MARCH 25, 2021 Edition of the Bay Area Reporter

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Nightlife fund doubled

Dain Drive is official

SF HR dept. gets out leader

ARTS

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Night at the Opera

The

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

Vol. 51 • No. 12 • March 25-31, 2021

Queers, allies rally in Castro against AAPI hate

Rick Gerharter

A contingent marched in the 2019 SF Pride parade.

SF Pride plans in-person events by John Ferrannini

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here will be no Market Street parade or Civic Center Plaza dance party this year, but the San Francisco LGBT Pride Celebration Committee announced March 24 that it will be proceeding with some limited, in-person events to celebrate this June, according to a news release. The theme of SF Pride 51 will be “All in This Together.” “Our mission of connecting the LGBTQ+ communities of San Francisco and the Bay Area remains unchanged,” Fred Lopez, a gay man who is the executive director of San Francisco Pride, stated in the release. “Knowing how deeply people miss being together, we’ve worked tirelessly with our partners at City Hall, the Department of Public Health, and elsewhere to ensure a number of incredible, safe experiences. SF Pride this year will be all about locals, from queer-owned small businesses to fellow nonprofits that have displayed true leadership over this past year. It’s truly a Pride for the people.”

Three main events

That more localized focus is to be manifested in three events: a Black liberation event scheduled to coincide with the eve of Juneteenth, two successive movie nights in Oracle Park, and a Pride Expo at Civic Center Plaza. “Pride is one of my favorite times of year, and I am so excited that we’ll have the opportunity to come together and safely celebrate our LGBTQ community this June,” San Francisco Mayor London Breed stated. “While this year’s celebrations won’t look the same as they have in the past, SF Pride has done a great job creating events that will enable us to share our pride in our great City and stand united with our LGBTQ+ community.” Tentatively scheduled for Friday, June 18 – the eve of Juneteenth, a holiday celebrating the end of slavery in Texas – an event to celebrate Black LGBTQ people will take place in consultation with the African American Art & Culture Complex in the Western Addition. A similar event, the Marsha P. Johnson Rally, took place last year. Further information will be announced in May, the release stated. “The struggles for racial justice and LGBTQ+ equality are one and the same,” Carolyn Wysinger, a lesbian who is the president of the San Francisco Pride Board of Directors, stated. “Last year, we brought Black Lives Matter back to the forefront of the Pride movement with a Marsha P. Johnson Rally. This year, we’re working to center Black LGBTQ voices and culture even more strongly. I know how badly our communities want to be together after more than a year apart.” Melonie Green and Melorra Green, twin sisters who are the co-executive directors of the African American Art & Culture Complex, stated that they are proud to “celebrate the freedom to identify and love who we love, how we love.” “The African American Art & Culture Complex is proud to partner with San FranSee page 7 >>

Marchers filled Market Street March 21 after a rally in the Castro for solidarity against anti-Asian violence and the recent murders in the Atlanta area.

by Tyler Breisacher

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arrying homemade signs with phrases like “Queers against Asian hate,” hundreds of people marched in solidarity with the Asian American and Pacific Islander community from the Castro Sunday in a show of solidarity following violent acts in the Bay Area and beyond.

The crowd gathered first in Harvey Milk Plaza for a rally to denounce such incidents, which many are labeling hate crimes. They include multiple incidents of AAPIs being beaten in the Bay Area, and last week’s shootings in the Atlanta region that left eight people dead, including six Asian women. See page 7 >> Rick Gerharter

