June 3rd, 2021 edition of the Bay Area Reporter, America's highest circulation LGBTQ newspaper

Getting to Zero efforts

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SF a leader on AIDS response

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Vol. 51 • No. 22 • June 3-9, 2021

Courtesy GLBT Historical Society Museum

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Mayor London Breed is seeking funds for a freestanding LGBTQ museum that would replace the GLBT Historical Society Museum on 18th Street.

El Cerrito City Councilman Gabriel Quinto also serves as president of the League of California Cities’ LGBTQ Caucus.

AIDS at 40: Survivors reflect on epidemic

SF mayor seeks $10M for LGBTQ museum site

by David-Elijah Nahmod

by Matthew S. Bajko

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n a surprise announcement as part of her balanced budget proposal she introduced Tuesday, San Francisco Mayor London Breed said she is seeking funds to acquire a site in the city to build the first large-scale, freestanding LGBTQ history museum. The news coincides with the start of Pride Month, and ironically, as city funding for the existing GLBT Historical Society Museum in the Castro district is being significantly decreased.

Breed released her budgets for fiscal years 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 June 1 at a ceremony held in the newly renovated Willie “Woo Woo” Wong Playground in the city’s Chinatown neighborhood. Toward the end of her speech, the mayor said she was including money for the LGBTQ museum project.

Calling out gay District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, who represents the Castro and has been working with the GLBT Historical Society and the mayor on the museum project, Breed said she was requesting the funds “so we finally have a home for all those who fought for LGBT equity and inclusion in our city.”

The mayor did not mention a dollar figure, but according to Clair Farley, a transgender woman who is a mayoral adviser and executive director of the city’s Office of Transgender Initiatives, the amount is $10 million toward the acquisition of a site. The city would issue a request for proposals for use of the money, noted Farley.

“We are still working out the details,” said Farley.

But it is highly expected it would benefit the nonprofit LGBTQ archival group, which houses its archives in a rented downtown space on Market Street. For years it has been pursuing a site for the museum project in order to properly display its archival holdings.

The nonprofit began during the early days of the AIDS epidemic as a place to deposit and preserve historically significant items owned by those gay men and others being killed by the untreatable disease. Family members had been tossing the items into the trash since there was no entity collecting such items.

GLBT Historical Society Executive Director Terry Beswick learned about the funding reSee page 4 >>

A pink start to Pride Month

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he 26th annual pink triangle was installed atop Twin Peaks on Tuesday, June 1, to kick off LGBTQ Pride Month. Like 2020, this year’s installation was a little different with thousands of pink LED lights replacing the hundreds of tarps. Fog prevented a clear view, but officials were on

Rick Gerharter

hand to watch, including Ben Davis from Illuminate, left, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco), Pink triangle co-founder Patrick Carney, and San Francisco Mayor London Breed. This year, the triangle will be illuminated through June.

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n July 3, 1981, the headline “Rare Cancer Seen in 41 Homosexuals” appeared in the New York Times. It came about a month after the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report noted five cases of pneumocystis pneumonia among previously healthy gay men in Los Angeles.

It was the beginning of the AIDS crisis – though it wasn’t called that at the time – a pandemic that would decimate the LGBTQ community. The disease first became known to the gay male commuSee page 16 >>

AIDS grove commemorates 40 years of epidemic

by Cynthia Laird

A

s the country prepares to mark the 40th anniversary of the first cases of what is now known as AIDS, the National AIDS Memorial Grove in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park will open to the public for what organizers said would be a moving tribute.

There will be a 40-block display of the AIDS Memorial Quilt, which the grove took stewardship of in 2019, and people can experience the 10-acre living memorial that honors lives lost, survivors, and heroes, a news release stated.

It was June 5, 1981 that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report noted five cases of pneumocystis pneumonia among previously healthy gay men in Los Angeles. Over the ensuing years, thousands of people died from the disease, including gay men, women, trans people, hemophiliacs, and injection drug users.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, capacity at the grove for the Saturday, June 5, event will be limited, and people will need to sign up online for a timed entry. Masks and social distancing will be required. It will run from noon to 6 p.m.

See page 16 >>

Rick Gerharter

Stacked stones and a seasonal streambed are shown amid redwood trees in the National AIDS Memorial Grove in Golden Gate Park.

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“COVID pulled the curtain back on so many areas of struggle and revealed so much of the AIDS crisis,” AIDS grove Executive Director John Cunningham, a gay man, told the Bay Area Reporter during a recent Zoom call. “The grove is the final resting place for thousands, the quilt is solace for many. We see this as an opportunity to share the power of healing.”

Some members of the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus will perform and people will be able to read names of those lost to AIDS and leave personal tributes to loved ones lost to the disease on special AIDS quilt signature panels.

The observance will help raise greater awareness about the plight of HIV/AIDS today, the continued fight for health and social justice, and serve as a call to action to finally find a cure four decades later, as there have been 700,000 lives lost to AIDS nationwide, according to the release. There are currently 1.2 million Americans living with HIV today, and the disease particularly impacts young people and communities of color.

Cunningham noted that the grove has been open throughout the pandemic, though there haven’t been large public ceremonies. He said that the popular volunteer work days at the grove are expected to resume soon.

See page 16 >>

<< Community News

t Lesbian assistant chief files lawsuit against SFFD 2 • Bay Area Reporter • June 3-9, 2021

by John Ferrannini

with that meted out to a member of the department who attempted to cover up a co-workers’ felony drunken driving incident – also a 10-day suspension (later reduced to eight).

A

lesbian San Francisco Fire Department assistant chief who alleged discrimination against the department in a claim two months ago is now taking the city to court.

As the Bay Area Reporter previously reported, Assistant Chief Nicol Juratovac filed a claim of whistleblower retaliation and discrimination against the San Francisco Fire Department and the city’s Department of Human Resources on March 5.

The claim was denied by the city April 8 and Juratovac filed her civil lawsuit May 24.

Juratovac claims she wanted to change the culture at the SFFD. Instead, she was retaliated against after exposing cheating on promotion exams, safety violations, and racism in the department, according to the complaint – as well as for blowing the whistle on what her attorney, Mark P. Fickes, of Cannata O’Toole Fickes and Olson, described as a “drunken” party at a fire station in Noe Valley in 2017.

“Rather than welcome the opportunity to address its problems, the department has allowed those who feel threatened by Assistant Chief Juratovac to retaliate against her for taking on the ‘good old boys’ mentality,” the complaint, filed in San Francisco Superior Court, states. “Beginning in 2014, and continuing through the present date, the department has weaponized its disciplinary process to punish Assistant Chief Juratovac by subjecting her to numerous unfounded and meritless disciplinary investigations.

“All of these investigations, save one, were rescinded or abandoned, but only after Assistant Chief Juratovac had already endured the emotional distress and humiliation of being investigated in addition to incurring substantial attorneys’ fees to defend herself against

‘Drunken party’

Courtesy Cannata O’Toole Fickes and Olson

San Francisco Fire Department Assistant Chief Nicol Juratovac has filed a lawsuit against the city alleging whistleblower retaliation and discrimination.

frivolous claims,” the complaint states.

“She has also been denied promotional and overtime opportunities in retaliation for her whistleblowing activities, as well as her race, gender, and sexual orientation.”

Fickes, a gay man, said that the one time Juratovac faced discipline she faced disproportionate punishment.

“We have seven disciplinary investigations that were bogus,” Fickes said.

“There was one where the department imposed discipline that was so disproportionate.”

Fickes said that Juratovac, on her first offense, was punished with a 10day suspension (later reduced to four) for outing an LGBTQ+ probationary firefighter during a ladder drill.

(However, the complaint states that the firefighter “was already quite open and public about her sexual orientation long before the routine ladder drill at issue.”)

Fickes contrasted what he characterized as this “bizarre” punishment

Fickes also noted that “some of the people involved with that drunken party were promoted rather than being disciplined at all.”

“In November 2017, Assistant Chief Juratovac learned of a raucous party at SFFD’s Station 11 where firefighters, both on-duty and off-duty, were drinking alcohol at the station in September 2017. Assistant Chief Juratovac also learned that a probationary firefighter had been sexually harassed at the same party,” the complaint states.

“While the department ultimately investigated the Station 11 party incident and issued disciplinary orders for some culpable firefighters, not everyone in the department appreciated Assistant Chief Juratovac’s whistleblowing activity. After reporting the Station 11 incident, Assistant Chief Juratovac began experiencing an even greater level of hostility and harassment from some firefighters, including her superiors in the department.”

The complaint alleges eight causes of action: unlawful retaliation in violation of the labor code; unlawful retaliation in violation of the Fair Employment and Housing Act; discrimination based on sexual orientation; discrimination based on race; discrimination based on gender; unlawful harassment; failure to investigate and prevent discrimination, harassment and retaliation; and violation of the California Public Records Act. With regard to the three causes relating to discrimination, Fickes reiterated what he’d told the B.A.R. in March – that a culture at the SFFD appears to favor straight, white men.

“It appears to be yet another exam-

ple of a department that has an ugly legacy of discrimination,” Fickes said.

“I know your paper and others have covered claims by Black firefighters.

As we point out, Juratovac is the first Asian American to have the civil service rank of assistant chief, the first woman and the first LGBTQ person to have the civil service rank of assistant chief. Based on the disparate treatment she has received, it would appear it’s an example of a department favoring heterosexual white men over everyone else.”

In January, gay firefighter Keith Baraka sued the city, as the B.A.R. reported, on account of racial and sexual orientation discrimination.

The following month, SFFD paramedic Ronnie Jones, a transgender man, sued, as the B.A.R. reported, alleging that he had been discriminated against on the basis of his race and gender identity, harassed, and retaliated against. Baraka and Jones are both being represented by attorney Angela Alioto, a past president of the Board of Supervisors.

With regard to the final cause of action, Fickes said that the city’s Department of Human Resources is not doing its legal duty to get documents for Juratovac that could vindicate her.

(In March, the Board of Supervisors approved Mayor London Breed’s nominee, Carol Isen, an out woman, as the new director of DHR.) “Part of what we’re arguing is that DHR was retaliating and discriminating when it assured it’d address Juratovac’s issues and that she’d be vindicated,” Fickes explained. “But they handed over only a handful of emails, many of which Juratovac sent and our office sent inquiring on the status of the matter. So they basically stonewalled us.

“It was not per se related to the claim, but it was part of our investigation – part of our effort to get discov-

ery – and the city stonewalled us on it,” Fickes continued.

John Coté, the communications director for the San Francisco City Attorney’s office, responded on behalf of the city.

“The city and the Fire Department take equal employment issues seriously,” Coté stated. “We are committed to fostering a welcoming, inclusive workplace free of discrimination or harassment based on race, gender, sexual orientation or any other protected characteristic. We are also committed to a workplace free of retaliation for any protected activity. Assistant Chief Juratovac chose to take this matter to court, and that is where we will address it.”

After Juratovac became the third – and highest ranking – member of the LGBTQ community to publicly accuse the fire department of discrimination this year, the B.A.R. requested an interview with lesbian Fire Chief Jeanine “Neen” Nicholson, who was appointed by Breed two years ago.

The department responded at that time with the following statement: “The city and the Fire Department take equal employment issues seriously,” SFFD spokesman Lieutenant Jonathan Baxter stated. “We are committed to fostering a welcoming, inclusive workplace free of discrimination or harassment based on race, gender, sexual orientation, or any other protected characteristic. We are also committed to a workplace free of retaliation for any protected activity. As this involves a personnel matter, we are unable to comment on it at this time.”

When the B.A.R. requested to speak with Nicholson again for this report, SFFD responded with the earlier statement sent by Coté. t

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<< Community News

4 • Bay Area Reporter • June 3-9, 2021

San Francisco dispensary lounges reopen

by Sari Staver

once people begin to grow cannabis, they’ll probably continue [for the] satisfaction you get from that tactile, sensory experience. I love that about it myself,” he said.

While people falsely believed cannabis is a “gateway” to more dangerous illegal drugs, a myth debunked by sites like healthline.com, Grace sees cannabis as a “gateway to gardening.”

This year, Dark Heart is selling a new product for home gardeners, a “seedling” starter plant that has heartier growth than the traditional clones that make up the majority of business for the company.

Among the new seedlings are some that are “autoflowering,” said Grace, which enable gardeners to plant a second crop in early spring, because they will mature by June, in time for a standard crop. Grace said that seedlings will typically grow faster, larger, and yield more than most propagated plants.

For Grace, growing pot is more than just a business. Just as “a plumber has the leakiest faucets,” said Grace, “you’d think that the last thing a commercial cultivator would want to do is garden at home, but for me, it’s a fun experience and in the past

few years, I’ve really been able to enjoy it as a hobby. It’s not about growing a huge crop, it’s about having fun.”

with friends ... or by yourself, thanks to the very speedy Wi-Fi. There are several lounges, including one with giant restaurant-style dining booths, where you can smoke, vape, or dab to your heart’s content. A retail section carries one of the largest selections of cannabis products in the city. If you go, don’t forget to bring proof of COVID vaccination, required to enter the lounge. (California Street Cannabis Co. continues to sell clones although at an average price of $50 per plant, compared to $20 at Moe Green’s for comparably sized clones.)

The COVID pandemic brought increased sales of cannabis. While it’s impossible to gauge the amount

of cannabis-related products actually consumed – because of the huge underground, illegal market – sales of retail products clearly increased, with the state taking in over $1 billion in tax revenues in 2020, up from $638 million the year before, according to reports.

At the same time, sales of clones used by home gardeners was also up, according to Dan Grace, founder and CEO of Dark Heart Nursery, an Oakland-based wholesaler that specializes in cultivating clones for the commercial and home gardener in California.

In a telephone interview with Grace last month, he said that over the past year, “one big story for us is the burgeoning interest in home gardening.”

“All of a sudden last spring, right after people stopped thinking that the sky was falling, we saw a huge trend line up for cannabis clones,” typically grown in spring for a fall harvest, he said. “People were locked at home, wanting that tactile experience that comes with gardening.”

Grace predicts this year’s sales of clones will increase. “This is just a guess but it’s been my experience that

didates and with this mayor. She came to our gala in 2019 and she said this was a priority for her to establish a full-scale museum in San Francisco then the pandemic hit. We were working on a lease to establish a larger museum in the Castro and we had to put it on hold.”

Beswick added, “I can’t be more thrilled and grateful for the mayor’s support.”

Mandelman told the B.A.R. he was elated at the mayor’s announcement, as two years ago his office and Breed’s

administration had approached the owner of the building at Castro and Market streets that had housed a Pottery Barn location about buying the building with the intention of building a combined LGBTQ museum and housing on the site. But with an asking priced ranging from $15 to $18 million, the city ended those negotiations.

“I am very happy and pleased,” said Mandelman. “We have been in conversation with the mayor for a couple of years about acquiring property for

an LGBT history museum and cultural space, something ideally in the Castro.”

“I think I am gratified she actually put the money into the budget,” he said. “Pretty clearly the mayor is trying to make this part of her legacy. I think it will be a great legacy for her mayorship.”

