my sound bite.”

It is unknown how many people received invites to next week’s reception, the third Obama has hosted. The White House has not released the list of invitees, and it declined to disclose to the Bay Area Reporter the names of other Bay Area residents it had invited.

Politics may overwhelm Pride For those in town during this year’s Pride weekend, it will be chock-a-block with local politicians trying to curry favor with LGBT voters ahead of the November elections.

On the web Online content this week includes the Wockner’s World column, a longer Jock Talk column and a photo from last weekend’s East Bay AIDS Walk. www.ebar.com.

Rick Gerharter

Lani Ka’ahumanu, left, and her daughter Dannielle Mutch at the 1994 Pride Parade.

A number of the top nine mayoral candidates are mobilizing their supporters to join their parade contingents. State Senator Leland Yee (D-San Francisco) sent out a Facebook invite to his supporters telling them “all you need is your Pride and some walking shoes – we will have the rest.”

Former Supervisor Bevan Dufty, the only gay candidate so far among the group, is once again dancing his way down the parade on a float alongside Assemblywoman Fiona Ma (D-San Francisco), the LGBT supportive Family Builders adoption agency, and Culture Shock Dance.

“While it is not permissible to campaign in the parade, I want you to join me as we march (and shimmy) with Pride – toward making history in San Francisco,” wrote Dufty in an email this week in which he also disclosed he expects to report having $1 million “raised and matched with public financing” on his June 30 financial disclosure form.

City Attorney Dennis Herrera’s campaign is likely praying the heat wave doesn’t clear out come Sunday, as it announced this week it is making the parade “sweeter than ever” because it “will have (brace yourself) an ice cream truck!” as part of its entry.

Supervisor John Avalos and his Queers for Avalos supporters will be marching alongside two gay officials, state Assemblyman Tom Ammiano and Supervisor David Campos.

Ammiano this week endorsed David Onek to be the city’s next district attorney, who he has also invited to march with him in the parade.

“His stance against the death penalty shows that he has the values that San Francisco needs in a district attorney. I trust David and share his vision for a fair, equitable criminal justice system,” stated Ammiano in another sign of how the issue continues to dog the incumbent, George Gascón, who has not ruled out seeking the death penalty in certain cases.

A number of LGBT leaders spanning the political spectrum are hosting a fundraiser for Onek Saturday, June 25 at John’s Grill. The special guest will be celebrity Pride grand marshal Olympia Dukakis.

With multiple people running for mayor, sheriff and district attorney this fall, Pride officials are once

again warning the candidates that they are not allowed to actively campaign along the parade route.

“Anyone may participate in a personal capacity as long as they do not campaign for elective office,” warns Pride on its website. “Please keep in mind that signage displayed on the Parade route ... is not possible either.”

Alice celebrates 40 years The competitive races have helped the Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club break records at its annual Pride breakfast Sunday morning. Tickets are nearly sold out and there will only be 10 seats held aside for walk-ins.

“It is our biggest breakfast fundraiser to date,” said club cochair Bentrish Satarzadeh. “We attribute that to the mayor’s race.”

She wouldn’t provide exact dollar amounts, but Satarzadeh said the club’s haul from this year’s event is 20 percent more than last year’s breakfast. The funds will help pay for Alice’s slate card for voters this November.

The largess is despite the fact the number of attendees has been cut by 100 people to better accommodate the venue, restaurant Yank Sing.

With the ongoing hotel boycott, the club has not been able to secure a larger site.

Alice is celebrating its 40th year and expects the entire Board of Supervisors and all of the city’s state elected officials to drop by the breakfast. It had yet to announce any major gets by press time Wednesday, but invites had been sent to Governor Jerry Brown, Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom and Senator Dianne Feinstein (D), who helped co-found the club.

“We are still working with Senator Feinstein ... to see if she can make it,” said Satarzadeh. “Those are the big names we are working on. In terms of have they committed? No.” For more info on the breakfast, visit www.alicebtoklas.org.▼ Web Extra: For more queer political news, be sure to check www. ebar.com Monday mornings around 10 a.m. for Political Notes, the notebook’s online companion.

This week’s column reports on the [mostly] defunct SF LGBT and AIDS nonprofits that landed on the IRS tax-exemption revocation list.

Keep abreast of the latest LGBT political news by following the Political Notebook on Twitter @ witter.com/politicalnotes.

Got a tip on LGBT politics? Call Matthew S. Bajko at (415) 861-5019 or e-mailm.bajko@ebar.com.

www.ebar.com

Read more online at www.ebar.com

June 23-29, 2011 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 9

<< National News

10 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 23-29, 2011

▼

2010 census>>

Early hint shows dramatic upsurge in same-sex couples

by Lisa Keen

U

.S. Census 2010 data on samesex couples has begun trickling out and, if the first two states are any measure, there are dramatically more same-sex couples in the United States than previously counted.

The U.S. Census Bureau is releasing 2010 data state-by-state on a rolling basis. It released numbers for the first two states – Alabama and Hawaii – June 16. The Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law, a nationally respected public policy research organization focused on issues related to sexual orientation, released snapshots of the data related to same-sex couple households.

The data show that, in 2010 in Alabama, the census bureau found 11,259 households headed by samesex couples. That number is 3,150 (or 39 percent) more than in 2000, when the census bureau found 8,109 same-sex unmarried partner households in Alabama.

In 2010 in Hawaii, the census bureau found 4,248 households headed by a same-sex couple – 1,859 (or 78 percent) more than the 2,389 same-sex unmarried partner

households reported in 2000.

The data released thus far this year by the census bureau reports all same-sex couple households, regardless of whether they are legally married, in a legally recognized civil union or domestic partnership, or in a relationship that has not been formalized by law.

Gary Gates, Ph.D. of the Williams Institute, the lead author of the snapshot analysis, said the census bureau is expected to provide a breakdown of the data of just same-sex married couples later this year. But he said that breakdown will not be an accurate reflection of how many same-sex couples have marriage licenses because some same-sex couples identify themselves as being “husband or wife” even if they do not have a marriage license.

Gates said the dramatic contrast between the 2000 and 2010 census numbers in Alabama and Hawaii is a “fair comparison” and, in fact, might even been an understated one. That’s because, compared to 2000, the census bureau, said Gates, has done a better job “correcting” the 2010 numbers for the likelihood that some heterosexual married

Jane Philomen Cleland

Demographer Gary Gates credits the census bureau with improving its count of same-sex couples, but said the numbers must be viewed with caveats.

people accidentally check off the wrong gender for their spouse.

Caveats But he said comparing 2000 and 2010 census data concerning samesex couples is, nevertheless, riddled with caveats.

The census bureau has, over the years, repeatedly changed how it processes data concerning same-sex couples. Up until 2000, the bureau counted any same-sex couple who identified themselves as married as a mistake, and re-counted them as heterosexual married couples.

And, technically speaking, no jurisdiction was issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples until Massachusetts did in 2004.

But there have been political changes, too. Although most states still ban legal recognition of marriages between same-sex couples, five states and the District of Columbia have started issuing marriage licenses to such couples.

A dozen states – including, starting this month, Illinois – provide legal recognition of civil unions or domestic partnerships. And, polls have indicated the general public’s hostility toward allowing gays to marry is declining.

Gates credits the census bureau with “slowly improving” the process by which it counts same-sex couples.

“In the last two years,” he said, “they have devoted some serious resources to trying to fix this.

They’ve started the process of

testing different core questions about households and marital status. We won’t see the results for several years, but it’s a really big deal.”

Only 145,130 same-sex unmarried partners were identified in the 1990 census, when the bureau first began separating out data of same-sex couples from heterosexual couples who identified as unmarried partners. In 2000, 594,391 same-sex couples identified as unmarried partners. The census bureau will release a national count for 2010 later this year.

It was just months into President Barack Obama’s first year in office, June 2009, when the administration indicated it would have the census provide a separate count of samesex married couples.

The 2010 census was the first time in the nation’s history when a same-sex couple could actually hold a marriage license and thus accurately identify themselves as “married” on the decennial survey.

Prior to 2004, when Massachusetts began issuing licenses to same-sex couples, no states issued marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Now, five states – Massachusetts, Iowa, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Connecticut – and the District of Columbia do. All six jurisdictions had legalized same-sex marriage before the 2010 census surveys went out.

An estimated additional 18,000 same-sex couples hold valid marriage licenses in California. They were obtained between June and November 2008 before a statewide ballot initiative (Proposition 8) amended the state constitution to ban same-sex marriages. That amendment is still under challenge in federal court. The marriages that occurred during the fivemonth window were upheld by the California Supreme Court in 2009.

The decision to start counting same-sex married couples did not necessitate any change in the 2010 census form, but simply called for taking a separate notice of couples in which Person 1 identified a samesex Person 2 on his or her census form as either a “husband or wife” or an “unmarried partner.”

Impact Census data about any minority group can have important impact.

The data can be used to justify programs, illustrate the need for legislation, and give a sense of size for a particular voting bloc. They also counter a general tendency toward simply ignoring the existence of same-sex couples and families.

The 2010 data for Alabama shows that 60 percent of the same-sex couples are female; 40 percent male.

Most (73 percent) are not raising children; 27 percent are. Female couples appear to be concentrated on the western border of the state, while the male couples are concentrated on the east. Statewide, there are almost six same-sex couples for every 1,000 households in the state. Birmingham hosts the largest concentration, with about 10 same-sex couples per 1,000 households.

The 2010 data for Hawaii shows that 53 percent of the same-sex couples are female; 47 percent male. Most (77 percent) are not raising children; 23 percent are.

Statewide, there are more than nine same-sex couples for every 1,000 households in the state. Hawaiian Paradise Park, a small town on the Big Island’s eastern coast, hosts the largest concentration, with more than 17 same-sex couples per 1,000 households.▼

▼

Community News >>

Jane Philomen Cleland

Protesters of Frameline’s acceptance of sponsorship money from the Israeli Consulate greet film festivalgoers at a demonstration last Friday.

Protesters call out Frameline over Israeli sponsorship

by Tony K. LeTigre

T

he dispute over politics in the Middle East played out during a small protest in front of the Castro Theatre in San Francisco last week, as activists called attention to Frameline’s acceptance of sponsorship and money from the Israeli Consulate.

The June 17 demonstration – at the beginning of the LGBT film festival – was to highlight what several groups call a “pinkwashing” of alleged attacks and discrimination against Palestinians by the Israeli government.

Members of the Southwest Asian and North African Bay Area Queers, Queers Undermining Israeli

Terrorism, and the Arab Resource and Organizing Center took part in the demonstration. They have held similar protests in recent years.

Kate Raphael, an out lesbian founder of QUIT, alleged that in 2008 Frameline, which puts on the LGBT film festival, stopped accepting money and sponsorship from the Israeli Consulate, only to retreat this year due to threats that it would be branded as “anti-Jewish” by the consulate and its allies. She clarified that QUIT has not called for a formal boycott of the film festival.

“Whether people go to it or not is less our concern than that people are not taken in by it,” Raphael said.

“If people stand up at the panels and See page 19 >>

June 23-29, 2011 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 11

<< Travel

12 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 23-29, 2011

▼

Whimsy Media

Rachel Williams, sales and marketing manager, and Melanie Payne, co-owner of the Daily Bagel, operate a popular local breakfast spot.

Living it up Lake Tahoe and Reno style

by Heather Cassell

S

ummer is here, but as my girlfriend and I drove over the Sierra earlier this month on another weekend getaway to Reno, snow still carpeted the ground and clung to trees, refusing to retreat under the sun that attempted to shine through the gray clouds.

The rainy weather on what would normally be a warm late spring weekend didn’t stop pro-golf legend Patty Sheehan and her friends from

stepping out on to the green for the inaugural Patty Sheehan Legends Golf Tournament in Reno June 2-5.

The event is a part of the Ladies Professional Golf Association Legends Tour, now in its 10th year, with more than an estimated $10 million raised for various community organizations.

Fans, including some members of At Ease Adventures, a new outdoor activities social group for women, led by former San Franciscan Laura See page 13 >>

▼

Travel >>

June 23-29, 2011 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 13

Whimsy Media

Sam Olson and Bill Nelson are partners and publishers of Your Gay Reno and the Northern Nevada Pride Guide.

<<

Tahoe and Reno From page 12

Grotz and Oakland resident Cynthia Elliott, braved the light rain to cheer Sheehan and her friends on during the tournament at the Hidden Valley Golf and Country Club.

Sheehan, a Reno resident and out lesbian, founded the Patty Sheehan and Friends organization to support three of Nevada’s children and women’s organizations, according to the organization’s website.

It is unknown how much money was raised this first year.

Representatives of the organization did not respond to the Bay Area Reporter’s request for an interview.

Getting social At Ease Adventures is just one of two new social groups in the Reno-Tahoe area that has formed in the past year. Lake Tahoe LGBT and Friends, dubbed Tahoe Pride, is another new social group. The two join longtime volunteer social organizations the Carson Men’s Club, Prime Timers, and Spectrum Nevada in order to provide alternatives to meet outside of the “barcentric” nightlife, explained Samuel “Sam” Olson, vice president of the Your Gay Reno website.

The difference between the other social club, is that At Ease Adventures is a business run by friends Elliott and Grotz.

Stuck in yet another snowstorm after a weekend of snowshoeing, Elliott, 58, and Grotz, 56, both lesbian entrepreneurs, began to brainstorm ideas about how to encourage and inspire women to enjoy the outdoors, they said. The women were inspired by Elliott’s 81-year-old mother who continues to camp, cycle, and be active outdoors.

“My motivation was to get women out. I’m a large size lesbian, over 250 pounds, but I’ve always been active or wanted to maintain my activeness,” said Grotz, who wants to get more women like her up and moving and to see the views of Lake Tahoe and Reno from the Sierra ridges.

Elliott agreed, pointing out that the bigger message for women is that just because you’re older or are large, “doesn’t mean that you can’t go out and enjoy the great outdoors.”

Grotz said that she took a friend of hers, who has asthma, out snowshoeing with her one day. Her friend didn’t make it to the ridge, but “she was excited to get out and go snowshoeing.” Another couple called Grotz recently to thank them for the kayaking lessons that came in handy on their vacation, Grotz added.

The first year of At Ease Adventures has been successful, according to the women. They have an estimated 60 members signed up for four planned and impromptu excursions, said Grotz.

Members pay an annual fee of $99 that includes all equipment and guided activities in groups no larger than 12 individuals, the

women said. A onetime outing is also available for $49, said Grotz, who is still developing ways to make the memberships affordable and diversify the excursions, she said.

Deeper into the desert, the Carson Men’s Club, an all-volunteer social group for gay and bisexual men, has been going strong for more than 20 years. Members meet for various activities from dining and entertainment to outdoor adventures suggested by the members, Dennis Little, the club’s activity director, wrote in an email See page 23 >>

14 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 23-29, 2011

Serving the LGBT communities since 1971

Read more online at www.ebar.com

June 23-29, 2011 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 15

16 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 23-29, 2011

Serving the LGBT communities since 1971

Read more online at www.ebar.com

June 23-29, 2011 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 17

<< The Sports Page

18 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 23-29, 2011

▼

The defining moments of queer sports history

by Roger Brigham

I

t could be argued that ever since Gilgamesh and Enkidu grappled in the muddy streets of Uruk millennia ago, sports have had a decidedly gay aura to them.

Champions are adorned with rings or ribbons, boxers fight for purses and belts, swimmers shave their bodies and strip down to their swimsuits. Talk about queer eye for the sports guy.

Despite that, until the past few decades the collective queer consciousness had never included sports in its collection of favorite cultural pursuits. Stereotypes and homophobia, external and internalized, conspired to keep our jocks closeted. There are now hundreds of thousands of openly gay athletes competing in thousands of recreational sports leagues, both LGBT-centric and mainstream.

There are LGBT websites devoted exclusively to sports. Day-by-day at an accelerating rate elite athletes are coming out and speaking up.

For this year’s Pride weekend, the Bay Area Reporter takes a look at the most significant defining moments of queer sports.

These are not things that “just happened.”

They are willful moments of struggle and anguish, of courage and torment.

They are reminders that happiness and equality are not the rewards of passivity, but rather the fruit of hard-fought victory.

1975 David Kopay becomes the first American male pro athlete from a team sport to come out.

And not just any sport: NFL football, the darling of television sponsors, tailgate BBQs, and your neighborhood bookie. The we-hitso-hard-we-have-to-wear-plasticarmor-to-keep-from-killing-eachother league. The former San Francisco 49er was an All-America running back for the University of Washington before playing in the NFL for nine seasons, retiring after the 1972 season.

The year before Kopay came out, Patricia Neil Warren had published her groundbreaking novel The Frontrunner, about a closeted and ostracized track coach and his romance with one of his athletes, who is killed by a sniper in the Olympics – the kind of tragic ending almost any novel about a gay character was expected to have back in the day. And Kopay’s decision to come out in the Washington Star was triggered by a series of stories on gay athletes that ran in the paper, including a profile on his former lover, fellow NFL player Jerry Smith,

ebar.com

David Kopay, left, and Chris Morgan shared a moment at the closing ceremonies of Gay Games 2006 in Chicago.

who was interviewed anonymously.

But Kopay’s story was revolutionary because it killed the myth that gay men could not, did not, play the most macho of American team sports: showed that myth to be the biggest fiction of all. This wasn’t anonymous.

This gave us a name, gave us a face, gave us a flat out take-him-home-toMom-and-break-outthe-apple-pie hunk.

This was real.

Before that, the only queers many of us from Podunk to Poughkeepsie knew about were Liberace, drag queens rioting in Greenwich Village, and the weekly arrests at the local highway rest stop.

Kopay? Kopay was different. The All-American sports fantasy gone gay. The sports world would never be the same.

1976 Renee Richards was barred from U.S. Open Tennis.

Computers run on binary code; humans do not. The genius of evolution is that sex is an imprecise mechanism resulting in generally consistent patterns but always with variations. And Richards simply did not fit into the binary sexual code on which the sporting world ran.

Richard Rankins had been one of the brightest lights in men’s amateur tennis in his youth, served as a lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy, became an eye surgeon, and continued to play tennis, reaching the men’s national 35-andover championships in 1972. But after considering sexual transition in the mid-1960s, Rankins decided to follow through in the 1970s, and in 1975 became Renee Richards.

From the outcry when she tried to play in the 1976 U.S. Open women’s tournament, you’d have thought she was trying to swim for the East

German team. She fought the U.S. Tennis Association’s requirement that she undergo chromosomal testing before playing and won the right to play and skip the invasive test in 1977.

Chromosomal testing and “gender verification” have always perplexed sports leaders, and the issue of transgender athletes has raised hobgoblins of suspicions for other athletes who say a male-to-female athlete has an “unfair” advantage. But studies are inconclusive about any advantage or disadvantage a trans athlete may or may not have, and nobody has ever proved that there is an inherent advantage worthy of trumping the right to human dignity. Richards forced a dialogue in athletic circles that through fits and starts finally cast off reliance on chromosomal testing and focused far more on personal gender identity.

1977 The North American Gay Amateur Athletic Alliance is formed.

Gays and lesbians had begun forming leagues and teams in bowling, softball, and basketball in the mid and early 1970s, creating safe, competitive social outlets beyond the bar scene. In 1977, NAGAAA was formed to unite American and Canadian teams in softball; in 1980, the International Gay Bowling Association was started at a softball and bowling tournament in southern California.

A gay running club in San Francisco adopted the name Front Runners in 1978, inspired by the groundbreaking Warren novel, and International Front Runners was born in 1986.

Three things to note about the formation of these early leagues.

First, they showed that gay and lesbian athletes were not occasional freaks, but that gay and lesbian jocks were abundant and committed enough to sports to organize.

Second, leagues of teams were numerous enough to come together internationally, but there was not yet a “critical mass” of athletes in the smaller individual sports to organize globally. And third, different sports had different interpretations of how to create a safe and accepting environment.

Front Runners, for instance, has always included members who did not identify as gay or lesbian.

Many members were closeted and fearful of the political climate at the time, in which institutionalized discrimination was the norm rather than the exception. NAGAAA, on the other hand, adopted a rule limiting the number of straight players who could be in the Gay Softball World Series. That exclusionary policy would come under attack years later after the passage of public access See page 19 >>

▼ <<

Community News>>

Frameline

From page 11

ask about that, then great.”

A few yards away on Castro Street a less boisterous but equally resolute group of counterprotesters responded with pro-Israel and Zionist slogans, a booklet highlighting Israel’s relatively gayfriendly climate among Middle Eastern countries, and a sign that read, “Queers for Palestine is like turkeys for Thanksgiving.”

“They’re making it about Israel, so we have to show the other side.

We have to support Israel,” said Bob Pave, a member of Stand With Us and A Voice For Israel, two of the groups staging the counterprotest.

Akiva Tor, consul general for the Israeli Consulate in San Francisco, said that charges of pinkwashing are untrue and that of all the different groups that the consulate works with, it encounters this sort of resistance only within the LGBT community.

“We present our LGBT culture the same way we present our Russian culture, our Ethiopian culture, our Yemenite culture,” Tor said. “It just so happens that our LGBT citizens

<<

Jock Talk From page 18

laws barring discrimination based on orientation or identity.

1981 Billie Jean King and Martina Navratilova come out.

Very publicly and very differently, two of the brightest stars of women’s tennis almost overnight became the two biggest lesbian celebrities in the world.

Less than a year after King and Navratilova teamed up to beat Pam Shriver and Betty Stove for the U.S. Open Women’s doubles championship (King’s 39th and last Grand Slam title), King’s sexuality became a matter of public record when a palimony suit was filed against her in May 1981 by her secretary, Marilyn Barnett. At the time, King was married to Lawrence King, with whom she had founded World Team Tennis.

It was ugly as these things can get, costing King her endorsements and her life savings and straining her relationship with Navratilova.

Navratilova had come out first as bisexual, then as lesbian, and although she already had nine career Grand Slam titles, she had not yet approached her peak athletic years.

And Navratilova approached those years as no women’s tennis player had before. Training

<<

Banking on Pride From page 4

director for Bench and Bar and Club 21, said entertainment will include a mix of Latin music, hip-hop, and gogo dancers.

He said he’s excited about “meeting new people and enjoying the festivities.”

From 11 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Sunday, the Castro Country Club’s Sober Stage 2011: I Remember Pride will offer space with dancing and other entertainment, including a drag show. The stage will be located at Hyde and Fulton. Visit www.castrocountryclub.org for more information.

Also Sunday, one of the bands performing on the main stage will be Sister Crayon. Drummer Nicholas Suhr, 22, is the son of San Francisco Police Chief Greg Suhr.

Suhr said this will be his first time at a San Francisco Pride celebration.

“I envision everybody being happy. ... I think it’s going to be awesome,” he said. Suhr said he’s straight, but he See page 20 >>

June 23-29, 2011 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 19

are among our most creative, so it’s logical they’d be represented in a film festival.”

K.C. Price, executive director of Frameline, denied any threats from the Israeli Consulate and said he is not aware of a decision to stop accepting money, attributing the consulate’s absence during those years to a lack of Israeli feature films or of an offer of sponsorship from the consulate.

“Frameline is an arts and culture organization, and we don’t take political points of view,” Price said.

“Most often funds like these are used to bring a filmmaker to San Francisco to talk about their film.”

Price said that a $2,000 grant from the consulate enabled Tomer Heymann to attend the screening of his film, The Queen Has No Crown, at the Roxie Theater on Saturday, June 18, and to participate in a question and answer session afterward with the near-capacity audience.

Heymann’s feature, shot with a home video camera, splices together intimate footage of Heymann discussing his identity as a gay man with his family – including his Zionist father, disapproving brother,

and blithely accepting niece and nephew – with footage from antigay protesters in Jerusalem as well as military actions by the Israeli government, which Heymann implicitly criticizes.

“A lot of people say that Frameline takes the money because they don’t want to be seen as anti-Jewish,” said QUIT member Carla Schick, who took part in the protest. “But that doesn’t make sense, because there is a huge community of Jews who are not Zionist and who don’t support Israel’s military occupation of Palestinian land.”

On the other side, demonstrators pointed to Israel’s pro-gay policies.

“Jerusalem and Tel Aviv are the only places in the Middle East with Pride parades, and the Israeli government even recognizes samesex marriages from other countries,” said Stand With Us member Charlotte Griffin, who identifies as a bisexual woman and Zionist. “It bothers me that that’s considered completely unimportant. These protesters seem to feel that human rights and civil rights are less important than scoring political points.”▼

with basketball superstar Nancy Lieberman, Navratilova dominated not just with sheer talent, but with a determined workout regimen that elevated women’s tennis to a new level.

In short, Navratilova was aggressive, unapologetic, and successful. With her numerous battles with the oh-so-photogenic Chris Evert Lloyd, sports fans for the first time were witnessing a great competitive battle between a straight athlete and an openly gay athlete – again and again and again. In a way few had ever done before, Navratilova gave women the

license to be strong: physically and mentally powerful.

And if the heterosexists did not love her, at least they had to respect her. The fact that she was able to survive and excel out in the open gave hope for generations of lesbian athletes to follow.

King’s coming out was not by choice; Navratilova’s was.

Ultimately, the work and advocacy both chose to undertake after coming out has made this a better place for all.▼ A longer version of this column is online at ebar.com.

<< International News

20 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 23-29, 2011

▼

UN adopts first LGBT rights resolution

by Rex Wockner

T

www.ebar.com

he United Nations on June 17 adopted its first-ever resolution in support of LGBT human rights.

U.S. government officials, including President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, praised the resolution, saying it represents an opportunity to highlight human rights abuses and violations that LGBT people face around the world.

“This marks a significant milestone in the long struggle for equality, and the beginning of a universal recognition that LGBT persons are endowed with the same inalienable rights – and entitled to the same protections – as all human beings,” Obama said in a statement.

The resolution says, in part: “The Human Rights Council ... express[es] grave concern at acts of violence and discrimination, in all regions of the world, committed against individuals because of their sexual orientation and gender identity.”

It outlines several goals that the resolution hopes to accomplish.

President Barack Obama praised last week’s UN vote in support of LGBT human rights.

These include a request that UN officials commission a study, to be finalized by December, to document discriminatory laws, practices, and acts of violence against individuals based on their sexual orientation and

gender identity in all regions of the world.

Additionally, the resolution calls for a panel during the 19th session of the Human Rights Council to discuss the findings of the completed report. The resolution also includes an avenue for follow-up to recommendations made in the study.

“The United States stands proudly with those nations that are standing up to intolerance, discrimination, and homophobia. Advancing equality for LGBT persons should be the work of all peoples and all nations.

LGBT persons are entitled to equal treatment, equal protection, and the dignity that comes with being full members of our diverse societies. As the United Nations begins to codify and enshrine the promise of equality for LGBT persons, the world becomes a safer, more respectful, and more humane place for all people,” Obama said.

In a statement, Clinton said the U.S. worked with the main sponsor, South Africa, “and a number of other countries from many regions of the world to help pass this resolution, including Brazil, Colombia, members of the European Union, and others.”

LGBT organizations praised the vote.

“That we are celebrating the passage of a UN resolution about human rights violations on the basis of sexual orientation is remarkable; however the fact that gender identity is explicitly named truly makes this pivotal moment one to rejoice in,” said Justus Eisfeld, co-director of Global Action for Trans Equality.

“The Human Rights Council has taken a step forward in history by acknowledging that both sexual and gender non-conformity make lesbian, gay, trans, and bi people among those most vulnerable and indicated decisively that states have an obligation to protect us from violence.”

The vote in the UN’s Human Rights Council was 23-19 with three abstentions. Voting for the resolution were Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Chile, Cuba, Ecuador, France, Guatemala, Hungary, Japan, Mauritius, Mexico, Norway, Poland, Slovakia, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, Ukraine, Thailand, the United Kingdom, the U.S., and Uruguay.

Voting against it were Angola, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Cameroon, Djibouti, Gabon, Ghana, Jordan, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritania, Moldova, Nigeria, Pakistan, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, and Uganda. Burkina Faso, China and Zambia abstained, and Kyrgyzstan and Libya were not present.▼

<<

Banking on Pride From page 19

supports “total equality.”

He said band members don’t like to link themselves to just one genre, and he offered descriptions of their music that included both “very dreamy” and “very in-your-face.”

The band goes on at 6 p.m.

Actress and comedienne Sandra Bernhard and musical acts such as Jessica 6 will be among the other headline entertainers.

Booths Along with other Pride happenings, there will be plenty of booths providing information on local services and commercial vendors. Politics will also be on display, with the Canadian Foreskin Awareness Project’s booth.

See page 24 >>

Read more online at www.ebar.com

June 23-29, 2011 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 21

<< From the cover

22 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 23-29, 2011

<<

Redistricting From page 1

in particular, has been urging its members to attend the commission hearing.

Openly gay Supervisor Scott Wiener plans to address the panel, as he told the Bay Area Reporter this week he has grave concerns about the potential diminution of LGBT voters’ voices in electing state legislative leaders. Of utmost concern, he said, is the likelihood that no LGBT people could be serving in the state Senate after 2012.

In San Diego, Democratic lesbian state Senator Christine Kehoe will be termed out next year. Fellow Democrat Toni Atkins, a lesbian Assemblywoman, is expected to seek re-election to her San Diego seat.

Openly gay state Senator Mark Leno (D-San Francisco), who represents the current 3rd Senate District, is expected to run for reelection next year. But he will only be able to do so if the city’s newly drawn district is given an odd number.