Napa hires 1st LGBTQ police chief by John Ferrannini

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ylvia Moir has settled into her role as the first woman and first LGBTQ person to serve as Napa’s chief of police. The 55-year-old is serving on an interim basis for the six to seven months it will take to search for a new permanent chief. The prior chief, Robert Plummer, resigned at the start of this year, citing a desire to be closer to his family in Nevada. Moir began her post February 22. She started her law enforcement career in 1988 in Sacramento. “Originally, I was compelled to safeguard people. Being a police officer is a defining and unique identity – a calling to step in, to safeguard people, and to provide a unique service in our society,” Moir, a lesbian, recently told the Bay Area Reporter. “When [city manager] Steve Potter contacted me to ask if I’d consider serving as interim police chief, they explored and examined me to see if I’d be a good fit, offered me the job, and I started last week and dove right in.” Potter expressed his confidence in Moir in a news release. “Throughout the assessment process, Sylvia Moir demonstrated that she is a knowledgeable, passionate, and dynamic public servant that is ready to assist our community,” Potter stated. “We are confident that Moir will help push forward Napa Police Department’s commitment to integrity and professionalism as well as provide stable leadership while we work through this transitional period.” After her time in Sacramento, Moir served as chief of the El Cerrito Police Department from 2010 to 2016. She said it was during that time she realized she could serve as a role model and a bridge as LGBTQ people became more accepted. “That gave me a shift in terms of recognizing my identity. I was asked to be part of the inclusion council,” Moir said. When asked what has changed most for LGBTQ officers in the last decades, Moir said there has been an effort to be more inclusive. “Inclusion is greater than before, tolerance is greater than before,” she said. “I think the most significant change is that there is a breadth of inclusion that was not appreciated before.” Moir subsequently became the police chief in Tempe, Arizona, from which she left in Oc-

Courtesy NPD

Interim Napa Police Chief Sylvia Moir

tober 2020. She is now living in Napa, at least for the time being. “I am here, full-time and delighted to be right here in downtown Napa serving the community,” she said. “My commitment is to be here for the amount of time it takes to do the evaluation – I can’t imagine that will take longer than fall – and turn it over to the right person to do the work so necessary,” Moir said. Moir, who now oversees a department with a $33 million budget, said she will not seek to become permanent chief. “I do believe there are some talented individuals who should be considered for the full-time position,” she said. As an interim chief, Moir indicated she does not want to institute a broad vision of change in the department by herself, but wants to point those under her command to “evidence-based practices” that will reduce crime and increase public trust. She said at the end of her tenure she wants to be able to provide “a thorough briefing of what I’ve seen from the seat I currently occupy, the strategies of policing I’ve observed, and be a guide and a mentor for whoever is selected.”

Some want more progressive view

Some in the community wish Moir would take a more progressive view.

Anne Sutkowi-Hemstreet, a queer woman who is the director of the Rainbow Action Network, told the B.A.R. that she made a public comment to the Napa City Council in February stating that she is “concerned that [Moir] is not as progressive as our community needs to steer our police department towards making serious reform, including reallocating resources to prevention and mental health services.” Sutkowi-Hemstreet stated to the City Council at that time that while she “immediately reacted with enthusiasm” to Moir’s appointment, the fact that Moir resigned her Tempe position after the city started seeking changes to its police department last year is a red flag. (The city did not give a reason for Moir’s departure, according to the Arizona Republic. Moir would not comment to the Republic, but in an email announcing her departure, Moir wrote that conversations with the city management led to her resignation, the Republic reported.) “It is unclear to me, based on my internet research, whether she truly believes that the law enforcement system needs serious reform or not. I believe it does,” Sutkowi-Hemstreet stated. “I am choosing to reserve some hope – based on the relationships I have developed with Napa’s city leaders over the last couple years – that she will prioritize engaging in the necessary conversations and steps to take the Napa Police Department toward serious reform.” Sutkowi-Hemstreet told the B.A.R. that she hopes the police department can “go to the community members that don’t trust them (for very good reasons) – Black, Indigenous, Latinx, other people of color, immigrant, and LGBTQ – and actually listen to them. Really listen.” Further, she said that relations between the LGBTQ community and the police department are strained to the point where LGBTQs don’t feel safe reporting crimes. “I have heard of multiple stories of recent LGBTQ hate crimes in Napa, including physical violence, property damage, and Zoom-bombing with offensive homophobic language, that go unreported because LGBTQ people don’t trust our police department,” she wrote in an email. “It is hard for me to say if this is because they worry See page 7 >>


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