As the B.A.R. reported last May, the GLBT Historical Society had decided to walk away from subleasing the former Castro location of real estate firm Coldwell Banker because of the COVID pandemic upending its operations

W

hen longtime cannabis pioneer Wayne Justmann recently invited me to join him at Moe Green’s cannabis lounge, it was the first I’d heard that San Francisco’s onsite lounges were reopening after a 14-month COVID-related closure.

Justmann, a gay man who has been an activist as well as a consultant to the cannabis industry, is often first with local marijuana news. Last year, Justmann was the first to let me know that he’d spotted clones, or starter plants, for sale at the California Street Cannabis Company, which turned out to be the only spot to buy plants in the city.

When Justmann called, I was already headed down to Moe Green’s, which started selling clones this year, to pick some up for my garden after I’d read online that they were getting in a fresh shipment of plants from Dark Heart Nursery, a prominent cultivator that sells to home gardeners.

(If you want to locate a specific strain, check https://darkheartnursery.com/ for constantly updated news about clone drops.)

Moe Green’s, anchored in a historic building at 1276 Market Street, is a spot where you can spend a lot of time

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Museum

From page 1

quest when contacted by the Bay Area Reporter for comment. He was taken aback, as he said no one from the mayor’s office had alerted him about the mayor’s decision to include the money in her budget proposal.

“Holy crap! Holy crap! I am really ... I am so thrilled as I have been working on this for five years,” said Beswick. “We have been working with the previous mayor and mayoral can-

t

Courtesy Moe Green’s

The lounge at Moe Green’s dispensary in San Francisco has reopened but proof of COVID vaccination is required.

Ongoing conversations

Conversations about the project had been ongoing, said Mandelman, as both he and Breed remained interested in finding a suitable space for the project. He is optimistic the funding will be included by the Board of Supervisors, which has until early July to send the mayor a final budget proposal so she can sign it by August 1.

New Castro dispensary proposed on 18th Street

In other local cannabis news, a new dispensary may be in the works for the Castro, if approved by the city. To be located at 4001 18th Street, near Noe Street, a proposal submitted by Element 7 to the planning department calls the new business “a holistic wellness cannabis dispensary with a focus on medicine, plant-based therapies, and education.” The proposal is backed with enough funding to build, scale, and operate the business, with $1.2 million of committed start-up and operations funding, according to the planning document. The new business would create at least 10 new local jobs as well as additional incremental business income to other local shops. The new owners have promised to contribute $50,000 to local nonprofits. t Bay Area Cannasseur runs the first Thursday every other month.

To send column ideas or tips, email Sari Staver at sfsari@gmail. com.

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6 • Bay Area Reporter • June 3-9, 2021

Volume 51, Number 22 June 3-9, 2021 www.ebar.com

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AIDS at 40 – and beyond

I

t was scary. On June 5, 1981, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report noted five cases of pneumocystis pneumonia among previously healthy gay men in Los Angeles. A second report of PCP and Kaposi sarcoma cases in New York City and California followed a month later. The Bay Area Reporter had its first story July 2, 1981, a brief item about “Gay Men’s Pneumonia” – potentially linked to poppers – buried on page 34. (https://www.ebar.com/news/news/303481) As we all know now, an unimaginable crisis would engulf the world and blow a hole through our community.

The disease ravaged the gay community, but really, no one was immune. Women, trans people, injection drug users, homeless people, and hemophiliacs were swept up in this mysterious disease for which there was no treatment, no vaccine, and no cure. A disinterested federal government dragged its feet for years. People stepped up to fill this void. Some created nonprofit organizations to serve this new community with medical care, legal assistance, food, and other essentials like applying for government benefits. LGBTQ activists formed the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power and boy, did they, badgering federal authorities to speed up the approval process for drugs.

They demanded a seat at the table at AIDS conferences, and refused to be labeled as victims. They were people – people living with HIV/ AIDS. Over the past four decades, their strategies have been successfully replicated by those fighting other diseases such as cancer. The federal government eventually developed sweeping funding programs to help PWAs in cities across the country, and scientists and researchers developed far more effective treatments.

Today, a person who is HIV-negative can take PrEP, a highly effective prevention regimen. Those who are HIV-positive can get their viral loads down to undetectable levels and not transmit the virus to their sex partners. Still, more than 700,000 U.S. lives were lost, a generation of gay men was wiped out, and there are 1.2 million people in this country living with HIV. We have come a long way, yet 40 years later, stubborn disparities persist. Black and Brown people, trans people, and injection drug users

Clipartkey

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the first reports of AIDS.

continue to lack access to PrEP. That belies a bigger problem, as they are also more likely not to have health insurance or access to medical care.

As we’ve seen over the last year with the COVID pandemic, this country does a shitty job regarding health equity. That must change, not only for HIV/AIDS, but for all health issues. It’s long been shown that providing preventative care saves money in the long run, yet our political leaders don’t have the will to stand up to the insurance industry and pass Medicare for All, or some other type of universal health care, which would be a game-changer.

Insurance companies are notoriously fickle – we see that today when medical coverage is denied or applied unevenly, or referrals to specialists are refused. Part of the reluctance of Black and Brown people seeking care is due to the medical establishment and the government’s long history of neglect and exploitation of nonwhite communities in clinical studies and access to quality treatment.

The aforementioned HIV/AIDS nonprofits have made great strides over the course of the pandemic and have worked to serve hard-toreach communities. But the latest CDC data show that more must be done. African Ameri-

HIV/AIDS is not over

by Matt Sharp

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cans are eight times more likely, and Latinos are four times more likely, to acquire HIV compared with white people, a recent CDC report noted.

And people in the South account for more than half of all new infections. When it comes to PrEP access, the disparities remain stark, largely because Black and Latino people face greater barriers to accessing prevention and care services.

Nearly two-thirds (63%) of eligible white people were receiving PrEP in 2019, according to the CDC, compared with just 8% of Black people and 14% of Latinos. And while 71% of white people with diagnosed HIV had an undetectable viral load in 2019, the rates fell to 61% for Black people and 65% for Latinos.

Part of the problem is that for many minorities and trans people, they often don’t see themselves reflected in the nonprofits that provide services.

These agencies should make a broad commitment to diversify their top ranks, as well as line staff. In 2019, the San Francisco AIDS Foundation released a five-year strategic plan focusing on health justice, social justice, and racial justice. (https://www.ebar.com/news/news//281563) As we reported at the time, its former CEO Joe Hollendoner told us, “There are health disparities that persist, inequities that have not been addressed, and trauma that has been ignored. That has to change if we want to ensure everyone can have a high-quality, healthy life regardless of their race, gender, HIV status, or economic situation.”

Hollendoner left his post last month, and this provides the foundation with a unique opportunity to put teeth in its plan by hiring a new CEO who more fully represents people who continue to face these barriers to access. Of course, it’s not just SFAF – there are lots of HIV/AIDS service organizations for which a more diverse staff would be of great benefit.

Leadership starts at the top. Every HIV/AIDS report that we’ve covered in recent years mentions both progress and the fact that disparities remain.

As AIDS enters its fifth decade, it is time for nonprofit boards to make a commitment to diversity themselves and their agencies. We want to see a reduction in disparities in the next 10 years. We want to see the Black and Latino populations quadruple their access to PrEP, and to treatment if they’re HIV-positive. In short, we want those at risk for HIV to have easy access to services, and that means having people who are like them on the front lines, and in the executive suites.t

aklawn, Dallas, 1984. Back then, I stopped into the Crossroads Market about once a week to pick up the latest issue of the New York Native, a gay political newsprint magazine where I could get the very latest information about AIDS. I detached a copy of the March 14 issue from a tied bundle on the shelf and saw the blazing front-page headline: “1,112 and Counting,” by Larry Kramer. I stopped in the middle of the aisle where gay magazines from around the world were stocked and read the first sentence that seemed to scream out from the page: “If this article doesn’t scare the shit out of you, we’re in real trouble. If this article doesn’t rouse you to anger, fury, rage, and action, gay men may have no future on this earth.

Our continued existence depends on just how angry you can get.”

I knew of Kramer’s rhetorical fireworks when I lived in New York City prior to moving to West Hollywood for a short spell. Forty years ago, in June 1981, I landed in Dallas as the first report of AIDS was released by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in its Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. As I read over the rest of the essay that day at the Crossroads Market, I instinctually knew I needed to sound an alarm. So I wrote a letter to the editor of This Week in Texas, a statewide gay entertainment publication where I could share Kramer’s powerful essay about AIDS. The Texas gay community had little political power then, confronted with formidable conservative pressure. If there was ever a time for mobilization it was at that time. In only a few months, HIV was discovered as the cause of AIDS. By the end of 1986, 1,292 people – about half of the number of U.S. AIDS cases – had died.

I mention this story to tell of my first attempt at AIDS activism, which was about 38 years ago, still five years before I tested

Courtesy Matt Sharp

Matt Sharp

HIV-positive. As of this 40th anniversary of the first cases of AIDS, I have not stopped my fight with HIV. Early on I was faced with a life-changing choice, I knew no other recourse than to stay active and learn all I could about HIV science, advocate for myself, and survive. Now, I believe I’m able to assess the lessons I’ve learned through not one, but two pandemics to guide me into a future I never dreamed was possible.

Our community has suffered a great deal with HIV and COVID-19. While the globe still struggles with both pandemics, we are witnessing the incredible effectiveness of the COVID vaccines such that in short order have slowed the infection rate, and ending the tragic sickness and death from which the world is still grieving. COVID affected everyone’s psyche, everything was interrupted or stopped. I don’t think it will be long un-

til society corrects itself, and our economy builds back. And I’m personally optimistic about the COVID pandemic because dammit – HIV/AIDS IS NOT OVER. After 40 years, despite eventual medical advances to treat and prevent HIV with antiretroviral drugs, developed, rich parts of the globe are able to maintain the disease. Without an effective vaccine the HIV spigot has a tragic leak. As long as maintenance of HIV in rich countries is accepted and allowed as the only strategy, the HIV pandemic has not ended.

And so the HIV community and all the stakeholders, allies, and impacted populations must come together to take advantage of this post-COVID period that is already exploding with technological advances in many areas that will change the world as we know it. Already we see shifts in the innovation, development, and implementation in the environmental field. The search for an HIV cure is ongoing despite what you hear from scam artists in social media and the internet. Gene editing is a field that is burgeoning, and the average person most likely doesn’t know there are at least a half-dozen FDA gene-editing products now approved. (https:// www.fda.gov/vaccines-blood-biologics/cellular-gene-therapyproducts/approved-cellularand-gene-therapy-products) On this 40th year mark of the first reported AIDS cases, everyone can agree on an end to HIV. There is plenty of spoken hope and commitment to go around. Yet the collective HIV community has a pandemic-changing choice to make. Until we use our power to DEMAND an end we’ll maintain HIV until the next pandemic strikes. t

Matt Sharp is an independent HIV education and advocacy consultant.

June 3-9, 2021 • Bay Area Reporter • 7

Breed proposes SF launch monthly income program for trans residents

by Matthew S. Bajko

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an Francisco Mayor London Breed is proposing that the city launch the first universal basic income program for transgender individuals as part of her budgets for the next two fiscal years. Up to 150 participants would receive $1,000 each month for up to a year under the guaranteed income pilot project.

The program would cost $2 million over two years and will be done in partnership with the office of gay Treasurer-Tax Collector José Cisneros. Selecting a community organization to help coordinate with the city’s various transgender groups on recruiting and selecting applicants for the program will be the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development, led by gay director Eric. D. Shaw.

“We will build on our guaranteed income pilot by adding a new program to deliver payment to members of our transgender community,” said Breed, whose announcement of the program June 1 coincided with the start of Pride Month.

It is just one of myriad LGBTQfocused programs Breed included in her balanced budget proposal for fiscal years 20212022 and 2022-2023.

The mayor released her budget at a ceremony held in the newly renovated Willie “Woo Woo” Wong Playground in the city’s Chinatown neighborhood.

Another new program Breed is seeking $900,000 for in the next fiscal year, which begins July 1, is to launch a LGBTQ senior tele-mental health program and expand digital access services for seniors. It is expected to provide services for up to 500 LGBTQ seniors while adding mental health resources for those who experienced increased isolation, depression and anxiety due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Clair Farley, a transgender woman who is a mayoral adviser and executive director of the city’s Office of Transgender Initiatives, told the Bay Area Reporter that the idea for the universal basic income program came from her office’s transgender advisory committee.

The city hopes to launch the program this October.

“We worked over the last year to do some visioning on how to create more stability in the community, especially with the result of the pandemic, and how to build a stronger safety net and foundation for the community,” said Farley.

“The idea of a universal income came up as a way we can ensure people have access to food and shelter and all the basic necessities of health care and mental health.”

Transgender individuals who have been the most impacted by the COVID pandemic will be prioritized for the program, with Black and Latina transgender women given particular priority as well as people who might need support with benefit navigation and financial literacy, said Farley.

“There will be a whole wraparound program in partnership with the treasurer’s office to provide financial education and coaching,” she said.

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Cisneros told the B.A.R. his office is “proud” to be a part of the pilot program.

“We are working a lot with the mayor and project leads on how to distribute the funds,” he said.

“I believe that these basic income pilots are critical to learning how we can help people who are struggling financially to be supported and to be successful.”

Priority will also be given to applicants who are disconnected for various reasons to other benefits that are available, added Farley.

“This pilot is a good opportunity for building more self sufficiency and economic mobility if someone wants to go back to school or may not be able to access other benefits because of immigration status or discrimination in the workforce,” she said.

As for the new LGBTQ seniors tele-health medicine program, the city’s Department of Disability and Aging Services will issue the request for proposals from community groups to administer it.

The idea came from an LGBT Senior Task Force that reconvened last year to help the city address the needs of LGBTQ seniors during the health crisis, said Farley.

“The mayor really wanted to prioritize our seniors in the recovery and look at how we build stronger support systems for crises in the future and also ensure we are addressing those gaps,” she said.

According to the mayor’s office Breed’s $13.1 billion budget for fiscal year 2021-22 and $12.8 billion budget for fiscal year 202223 budget seeks to be responsive to the city’s most urgent needs as it moves forward on the road to recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, while preserving longterm financial sustainability. It avoided seeking cuts from city departments as a projected deficit did not materialize due to the surprising strength of the economy despite the health crisis.

“San Francisco demonstrated our values and resilience over the last year, and I have no doubt that we will come back even stronger from COVID-19,” said Breed. “As we move forward out of the pandemic this budget will ensure that our recovery is equitable and that we are delivering solutions to the most important issues impacting

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It includes $1.8 million to continue the city’s Trans Home SF program that provides rental subsidies and transitional housing to transgender individuals, noted Farley, as well as funding for a program that assists LGBTQ people who are first-time homebuyers.

The $2.2 million reinvested from the city’s police department into violence prevention programs and reentry efforts for formerly incarcerated Black trans women is also maintained in the mayor’s budget proposal.