The city is set to lose one of its two Senate seats, and if the remaining one is given an even number, then Leno would have to wait until 2014 to run. State Senator Leland Yee (D-San Francisco) won’t be termed

“We would love to know if people agree. We wanted to keep neighborhoods whole as close as possible. Most of the LGBT community is together.”

–Cynthia Dai, Redistricting Commissioner out until 2014 and, if he loses his mayoral bid, will remain in office no matter what number is given to the lone San Francisco district.

Residents in the eastern half of San Francisco may have a two-year gap, pointed out Wiener, where they did not elect the senator representing the city in Sacramento.

“It is extremely important that the community let the redistricting commission know that the San Francisco Senate District needs to be an odd number so all of San Francisco has representation in the state Senate,” said Wiener. “I also think it is important to have LGBT representation in the state Senate.

With Kehoe and Leno gone, we face the possibility of not having an LGBT state senator for the entire state of California and that is a problem. So people need to mobilize

and let the commission know that it is important for San Francisco and the LGBT community to continue to have full state representation.”

There is a chance that former state Assemblyman John Laird could run for a new Central Coast Senate District that is proposed for the Santa Cruz region. The openly gay Laird lost his bid last summer for a Senate seat that was gerrymandered 10 years ago and centered further south along the coast.

While Laird told the B.A.R. he is “very happy” serving as Governor Jerry Brown’s secretary of the state resources agency, he said he is taking a look at seeking the Senate seat.

“The draft map for the Central Coast Senate district is very favorable to me, and many people have been calling. I’m the only Democrat who’s run in most of the

Clark Williams, northern chair of the state Democratic Party’s LGBT Caucus, said LGBTs have not been focused on the statewide redistricting process.

new district, and in November 2012 I’d be odds-on to win,” he wrote in an email.

In San Jose attention is being closely paid to what Assembly districts the city’s neighborhoods end up in, as Latino residents have expressed anger at the commission’s first round proposal and are advocating for changes. That could benefit out Santa Clara Supervisor Ken Yeager, a San Jose resident.

His neighborhood landed in what is being called the Silicon

▼

Valley Assembly District rather than the San Jose Assembly District. If the lines do not change, it means he could be running for the same seat next fall as openly gay Campbell City Councilman Evan Low. Last week, Yeager announced he had formed an official campaign committee and began raising money for his run. But if Low’s boss, Assemblyman Paul Fong, decides to seek the seat, then both Low and Yeager likely would drop out and wait until 2014 to mount a bid.

“Anything is possible. Really,” Yeager wrote in an email. “Much is unknown, but I needed to let my intentions be known.”

Williams said there is also the possibility that Yeager could opt to seek a congressional seat, depending on how the lines shake out. He plans to address the commission Saturday and is waiting to see what changes the Latino leaders advocate.

“Ken lives a few blocks outside the San Jose Assembly District. If the Latino community is successful in keeping more Latinos in the San Jose district, it means the lines will move,” said Williams. “It is hard, as you know. You can’t go to the commission and say ‘I really want Ken Yeager to run in the San Jose district.’ You’ve got to figure out what the community of interest is.”

In San Francisco LGBT leaders plan to speak up against how the commission has drawn the lines for the city’s two Assembly Districts.

Under the draft plan several LGBT neighborhoods would move from the 13th District, which has elected three out legislators, and end up in the 12th District, which has been a launch pad for Asian lawmakers.

By carving LGBT voters out of the 13th District, it could weaken out candidates’ chances at the ballot box, warned Bowman.

“They cut out seven upper middle-class gay precincts from the district in Corona Heights, Ashbury Heights, east of Twin Peaks, and Diamond Heights then put in roughly 50,000 people from the Portola District, the Excelsior, Visitacion Valley and Sunnydale, half of which voted for Prop 8,” said Bowman, referring to the same-sex marriage ban passed in 2008. “It is bonkers. The people on the commission doing the line drawing don’t know San Francisco politics or the geography of our neighborhoods.”

The commission resorted to neighborhood boundaries developed by the city’s planning commission to help it draw the Assembly boundaries, said Dai. “We would love to know if people agree. We wanted to keep neighborhoods whole as close as possible. Most of the LGBT community is together,” said Dai. “There is still room for significant changes.”

She urged those opposed to the draft maps to not just voice their complaints but also provide solutions of how to change the lines.

“Where did we totally miss and get it wrong and why? Without the rationale anyone’s opinion is as good as anybody’s,” she said. “You have to make a tradeoff. Compelling evidence and rationale is going to win out.”

The commission is expected to release its next round of draft maps, which will have numbers for the districts, in early July. It then plans to finalize the maps by mid-August.

Dai is hopeful that more LGBT people will address the commission at its San Francisco hearing, even if it is the day after Pride.

“Don’t get too hung-over for the public hearing,” she said. “And if you are hung-over, send in an email.”

The June 27 meeting takes place from 6 to 9 p.m. inside the Cowell Theater at Fort Mason Center off Marina Boulevard.

For more info, visit wedrawthelines.ca.gov.▼

▼ <<

Travel >>

June 23-29, 2011 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 23

Tahoe and Reno

From page 13

interview.

The club has a core committee of 14 members with about 131 members who are 44-65 years old.

There are no dues; everyone pays their way, according to Little.

The biggest event of the year for CMC is the annual “Menage-aTrois,” when the club unites with Reno’s the other men’s groups the Prime Timers and Spectrum for a giant potluck, wrote Little.

Tahoe Pride was created to fill the gap left by the closure of the only gay club in the area, reported the online Reno Gay Page. The group, which meets monthly at various locations in South Lake Tahoe, is very active posting photos of its outings on its Facebook page that has 400 members.

A representative of Tahoe Pride didn’t respond to the B.A.R.’s request for an interview and a representative of Spectrum declined to comment for this article.

Rainbow Pride LGBT Renoites love their hometown and know how to show its pride. The self-proclaimed “Biggest Little City in the World” is once again hosting two gay Pride events, one in July and the other in August.

This year community leaders of Build Our Center, Rainbow Fest, and Your Gay Reno, along with local businesses, have joined Artown, an annual July event that highlights Reno’s art scene. The festival attracts an estimated 350,000 individuals that attend more than 400 events produced by the organization and its partners, according to its website.

Partnering with Artown is a huge boost for Rainbow Fest, which normally attracts an estimated 300 attendees, and signals the LGBT community’s acceptance into RenoTahoe’s wider community, said Kaye Crawford, an out lesbian who cofounded the pride festival with her friend, Shelly Palmer.

Crawford, 70, founded and formerly led Reno Pride until it was taken over by its current organizers, she said. She’s proud of the changes in attitudes towards the LGBT community she’s witnessed during the past two decades.

“The fear is gone,” said Crawford, excited to glam up the children’s section of Artown from simple face painting to a whole bunch of fun activities this year. She believes that at long last Renoites are finally seeing LGBT individuals as their co-workers, neighbors, and family members.

“Through these past few years, it’s okay to be gay, my dream come true,” she said.

Rainbow Fest will have a booth at this year’s San Francisco Pride celebration promoting its July 9 festivities and the parties happening around the event, said Crawford.

Build Our Center is organizing the commUNITY Parade as its big fundraising gala, said Jeromy Manke, 24, president of the center’s board. The parade will start at 10:30 a.m. on July 9 and wind its way along the river on Riverside Drive and end at Arlington Avenue at the foot of the bridge and entryway into Wingfield Park.

Tronix and the 5 Star Saloon are both hosting pre-Rainbow Fest events, said Meredith Tanzer, who will host the Cupcake Party at Tronix.

In August the 5 Star Saloon, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary, will host the official pre- and postReno Gay Pride parties, said Jay Wilson, manager of the popular downtown queer club that was voted the best place for queers and straights to hookup by the Reno News and Review.

On August 19 the saloon will throw its sixth annual Pink Party

Lake Tahoe offers an abundance of outdoor activities.

and on August 21 the club will welcome guests to celebrate at its after-Pride party.

For complete listing of Reno Pride events, queer travelers can pick up a copy of the Northern Nevada Pride Guide, published by Your Gay Reno, throughout Nevada and central California and Sacramento, said the publishers.

Organizers of Reno Gay Pride did not respond to multiple requests for an interview by press time.

G-rated Families and animal lovers not interested in parties might want to check out Sierra Safari Zoo. The day we toured the zoo, kids were laughing and dragging their parents around in excitement at the variety of animals in their large cages.

The privately-run nonprofit zoo is the home of more than 150 animals from around the world.

The zoo was founded by three gay men, Jimmie Martin and the late Dale McDaniel and Dave Dawson, who were friends and had a passion for collecting exotic animals, said Martin. Martin showed us around the four-acre zoo just outside of Reno that has been open to the public for nearly 22 years and is now supported through donations and volunteers.

Reno’s gay Pride won’t end with summer. The Reno Gayla Film Festival opens October 22. The one-day queer film festival will show about three or four films, said Pamela Brooks. The location will be announced soon, she said.

The festival was launched three years ago by Brooks and her partner Angela, who simply wanted to go out on a movie date and see themselves reflected on the silver screen, Brooks said.

“Reno is a wonderful place to be gay for many reasons,” said Brooks, 51, who is vice president of the film festival, and “our stories are just as valid as everyone else’s.”

The festival, which raises the estimated $2,000 to produce it through loyal donors and is run by a five-member volunteer board, increasingly is attracting upwards of 120 attendees that purchase either all day passes ($20) or $6 tickets to individual films, said Brooks.

Where to stay for Pride Reno’s queer community loves the Peppermill, the family-owned casino and resort that welcomes LGBT guests with its proud display of rainbow lights off of South Virginia Street. A four-minute drive from the heart of downtown Reno, the casino and resort recently underwent a multi-million renovation that designed a separate guest entrance from the smoke-filled casino floor into the Tuscany Tower, built in 2007. The TAG-approved resort provides a variety of dining and entertainment options including Reno’s number one nightclub, the Edge, four fine dining restaurants, and Spa Toscana. Green travelers might also be impressed that the resort operates on a fully sustainable geothermal energy system.

The Silver Legacy, located in

the heart of downtown Reno, also underwent a multimillion renovation this past year. The sister casino to hotel the El Dorado – which currently is showing the fanciful “Illuminaire” and will be home to the touring Hairspray production later this summer – is clustered with El Dorado and Circus Circus, all gay-friendly lodging options.

Foodfest Lake Tahoe and Reno’s foodie scene continues to evolve. Now it’s easier to find good restaurants and farm fresh food than ever before with Edible Reno-Tahoe.

The food magazine, run by girlfriends Amanda Burden and Jaci Goodman, is shedding light on the region’s emerging dining scene.

Former San Franciscans who met and fell in love at the Lexington Club, Burden and Goodman headed to the hills to find out that Reno wasn’t so hillbilly after all.

“When we decided to move to Reno I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, Reno?’” said Burden. Both women were seriously devoted to food and were concerned about what Reno would have to offer. “We were See page 24 >>

ebar.com

<< Travel

24 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 23-29, 2011

<<

Tahoe and Reno From page 23

surprised when we got up here.

There were quite a few food choices.”

The food scene has evolved so much within the past several years that there is enough to write about it, said Burden, a former Reno magazine editor with 20 years of journalism experience. Burden has 200 subscribers with an estimated 70,000 readership and 25,000 Facebook friends. She prints 20,000 issues quarterly that are quickly snapped up off the racks, she said.

“I fell in love with this community,” said Burden, 45.

Goodman, 47, quit her dental sales business and now handles advertising sales for the magazine.

One of Reno’s newest food offerings is the Daily Bagel. The bagel and coffee shop opened its doors last August in the space that was to be occupied by the Firehouse Grill next to Salon 7, but the restaurant never opened. Co-owned by Melanie Payne, 46, a former accountant, and her boyfriend Jeremy Gray, 22, they run the shop that offers a variety of handmade bagels and sandwiches with the help of their friend Rachel Williams, a transgender woman.

The community has responded well to the bagel shop, Payne and Williams said.

It appeared to be true the day I met some of Reno’s queer community leaders for breakfast. People steadily came in and out of the shop as well as stayed and hung out while a musician played the flute. A local artist stopped in to check out his exhibit on the cafe’s walls.

“People really like us and want us to be successful,” Payne said, adding that she gives back to the community as much as the community gives to her.

Back to the mountains Nestled in the hills between Lake Tahoe and Reno is Girl Farm, a lesbian-run community farm that has been providing member families fresh meats and produce for the past three years. Wendy Barlow, 44, a former political aide and nightclub owner, founded the farm.

She runs the 97.6-acre farm with her partner, Jill Heaton, Ph.D., an ecological environmental geography professor at the University of Nevada, Reno, and her younger sister, Channelle Barlow, 42, who is also a lesbian.

The farm offers tours to guests and soon will offer farm stays, said Barlow, in addition to families coming to pick their own food and feed livestock. The Reno native never imagined that she would return to Reno to live and join the five generations of Italian farmers

<<

Banking on Pride From page 20

Project Founder Glen Callender said in an email they would be one of the “weirdest” things at Pride. They’ll also be timely, as San Francisco residents will have a chance to vote on a circumcision ban in November.

Admission to Pride is free, although there’s a suggested $5 donation at the festival gates.

Pink Saturday The unofficial Pink Saturday street party takes place June 25, following the Dyke March. The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence are organizing it and there are some changes this year.

No alcoholic drinks will be allowed in the event area. People attending this year won’t be permitted to bring alcohol outside the neighborhood’s bars, and any alcohol that attendees try to bring in will be confiscated, according to Sister Risque, Pink Saturday

▼

that are her ancestors, but she’s found peace.

“I live a blessed life,” she said.

Fine dining is also reaching North Lake Tahoe. Jack Rabbit Moon in Incline Village is giving the Hyatt’s five-star restaurant the Lone Eagle Grill some competition.

The lesbian-owned restaurant we discovered last September during a late summer getaway opened in the fall of 2009. The chef and owner Amy Simpson began serving brunch from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. June 18, at the restaurant that previously was only open during the evenings starting at 5:30.

This is the second restaurant Simpson, 44, an Orinda native, has opened in North Lake Tahoe, she said. She sold Fredericks Bistro, also located in Incline Village, in 2001 and took some time off from the culinary world.

Simpson fell in love with Lake Tahoe as a child when her parents brought her to the lake while her father worked on developing condominiums in the area, she said.

“It has everything I love to do,” said Simpson, listing off the number of outdoor sports, but it also provides an opportunity for her to create her signature menus that she describes as “American cuisine with the flairs of the world” and space to provide a quality dining experience.

“There’s also a great demand for great restaurants,” she said.

Lake Tahoe isn’t lacking in outdoor fun bringing people out under the sun for culinary and artistic delights.

On July 2, beer lovers might consider checking out the annual Beerfest and Bluegrass Festival’s more than 20 breweries that will be present at the Village at Northstar.

Not to mention skiing.

Alpine Meadows and Squaw Valley USA will open its slopes July 2 and Donner Summit, Sugar Bowl Ski Resort will open the ski lifts July 4, for 2010-2011 and 2011-2012 season pass holders only.

Travelers might consider attending two festivals celebrating a decade of bringing art, food, and a variety of beer and wine to Lake Tahoe. The Art, Wine and Classical Guitar Music Festival hosted by Squaw Valley will have two stages with performers and 20 local and regional fine artists and crafters July 16-17. You might also want to check out the Brews, Jazz and Funk Fest, August 13-14. The Hyatt Regency Lake Tahoe will host Wine on the Water featuring 20 wineries and a dozen local restaurants at the Cottage Green August 21.▼ For more information, visit www.gotahoenorth.com and www.laketahoehyatt.com.

committee chair.

Safety concerns around the evening have been an issue, especially after last year, when Stephen Powell, 19, was shot to death around the time the street party ended. San Francisco Police spokesman Lieutenant Troy Dangerfield said Tuesday that the investigation into Powell’s death remains active.

Officers at Mission Station are satisfied with the changes.

“I’m really on board with the Sisters’ approach, and their continued interaction with the business owners, the residents, and the police department to provide a safe environment for a great celebration,” said Sergeant Chuck Limbert, LGBT liaison for Mission Station.

He said private security officers at the gates, which open at 6 p.m., would check people at random with electronic wands for metal objects, guns, and weapons. A $7 donation is suggested.

For more information, visit www. sfpride.org.▼

June 23-29, 2011 • Bay Area Reporter • 25

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Legal Notices>> SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA RAPID TRANSIT DISTRICT RFP NO. 6M4137 EXTENSION OF TIME FOR RECEIPT OF PROPOSALS NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the General Manager of the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District has extended the time for receipt of Proposals until the hour of 2:00 p.m., Tuesday, June 28, 2011, at the District’s Offices, 23rd Floor Receptionist, 300 Lakeside Drive, Oakland, California 94612 (by Hand Delivery), or to the District Secretary’s Office, P.O. Box 12688, Oakland, CA 94604-2688 (by U.S. Mail), for Supplier Services for the Rental of Digital Monochrome Copy Machines at Various District Offices/Facilities, RFP No. 6M4137, as more fully described in the RFP Documents.

Dated at Oakland, California, this 16th day of June, 2011./s/ Patricia K. Williams Kenneth A. Duron, District Secretary San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District 6/23/11 • CNS-2122923# • BAY AREA REPORTER

state of california in and for the county of san francisco file# cnc-11-547777 In the matter of the application of DANIEL CANDELARIO SANTIAGO for change of name.

The application of DANIEL CANDELARIO SANTIAGO for change of name having been filed in Court, and it appearing from said application that DANIEL CANDELARIO SANTIAGO filed an application proposing that his/her name be changed to DANIEL SANTIAGO CANDELARIO. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Room 218 on the 28th of JULY, 2011 at 9:00 am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

jun 2, 9,16,23, 2011 statement file A-033534000 The following person(s) is/are doing business as TAKES OF YOU, 4249 18th St., San Francisco, CA 94114. This business is conducted by an individual, signed Floyd Walls.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/03/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/03/11.

jun 2, 9,16,23, 2011 statement file A-033533900 The following person(s) is/are doing business as TAKES OF YOU, 538 Castro St., San Francisco, CA 94114. This business is conducted by an individual, signed Floyd T. Walls.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/03/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/03/11.

jun 2, 9,16,23, 2011 statement file A-033589400 The following person(s) is/are doing business as LATITUDE 19, 3118 22nd St., San Francisco, CA 94110. This business is conducted by an individual, signed James B. Lappin Jr.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/26/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/26/11.

jun 2, 9,16,23, 2011 statement file A-033591800 The following person(s) is/are doing business as IMPROV CONSULTANTS, 5808 California St., San Francisco, CA 94121. This business is conducted by an individual, signed Lisa Safron.

The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/27/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/27/11.

jun 2, 9,16,23, 2011 statement file A-033589000 The following person(s) is/are doing business as CHRIS’ SPA NAIL 3821 Geary Blvd., San Francisco, CA 94118. This business is conducted by an individual,signed Cuc Thi Tran.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/25/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/25/11.

jun 2, 9,16,23, 2011 statement file A-033540600 The following person(s) is/are doing business as SAN FRANCISCO BROKERS CLUB, 564 Market St.,Suite 721, San Francisco, CA 94104. This business is conducted by an individual,signed Stephen Larwence.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/04/11.

The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/04/11.

jun 2, 9,16,23, 2011 state of california in and for the county of san francisco file# cnc-11-547814 In the matter of the application of LE VAN NGUYEN for change of name. The application of LE VAN NGUYEN for change of name having been filed in Court, and it appearing from said application that LE VAN NGUYEN filed an application proposing that his/her name be changed to TONY VAN NGUYEN LEE Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Room 218 on the 11th of AUGUST, 2011 at 9:00 am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

jun16,23,30,jul 7, 2011

statement file A-033593800 The following person(s) is/are doing business as PASEO PROPERTIES,355 Vista Linda, Mill Valley, CA 94941. This business is conducted by a limited liability company,signed Porter Farthing.

The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/15/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/27/11.

jun 2, 9,16,23, 2011 statement file A-033590700 The following person(s) is/are doing business as VITORIA ROOTER AND PLUMBING, 1438 34th Ave., San Francisco, CA 94122. This business is conducted by an individual,signed Hai Yuan Huang.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/26/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/26/11.

jun 2, 9,16,23, 2011 statement file A-033590100 The following person(s) is/are doing business as JAZZ CELLARS, 1406 ST.Kitts Lane, Foster City, CA 94404. This business is conducted by an limited liability company,signed Joseph J. Lazzara.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/26/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/26/11.

jun 2, 9,16,23, 2011 statement file A-033594000 The following person(s) is/are doing business as EB AUTO SPORT,1939 Oakdale Ave., San Francisco, CA 94124. This business is conducted by a general partnership,signed Meelan Bravo.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/23/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/27/11.

jun 2, 9,16,23, 2011 statement file A-033587900 The following person(s) is/are doing business as ORPHAN ANDY’S, 3991 A 17th St., San Francisco, CA 94114. This business is conducted by a corporation, signed Dennis Ziebell.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/18/77. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/25/11.

jun 2, 9,16,23, 2011 statement file A-033598500 The following person(s) is/are doing business as EMC BUILDING MAINTENANCE, 1185 Shawnee Ave., San Francisco, CA 94112. This business is conducted by an individual, signed Enrique Nacias.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/01/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/01/11.

jun 2, 9,16,23, 2011 nOTICE OF APPLICATIoN to sell AlCOHOLIC BEVERAGEs To Whom It May Concern: The name(s) of the applicant(s) is/are : ALIMENTO LLC. The applicants listed above are applying to the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control at 71 Stevenson Street, Suite 1500, San Francisco, CA 94105 to sell alcoholic beverages at 507 Columbus Ave., San Francisco, CA 94133-2801.

Type of license applied for:

20- Off-sale beer and wine jun 16,23,30,2011 nOTICE OF APPLICATIoN to sell AlCOHOLIC BEVERAGEs To Whom It May Concern: The name(s) of the applicant(s) is/are : MEERIYAGERD INC. The applicants listed above are applying to the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control at 71 Stevenson Street, Suite 1500, San Francisco, CA 94105 to sell alcoholic beverages at 530-532 Valencia St., San Francisco, CA 94110-1115. Type of license applied for:

41- On-sale beer and wine – Eating place jun 16,23,30,2011 statement file A-033553300 The following person(s) is/are doing business as TAREK SAIDI CHEF SERVICE, 2290 Stockton St., #309, San Francisco, CA 94133. This business is conducted by an individual, signed Tarek Saidi.

The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/09/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/10/11.

jun 9,16,23,30,2011 statement file A-033603800

statement file A-033613000

statement file A-033619000

The following person(s) is/are doing business as BAY BLASTING, 4130 Cesar Chavez St., San Francisco, CA 94131. This business is conducted by an individual, signed James Hickey.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/07/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/07/11.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as HEAVENLY ART STORE, 4350 Kirkham St.,Suite 202,San Francisco, CA 94122-2952. This business is conducted by an individual, signed Sukilena Quin.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/04/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/09/11.

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jun16,23,30,jul 7, 2011 statement file A-033579900

The following person(s) is/are doing business as READINGS BY NINA, 2157 Lombard St.,San Francisco, CA 94123. This business is conducted by an individual, signed Stephanie Wain.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/05/06. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/01/11.

jun 9,16,23,30,2011 statement file A-033598400 The following person(s) is/are doing business as NO SMALL CHANGE,911 Rockdale Drive, San Francisco, CA 94127. This business is conducted by an individual, signed Manuel Gregory Quiroga.

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 06/01/11.

jun 9,16,23,30,2011 statement file A-033595200 The following person(s) is/are doing business as JAMAJAZ FAMILY DAY CARE, 180 San Pablo Ave., San Francisco, CA 94127. This business is conducted by an individual, signed Venetia H. Gatus.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/23/10. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/31/11.

jun 9,16,23,30,2011 statement file A-033594800 The following person(s) is/are doing business as TRISTAR HOME LOANS, 88 Kearny St.,3rd Floor, San Francisco, CA 94108. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, signed Brett McGovern.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/20/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/31/11.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as KURAYA, 2345 Harrison St.,San Francisco, CA 94110. This business is conducted by a general partnership, signed Jin Li.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/09/11.The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/09/11.

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The following person(s) is/are doing business as Probate BRUNCH DRUNK •LOVE, 2389 Mission St.,San Francisco, CA 94110.

This business is conducted • Wills and Living Trusts by a limited liability company, signed Jonathan • LLC/contracts Panday.The registrant(s) commenced to transact • TIC listed Agreements business under the above fictitious business name or names on•NA. The statement was filed Domestic Partnership with the City and County of San Francisco, CA FLAT FEE on 06/15/11.

Flood jun Building shelleyfeinberg.com 23,30,jul 7,14, 2011 870statement Market St. file A-033631200 415.421.1893

jun16,23,30,jul 7, 2011 statement file A-033612300 The following person(s) is/are doing business as PLUMFILE LLC, 566 S.Van Ness Ave.,#25, San Francisco, CA 94110. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, signed Jennifer Wolf.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 02/01/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/07/11.

jun16,23,30,jul 7, 2011 statement file A-033616900 The following person(s) is/are doing business as COMMUNICATION RESOURCES, 20 Quickstep Lane,#3,San Francisco, CA 94115. This business is conducted by an individual, signed Whitney Wong.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/09/91. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/08/11.

jun16,23,30,jul 7, 2011 statement file A-033624300

The following person(s) is/are doing business as HEALTHY PRODUCE,645 Clement St., San Francisco, CA 94118. This business is conducted by a corporation, signed Karen Wong. 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 06/0211.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as KARNEY MUSIC AND SOUNDS, 743 Wisconsin St.,Apt. Y,San Francisco, CA 94107. This business is conducted by an individual, signed Anna K. Karney.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/13/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/13/11.

jun 9,16,23,30,2011

jun16,23,30,jul 7, 2011

The following person(s) is/are doing business as CUSTOMIZED HEALTH SOLUTIONS, 1454A Union St.,San Francisco, CA 94109. This business is conducted by an idividual, signed Kathryn Heath.

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 06/01/11.

jun 23,30,jul 7,14, 2011 statement file A-033635200

The following person(s) is/are doing business as CICIL’S, 101 Spear St., Suite B-5, San Francisco, CA 94105. This business is conducted by a husband & wife, signed Juan Carlos Prado.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/16/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/16/11.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as HOUSE 530, 530 Valencia St.,San Francisco, CA 94110. This business is conducted by a corporation, signed Krittiya Meeriyagerd.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/17/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/17/11.

jun 23,30,jul 7,14, 2011

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The following person(s) is/are doing business as LAW OFFICE OF CHRISTOPHER PEIL, 555 Fulton St., #108, San Francisco, CA 94102. This business is conducted by an individual, signed Christopher Peil.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 06/03/11.

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The following person(s) is/are doing business as BANCARELLA, 350 Powell St.,San Francisco, CA 94108. This business is conducted by a corporation, signed Gary Rulli.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement wasLaw filed Offices with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/20/11.

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statement file A-033619600 The following person(s) is/are doing business as KURAYA, 2425 California St.,San Francisco, CA 94115. This business is conducted by a general partnership, signed Jin Li.The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/09/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/09/11.

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Pride 2011

The

Vol. 41 • No. 25 • June 23-29, 2011

Illustration by T. Scott King

ONS } { SECOND OF THREE SECTIONS

30 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 23-29, 2011

Serving the LGBT communities since 1971

Read more online at www.ebar.com

June 23-29, 2011 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 31

<< Pride 2011

32 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 23-29, 2011

▼

Rick Gerharter

Bartender Skyler Stover serves fresh margaritas to Sean Stout and James Pettigrew during the annual Pride Party held at the LGBT Community Center June 19. Center officials said between 450-500 people attended the popular Pride kickoff event, and helped net an estimated $25,000 for the center’s programs.

A time of challenge for many nonprofits

by Seth Hemmelgarn

F

rom the moment it was announced as the theme for this year’s San Francisco LGBT Pride Parade and celebration, “In Pride We Trust” sounded like a slogan looking for trouble.

Problems had already started to emerge for the LGBT Pride Celebration Committee. Some community partners complained that they had been shortchanged for their work on the 2010 festival.

At the annual general membership meeting last September, thenboard President Mikayla Connell announced the organization faced a deficit of about $99,000.

About a month later, both Connell and Executive Director Amy Andre announced their resignations. In December, the city controller’s office revealed that Pride’s debt was $225,000. (Interim Executive Director Brendan Behan said last week that’s down to $116,000.)

But Pride isn’t the only LGBTrelated nonprofit that’s had a rough time since last year’s celebration drew hundreds of thousands of people to the city. Clients receiving help through local agencies for everything from medical care to housing are experiencing some anxious times.

Two examples stand out.

See page 34 >>

Read more online at www.ebar.com

June 23-29, 2011 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 33

<< Pride 2011

34 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 23-29, 2011

<<

▼

Nonprofits From page 32

In late January, the board of LyonMartin Health Services, which serves women and transgender people, made the surprise announcement that the clinic serving almost 2,500 patients was more than $500,000 in debt and would have to close in days. The clinic remains open but continues to struggle.

As of May, Academy of Friends, which is known for its pricey Academy Awards galas, owed more than $100,000 to support the 11 HIV and AIDS-related nonprofits that had helped them with last year’s party. But late last month, AOF reportedly told its partners they wouldn’t be getting their money. The organization’s future isn’t clear.