Farley said her office is still waiting word from various city departments on what LGBTQ-specific programs they have proposed to fund over the next two years.

And she noted that the mayor’s budget proposals for arts grants, emergency housing, back rent assistance, family and youth programs, and investments in small businesses will also benefit the LGBTQ community.

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<< AIDS at 40

8 • Bay Area Reporter • June 3-9, 2021

New SF developments to include housing for HIV+ people

by Matthew S. Bajko

ing, others are 100% for people who are homeless and for seniors,” said Eric C. Shaw, a gay man who is the MOHCD director. “We made the requirement that each have Plus Housing.”

It required that there be 10 Plus Housing units at the family affordable housing project slated for Pier 70, part of a wider redevelopment of the area along the bay that will generate 3,000 new housing units and 1.75 million square feet of office space. The city chose Young Community Developers, the Chinatown Community Develop-

ment Center, and Catholic Charities as the development team for the site, which is known as Parcel C2A. The eight other projects must set aside at least five units for the Plus Housing program. Among them is the triangular 7,840 square foot lot at Market Street and Duboce Avenue where housing welcoming of LGBTQ seniors is to be built. As the Bay Area Reporter first reported May 25, the city selected affordable housing developer Mercy Housing and Openhouse, a nonprofit provider of LGBTQ senior services in San Francisco, for the

1939 Market Street project.

It is roughly a block away from where the two agencies built 119-units of LGBTQ-welcoming affordable senior housing on Laguna Street. It is hoped that the new building will produce at least 131 housing units, and city housing officials told the B.A.R. they expect that 10% of the apartments will be available to people living with HIV as was done with the earlier housing built by Mercy and Openhouse.

The units will especially benefit HIV-positive individuals living in transitional housing who need to move out after a certain time period but often have difficulty finding a place to live.

“As people become positive there is still a need for housing that is dedicated specifically for people living with HIV and AIDS,” said Plus Housing Program manager Manuel Vasquez, who is queer and living with HIV. The Chinatown Community Development Center and Catholic Charities will build a senior affordable housing project at 772 Pacific Avenue.

Formerly the New Asia restaurant, it will be the first new 100% affordable housing development in Chinatown in over two decades.

make sense to enter into last spring, the nonprofit announced it was shelving its plans to build the first full-scale LGBTQ history museum in the U.S. for the time being.

Instead, it said it was pivoting its efforts to creating a virtual museum and archival center using its vast holdings collected over the last three-anda-half decades. Over a year later, the nonprofit is reopening its museum to the public this Friday, June 4, having had to keep it closed for much of the past 14 months. It also began scheduling in-person research appointments on a limited basis at its archives center as of June 1.

The future of its current museum space is in doubt, as it remains unclear if it will be able to extend its lease for the 18th Street site and its city funding for operational costs has been drastically cut this year. It was turned down for a $150,000 arts commission grant it had applied for and last week was also not granted the $250,000 in funding it had applied for from the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development.

Instead, it was awarded $50,000, which is a steep drop from the $400,000 in city funding it had received last year. Thus, the nonprofit is unsure of how much longer it can

continue to operate its museum in the Castro.

“The status of the current museum is definitely in question,” said Beswick.

He is hopeful the supervisors will be able to add-back some of that funding during the budget negotiations this month. Mandelman told the B.A.R. he is committed to seeing what can be done to bolster the city’s allocation for the operational costs of the museum.

The historical society currently subleases the space from Walgreens, which operates the adjacent specialty pharmacy, a portion of which was built into the storefront that houses

N

ine new affordable housing developments coming to San Francisco are expected to provide at least 50 rental units for people living with HIV. One project will be located on upper Market Street in the city’s LGBTQ Castro district, another in Chinatown, and the rest are all located South of Market.

Construction on the projects, which will all have 100 or more units, isn’t expected to begin until 2023 at the earliest. When the buildings open to residents, the rents for the HIV+ housing units will be set at no more than 50% of the Area Median Income.

In San Francisco the AMI for a single-family household is currently at $46,650. Thus, the rent for a studio would be $1,166 and $1,333 for a one bedroom.

When the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development issued a request last November for development teams to apply for the nine projects, it included a requirement that a certain number of units be for referrals from the city’s Plus Housing program for low-income people living with HIV. The mayoral housing office oversees the program.

“Some are targeted to family hous-

<<

Museum

From page 4

and finances. The real estate agency in September 2019 had vacated its space at 2355 Market Street, near Castro and 17th streets, and had offered it to the historical society at a reduced rent for the remaining six years of its lease.

At roughly 10,800 square feet the storefront would have allowed for 10 times more exhibition and program space than the historical society has at its current 1,600 square foot museum on 18th Street, where its lease runs through at least January 2022. Not only did the sublease deal no longer

Rick Gerharter

The city has selected affordable housing developer Mercy Housing and Openhouse, a provider of services to LGBTQ seniors, for the planned LGBTQ-welcoming senior housing at 1939 Market Street, which will include units for people living with HIV.

Bayview Hunters Point Multipurpose Senior Service and the John Stewart Company will construct another one for seniors at 967 Mission Street. It is part of the SoMa 5M redevelopment being built by Brookfield Properties and Hearst.

The Mission Economic Development Agency, Chinatown Community Development Center, and Catholic Charities are partnering on a family affordable housing project at 1515 South Van Ness Avenue. Overseeing construction of another family housing development at 88 Bluxome Street will be the Jonathan Rose Companies and Young Community Developers.

The other two projects will provide permanent supportive housing. The John Stewart Company and Conard House were selected for the site at 71 Boardman Place. The Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corp and Community Housing Partnership will build the project at 725 Harrison Street.

All of the sites are likely to qualify for density bonus programs so a greater number of units can be built.

The completion of the projects will depend on the availability of local funding and competitiveness for tax credit and bond financing. t

the GLBT Historical Society Museum. Beswick told the B.A.R. he has yet to be informed by the national chain if it intends to extend its own lease for the properties.

The historical society has extended the lease for its archives space through 2031. And it is pursuing $750,000 in state funding this year in coalition with a number of LGBTQ archives from across California. State legislators included the funds in their agreement for the 2021 budget, which begins October 1. They now need to approve it and send it to Governor See page 18 >>

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<< AIDS at 40

10 • Bay Area Reporter • June 3-9, 2021

Efforts to get to zero new HIV infections challenged

by John Ferrannini

Buchbinder said that Getting to Zero in San Francisco has helped the city achieve a decline in new diagnoses. As the B.A.R. previously reported, in 2019 the city saw 166 new HIV diagnoses. (For context, that number was 307 in 2014.)

A

s the Bay Area emerges from one health crisis, medical professionals are increasingly confident it can rise from another.

For efforts to address the HIV/ AIDS epidemic as it hits the 40th anniversary of the first reported cases, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic casts a long shadow, but infectious disease experts and other medical professionals working on implementing Getting to Zero HIV plans in the Bay Area told a story of efforts hampered but generally resilient.

That, of course, doesn’t mean local efforts are out of the woods yet.

“Unfortunately, COVID impacted everyone in the health care sector,” Dr. Susan Buchbinder, a co-chair of the steering committee of Getting to Zero San Francisco, told the Bay Area Reporter. “We saw a dramatic decline in services provided and a shift to telehealth – which works for some people but not for all people. We did see a dramatic decline in HIV testing – more than a 50% decline. Viral load testing went down more than 60% citywide.”

In the darkest depths of the COVID era, PrEP enrollment in San Francisco was down 70% and PrEP follow-up appointments went down 95%, Buchbinder said.

“We’ve seen a rebound,” Buchbinder said. “We’re doing much better, but we’re not back to baseline.”

Dr. Sarah Rudman, Santa Clara County’s Public Health Department assistant health officer and STD/HIV controller, said that many people did work addressing the novel coronavirus on top of their usual work on HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.

“The county has worked very hard and very rapidly to move resources across the entire county to support COVID response,” Rudman said. “We had folks doing double duty – STD

East Bay

Buchbinder, Liz Highleyman; Rudman, screengrab; Wong, CAR UCSF

Getting to Zero leaders Drs. Susan Buchbinder, Sarah Rudman, and Sophy S. Wong lead efforts in San Francisco, the South Bay, and East Bay, respectively.

and HIV work and COVID – but in general not many pieces of the Getting to Zero effort needed to be delayed.”

Dr. Sophy S. Wong, the director of East Bay Getting to Zero, said that the two public health threats were inexorably intertwined.

“All of us have had to pivot to COVID for a variety of reasons,” Wong said. “For a lot of people living with HIV, their biggest concern in 2020 was getting sick from COVID.” Dr. Brad Hare, chair of the COVID subcommittee of San Francisco’s Getting to Zero, saw another connection – many of the populations hit hardest

by COVID-19 were also the populations impacted the most by HIV. “In the medical community we think about the overlap of COVID and what we see with the HIV epidemic,” Hare said. “This community, hit very hard by the HIV epidemic, was also hit hard with COVID and we saw a lot of disruption with income, health, substance use, and overdose.

It’s been a rough year for people dealing with HIV.”

Addressing structural racism

Buchbinder said that addressing the health disparities caused by longstanding structural racism must be

crucial to any effort to stop the spread of HIV. “Clearly at the center of all we do is focus on racial and ethnic disparities,” Buchbinder said. “That’s got to be at the center of all we do.”

Added Hare: “We want to center racial justice and equity as we work to end the HIV epidemic.”

Getting to Zero started in San Francisco in 2014, Buchbinder said.

It was inspired by the UNAIDS vision of getting to “zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination, [and] zero AIDS-related deaths.”

Initially, 2020 was the goal for getting to zero in San Francisco. Now, it is to “reduce HIV transmission and HIV-related deaths in San Francisco by 90% before 2025,” according to its website, along with reducing stigma.

“If it can be done anywhere, the feeling seems to be, it can be done in San Francisco,” the UCSF AIDS Research Institute’s Getting to Zero page states.

Buchbinder said that “at the core, we want to reach people at high risk of HIV infection, and develop new models for delivery of PrEP and delivery of HIV care.”

The steering committee helps with the strategic planning for hundreds of members, Buchbinder said.

Across the bay, Wong’s group is “a network of HIV service providers, service organizations, and community advocates,” she said. East Bay Getting to Zero, which started in 2017, just launched a five-year strategic plan.

Part of that will be the “East Bae Summer” (Bae is slang for a significant other, standing for “before anyone else”): a community outreach program complete with “shirts, goody bags with condoms and the like, information and education mostly for communities of color that are disproportionately affected by HIV, let people know where to get tested, and where to get linkage to care,” Wong said.

“It doesn’t matter if you are HIVpositive or -negative,” Wong continued. “We have something for you.”

Wong said something people don’t know enough about are same-day linkages to care.

“People can get PrEP and HIV treatment the same day they present for care,” Wong said. “Once someone is diagnosed and referred to our care site, they can get treatment that same day, and that takes quite a bit of collaboration.”

South Bay

In the South Bay, the HIV Getting to Zero initiative is headed into its fifth year. It was started with a $750,000 annual allocation from the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors, and it too is moving forward with a new strategic plan, Rudman said.

Rudman said that the key parts of this plan are “stigma-free access to those who’d benefit” from PrEP, providing up-to-date testing and treatment information to medical providers, expanding access to care, and battling stigma.

“We’ve learned a lot about public health and community collaboration in pandemics this last year,” Rudman said. “I hope we flex those hard lessons learned for the HIV pandemic in this current year.”

Challenges

One of the most acute impacts from the COVID pandemic was the drop-off in in-person appointments.

“Our biggest challenge now is getting people comfortable enough to come back in person to do labs,” Wong said, referring to both STD test-

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ing for PrEP users and viral load testing for HIV-positive people. “For a lot of our clinics, we did a lot more phone visits and video visits. For our staff, we rapidly switched all our meetings to virtual space, but that did not work for everyone.”

Less testing has resulted in lower reported rates of STDs than in the years prior to the COVID pandemic – but precisely because there is less testing, there is less treatment, and therefore there may be a future increase in community spread as pre-COVID sexual habits return.

Rudman agreed with the forecast that rates of STDs in general (including but not limited to HIV) may see a rise this year.

“There are some early signs that the same populations hit hardest by COVID have had problems reaching testing and treatment,” Rudman said. “In California, there has been an increase in the severity of gonorrhea infections. The numbers of the severe type of infection went up.”

But these severe gonorrhea infections are not of the antibiotic resistant variety doctors have been sounding the alarm about for years. Rather, these are disseminated infections. (A disseminated infection is one that has spread beyond the initial site of infection.)

The California Department of Public Health sent a letter to medical providers on December 23 telling them to be on alert.

“It is possible the increase in [disseminated gonorrhea] cases reflects a decrease of STD screening, testing, and treatment as a result of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic as opposed to a more virulent strain of [gonorrhea] being transmitted,” that letter stated. “Medical providers should reinstate routine screening recommendations for STDs in females [under] 25 years of age, pregnant females, men who have sex with men and individuals with HIV.” Wong said that while there were fewer STD tests provided by East Bay Getting to Zero’s network of providers, “there was a larger proportion of positive tests in rough data from some of our clinics.”

“Some are among people with HIV, so for us it’s a signal to really pay attention to this,” Wong said.

The local Getting to Zero groups are, of course, working toward the same purpose with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s plan to end the HIV epidemic in the country by 2030, and with Ending the Epidemics – a statewide coalition of advocates working to bring an end to the “syndemic” (or, See page 17 >>

50 years in 50 weeks: 1979, White Night riots

T

he Bay Area Reporter’s May 24, 1979 issue reported on the riots that took place May 21, after Dan White was found guilty of voluntary manslaughter, rather than murder, in the November 27, 1978 assassination of gay San Francisco supervisor Harvey Milk.

The verdict shocked the city, with the paper noting that gay men and women began assembling in the

Castro before proceeding to City Hall, where many were met by police with tear gas. Some people returned to the Castro, where police in riot gear beat them. A focal point was outside the old Elephant Walk bar, where windows were smashed and people screamed. It was a dark day in the city’s history. To view the issue, go to https://bit.ly/3g2a9cz

<< AIDS at 40

12 • Bay Area Reporter • June 3-9, 2021

‘Never Alone’ mural to commemorate Maitri hospice

by John Ferrannini

A

s the city and the LGBTQ community commemorate four decades since the first reported cases of what became known as HIV/AIDS, Maitri Compassionate Care in San Francisco’s Duboce Triangle neighborhood is set to become the home of a new mural bringing into focus the meaning of that anniversary.

The mural, titled “Never Alone,” will be painted by Serge Gay Jr., who told the Bay Area Reporter he wanted to tell a story through the art, which will be on the side of the building at 401 Duboce Avenue that houses the hospice that opened in 1986. While Maitri still cares for people living with AIDS, it also serves those who are homeless with short-term stabilization services, as the B.A.R. previously reported.