The San Francisco LGBT Community Center has seen

Rick Gerharter

Customers shop at Under One Roof; the agency is rebounding from problems that were compounded by the recession and sluggish recovery.

financial challenges of its own in the last decade, including having to go to the city for a $157,000 loan last year. But Executive Director Rebecca

Rolfe said she anticipates it would finish its fiscal year “in the black” this year. In 2003 the center had to retool after its initial operating plan failed

Lydia Gonzales

Bicyclists head out from the Cow Palace at the start of the 10th annual AIDS Life/Cycle ride earlier this month. The event raised more than $13 million for the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center.

to generate the expected revenue.

When it opened in 2002, the center lost $642,000 in six months. Rolfe, who took over as executive director in 2007, has continued to steady the center’s finances.

Rolfe said limited city, state, and federal funds are among the challenges that local nonprofits face, and that “appears to be something that will be true for a long time to come.”

However, she said “on average” the city’s LGBT nonprofits are “extremely trustworthy.”

“There are a lot of checks and balances in place to assure people their dollars are being spent in the right ways,” Rolfe said. She encourages people to “hold the nonprofits accountable, and to ask questions, but I think the vast majority of our nonprofits are extremely efficient and extremely effective at what we do.”

Aside from government funding cuts, individual donations and other revenue sources have decreased in recent years. The recession was especially rough from 2008 to 2009 and the recovery has been sluggish.

The Bay Area Reporter recently analyzed the 2005 and 2009 tax filings for 20 LGBT-related nonprofits based in San Francisco. Not all the agencies’ fiscal years covered the same time spans. Most of the documents reflect the periods beginning in 2005 and ending in 2006, and 2009 to 2010. The 2009 filings are the latest available for most of the organizations.

The documents, which are known as 990 forms, are just one way to gauge organizations’ financial health. The data the B.A.R. reviewed indicate some problems, but seem to show that most of the city’s gay nonprofits are being run efficiently.

The data indicate that from the filings beginning in 2005 to those starting in 2009, combined revenue for the agencies went from about

$63 million to almost $68 million.

Despite that apparent increase, it’s hard to tell what the data would look like if it weren’t for the recession.

Some nonprofits’ clients have seen the impact of the recession and are concerned about what it could mean for them.

Tenderloin Health The 2005 and 2009 990 tax filings for Tenderloin Health, which provides housing services to poor San Franciscans who are the most at risk for HIV/AIDS, show that the agency’s net assets went from about $1.1 million for 2005 to negative $182,951 for 2009.

David Fernandez, who became the nonprofit’s executive director in November 2009, said he couldn’t explain the drop. The reasons weren’t immediately clear from the most recent 990 filing. He said someone who could answer questions about the figure was involved in the agency’s strategic planning meeting, which Fernandez was on a break from when he spoke with the B.A.R. on Monday, June 20.

He expressed confidence the nonprofit would survive. “We are struggling through it, but we’re definitely not in any danger” of closing right now, Fernandez said.

“We’re going on a pretty heavy fundraising campaign,” and the agency has just hired Pamela Fitzgerald as its new development director, he said.

“We’re going after a lot more unrestricted funds to be able to take care of some of the things I inherited” when he became the agency’s director, Fernandez said.

He said in their strategic planning meetings, Tenderloin Health’s leadership team was discussing “where we are today,” where they need to be, and where there are gaps to fill. He said they’re “trying to look out three years” and determine what fundraising goals they need to reach in order to maintain and build on programs.

The agency is hoping not to make cuts, he said, but there’s uncertainty over some HIV and AIDS-related funding. He said they think they can handle whatever the reductions are by reorganizing, which they’ve already done with the housing program. There, they generally have one manager per site, he said, but they’ve developed a process for having a manager across sites.

Fernandez said his current annual compensation is about $140,000.

Asked if a pay cut might help his agency’s situation, Fernandez said, “We’ve talked about that, from my position all the way down, if necessary.” He said he thinks the agency’s budget is about $7.1 million.

Indirect expenses By one measure, at least, Tenderloin Health appears to be all right.

One way to gauge the efficiency of an agency is to look at the See page 36 >>

Read more online at www.ebar.com

June 23-29, 2011 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 35

<<Pride 2011

36 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 23-29, 2011

▼

Jane Philomen Cleland

San Francisco AIDS Foundation client John Brown said that the Black Brothers Esteem program has changed his life.

<<

Nonprofits From page 34

proportion of expenses allotted for program services versus management, fundraising, and general costs. Together, the latter are typically known as indirect expenses.

Nonprofits aim for a benchmark of 20 to 25 percent or less, according to nonprofit experts.

Bill Ambrunn, a local attorney with experience in nonprofit management, said the figure is “a measure of efficiency,” and generally, “if it goes over 20 percent, it really raises a red flag.” He emphasized he wasn’t commenting on specific agencies.

Sandra Miniutti, of Charity Navigator, which rates nonprofits, said a 25/75 split is “a good benchmark,” referring to indirect expenses versus direct expenses.

For Tenderloin Health, the percentage of expenses that goes toward indirect costs was 11 percent for 2009.

“We’re definitely trying to keep expenses as low as we can,” said Fernandez.

Under One Roof appears to be a different story. For 2009, the shop, which returns its net proceeds to numerous HIV/AIDS service organizations but has been struggling in recent years, has an indirect percentage of 45.

The shop recently distributed a total of $10,000 to its 23 AIDS service organization partners, but that’s considerably less than what it used to dole out.

Executive Director Beth Feingold has acknowledged times have been tough for the agency, and admitted the 45 percent figure is “very high.”

However, she said in a recent interview that Under One Roof would shut down “over my dead body.” She added, “We’re really strong and stable right now, all I need now is retail sales.”

The shop is saddled with a rent of $16,000 a month, though Feingold said a board member generally pays $5,000 of that.

Asked whether shoppers realized how much money goes toward the nonprofit’s indirect expenses, Feingold said, “It’s not one of the questions people tend to ask us.”

She said she’d like to be able to say she was spending “10 cents out of a dollar on fixed overhead,” but the space “was taken over during a go-go economy, and now we know

Agencies often need help Serving as a nonprofit board member or volunteer can be a rewarding experience.

Organizations are often looking for interested people to help out. If you have a passion, contact a nonprofit agency to see how you can help.

it was a house of cards.” She said she continues to try to improve the figure.

At least one person visiting the shop last week seemed unconcerned with Under One Roof’s administration and fundraising costs. A woman who identified herself only as Caroline said, “As long as it’s 50/50, it sounds okay.” She added it’s “a good cause” and the shop has “wonderful things.”

One of the city’s largest nonprofits, and the largest HIV/AIDS service organization, is the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, which works to stop the spread of HIV and, among other programs, operates the gay health center Magnet. Like Under One Roof, SFAF also put a higher proportion of its expenses toward indirect costs than many other nonprofits the B.A.R. examined. For the 2009 filing, those costs were at about 35 percent.

Jon Zimman, SFAF’s chief financial officer, said the 35 percent figure is correct, but he questioned using 20 percent to 25 percent as a benchmark for efficiency, and he said he wasn’t familiar with that indicator.

“Every organization is different,” he said. “It depends on the nature of the services one is providing, and the environment in which they’re being provided,” he added, referring to the costs of doing business in “one of the most expensive urban centers in the country.”

When the B.A.R. explained that the other agencies being examined were also based in San Francisco, and most of their indirect expense proportions were lower, Zimman said, “I can’t comment on other agencies without actually looking at their numbers. ... There are a variety of ways of measuring the efficiency of a nonprofit, and the challenge is comparing apples to oranges.”

From 2008 to 2010, the nonprofit’s funds from sources including individual contributions and foundations declined. SFAF reduced expenses from $21.4 million in fiscal year 2008-09 to $19 million in FY 2009-10, and it has moved its headquarters to a cheaper space.

SFAF’s FY 2011-12 budget is $23.6 million.

Zimman said they expected revenue for 2010-11 would be at least as good as, “if not a little better, than last year.” He also said, as a result of additional contracts from the city, they increased program services in 2010-11, such as more testing at Magnet.

John Brown, 45, is a client living with AIDS who’s involved with Black Brothers Esteem, one of SFAF’s programs. He said the group has “totally changed my life.” He said it’s given him a place to talk to other black men about issues including relationships and HIV and AIDS. He’s also been able to go into the community and advocate to other black men and women, he said.

He said the program’s “trying to See page 37 >>

▼

Pride 2011>>

June 23-29, 2011 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 37

Jane Philomen Cleland

Asian and Pacific Islander Wellness Center Executive Director Lance Toma

<<

Nonprofits From page 36

stay strong,” but “you hear about other agencies closing their doors, and it just kind of makes you wonder. It’s scary.”

Told about Brown’s remarks, Zimman said, “The foundation is doing everything we can to maintain our current level of programs and services and, where possible, to increase the services that we provide.”

He said the agency has “no current plans” to curtail Black Brothers Esteem “or any other programs that we’re currently operating.”

In the past few years SFAF’s housing subsidy program and mental health services with the Stonewall Project have seen reductions, according to controller Chris Damon.

Administrators’ compensation at most of the agencies that the B.A.R. reviewed has risen, and SFAF is no exception. Total CEO compensation there was about $186,000 for 2005.

Current CEO Neil Giuliano’s salary is $249,000. That’s one of the highest amounts for any of the people in the B.A.R.’s data.

Asked about the figure, Zimman explained the CEO’s compensation is “a board decision” that takes into account what “similarly situated” CEOs at other Bay Area nonprofits are paid.

In at least one way, SFAF is more forthcoming than many of the other agencies the B.A.R. examined. Few of the other nonprofits provide nearly as much financial information on their website as the AIDS foundation does.

Other agencies St. James Infirmary, which offers medical and social services for sex workers, has seen problems, too, and not all of them directly relate to the economy. In recent years, it has had a fire, and it has been burglarized.

The agency also had to buy new computers after a virus wiped out its old ones.

Executive Director Naomi Akers said funding from sources, including the city, has been dropping. She indicated that in 2009 she had to go for three months without pay. She said her compensation is $70,000, which appears to make her one of the lowest-compensated nonprofit directors the B.A.R. studied.

Funding problems have come at an especially bad time.

“Last year, we saw twice as many new people as we did the year before that,” Akers said. She said increased demand includes clients participating in the food program.

Craigslist provided a total of $250,000 to support St. James, and she hopes that money will get them through the end of the year. No one from the company responded to an interview request made through

their website.

Akers said St. James probably isn’t in danger of closing, but it might have to cut a day of operation.

For her agency, the percentage of expenses going toward indirect costs for 2009 was about 33 percent. Asked about the figure, she said, “We’re not a top heavy organization with a bloated management overhead.”

After the interview, Akers sent an email to the B.A.R. saying, “I think I just need to work more closely with our accountant to see if we can get [the indirect expense amount] down ... . And there is no way we spend 33 percent of our money on indirect” costs.

Asian and Pacific Islander Wellness Center has also seen problems in recent years.

In January 2010, the agency ceased its operations in Oakland and Daly City. At the time, Executive Director Lance Toma cited decreases in funding and said the decisions were related to ensuring “that we can continue our services in San Francisco.”

In a recent interview, Toma said, “I think we’re doing well, considering the challenges both in San Francisco and at the national level. I think we’re also doing some really bold and innovative things.”

Earlier this year, the agency opened a free medical clinic.

Toma said the nonprofit’s board and staff have focused on development, with “a very intentional outreach to individual donors” and developing their annual major donor campaign.

That’s “really resulted in consistent and increased giving over time, even despite the rough economy,” he said.

Mark Agtane, 44, who’s living with HIV, is an API Wellness Center client. He’s also on the consumer advocacy board.

He said he thinks about the nonprofit’s finances “a lot” and he worries about cuts. However, he said he has to give the people running the agency a chance “to prove they’re capable” of doing their work, especially the board of directors.

Toma said, for now, the main cut it appeared his agency would need to make is related to Asian and Pacific Islander/gay and bi men programming. That’s due to a lack of funding he expects from the city.

Troy Brunet, the incoming president of the Castro Lions and a fundraiser for local groups, believes fundraising is rebounding this year.

“It is getting better to raise money,” said Brunet, a Tenderloin Health board member for the past five years. “People are getting aware again of community needs and are not solely focused on their own personal expenses. That is a real good thing.”▼ Matthew S. Bajko contributed to

<< Pride 2011

38 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 23-29, 2011

▼

Nonprofit boards seek better oversight

by Seth Hemmelgarn

L

ate last December, Jamie Fountain, then the treasurer for the San Francisco LGBT Pride Celebration Committee’s board of directors, admitted some mistakes in an email to the Bay Area Reporter.

He essentially acknowledged that longtime board members were incapable of overseeing the organization’s finances.

Nobody on the board “understood how to read financial reports, and could not independently evaluate the reports which said cash flow was tight but Pride would be okay,” Fountain said in response to an email from the B.A.R. asking why the board had allowed debt at the organization to pile up. The city controller’s office had released an assessment earlier that month reporting that Pride was $225,000 in debt.

Former Pride Executive Director Amy Andre, who left the agency in

Courtesy Stacy Pike Long Jane Philomen Cleland

Stacy Pike Long, a patient of the Lyon-Martin Health Services clinic, joined the agency’s board of directors this year.

Demetri Moshoyannis, right, executive director of Folsom Street Events, met last week with, counterclockwise, Deff Whitmore, Franco Beneduce, Kristin Slye, and Andrea Lundgurst to start planning this year’s Deviants party that closes out the Folsom Street Fair.

November after just over a year on the job, had said she had an MBA, Fountain noted, though he didn’t mention Andre by name.

“We relied on staff ’s interpreting financial conditions and assurances that fundraising efforts and new hires would perform, and we

just needed to give it some time,” Fountain said. “We gave it too much time.” One former Pride staffer disputed Fountain’s comments.

In light of recent fiscal troubles at several LGBT-related nonprofits it has become apparent that some boards have practiced poor oversight and planning of the agencies they were tasked with monitoring. Some are moving to ensure their board members have more fiscal knowledge.

Catherine Moller Spaulding, city performance deputy director in the controller’s office, expressed some sympathy for board members, who typically are volunteers.

“These are good people who mean well and do a lot of good for their communities, but oftentimes people are not aware of what the board’s role should be, and how to engage,” Spaulding said in a recent interview. She added the controller’s office has had “really great response” when it has worked with others on educating people.

Spaulding, who herself is on the board of the theater CounterPulse, said she and other controller’s office staffers would like to think that through their work, which includes trainings, they’re spreading the word about “what good board governance is.”

She said there’s been “a lot of interest in our training,” and they’re doing two sessions a year now.

Payoffs of oversight Despite the recent recession and sluggish economy, which has hampered fundraising for many charitable organizations, Folsom Street Events, which produces the famous Folsom Street Fair, Up Your Alley fair, and associated parties, appears to have remained strong. In November 2010, the organization presented checks totaling $326,161 to beneficiaries, and Executive Director Demetri Moshoyannis has said everyone received full payment.

That stands in contrast to SF Pride, where several community partners complained last year that they had been shortchanged. Pride interim Executive Director Brendan Behan said this week that the agencies would be paid off before the upcoming festivities this weekend.

One likely factor in Folsom Street’s success is the amount of attention the group’s board has paid to financial matters.

In an interview last year, Moshoyannis said having experienced board members who know how to read a budget “carefully and wisely is a really important thing.” He also said, “At Folsom Street Events, we meet twice a month every month, and during fair season we meet weekly in July and September,” and those meetings include “thinking about how can we further reduce expenses” and bring in more income.

Folsom Street Events board Treasurer Thomas Pscheidt has

been on the panel for 11 years.

In an interview last week, he said Folsom’s board is “a working board,” and each member’s responsible for something, whether it’s coordinating volunteers or overseeing recycling efforts.

“It might have been true 15 years ago that the board was a big club,” said Pscheidt. “... It was an honor to be on the board of directors, and you could run around saying, ‘I’m important.’” But now, when people with that attitude “discover they have to work, they fall out at a certain point,” he said.

Moshoyannis said last week that people are required to be associates before they become board members, and “the process of grooming associates into board members can take a year to three years, sometimes, until they feel they’re ready and we feel they’re ready.”

Working to improve In late January, the board of Lyon-Martin Health Services, which provides care to women and transgender people, came close to abandoning almost 2,500 patients.

Facing more than $500,000 in debt, the clinic’s board had announced it would shut down the nonprofit in days, despite not having made plans for where patients would go.

Asked at the time if the board had thought it could just close the clinic and be done with it, board Treasurer Peter Balon said, “Yeah, we did, actually. We just didn’t know about all the rules.”

As of last week, the only person who had been on Lyon-Martin’s board in late January and still remained was Balon, the treasurer.

Stacy Pike Long, who’s been a patient of the clinic for about three years, was elected to the board in April. She’s filling one of the consumer slots on the board and also chairs the nominations committee.

“I think having boards that don’t consist of anyone that’s actually using the services of the organization is really, really ridiculous,” Long said. “It results in decisions that basically don’t prioritize the needs of the people that the clinic was meant to serve.”

Asked if she thought that’s what happened at Lyon-Martin, Long said, “It’s complicated. Now that I have a little more information, I don’t necessarily think that’s what happened” and the board had done “what they could.” However, she said, “I do think they could have done a lot better in terms of not letting it get to that point in the first place.”

Long said she didn’t have any financial oversight background, other than being self-employed, and joining the panel is “scary.” However, she said she’s “working really hard to get folks on the board” who do have experience overseeing finances.

See page 42 >>

Read more online at www.ebar.com

June 23-29, 2011 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 39

<< Pride 2011

40 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 23-29, 2011

▼

Jane Philomen Cleland

Brian Basinger is director of AIDS Housing Alliance/San Francisco.

Groups that buck the trend

by Seth Hemmelgarn

D

espite the problems that have hit many of San Francisco’s LGBT-related nonprofits in the past year, some – while not completely trouble-free – appear to be faring better than others.

What those organizations seem to have in common are diverse funding sources and exercising frugality in a time of economic turmoil.

AIDS Emergency Fund, which provides cash grants to people living with disabling HIV/AIDS so that they can pay rent and other expenses, has increased the total amount of money it distributes to clients.

For AEF’s 2005 tax filing, which covers March 2005 through February 2006, grants distributed were about $1 million. That had grown by approximately $300,000 for 2010. Every year, the number of grantees ranges from about 2,200 to 2,400.

Asked about what’s made the difference for his agency compared to others, AEF Executive Director Mike Smith said, “I think we’re very lucky,” and the agency has always had “very diverse sources of revenue,” so that during “bad times like this, one thing might not do okay, but something else does.” Funding sources include the Bare Chest Calendar and the Bob Ross Foundation. (The foundation, named for the Bay Area Reporter’s late founding publisher, is a separate legal entity from the newspaper.)

The agency has had to make adjustments, though. It is spending more on fundraising than it was five years ago. Smith said that “isn’t the ideal situation, but if we’re going to maintain our level of service to clients, we had to work a lot harder to come up with the money the last few years.”

One way to gauge the efficiency of an agency is to look at the proportion of expenses allotted for program services versus management, fundraising, and

general costs. Together, the latter are typically known as indirect expenses. Generally, nonprofits aim for 20 percent to 25 percent or less.

For 2009, about 20 percent of AEF’s expenses were for indirect costs. That’s a higher number than what the agency had for 2005, but Smith indicated that the increased management and fundraising costs have been worth it.

“The board made a conscious decision we should spend more on administration and finance so we had a good grip on the business, and we were being good stewards of the resources,” he said.

AEF shares offices, a board of directors, and staff resources with the Breast Cancer Emergency Fund, of which Smith is also the executive director.

AEF and other organizations have “all been getting less government funding each year, and raising new dollars has been difficult,” Smith said.

“No one wants to cut client services, so the easiest thing to do is to keep paring away at your back office, administrative and support staff.”

However, he said, some agencies “cut it too close,” and they’re not able to keep up in areas such as billing.

“They don’t have the support staff to man their finances appropriately, and it just blows up in their face,” he said.

Not ‘people with money’ Another agency that appears to be doing well is AIDS Housing Alliance/San Francisco.

According to the nonprofit’s tax filing for 2005, revenue was about $35,000. That had grown to approximately $232,000 for 2009.

Among other things, Brian Basinger, director of AHA/SF, attributes the growth to adding new programs. He also said he’s tried to create an organization “where I don’t have to be afraid of what rich people think about the work that we do. ... In the housing world, and in See page 42 >>

Read more online at www.ebar.com

June 23-29, 2011 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 41

<< Pride 2011

42 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 23-29, 2011

▼

Rick Gerharter

Jose “Pepe” Vazquez sits in his San Francisco apartment.

<<

Buck the trend From page 40

this city, there are sort of times when we’re at cross-purposes with people with money.”

Basinger’s total compensation for 2009 from AHA/SF was just over $8,000; he has long been critical of the highs salaries of many nonprofit executives and advocates more money be spent on client services.

Asked how he lives on that, Basinger quipped, “I’m a hooker on the side, honey.” He said he also gets help from Social Security Disability Insurance.

About 16 percent of the AHA/ SF’s costs for 2009 were related to indirect expenses, according to the tax filing. Basinger says that figure means, “We’re really efficient, and that disabled people with HIV and AIDS really can do the work, and we can do an effective job with absolutely the most efficient use of the resources.”

He added, “I think what it is also is we’re poor, we’re broke, do you know what I mean? We’re used to getting by on nothin’ in our personal lives,” and “that creates a culture, in the organization, of frugality.”

“We get our office supplies from the dollar store and from the Goodwill,” he said.

The agency’s budget is about $400,000. AHA/SF serves from 550 to 600 households a year, Basinger estimated, and because of the economy, demand for services “is quite strong,” he said.

Jose “Pepe” Vazquez, 44, is a person living with AIDS. He said Basinger helped him get housing.

He said he’d probably have to live on the streets or rely on shelters otherwise.

“It’s kind of scary. ... It makes you think about when it’s going to be our agency’s turn,” he said about other organizations that are struggling to survive.

Vazquez said he tries to be positive, but dealing with issues like doctor’s visits and finances is difficult.

“I’m not that young anymore, so it’s hard to concentrate and to try to think about a lot of stuff,” he said.

Successful street fair Folsom Street Events, which produces the famous Folsom Street Fair and other parties, has also remained strong, despite the rough economy. This year’s street fair is September 25; the Up Your Alley fair, a warm-up to the main event,

<<

Nonprofit boards From page 38

At SF Pride, Lisa Williams and Joshua Smith are the only two remaining board members from last summer. People with more financial skills have joined the oversight body, including Bill Hemenger, who has 20 years of experience in the private sector and who last year ran unsuccessfully for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.

Behan, who was named interim director in April and had previously served as deputy executive director

takes place July 31.

In November 2010, the organization presented checks totaling $326,161 to beneficiaries, and Executive Director Demetri Moshoyannis has said everyone received full payment.

Last year, the suggested donation for entrance to the Folsom Street Fair was $7, but “you don’t even have to pay that,” Moshoyannis noted.

In an interview last week, Folsom Street Events board Treasurer Thomas Pscheidt said Folsom officials have noticed in recent years per-person donations and tip bucket contributions “are a little down.”

However, asked about the impact of the recession on his organization, Moshoyannis said, “All the early indicators are that we’re going to have a pretty good year, at least on par with last year, and the reason for that is our sponsorships are on par with last year, if not a little higher.”

Early ticket sales to the associated parties the organization produces are also in line with last year, and may be better, he said.

Sponsorships this year should be around $140,000 in cash, according to Moshoyannis, who added in an email that his nonprofit also receives “tens of thousands” of in-kind suppo rt, such as free advertising and donated products.

The sponsorships cover Folsom Street Fair, the Up Your Alley fair, and sometimes dance parties, he said.

Moshoyannis put the current budget for Folsom Street Events in the range of $1.1 to $1.2 million.

According to its 2010 audit, 15 percent of its costs are for indirect expenses, he said.

In an interview last year, Moshoyannis said when adding new events, organizations should “Do it based on what the community’s interests allows you to do. You don’t just create a new event because you think it’s a good idea, or a few board members around the table think it’s a good idea. Investigate and research what the community actually wants.”

The success of the main street fair also depends partially on the weather.

“If it rains, God forbid, on Folsom day,” the income won’t be there, said Pscheidt.

He also said challenges can be political. “The Board of Supervisors can blink and all of a sudden we have 58 new regulations to deal with,” he said.▼ for several years, said that the board is now updated more frequently on the organization’s finances. In an interview last week, he also said staff have “been seeking advice from CPAs in the community to help advise them about how we can better revise our own internal reporting mechanisms, to help the board get both the big picture and the granular picture about our finances,” down to expenses such as copier paper.

“We’re very optimistic. It’s going to be a great Pride this year,” Hemenger said recently.▼

June 23-29, 2011 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 43

<< Pride 2011

44 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 23-29, 2011

▼

BCEF celebrates 10 years with signing of 5,000th check

by Heather Cassell

A

solemn but celebratory cheer filled the Breast Cancer Emergency Fund’s office earlier this month as staff, donors, and volunteers celebrated its 10th anniversary with the signing of its 5,000th check and the unveiling of the organization’s new logo.

Mike Smith, executive director of the AIDS Emergency Fund and its sister organization, BCEF, which shares AEF’s Grace Street office South of Market, signed a stack of checks along with board President Cynthia Hester on June 9. One of those was the milestone check written to help cover a breast cancer client’s rent, utility bill, or medical bill.

“I think what we do really resonates with people,” said Smith, grateful for the support from large and small donors who help the agency write its checks to clients in San Francisco and San Mateo counties.

Soon the agency will expand its services to Santa Clara County.

Providing in a time of need For a decade BCEF has provided emergency financial assistance to low-income women being treated for breast cancer in San Francisco by sending out an estimated $25,000 to $30,000 worth of checks every month that go to pay landlords, utility companies, or medical providers, said Smith, about the organization that operates on an estimated $950,000 budget.

BCEF is a separate legal entity from AEF but shares office space, staff resources, and has the same board of directors.

Smith pointed out that unlike AIDS clients, many of whom benefit from government programs that subsidize medical costs, those same

programs “really aren’t there for the women with breast cancer,” he said.

While breast cancer strikes primarily women, BCEF does provide services to men with the disease as well, according to its website.

Launching BCEF a decade ago was a “way for the men in our community who were fighting and are fighting the battle against AIDS to commemorate the lives of the women and honor the women in the women’s community who really stepped forward and took care of gay men in the early days of AIDS,” said Smith. “We don’t ever want to forget our roots. We come from fierce powerful women.”

Hester added that many of the fund’s clients are low-income with little or no health insurance.

Oftentimes medical leave and sick time quickly run out during treatment, providing no safety net. Oftentimes medical leave and sick time quickly run out during treatment, leaving clients earning less than $1,000 a month no safety net.

“We would like them to be able to go through treatment with dignity and without having to worry about financial needs,” said Hester, who has lost family members and people close to her to both AIDS and breast cancer. “Our mission is simple – we pay the bills when our clients are too sick to work.”

The Bay Area Reporter asked to speak with a BCEF client about the agency’s services but Smith declined, citing a policy of not asking clients “to do this sort of thing.”

BCEF’s revenue is primarily raised through benefits and other events and donors. The money is spent as quickly as it comes in, according to Smith.

Jane Philomen Cleland

Breast Cancer Emergency Fund board President Cynthia Hester, left, signs checks – including the program’s 5,000th – as Leslie Ewing looks on. Executive Director Mike Smith is at right and in the center background is BCEF’s new logo.

“It’s a real honor for BCEF to be at a milestone like 5,000 checks,” said Smith, who pointed out that the moment marked the “culmination of the vision of Leslie [Ewing] and Rebecca [LePere] and so many people who went before who wanted to see the organization get to a point where we could be that meaningful.”

Modeled on the work of AEF, BCEF was co-founded by Ewing, then-board president of AEF and now executive director of the Pacific Center in Berkeley, and her late partner, Rebecca LePere. LePere lost her four-year battle against breast cancer in 2002.

AEF is an early AIDS organization that started in 1982. It provides emergency financial assistance to qualifying HIV/AIDS clients.

“The only template that we had was we talked to our friends with HIV,” said Ewing.

In 2001, when BCEF’s doors opened it assisted 42 women who were receiving breast cancer

treatment, said Smith. Today, the fund assists 450 women and in the past 10 years it has spent $1,321,000 to help women, men, and their families as they go through treatment, added Hester, who has served as AEF/BCEF president for four of her seven years on the board.

“I have seen firsthand what that disease can do and I have seen firsthand what people can do who have resources,” said Hester, a breast cancer activist for the past decade. “There is no way I could not respond and do something. I am committed to doing it until we don’t need to do it any longer, until either there is no breast cancer and AIDS or until there’s the health infrastructure that gives everybody the health insurance and the health care services that they need without it having to be a financial burden on them.”

“There is a lot the breast cancer community can learn from the way the AIDS organizations have corroborated and coordinated their

services and the way they fundraised over the years,” Smith added.

Ewing, who was present to commemorate the landmark moment and launched BCEF’s new sustainer donor program this year, addressed the estimated 25 individuals in the room. She pulled out a button and held it up, and humbly said, “I was rooting around in my garage lately and I found a button and it says, ‘Future generations will turn to you and ask ‘What did you do to end the AIDS crisis?’”

The question now, Ewing said, is, “What did you do to end the health crisis?”

BCEF set to expand Smith is both excited and nervous about BCEF expanding into Santa Clara County on July 1.

“I just have to have faith that we will find the money and in no time at all we will be at our 10,000th check and really helping women throughout the region,” he said.

Last year, the fund joined forces with the Susan G. Komen Foundation, administering the foundation’s Cure Diagnostic Services Fund in Alameda, Contra Costa, and western Solano counties.

Entering its second decade and growing, BCEF also unveiled its new look at the recent check-signing.

The new logo, designed with the assistance of the Tap Root Foundation, departs from the cutout of a pink heart, similar to the AEF logo. Instead, the logo is a negative image with a white umbrella and a mauve background.

“We really have something that speaks to the kind of work that we do,” said Smith. “This is shelter from a storm.”▼ For more information, visit www.bcef-sf.org/.

Read more online at www.ebar.com

June 23-29, 2011 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 45

<< Grand Marshals

46 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 23-29, 2011

▼

Matt Baume

Veteran leatherman Graylin Thornton hopes his example of volunteerism and community service resonates with younger members of the tribe.

Leatherman is a community leader

by Matt Baume

F

or Graylin Thornton, it started with a message on Facebook.

“I received a Facebook message from [Pride main stage producer] Audrey Joseph, who’s a friend of mine, saying we need to get a hold of you – you’ve been nominated for grand marshal,” he said, still somewhat in shock over his place of honor in this year’s San Francisco LGBT Pride Parade.

On the list of this year’s marshals, Thornton joins Chaz Bono, actress Olympia Dukakis, pastry chef Yigit Pura, the Trevor Project, and a host of local leaders.

Other community grand marshals include Aaron Belkin, Ph.D., a political science researcher whose work contributed to the end of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell;” Victoria Kolakowski, the nation’s first elected openly transgender trial court judge; lesbian advocate Christiana Remington; Chief Deputy City Attorney Therese Stewart; and the Reverend Roland Stringfellow, director of the LGBTaffirming Coalition of Welcoming Congregations.

Thornton, 50, who is openly gay, earned his place in the parade with decades of service within the leather community.

“I put on, with some other people, the first Leather Pride Fest in San Jose,” he recalled. “I was probably about 26 at the time, and I just kept going. Once you do that sort of thing, you don’t ever stop.

Shortly after that, I won the title International Mr. Drummer here in San Francisco.”

The Drummer contest, now known as International Leather Sir/boy, spanned a diverse range of fetish communities and included rubber, leather, and cowboys. Prior to Thornton’s 1993 win, the title had never before gone to an African American.

It was at that year’s contest that Thornton met Race Bannon, a writer and activist who served as one of the judges.

“He has the nicest personality,” said Bannon, who now serves on the board of directors of the Community-Academic Consortium for Research on Alternative Sexualities. “Whether he’s in a professional capacity on stage, or just with a group of people, there’s something about the pleasantness of his personality that just comes through no matter what he’s doing.”

Since that early win, Thornton went on to receive the Leather Leadership Award from the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, as well as a Pantheon Award from the Leather Journal.

His dedication to community

service played a large role in earning the awards. As founder of Grey Rose, an adult film company, Thornton provided videography services to Mr. San Francisco Leather.

Thornton was born in Birmingham, Alabama and moved to the Bay Area when he was 5. He later moved to San Diego for several years, returning to San Francisco in 2008.

He has volunteered for Lazy Bear Weekend, and, when he lived in southern California, served as chair of the San Diego Leather Pride Committee from 2001-2008.

“I love volunteering and I love being involved,” he said. “I like being part of something bigger. ... If you’re going to be involved, you have to do your part.”

That’s a message that he hopes to spread as a grand marshal.

“We don’t do these things for ourselves as leaders, we do them for the community itself,” he said.

“And I think that the younger people who are coming up ... need to understand that you don’t just go to a beer bust and do one event. You keep going because you’ll always be a part of that community.”

But due to the toll of HIV/AIDS on the leather community over the years, Thornton said, many younger members aren’t able to look up to as many role models as previous generations have.

“When I was 25 and 30, I had people there steering me the whole way,” he said. “Unfortunately, they don’t really have that. So those of us who are 50, 55, have to mentor our younger people.”

Mentorship was a key component of Thornton’s entrance to the community, and it still plays an important role.

“Being a grand marshal is most important to me because of the people who are no longer here, who I feel raised me,” he said. “It’s part of their vision for me – not to be a grand marshal, but to grow and keep going. ... People like Alan Selby and Mister Marcus, who I think groomed me ... We’re all going to be together in that car.”

Selby, a longtime leather leader, died in 2004. Marcus Hernandez, the longtime community member who wrote the Bay Area Reporter’s leather column under the byline Mister Marcus, died in 2009.

For his part, Bannon looks forward to seeing Thornton in the parade, representing past and future generations within the leather community.

“I see him as a leader in the community in large part because I see him as a great model for people,” Bannon said. “He’s very calm, he’s very comforting, he’s very caring, he’s very together.”▼

▼

Grand Marshals >>

June 23-29, 2011 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 47

Case shaped lawyer’s view of marriage

by Matthew S. Bajko

M

arriage just wasn’t a big deal to Therese Stewart when she was growing up in the Castro.

Already having crushes on girls, she never fantasized about having a big wedding.

As an adult she married two women, the first she later separated from, in private ceremonies attended by her Catholic family.

Yet having gone into law, Stewart did not view those unsanctioned marriages in the same light as the legally recognized weddings of her relatives and straight friends.

“For most gay people, I am of that generation that believed marriage was out of reach. It wasn’t in the realm of the possible,” said the 54-year-old Stewart.

Her thoughts began to change when, in 2002, she heard another gay attorney discuss how marriage equality was a realistic goal. Then, in 2004, as the chief deputy city attorney for San Francisco, Stewart found herself thrust into the forefront of the fight for same-sex marriage.

The mayor at the time, Gavin Newsom, ignored California laws and ordered city officials to marry LGBT couples. At the instruction of her boss, City Attorney Dennis Herrera, Stewart first led the legal defense of the mayor’s actions (she lost that case) and soon turned her attention to crafting the successful lawsuit that struck down California’s anti-gay marriage statutes in May 2008 (voters would overturn the court decision only months later).

Working on that first lawsuit seven years ago was the first time, Stewart recalled recently, that she began to think “wow, in my lifetime, this is possible.”

Wanting to remain focused, she pushed aside any personal thoughts and zeroed in on building her case and polishing her arguments before the state courts.

“When we first started I really tried to keep my own feelings at bay about it,” said Stewart, who is one of the community grand marshals in Sunday’s Pride Parade. “I did so for two reasons. A, thinking I could, and B, as a lawyer you don’t want to be your own client. If you get caught up in the emotion of something, it could be hard to keep your distance and evaluate the arguments to see which one is the best.”

For that reason, she and her wife, attorney Carole Scagnetti, agreed that the two women would not marry while the lawsuit was ongoing.

“Carole said, ‘We can get married when you win the case,’” recalled Stewart.

That day came August 29, 2008.

As news broke about her nuptials, Stewart said she hadn’t allowed her emotions to surface until she fielded a phone call from a local reporter.

“When he asked me about being one of several people who had worked on the case now getting married, I burst into tears. It was totally unexpected,” she said. “I said

Rick Gerharter

Chief Deputy City Attorney Therese Stewart stands near some of the awards she has received recognizing her work on the city’s marriage equality cases.

Rick Gerharter

Newly wedded Therese Stewart and Carole Scagnetti show off their new rings after their ceremony at City Hall August 29, 2008.

something along the lines that it felt really good to finally be a first-class citizen and not to be inferior or second best. The depth of the feeling about it was much bigger than I thought.”

It was at that moment, Stewart said, that she realized, “Wow, I really do care about this for myself.”

Sparking an interest Stewart has worked on all four marriage cases the city attorney’s office has litigated before the state and federal courts. In addition to reshaping her thoughts about marriage itself, the experience has also sparked an interest in her running for public office.

Herrera is running to be the city’s next mayor. Should he win come November, his position would become available in 2012, allowing Stewart a chance to become San Francisco’s first out elected city attorney. She could find herself in the position of the incumbent if Herrera appoints her to fill the vacancy until an election is held.

“I have thought about it,” said Stewart. “It is really, I am keeping my mind open and my eyes open.

But my focus right now is on sort

of making sure the office, the job is done and helping Dennis’s campaign because I really believe he will make the best mayor. But those are what ifs and you obviously don’t know what will happen.”

Talk of her running has only increased since Stewart and Scagnetti left Novato to move back into San Francisco.

“I grew up here and Carole and I talked for a long time about moving back. Certainly, it gives me more options than if I had stayed in Marin,” said Stewart.

As her notoriety continues to grow due to the marriage cases, speculation continues to build about what her political plans may hold. People often ask her about the possibility of her succeeding Herrera, acknowledged Stewart.

“Being thrust into the public means a lot of people have asked me about it. I think in part because I am more widely known, both by my colleagues and by people outside the office,” she said. “In that sense, when more than a handful of people start asking you the question, it starts making you think about it in a way perhaps you wouldn’t have been so serious before.”▼

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<< Grand Marshals

48 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 23-29, 2011

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Remington steps out of cocoon

by Heather Cassell

I

f Christiana Remington, founder of Butterfly Productions, has it her way she will be on a decked out float jammin’ down Market Street this Sunday in honor of being one of this year’s grand marshals.

The club promoter, who produces Butta, Mo’ Butta – which became an official San Francisco Pride event in 2005 – Sistah Sundays, and the Mantequilla family of clubs under the moniker Butterfly Productions, was overwhelmed by being selected as a grand marshal by the San Francisco LGBT Pride Celebration Committee this year. She has had a hard time wrapping her mind around the honor being bestowed on her.

“It really means a lot to me, it really does and it’s going to mean a lot to other people,” said Remington, 42, a lesbian who works as an at-risk family specialist and birth educator for First 5 Contra Costa.

Mariah Hanson, promoter of The Dinah, agreed. “I’m happy to see San Francisco Pride is honoring one of our own,” wrote Hanson in an email.

“Honoring a club promoter, especially one that has served to bridge such important gaps in the Bay Area by promoting diversity and community, through music and dance, is long overdue,” Hanson added. “Club promoters are unsung heroes. It’s not an easy job but it is a critical one in creating that early sense of community and belonging.”

Always the club kid, Remington danced for the late Chantal Salkey, and others throughout the 1990s.

Then she took a break from the party scene for a bit only to find that it changed when she returned.

“I realized that there was

Jane Philomen Cleland

Club promoter Christiana Remington

something missing. I was going to different places and I wasn’t really having the same time that I had,” said Remington, a community activist for more than 15 years who also co-produces the Soul of Pride stage at San Francisco Pride. “I feel like the women of color were not being really represented at some of these clubs.”

To fill the void, Remington stepped into the promoter ring with the support of Hanson, who hosted Remington’s first club, Strapped, at her former club Cherry Bar. “It was a great way to kind of get my feet wet,” said Remington, about the club that lasted for about a year until Cherry Bar closed its doors.

After her stint in San Francisco, Remington, a Berkeley and San Leandro native, returned to the East Bay where she launched Butta on the third Sunday of every month See page 54 >>

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June 23-29, 2011 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 49

Transgender judge adjusts to new role

by Matthew S. Bajko

A

t Oakland’s Wiley W. Manuel Courthouse Judge Victoria Kolakowski doesn’t hear her name voiced much in the corridors and offices of the East Bay city’s old municipal court building.

“Everyone calls me Judge now.

It is like my new name,” said Kolakowski. “They say, ‘Hi Judge.’

Everybody in the courthouse calls the judges Judge.”

The lack of personal identifiers for the elected judges can be advantageous.

“One of my colleagues said the good thing about it is you don’t have to remember people’s names,” recalled Kolakowski of a remark made by a fellow jurist.

The anonymity is a stark change from the worldwide attention Kolakowski received last November after winning her election to become the country’s first transgender trial court judge. Her victory garnered headlines around the globe and reporters sought her out to discuss her being a role model for transgender people.

The press coverage hasn’t translated to her everyday life, said Kolakowski. She continues to maintain a low profile in public despite the media focus.

“I feel like I am this non-celebrity celebrity,” said Kolakowski. “No one knows who I am if I am walking down the street. No one comes running over to me and asks, ‘Are you Judge Kolakowski?’”

That could soon change, as Kolakowski will be marching before the hundreds of thousands of people watching this Sunday’s San Francisco Pride Parade as one of the community grand marshals.

Pride officials believe she is the first out sitting judge to receive such an honor.

And in October she will be featured as one of the 2011 Icons during GLBT History Month organized by Equality Forum.

“I am in there with Lady Gaga and Neil Patrick Harris and Alan Cumming. It just seems so strange,” said Kolakowski, who is the wife of Bay Area Reporter news editor Cynthia Laird. “I get that I am a role model and have broken through this glass ceiling. The truth is, to the average person on the street, they have no idea who I am and that is okay.”

Kolakowski, 49, is somewhat of a celebrity within legal circles. After she surprised nearly everyone last June with her first place finish in the primary for an open seat on the Alameda County Superior Court, Kolakowski began being invited to address legal groups and speak at law conferences.

In July Gender Spectrum, a group for parents of gender variant children, has asked Kolakowski to address a conference it is hosting in Berkeley. A documentary about the transgender community, Finding New Hope, features Kolakowski’s historic victory and is aiming for an August premiere.

The University of La Verne College of Law in Ontario, California, has asked her to be a keynote speaker at its transgender law and policy conference next winter. She is also in talks to return this fall to her old alma mater, Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, to address the school’s LGBT law student group.

“I want people to see there is hope; that although we have struggles as transgender people, we See page 53 >>

Jane Philomen Cleland

Alameda County Superior Court Judge Victoria Kolakowski

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<< Grand Marshals

50 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 23-29, 2011

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Belkin added academic heft to DADT repeal

by Chuck Colbert

Ohio where veterans met last year with then-Senator George Voinovich (R). The senator voted in favor of DADT repeal last December, in one of his last acts before his retirement.

Belkin also said “the more aggressive version” of grassroots activism, namely Choi and GetEqual’s protests in front of the White House, was “very important.”

Another critical component, Belkin said, was organizing active duty service members and veterans to speak out.

T

he LGBT community nationwide stands at the threshold of American history.

Full repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” – the military’s ban on openly gay and lesbian service members – is expected by year’s end as the four service branches complete training the troops to implement a policy change that’s been almost 18 years in the making. All that remains then is for the president, defense secretary and Joint Chiefs chairman to certify troop readiness and for Congress to complete its 60-day review period.

“The forthcoming DADT repeal victory that we are about to celebrate is going to be one of the great civil rights triumphs in the community’s history,” said Aaron Belkin, Ph.D., an associate professor of political science at San Francisco State University.

“The nation’s largest employer has changed its mind about gay people,” he explained recently during a telephone interview.

While “savoring” the moment, Belkin said, “we should think about how long it took to get here and what that means.”

Belkin, 45, who also serves as director of the Palm Center, part of the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law, is one of six individual community grand marshals in Sunday’s San Francisco LGBT Pride Parade. His presence is likely to underscore the tireless efforts of many activists and organizations in pressing President Barack Obama and Congress to repeal DADT. This is the third year in a row that the San Francisco LGBT Pride Celebration Committee has spotlighted lift-

Long history

Courtesy Aaron Belkin

Aaron Belkin stands outside the iconic chapel at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado, which he visited to deliver lectures on “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

the-ban efforts. Retired out Navy Commander Zoe Dunning (2010) and Lieutenant Dan Choi (2009), also served as parade grand marshals.

For his part as an academic and not an activist, the openly gay Belkin has played a key role in the repeal endeavor. For the past 12 years, he helped dismantle the rationale for DADT by publishing studies and breaking news stories that show that discrimination hurts the military and has financial and human costs.

The New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, NPR, CNN, and national network news have covered Belkin’s research widely.

Public education As part of its work, the Palm Center also conducted a years-long public education campaign.

“Getting the public and the military to understand that discrimination is bad for the armed forces,” he said, “that was our strategic role.”

Several times a year, the Palm Center released research and data – some new piece of information – to drive home the idea that discrimination is bad for the military and that inclusion is good.

For example, “We were the first to break the story of Arab linguists being fired for being gay,” said Belkin.

That started bringing home the point to the general public; the Pentagon was spending thousands of dollars to train these highly specialized linguists, who were being drummed out of the military.

Over the years public support for DADT repeal has grown, hitting near 78 percent in a 2010 CNN poll.

Additionally, the Palm Center demonstrated that many

United States allies, including Australia, Israel, and the United Kingdom, among others, already allowed openly gay service without experiencing difficulties in unit cohesion or combat readiness – the two most frequent canards used by repeal opponents, especially those in Congress.

As it reached out to the military itself, the Palm Center produced signatures from 104 retired generals and admirals, saying discrimination hurt the military.

That made national headlines.

The Palm Center also drew attention to a blue-ribbon commission report, which found the true cost of investigating and discharging gay men and lesbians was much higher than reported by the Pentagon.

And yet Belkin is quick to acknowledge the team effort of others in achieving DADT repeal.

Legal defense and litigation, he said, was critical, along with an “inside Washington game” that included lobbying Congress and meeting with White House officials.

Belkin praised “a grassroots field component,” with the Human Rights Campaign at the “moderate end,” working in swing states like

The current DADT military policy and federal law spans nearly 18 years. In 1993, after facing stiff resistance from military top brass and Congress for outright repeal – which he promised during his presidential campaign – President Bill Clinton signed into law a compromise measure that was supposed to allow gays in the armed forces as long as they stayed in the closet.

The policy, however, has been costly and deemed by many to be a failure. More than 14,300 military personnel have been discharged under DADT. A 2010 report from the Williams Institute estimated that enforcing DADT over the years has cost U.S. taxpayers more than half a billion dollars.

But drumming gay soldiers out of the military dates back 233 years to the American Revolutionary War when the first gay soldier got the boot. As early as March 11, 1778, the Continental Army kicked out Lieutenant Frederick Gotthold Enslin, who is “the first known solider to be dismissed from the U.S. military for homosexuality,” according to the late Randy Shilts in his book Conduct Unbecoming (1995). Enslin’s offenses were sodomy and perjury.

“Two hundred and thirty-three years is a long time,” said Belkin, explaining his interest in the armed forces began early in life, “building model airplanes and watching TV shows on the military.” In college, he added, “I started taking classes because I couldn’t understand why anyone would voluntarily volunteer to kill people.”

After undergraduate studies at Brown University, Belkin, who grew up in a suburb outside of Cleveland, went on to earn a doctorate in military studies at UC Berkeley. There, “I realized a strong connection between my gay and lesbian interests and military interests,” he said.

Belkin is currently working on a book, How We Won, which will detail the story of the DADT repeal campaign, including lessons for other progressive movements.

Even though lifting the ban on gays in the military is imminent, he said, “There is still a lot of work to be done. We don’t have inclusion for transgender service members.

We don’t have equal benefits so straight troops get housing and benefits for their spouses” while gay troops do not.

Nonetheless, DADT repeal is a big deal. “The Christian right was precisely correct when it said gays in the military was really a line in the sand, that once crossed would pave the way to other victories,” Belkin said.

The fight over repeal was all about the broader cultural landscape.

“What that means concretely,” he explained, “is that most of the countries that allow marriage equality lifted their military bans first. Consequently, Belkin said, “Achieving marriage equality is now more viable” in the U.S.▼

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June 23-29, 2011 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 51

Jane Philomen Cleland

The Reverend Roland Stringfellow will soon test a new Bible study program he has developed aimed at fostering LGBT acceptance.

Bishop Yvette Flunder, this year’s Lifetime Achievement grand marshal, is working to expand the Fellowship, which unites LGBT affirming churches.

Black churches to test LGBT Bible study

by Matthew S. Bajko

L

ater this summer three predominantly black Bay Area churches will try out a new Bible study course aimed at fostering LGBT acceptance.

Called the Umoja Project, after the Swahili word that means unity, its goal is to help African American faith leaders provide pastoral care to their LGBT parishioners.

The congregations have agreed to test the five-week curriculum in August. In the East Bay, Richmond’s Sojourner Truth Presbyterian Church and Berkeley’s New Revelations Community Church are on board, while in San Francisco City of Refuge agreed to take part.

The program is the brainchild of openly gay Reverend Roland Stringfellow, 42, who directs the Coalition of Welcoming Congregations, a program of the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies in Religion and Sexuality on the campus of Pacific School of Religion and works with California Faith for Equality.

“The purpose of this Bible study, the main point is this is not going to argue the clobber passages – those passages normally used to speak against same-sex activities.

That is not what this is about.

The Bible study really focuses on affirmative passages that highlight relationships,” said Stringfellow, who will be a community grand marshal in Sunday’s Pride Parade.

Stringfellow received $25,000 in funding to develop the course material and a corresponding film from the Horizons Foundation.

Once the material is finalized, Stringfellow plans to travel throughout California starting in October to sign up what he referred to as “tipping point congregations” willing to take part.

“A tipping point congregation has in a particular community a black pastor who is very prominent in his or her community. If you get them on board there are other congregations that will say if such and such is involved then this must be good,” said Stringfellow, who had a private marriage ceremony with his husband, Jerry Peterson, last summer in Indiana and is hopeful they will be able to legally wed soon in California.

The concept for the Bible study evolved out of a lunch Stringfellow organized in the summer of 2010 with five black ministers. The quintet was “undecided,” he said, about marriage equality and LGBT

inclusion in their congregations.

“They came and we had open and honest dialogue. Many of them have openly gay parishioners. However, the question the majority of them have is how do I provide pastoral care for my parishioners but still be true to what the scripture teaches on homosexuality,” said Stringfellow.

“That helped me to craft this Bible study to answer that question. I really, honestly see it as a positive challenge.”

The very fact the ministers were willing to discuss the issue with him is a step in the right direction, said Stringfellow.

“For some people them even meeting with me, an openly gay minister, is a huge step. If we can get them to not condemn or take a side, that is a huge step,” he said.

Bishop Yvette Flunder, 55, an ordained minister of the United Church of Christ and senior pastor of City of Refuge UCC, believes the Umoja Project can also benefit LGBT affirming churches such as her own. Flunder, who is African American and identifies as a samegender loving woman, said LGBT parishioners should to be educated on the subject.

“Primarily, I want my folks to have some real basic understanding of what our struggle is really about. You cannot do justice work if you are not really informed,” said Flunder, who is this year’s Lifetime Achievement Pride grand marshal and will be marching with Stringfellow in the parade.

Flunder is the founder and presiding bishop of the Fellowship, which she started a decade ago to unite urban LGBT affirming churches. To mark its anniversary, Flunder is changing the name to the Fellowship of Affirming Ministries.

Stringfellow, who is already licensed by both UCC and the Metropolitan Community Churches, will be ordained this summer into Flunder’s ministry alongside 28 other new ministers, some from Mexico and various African countries. Six new churches are also joining, bringing the number of member congregations and affiliate ministries to 120, she said.

“These are inner city churches and ministers who are either LGBT or affirming of LGBT people,” she said. “Roland has done extraordinary work in preparing for the ministry and in preparing to engage in the fight for freedom.”

She believes the new Bible study See page 54 >>

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52 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 23-29, 2011

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LGBT archivists build on success of Castro museum

by Matthew S. Bajko

B

ebar.com

uilding on the success of its new LGBT museum in the Castro, the GLBT Historical Society has launched a summer series of programming at the exhibit space.

Begun in early June and extending through July, the two months worth of special events is aimed at fostering public exchanges with historians, curators, authors, elders and community organizers.

It is the archival group’s most ambitious programming roll out since opening the 18th Street museum last December.

Discussions have already focused on economic issues, gentrification pressures in the city’s gayborhood, and health and aging issues in queer communities of color.

Tonight (Thursday, June 23) the museum will host a discussion about Vanguard, a magazine created by queer youth and their allies living in the Tenderloin during the 1960s.

Next month speakers will include the curator of the Gertrude Stein exhibit on view at the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco (July 6) and the editors of a new anthology of work by the late gay historian Allan Berube (July 7).

The lectures are part of the society’s plan to draw more people in to the Castro location and build support for its long-range goal of having a permanent presence in the area. It has a five-year lease for the current museum.

It is the second time the society has had a Castro exhibition space. It mounted a show at a different location in the fall of 2008 that closed within the year.

As the society, which will be an organizational grand marshal in

Rick Gerharter

Marshall Feldman looked at a map and exhibit documenting the incidents of anti-gay violence in San Francisco at the opening of the new GLBT History Museum in January.

Sunday’s Pride Parade, worked on re-opening a Castro exhibit space in 2009, its finances took a hit. It was unable to leverage having a Castro museum to secure grant funding.

Its total expenses that year totaled $551,646 while revenues came to $367,311.

“Yes, 2009 was a difficult year for us. We turned it around in 2010,” said Paul Boneberg, the society’s executive director.

The society has yet to release its financial disclosure forms for last year. Boneberg said the budget came in at $500,000 and the agency did not run a deficit.

“We reduced expenses at the end of 2009 and the first part of 2010,” he said. “2010 was strong for us.

We will be in the black in 2010 and 2011.”

The society expects to take in more than $50,000 from museum admissions this year. And it hopes the city will see it as a cultural attraction worthy of support.

“We do hope the city of San Francisco will continue to provide financing,” said Boneberg.

Open six months now, the stand-alone museum has garnered international coverage for the historical society. Many publications have picked up on its being touted as the “First GLBT History Museum in the United States.”

News outlets ranging from the San Francisco Chronicle and the Chicago Tribune to the website Tert.am in Armenia and Italy’s La 7 National Television all ran with the story. Within a month after its grand opening ceremony in January, the archival group had tallied coverage of the museum’s opening in at least 75 countries.

The press attention caused a bit of a rivalry between the San Francisco group and the Stonewall Library Museum Archive in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. It changed its name earlier this year to Stonewall National Museum and Archive in Fort Lauderdale in an apparent attempt to reclaim the mantle of being the nation’s first LGBT museum.

An announcement about the See page 53 >>

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Grand Marshals>>

Judge

From page 49

are making progress. It is possible for us to achieve success,” she said. “It can seem pretty hopeless at times when you are facing discrimination for who you are.”

Certain restrictions apply Due to her needing to remain impartial when she is on the bench hearing cases, Kolakowski must abide by certain restrictions concerning her public appearances. While she can attend fundraisers and speak at functions when a group honors her, she does not promote such events in advance. And she is forbidden from making political endorsements unless it is for a judicial race.

“As a judge I have certain ethical constraints on what I can do and talk about or activities I engage in,” said Kolakowski.

In light of last week’s ruling that the gay judge who struck down California’s anti-gay marriage ban Proposition 8 did not need to recuse himself from hearing the case, Kolakowski said she has given some thought about what cases she would recuse herself from based on her sexual orientation and past involvement with LGBT advocacy groups.

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Castro museum From page 52

name change stated the Sunshine State group was “the first of its kind in the United States” as well as “the first to have a permanent exhibition space dedicated to the history of the GLBT community in the United States from 1850 to the present.”

And in a not so subtle dig at its Bay Area-based counterpart, the Florida institution went on to state, “But being the ‘first’ national

“There are certain matters I would recuse myself on because of work I had previously done. For example, if a clear marriage equality case was before me,” said Kolakowski, who married Laird in 2008. “Not because of the fact I am a member of the LGBT community or married. I would feel uncomfortable given my own political involvement in that issue before.”

Asked if she would recuse herself from hearing a case involving the murder of a transgender person, Kolakowski said it would depend on the facts of the case.

“In general I don’t think it would impact my ability to be fair and impartial,” she said. “If an organization where I was a leader, such as the Transgender Law Center, was appearing as a party, I would recuse myself because of the direct conflict.”

After being declared one of the grand marshals chosen by the public in April, Kolakowski asked for an ethics opinion from the California Judges Association to ensure she wasn’t violating her judicial code of conduct.

The one sentence response, with the letter J used to keep Kolakowski’s identity confidential, simply said, “Yes, so long as J can ensure that

museum of its kind is less important than being the ‘best.’”

Asked about the competing claims, Boneberg declined to stoke the flames of any rivalry.

“We believe we are the only LGBT museum in the country. But God bless everybody doing LGBT exhibits,” he said. “We support them and hope they succeed.”▼ For more information about the society and its programs, visit www.glbthistory.org.

June 23-29, 2011 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 53

J’s placement in the parade will be near groups whose behavior will not demean the judicial office.”

“I got an ethics opinion that it is okay to march,” said Kolakowski.

“I am supposed to be careful about who I am around. I guess the idea is because of the dignity of the office

I shouldn’t be around some of the more exuberant participants.”

Kolakowski has asked the LGBT legal group Bay Area Lawyers for Individual Freedom, on whose board she once served, to march with her in the parade.

“It’s really been wonderful the

past six months and I appreciate all the support people have given me the past few years through the whole election process,” said Kolakowski.

“In some ways I feel like I have reached the happily ever after part.

But in a lot of ways, this journey is just beginning.”▼

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54 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 23-29, 2011

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Remington From page 48

in Oakland. Butta, modeled after the popular Mango at El Rio in San Francisco and Remington’s own house parties, has attracted anywhere between 600 and 800 women monthly, she said.

The success of the club didn’t come without its challenges.

Finding a space that welcomed queer women of color was difficult, Remington said. The next challenge

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Black churches From page 51

classes will be successful because Stringfellow is behind it.

“What will be critical is the messenger. Not the message but who will teach it” she said.