“Definitely I wanted to tell the story of what Maitri represents, their history, the people there, and the diversity of the community in the Duboce Triangle,” Gay, a 36-year-old gay man, told the B.A.R. “Overall, it talks about Maitri and the HIV/AIDS pandemic, and the people left behind. I want that story really strongly stamped within the wall.”

Gay said that the mural, which has been designed in draft and will be tweaked considering community feedback, includes “a lot of symbols of people who have died from AIDS and HIV and what has happened, and is still happening.”

For example, people in red symbolize those lost to AIDS. A lotus flower symbolizes life and rebirth.

Animals symbolize both caregivers and companions, and are a

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Courtesy Maitri Compassionate Care

A draft of Serge Gay Jr.’s “Never Alone” mural that will be painted on Maitri Compassionate Care’s building in the Duboce Triangle neighborhood

reminder of nearby Duboce Park, which is a favorite spot for dogs and their owners.

People interested in providing their input were invited to a recent virtual meeting, according to Joaquin Castillo Arana, a member of Maitri’s board of directors, who also said that Maitri has been keeping the Duboce Triangle Neighborhood Association involved in the process.

DTNA did not respond to a request for comment.

Work on the mural is scheduled to begin in “late June or early July” and be “completed by the end of the summer at the latest,” the Reverend Rusty Smith, a gay man and Anglican priest who is the executive director of Maitri, told the B.A.R.

Third AIDS-related mural

It will be the third mural in the Castro district that addresses the AIDS epidemic. On 16th Street at Market is the mural “The Hope For A World Cure.” Elba Rivera and Clif Cox created it in 1998 in collaboration with a number of other artists under the purview of Precita Eyes Muralists. It was damaged in 2017 by a graffiti artist.

The “Laughing Gorilla” mural, on the side of the building at 19th Street at Castro, was inspired both by the AIDS epidemic and the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. Created

by David Seibold, a gay man, during the height of the AIDS crisis, it was restored in 2019.

It was June 5, 1981, of course, that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report noted five cases of pneumocystis pneumonia among previously healthy gay men in Los Angeles.

Later, it was understood the men had developed the condition due to HIV infection (though the viral agent was not discovered until 1983).

“That’s what this is about,” Smith said. “The reason we wanted our building to have a mural is the stigma of HIV/AIDS continues today.

Maitri was an instrumental place where care, love, and outreach to people with AIDS was one of a kind. ... Through ‘Never Alone,’ we look at the bravery that Maitri was part of for people totally alone and abandoned by the community.”

Smith told the B.A.R. that the project was brought to Maitri by the Castro/Upper Market Community Benefit District.

“When this mural came to us, Serge had been chosen by a prior

process,” Smith said, adding that Gay is a “rock star.” “We started our process back in September [2020] with different listening groups.”

Gay – also known for a mural on the side of the newly reopened Castro bar Moby Dick at 18th and Noe streets – said that he was selected in 2019 for a CBD-funded mural “that was going to be at the site of Fitness SF” but that “the project failed.”

“The design was completely different because that was for the Castro but this is for the Duboce Triangle community, so I wanted to make sure the design [worked with] the neighborhood,” Gay said. “This is a brand new, different design.”

Gay said that the mural at Fitness SF Castro (which is located at Market and Noe streets) “didn’t work out” due to “complications with the building owner.”

Fitness SF did not respond to a request for comment.

Andrea Aiello, a lesbian who is the executive director of the CBD, stated to the B.A.R. that Gay was chosen through an open, competitive process.

“The mural on Maitri is funded through a grant from the CBD from the SF Arts Commission,” Aiello stated in an email, adding subsequently that the money comes from $25,000 awarded in Fiscal Year 2019-2020.

Arana stated to the B.A.R.,“Though the location has changed, the underpinning rationale for why [Gay] was picked not only still holds true, but they are underscored by the location and context. ... His ability to present a cohesive and comprehensive submission that indicated not only his artistic ability but his understanding of resourcing (time, supplies, space, etc.) required to execute a mural of this size.”

Smith said that it is his fervent hope that the mural leads to greater awareness of the HIV/AIDS epidemic and Maitri’s work as the city and country emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic this summer.

“HIV/AIDS is still here, in these marginalized communities where people don’t have access to health care,” Smith said. “Maitri is still that place of love, care and acceptance. As a young person in the 1980s, that’s what we said to people we cared for: that we’ll never forget you, and will continue to fight until there’s a cure, and so this 40 year anniversary is hopeful and heartbreaking at the same moment.”t

Obituaries >> Robert C. Potter July, 1927 - December 2020

Robert was an Army veteran of World War II. He passed away peacefully at home in December 2020 at the age of 93.

A third generation San Franciscan, Robert had a long career in lithography and was heavily involved in the LGBT community.

Robert was a founding member of the Alexander Hamilton Post 448 of the American Legion. He will be greatly missed.

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AIDS at 40>>

June 3-9, 2021 • Bay Area Reporter • 15

SF leads HIV response for 40 years

by Liz Highleyman

O

n June 5, 1981, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report published the first report on AIDS. Over the following four decades, San Francisco has been at the forefront in responding to the HIV pandemic.

“The message is especially important now, given what we’re going through with COVID,” Dr. Paul Volberding, one of the first doctors to treat people with HIV and now director of Liz Highleyman the UCSF AIDS Research Institute, Dr. Paul Volberding was one told the Bay Area Reporter. “The two of the first physicians to treat pandemics are obviously very differAIDS patients in San Francisco. ent in many ways, but it’s encouraging to see that San Francisco has reJanuary 1983 recognizing that a sponded so well to both of them, in designated outpatient clinic to treat many ways leading the world.” patients with HIV with compassion That report 40 years ago conand designated care was important,” cerned five cases of unusual Pneucurrent Ward 86 medical director mocystis pneumonia (PCP) among Dr. Monica Gandhi told the B.A.R. young gay men in Los Angeles. The “Ward 86 has since had many innofirst mention of “gay men’s pneuvations, including the RAPID promonia” in the Bay Area Reporter gram providing same-day HIV therappeared in the July 2, 1981 issue. apy after diagnosis, a PrEP clinic, the A second MMWR report published Golden Compass program for HIV on July 3 described 10 more cases of and aging, and the POP-UP clinic PCP among gay men in Los Angeles providing HIV care for marginally and San Francisco, as well as 26 cases housed people.” of Kaposi sarcoma, a rare cancer. A In May 1982, Volberding, Conant, follow-up report in August included the late B.A.R. publisher Bob Ross, more than 100 cases. activist Cleve Jones, and others startVolberding,ISO then12647-7 31, saw Digital the first the 2009 Kaposi’s Sarcoma Research ControledStrip 100 60sarcoma 100 70 30 100 60 100 patient 70 30 100 100 A Kaposi admitted to60 and Education Foundation, which 70 San Francisco General Hospital on later became the San Francisco AIDS July 1 – his first day on the job. Along Foundation. It was the second such with Dr. Marcus Conant, he soon organization in the United States, afstarted the nation’s first KS clinic. ter Gay Men’s Health Crisis in New 100 100 60 100 100 70 70 30 30 100 100 60 100 100 70 70 30 30 100 100 60 100 100 70 70 Two years later, Volberding, the late York City, founded by the late author Dr. Constance Wofsy, Dr. Donald and playwright Larry Kramer and Abrams, and others created the first others that January.

HIV outpatient clinic, known as Ward 86 and Ward 5B, SFAF, ProjWard 86. The first inpatient AIDS ect Inform (started by the late Martin unit, Ward 5B, was established the Delaney and Joseph Brewer in 1985), following summer. and Shanti (created in 1974 to care “Ward 86 opened its doors in for people with other life-threatening B

illnesses) were among the components of the San Francisco Model of HIV care. The model involved multidisciplinary medical care in collaboration with community organizations that provided complementary services ranging from food delivery to buddy programs to hospice care.

“I don’t think we ever had a great strategic plan – it was really quite organic,” Volberding recalled. “We had a great university, we had a great health department, we obviously had a very organized and politically powerful gay community, and local political leadership was really quite advanced. We in the medical community benefited from the information networks that were out there in the gay community. We knew that we couldn’t deliver the at-home services our patients needed, but organizations in the community could. We had our different roles, and we respected each other in those roles.”

Prevention, activism, and treatment

From the earliest days, San Francisco was a leader in HIV prevention.

In 1982, the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence produced the Play Fair safer sex brochure, featuring what might be the first published advice that gay men use condoms. The Stop AIDS Project, started in 1985, came under fire from congressional Republicans 40 100 40educational 100 40 100 40 70 40 for30its sexually explicit materials and workshops. Taking another prevention tack, San Francisco’s Prevention Point, started in 1988, was one of the first needle 30 30 100 40 100 40 100 10 40 40 exchange programs in40the United States. (https://www.ebar.com/news/ news/303481) In December 2010, UCSF researcher Dr. Robert Grant and colleagues published results from a study showing that daily Truvada T:9.75" (tenofovir disoproxil fumarate/em3%

tricitabine) reduced the risk of HIV infection by more than 90%. Gay and bisexual men in San Francisco were among the earliest and most enthusiastic adopters of PrEP, which was approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration in 2012.

In the same way as the Stonewall riots in New York City are commonly regarded as the first militant LGBT activism, even though the Compton’s Cafeteria riot took place in the Tenderloin three years prior, San Francisco saw some of the earliest AIDS activism before the founding of ACT UP/New York in March 1987.

The AIDS/ARC vigil outside the federal building at United Nations Plaza – perhaps the first act of civil disobedience related to HIV – started in October 1985 and went on for 10 years. That November, people with AIDS and their supporters organized a candlelight march from the Castro to the vigil site. Marchers taped hundreds of placards bearing the names of people who had died to the walls.

Jones would later recall that this gave him the idea for the Names Project AIDS Memorial Quilt.

A San Francisco group called Citizens for Medical Justice carried out some of the earliest AIDS protests.

The group changed its name to AIDS Action Pledge and later to ACT UP/ San Francisco. ACT UP spearheaded a week of actions around the Sixth 70 40 40 40 70 40 40 70 40 70 40 Conference 40 3 10 International AIDS at Moscone Center in 1990, focusing on issues including the U.S. ban on travel and immigration by HIVpositive people and the crumbling 20 70 70 70 70 40 70 40 40 0000 3.1 2.2 2.2 10.2 7.4 7.4 of the San Francisco Model due to inadequate funding.

San Francisco also played a key role in the development of HIV treatment. Prior to the FDA approval of the first antiretroviral drug, AZT, in 1987, Project Inform educated the community about experimental

therapies and helped people obtain them through buyer’s clubs. Researchers and clinicians at UCSF, SFGH, and Kaiser Permanente conducted clinical trials that would lead to more effective medications.

The first protease inhibitor, saquinavir, was approved in December 1995. This finally enabled people to put together drug cocktails that could keep HIV in check. Within a year after the debut of combination therapy, AIDS mortality had dropped dramatically in San Francisco and nationwide. On August 13, 1998, the B.A.R. ran its famous “No obits” cover, reporting that for the first time since the epidemic started, no obituaries were submitted for that week’s paper.

The new antiretrovirals came with unexpected side effects, leading some advocates and clinicians to favor later treatment and medication breaks.

But two major studies, SMART and START, showed that delaying or stopping treatment is risky. In 2010, San Francisco was the first city to recommend that everyone should start treatment as soon as they are diagnosed with HIV. Federal treatment guidelines followed suit in 2012, as did the World Health Organization in 2015.

The advent of highly effective biomedical prevention and treatment raised the hope of eliminating new 25 50 75 and 90 HIV infections AIDS 100 deaths.

With this goal in mind, San Francisco launched its Getting to Zero initiative in 2014. According to the latest SF DPH HIV Epidemiology Report, 25 19 19 50 40 40 75 66 66 100 100 100 80 70 70 100 there were 166 new HIV diagnoses and just over 15,900 people living with HIV in 2019, 69% of whom were age 50 or older. (See related story, page 10.)

See page 18 >>

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<< AIDS at 40

16 • Bay Area Reporter • June 3-9, 2021

<<

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At Duggan’s Funeral Service, which sits in the heart of the Mission, we offer custom services that fit your personal wishes in honoring and celebrating a life.

We are committed to the ever-changing needs of the community and the diverse families we serve.

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Frenchie

(Armand Joseph Cournoyer) Frenchie (Armand Joseph Cournoyer) passed away Sunday, May 23, 2021 in San Francisco.

He was 80.

He was born in Central Falls, Rhode Island, the son of Joseph Cournoyer and Yvonne Marie Williamson.

Frenchie served in the US Army from 1963 to 1969. After the war, he lived in Arizona and San Francisco with his partner Keith Peffley.

He is survived by his sister Claire Blanchard, his sister-in-law Yola Cournoyer and his husband Michael Schroeder (Max).

He was a dancer, a good cooker, and a raconteur nonpareil. No one who met him will forget his charm or his feisty spirit.

A memorial service in his honor is planned for Wednesday, June 16 from 4-7 p.m. at the Pilsner Inn, 225 Church Street, San Francisco.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to Swords to Plowshares.

AIDS grove

From page 1

Online observance

People will also be able to watch a special observance and ceremony online beginning at 2:30 p.m. Saturday afternoon. (It will be available for virtual viewing later as well.) That will include House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco); Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-Oakland); gay state Senators Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) and John Laird (D-Santa Cruz); Assemblyman David Chiu (D-San Francisco); and San Francisco Mayor London Breed and gay District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman.

<<

Also taking part will be long-term AIDS survivors Cleve Jones, cofounder of the quilt; and grove board member Lonnie Payne. Young leaders on hand will include Ima Diawara, the recipient of the grove’s Mary Bowman Arts in Activism Award and grove board member Antwan Matthews.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, will make a virtual presentation. Fauci was on the frontlines of the AIDS epidemic decades ago and over the last year was often the public face of the COVID pandemic.

Kevin Herglotz, a gay man who was recently named chief operating officer for the grove, told the B.A.R. that

the dignitaries will lay a wreath in the Circle of Friends and see the 6,000th quilt block that will be unfolded.

Cunningham said that representatives from Vivent Health, Gilead Sciences, and Quest Diagnostics will be part of the online ceremony. All have provided financial support to the grove and the quilt.

To sign up to attend the public day of remembrance and tributes and/or read names, go to https://www.aidsmemorial.org/aids40.

The AIDS grove has a special section,“40 Years of AIDS,” on its website at https://www.aidsmemorial.org/, along with the virtual exhibition of the AIDS Memorial Quilt and other features. t

Survivors

From page 1

nities of New York City, San Francisco, and LA, but quickly spread to other communities, including hemophiliacs, women, and transgender people. The administration of then-President Ronald Reagan did little to help – he first uttered the word publicly on September 17, 1985 – and many members of the religious right, such as the late Jerry Falwell, said that AIDS was “God’s punishment” for “sinful lifestyles” – a view some continue to believe.

An enraged queer community took to the streets in protest, forming ACT UP, the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power. Demonstrators blocked traffic, chained themselves to government buildings, and undertook other actions, demanding that something be done to quell the endless cycle of disease and death.