Fight for equality For Flunder and Stringfellow, watching California’s fight for marriage equality, particularly the losing battle in 2008 against the same-sex marriage ban known as Proposition 8, opened their eyes to the need for faith leaders to become more engaged. While the anti-gay backers of the measure wrapped their arguments in religious terminology and recruited Mormon and Catholic leaders into the fight,

was working with the date and time frame the club allotted. But the biggest and most painful obstacle was the prejudice and racism in the LGBT community, she said.

Butta was labeled a “black party,” a “ghetto party,” and more, said Remington. “It just hurt me so much because it was just a beautiful party. Just because it’s predominantly more of one color there doesn’t mean that it’s that ... it’s unfortunate that we have that in our own community.”

LGBT groups were not as proactive in utilizing LGBT faith people and straight allies during the campaign.

“I believe that what was missing from the struggle for marriage equality was the opportunity to meet religion with religion. This was a religious fight, for lack of a better word to say it,” said Flunder.

“We were conspicuously absent and, in many ways, not invited to be a part of the struggle. I think religious people speak religion and we needed to be able to sit at the table with folks and talk about justice and equality and civil rights in religious language.”

Their exclusion was hardly surprising, said Flunder, considering the anti-gay messages LGBT people have heard promulgated by various religious leaders.

Remington’s aim was to create a space for queer black women, but also a place that welcomed everyone.

“I’m not afraid to say that definitely I want women of color to have this space,” said Remington, adding the caveat that color to her not only meant black, but “everything.”

“I wanted it to be a place where it didn’t matter who you know or what you look like, you just fit in,” Remington said.

Remington found the strength

within herself with the support of her family, especially her sister, who is also a lesbian, and friends to believe in what she was doing and hold true to her vision, she said.

The racial clatter finally died down after a while and the labels fell away from Butta.

“It really became a place for everybody who just really fell in love with it,” said Remington, who believes it’s her biggest community success and gift to queer women, “that’s been my real signature.”

“In many ways, gay folks who survived religion often don’t want to have anything to do with it” –Bishop Yvette Flunder “In many ways, gay folks who survived religion often don’t want to have anything to do with it,” she said. “Even our own people forget there are tons of gay and lesbian people in religious institutions, whether they are undercover or not, you see.”

Having been hired in 2008 to promote LGBT inclusion in faith

communities, Stringfellow used the Prop 8 fight to his advantage.

“I quickly realized this is the venue to talk about LGBT equality with faith communities because everybody was talking about marriage equality, whether you were for or against it in California, especially with congregations of color,” he said. “This has been the

▼

Personally, her “biggest success is being a mother to her four children and two stepdaughters with her fiancee, Venus Jones.

Remington encourages other women to rise up to party and create spaces for queer women to gather.

“We need a number of women’s parties. We need strong women to keep this going ... there’s not enough of us,” she said.▼ To learn more, visit www.butterflyproductions.org.

watershed issue to open the door to have these dialogues. It is on the evening news; people are talking about it in the church.”

He hopes to demonstrate through the Bible study course that the marriage equality fight is part of the civil rights movement and benefits families of color, not just wealthy gay white men.

“You are having a different shift of how gays and lesbians are being viewed in the church. It is being changed from sexually permissive individuals into people in loving, committed relationships with children,” said Stringfellow. “It is hard for people to wrap their brains around. I hope the Bible study and film ushers in this understanding.

We are in your churches, we are in your community.”▼

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Pride 2011>>

June 23-29, 2011 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 55

Bryan Regan

Author and etiquette expert Steven Petrow will be in San Francisco next month.

LGBT etiquette maven updates guide for online life

by Matt Baume

F

ifteen years after writing a concise book of manners for LGBTs, journalist and author Steven Petrow is back with a thoroughly revised successor for the emerging etiquette of a new age, entitled Steven Petrow’s Complete Gay and Lesbian Manners (Workman).

“I wrote that before there were chat rooms, before people were doing email, before Ellen came out,” Petrow, 53, said, referring to talk show host Ellen DeGeneres. “Before there was gay marriage.”

A little gentle guidance can go a long way, Petrow said. His new book, written with Sally Chew, spans the gamut, guiding interactions for LGBTs and straight people over the course of their entire lives – what he calls “womb to tomb.”

At one recent book signing, he recalled fielding a question from a 14-year-old who needed help with friends who said “that’s so gay.”

Petrow advised “not being silent, although not being aggressively assertive ... saying, ‘do you understand what that means?’” He added, “I think when you realize that someone is well intentioned but has just kind of messed up, it’s a good opportunity to make it into a nice teachable moment.”

That’s just what he did a few years ago when he moved with his partner to Chapel Hill, North Carolina. At first, neighbors simply didn’t know how to refer to the couple. “They started off with this sweet, bumbling, ‘how is your roommate, how is your friend?’ And I said, ‘my partner Jim is fine.’ And they caught on.”

Those are just a few of the issues Petrow tackles in his book. He places particular emphasis on partnership ceremonies and raising children, areas that have evolved rapidly in recent years. His advice touches

on the role of surrogates, writing a letter to a birth mother, the wording for wedding invitations, titles for wedding participants, and more.

“I had a cadre of advisers whom I interviewed on all these topics,” Petrow said. “A very eclectic group that included John Bartlett, the menswear designer who helped me on fashion; [NCLR legal director] Shannon Minter helped me with legal stuff and trans questions; I had florists, undertakers, paid escorts, restaurateurs, lawyers, psychologists in schools.”

Consultation with Facebook and Twitter followers rounded out the research.

“Over the last three years, social media has become pervasive throughout our entire culture,” he said. “From, is it okay to come out on Facebook to can I tweet my wedding invitation to is it okay to text someone as a condolence? The rapidity of that change is really amazing.”

He added, “GPS apps came in at the tail end of that. What’s dating etiquette with them? It’s a fascinating brave new world out there that I think this book provides a helpful hand in understanding better.”

But although the practice may change, the theory of etiquette remains largely the same. Petrow recently read an Emily Post essay from the 1920s in which she advised, “never write a letter to a man that you wouldn’t want to see on the front page of your hometown newspaper,” to which he would now add, “never send a tweet that you wouldn’t want to see on the homepage of Patch.”

Petrow will discuss his book at Books Inc. in the Castro, 2275 Market Street, on July 12, and at the San Francisco Public Library’s main branch, 100 Larkin Street, on July 13.▼

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56 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 23-29, 2011

Serving the LGBT communities since 1971

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77

'Karrnal' court

'Ring' bearer

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Donna does Pride

The

San Francisco Gay Pride issue 2011 • Vol. 41 • No. 25 • June 23-29, 2011

www.ebar.com/arts

Life after Mrs.Madrigal Olympia Dukakis returns to SF for LGBT Pride

by Richard Dodds

O

lympia Dukakis is an old pro at grand marshaling. A celebrity grand marshal in this Sunday’s Pride parade, the Oscar-winning actress previously presided over a Columbus Day parade in Bloomfield, NJ, in the late 1980s.

“It was after Moonstruck came out, and they asked me to do the parade. I said, ‘But I’m not Italian,’ and they said, ‘It doesn’t matter, because everyone thinks you’re Italian.’ So I did the parade, and they took me to a great bakery afterwards, and I came home loaded down with stuff.”

Dukakis won her Oscar for playing Cher’s tart-tongued Italian-American mother in Moonstruck, which was good enough reason for Bloomfield to extend an invitation – Dukakis, husband Louis Zorich, and their three children then lived in a nearby Jersey suburb – despite her unmistakably Greek given and family names. But Dukakis’ ties to San Francisco, and to its gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community, are long, rich, and deep.

Through serendipity, and the astute assistance of Brandon Miller and Joanne Jordan of Jordan, Miller & Associates, Dukakis’ Pride appearance will dovetail into events tied into ACT’s musical version of Tales of the City, which means she can also host a benefit evening for the theater where she has so often worked and for the Richmond/Ermet AIDS Foundation. And she’ll get to see for the first time how someone else is playing the role that first brought so many San Franciscans into her bosom.

That, of course, would be the sexually mysterious Anna Madrigal, the landlady at 28 Barbary Lane, the nexus of a straight-meets-LGBT world that

Celebrity grand marshal Olympia Dukakis.

See page 80 >>

Scene from director Geoffrey Sax’s Christopher and His Kind.

LGBTs and our kind 35th SF International LGBT Film Fest features, week 2

by David Lamble

S

ome of the 35th San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival’s most challenging and intoxicating stories compete for your attention in its final four days.

Christopher and His Kind This nimble, BBC-produced queer-boy true-life adventure opens with a handsome young writer trading the suffocating suburban English domestic tyranny of his widowed mum for the giddy, irresponsible caprice of pursuing straight-boy trade in the dying days of Weimar Germany. The madefor-TV film opens on a starry-eyed fugitive: the boyishly handsome Christopher Isherwood (Matt Smith), having rejected Mommy’s plan for his life by dropping out of Cambridge, is speeding off to join his erstwhile boyfriend and co-conspirator, the poet W.H. Auden, for an assault on the boy-bar precincts of Berlin. Wystan (Pip Carter) is the one person who sees through Isherwood’s protestations of political ideals. “The only cause you care about, Christopher, is yourself. You’ve turned it into an art-form.”

See page 81 >>

Courtesy Frameline

{ THIRD OF THREE SECTIONS }

<< Out There

58 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 23-29, 2011

▼

Can’t stop the LGBT Pride!

by Roberto Friedman

A

dvance word on Frameline 35’s opening-night film Gun Hill Road, directed by Rashaad Ernesto Green, was that it might be the first transgender-issues film to find popular success since 2005’s Transamerica, directed by Duncan

Tucker. The packed Castro Theatre audience gave it a rousing ovation at the opening night of the 35th SF International LGBT Film Festival last Thursday night. Stars Esai Morales, Judy Reyes and newcomer Harmony Santana were in the house and gave good Q&A after the screening, and then they brought

celebrity wattage to the openingnight gala at Temple nightclub downtown. It was a rollicking kickoff to 11 days of great LGBT film events in the Bay Area.

Last Sunday night at the Castro Theatre, Frameline screened Cho Dependent, the latest concert film from hilarious comedian, actor, author and activist Margaret Cho. We can’t think of a more deserving recipient of the Frameline Award honor, because Cho is definitely a local girl made good, and as Festival Director Jennifer Morris remarked, Frameline has been a part of her career all along the way, having screened all of her films and shorts.

The last four days of the Frameline festival are often the best, as you’ll find by perusing our coverage of upcoming highlights in features, documentaries and shorts. We’ll report on the scene at the fest’s closing night coming this Sunday in our next column.

Also looking ahead, the 33rd Annual Pride Concert, an Official 2011 SF Pride Event, is coming up on Friday, June 24, 8 p.m., at Everett Auditorium (450 Church St.). It’s co-produced by the Bay Area Rainbow Symphony, the Lesbian/Gay Chorus of San

Steven Underhill

Gun Hill Road director Rashaad Ernesto Green and film star Esai Morales at Frameline 35 opening night.

Francisco and the San Francisco Lesbian/Gay Freedom Band, with special guests the Golden Gate Men’s Chorus, San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus Ambassadors and Trauma Flintstone.

Here are some fun concert facts for your delectation!

The Pride Concert producers are honoring Commander Zoe Dunning with an award in celebration of this year’s repeal of “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell,” and the Alexander Hamilton Post will provide a color guard.

Trauma Flintstone (a.k.a. Joe Wicht), who just completed a successful run in the starring role of the chamber opera Queer, based on the William Burroughs novel, at the SF International Arts Festival, will emcee the concert.

The Lesbian/Gay Chorus of San Francisco is premiering a new piece by local composer June Bonacich, “If Gays Ruled the Country,” and an original arrangement of “Born This Way,” accompanied by the San Francisco Lesbian/Gay Freedom Band.

The Bay Area Rainbow Symphony is the first string orchestra to perform at the Pride Concert in the event’s 33-year history. More info is at www.AnnualPrideConcert.org.

If music be the food of love, play on. Last weekend we heard pianist Yuja Wang play the spots off the Bartok 2nd Piano Concerto, with Michael Tilson Thomas leading the San Francisco Symphony. The sensational recitalist negotiated this fiendishly difficult music gracefully, bringing coherence and import to even its most abstract passages.

What a season it’s been in old Davies Hall. The SFS Centennial Season kicks off on Sept. 7 with violin legend Itzhak Perlman and piano legend Lang Lang.

Candy in store Coming to the Castro Theatre next Thursday, June 30 (7 & 9:15 p.m.), is another official SF Pride event. Beautiful Darling (2010), written and directed by James Rasin, chronicles the short but influential life of Candy Darling, who was a major part of Andy Warhol’s entourage and one of the inspirations for the Lou Reed song “Walk on the Wild Side.” Born James

Anton Perich

Candy Darling, subject of a documentary screening at the Castro Theatre.

Slattery in a Long Island suburb in 1944, he transformed himself into a gorgeous, blonde actress and wellknown downtown New York figure.

Candy’s career took her through the raucous, revolutionary off-offBroadway theatre scene and into Warhol’s fame factory. There she found herself in Warhol’s inner circle, starring in two Factory movies, Paul Morrissey’s Flesh and Women in Revolt. Candy used her Warhol fame to land further film roles, and her admirer Tennessee Williams cast her in his play Small Craft Warnings.

She dreamed of becoming a Hollywood star, but tragically died of lymphoma in the early 1970s at only 29. The film uses both current and vintage interviews, excerpts from Candy’s own diaries and letters, as well as vintage footage of Candy and friends. Actress Chloe Sevigny appears as the voice of Candy Darling, and the film features appearances by film luminaries John Waters, Paul Morrissey, and Michael J. Pollard.

Kitchen confidential Out There was just another hungry scribe last week at a press luncheon for a restaurant opening downtown this week. Bluestem Brasserie, at 1 Yerba Buena Lane, will offer a menu of fresh, simply composed dishes created by executive chef Sean Canavan, created cocktails, a wine list and 12 wines on tap, sourced directly from Napa and Sonoma producers.

See page 60 >>

Desmond Perrotto

Member of the San Francisco Lesbian/Gay Freedom Band.

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June 23-29, 2011 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 59

<< Theatre

60 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 23-29, 2011

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Business of [show]

by Richard Dodds

T

here have been plenty of shows about putting on shows that incorporate pieces of the show that is being put on. Kiss Me, Kate and The Producers most quickly come to mind. But you always know which world you are in: the show or the show-within-the show. And then there is [title of show], in which the two worlds are so intertwined that sometimes the characters get confused themselves.

When a scene changes, and a character moves his chair across the stage to talk to his friend in the next scene, he gets scolded. “You said, ‘I’m going to go to the park and do some bird-watching,’ but then you just dragged your chair over here.

Should we have some transition music, something to indicate time passage?” Nah, says his buddy. “It’s too late now. I’m over here, so let’s just pretend time passed.” [title of show], finishing its TheatreWorks run in Mountain View this weekend, is filled with moments that seem to be taking place in both the actors’ real time and in the scripted entertainment that the audience is watching. It’s a circle game that has nifty sport with the mechanics of theater-making, which, to complete the circle, is about the mechanics of theatermaking.

Back in real life, actual for-real real life, aspiring showmen Jeff Bowen and Hunter Bell decided to write a new musical in the three weeks before the entry deadline in the 2004 New York Musical Theatre Festival. Without a topic, they began chronicling, with playful homage to musical-theater conventions, their efforts to write the show. Their

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Mark Kitaokaz

Ian Leonard and Jamison Stern play a couple of real-life show queens who wrote a musical about writing a musical in [title of show], now at TheatreWorks.

project was accepted and had a brief festival run before finding future homes in workshops, off-Broadway, and finally Broadway itself. Each new step required incorporating each new step, and the strain that the possibilities of commercial success put on the creators who started the whole thing as a lark is included.

But [title of show] never gets too serious, even while working its comedic charms on several theatrical levels. First of all, Bowen and Bell are unabashed show queens, who toss about insider knowledge peppered with references to the current Broadway scene as well as to musicals that failed both famously and obscurely. But you needn’t have heard of Henry Sweet Henry to get the overriding joke. (Full disclosure: I saw Henry Sweet Henry in previews, and still have the Playbill, as well as the cast recording on both vinyl and CD.) Their conversations have the kind of shorthand that communicates volumes. “I’m going back to my Playbills. You go write, and don’t jack off or watch TV,” Jeff tells Hunter. To which Hunter replies, “Are you calling me a procrastibator?”

Songwriter Jeff Bowen and librettist Hunter Bell played themselves during the show’s New York runs, and the characters retain their names even as new actors have moved in as the show is being picked up by regional theaters.

<<

Out There From page 58

We were seated among a radio journalist, a foodie blogger and the wine editor for venerable Sunset magazine, sharing plates like an amazing beef carpaccio in pistachio oil, picked ramps and aged cheddar; roasted marrow bones in shallot marmalade; arugula salad with stone fruit, toasted pumpkin seeds and Pt. Reyes blue cheese; watermelon salad with Castrelvetrano olives, feta and mint; and steamed mussels with bacon, pinot noir and thyme. Is

In the TheatreWorks production, Ian Leonard and Jamison Stern, respectively, play Jeff and Hunter, and are quite delightful in doing so.

The original guys enlisted the help of on-again, off-again actresses Heidi Blickenstaff and Susan Blackwell in developing the show, and they too played themselves helping develop the show. Farah Alvin and Laura Jordan have the roles now, and expertly play the women as wary competitors who become friends.

You could certainly accuse [title of show] of being lightweight entertainment without stirring up much controversy, but there is more joy hidden in the minutiae as lines that are witty, clever, and sometimes hilarious are tossed off so casually and quickly that careful listening is necessary for full effect.

Meredith McDonough has directed the 90-minute show with a light and savvy touch, and musical director William Liberatore gets off a funny bit from his onstage piano.

The show ends on a sweet and self-effacing note, as the creators’ temporarily inflated egos get a reality check. Together they sing, “I’d rather be nine people’s favorite thing than a hundred people’s ninth favorite thing.”▼ [title of show] will run through June 26 at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts.

Tickets are $22-$67.

Call (650) 463-1960 or go to www.theatreworks.org.

your mouth watering? Because ours is, from the memories.

It’s the first SF restaurant from partners Adam and Stacy Jed, and will offer all-day dining and a rooftop bar 11 a.m.-11 p.m..

We chose a rib-eye steak in green peppercorn-blue cheese sauce as our entrée, but could have easily gone for the duck confit, the Duroc pork or the roasted Dorade. Desserts by noted chef James Ormsby included butterscotch tapioca brulée and vanilla profiteroles. Discover this place for yourself next time you’re in the Yerba Buena arts district.▼

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June 23-29, 2011 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 61

<< Music

62 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 23-29, 2011

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Gods, giants, trolls & homo sapiens

by Philip Campbell

T

he first of three complete Wagner Ring cycles scheduled through June at the San Francisco Opera opened last week with a shaky re-creation of director Francesca Zambello’s previously well-received 2008 staging of Das Rheingold (Prologue to The Ring of the Nibelung). On the second night, Zambello’s stunning 2010 production of Die Walkure (the official Part I of the Ring) returned as well.

Despite a few mildly disappointing cast changes over the years, both operas proved nearly as exciting as before, and in many ways (with some sensibly modified stage business and reedited scenic projections), they have actually improved. The last two parts of the puzzle, Siegfried and Gotterdammerung (Twilight of the Gods), are by now also in place.

Zambello’s intriguing concept of

Cory Weaver, SF Opera

Elizabeth Bishop (Fricka), Brandon Jovanovich (Froh), Gerd Grochowski (Donner), Daniel Sumegi (Fafner), Mark Delavan (Wotan), Melissa Citro (Freia) and Andrea Silvestrelli (Fasolt) in San Francisco Opera’s Das Rheingold.

the four music dramas that make up the entire cycle can finally be seen in proper sequence.

There is nothing simple about

German opera or Richard Wagner, but in this new envisioning, the director has opted for a kind of cut-to-the-chase minimalism that Cory Weaver, SF Opera

Anja Kampe as Sieglinde in San Francisco Opera’s Die Walkure.

fits nicely with the inventive North American context. Dubbed the “American Ring” for spanning eras from the Gold Rush through the Industrial Revolution to current ecological disasters, Zambello’s unique take on the composer’s masterwork is unfolding with astonishing contemporary relevance.

Wagner’s large number of identifiable leitmotifs, embedded throughout the massive score, help explain the complicated plot and the impulses of an incredible cast of gods, demigods, giants, trolls and human beings. Zambello also does her best to keep things moving along with clarity. Whenever a long stretch of exposition threatens to numb our interest, she comes to the rescue with a deft touch of dramatic insight.

From an orchestral standpoint, conductor Donald Runnicles is in no rush to get the job done soon, but his mastery of the big picture still moves the tale sensibly forward. His attention to detail also shows a deep understanding of the unstoppable symphonic flow.

The opening night Rheingold was marred at the start by mistakes from the horns and an awkwardly paced Scene 1. Gordon Hawkins, in an under-characterized vocal portrayal of the dwarf Alberich, looked a bit too imposing for the role (shouldn’t he be more repulsive than this?).

An overactive fog machine also swamped his tussle with the Rhinemaidens. Technical glitches continued throughout the evening, causing some noisy set changes, but things improved (at least musically) once we got to Wotan’s house.

Wotan is sort of the CEG (Chief Executive God) in this Ring, and baritone Mark Delavan is recreating his 2008 role debut with the same sense of authority we remember.

Mezzo-soprano Elizabeth Bishop as Fricka (Mrs. Wotan) is no typical trophy wife, but she believably develops from petulant matron in Rheingold to suitably venomous shrew in Die Walkure.

Her character’s growth is another example of Zambello’s influence.

Gerd Grochowski and Brandon Jovanovich (both ordinarily superb) were adequate as the other gods Donner and Froh (a

couple of spoiled preppies), but soprano Melissa Citro as Freia barely made her mark. Some weird stage business (she seemed to have developed affection for the giant Fasolt after being held hostage) was, unfortunately, the most memorable thing about her debut.

David Cangelosi as Mime (Alberich’s really repulsive brother) showed encouraging promise.

He will get his big shot when he continues the role in Siegfried. The real break-out was Stefan Margita’s repeat of his 2008 performance as Loge. The lukewarm feeling of the first night came to vivid life whenever he was onstage.

The following night’s Die Walkure changed Brandon Jovanovich from preppie god in Rheingold to hapless hero Siegmund. Anja Kampe, making her SFO debut, played his pitiable sister and bride-tobe, Sieglinde. They tore the house down with their impassioned acting and attractive stage presence. The understandably incestuous siblings (everybody has problems in the Ring) get most of the singing in one of the best first acts in all of opera, and Kampe and Jovanovich made it their own special triumph.

Soprano Nina Stemme is making her full Ring cycle debut as Brunnhilde after making a huge splash in the 2010 Die Walkure.

Memories of that electrifying appearance came rushing back the moment she ran back onstage in Act II. Until the final moving scene with Mark Delavan (again playing her father Wotan), Stemme never let hold of the spellbound audience.

Years from now, we will still be praising her awesome Brunnhilde.

There isn’t much more to say about this wonderful production, replete with Valkyries parachuting onstage and photographic images of fallen heroes from contemporary wars. It is the best example of Zambello’s American view of the Ring so far.

Now it is on to a trailer trash Siegfried and the ultimate global warming of Gotterdammerung.

We’ll get back to you with the results, but in the meantime, there are seats still available for the rest of the cycles.▼ www.sfopera.com

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June 23-29, 2011 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 63

<< Film

64 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 23-29, 2011

▼

Courtesy Frameline

Scene from Becoming Chaz: Chastity Bono decided that this was the time to claim her inner guy.

Docs & shorts, final weekend

by David Lamble

T

here’s a tasty flock of Frameline 35 docs, mostly at the Roxie and Victoria, that allow us to vogue through some interesting lives, lives in peril or at a poignant turning point.

Becoming Chaz If you’re old enough to remember The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour (you probably shouldn’t admit it) when it first slid into the CBS schedule as a 1971 summer series, you’ll recall how they had a ritual of hoisting their bouncing baby girl up on their shoulders as they sang. Fenton Bailey & Randy Barbato investigate how the Shirley Temple-cute Chastity Bono slip-slided away through her childhood, adolescence, stabs at a singing career, the skiing death of Congressman Sonny, drug problems and rehabs until settling down with girlfriend Jenny and deciding that this was the time to claim her inner guy.

Since FTM transitions are still just getting traction in our imaginations, there’s a lot that’s – fresh and spicy in this exhaustive, candid film about how a large woman becomes a slightly smaller man, losing six-and-a-half pounds in the upper-body reconstruction alone. The physical specifics take a back seat to how the extended Bono clan will receive their new brother/son. Cher admits that she misses her once-daughter’s voice; Jenny confesses that the couple have had their ups and down with the mood shifts and heightened male assertiveness the hormones provoke. A relative notes that the Chaz’s late dad Sonny might have had more empathy for his new son’s transition than Cher can muster.

Ultimately there’s a triumphal coming out. (Castro, 6/23) Paris is Burning There was a lovely innocence surrounding Jennie Livingston’s pulsating excursion through the late-80s world of queer and trans dancers/ aspiring celebrities. Their stabs at stardom had a fresh and distinctly non-decadent flavor. It’s fun to relive the bloom of youth and wonder where are they now. (Featured on the same bill as the Livingston short Who’s the Top?, Castro, 6/23) East Bloc Love The Slavic beauty Sergey Yenin – imagine Rudolf Nureyev morphing into Cleve Jones – dominates Australian director Logan Mucha’s quixotic journey

stray dog, only to have his Pop snarl, “We hate dogs.” Finally Jack hooks up with the new maid’s randy son, Gabe (Zach Cumer). Nazemian constructs a bittersweet tale of Jack’s desire to acquire a second mom, a forbidden pet and a taboo-smashing physical release that jumpstarts his future.

Baldguy You’ve never had the joys of finding your physical type more absurdly celebrated than in Norwegian director Maria Block’s spoof of a teen’s acquisition of a hairless middle-age trick. (both Fun in Boy Shorts, Castro, 6/26) The Rescue San Francisco filmmaker Philippe Gosselin has created a shelter for damaged or abandoned boyfriends.

Guys searching for the bedtime companion with just the right kinks, fetish or servile manner can wander through this boyfriend pound where the inmates are drooling to be adopted. The shelter’s manager cautions that the previously owned boyfriends may have to be put to sleep if suitable new masters are not found. Earlier this director Philippe Gosselin month, I discussed The Rescue with director Gosselin at a Delancey St. screening. workers to send money home to better the lives of those left behind David Lamble: Your dark in the developing world. French boyfriend humor struck a chord, director Sebastiano d’Ayala Valva particularly the gag about having allows us to see Angel’s reception to “put them down.” by a multi-generational brood: the Philippe Gosselin: I’ve worked kids greet him with affection, the with Wonder Dog Rescue, and I adults grudgingly acknowledge his thought about the experience these crucial remittances but still call him dogs go through, being abandoned, “faggot.” Angel pals around with his having their lives put in limbo, old boxing trainers, and concludes waiting to find new homes. So I the visit by observing that almost rewrote it in human terms. nothing has been done towards Different dog breeds correspond fulfilling his request to have a house to human sexual types. constructed for his eventual return.

This city’s marvelous diversity is a One can indeed go home again, but funny match for the dog world. don’t expect to like what you find there. (Roxie, 6/25) You have obedience training.

Boyfriends need discipline. through the unsettling universe of Eastern European queer liberation.

Yenin and his friends from Belarus, Poland, Latvia and Russia explain the perilous process of securing official permission for gay lib marches, only to be assaulted by thugs wearing badges. Since this is a multinational enterprise, English is the predominant tongue wagged at mean-spirited authorities and religious bigots. Yenin’s sensitive eyes peer through horn-rimmed glasses as he recalls the beating death of a lover that christened his crusade in blood. (Victoria, 6/25) Angel The bittersweet return of a one-time boxer turned transsexual prostitute from Paris to his native Ecuador becomes a meditation on the efforts of millions of expatriate

“We all have these primal instincts which we suppress in the name of civilization.

Here they could let loose their inner dog.”

bartabsf.com

Short, sweet

In the Festival’s waning hours, several short films provide a thoughtful oasis from the tumult of parade day.

Revolution Abdi Nazemian’s melancholy memoir concerns an Iranian teen who feels marooned in the affluence of his parents’ upscale exile. It’s LA, 1989, and 16-year-old Jack (moody Mojean Aria) tries to bond with his family’s observant Filipino maid, only to have his mom fire the woman. “Do you know how many people were executed in the name of religion?” Jack acquires a

What did you ask of your talented cast?

We all have these primal instincts which we suppress in the name of civilization. Here they could let loose their inner dog. (The Rescue debuts with the feature eCupid, Castro, 6/23) A Word Israeli director Yoav Inbar’s sassy short commences with a boyfriend unable to complete a blowjob as the recipient says, enough already. “You’re going to break it.” (Worldly Affairs, Castro, 6/25)▼

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June 23-29, 2011 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 65

<< TV

66 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 23-29, 2011

▼

Taking pride in the lavender tube

by Victoria A. Brownworth

H

ave we mentioned before that we love watching TV from a hospital bed? Well, we do.

Admittedly it’s because we watch things there that we don’t watch at home, like Real Housewives and Hoarders (best horror show on TV, always makes us want to go home and clean. The new season of Hoarders just premiered with a woman who collects dolls – more than 50,000 of them.)

From a hospital bed we also seem to have more patience for people on talk shows than we do at home. Must be the drugs.

Take Keith Olbermann. Please. So there he was on Jimmy Fallon, who, btw, we almost never watch because we watch the super-queer-friendly Craig Ferguson, but who really is a superb talk-show host and very, very funny, but we are kind of boycotting NBC right now, as we will explain later, not that there’s much to watch on NBC or even MSNBC, but we digress. Anyway, there we were watching the Keith and his gigantic head talking to Fallon about his new talk show over on Current, which debuted on June 20. Yes, Current, and no, no one does watch it, but that’s what happens when your big head gets too big.

According to the Keith, the new show will still be called Countdown and will be just like the old show, only a lot more. Which is like being told you need a makeover, so you use twice as much hair spray and way darker lipstick. Olbermann says MSNBC is in a state of desperation now. You know, because he quit.

Olbermann also says that Bill O’Reilly never admits he’s wrong.

Hmmm, now who does that remind us of?

Speaking of politicos who just don’t get it, we would have bet money on Andrew Weiner not resigning, but fortunately we didn’t, since the recession is double-dipping as we speak, and we can’t afford to lose a dime. Here’s what we thought of Weiner’s more-angrythan-apologetic TV resignation on June 16: You didn’t have to do it. You didn’t have to photograph your penis everywhere you went, and you didn’t have to leave Congress.

As David Letterman noted, “I’ve seen the photos, Congressman Weiner, and you have nothing to apologize for.”

Diaper Dave Vitter is still in the Senate after his brothel scandal.

Toe-tappin’ Larry Craig didn’t resign either. John Ensign didn’t resign until a year after he was indicted. And these family-values Republicans were actually arrested.

While creating a photo montage of your penis then tweeting it may be in poor taste and exhibit poor judgment, it’s not a crime. So while we are appalled by the behavior, we’re equally appalled by former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, DNC chair Debbie Wasserman-Schultz and President Obama demanding Weiner’s resignation because the penis pics were allegedly keeping the entire Democratic Party in stasis.

Entire. Party. By one dick.

With Weiner’s resignation, we lose one of the few Democrats who still had a spine (maybe because his penis was constantly erect, and it kept him in balance).

The Republicans just sat back and laughed at this mess. One more Democrat with an actual voice who was an actual progressive, gone.

Take Keith Olbermann. Please.

Speaking of voices, it’s always inspirational when someone comes out and really, really likes it. That seems to be the case with CNN’s Don Lemon, who burst out of his closet in May. Last week the newscaster stuck his mic in GOP presidential wannabe Rick Santorum’s face and asked him if he had any gay friends.

It was one of those moments that TV does best: Ambush journalism.

The stunned look on Santorum’s face wasn’t even because he was trying to remember if he actually knew any queers. The look reflected the thought balloon over his head:

“Who is this random Negro asking me questions? Do I even know any Negroes?”

Lemon volleyed well. He’s having such a good time being out of the closet, it’s primo pride TV. Santorum sputtered that some of his best friends are gay (we hope they’re ashamed), and that he was just with one of his gay friends a few days ago.

(No, not that way, although he is a tea-bagger.) Check out the video at CNN.com or rawstory.com.

As for us, it will be superbly enjoyable to see the man-dog sexloon trounced again when even the lunatic fringe won’t vote for him.

Memo to Santorum: If you can’t get re-elected to Congress in your own state, you are not going to make it nationally. Plus, you’re nuts.

Lemon might be the perfect role model for last week’s target fatty on ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition, in which the morbidly obese men and women who are too fat for Biggest Loser get the tonnage off in a year and look gorgeous at the end. Dana weighed in at 498.

He had moved away from his family and was very isolated, sitting home and eating, eating, eating. Over the course of his 200+ lb. weight loss, Dana, a handsome 44-year-old African-American and a stunning gospel singer, revealed that he was gay, and that his eating was a way to camouflage his true self. Awesome.

Lose the weight and lose the closet.

Someone get this guy a nice man!

But do shield him from the words of NBC’s Tracy Morgan (SNL, 30 Rock), who is following in Isaiah Washington’s “real black men hate queers” footsteps. Morgan went into a homophobic rant during a stand-up routine during which he said he would stab his son through the heart if he ever came home sounding like an effeminate queen.

Okay, so imagine this scenario: A white comedian says he will stab his son through the heart if he ever came home with a black girlfriend.

Think he could get away with a halfassed apology and a promise to say something nice with the NAACP? No, he couldn’t. And we’re pretty sure NBC would have fired that white comedian’s racist ass just like they should have fired Morgan for his blatant and violent homophobia.

NBC runs “it gets better” public service ads. Not with people like Morgan, it doesn’t. The part they don’t tell you is that bullies rarely stop being bullies. We’d like to remind people that Isaiah

Washington apologized for calling T.R Knight a faggot on the set of Grey’s Anatomy, and also said he would work with GLAAD. Then he went into yet another “faggot” rant during the Emmys. ABC fired him.

Too little, too late. NBC shouldn’t make the same mistake.

Speaking of mistakes, we aren’t sure what we think about Fran Drescher’s new sitcom, Happily Divorced on TV Land. We like Drescher. She’s funny and honest, and likes queers. So much so that she married one. And that’s the premise of her based-on-real-life sitcom. A woman named Fran finds out her husband, Peter (just like Drescher’s own ex), is gay after nearly 20 years of marriage. The show also has Rita Moreno as Drescher’s mother, which is hard to explain. As are the strained gay one-liners. They are perfectly adequate, but not nearly as funny as Will & Grace was 15 years ago.

We have no idea who the audience is for this show. Is it gay men? Straight women? Men who sleep with men but are still married to women? Liza Minnelli and Terry McMillan? People who were watching Hot in Cleveland and couldn’t find the remote to switch channels?

At least the show has a gay character, and those are getting more and more rare. (Memo to GLAAD: When you’re done making nice with Tracy Morgan, take note that LGBT characters are disappearing from prime time faster than Newt Gingrich’s staff.) Among the queer characters returning for the summer season (since Glee and Grey’s Anatomy are on hiatus) are Lafayette on True Blood, Danny on Teen Wolf, Emily on Being Human, John Cooper on Southland. Plus, rumors are swirling that when season four of True Blood premieres on June 26, one of the formerly straight characters will turn gay. And that person is not married to Fran Drescher. We do wonder, however, why all the queer characters are vampires or werewolves. Except for Cooper, who is a pretty bestial cop.

Reality shows are another place to find queers on the tube this summer.

We recommend Master Chef and So You Think You Can Dance on Fox, and America’s Got Talent on NBC. Some super queer talents are being showcased there. Remember how cool it was when Tyler Robinson came out on The Voice? What we can say about all these shows: Not homophobic. Unlike, say, that show where you can only come out after you lose. (Yes, we mean you, American Idol, beard for Ryan Seacrest.) Coming out makes us all proud.

Paging lesbians And then there’s daytime. Sigh.

Bianca is back on All My Children and she’s in love, but since there are no lesbians in Pine Valley but her, she is falling for a straight woman.

Yet again. This time it’s Marissa (sexy, pouty Sarah Glendening, formerly from As the World Turns as the duplicitous Lucy), her former best friend JR’s former wife.

Oh dear god. At least Bianca’s wife was a bisexual. (And where is her wife? What happened to her wife and two children? Did they disappear at the same time the former Bianca, Eden Riegel, left the show for Y&R? We know Tamara Braun, who played Bianca’s wife Reese, and the mother of her second child, is over on Days of Our Lives now.)

AMC sends such a wrong message about lesbians with Bianca. We used to love the character. We were sorry that the show let Emmy-winner See page 75 >>

Read more online at www.ebar.com

June 23-29, 2011 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 67

<< Music

68 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 23-29, 2011

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Paeans to the Sun King

by Tim Pfaff

S

uddenly the sundial of the early-music movement, a fickle chronometer at the best of times, is pointing right at Lully. Only a generation ago, around the time the intrepid historicists were securing the beachhead of originalinstrument Samuel Barber – likely to gay Uncle Sam’s horror – their scouts were predicting that the music of Jean-Baptiste Lully would always be a no-fly zone, if only because the public would have no stomach for it. As so often happens,

no one remembered to tell the public.

This morning in my Yahoo mailbox was Medici TV’s announcement of its all-Lully multimedia extravaganza this month, putting the big bopper of 17th-century French music before the largest audience he’s had since he pranced into Versailles, through the servants’ entrance, as a dancer.

That concert is by William Christie and his Les Arts Florissants, the artists on the new DVD release of Lully’s 1686 opera Armide in a 2008 Robert Carsen production at

the Theatre des Champs-Elysees (FRA Musica). Simultaneously, the out all-around musical genius Christophe Rousset and his Les Talens Musique offer a (mostly) live performance of Lully’s 1679 Bellerophon, a long-forgotten operatic paean to the composer’s patron and protector, King Louis XIV (Aparte).

There’s something eerily modern about Lully’s improbable re-ascent to prominence. After finagling his way into the royal court, he drove out all his competitors, securing his hegemony with an endless series

Eric Mahoudeau

Chorus members in Robert Carsen’s production of Lully’s Armide.

of sycophantic musical tributes to King Louis – despite the fact that the composer’s scandalous affairs with both men and women frequently cast unflattering shadows on the Sun King. The pre-echoes of Wagner and gay old King Ludwig are as loud as they are unavoidable.

The current generation of toilers in the early-music enterprise’s gut-and-skin trade may well relish the fact that Lully died by his own baton. Conducting a Te Deum he had composed in 1687 (to celebrate Louis’ recovery from an illness), the composer hit his own foot with the long wooden staff conductors then used to beat rhythm. Untreated, his toe abscess turned gangrenous, and Lully died months later, a cautionary tale if ever there was one.

Minutes into the Prologue to Armide, Wisdom (La Sagesse, sung by the wonderful Isabelle Druet) sings of the Sun King, “Who could know him and not love him?” as danseurs, choristers, solo singers, and instrumentalists show exactly who, lest the question hang uncomfortably in the air. The ensuing opera, on a story that has caught the imaginations of many another great composer, is finer than this production lets on, though it does give clues to the kind of buzz a Lully opera could have generated.

This time the vanity award goes to director Robert Carsen, who on evidence should get out more.

Much as he had in the Tosca recently reviewed in the B.A.R., in which he set Puccini’s opera in an opera house preparing to perform Tosca, Carsen sets this Armide, performed in a theater near and much like the one of its 1686 premiere, in a theater where an audience is gathering for a performance of a piece called Louis IV. In its final minutes, the Prologue signals that the Armide story – that is, the opera – is a dream, either of Renaud, the knight who does not succumb to Armide’s fatal sexual wiles, or of Louis, or perhaps just of

some hapless tourist come to visit the palace. It’s hard to say. Think Inception with meringue.

His theatrical hiccup notwithstanding, Carsen coaxes intense performances from his cast, notably Stephanie d’Oustrac’s credibly dangerous Armide, Paul Agnew’s Renaud, Laurent Naori’s La Haine, and Nathan Berg’s Hidraot.

But best of all are the nimble, gender-ambiguous choristers, each one a stand-out but all in synch, and Jean-Claude Gallotta’s dancers, who are mesmerizing in choreography that gratefully owes more to Mark Morris than to any of the modernday wizards who have tried to revive period dance. The American-born Christie, like the Florentine Lully a transplant who has virtually taken over the French early-music scene, pronounces his adopted musical tongue convincingly.

But it’s Rousset and his musicians who unlock Lully’s music and make it sing. The composer’s strongest advocate for more than a decade, Rousset, a much-admired collaborator as well as a scholar and harpsichordist of the front rank, has literally revived an opera unheard for three centuries.

Although the score was printed in Lully’s time and never lost, Bellerophon had fallen out of favor because of a bad early review (back in the days when critics actually made value judgments about new works). After finding new manuscript material in a Paris bookstore, Rousset corrected the printed score, re-evaluated the piece – e voila, Bellerophon vive.

The excellent CD notes tell you everything you need to know about the work, an opera of almost no consequence and as naked and unashamed a patron-pleaser as was ever penned. But with a cast of unknowns and the best band in the business, Rousset makes it tirelessly entertaining, consistently dazzling, and at times even moving.▼

Caroline Doutre

Lully advocate musician Christophe Rousset.

Read more online at www.ebar.com

June 23-29, 2011 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 69

Out & About • Pride 2011

70 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 23-29, 2011

Line-Up @ The Lookout Prolific nightlife photographer Marques Daniels shoots pics of patrons, which will be projected on a jumbo screen outside the bar. DJs Grind and John LePage spin tunes. $7. 9pm-2am. 3600 16th St. www.lookoutsf.com

Little Shop of Horrors @ Boxcar Theatre Local production of the hit Off-Broadway musical by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman based on the ‘60s B-movie about a carnivorous talking, singing alien plant. $20$50. Tue-Sat 8pm. Sun 2pm. Thru July 8. 505 Natoma St. at 6th. www.boxcartheatre.org

Michael Montlack @ Modern Times Gay author of the new book of poems Cool Limbo is the featured author at Queer Open Mic. Sign-up 7pm. Readings at 7:30pm. 2919 24th St. (note: new location). www.mtbs.com

Mr. @ Mighty

Sandra Bernhard (clockwise from upper left), Bebe Sweetbriar, Juanita More and Taylor Dayne

Divalicious

by Jim Provenzano

T

he term Diva is often overused. To some, beyond operatic specifics, it implies a temperamental artist who’s difficult to work with. Such is definitely not the case with these visiting and local performers/hosts, who are divas in that they always give fans a great time.

It being LGBT etc Pride, they deserve a little worship.

Sandra Bernhard brings her unique brand of pride to the Marines Memorial Theatre. The singing comic actress and favorite lesbian performs music from her new CD, I Love Being Me, Don’t You? $45, $65, $75. 7pm. Friday June 24 and Saturday June 25, 7pm. 609 Sutter St. 771-6900. www.MarinesMemorialTheatre.com Diva VIP at The Endup boasts American Idol performers Lakisha Jones, Cassandra Cass, Caroline Lund, Bebe Sweetbriar (photo) and Xavier Toscano at a benefit for the Richmond-Ermet AIDS Foundation, with hosts Donna Sachet and Patrik Gallineaux; complimentary cocktails til 9pm, a chocolate fountain, and a prize contest for a weekend in Palm Springs. $10. Saturday, June 25. 7:30pm10pm. 21+. The popular dance night Shangri-La begins at 10pm.

6th St. at Harrison. www.TheEndUp.com Juanita More! returns to the hotel-poolside venue Chambers (formerly The Phoenix) for her annual fantastic fundraiser blowout Pride Party with 12 hours of DJ and live entertainment (See the full list online). Proceeds benefit the GSA Network. $25-$35. Sunday, June 26. 2pm-2am. 601 Eddy St. www.juanitamore.com At the closing party for Pride at the Regency Ballroom, Taylor Dayne, stalwart supporter of the LGBT community, belts out her catchy pop songs. Queer as Folk’s Peter Paige, DJ Glovibes and RuPaul’s Drag Race contestants also appear. With 12 bars and plenty of gogo dancers, a good time’s to be had by all. $65. 7pm-2am. 1290 Sutter St. www.TheRegencyBallroom.com

Fri 24 >> Adam Killian @ Nob Hill Theatre Hot tattooed porn star returns for his wild X-rated solo and duo shows. $30. 8pm & 10pm. Also June 25 & 26. Check website for updated schedule of other performers. 21+.

729 Bush St. at Powell. 781-9468. www.thenobhilltheatre.com

Adventures at Sea, Grindhouse @ Oddball Film Jules Verne, Jacques Cousteau, and scubadiving short films. $10. 8:30pm. June 25, at 8pm; real grindhouse sexploitation and burlesque short flicks. 275 Capp St. 5588117. www.oddballfilm.com

Anita Cocktail Hour @ The Rrazz Room Festive singer-faux queen performer will lighten up your night as you get lit. Special guests include Sean Ray, Ben Bacot, clown Sara Moore; a portion of each night’s proceeds benefit different local nonprofits. $25.

10:15pm. Hotel Nikko lobby, 222 Mason St. at O’Farrell. (866) 468-3399. www.TheRrazzRoom.com

Assassins @ Eureka Theatre Ray of Light Theatre presents the controversial Stephen Sondheim musical about assassins. $20-$36. Thu-Sat 8pm. Sun 2pm.

Thru June 25. 215 Jackson St. at Battery. www.roltheatre.com

Bare Chest Calendar Launch @ Powerhouse Meet the hot men of the 2012 Bare Chest Calendar and buy your own; calendar, that is. Proceeds benefit the AIDS Emergency Fund. 9pm-12am. 1347 Folsom St. www. barechest.org www.powerhouse-sf.com

Café Flamenco @ Verdi Club Yaelisa’s Flamenco School’s showcase recital of new dances by her students. $10$18. 8pm. 2424 Mariposa. 861-9199. www.verdiclub.net

Dot429 @ Postrio Juanita More DJs this increasingly popular networking event for LGBT professionals; portion of proceeds benefits Lyon-Martin Health Services. $35-$40. 7pm-11pm. 545 Post St. www.dot429.com/events/

The Edenites @ Exit Stage Left Stuart Bousel’s new comedy about gay, bi and straight relationships in San Francisco’s dot com boom era. $12-$25.

Thu-Sat 8pm. thru June 25. 156 Eddy St. www.horrorunspeakable.com

Frameline 35 @ Various Theatres Enjoy a dazzling array of LGBT films at the Castro Theatre, 429 Castro St. Also at Roxie Theater, 3117 16th St., Victoria Theatre, 2961 16th St., and Rialto Cinema Elmwood, 2966 College Ave. $10-$50 (gala events). Admissions vary. Thru June 26. www.frameline.org

GAWK Party @ Tikka Masla 25th anniversary party for Gay Artists and Writers Kollective, with founder Jon Sugar, bands Happy Idiot, Xavier Toscano, Maya Songbird and DJed music. No cover. 7pm.

1668 Haight St.

Homefront @ Zeum Theatre American Conservatory Theatre’s world premiere of Craig Slaight and Creighton Irons’ commissioned musical about World War II teens fleeing Germany and attempting to find a new home. $20.50. Wed-Sat 7:30pm. Sat & Sun 2pm. Thru June 25.

Yerba Buena Gardens, Fourth & Howard sts. www.act-sf.org

Joshua’s J. and Beatbox Event’s very popular annual mustache party, with Miss Honey Dijon, Jonene, DJ Jim Hopkins, porn DVd giveaways. $15. 9pm-4am. 119 Utah St. www.joshuajpresents.com

Paper Doll Militia @ Kinetic Arts Center A littl girl fends off the Devil in this aerial, animated, puppetry musical theatrical delight. $16-$20. Fri/Sat 8pm. Sun 5pm.

Thru June 26. 785 7th St., Oakland. (510) 444-4800. Also at Dance Mission Theatre, July 1 & 2. $16-$20. 8pm. 3316 24th St. 273-4633. www.ThisTwistedTale.com

The Pride @ New Conservatory Theatre

$10-$20. Thu-Sun 8pm. Thru July 8. 1834 Euclid Ave. www.impactheatre.com

Vice Palace @ Hypnodrome Thrillpeddlers brings forth the last Cockettes musical, the saucy 1972 revue of songs and sordid silliness, a very loose Fellini-esque parody of Poe’s The Masque of the Red Death. $30-$35. Fri & Sat 8pm Sun 7pm.

575 10th st. at Bryant/Division. Thru July 31. www.thrillpeddlers.com

Sat 25 >> Anna Deavere Smith @ Berkeley Rep Acclaimed solo performer brings her new show Let Me Down Easy, about healthcare and many other issues, to the stage. $17$73. Tue-Sat 8pm (Wed 7pm) Sat & Sun 2pm. Thru June 26. LGBT Night Out July 10.

2015 Addison St. (510) 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org

Assisted Living, the Musical @ Imperial Palace Rick Compton and Betsy Bennett’s witty musical about senior lives and the joys and woes of aging; delicious Dim Sum banquet with each show. $79.59-$99.50.

Sat 12pm. Sun 12 & 5pm. Thru July 31.

818 Washington st. (888) 885-2844. www.assistedlivingthemusical.com

Bay Cruise @ Pier 40 Pink Saturday women’s dance event on a cruise boat sailing around the Bay, with DJ Dr. Sleep. Appetizers, cash bar. $50-$90 (for two). 5:15-8:30pm. www.heygirlheyproductions.com

Dan Hoyle’s moving and funny solo show, with multiple characters based on Midwesterners on the right and Coasters on the left, asks how a politcially divided America can survive. $25-$35. Fri 8pm, Sat 8:30pm.

Thru July 24. 1062 Valencia St. at 22nd. 2823055. www.themarsh.org

Sex City Tour @ Citywide Carol Queen and Betty Sullivan host a walking tour with optional wine tasting and shopping at Good Vibrations. $45. 5:30pm8pm. www.bettyslist.com

SF Ethnic Dance Festival @ Novellus Theater The third section of the annual festival of dance includes Chuna McIntyre of Nunamta Yup’ik Eskimo Singers and Dancers, Los Lupeños de San José, Barangay Dance Company, Kyoungil Ong, Nimely Pan African Dance Company, Murphy Irish Dance Company, Collage Dance Ensemble, Natyalaya, OREET, Te Mana O Te Ra. Also: June 25, 3pm and June 26, 1pm participatory group dance celebrations at the Forum. Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, 401 Mission St. Other shows at different venues thru July 3. www.sfethnicdancefestival.org

The Stops @ New Conservatory Theatre Eric Lane Barnes’ satirical musical revue about fundamentalist drag queens, er, ladies, who try to save their outed gay organist. $15-$40. Wed-Sat 8pm. Sun 2pm.

Thru June 25. 25 Van Ness Ave., lower level.

861-8972. www.nctcsf.org

Tales of the City @ A.C.T. American Conservatory Theatre’s funny and sweet world premiere musical adaptation of Armistead Maupin’s first novel in his popular series, with book by Jeff Whitty (Avenue Q ) and music/lyrics by Jake Shears and John Garden (Scissor Sisters). Tonight includes a special appearance by Tales film version Anna Madrigal Olympia Dukakis, with VIP pre-event dinner and post-show reception and party: $75-$1500 (www. olympiahoststales.eventbrite.com). Reg: $48-$123. Extended thru July 24. Tue-Sat 8pm. Wed, Sat & Sun 2pm. 415 Geary St. 749-2228. www.act-sf.org

Fri 24 Marga & the Tomboys @ LGBT Center Marga Gomez has recruited Janine Brito, Karinda Dobbins and Morgan for a night of queer comedy that’ll tickle your lavender funny bone. $15. 8pm. 1800 Market St. www.margagomez.com lives become connected via an ancient oak tree. $17-$26. Thu-Sat 8pm. Sun 5pm (Wed 7pm from June 1). Thru June 26.

1901 Ashby Ave. (510) 841-6500. www.shotgunplayers.org

Cave Concert @ Marin Headlands Hang virtuoso Laura Inserra and vocal ensemble Kitka perform, along with the fire-dancing ensemble Temple of Poi at an acoustically mesmerizing 9th annual concert in the Hawk Hill Tunnel in Sausalito. $30$108 (advance sales only). 9:30pm. www.caveconcert.org

Dewey Arsee @ Ruby’s Gallery Beyond Tasteless, an exhibit and sale of the gay ceramic artist’s (actually quite tasteful) hand-crafted erotic cups, plates and other works. Thru June 28. 552A Noe St. at 18th. www.deweyarsee.com

West Coast premiere of Alexia Kaye Campbell’s innovative play about two men and a woman caught in a complex love triangle. $24-$40. Wed-Sat 8pm, Sun 2pm thru July 3. 25 Van Ness Ave., lower level. 861-8972. www.nctcsf.org

The Real Americans @ The Marsh

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Gay Comedy @ The Marsh, Berkeley

Sat 28 Bromance @ Artifact Gallery Two-day opening receptions for a unique group exhibit of art celebrating “bromances” between straight, gay and other men by Frank Kozik, Yosiell Lorenzo, Justin Lovato, Jay Howell, Jesse Balmer and Gabe Boscana and Portland friends. 10% of proceeds goes to The Trevor Project. 6pm-9pm. June 26, 2pm-6pm. Thru July 17. 1645 Mission St. 577-1658. www.artifactgallery.net

Beach Blanket Babylon @ Club Fugazi Musical comedy revue, now in its 35th year, with an ever-changing lineup of political and pop culture icons, all in gigantic wigs. $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

Big Top vs. Trannyshack @ Club Eight Joshua J’s monthly funfest featuring live shows, gogo guys, drag divas, 3 Bars, 2 Floors, 2-for-1 drinks for early arrivals combines forces with Heklina’s drag crew, with Raja Gemini, Carmen Carrera and Delta Work. $15. 9pm-3am. 1151 Folsom St. www.joshuajpresents.com www.eightsf.com

Care of Trees @ Ashby Stage, Berkeley Shotgun Players’ production of E. Hunter Spreen’s drama about two people whose

Liz Grant, Smart Slut and others make you laugh, gaily. $15-$50. 8:30pm.

2061 Allston Way at Shattuck. www.themarsh.org

Gay Pride Freedom History Ride @ Citywide Meet up at the Cupid’s Arrow sculpture at the Embarcadero for a fun, freewheeling and informative cycling tour of historic LGBTQ spaces. And sites. Rain cancels. $5.

1:45pm-5pm. www.sfbc.org

Go Bang @ Deco Lounge Groovy monthly disco dance night’s special Pride weekend edition features DJs PeePlay, Lel’ Ephant, residents Steve Fabus, Tres Lingerie and Sergio. $5. 9pm-3am-ish. 510 Larkin St. www.gobangsf.com www.decosf.com

Jonathan Poretz @ The Rrazz Room Vegas-style crooner performs nightclub classics. $25. 10:20pm. 2-drink min. 21+. Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. (800) 380-3095. www.TheRrazzRoom.com

Metamorphosis @ Aurora Theatre, Berkeley Aurora Theatre Company’s production of Mark Jackson’s absurd and horrortinged play based on Franz Kafka’s classic book about a salesman’s transformation into a giant insect. $10-$55. Tue 7pm; Wed-Sat 8pm. Sun 2pm & 7pm. Thru July 17. 2081 Addison St. (510) 843-4822. www.auroratheatre.org

Phyllis Christopher @ Good Vibrations Exhibit of photos by the prolific community documentarian of lesbians. 10am-pm (10pm Fri/Sat). 1620 Polk St. 345-0400. Also today, a Pink Pleasure Party at the Valencia St. store, with DJed music, treats and sex toy discounts. 8pm-1pm. 603 Valencia St. 522-5460. www.goodvibes.com

Wish We Were Here @ New Conservatory Theatre Michael Phillis’ one-man -and one-genieshow (with Sara Moore) about a man who finds a genie in his hookah; hilarity ensues. $20-$32. Thu-Sat 8pm. Sun 2pm. Thru June 25. 25 Van Ness Ave., lower level. 861-8972. www.nctcsf.org

Working for the Mouse @ La Val’s Subterranean, Berkeley Trevor Allen’s one-man show about the dark side of working as a costumed character at Disneyland, including drugs, sex on rides, and getting kicked in the crotch by kids.

Sun 26 Hard French @ Public Works It’s a big lesbo-gay dance party with live performances by Big Freedia, Hot Tub (photo), Nick Waterhouse and the Tarots; DJs Carnita Brown Amy, Ships in the Night, Blow Pony, Stay Gold and more; 2 stages, 6 parties, 8 queer hours. $15-$20. 2pm10pm. 161 Erie St. www.hardfrench.com

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Out & About • Pride 2011

June 23-29, 2011 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 71

performs a revue of music. “I’m in Love Again.” $35. 8pm. Also June 28. 2-drink min. 21+. Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. (800) 380-3095. www.TheRrazzRoom.com

Ten Percent @ Comcast 104 David Perry’s talk show about LGBT local issues. Mon-Fri 11:30am & 10:30pm, Sat & Sun 10:30pm. www.davidperry.com

Tue 28 >> Bearmusement @ Magnet Exhibit of artist Noel’s bear-centric graphic art. Thru June. 4122 18th St. www.bearmusement.com www.magnetsf.org

Fri 24

Bob Mould @ Booksmith

SF Lesbian/Gay Freedom Band @ Everett Auditorium Trauma Flintstone hosts this combined concert with Bay Area Rainbow Symphony, Golden Gate Men’s Chorus, L/G Chorus of SF SF Gay Men’s Chorus Ambassadors; with new artistic director William Sauerland conducting, and performing as a countertenor, plus a special Recognition Award given to Navy Commander Zoe Dunning for her work battling the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell military policy. $15-$30. 450 Church St. at 16th. (800) 595-4TIX. www.annualprideconcert.org

Picasso @ de Young Museum Masterpieces from the Museé National Picasso, Paris, a new exhibit of classic early modern works by the Spanish master painter. Free (members)-$25. Tue-Sun 9:30am-5:15pm. Wed 9:30am-8:45pm (the Aug). Thru Oct. 9. 50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive. 750-3600. www.famsf.org

decades of the Bay Area Reporter’s history.

Free. Mon-Fri- 9am-5pm. Thru June 30. 400 California St., 1st floor. www.unionbank.com

Billy Elliot @ Orpheum Theatre

The annual informal mass gathering of Pride weekend enthusiasts. Donations at the gate 5pm-12am. Castro St between Market and 18th.

Elton John and Lee Hall’s must-see hit Broadway musical adaptation of the wonderful film about a boy who takes up dance lessons; starring Tony Award winner Faith Prince. $35- Tue-Sat 8pm. Sat, Sun & some Wed 2pm. some Sun 7:30pm. Thru Sept.