It was a time when the community came together, not only in protest, but also to help take care of each other. In San Francisco, numerous nonprofit organizations formed to provide critical services to those living with HIV. Since the mid-1990s, HIV has, for many, become a treatable disease thanks to the drug cocktails that became available. More recently, antiretroviral treatments have helped thousands lower their viral loads to undetectable, which helps prevent the spread of the disease because it is untransmittable. Other drugs, such as PrEP, have kept HIV-negative people protected from contracting the virus.

Though many people with HIV can now live productive lives with the help of medication, it’s important to realize that AIDS is not yet curable and there is no vaccine. The drugs do come with side effects, and even with the medications, some people still die of AIDS-related complications.

It’s hard to believe that it’s been 40 years since AIDS first reared its ugly head. For this milestone anniversary, the Bay Area Reporter spoke with three long-term survivors: Gabriel Quinto, a gay man who sits on the El Cerrito City Council; Tez Anderson, a 62-year-old gay man who was first diagnosed in 1986; and Marc Huestis, 66, a gay man who took an HIV test on the day it became available in 1985.

From illness to political office

“I never thought I’d end up getting this old,” said Quinto, 60, who has lived with AIDS since 1988. “But here I am, and I owe it to so many people who have been so kind to me through the years in supporting me and taking care of me when I was in a place that many of us didn’t survive. I’m a survivor; I’m a true survivor. I don’t know why I’m still around, but I am truly one of the lucky ones.”

Quinto added that living with HIV has been difficult, especially in the early years when the news wasn’t good. He recalls a federal government that failed to take care of its constituents. He remembers dealing with a lot of illness and staying in bed and dealing with deep depression for many years.

“Not being able to think about a future,” he said, “or to do anything. It was a deep, deep hole that I was in and something that many in our commu-

Rick Gerharter

Tez Anderson snapped a photo of one of several posters charting the progress of the 15 recommendations of the LGBT Aging Policy Task Force during a small celebration of the fifth anniversary of the report and its subsequent implementation in March 2019.

nity know about, afraid to talk about it with anyone. I was lucky enough to join different groups in Los Angeles, a peer group and we took care of each other. I’ll never forget that the guys that were part of that group, most of them are gone now. I’ll never forget them, they were so kind to me, and we all took care of each other by helping each other do errands, going to the doctor, and just day to day things.”

Later moving to San Francisco in 1995, he recalled his time as both a client and a volunteer for the Shanti Project. Quinto’s volunteering led him to become more political.

In 2012, he volunteered for a presidential campaign, becoming a Barack Obama delegate for his reelection campaign. He moved to the East Bay and decided to run for public office himself. Now in his second term on the El Cerrito City Council – he was reelected in 2018 – he serves as mayor pro tem.

“I learned how to engage and to get myself out of the day-to-day funk that I had for many, many years,” Quinto said. “Days of depression, days of just feeling tired all the time. The day-to-day thing of going to the doctor all the time, getting blood work done and getting more tests done. You look at all of the things that science has brought, and science has brought this disease to a place where you can actually deal with it day-to-day now. I’m so happy about that, I just wish it came a little earlier. We’re missing a huge generation of women and men, many of them the most talented people that I’ve ever met.”

In addition to his political work, Quinto has a partner, Glen Nethercut, who he’s been with since 1997.

They’ve been in El Cerrito since 2001.

He feels proud to be one of the first LGBTQ Filipino Americans to be an elected official and he was the first known HIV-positive person elected to office in the Bay Area when he first won his seat in 2014.

“We’re just in the beginning stages still,” he said. “And I see that in many communities of color, the minority communities, I see a new group of leadership that are stepping up because they know the importance of representing. I’m so proud to be president of the LGBTQ caucus of the League of California Cities. It’s something I enjoy doing.”

Let’s Kick ASS

Anderson wants to remind people that AIDS is still very much part of society. He noted that for many, AIDS has fallen off the radar.

“The reality is that the only ones who still care about HIV/AIDS are the 1.2 million people living with it,” he said.

Not one to sit idly by, Anderson formed Let’s Kick ASS (AIDS Survivor Syndrome) in 2013, a grassroots community-led organization. Its primary focus is to improve the quality of life for long-term survivors and older adults living with HIV. It is an all-volunteer movement which, according to its website, is “united in compassion, committed to action, and insisting on visibility.” LKA also fights ageism. (https://letskickass.hiv/) Anderson also started HIV LongTerm Survivors Awareness Day in 2014, which is observed on June 5, the date widely associated with the start of the epidemic.

“HLTSAD has since become an international day to celebrate and honor HIV long-term survivors’ strength and resilience,” he said. “At the same time we are focusing on the unmet needs and challenges facing HIV long-term survivors.”

Anderson said that after all these years of living with HIV, his health can be unpredictable.

“Some days I’m OK. Other days my energy and fatigue keep me in bed all day. I’m fighting the impulse to just give into just going back to bed, but often the mattress wins. What is most concerning is that the community doesn’t understand the complexities of aging and what it feels like to have survived now two plagues,” he said, referring to AIDS and COVID. “We are a resilient bunch, but they only see us as old, if they see us at all. We are warriors with the battle scars and mass casualties to prove it. I, for one, do not put up with being excluded. I just wish it weren’t so damn hard all the time.”

Anderson wants the younger generation to know that AIDS isn’t over.

“While we’ve come a long way since the days when our loved ones and community were dying, we still have a lot of work to do,” he said. “Survivors feel forgotten by the communities we helped form. Bringing agencies along has been like pushing a boulder up a hill.”

Anderson continues to increase visibility for HIV long-term survivors. He is featured in “Pride,” a sixSee page 17 >>

AIDS at 40>>

<<

June 3-9, 2021 • Bay Area Reporter • 17

Survivors

From page 16

part docuseries that chronicles the fight for LGBTQ equality from 19502000. Anderson is in “The 1990s: The Culture Wars” episode talking about surviving AIDS. The show can be streamed at FX on Hulu.

Filmmaker’s life

HIV has not stopped Huestis from living a full and productive life.

Throughout the 1980s and 1990s he was an award-winning filmmaker. He spent the better part of two decades producing and hosting shows at the Castro Theatre, in which he would screen a classic film with a cast member from the film in attendance for an onstage Q&A and a meet and greet.

His shows were met with much acclaim and often sold out. These days Huestis is enjoying a life of quiet retirement in Palm Springs, where he continues to deal with his HIV. “The time passed pretty quickly.

My virus is now older than most people in San Francisco,” he quipped, before getting serious. “That time was such a traumatic period. I consider it the best of times and the worst of times, because from the moment we first realized that something weird was

<<

Steven Underhill

Marc Huestis, a filmmaker and former producer of shows at the Castro Theatre, has lived with HIV since 1985.

going on through when the cocktails started to really hit, the community was very cohesive and very together.

We really took care of each other and we created the modalities for how health care should be.”

He recalled the early days as being scary. His first memories of the plague are seeing photos of Bobbi Campbell’s Kaposi’s sarcoma lesions in the windows of the old Star Pharmacy, which stood on the corner of 18th and Castro streets. Campbell (1952-1984), a nurse, was a gay San Francisco man and the first to come out publicly as

Get to zero efforts

itly tied to those efforts on the federal and local levels, though we are certainly supportive,” Burns said.

“We’re pushing to get out of our siintertwined epidemics) of HIV inlos so we can work together, which fection, other sexually transmitted is what End the Epidemics allows to infections, and drug abuse. happen. It’s a matter of being able to Dr. Demisha Burns, co-chair of ISO 12647-7 Controlwork Striptogether.”

2009 End the Epidemics, told theDigital B.A.R. 100 60 100 30 100 60 100 70 30 100 60 100 70 A Craig70 Pulsipher, the associate that everyone being on the same director of government affairs for page, to coordinate their efforts, will APLA Health in Los Angeles, said be a big help. that the local public health infra“End the Epidemics is certainly structure dealing with the syndemic70 70 aligned with those efforts – but it’s 100 100 60 100 100 70 70 30 30 100 100 60 100 100 70 70 30 30 100 100 60 100 100 needs assistance from the state. important to recognize that End the “Thinking about the impact of Epidemics is focused on the adminCOVID on service providers, there’s istration and budgetary faculties in been a significant amount of finanSacramento – so we’re not explicFrom page 10

B

a person with AIDS. He referred to himself as the “AIDS Poster Boy.” “There were a lot of people crowded around the pictures with a gulp in their throat, scared,” Huestis recalled.

“And he became a real important person in terms of creating a voice for the early people with AIDS.” But people dealt with it, according to Huestis. People took care of themselves, their friends, and each other.

Huestis began to create art that reflected what the community was going through, such as his acclaimed 1986 documentary “Chuck Solomon: Coming of Age,” a portrait of Solomon, a gay man who was a mainstay of San Francisco theater. The film told of his courage in facing his AIDS diagnosis.

“I’m just blessed that I survived it. I was on an AZT trial very early on and I survived that and I’m not one of these people that disses AZT because I do think it got me from point A to point B. It certainly helped with COVID because I was not as fearful,” he said of the controversial first drug approved for HIV. “Honestly, I survived AIDS and that was a lot harsher. It wasn’t everywhere, but seeing people on the streets week by week, dying or turning into skeletons or being in wheelchairs or seeing the ‘For Rent’ signs popping up everywhere in the

Castro, to me that was a lot harsher than what happened with COVID.” Huestis said that he kept himself healthy during the COVID crisis by staying home and by wearing a mask when he was supposed to.

He said that he doesn’t really struggle with HIV these days. His doctors tell him that he’s doing great as far as AIDS goes, but it’s other things, health issues that come with aging, where he sees his struggles.

“High blood pressure, being overweight, and now I had all my teeth extracted the other week,” he said.

“Old age stuff, not HIV stuff. The only good thing about getting my teeth extracted and getting these fucking dentures, which I hate, is that I lost already 13 pounds. It helped me lose weight, so that’s a good thing.”

Huestis is aware that young people today don’t understand what people went through during the peak years of the AIDS crisis in the 1980s and early 1990s.

“Every generation has their own horrors and their own nightmares that they go through and no one else is going to understand or comprehend that,” he said. “I’m glad there’s PrEP. I will say that my kidneys have suffered from taking all those HIV drugs, and there are side effects to them. And when I mention that to

people, some people get pissed off that I’m being anti-sex because I’m not completely extolling the virtues of how great PrEP is. It certainly is better than what it was, but sometimes the piper gets paid, and these drugs are not that great for your body.”

When asked what he was hopeful for, Huestis replied that he wanted to be alive in 10 years.

“It’s a pendulum swing,” he said.

“It goes back and forth. I’m hopeful that this part of the pendulum goes pretty well.”

Huestis noted that he likes President Joe Biden, and that he feels proud that he was one of those who endorsed the president early on, because Biden has, according to Huestis, shown himself to be a “mature, compassionate human being.”

“So, I’m hopeful that he’ll get some stuff done,” Huestis said. “And I’m hopeful that people can find the goodness within themselves and not completely just be so negative that they lose touch that life is short and precious. I’ve turned into a positive person in my old years! But my life turned out to be really blessed, and I’m going to enjoy it while I can and not feel guilty about it.” t

cial impact,” Pulsipher said. “We’re seeing acutely an increase in STI diagnoses because there’s less access to services. We’re seeing more severe, disseminated cases of STIs, and an increase in overdoses.”

Last year, due to the pandemic’s anticipated impact on the budget, 40 100 40 100 30 100 40 40 70 40 a $52 million request that End the Epidemics had been advocating for had to be paired back to just $3 million. This year, however, a request of over $16 100 million was included in the 30 30 40 100 40 40 100 10 40 40 California State Senate and Assembly joint budget agreement.

“We are hopeful with the worst of COVID behind us, we can double

down on other health issues,” Pulsipher said.

Hare echoed a common sentiment of the doctors the B.A.R. spoke with for this report shared: while the various agencies have come a long way in four decades, there is much work left to do.

70 40 40 40 70 40 40 70 40 70 40 40 3 10 “It’s a big event in our community – remembering how far we’ve come and how far we have to go,” Hare said. “The last year has honed in on that.”

20 70 70 70 70 40 70 40 40 0000 3.1 2.2 2.2 10.2 7.4 7.4 Wong, who has spent decades in HIV work, hopes the Bay Area will get to that finish line sooner rather than later.

“I came of age as a young adult in the 1990s,” Wong recalled. “AIDS was what everyone was thinking about. It shaped my life as a queer person of color. To think now we are talking about ending the epidemics, getting to zero, is really amazing. We still got a lot of work to do, but it 25 50 75 90 100 is a testament to everyone who has helped us come to this place.

“We lost too many souls to HIV and AIDS,” Wong continued. “I hope we can remember that to cata25 19 19 50 40 40 75 66 66 100 100 100 80 70 70 100 lyze our energy going forward.” t

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<< AIDS at 40

18 • Bay Area Reporter • June 3-9, 2021

<<

HIV response

From page 15

Challenges remain

Despite the advances over the past 40 years, challenges remain. Black

<<

Museum

From page 8

Gavin Newsom to sign into law.

and Latino people are less likely to use PrEP and have a higher rate of HIV infection, but are less likely to start treatment promptly and achieve an undetectable viral load.

People experiencing homelessness

have the lowest rate of viral suppression, at just 39%. And after decades of research, there is still no vaccine for HIV and a cure remains elusive.

“I would love to have seen a vaccine for HIV the way we have now

for COVID. On the other hand, I’d also love a treatment for COVID that was as effective as the ones we have for HIV,” Volberding said. “Just think how far we’ve come with HIV treatment – the fact that we have one

pill once a day or even one injection once every month. Our [HIV] drugs are now available even in the most resource-limited settings around the world. Now we need to do that for the COVID vaccines.” t

With the COVID crisis ebbing, the GLBT Historical Society is preparing to launch a capital campaign to raise funds for the museum project. Beswick said

he has been telling the Breed administration that having a brick and mortar location would guarantee the success of raising money for a museum.

“But if we don’t have a location it is going to be super hard,” said Beswick. “This is going to catapult us into creating the first full-scale museum of

GLBTQ history and culture anywhere in the U.S. There is only a mediumsize museum in Berlin and a couple of small storefronts like ours.” ”t

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-21-556334

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-21-556325

HE is requesting that the name YINGJUN HE be changed to YUKO YINGJUN HE. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 103N, Rm. 103N on the 27th of JULY 2021 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039346900

Legals>> ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-21-556284 In the matter of the application of MICHELLE DUBONNET, 4320 PACHECO ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94116, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner MICHELLE DUBONNET is requesting that the name MALINA ANUHEA AHUMADA be changed to MALINA ANUHEA DUBONNET. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 103N, Rm. 103N on the 8th of JUNE 2021 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

MAY 13, 20, 27, JUNE 03, 2021 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-21-556322 In the matter of the application of EGHOSASERE STEPHEN IGBINOSA, 750 HARRISON #601, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94107 for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner EGHOSASERE STEPHEN IGBINOSA is requesting that the name EGHOSASERE STEPHEN IGBINOSA be changed to STEPHEN EGHOSA IGBINOSA. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 103N, Rm. 103N on the 22ND of JUNE 2021 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

MAY 13, 20, 27, JUNE 03, 2021 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-21-556315 In the matter of the application of MEENAL BEN SINGH, 62 ARGONAUT AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94134, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner MEENAL BEN SINGH is requesting that the name MEENAL BEN SINGH be changed to MEENAL BEN PATEL. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 103N, Rm. 103N on the 22ND of JUNE 2021 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

MAY 13, 20, 27, JUNE 03, 2021 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039330600

The following person(s) is/are doing business as FINO RESTAURANT; THE ANDREWS HOTEL, 624 POST ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed HARRY H. ANDREWS. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 09/29/81. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/03/21.