17. 1192 Market St. at 8th. (888) SHN 1799. www.shnsf.com

Pride Brunch @ Hotel Whitcomb

Johnny Mathis, SF Symphony @ Davies Hall

Donna Sachet and Gary Virginia host the annual brunch honoring Pride Grand Marshalls. Proceeds benefit Positive Resource Center. $75-$100. 11am. 1231 Market St. 695-1942. www.positiveresource.org

Celebrated smooth pop vocalist and former Bay Area resident performs his popular songs with the Symphony. $45-$80. 8pm.

201 Van Ness Ave. www.sfsymphony.org

Pink Saturday @ Castro St.

SF Hiking Club @ San Geronimo Ridge Join GLBT outdoors folks on a 10-mile strenous hike in Marin County trhough unorthodoz trails. Carpool meets 9am at the Safeway sign, Market St. at Dolores. Also, a June 28 2-mile hike in Glen Park. 279-5570. www.sfhiking.com

Sun 26 >>

Queerly Beloved @ El Rio Women’s queer porn summer camp film project benefit, with Queer hip hop, Jiz Lee and Dylan Ryan in a sexy water act, Alotta Bouté, DJs Jenna Riot and Bianca Oblivion.

Gogo gals, all-gender wet T-shirt contest and more. $8. 3pm. 3158 Mission St. at Cesar Chavez. www.elriosf.com

Marga’s Funny Mondays @ The Marsh, Berkeley Marga Gomez brings her comic talents and special guests to a weekly cabaret show. $10. 8pm. 2120 Allston Way. (800) 8383006. www.margagomez.com www.themarsh.org

Marty Epstein @ Castro Country Club Eye See, an exhibit of photos of San Francisco’s LGBT community. Partial proceeds benefit to CCC. 4058 18th St. www.castrocountryclub.org

Nancy Dussault @ The Rrazz Room Veteran stage and screen actress ( Into the Woods, The Sound of Music, The Dick Van Dyke Show)

Massive parade up Market Street from the Embarcadero (11am-6pm) and large multistage events in Civic Center (Latin, Sober, Women’s HipHop, etc). Live performances

by Sandra Bernhard, and many more. Enjoy a VIP Pride Pass and get free or discounted entry to many events, including the City Hall party ($20). $5 gate donations. www.sfpride.org

Tom Shaw Trio accompanies this unrestrained open mic music night. $5. 7pm. 4 Valencia St. at Market. 241-0205. www.dragatmartunis.com

Kim Nalley @ The Rrazz Room Acclaimed local singer performs her musical tribute to Nina Simone. $35-$37.50. Wed, Thu, Sat 8pm; Fri & Sun 7pm. Thru July 17.

2-drink min. 21+. Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. (800) 380-3095. www.TheRrazzRoom.com

Same-Sex Dancing @ Queer Ballroom Ongoing partner dance lessons and open dancing in a variety of styles; different each night. $15 open dancing to $55 for private lessons. 151 Potrero Ave. at 15th. www.QueerBallroom.com

Thu 30 >> Hal Sparks @ Cobb’s Comedy Club Queer as Folk actor does his pop culturefilled standup act. Special guest Charlyne Yi. $20.50-$22.50. 8pm & 10:15pm. Thru July 3. 915 Columbus Ave. 928-4320. www.cobbscomedyclub.com

Our Vast Queer Past @ GLBT History Museum

Joan Baez returns to Teatro in Maestros Enchantment, the new show at the theatre-tent-dinner extravaganza, with Ukranian illusionist Yevgeniy Voronin, clown Peter Pitofsky, aerialist Bianca Sapetto, trapeze artists The Collins Brothers, singer Kristin Clayton, contortionist Svetlana, plus jugglers, comedy, a five-course dinner, and a lot of fun. $117-$145. Saturday 11:30am “Breve” show $63-$78. Wed-Sat 6pm (Sun 5pm). Pier 29 at Embarcadero Ave. 438-2668. www.teatrozinzanni.com

Matisse, Picasso, and the Parisian AvanteGarde, an exhibit of pivotal artworks originally collected by lesbian poet Gertrude Stein and her family. 4th floor galleries. Free (members)-$25.

Thru Sept. 6. 11am-5:45pm daily.

Closed Wed.; open til 8:45pm Thu. 3574000. www.sfmoma.org

Rick Gerharter curated this new exhibit of images, video and ephemera from the four

Guerrilla Cabaret @ Martuni’s

Teatro Zinzanni @ Pier 29

The Steins Collect @ SF MOMA

@ Union Bank

Wed 29 >>

Gender-free dance lessons in the traditional folk style. No kilts necessary, but always apreciated! $30 for series. $8 drop-in. Thursdays, 8pm-10pm. 3040 22nd St. www. sf-scottishdancers.org

Exhibit of personal artwork, collected work and archival materials showing how the lesbian poet’s life, mostly in Paris, changed over the decades before and after WWII. Free-$10. Thru Sept. 6. 11am-5pm daily (closed Wed), Thu 1pm-8pm. 736 Mission St. 655-7800. www.thecjm.org

Mon 27 >> B.A.R. Retrospective

Ronn Vigh hosts the weekly LGBT and gayfriendly comedy night. One drink or menu item minimum. 9pm. 500 Castro St. at 18th.

431-HARV. www.harveyssf.com

Scottish Dancing @ The Polish Club

Seeing Gertrude Stein: Five Stories @ Contemporary Jewish Museum

Donna Sachet and Harry Denton host the fabulous weekly 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

Funny Tuesdays @ Harvey’s

New exhibit from the GLBT Historical Society, with a wide array of rare historic items on display. Free for members-$5.

Wed-Sat 11am-7pm. Sun 12pm-5pm.

4127 18th St. www.glbthistory.org

SF LGBT Pride @ Civic Center

Sunday’s a Drag @ Starlight Room

Hüsker Dü, Sugar, solo musician, BlowOff DJ and now author of the memoir See a Little Light: the Trail of Rage and Melody reads and discusses his prolific career, and even plays a little music. 8pm. 1644 Haight St. 863-8688. www.booksmith.com

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

Fri 28

Deadline is each Thursday, a week before publication.

Ecosex Manifesto @ Center for Sex & Culture See Annie Sprinkle and her partner Elizabeth Stephens’ curated group exhibit of ecological erotic art. Thru July 24. 1349 Mission St. at 9th.

902-2071. www.loveartlab.org

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

<< DVD

72 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 23-29, 2011

▼

Digital pride

by David-Elijah Nahmod

H

www.ebar.com

ere are four DVDs to enhance your Pride celebration.

All Aboard! Rosie’s Family Cruise (HBO Documentary Films) Though she can sometimes be controversial, there’s no denying that Rosie O’Donnell has done much to raise public awareness and acceptance of LGBT families.

This feature-length documentary, which originally aired on HBO, is a testament to O’Donnell’s achievements as an activist. Rosie is bringing about change in the best possible way. Rather than carry a sign, she’s living her life as a celebrity lesbian Mom, sharing the “startling” truth: when she gets the kids ready for school, she’s no different from any other Mom. A few years back, Rosie and thenwife Kelli started a cruise company.

The concept for Rosie’s Family Cruises was simple: a standard cruise to lush tropical settings on an elegant

ship where people could lounge on the deck, go for a swim in the pool, or see a live show in an impressively large theatre. These would be family values cruises.

The families who attend might be two women and their son. Or two men and their daughter. Or straight parents with their gay son.

They’re all on board in this filmed record of the first cruise.

The film is joyously uplifting. It’s Harvey Milk’s legacy, come true right before our eyes: a world in which gender and sexuality are non-issues, where people are just people, enjoying themselves and the company of each other. A gay couple bonds with a lesbian couple.

A teenage girl takes one last vacation with her beloved Dads before leaving for college.

A young woman tells everyone that her two Moms were there for her, when her Dad wasn’t.

The ship’s Chaplain performs not one but two weddings, with both couples’ children serving as witnesses and ring-bearers.

It’s amazing how extraordinary the ordinary can be.

Rosie, Kelli and their kids are onboard. They’re a lovely family, making a powerful statement just by being who they are. Rosie mingles and chats with many of the other families. All are equals when you’re aboard her cruise.

For the Love of Dolly (Wolfe Video) When she received an Oscar nomination in 2005 for writing the theme song to the groundbreaking film Transamerica, Larry King asked Dolly Parton about her affinity with the gay community.

“Why Larry, I don’t have an affinity with anyone in particular,” she said. “I just believe in the Lord

and love everyone!” It was later revealed that she lent her name to the no-budget film to ensure that it got completed and released. “I have nothing but love for people with the courage to be who they really are,” she told King.

In this documentary, we see that Dolly walks the walk. For the Love of Dolly is about the icon’s relationship with her fans. Unlike other celebrities, Dolly often opens her heart to those who worship her. It’s lovely to see her reach out to David, a mentally disabled young man whose love for Dolly gave his life purpose. She responds personally to a letter from David’s parents. She meets the family, and tells David that she loves him. At a parade where she’s the grand marshal, she instructs the police to allow David to cross the barricade. Once unable to speak or care for himself, David now works in a hardware store, bakes, and does needlepoint. His Mom credits this to the friendship

he received from Dolly. Parton, a devout Christian, has never forgotten her own poverty-stricken roots. She understands what she represents, and a big part of her life is dedicated to giving back to those who love her.

How to Be a Man and How to Be a Woman (Kino International) The rise of a visible trans movement has raised many interesting questions on how men and women are “supposed” to behave. This two-disc collection of 27 short “educational” films, produced from the late 1940s through the 70s, is another example of how far we’ve come.

Fears of Children (1951) is about a man who’s concerned that his five-year-old boy may be a “sissy” and not “manly” enough. While humorous on the surface, it’s a disturbing look at how kids were raised during previous generations.

The Decision is Yours, produced by the U.S. Navy in 1970, served as a wake-up call to warn young recruits about the dangers of smoking, alcohol, and sex – including the ultimate evil: homosexuality. A brief shot of a male predator hitting on a repulsed young man was meant to underscore how “deviant” we are.

One film remains relevant today: in only eight minutes, The Other Fellow’s Feelings (1951) underscores the pain caused by school bullying.

Today’s viewers will laugh at many of the offerings in How To Be a Woman. If you don’t dig too deeply, the selections are quite funny. Look closer. In the silly The Joy of Living with Fragrance (1960), suburban Stepford Wives are “taught” how to keep their husbands: by smothering themselves in perfume. And always keep smiling, ladies! Nearly two decades later, in 18 to 34 (1978), a deliriously happy young woman speaks of all her options: “I can get a job, live in my own apartment, and even decorate it myself!” Such choices may not seem all that groundbreaking until you consider the choices her Mom didn’t have.

We still have a long way to go, but our lot certainly is better than it once was. Happy Pride!▼

Read more online at www.ebar.com

June 23-29, 2011 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 73

<< Fine Art

74 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 23-29, 2011

▼

Picasso’s Picassos

by Sura Wood

T

he epidemic of museum renovation in Paris once again is San Francisco’s gain. Last year, a pair of immensely popular, backto-back Impressionism shows arrived at the de Young during the Musee d’Orsay’s remodel.

Now Picasso: Masterpieces from the Musee National Picasso, Paris, a touring exhibition of over 150 works (approximately 75 paintings and sculptures, 75 works on paper) by the supremely productive, monumentally egotistical giant of modern art, has opened for a fourmonth run that’s sure to be mobbed while Musee Picasso is closed for its upgrade.

A master draftsman and painter who consumed, loved, lusted after and discarded multiple women who pervade his art, and the developer, with Georges Braque, of cubism and collage/assemblage, Picasso was astonishingly prolific and innovative. He produced some 50,000 paintings, sculptures and drawings during his prodigious eight-decade career, making art and making love to stave off mortality.

He once famously said that mediocre artists copy, great ones

steal, but what he could have added is that the latter keep their favorite works for themselves. Picasso maintained a private stash, hidden away from all but a select few, and it is that collection which fills the Paris museum that bears his name and this exhibition. The show, the first retrospective since the Picasso centennial exhibition at NYMoMA in 1980, covers every phase of his career, from the early 1900s, when he first lived in Paris after moving from his native Spain, through the 1970s, just prior his death. His Rose and Blue periods are represented, as are his explorations of Cubism, inspired by his exposure to African art. “Head of a Woman” (1909), for example, widely regarded as the first Cubist sculpture, is a beautiful, faceted bronze bust of his first great love and mistress, Fernande Olivier.

It’s instructive to see the sculpture along with studies of the same subject drawn from multiple angles.

His drawings and studies, of which there are many stellar examples, are extraordinary in their power and economy; with a few master strokes he tells you all you need to know. Among his ventures into Neoclassicism is his marvelous “Two Women Running on the Beach”

(1922), a precursor to his Surrealist period, in which he rendered the maenads of Greek myth (followers of Dionysius), who are emblematic of unbridled passions.

Although it’s impossible to deny Picasso’s talent and profound, transformative impact on 20thcentury modern art, or to overstate his influence on a legion of artists who’ve responded to or reacted against him, and despite his headon confrontation of humanity’s critical existential issues – love, sex, lust, war and death – he’s not an artist one exactly warms to. There’s a raw, unfinished brutality to his work, an unvarnished fierceness, which challenges, provokes and borders on the assaultive.

“La Celestine” (1904), his Blue Period masterwork, depicts the hardened, black-cloaked, one-eyed Madame, like a witch out of a fairy tale, who presided over the Barcelona brothel that engendered his great early masterpiece, “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon” (1907). A number of the 1,000-some studies he did for this visceral work are on view. With its naked prostitutes flaunting their wares, “Demoiselles” foreshadowed the domineering Picasso’s power struggles with women and his obsession with the notion of the femme fatale who lures men to their doom, mesmerizing them with her beauty and sexuality. Picasso’s deconstruction of women into their body parts, and his predilection for progressively younger lovers, didn’t endear him to feminists, and neither did macho declarations like, “Women are either goddesses or doormats.” Yes, he was a Spaniard, and born in 1881, but still.

Women were a ubiquitous presence in Picasso’s life and art.

Marie-Therese Walter, his blond, nubile, 17-year-old mistress, whom he met outside a store, and who became his muse for nearly a decade in the 1930s, epitomized insatiable desire. Her blond mane, athletic, voluptuous body and plump breasts, portrayed as ripe, luscious fruit, appear in more than a dozen paintings, sculptures and prints here. She’s Eve in “Nude in a Garden” (1934), all supple pink flesh and curves. In “Reclining Nude” (1932), she’s night and day; her body radiates heat, and her head, like a half-moon, is silhouetted against a black sky, with the promise of nocturnal ecstasy.

While MT, an ideal model and crush object, fed Picasso’s lust, she wasn’t his intellectual equal. She was supplanted by the comparatively sophisticated Dora Maar, a photographer and accomplished artist who was as angular as her predecessor was round. It’s interesting to note that though “Reclining Woman Reading” (1939) is of Marie-Therese, Picasso later painted Maar in a nearly identical pose. Maar, with her sharply-planed face, is the model for many dramatic portraits, including the startling, unabashedly emotional “Weeping Woman” (1937), and a clutch of fascinating related prints.

Unless the portraits are named for their subjects, however, you’ll be hard-pressed to determine who they are, or to find background on other pieces. Intending to free spectators from the distraction of biography and the mythology surrounding a celebrity artist who wasn’t shy in the

Musée National Picasso, Paris; Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society, NY

“Grand Nature morte au guéridon” (“Large Still Life with a Pedestal Table”), oil on canvas, 1931, by Pablo Picasso.

Musée National Picasso, Paris; Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society, NY

“Autoportrait” (“Self-Portrait”), oil on canvas, 1906, by Pablo Picasso.

self-aggrandizement department, Musee Picasso director Anne Baldassari chose to display the works in galleries devoid of supplementary text or scholarship.

It may be fine, in theory, to say that the art should speak for itself and Picasso needs no introduction, but these assumptions aren’t entirely accurate. Present company excluded, there are thousands of visitors who will come to the de Young knowing Picasso’s famous name and little else about him.

And though the desire to avoid the conflation of biography and offer an unfiltered experience of the art is a laudable goal, the absence of

illuminating context within the exhibit, for those seeking it, leaves a gaping hole in an otherwise ambitious enterprise. (Ditto the catalogue, except for a few brief essays.)

Back stories on the origins of particular artworks or the artist’s mind-set and circumstances when he created them could have enhanced rather than detracted from the exhibition and viewers’ appreciation of it. Would revealing which lover Picasso had immortalized give too much away?▼ Through October 9, 2011.

(415) 750-3600

bartabsf.com

▼

Books>>

June 23-29, 2011 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 75

Gay, black, brilliant & brave

by Tavo Amador

J

ames Baldwin (1924-87) is among the most important 20th-century American writers. Black and openly gay, he was also a civil rights activist.

He was raised in Harlem, the adopted son of a preacher. At 17, he renounced Christianity, moved to Greenwich Village, began writing, and discovered his homosexuality.

In 1948, he left for Paris, came to terms with his sexual orientation and escaped classification as a “Negro” writer.

There he wrote the extraordinary Giovanni’s Room (1956). It’s narrated by David, a handsome, blonde American, 26, who tells how his relationship with his fiancée, Hella, ended because of his affair with Giovanni, a darkly handsome younger Italian. It opens with David preparing to leave France on the day Giovanni is to be guillotined. The reader is immediately hooked.

David told Giovanni that he was the first “boy” he’d ever slept with, a lie. As a teenager, he and his friend Joey had sex once – unexpectedly, pleasurably. The next morning, however, overcome with shame, David ended their friendship. For the next several years, he fled the experience, sleeping with women in hopes that his greatest fears weren’t true.

The day he met Giovanni, David had asked an older gay acquaintance, Jacques, for help with the rent.

Jacques believes David is sexually unavailable. That night, he takes David to a mixed but primarily gay bar, many of whose patrons are flamboyantly effeminate. The new bartender, Giovanni, flirts with him. Despite his anxiety, David is attracted to Giovanni. To get a work permit and a job, Giovanni has allowed himself to be serviced by the bar’s owner, Guillaume, a friend of Jacques’.

Baldwin understood male sexual fluidity, how a single moment can change lives, the fierceness of romantic and sexual passion – its feelings of joy, fear, carnality, confusion, sometimes happening simultaneously. His Paris isn’t that of tourists. It’s the Paris of poor foreigners working menial jobs, being exploited by the wealthy, like

<<

Lavender Tube From page 66

Riegel leave to land in a dreadfully dull recast on Y&R, replacing Vail Bloom’s sexy, acerbic assistant D.A. Heather Stevens with her boring, treacly version. But we gave Christina Bennett Lind a shot as Bianca. Lind has made an effort to make the role her own, no mean feat, given the years Riegel logged as the character, and how nuanced her performance was.

But the problem isn’t the recast, it’s the rehash of the same tired “lesbians only go after straight women” trope, which, Melissa Etheridge notwithstanding (yes, we said it), isn’t true in real life, and shouldn’t be true on the tube.

This week we find out if Bianca did or did not sleep with Marissa. ABC is promo-ing the query, so that’s either a tease or a hint that Bianca is in trouble.

Rafe Torres (the good-looking, long-suffering Yani Gellman) is back on Y&R this month because a second lawyer was needed for all the drama in Genoa City. But as we note every time Rafe comes back into the storyline (he’s been on the show since 2008), we have heard very little about his being queer since he came out three years ago. He’s the token Latino and the token queer on the Genoa City landscape, which means there is no one for him to be either Latino or queer with. Please, Y&R. Get it together, will you? After decades

Courtesy PBS

Great gay author James Baldwin conveyed the complexities of human relationships in his novels.

Giovanni, or waiting for small sums from home, like David. Yet it’s also a refuge. The joy of being there, of falling in love, of discovering something previously unknown and unimagined, permeates the novel. So does the city’s gloominess when the relationship sours. Paris is as much a character as David, Giovanni, and Hella. The story is tragic but ultimately hopeful, as David, no longer ashamed, accepts himself. Baldwin’s prose is vivid and intense. Publishing the novel against the advice of his editor was an act of extraordinary courage. Giovanni’s Room is still in print. (Random House, $14).

Another Country (1962) is a more ambitious, more complex book, peopled with black and white characters, with men who are straight, gay, bisexual or sexually ambiguous. It’s set primarily in Manhattan (with later sections in the South of France and Paris).

This isn’t Woody Allen’s Manhattan, but the harsh place that can kill the creative spirit.

Rufus Scott, a handsome black musician, begins an affair with Leona, a sweet, southern white alcoholic. She believes she’s color blind, but Rufus knows that race stands between them. He introduces her to his closest friend, Vivaldo, an

unpublished writer, a white man, and to Richard and Cass, a slightly older married white couple with two children. Richard is a teacher and aspiring novelist.

As the story opens, Rufus is broke, homeless, proud, and seeking solace. The omniscient narrator recounts events leading to his current situation, including what happened with Leona, and offers tantalizing hints of his relationship with a white southern boy, Eric Jones. Baldwin swiftly pulls the reader into this unfamiliar world.

To the despair of his friends, Rufus commits suicide. His adoring younger sister, the beautiful, complex Ida, begins an affair with Vivaldo, who falls in love with her.

Yet they see the world so differently – their vision is literally colored by race. Vivaldo, who isn’t racist, cannot understand why Ida won’t overlook his whiteness. Racism has wounded her too deeply. As Cass says, “Things don’t happen to you because you’re white. They happened to Ida because she’s black.”

The publication of Richard’s novel unexpectedly changes his relationships with Cass and Vivaldo.

Ida, a waitress, begins a career as a singer, with, again, unforeseen consequences. Eric, an actor, has

on the tube, this show needs a queer storyline.

One place to find queers is to follow Oprah. We are still suffering Oprah withdrawal, although reruns of this season are repeating through the summer. ABC ran Oprah’s Father’s Day special on June 18, which included two gay dads, including Gregory Macguire, author of the hit musical Wicked.

So sweet. Since Oprah left ABC for OWN, OWN is turning out to be the new queer network. Or at least seriously bi-curious. Suze Orman, Rosie O’Donnell, Nate Berkus, Carson Kressley, Chaz Bono and other queers are all contributing regular programming for Oprah’s network, more than any other except Logo. It’s clear the former daytime diva is putting her money where her politics are. She and Gayle may not be lesbians (despite the rumors), but OWN is devoting prime time to LGBT programming. Kressley’s show Carson Nation debuts June 25, and is well worth a look as he travels throughout the U.S. giving makeovers.

If you’re wondering whether you should bother to celebrate Pride this year, think again. We have much to be proud of but much more to fight for, like representation on the tube in months other than June. Silence equals death, but so does invisibility.

Look at Dana, who almost killed

himself with overeating. How much would queer role models on the tube have changed things for him? So stay tuned. Pride just might open a few more closet doors this summer.

And at least we know there will soon be another queer vampire in Bon Temps.▼

been living in Paris for three years and has a younger lover, Yves. A role in a Broadway play brings him to Manhattan, with Yves following

in a few weeks. Eric’s return has a profound effect on Cass and Vivaldo.

Baldwin’s remarkable prose (Proustian, but with a good editor) conveys the complexities of human relationships, sexual and otherwise. The pain of being “the other,” whether it’s black or gay or perhaps both, is unforgettably conveyed. Lives change suddenly.

His characters often behave badly, but are redeemed by their intrinsic humanity. At the end, Ida and Vivaldo may have found peace, while a joyful Eric welcomes Yves to America. Another Country is still in print (Viking, $15).

Baldwin turned his personal experiences into art. In 1948, he began an affair with a youth eight years younger. It ended three years later with his marriage to a woman, which devastated Baldwin. Later, he endured homophobic attacks from Eldridge Cleaver in Soul on Ice, took part in the march on Washington, D.C., and published fiction, poetry, drama, and essays. He spent the last years of his life in France, dying there in 1987.▼

<< Society

76 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 23-29, 2011

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Full steam ahead for Pride

by Donna Sachet

T

he Edge is back, bigger and better than ever! Last Sunday, we led the celebration of its 20th anniversary, as the full scope of the recent remodeling and improvements became apparent.

In addition to the physical enhancements, improved lighting, industrial finishes, and increased seating, the Edge announced its new weekly slate of special events, hosted by the likes of Michael Brandon, Cookie Dough, The Church Lady, and Drew Cutler.

The party started with two hours of complimentary cocktails and some very busy bartending. Over the next few hours, performers entertained, raffle prizes were awarded, and the crowd traded stories about Edge history and buzzed about the new look. We caught up with Goldblatt, Gary Virginia, Diva D, Maurizio, Ben & Terry Penn, and Berlin Fisher, among others. And yes, the party concluded with an amazing Cirque de Sachet performance!

Trigger celebrated its second year anniversary last Wednesday with spinning klieg lights and a Gilligan’s Island theme, featuring a wooden gangplank outside with a flock of seagulls above. The place was jammed for the first two hours of hosted drinks and tons of food for their most loyal customers.

Gorgeous go-go boys and girls gyrated on every available space, casino tables beckoned, and video screens played cheesy t ro p i c a l l y - t h e m e d TV reruns. Owner Greg Bronstein welcomed each guest, including Bevan Dufty, Adam Sandel, Julian Marshburn, John Weber, Alex Randolph, Jose Mercado, and W. Skye Paterson.

Marlena’s bar in Hayes Valley will celebrate its 21st anniversary all next week with nightly drink specials and shows on Friday and Saturday.

As always, this super-friendly bar

Steven Underhill

Donna Sachet gets into the Love Boat theme at Trigger’s second anniversary party last Wednesday in the Castro.

is seasonally decorated for Pride Week. If Octavia Boulevard has become the Champs-Elysees of San Francisco, Marlena’s is the Arc de Triomphe!

Once again, the SF Gay Men’s Chorus delivered an incredible concert series, this time titled Hootenanny, at the Academy of Arts Morgan Auditorium.

Special guests Shawn Kirchner & Ryan Harrison, Vance George, Kim Wisdom, the Whoa Nellies and the Barbary Coast Cloggers proved the perfect addition to the gorgeous singing of the chorus and its smaller sub-groups Vocal Minority and Lollipop Guild. If

you weren’t crying during the lush harmony of “Home on the Range,” laughing at the Patsy Kline number, or deeply moved by “Meet Me on the Mountain,” you weren’t really in the room!

Heklina promised an incredible Trannyshack evening for her birthday last Friday, and she delivered! The packed audience at Club DNA thrilled to performance after performance, most notably Miss Rahni, Justin Vivien Bond, and Holy McGrail. At the height of the evening, a posse of drag queens, including Juanita More, Sister Roma, Pollo del Mar, and Bebe Sweetbriar, brought her cake on stage and led the birthday song.

See page 77 >>

Coming up in leather and kink Thu., Jun. 23: Locker Room Thursdays at Kok Bar SF (1225 Folsom). 9 p.m.-close. Free clothes check.

Go to: www.kokbarsf.com.

Thu., Jun. 23: Underwear Night at The Powerhouse (1347 Folsom). 10 p.m. Wet undie contest and drink specials. Go to: www.powerhouse-sf.com.

Thu., Jun. 23: SF Pride Contingent Monitor Training at the LGBT Community Center (1800 Market St). 7-9 p.m. The Leather Contingent needs monitors! Go to: www.sfleather.org.

Thu., Jun. 23: Fantasy Rape presented by Master Mark at the SF Citadel (1227 Mission). 8-10 p.m. $20. Go to: www.sfcitadel.org.

Fri., Jun. 24: Special showing of Still Around, a short film compilation presented by The HIV Story Project at The Castro Theatre (17th & Castro). This film features Jorge Vieto in the documentary The Ritual. Go to: www.thehivstoryproject.org.

Fri., Jun. 24: Truck Wash at Truck (1900 Folsom).

10 p.m.-close. Live shower boys and drink specials.

Go to: www.trucksf.com.

Fri., Jun. 24: Pride Jock Strap Party at Kok Bar. 9 p.m.-close. Free clothes chest, drink specials. Go to: www.kokbarsf.com.

Sat., Jun. 25: All Beef Saturday Nights at The Lone Star (1354 Harrison). 100% SoMa Beef & Co. 9 p.m.-2 a.m. Go to: www.facebook.com/lonestarsf.

Sat., Jun. 25: Kok Block, New Happy Hour at Kok Bar. 4-9 p.m. Strip down, drink more! $50 pool tournament at 6:30 on the 2nd Saturday of each month.

Go to: www.kokbarsf.com.

Sat., Jun. 25: 15 Association Men’s Dungeon Party at the SF Citadel. 8 p.m.-1 a.m. Doors close at 11 p.m. $25. Go to: www.15sf.org.

Sat., Jun. 25: SF Men’s Spanking Party Pride Edition at the Power Exchange (220 Jones St). 1-6 p.m. This is an official Pride event. Go to: www.voy. com/201188/.

Sat., Jun. 25: First Annual Mr. Kok Kontest at Kok Bar. No speeches or traditional contest categories, just one requirement: Who’s got the biggest Kok? The fun starts at 9 p.m. Go to: www.kokbarsf.com.

Sat., Jun. 25: Grand Opening Party for the new LockerRoom gear store at Mr. S Leather (385 8th St).

Refreshment, munchies, and gear! Go to: www.mrs-leather.com.

Sun., Jun. 26: SF Pride Parade and Fair on Market St. and the SF Civic Center. Leather Alley is at Hyde St between Golden Gate and McAllister. This year, the Alley will feature a Leather Carnival. Go to: www. sfpride.org.