MAY 13, 20, 27, JUNE 03, 2021 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039329800

The following person(s) is/are doing business as SUAREZ-KUEHNE ARCHITECTURE, 2410 14TH AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94116. This business is conducted by a general partnership, and is signed JOHN STEVEN SUAREZ & SCOTT CARL KUEHNE. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 02/14/97. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/30/21.

MAY 13, 20, 27, JUNE 03, 2021 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039331900

The following person(s) is/are doing business as BEST IN CLASS EDUCATION CENTER, 780 BROADWAY, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94133. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed A&K EDUCATION LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/16/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/04/21.

MAY 13, 20, 27, JUNE 03, 2021 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039329900

The following person(s) is/are doing business as STRIKE KERR & JOHNS, 556 COMMERCIAL ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94111. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed BARRY STRIKE, TOM KERR & MELANI JOHNS. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/01/20. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/30/21.

MAY 13, 20, 27, JUNE 03, 2021 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-21-556303 In the matter of the application of BRETT ELERY CURTIS, 2175 MARKET ST #514, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94114, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner BRETT ELERY CURTIS is requesting that the name BRETT ELERY CURTIS be changed to BRETT ELERY. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 103 on the 15th of JUNE 2021 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

MAY 20, 27, JUNE 03, 10, 2021 SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA RAPID TRANSIT DISTRICT REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL NO. 6M6150 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 1, 2021 at the District Secretary’s Office, 23rd Floor, 300 Lakeside Drive, Oakland, California 94612, MANAGEMENT SERVICES TO OPERATE BART’S BIKE FACILITIES, Request for Proposal No. 6M6150.

Dated at Oakland, California, this 19TH day of May 2021. s Bernadette Lambert Bernadette Lambert, Manager of Contract Administration San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District 5/27/21 CNS-3474330# BAY AREA REPORTER

In the matter of the application of DAVID HOWARD FOSTON, 295 FARALLONES ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94112, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner DAVID HOWARD FOSTON is requesting that the name DAVID HOWARD FOSTON be changed to RHOYALBALB’E DAVID HOWARD FOSTON. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 103 on the 29th of JUNE 2021 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

MAY 20, 27, JUNE 03, 10, 2021 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-21-556324

In the matter of the application of JOEL ALAN BRENNEMAN, 510 STEINER ST #2, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94117, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner JOEL ALAN BRENNEMAN is requesting that the name JOEL ALAN BRENNEMAN be changed to JOEL TAYLOR BRENNEMAN. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 103 on the 24th of JUNE 2021 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

MAY 20, 27, JUNE 03, 10, 2021 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039330800

The following person(s) is/are doing business as SAN MARCOS RESTAURANTE, 98 LELAND AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94134. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed TEOFILO PEREZ. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 02/01/21. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/03/21.

MAY 20, 27, JUNE 03, 10, 2021 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039332700

The following person(s) is/are doing business as ALCHEMY 3, 265 FELL ST #102, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed KIM MAKOI. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N/A. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/07/21.

MAY 20, 27, JUNE 03, 10, 2021 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039332600

The following person(s) is/are doing business as BENFIELD WORKS, 899 FULTON ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94117. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed MARIO ANTONIO BENFIELD. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 02/19/02. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/07/21.

MAY 20, 27, JUNE 03, 10, 2021 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039333700

The following person(s) is/are doing business as CITISHIELD, 4224 MISSION ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94112. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed CITISHIELD INCORPORATED (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 03/08/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/12/21.

MAY 20, 27, JUNE 03, 10, 2021 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039332500

The following person(s) is/are doing business as TRULY FOOD & MORE, 483 MADRID ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94112. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed SKARLET AMAYA AVILES LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/05/21. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/05/21.

MAY 20, 27, JUNE 03, 10, 2021 NOTICE OF AMENDMENT OF PETITION TO ADMINISTER ESTATE OF ELIAS GUTIERREZ MACIAS (AKA ELIAS M. GUTIERREZ) IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO: FILE PES-21-304369

To all heirs, beneficiaries, creditors, contingent creditors, and persons who may otherwise be interested in the will or estate, or both, of ELIAS GUTIERREZ MACIAS (AKA ELIAS M. GUTIERREZ; AKA ELIAS GUTIERREZ), C/O NICOLE C. KELLY, ESQ (SBN 320379), THE KELLY LAW FIRM, 345 FRANKLIN ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102. A Petition for Probate has been filed by GUSTAVO GUTIERREZ in the Superior Court of California, County of San Francisco. The Petition for Probate requests that GUSTAVO GUTIERREZ be appointed as personal representative to administer the estate of the decedent. The petition requests authority to administer the estate under the Independent Administration of Estates Act. (This authority will allow the personal representative to take many actions without obtaining court approval. Before taking certain very important actions, however, the personal representative will be required to give notice to interested persons unless they have waived notice or consented to the proposed action.) The independent administration authority will be granted unless an interested person files an objection to the petition and shows good cause why the court should not grant the authority. A hearing on the petition will be held in this court as follows: JUNE 22, 2021, 9:00 am, Dept. 204, Rm. 204, Superior Court of California, 400 McAllister St., San Francisco, CA 94102. If you object to the granting of the petition, you should appear at the hearing and state your objections or file written objections with the court before the hearing. Your appearance may be in person or by your attorney. If you are a creditor or contingent creditor of the decedent, you must file your claim with the court and mail a copy to the personal representative appointed by the court within the latter of either (1) four months from the date of first issuance of letters to a general personal representative, as defined by section 58(b) of the California Probate Code, or (2) 60 days from the date of mailing or personal delivery to you of a notice under section 9052 of the California Probate Code. Other California statutes and legal authority may affect your rights as a creditor. You may want to consult with an attorney knowledgeable in California law. You may examine the file kept by the court. If you are a person interested in the estate, you may file with the court a Request for Special Notice (form DE-154) of the filing of an inventory and appraisal of estate assets or of any petition or account as provided in Probate Code section 1250. A Request for Special Notice form is available from the court clerk. Attorney for petitioner: NICOLE C. KELLY, ESQ (SBN 320379), THE KELLY LAW FIRM, 345 FRANKLIN ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102; Ph. (415) 552-0059.

MAY 27, JUNE 03, 10, 2021

In the matter of the application of WALTER THEODORE WOODWARD, 233 DOLORES ST #4, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner WALTER THEODORE WOODWARD is requesting that the name WALTER THEODORE WOODWARD be changed to THEODORE WALTER WOODWARD. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Rm. 103 on the 24th of JUNE 2021 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

MAY 27, JUNE 03, 10, 17, 2021 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-21-556328 In the matter of the application of ROSA ESMERELDA ZELAYA PORTILLO, 2786 24TH ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner ROSA ESMERELDA ZELAYA PORTILLO is requesting that the name ASHLEY AMANDA SANCHEZ ZELAYA be changed to ASHLEY AMANDA SOLANO ZELAYA. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 614 on the 1st of JULY 2021 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

MAY 27, JUNE 03, 10, 17, 2021 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039347000

The following person(s) is/are doing business as AH LEGAL SERVICES, 1924 HAYES ST #3, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94117. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed ANGIE HUA. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N/A. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/21/21.

MAY 27, JUNE 03, 10, 17, 2021 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039334000

The following person(s) is/are doing business as PETIT SWEETS, 566 PENNSYLVANIA AVE #A, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94107. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed MAI-TAM NGUYEN. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 04/15/21. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/12/21.

MAY 27, JUNE 03, 10, 17, 2021 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039335800 The following person(s) is/are doing business as NIMP, 474 NATOMA ST #410, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed MARK ALLAN PAISLEY. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N/A. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/13/21.

MAY 27, JUNE 03, 10, 17, 2021 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039336500

The following person(s) is/are doing business as LITTLE SESAME, 555 5TH AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94118. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed HAKKINEN, INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/20/20. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/14/21.

MAY 27, JUNE 03, 10, 17, 2021 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039333800

The following person(s) is/are doing business as FLOOR PROS, 1661 TENNESSEE ST #3K, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94107. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed HUNG MAI CORPORATION (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 12/14/07. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/12/21.

MAY 27, JUNE 03, 10, 17, 2021 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039338000

The following person(s) is/are doing business as SAN FRANCISCO BOAT CHARTERS; HERE AND NOW EVENTS; 1405 YORKSHIRE LOOP, TRACY, CA 95376.

This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed SMALL TOWN GLORY LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N/A. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/15/21.

MAY 27, JUNE 03, 10, 17, 2021 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039327400

The following person(s) is/are doing business as ORGANIC STYLIST, THE, 4111 19TH ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94114. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed JAIYA ALAMIA. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/17/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/29/21.

MAY 27, JUNE 03, 10, 17, 2021 RDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-21-556357 In the matter of the application of WING KEUNG IP & SHUK MEI KOON, 100 WALLER ST #235, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner WING KEUNG IP & SHUK MEI KOON is requesting that the name WING HEI IP AKA WING HEI JEANINE IP be changed to JEANINE WING HEI IP. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Rm. 103 on the 22th of JULY 2021 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

JUNE 03, 10, 17, 24, 2021 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-21-556343 In the matter of the application of YINGJUN HE, 150 NIAGARA AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94112, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner YINGJUN

JUNE 03, 10, 17, 24, 2021 NOTICE OF PETITION TO ADMINISTER ESTATE OF SALLY A. MCDONNELL IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO: FILE PES-21-304503

To all heirs, beneficiaries, creditors, contingent creditors, and persons who may otherwise be interested in the will or estate, or both, of SALLY A. MCDONNELL, C/O PAUL H. MELBOSTAD (SBN 99951), GOLDSTEIN, GELLMAN, MELBOSTAD, HARRIS & MCSPARRAN LLP, 1388 SUTTER ST #1000, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109.A Petition for Probate has been filed by SCOTT D. HRUDICKA in the Superior Court of California, County of San Francisco.The Petition for Probate requests that SCOTT D. HRUDICKA be appointed as personal representative to administer the estate of the decedent.The petition requests the decedent’s will and codicils, if any, be admitted to probate.

The will and any codicils are available for examination in the file kept by the court.The petition requests authority to administer the estate under the Independent Administration of Estates Act. (This authority will allow the personal representative to take many actions without obtaining court approval. Before taking certain very important actions, however, the personal representative will be required to give notice to interested persons unless they have waived notice or consented to the proposed action.) The independent administration authority will be granted unless an interested person files an objection to the petition and shows good cause why the court should not grant the authority.A hearing on the petition will be held in this court as follows: JUNE 23, 2021, 9:00 am, Rm. 204, Superior Court of California, 400 McAllister St., San Francisco, CA 94102. If you object to the granting of the petition, you should appear at the hearing and state your objections or file written objections with the court before the hearing.Your appearance may be in person or by your attorney. If you are a creditor or contingent creditor of the decedent, you must file your claim with the court and mail a copy to the personal representative appointed by the court within the latter of either (1) four months from the date of first issuance of letters to a general personal representative, as defined by section 58(b) of the California Probate Code, or (2) 60 days from the date of mailing or personal delivery to you of a notice under section 9052 of the California Probate Code. Other California statutes and legal authority may affect your rights as a creditor.You may want to consult with an attorney knowledgeable in California law.

You may examine the file kept by the court. If you are a person interested in the estate, you may file with the court a Request for Special Notice (form DE-154) of the filing of an inventory and appraisal of estate assets or of any petition or account as provided in Probate Code section 1250.A Request for Special Notice form is available from the court clerk.Attorney for petitioner: PAUL H. MELBOSTAD (SBN 99951), GOLDSTEIN, GELLMAN, MELBOSTAD, HARRIS & MCSPARRAN LLP, 1388 SUTTER ST #1000, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109; Ph. (415) 673-5600.

JUNE 03, 10, 17, 2021 OORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-21-556295 In the matter of the application of SEAN STEVENS TESSIER (AKA SEAN STEVENS), 601 MINNESOTA ST #201, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94107, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner SEAN STEVENS TESSIER (AKA SEAN STEVENS) is requesting that the name SEAN STEVENS TESSIER (AKA SEAN STEVENS) be changed to SEAN STEVENS. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 103, on the 15th of JUNE 2021 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

JUNE 03, 10, 17, 24, 2021 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-21-556353 In the matter of the application of ARON AHLAM, 1115 TENNESSEE ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94107, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner ARON AHLAM is requesting that the name ARON AHLAM be changed to ARON ARGUELLO. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Rm. 103 on the 27th of JULY 2021 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

JUNE 03, 10, 17, 24, 2021

The following person(s) is/are doing business as LIVE TAHOE REAL ESTATE, 891 BEACH ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed CHRIS HERNANDEZ. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/01/21. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/21/21.

JUNE 03, 10, 17, 24, 2021 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039332800

The following persons have abandoned the use of the fictitious business name known as AARON HANSEN DESIGN, 584 CASTRO ST #105, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94114. This business was conducted by an individual and signed by AARON HANSEN. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/31/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/07/21.

JUNE 03, 10, 17, 24, 2021 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039352300

The following person(s) is/are doing business as LATIN AMERICAN BARBERSHOP, 3194 24TH ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed EINSTEIN PAREDES. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 04/01/21. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/22/21.

JUNE 03, 10, 17, 24, 2021 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039350300

The following person(s) is/are doing business as HI-FI D.I.Y. PRODUCTIONS, 944 TREAT AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed LAUREN TABAK. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/02/05. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/22/21.

JUNE 03, 10, 17, 24, 2021 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039354400

The following person(s) is/are doing business as SANDRA FIZ NUTRITION, 825 SILLIMAN ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94134. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed MARIA SANDRA FIZ ELIAS. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N/A. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/26/21.

JUNE 03, 10, 17, 24, 2021 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039345900

The following person(s) is/are doing business as BISCUIT BENDER, 328 GUERRERO ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103.

This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed BISCUIT BENDER INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/06/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/20/21.

JUNE 03, 10, 17, 24, 2021 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039346400

The following person(s) is/are doing business as FERRY PLAZA FARMERS MARKET, ONE FERRY BUILDING #50, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94111. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed CENTER FOR URBAN EDUCATION ABOUT SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE (CA).

The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/23/06. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/20/21.