Sun., Jun. 26: Castrobear presents Sunday Furry Sunday at 440 Castro. 4-10 p.m. Go to: www.castrobear.com.

Sun., Jun. 26: PoHo Sundays at The Powerhouse.

DJ Keith, Dollar Drafts all day. Go to: www.powerhouse-sf.com.

Mon., Jun. 27: Dirty Dicks at The Powerhouse.

Starts at 4 p.m. $3 well drinks. Go to: www.powerhouse-sf.com <http://www.powerhouse-sf.com> for details.

Tue., Jun. 28: Locks of Lust presented by Julian Wolf at the SF Citadel. 8-10 p.m. $20. Go to: www. sfcitadel.org.

Tue., Jun. 28: Busted at Truck. 9 p.m.-close. $5 beer bust, 9-11 p.m. Great music and the notorious Truck boys. Go to: www.trucksf.com.

Wed., Jun. 29: Bear Buddies at Blow Buddies. This is a male-only club. Doors open 8 p.m.-12 a.m. Play till late. Go to: www.blowbuddies.com.

Wed., Jun. 29: Bear Bust Wednesdays at Kok Bar SF. $6 all you can drink Bud Light or Rolling Rock drafts. Go to: www.kokbarsf.com.

Wed., Jun. 29: Nipple Play at The Powerhouse. 10 p.m.-2 a.m. Specials for shirtless guys. Go to: www. powerhouse-sf.com.

▼

Karrnal>>

June 23-29, 2011 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 77

Hung jury

by John F. Karr

W

hy didn’t I watch at least half-a-dozen Titan features during the winter? Well, I like to see the movies on Blu-ray disc, but the Blu-ray player is in the living room, which is really hard to heat. So I could only get down with the movies at the risk of Bluballs and shivers (although I kinda like tweakin’ the stand-up nipples the cold produces). But now that it’s getting warm enough for me to resume living-room screenings, what has Titan done but inaugurate a swell new way of delivering their movies. Along with the Blu-ray disc, they’re now including both a standard DVD plus a digital copy for your computer. Lotsa options, without a raise in price. Computer viewing makes it easier (and warmer) for me to take notes, even though I prefer the incredible Bluray image (on my really big screen – yes, I’m a television size queen) and the souped-up sound.

The movie at hand is directed by Joe Gage. I’d felt his formula was wearing thin, until I got Jury Duty, which invigorates his downplayed, down-low sexuality with hushed high impact. He and his cast nail the tone of each encounter’s launching just right, and the cast follow through with socko sex. And they can act! Jury Duty features a new crop of Titan stars (some of the now-departed guys had had their day), and the newbies each have the sort of appeal that should be welcome through the course of a number of movies. I’m talking particularly of Scotch Inkum, Dirk Caber, and Bronson Gates.

Inkum’s a 40-year-old who says he’s a model and a dancer. Makes me wonder: is that gogo boy, Broadway, or ballet? Whatever, he’s sure got the moves.

He’s handsome, with expressive, dark brown eyes, a fab physique that’s hairless and burnished, plus a solid chunk of cock that doesn’t seem to know any other condition but hard.

Caber was effective in three films for LucasEntertainment (but isn’t everybody?), as well as a couple TitanMen features. Lurking close behind his boyish innocence in Jury Duty is one tough cookie – as proven by his appearance in three of Titan’s extreme-sex Rough series. And while his subtle playing keeps you guessing what his sexual identification may be, there’s no guessing about the delights of his well-built body and steely scepter.

Finally, despite Bronson Gates having only one other film credit, he performs like a pro. He’s a big handful of husky Daddy, with a soulful expression, lotsa fur, and

<<

On the Town From page 76

Who says drag queens are jealous, self-absorbed, back-stabbing – never mind!

You know how much we love Pride Week, the largest and most diverse LGBT celebration in the country. Here are some of our most highly recommended suggestions to keep your schedule full and fun.

Thurs., June 23, the Clift Hotel hosts the Pride Media Party from 6-8 p.m. with appearances by all the Grand Marshals and many elected officials, while Mark Rhoades hosts his Pride Party at the Bently Reserve from 6-9:30 p.m. with special guest Sandra Bernhard. Both parties are known for their celebrity buzz and elegant atmospheres.

TitanMen

Porn performer Scotch Inkum.

solidity all over the place.

They’re joined by debutingg dick-master Sven Norse, dark-hued Roman Wright and unusually well-hung star David Anthony. The seven guys are sequestered in a jury room and the overnight lodging of a hotel suite while deciding whether or not a gay movie is obscene. The festivities begin at night, in their hotel rooms, and culminate in the Jury Room when they watch the movie.

You know what that leads to – they find the movie quite arousing, and pour their arousal over, around, and clear through each other.

The sets could be more realistically dressed, but the nearly continuous action claims all attention – for twoand-a-half hours. Things begin to simmer in the hotel, with Gates lounging with a near-stranger of a roommate while clad in a jock, and Inkum cleverly introducing his hard-on into the conversation. Hearty blow jobs ensue. Gates cannibalizes Inkum’s rectum, and sits on Inkum’s face so hard you fear he might suffocate. He doesn’t – the rectal clamp-down only makes him cum. Then Norse arrives to deliver some classic Gage dialogue.

“You guys messin’ around?” Pause.

“You been suckin’ dick?” Longer pause, with soulful looks all around.

“You wanna suck this one?” He gets slobberifically sucked by Inkum, and then he fucks both guys; big daddy Bronson looks swell, lying on his back, getting royally rammed up the ass.

Next day at the courthouse, droll actor Dirk Caber slyly allows himself to be seduced by Roman Wright. Caber’s cock is creamy and concrete hard; the stand-up kind.

Wright’s is an acorn-colored, big ol’ floppy dick; the malleable kind.

Later, Anthony slowly reveals his cock as they watch the movie.

Fri., June 24, 8 p.m., the 33rd annual Pride Concert at Everett Auditorium, 450 Church St., brings together the Lesbian/Gay Chorus of SF, Bay Area Rainbow Symphony, SF Lesbian Gay Freedom Band, and members of Golden Gate Men’s Chorus and SF Gay Men’s Chorus. Throw in the hilarious Trauma Flintstone as emcee, and you’ve got an evening to remember! A Recognition Award will be presented to Commander Zoe Dunning. Did you see the photo of President Obama in the White House signing the paperwork to eliminate “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” with Zoe standing by his side?

Sat., June 25, 11 a.m.-2 p.m., Hotel Whitcomb is the place to be for the 13th Annual Pride Brunch, presented by Wells Fargo, honoring the Grand Marshals of the Pride

Everybody gorges on it, with Bronson being the sloppiest sucker among them. But the real match goes to Anthony and Inkum. He throws a nasty fuck, with his loosehanging balls bangin’ around between his legs as he boffs his buffed partner, while in classic Gage mode, the others jack off.

Wright fucks Caber, who reacts with fervent enthusiasm and beautifully erect dick, while Bronson Gates shows off his burly body while throwing a fuck elsewhere; jees, I’d like to meet this big bruiser in some dark alley. Meanwhile, lucky Norse is spit-roasted, sucking Anthony’s cock while another dude plugs his hole.

The suitably climactic climax to this always-engaging movie delivers a three-man fuck chain with a threeway cum shoot.

The bonus features are only on the Blu-ray disc, with a jaunt Behind the Scenes for photo shoots and the attendant fluffing and offcamera making out. There’s foolish cockplay as the boys horse around, which made me wanna be in porn.

The stars all say it’s such hard work, but what a special, sex-infused, cock-reigning world that work takes place in.▼ www.TitanMen.com Check out the Karrnal archives at KarrnalKnowledge.com.

Parade, and benefiting Positive Resource Center. There’s music by the Dixieland Dykes +3, colorful décor, tempting silent auction, hosted Stoli vodka and Sailor Jerry’s rum cocktails, and Barefoot sparkling wine, brunch buffet, and an uplifting program featuring remarks from each Grand Marshal.

Don’t miss it!

Finally, the SF LGBT Pride Parade steps off at 10:30 a.m. on Sun., June 26. We will be looking for each of your smiling faces from the TV anchor desk, joined by Michelle Meow, Sebastian Kunz, Morris Knight, Celeste Perry, and Lenny Broberg. Stream it live, watch the whole thing on KOFY-TV at 7 p.m., or whenever you want on Comcast On Demand. However you spend your Pride Week, be safe, be courteous, and be you!▼

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<< Books

78 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 23-29, 2011

▼

Differently abled & gay

by Heather Cassell I’m Walking As Straight As I Can: Transcending Disability in Hollywood and Beyond by Geri Jewell; ECW Press, $19.95

N

ot long ago, anyone with a disability was severely marginalized. This was the world that actress, comedian, and motivational speaker Geri Jewell was born into. But somehow, this bright-eyed child found herself beneath Hollywood’s heated eye and began to change the world’s perception of people living with disabilities.

Jewell continues to do that in her recently released memoir, I’m Walking As Straight As I Can: Transcending Disability in Hollywood and Beyond, where she chronicles her upbringing. She was born with cerebral palsy, and her parents wanted her to have the most normal life they could provide.

“Surprisingly, through my website, I’ve gotten a lot of letters from people with disabilities who are gay. I was stunned.”

– actress Geri Jewell They did everything they could to see that vision through, including leaving Buffalo, NY, on a journey across country to Los Angeles with no money, and a hope and a prayer to take Jewell to the best doctors and schools.

Jewell received care without pity from her parents and teachers, along with the average trials and tribulations of childhood pranks and taunts. She didn’t go without ridicule and painful moments dealing with her difference. While

Jewell played on her differences, her insecurities about them were only magnified under the hot lights of Hollywood, where she found herself stepping onto the stage at the Comedy Store on Sunset Blvd. Shortly later, her entertainment career took off, with the first recurring role of a disabled individual on TV, as Cousin Geri on NBC’s The Facts of Life.

Jewell talks about her own demons and takes the lessons she learned with grace, humor, and the same “no

pity” attitude she was raised with.

That attitude pulled her through the darkest moments of her life.

Don’t mind the moments where she looks like she’s drunk, really it’s cerebral palsy. Jewell is sobering, a true inspiration, and a role model for disabled, queer, and straight alike.

Heather Cassell: What has the response been to you and your book since you came out?

Geri Jewell: Surprisingly, through my website, I’ve gotten a lot of letters from people with disabilities who are gay. I was stunned. It was like, thank you, thank you Geri! We have a role model now. I know there is a huge gay population among people with disabilities, and sometimes that population gets singled out from the gay population. In other words, they are not always embraced as a part of this community, so I think what I did was a good thing.

What did you hope to accomplish with your book?

I had no intention of my book being a coming-out book. That’s not why I wrote it. I wanted to tell my life story as it was, to give hope to people who are struggling with sexual orientation, with addiction, with low-self esteem, with people who take advantage of them. I wanted to give hope because my intention is always, the bottom line is spiritual intent. I don’t think I could have written this book as honestly as I did without including the fact that I am gay, but it wasn’t the sole reason for writing it. It’s been liberating. It’s been kind of scary, too. It’s like lying naked on a beach and now everyone can see you, oh, did I reveal too much? I tried not to make the book sensational or TMI. You experienced bullying as a child from adults and your peers.

What’s your perspective about the rash of teen suicides and their connection to bullying today?

I would say they are worse today, 10 times worse. If I were a kid today, I don’t know if I would have survived as well as I did, because there is so much more bullying and cruelness. I hope this book will convey to young

people to stop bullying people: stop being cruel to feel better about yourself, because it doesn’t work.

Luckily, my life was always balanced.

Yes, I had a lot of creepy people in my life, but it was also balanced with a huge blessing from people who supported and loved me, no matter what. That’s what carried me.

What did you learn during your years on The Facts of Life?

They were such huge growing up years. The biggest lesson I learned from the show was the impact that I made at that time. I had no idea what a difference I was going to make in people’s lives. Even to this day, people with disabilities come up to me and say I changed their life.

The power of the media, and what you can do with a positive force.

What’s the most important life lesson you’ve learned?

What we believe about ourselves is the most important thing in life. It will carry us in whatever circumstances we face, so it’s important to have self-respect at all costs. If you cannot respect yourself, you are not going to get it from others. Don’t allow others to determine what you believe about yourself. Spiritually, I believe that it’s important to forgive. Not to forget, don’t get me wrong, but to forgive and to move forward.

What’s a role that you would like to perform, but haven’t yet?

I would like to do roles that have nothing to do with disability. I have a lot of experience here. I want to be a sociopathic murderer or something that you would never expect. You would never suspect someone with CP to ax-murder someone. They’d miss a few times! I want to continue the dream of nontraditional roles.

Why can’t I be a mother? Why can’t I be a teacher, where the CP has nothing to do with it?▼ Geri Jewell will read from her memoir and sign books. Sun., June 25, 2 p.m., at Copperfield’s Books, 2316 Montgomery Dr., Santa Rosa. www.copperfieldsbooks.com, www.gerijewell.com

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Read more online at www.ebar.com

June 23-29, 2011 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 79

<< Theatre

80 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 23-29, 2011

<<

Olympia Dukakis From page 57

Armistead Maupin created in his series of stories of San Francisco in the 1970s. What began as a newspaper serial became a collection of novels that, in turn, inspired three TV mini-series in the 1990s. In the musical adaptation at ACT, Broadway veteran Judy Kaye is playing Mrs. Madrigal, a performance that Dukakis will see on June 24 as part of the evening of fund-raising events that include tickets to the musical with Dukakis joining the cast at the curtain call, followed by a cocktail party at the Clift Hotel with the actress and the cast of the show. (Info at www.act-sf.org.)

“I scared the shit out of Armistead,” Dukakis said. “When the idea of the musical was starting, I said, ‘You know, I can sing.’ I saw his eyes widen in panic. I can sing, but eight times a week? Give me a break. Besides, I’m too old for the role. But I’m very interested to see what Judy Kaye does with it.”

And then there’s the matter of riding up Market Street as a grand marshal in the Pride parade. Dukakis had a lot of questions. “What do you do as a grand marshal?” “Will people know it’s me?” “What should I wear?”

If she has questions about details of her duties, despite the Columbus Day antecedent, she is approaching it with one certainty. “My whole

attitude is that I’m going to have a great time,” she said. “And putting it all together with the show at ACT, which is a theater I love, how much better could it be?”

There is also a serious side to her involvement. “Like many people, I have friends who have gone through the difficulty of trying to adopt children or get married or getting the other legal protections most of us have,” she said. “These are not just issues to me, they all have faces.”

Dukakis recently completed a film that speaks specifically to many of these very issues. In Cloudburst, she plays half of a long-term lesbian couple who loses her home when her partner’s daughter has her mother declared incompetent and takes over the property. “So my character goes to the hospital and kidnaps Brenda Fricker’s character, and we drive to Canada and get married.”

Dukakis was back in the studio a few weeks ago for post-production dubbing for a version that can be shown on airlines. “You have to change ‘ass’ to ‘arse.’ Why if you say it like the Brits you can get away with it, don’t ask me. And I’m hardpressed to see how they’re going to show it on planes anyway. There are romantic scenes, and in one scene I go after her with a dildo, and our characters laugh and carry on about it.”

That a movie like Cloudburst is being readied as in-flight entertainment is a long journey from the time when the first season of Tales of the City so rankled people like Senator Jesse Helms that PBS let one of its most popular programs pass to Showtime for its two subsequent seasons.

Sen. Helms probably didn’t watch long enough to learn Mrs. Madrigal’s big secret, and if you don’t know what it is and plan to see the musical, you should stop reading at the end of this sentence. But by now, both through the popularity of the books and the television

▼

Olympia Dukakis as Mrs. Madrigal in the TV adaptation of Tales of the City: ‘It was a very special time in my life.’

Olympia Dukakis celebrates winning the Oscar for Moonstruck in 1988.

adaptations, most people know that Anna Madrigal is a transsexual who previously had fathered a child. It was a twist that only made Dukakis want the role more.

“Anything that stymies me or scares me is always of real interest to me,” she said. She had not read Maupin’s books, and was advised by the director not to do so until finishing the series. “But I read everything I could about transsexuals, about the operations, and the psychiatric involvement,” Dukakis said. “I needed to find out what made it possible, even necessary, for a person to go through such a painful process. I told one of the producers I needed to talk to someone who has gone through this, and he introduced me to this woman, 6-foot-2 but with a very soft voice, and I asked her what was it that made it matter so much.

And the first thing she said was, ‘All my life I yearned for the friendship of women,’ and I tell you, I started to cry. I didn’t know what the hell she was going to say, but this was such a human thing.”

The meeting, which went on to cover other aspects of the decision to transition, convinced Dukakis that she needed to avoid any sensational or stereotypical spins on the role. “What I had was the option at any given time to come from a more masculine or more feminine place in myself,” she said. “It was a very special time in my life.”

On Dukakis’ upcoming agenda, she has a three-episode run as Zach

Galifianakis’ much older paramour in the HBO series Bored to Death, an appearance at the Festival of the Aegean on the Greek isle of Syros in the one-woman play Rose, and a return to her sly but mostly mute role in Morris Paynch’s Vigil at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles. Her costar again is Marco Barricelli, with whom she first performed the play at ACT in 2010. It was her sixth ACT appearance; they date back to 1995.

She first met ACT Artistic Director Carey Perloff in New York, when Perloff was still running the Classic Stage Company. “She asked me to do Clytemnestra in Agamemnon, and at the time I thought it was politically disgusting to be in a play that said women should give up trying to be more valued in society and go back to being wives. I said I’d try to find a play for us.”

It turned out to be Hecuba, by which point Perloff had moved to San Francisco to take over ACT’s top artistic slot, and Dukakis performed the Greek tragedy while the theater was still in temporary quarters following the 1989 earthquake.

The roles that Dukakis takes on are never the easy ones, even with her 80th birthday now in the rearview mirror.

“I do theater because you know who you are when you’re on that stage,” Dukakis said. “You know you’re alive.”▼ For more info on all SF Pride 2011 events, go to www.sfpride.org.

▼

Music >>

June 23-29, 2011 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 81

Big-time queer musicians

by Gregg Shapiro

W

hen Michael Stipe of college rock gods R.E.M. came out, he joined the ranks of other luminaries such as Husker Du’s Bob Mould and Grant Hart, and American Music Club’s Mark Eitzel, as gay men fronting rock bands. Guess what? It didn’t have any effect on R.E.M.’s popularity or creativity. With the 25th anniversary of the band’s Life’s Rich Pageant disc on the horizon, R.E.M. takes a disappointing step backwards with Collapse Into Now (Warner Brothers). After the energetic and engaging return of Accelerate, Collapse Into Now isn’t as lifeless as Around the Sun or Up, but it’s a long way from Automatic for the People.

Darkly rocking opener “Discoverer” has a vaguely familiar ring, “All the Best” maintains the mood, then the band shifts into acoustic gear for “Überlin” and “Oh My Heart.” Since we already know that R.E.M. is as comfortable rocking out as they are mellowing out, the disappointment comes in not learning anything else. There is no new ground being broken. But what sets the album apart from previous R.E.M. releases is the array of guest artists. Out Hidden Cameras frontman Joel Gibb joins Eddie Vedder on “It Happened Today.” That’s queer diva Peaches on “Alligator_Aviator_ Autopilot_Antimatter,” and the iconic Patti Smith can be heard on “Discoverer” and the mostly spoken-word track “Blue.”

Like Lance Bass of boy band NSYNC, Jonathan Knight of New Kids on the Block also came out as gay. Now teamed up with Backstreet

<<

Boys, the New Kids, now known as NKOTB, are touring as a boys-tomen co-headlining musical group.

The album NKOTBSB (Columbia/ Jive/Legacy) makes the merger complete, with five NKOTB hits (“Step by Step,” “You Got It (The Right Stuff),” “Please Don’t Go Girl,” “Hangin’ Tough” and “I’ll Be Loving You”) alternating with those by BSB (“I Want It that Way,” “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back),” “As Long As You Love Me,” “Larger than Life” and “Quit Playing Games”). The most remarkable thing is the way a few of the older NKOTB tracks hold up better than the more recent ones by BSB. Further cementing the partnership are new NKOTBSB collaborations “All in my Head” and “Don’t Turn Out the Lights.”

Credited to k.d. lang and the Siss Boom Bang, the joyous Sing It Loud (Nonesuch) finds the out diva fronting her first official band since the late Reclines. As a musical unit, they sound spectacular, providing the marvelous material with a solid backbone. There’s a contemporary vintage vibe to the sexy opener “I Confess,” in which lang offers to “be your daddy.” The modern retro style continues on “A Sleep with No Dreaming” and “The Water’s Edge.” Exceptional tunes are the electrically charged “Sugar Buzz” and the psychedelic twang of “Habit of Mind.”

Leisha Hailey (Alice from The L Word) and lang were a couple when Leisha was in the duo the Murmurs (“You Suck,” “I’m a Mess”). In fact, lang co-produced the Murmurs’ second album, Pristine Smut. Hailey must like being in a duo because her latest musical configuration, the

electronic Uh Huh Her, consists of Hailey and Camila Grey. While we wait patiently for Nocturnes, Uh Huh Her’s new full-length release, we have the six-song EP Black and Blue (Plaid) to hold us over.

Leave it to the amazing Brandi Carlile to record a live album as unique as Live at Benaroya Hall with the Seattle Symphony (Columbia).

Bracketed by Elton John (“Sixty Years On”) and Leonard Cohen (“Hallelujah”) covers, and featuring a reading of Simon & Garfunkel’s “The Sounds of Silence,” the concert recording features belter Carlile performing her country-rock tunes backed by her band and a symphony orchestra to great effect. Signature songs “Looking Out” and “Before It Breaks” gain vigor and emotional impact in this setting. Even if you are not a fan of live albums, this is a must. You won’t regret it.

As if the TV show Glee weren’t

gay enough for you, Glee: the Music presents The Warblers (Columbia), is an all-male (!) affair, featuring lovebirds Kurt (Chris Colfer) and Blaine (Darren Criss). Actually, it’s Criss who dominates, singing the lead on “Teenage Dream” (and making the Katy Perry song far less cloying), “Bills, Bills, Bills,” “Silly Love Songs,” “Somewhere Only We Know,” and daring to take on Streisand on “What Kind of Fool.”

Openly gay Colfer solos on the Beatles’ “Blackbird” and duets with Criss on “Candles” and “Animal.”

Pianist and composer Fred Hersch is one of the three bestknown, greatly admired, openly gay contemporary jazz musicians (along with Gary Burton and Andy Bey). His studio recordings, particularly those from his 90s Nonesuch period, are among the most highly regarded in the genre.

Documenting the second solo piano

gig Hersch played at the legendary Village Vanguard in NYC, the live recording Alone at the Vanguard (Palmetto) is culled from the dozen sets he performed over the course of six nights in 2005. In addition to stellar renditions of “In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning,” Eubie Blake’s “Memories of You” and Thelonious Monk’s “Work,” Hersch performs sensational originals.

Now in his sixth decade of recording, vibes mastermind Gary Burton returns with his first studio album in six years, Common Ground (Mack Avenue). With the New Gary Burton Quartet (Scott Colley on bass, Julian Lage on guitar, and Antonio Sanchez on drums), the focus is firmly on Burton’s magnificent mallet work, which comes through loud and clear on the title number as well as “Never The Same Way,” “Did You Get It?” and “In Your Quiet Place.”▼

Frameline 35 From page 57

Briskly directed by Geoffrey Sax from a meticulously researched script

by Kevin Elyot that is a miraculous funny/sad synopsis of perhaps the best warts-and-all memoir composed by a queer man in the 20th century, Christopher and His Kind dispenses with the half-truths and commercially motivated myth-making that have enveloped the screen treatments of Isherwood’s Berlin Stories, notably the Oscar-winning musical Cabaret.

In this closer-to-the-truth version, Isherwood is no longer the asexual objective observer of others’ follies, but rather an eager, selfish, rather selfabsorbed hedonist for whom Berlin stood not for apocalyptic politics, but for the 24/7 pursuit of boys.

The terms of that pursuit are candidly laid out by Wystan in the bowels of their favorite boy bar, the Cosy Corner.

“We’ve become somewhat of a feature, perhaps a B feature. I’ve never had any illusions about the pitfalls of loving a whore.”

“Are they all on the game?”

“Most of them, yes. You can’t imagine what a state the economy’s in.”

“They look really good.”

“They try to keep themselves fit.

It’s good for business, of course, they’re famously vain. The fact that we find them desirable only proves how masculine they are.”

“What do you mean, we?”

“They’re nearly all rampant heters and use our money to buy muff, but don’t let that put you off. They’re frightfully good at it.”

Rebuffing the mercenary future stormtrooper Caspar, Christopher falls for a doe-eyed street-sweeper, Heinz, who is himself trapped supporting a TB-afflicted mother and a Nazi-leaning, unemployed brother.

Attempting to smuggle Heinz into England on a servant’s visa, Christopher is thwarted by Mum’s

Courtesy Frameline

Courtesy Frameline

Scene from director Benjamin Cantu’s Harvest: opposites attract.

Zoe Heran in director Celine Sciamma’s Tomboy.

suspicions of the Hun (“Remember, Christopher, the Germans killed your father”) and a closeted, jealous minion in His Majesty’s immigration service. Ultimately, Christopher is haunted by a sense that he has abandoned not only Heinz but his own tragically cursed brother, Richard (a moving, neurotic cameo from Perry Millward), who was also gay, a compulsive diarist and a writer of (unpublished) short fiction.

This tasty reboot – with just a hint of the robust bedroom antics that Christopher couldn’t properly savor while close to his controlling mother – is a long-overdue corrective for a generation brought up to think that marriage equality and military service have always been the twin pillars of the queer liberation movement.

(Castro, Closing Night, 6/26) Au Pair, Kansas In J.T. O’Neal’s tart but winning farm comedy, a soccer-loving Norwegian male au pair learns the complex rules that govern life at his new home, a Kansas family bison ranch. Mom’s a recent widow and is adjusting with difficulty, combining too many house rules with cozy chats with her dead, bisexual hubby’s ghost; sons Atticus and Beau fend off Mom’s bossy rigidity with

will win it hands down. He gives his young hero a goal worthy of Divine’s cha cha heels: to adhere to his family’s tradition of starring in the local high school’s Jesus pageant. He ups the stakes by having Magnus Spedwick become wheelchair-bound, then adds a church choir’s worth of zany supporting characters for a funny, completely original screwball vision.

Topping it all off is an inspired divine-intervention cameo by Waters himself. The result is a wild send-up of Bible Belt America that, much like Broadway’s The Book of Mormon, respects the soul and spirit of those being spoofed. (Showcase, Castro, 6/25) Harvest Germany’s Benjamin Cantu sets an opposites-attract tryst between teenage farm students, then shoots the slow-drip beats like Gus Van Sant’s skateboard thriller Paranoid Park. The result, depending on your taste for minimalist drama, is either a convergence of hormones that contains the seeds for some kind of union, or 30 minutes of 4H-style foreplay, with guys who resemble 18+ rural calendar art. The brush-cut blonde Lukas Steltner is the damaged kid (drunk Mom & runaway Dad), introvert Marco, who digs dawn-

sassy innuendo: jokes on women and Viagra, “penis” cracks for the coach who’s auditioning to be Dad #2, and some bison gags: don’t sneak up on them, bison hate yodeling, and don’t piss on the fence, it’s electric.

O’Neal’s covert agenda of spoofing American vs. European models for guys around kids is perfectly realized in the silly but nurturing Oddmund (Havard Lilleheie), but the boys steal the show: Beau as an impish 10-yearold aspiring dancer, and 16-year-old Atticus, who rejects Mom’s suspicions of Oddmund’s hands-on approach to her boys. As Atticus, Spencer Daniels brazenly confronts mom’s homophobia.

“He didn’t touch me. What’s this about?”

“You being with a man.”

“I figure it runs in the family. You actually think I didn’t know Dad was bisexual? I love Dad, he was a great guy. He’s dead, Mom, he was gay. Big deal! What if Oddmund’s gay? Good match for you. What if Beau’s gay, pretty good chance of that. What if I’m gay?” (Victoria, 6/25) Mangus If there’s ever an award for a young queer filmmaker who best embodies the substance and spirit of a young John Waters, Ash Christian

to-dusk tedious farmwork but hates any kind of bureaucratic mambo.

Curly-head Kai-Michael Muller is the low-key seducer Jacob, who risks everything on a hot barn kiss and the naked ploy of luring Marco off to the filthy city that swallowed his Dad. (Castro, 6/23) Tomboy In the opening frames of French director Celine Sciamma’s lovely fable of how gender trumps everything as we enter the potentially magical garden of adolescence, a 10-year-old child is sitting in Daddy’s lap, getting a playful first driving lesson. It’s one of those rare moments where we are not immediately clued into our hero/heroine’s gender.

Observing Laure (the impeccably androgynous Zoe Heran) interact with her loving parents and sassy but thoroughly feminine kid sister is getting a privileged, all-access pass to a childhood paradise immediately before the loss of innocence, sans that phrase’s religious baggage.

With just a whiff of Truffaut’s simple genius for capturing kids at play, Sciamma frames Laure’s bold move as the new kid in town as she declares to her first new friend, “My name is Mikael.” (Castro, 6/24)▼ Info: www.frameline.org

Serving the LGBT communities since 1971

82 • Bay Area Reporter • June 23-29, 2011

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