JUNE 03, 10, 17, 24, 2021 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039352400

The following person(s) is/are doing business as FORESIGHT RISK AND INSURANCE SERVICES, 785 MARKET ST #600, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed INSURTECH INC. (CA).

The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 04/01/20. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/22/21.

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Realness & Revelations

by Brian Bromberger

N

ot even one frame or video shot has been screened, but Frameline45, which just announced its full program, has already made history. The wooden planks boarding up the Castro Theatre will have to be removed, as the historic movie palace will be reopening after being closed 15 months due to the pandemic, to host several in-person movie screenings for the world’s largest LGBTQ+ film festival from June 10 through the 27.

The Castro will screen six films the final weekend of Frameline, including the beloved Fun in Shorts and in what will sure to be a rousing crowd pleaser, the closing night documentary, No Straight Lines: The Rise of Queer Comics. The Roxie Theater will also screen inperson two movies on Sunday June 20.

Publicist Kevin Kopjak of Prismatic Communications in an email with the Bay Area Reporter revealed that “Frameline is looking at a 30% capacity for each screening, but that is subject to change. All patrons will be required to wear masks.”

Unlike the recently reopened San Francisco Symphony, which has designated certain sections for vaccinated ticket buyers, Frameline is not currently creating vaccinated sectors in their in-theater screenings. However, because the state of California will be announcing new opening COVID guidelines for indoor venues on June 15, these protocols might be altered.

Frameline45 will feature a hybrid of in-person and virtual offerings, including four drivein screenings, two screenings at Oracle Park, as well as more than 50 virtual film screenings.

With the new Streaming Pass, ticket buyers can all virtual festival content online.

Frameline45 announces festival programs “The theme of this year’s festival is ‘All Kinds of Queer’ and our lineup certainly reflects that,” adds Frameline’s new Director of Programming Allegra Madsen. “Representing 30 countries, this year’s slate of films will touch on themes ranging from the American Dream and gentrification to trans resilience and gender and race identity. Through these films, we believe we can cultivate a more compassionate and empathetic world.”

Another op’nin’

While technically the opening film will be the documentary Fanny: The Right to Rock, about the first all-woman rock band to release an album with a major record company as they reunite to record new music, the next night will feature the much heralded premiere of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s (Hamilton) Tony Award-winning musical In the Heights, directed by Jon Chu (Crazy Rich Asians), about a cafecito caliente community outside of New

York City’s 181st Street subway stop with their kaleidoscope of dreams.

Other notable offerings include the semiautobiographical coming-of-age comedy Potato Dreams of America (a hit at other festivals), about how a gay Russian boy and his mother now a mail-order bride set sail for America to meet her eccentric new husband; gay French director Francois Ozon’s latest, Summer of 85, which takes a sexy, nostalgic trip back to the mid-1980s on the Normandy Coast as two teenage boys discover first love; and the documentary Ailey (to mark Juneteenth) on the life and work of genius Black choreographer Alvin Ailey.

Everybody’s Talking About Jamie adapts the award-winning West End musical chronicling Jamie New, a teen in a blue-collar English town who dreams of becoming a fierce, proud drag queen.

Twenty years after the queer classic Gendernauts (Frameline 23) illuminated the shifting

Justin Vivian Bond

Celebrated chanteuse returns to Feinstein’s at the Nikko

by Jim Gladstone

A

s COVID safety regulations vacillate with new decrees from the city, it’s hard to predict exactly what the scene will be like outside the Kanpai Lounge at the Hotel Nikko next Wednesday through Saturday, following Justin Vivian Bond’s nightly concerts on the Feinstein’s at the Nikko stage.

Whether for a public health emergency or the performer’s personal sanity, Mx. Bond –whose San Francisco career origins means there are hundreds of fans who feel they have

nF Sa

rancisco

much to share with the dry-witted chanteuse– won’t exactly be heartbroken if the velvet rope line remains in its currently coiled state throughout her engagement.

“Honestly,” Bond told the Bay Area Reporter in a recent interview, “creatively, I’ve been very satisfied during the pandemic,” says Bond, who developed and presented a sixteen-week series of online mini-concerts with housemate/accompanist Davis Stykowski while hunkering down in upstate New York. “I would finish a show and just go into the kitchen to decompress and have a snack.”

Bond’s shows at Feinstein’s, dubbed Auntie

Glam’s ‘Live At Last!’ Happy Hour, will each be a supersized version of those live-streamed YouTube performances.

“David and I developed 64 songs for the web shows, so we’ll whittle that down to 8 or 10 for San Francisco. And I’m hoping to do one of my cocktail tutorials each night as well.”

Bond had plenty of other irons in the fire over the past year, including work on a major collaboration with acclaimed operatic countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo; this dynamic duo will debut their live show in September as the first performances at Brooklyn’s St. Anne’s Warehouse in over a year.

nature of gender through the lives of unapologetic, iconic San Franciscans, Genderation will return to see where life has led these original pioneers.

Baloney is the story behind SF’s first and only all-male gay revue, an Oasis nightlife fixture. The documentary Invisible will report on the lesbians writing and producing behind contemporary country music.

Jump, Darling centers on an aspiring actor trying to make it big on the Toronto drag scene. Falling flat, he moves in with his grandmother, played by the late inimitable Cloris Leachman in her final starring role.

Firebird is a Cold War thriller about a gay romance between a young private and an ambitious fighter pilot at a Soviet military air force training base. Charlatan is veteran filmmaker Agnieszka Holland’s (Europa, Europa) handsome biopic of Czech herbalist and healer Jan See page 23 >> “We’re fashioning it in the mold of that old television special with Carol Burnett and Beverly Sills, Bubbles and Burnett at the Met, a sort of Mutt and Jeff pair mixing up classical and pop styles. We’ll do some pop songs that have borrowed classical melodies, like ‘I’m Always Chasing Rainbows,’ which is based on Chopin. And we’ll do a mash-up of ‘Walk Like An Egyptian’ and a passage from Philip Glass’ Akhnaten.”

This divergent duo will also release an album, featuring contributions from Thomas Bartlett and Nico Muhly.

Bond also managed to participate in the COVID-safe production of two television programs. On FX’s Pride documentary series, they appear in the 1950s section, discussing transgender pioneer Christine Jorgensen and then again in the 1980s portion of the show, performing a version of Erasure’s “A Little Respect.”

Mx also traveled to Palm Springs to film a role in Desert Inn, a six-part, six-composer opera that will be shown on the Opera Box channel.

Given Bond’s magpie musical taste, we couldn’t let them go without asking for recommendations from their current personal playlist. The choices were as eclectic as expected.

“I keep playing ‘Colors’ by Black Pumas, Melody Gardot’s bluesy ‘Preacherman,’ and I found this amazing older song called ‘Auntie Aviator’ by John and Beverly Martyn that I can’t get out of my head.”t Justin Vivian Bond, June 16-19 at Feinstein’s at the Nikko, 222 Mason St. $85. www.feinsteinssf.com

Read the full interview on www.ebar.com

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<< TV & Music

20 • Bay Area Reporter • June 3-9, 2021

Eyes on the Prides The Lavender Tube on Pride month shows

The cast of Married at First Sight: Unmatchables.

by Victoria A. Brownworth

I

t’s Pride! Last week Demi Lovato came out as non-binary with a new short haircut and a video on Twitter. Kehlani came out as lesbian: “everyone knew but me.” Singer-songwriter Angel Olsen came out on Instagram: “I’m gay!” and introduced her girlfriend, Adele Thibodeaux, a writer on HBO’s High Maintenance. Disney actress Dov Cameron came out as “super queer.” Adorable hottie, California native and Disney actor Joshua Barrett came out after confessing his crush on Harry Styles.

Your turn! There is never a better time to come out and live your authentic life than now.

The TV landscape is full of Pride month options to support our LGBTQ-ness.

FX/Hulu are airing Pose: The Final Season, one of the most moving and involving series written explicitly for us. If you haven’t seen HBO’s It’s a Sin, about the lives of intergenerational gay men in Britain during the AIDS crisis, it’s time. It’s brilliant.

Lifetime

We’re a closet devotee of Lifetime, so we’re thrilled that the network that has kept women screenwriters,

directors and producers in work throughout the pandemic is now featuring Pride programming.

The season finale of Lifetime’s hit dating series, Married at First Sight: Unmatchables will center on two queer men who are looking to find love with the help of experts Pastor Cal and Dr. Viviana.

Encore airings of two powerful original movies will air this June.

Trapped: The Alex Cooper Story and Prayers for Bobby The movies will also be available on VOD and in the Lifetime Movie Club.

Lifetime will also air a special profile piece during Pride highlighting a transowned beauty co-operative in New York, Mirror Trans Beauty Co-Op, founded to provide a safer work environment for trans immigrant women working in cosmetology in the city.

Based on the memoir Saving Alex, Trapped follows the harrowing journey of 15-year-old Alex (Addison Holley), who after revealing she was gay to her devout Mormon parents, was sent away and trapped for eight-months in conversion therapy, enduring horrible punishment at the hands of strangers.

t

American Masters: Holly Near–Singing for Our Lives

Prayers for Bobby is based on a true story adapted from the book by journalist Leroy Aarons. Three-time Academy Award nominee Sigourney Weaver stars as Mary Griffith, a profoundly religious wife and mother who began to question her faith after the suicide of her gay son Bobby (Ryan Kelley).

Revry

Revry is a global streaming network launched in 2016 –and run by a lot of young people of color and women– that focuses on queer content and creators. The network has a slew of Pride programming throughout the month and is partnering with none other than McDonald’s to get that programming up and out. While we’re not fans of corporate sponsorship of Pride events, supporting a queer network like Revry is a net plus for the LGBTQ community. (McDonald’s also announced they are raising their minimum wage by 10% to between $11 and $17, depending on region.)

On June 4, a virtual benefit, Can’t Cancel Pride hosted by iHeart will feature musical performances and appearances from influential voices

in the LGBTQ community. Among the participants are Sir Elton John, Diana Ross, Lin Manuel Miranda, Brothers Osborne, P!nk, Mj Rodriguez, Jojo Siwa and more.

On June 6, House of Pride is a daylong virtual celebration of LGBTQ culture, music, comedy, dance and more, starring queer influencers, celebrities and entertainment. This event includes drag performances, stand up comedy, concerts, vogue dance tutorials and dance parties.

The House of Pride celebration will be followed by the first-ever PrideXR Virtual Reality Nightclub Experience inside Microsoft’s Altspace VR platform in a futuristic world developed by DreamlandXR, Fresh Wata, and Chicken Waffle. Can you say wild?

PBS

The network that was celebrating Pride before it was trendy has a month of specials featuring LGBTQ stories. Check local listings for the times of these stellar programs.

June 4: POV Shorts: Post-Colonial Queer - Watch three short films from around the world that center on the LGBTQ experience: Reluctantly Queer, Clash and Muxes.

June 6: American Masters: Holly Near–Singing for Our Lives - We first fell in love with Holly Near in

college. The singer-songwriter-activist has been speaking and singing truth to power for decades and that work has centered a multiplicity of concerns. For the last 40 years Near has worked on global social justice coalition-building in the women’s and lesbian movements.

June 7: American Masters: Terrence McNally: Every Act of Life - Explore Tony-winning gay playwright Terrence McNally’s six decades in theater. The film delves into McNally’s pursuit of love and inspiration, LGBTQ and AIDS activism, triumph over addiction and the power of the arts to transform society. McNally was brilliant.

June 9: Out in Rural America This documentary piece explores the struggles and joys of being LGBTQ in rural America from a cultural, social, familial and religious perspective.

June 15: Expect a Miracle - Watch the story of Fraternity House, the only hospice in North San Diego County that gave AIDS patients near death a safe place to die with dignity and love.

Our history is long, but our stories –our true stories of our real lives– are just beginning to be told.t

Read the full column, with trailers, on www.ebar.com

‘Proust, le Concert Retrouve’ recreates author’s music salons

by Timothy Pfaff

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ny musically inclined reader of Marcel Proust’s In Search of Lost Time will be sent on a rewarding if often intellectually frustrating search of another kind. The great novel is suffused with music, about which the author writes so compellingly that an understandable reason for putting down the gargantuan book –running as it does to a million words– is to indulge the ear in the music he evoked or described.

In what is by any count an essential CD, Proust, le Concert Retrouve (Harmonia Mundi), pianist Tanguy de Williencourt and violinist Theotime Langlois de Swarte usher us directly into the salon. The recital they recapture for our time is one the music-besotted author arranged and sponsored at Paris’ Hotel Ritz on July 1, 1907.

Not all of the music is French, although the discerning ear will hear that accent from this engaging musical duo. Proust’s sweet tooth for the German Romantics is represented by Liszt’s piano transcription of Wagner’s “Isoldens Liebestod” and Schumann’s “Des Abends” from his Fantasy Pieces. Proust also treated his Hotel Ritz guests to some form of reduction of the sprawling Overture of Wagner’s Die Meisters-

Violinist Theotime Langlois de Swarte and pianist Tanguy de Williencourt

inger, but here the limited time of a single CD is better spent on real chamber music.

The playing by both musicians is of the utmost refinement, with even the many earlier-recorded pieces now earning firstpreference status. It’s a sign of their care with the music that they perform it on period-appropriate instruments, an 1891 Erard piano and the “Davidoff ” Stradivarius violin. But these “original” instruments, sonically resplendent as they are, don’t play themselves, and it’s the simply staggering musicianship of their players that is more than true to historical performance practices and down-

right ravishing by any terms.

Few composers have enjoyed the elevated reputation today that Gabriel Fauré has, and the musicians on this new CD argue the case for his First Violin Sonata, of 1877, as the antecedent, with a performance of supreme refinement, power and, most persuasively, directness of utterance. Whether or not it was Proust’s model, these performers imbue it with a self-proving greatness even their greatest of their predecessors have, in retrospect, missed if not overlooked. They cap their revelatory performance with an even more unbridled romp through the composer’s Berceuse, Opus 16.t www.harmoniamundi.com

Read the full review on www.ebar.com

t

Music & Online Event>>

June 3-9, 2021 • Bay Area Reporter • 21

Bursting with Pride Q-Music’s 2021 playlist

serpentwithfeet

by Gregg Shapiro

H

appy Pride Month, y’all! Even without parades and festivals, there are still plenty of opportunities for us to show and share our pride this season. Supporting LGBTQ+ musicians should be close to the top of the list.

In the 2010s, Frank Ocean paved the way for queer black male musicians. In the 2020s, Lil Nas X took the initiative and ran with it.

In between the two, you will find the brilliant serpentwithfeet (aka Josiah Wise). Deacon (Secretly Canadian), the second full-length serpentwithfeet album, is sexy, sly, seductive and spiritual, often in the same song. “Malik” and “Same Size Shoe” are ideal illustrations of this. “Amir” effortlessly captures the blush and heat of new attraction.

Hip-shaker “Sailors’ Superstition” makes the most of its subtle beat, while the rhythm of “Wood Boy” is a hot grind. “Derrick’s Beard” says more in just over a minute and a half than most songs twice as long, and “Fellowship”

brings everything to a close in most celebratory way.

Queer musician Xiu Xiu (aka Jamie Stewart) has a career-long history of making some of the most compelling yet difficult pop music. Just as he lures in the listener, he abruptly shoves them away.

This tendency has increased over the years with each subsequent album. All that changes with Oh No (Polyvinyl), subtitled An Album of Duets. Still employing his fluttery vocal style, Xiu Xiu not only sounds like he’s happy to be collaborating with indie rock goddess Sharon Van Etten (“Sad Mezcalita”), gay singer/songwriter Owen Pallett (“I Dream of Someone Else Entirely”), punk feminist legend Alice Bag (“Knock Out”), Shearwa-

‘Pride Images, Then and Now’ with Ron Williams, Jane Philomen-Cleland and Gooch

O

n June 3, 6pm PT, join three accomplished photographers who share their favorite historic and recent Pride event photos published in the Bay Area Reporter and elsewhere, and images from other LGBT San Francisco events. B.A.R. Arts & Nightlife Editor Jim Provenzano hosts the panel talk. The panel will be live on June 3, and archived on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/BayAreaReporterSFt

ter frontperson Jonathan Meiburg (“It Bothers Me All The Time”), and alternative electronic musician Twin Shadow (“Saint Dymphna”), among others, but also with anyone taking the time to listen.

There’s more to Prism Bitch, and its debut fell-length album Perla than just its wicked inventive band name. There’s lesbian drummer Teresa Cruces, solidly keeping the beat over the course of 11 rocking numbers. Also impressive is the way that Prism easily shifts from power pop (“In N Out”) to grunge (“Too High”) to riot grrl (“Top of My Game”) to retro rock (“Lonely Nights”) and that’s just the first four songs! “Heathers,” “Around” and “Wasting Time,” are also notable examples of Prism Bitch’s music versatility. www.prismbitch.com Speaking of queer drummers, Gina Schock of The Go-Go’s certainly had a way with the skins. This was made abundantly clear on some of the band’s biggest hits, including, aptly enough, “We Got The Beat,” as well as “Our Lips Are Sealed,” “Vacation” and “Head Over Heels.”

After the all-female quintet’s 1984 Talk Show album, they parted ways resulting in new projects. Belinda Carlisle (supportive mother of gay son James Duke Mason) hit it biggest as a solo act, while Jane Wiedlin had moderate success.

Schock teamed up with Vance DeGeneres (Ellen’s brother!) as House

of Schock. The Go-Go’s regrouped and released God Bless The GoGo’s (Eagle) in 2001, newly reissued in a 20th-anniversary edition (including a vinyl debut), as well as expanded CD and digital versions (with new cover art).

On the whole, God Bless The GoGo’s is a harder-rocking effort than its forebears, beginning with “La La Land,” and continuing through “Stuck In My Car” and “Kissing Asphalt.” Bonus tracks “I Think I Need Sleep” and “King of Confusion” fit in well with the rest of the songs.

Northampton-based, queer and gender-nonconforming musician Carrie Ferguson invites listeners from all walks of life to join The Grumpytime Club. The eleven songs boast “welcoming and inclusive messages” dealing with “accepting feelings and celebrating differences,” while encouraging everyone to love themselves precisely as they are. In addition to singing, Ferguson plays melodica, piano, accordion, and ukulele. Most listeners will find it hard to be grumpy for long after hearing the title cut, “Do It Again,” “Mishy Mashy Mushy Mooshy Moo,” “The Best Way to Be,” and “Up and Down.” www.carriefergusonmusic.com San Francisco-based singer/songwriter Andrew Bundy describes his eight-cut (five songs + three alternate versions) debut EP Good As I Came as a “personal collection of

original songs recounting my journey of self-discovery and self-acceptance as a gay man and artist.”

While that sounds like a mouthful, Bundy delivers on that promise.

Opener “Shame,” from which the EP draws its name, contains the meaningful lines, “I am who I am/Not ashamed to be/ The man I’ve buried deep inside/You can tease me, you can leave me/I just want the world to see me/So the younger boys won’t ever have to hide.” The songs “Day I Learned to Cry” and “Perfect Life” are equally impactful. Despite its serious subject matter, “Day I Learned To Cry” works well as a dance track via the Wayne G & Andy Adler remix. www.andrewbundy.com As all LGBTQ+ folks know, we need our allies. That’s where singer/songwriter Grace Pettis comes in with her album Working Woman (MPress). The daughter of folk musician Pierce Pettis, Grace has music in her blood. Like Patty Griffin’s song “Tony” before it, Pettis’ “Landon” does an amazing job of providing a personal viewpoint on what it was like to see a gay childhood friend suffer and to offer what amounts to a heartfelt apology. Indigo Girls join Pettis on the song, giving it even more depth. Ruthie Foster, another out singer/songwriter, joins Pettis on the uplifting “Pick Me Up,” while longtime ally Dar Williams can be heard alongside Pettis on “Any Kind of Girl.”t

<< Books

22 • Bay Area Reporter • June 3-9, 2021

Maria Konner tells all

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Maria Konner

by David-Elijah Nahmod

I

n her new book, Girl Shock, Maria Konner lets it all hang out. A TV host, musician, activist and sexual adventurer, Konner has lived a colorful life and has had a great time doing so.

In her previous life, Konner was a straight married man who she now refers to as “the dude.” She lived what she recalls as a lonely and miserable existence in the suburbs. But as she says on the cover of the book, “I dressed as a girl for Halloween, but then she took over my life.”

Girl Shock begins with Konner’s discovery of her feminine side, as she shops for women’s clothing and make-up for the first time. It was an exciting time for her, and these memories make for a fun read. Konner creates her female persona and takes to the streets of the Tenderloin, becoming a regular at the late, lamented trans bar Diva’s. It’s the beginning of a whole new life for her, and Konner comes to realize that being a woman is her true identity.

Konner holds nothing back, writing graphically of her sexual experimentation as she explores her newly discovered self. She lets readers know in advance that graphic sex is looming on the horizon with the headline Sordid Details appearing on the page before she describes each adventure. She experiments with both men and women, and even discovers the joys of kink. She has the time of her life doing so.

StevenUnderhill 415 370 7152 • StevenUnderhill.com

that I come from, I felt compelled to spread what I really thought of as the gift of San Francisco culture.”

In sharing the story of her trans life, Konner paints quite a celebratory picture of what it can mean to be a San Franciscan. It’s a familiar portrait to those already involved in the trans, drag, kink or underground nightlife communities. Konner lets the uninitiated know in no uncertain terms that San Francisco is a place where you can find and be your true self and bring your fantasies to life without guilt or judgment.

Konner says that people in the trans community are reading the book and appear to be enjoying it.

“They said they really enjoyed how it captured the moment and the feel,” she said. “In particular the trans bar Diva’s, which was a one of a kind place, never to be found again.

The book has helped to bring back the warm feeling of the memories of just how special that place was, and a longing for the colorful and diverse San Francisco of just a few years ago that is now in a large part gone.”

Konner added that the best way for people to understand how she feels about her journey is to read the book.

“There are so many preconceived notions of what such a life might be about,” she said.

“I went through so many conflicting feelings and t r a n s f o r m a t i ve thoughts that you have to take the journey to understand it and imagine putting yourself in that situation.

And that’s when we begin to see ourselves in each other, we are all different, but we are all also very much the same. And that’s the beauty of a life that is fully lived.”

Girl Shock: I Dressed As a Girl For Halloween But then She Took Over My Life is available in paperback and Kindle editions.t www.mariakonner.com

Read the full interview on www.ebar.com

Creepy queers

by Jim Provenzano

I

Professional headshots / profile pics Weddings / Events

“Most of the places I wrote about like Diva’s the trans bar, The Stud drag shows, the Power Exchange sex club, are the kind of places that most people have seen in a Hollywood movie,” she said. “I figured many people would want to know what these places are really like. I found them to be so different from how Hollywood depicts them, in reality so much deeper and so much more interesting.

But these are the sort of places you need to discover for yourself to understand them, so I shared how I explored it, hoping people could relate to and appreciate it more.”

Konner wrote the book, she says, primarily for straight adults, both male and female, who might be curious about trans lifestyles or might want to explore it themselves.

“I really wanted those folks to know deeply, to grok just how divine it is to live in an environment where you can explore so many aspects of yourself and meet people who are doing the same, and who are so different from you and celebrate those differences,” she tells Bay Area Reporter. “This is in such stark contrast to the environment

t

n Unburied: A Collection of Queer Dark Fiction (Dark Ink, AM Ink Publishing), Editor Rebecca Rowland has selected a diverse array of stories from the short and sweet to longer ruminative tales. After reading just a few stories, penned by acclaimed writers around the world, you might be inspired to check under your bed for a goblin to two.

The stories vary from those with actual ghouls and supernatural creatures to thriller focused reality-based tales.

M.C. St. John’s two dads deal with a frightened son; his ‘Underbed Witch’ keeps him sleepless. But it’s only a dream, or is it?

In “Night Follows Night,” prolific crime and supernatural writer Greg Herren follows an anxietyridden man during a shopping trip where he seems haunted by mem-

bers of a cult that he escaped long ago.

Stare into a “Flawed” mirror, where Felice Picano’s dark fantasy tale offers a portal to another world and an opportunistic escape for a secretive customer.

The death of her partner drives Dana to a therapist in Laura DeHaan’s “Open Up and Let Me In,” were revelations about her lover’s death –visualized by apparently moving framed photos– drives her over the edge. Similarly, a possessive lesbian relationship goes violently awry in Veronica Zora Kieran’s “1,000 Tiny Cuts.”

Spooky stories aren’t always told from the perspective of the victims. Christina Delia’s “Moi Aussi” begins clearly from the deceased point of view, with “One of the things I miss most about being alive…”

Two silent film era actresses who

never quite made it to stardom endure through the years in the mansion where they died. Long after their celluloid images fade, they seek revenge on Hollywood’s subsequent heinous horrible ones.

One of the best tales; Elin Olausson’s “Razor, Knife” introduces us to Tommy and Bell, two somewhat creepy cousin teenagers who like to hang out in the local cemetery while making lists and wishing the death of others: jocks, moms. When a new pastor and his family move into the nearby rectory, the handsome son tries to befriend the duo, who are often mistaken as twins because of their similar gaunt features. A twinge of desire is contorted into hatred as Bell coerces Tommy into a dastardly crime.

Prepare to be taken to other worlds, be they on distant planets, or under your bed.

Unburied is available in print, ebook and audiobook formats on June 1.t www.rowlandbooks.com

Read the full review on www.ebar.com

t

50 in 50>>

June 3-9, 2021 • Bay Area Reporter • 23

50 Years in 50 Weeks:

1979

Divinely Granted

W

hile News stories were filled with coverage of the May 21 White Night Riots, in lighter fare, drag theatre in 1979’s Arts section included an advance interview with the late great Divine (January 18) about his local show at the Alcazar Theatre, The Neon Woman, (burlesque club owner fights to keep her business alive as strippers get murdered), a full-page ad (January 4) and a subsequent Paul Lorch review that called it “overgassed” but wild fun (February 1).

Indulge us with another treat, an ad focusing on the intersection of muscularity and sexuality, as adult film stars Gordon Grant and Dan Wesling served as ‘instructors’ at the Post Street Club, and its after-hours members-only ‘Good Health Club,’ no doubt as an erotic lure for patrons caught up in the growing fitness trend, where possibly sex on premises was part of one’s workout (August 2 and September 13).

Also of note are a two-page ad for the critically acclaimed art porn feature, Le Beau Mec (January 18) and an ad for a post-Pride dance party at Studio West, located off the Embarcadero on 100 Vallejo St. (June 21).

As the 1970s came to an end, AIDS had yet to fully appear, and the porn, performances and parties were still going strong.t

Peruse the 1979 issues at https://archive. org/details/bayareareporter?tab=collection &&and[]=year%3A%221979%22 For more 50th Anniversary features, go to https://www.ebar.com/special_issues/

Above: Firebird Below: Taiwan films

<<

Framline

From page 19

Mikolasek, featuring his passionate clandestine affair with his hunky assistant and his trials during the Communist regime of the 1950s.

Can You Bring It: Bill T. Jones and D-Man in the Waters celebrates the work of choreographer Bill T. Jones and his late partner Arnie Zane as they founded their iconic New York dance company during the ravages of AIDS and created their masterwork.

Prognosis: Notes on Living records how Oscar winning documentarian and LGBTQ+ activist Debra Chasnoff (Deadly Deception; It’s Elementary) turns the camera on herself as she responds to her diagnosis of stage-four breast cancer.

Nelly Queen: The Life and Times of Jose Sarria documents the life of SF’s famous queer drag performer, Empress, and first gay mayoral candidate.

Todd Stephens’s (Another Gay Movie) latest is Swan Song featuring a flamboyant hairdresser who escapes from his nursing home to come out of retirement for one last hairdo.

The French Ma Belle, My Beauty is a contemporary romance set in the

picturesque South of France.

Bliss is a German offering on the sensuous affair of two female sex workers. Lola covers 18-year-old trans Lola, whose mother dies right before her gender reassignment surgery. She’s forced to reunite with her

uncaring and bigoted father.

Enby Love is a non-binary shorts program; Transtastic is the trans shorts program; and Bi Candy is the bisexual shorts program.

This year Frameline will focus on Taiwan with a queer spin on Shakespeare’s cross-dressing comedy As We Like It featuring an all-female cast. Dear Tenant centers around a trio who form their own chosen family within the confines of their apartment building. The charming Taiwanese queer classic Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow? tells of a family man’s long-repressed gay urges reawakened by a young flight attendant. Taiwan Shorts rounds out that series.

Taking advantage of the virtual format, Frameline has also curated a record series of free exclusive talks about LGBTQ representation on TV, Black cinema, disability exclusion and inclusion, and more. Because of its hybrid offerings and the Bay Area returning to semi-normal after a year of lockdown restrictions, Frameline organizers are anticipating it will be the most attended festival in its history.t

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479 Castro Street, San Francisco, CA 94114

www.cliffsvariety.com

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Presented by Sonoma County Pride & Graton Resort & Casino

DRIVE-THRU PARADE

June 5th @ Graton Resort & Casino - Rohnert Park

SING-A-LONG WIZARD OF OZ

June 19th @ Sally Tomatoes - Rohnert Park With Masters Of Ceremonies Jan Wahl

RAINBOW CITY CONCERT

www.frameline.org

June 26th @ Sonoma County Fairgrounds

Todrick

Morgan Mcmichaels | Ryan Cassata Bright Lights

LGBTQ Retirement Community

Above: Cloris Leachman (left) in her last film, Jump, Darling.

Below: Alison Bechtel in No Straight Lines: The Rise of Queer Comics

W W W. S O N O M A C O U N T Y P R I D E . O R G

BY ROUND BARN

THIS IS THE DESIGN THAT CHANGES IT ALL.

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