May 6, 2021 edition of the Bay Area Reporter, America's highest circulation LGBTQ newspaper

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Vol. 51 • No. 18 • May 6-12, 2021

City College staff speak out against layoffs

by John Ferrannini

M SFAF CEO Joe Hollendoner

Courtesy SFAF

SF AIDS Foundation confirms layoffs

by John Ferrannini

T

he San Francisco AIDS Foundation confirmed May 4 that it has laid off employees as a result of “impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic and associated declines in revenue,” according to Chad Ngo, the foundation’s communications manager.

Seventeen employees were laid off, according to Joe Hollendoner, SFAF’s CEO. These include four leadership roles that were eliminated, according to Ngo. The layoffs were last week, Hollendoner wrote in a statement. Neither answered the amount in the revenue decline or whether senior management would take pay cuts, as happened in 2002.

“We have made the difficult decision to enact a reduction in our workforce in order to preserve San Francisco AIDS Foundation’s long-term fiscal health and achievement of our strategic plan,” Ngo stated. “We value the contributions our staff have made to our organization and community, and thank the affected staff for their service. As a matter of policy, we are not able to comment further on individuals affected or other personnel matters publicly.”

Hollendoner wrote that the foundation’s revenue almost doubled in recent years, but was nonetheless impacted badly by COVID-19 among other things.

“As a result of increased medication costs, our pharmacy program has seen a decline in net revenues over the past six months and that trend is expected to continue in the year ahead. This, coupled with the cancellation of AIDS/LifeCycle – our largest fundraiser – for two years in a row because of the pandemic, required us to make structural changes to the organization in order to protect its long-term fiscal health and to set the next CEO up for continued success,” Hollendoner wrote. “The board and leadership of San Francisco AIDS Foundation appreciate the significant contributions made by the 17 employees who were laid off last week, and we thank them for their service. We also value the continued efforts of our 200+ person workforce as SFAF continues to make significant strides towards achieving the goals of our strategic plan.”

One person who was let go was Courtney Pearson, according to sources. She was the vice president of policy. Also let go was Emily Mariko-Sanders, who was a counselor at Strut.

Her LinkedIn page states she is “looking for my next adventure.”

See page 13 >>

embers of City College of San Francisco’s extended community are speaking out about proposed layoffs that would lead to cuts in classes and programming.

It is anticipated that the college’s board of trustees will vote at its May 10 meeting to go forward with the plan. It already approved the sending of layoff notices to 163 faculty members and 34 administrators across 39 departments as a way of dealing with a projected deficit of $33 million.

Now, the faculty union, the American Federation of Teachers Local 2121, and members of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors are advocating the city provide emergency funding to the institution, which has struggled with budgetary problems for years.

A rally and march to oppose the budget cuts is scheduled for Saturday, May 8, at 11 a.m. at City Hall, according to Athena Waid, who does political and communications work for AFT 2121. At a May 3 virtual news conference Waid also said that the union is seeking people to sign an open letter to the trustees.

“If CCSF implements these layoffs, entire departments will be left with no full-time faculty,” the letter states. “Our ability to write or update curriculum as required by accreditation standards, work with community agencies, bring in students, or do outreach needed to ensure San

Rick Gerharter

City College trustees are expected to vote on a proposed layoff plan May 10.

Francisco’s Black and Brown students know about the opportunities City College provides will be severely diminished. Students will lose access to office hours and faculty support. The structure that keeps our college going as an intellectual and community resource will be undermined.”

In a statement, City College stated it is in talks with AFT 2121 “negotiating the impacts of the

layoffs,” and there is a mutual goal of reducing the number of them. The college itself requested $15 million from the city, according to the San Francisco Examiner .

“We understand the demoralizing effect these actions might have, but we have no money and by not cutting salary expenditures, we risk being taken over by the state,” stated interim Chancellor Rajen Vurdien, Ph.D. “For many years this college has not operated at full capacity. We have offered single section after single section that has not been filled to capacity. We have paid for faculty and administrators to support a non-sustainable class schedule. There is nowhere for us to make savings. In order for this institution to continue to serve the community and future generations, we must reduce salary expenditures.”

For its part, the chancellor’s office said that the cuts are part of a “right-sizing” of the college.

Rosalinda Zapeda, director of media, governmental relations, and marketing for the college, told the B.A.R. that “unfortunately there’s a lot of misinformation going around.”

“We issued notices in March. Those notices were based on seniority,” she said, adding that if faculty who didn’t get notices decided to leave in the past two months it will change who actually gets laid off come the vote. “Part-time faculty at a community college don’t factor into actual layoffs because they don’t know if they will be teaching semester by semester.”

See page 13 >>

SF landmarks famed lesbians’ residence

by Matthew S. Bajko

T

he San Francisco home of the co-founders of the country’s first lesbian rights organization is now a city landmark. The twostory cottage that Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin shared for more than five decades is the first local LGBTQ historical property protected solely for its ties to lesbian history.

It is also the first private residence owned by lesbians to receive landmark status in the Western United States, according to local historians.

In San Francisco, it is the fifth site to receive city landmark status specifically for its importance to LGBTQ history.

“It is where this beautiful couple kissed each other good night and drank coffee together in the morning for more than 50 years,” said Shayne Watson, a lesbian and architectural historian who co-founded the Friends of the Lyon-Martin House group to advocate for the preservation of the women’s home.

Gay District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman instigated the landmark process for the LyonMartin House at 651 Duncan Street after the Noe Valley property, which also includes a vacant garden plot, sold last summer for $2.25 million.

At the request of preservationists, Mandelman initially sought for the landmark to include the entire hillside site.

But the new owners, Paul McKeown and his wife, Meredith Jones-McKeown, lobbied for the landmark designation to solely cover the LyonMartin House due to concerns the fuller his-

Rick Gerharter

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted May 4 to landmark the Noe Valley home once owned by Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin.

torical recognition for the property would curtail their ability to construct their family home on the vacant parcel, which has a street address of 649 Duncan Street. Earlier this year the city’s Historic Preservation Commission sided with the family and recommended landmark status solely for the residential structure.

Mandelman chose to move forward with the landmark for just 651 Duncan Street, and the Board of Supervisors approved the designation at its May 4 meeting. It requires a second vote by the supervisors May 11 before being sent to Mayor London Breed for final sign off.

“Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin were queer activists before queer activism was a thing. The

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modern LGBTQ rights movement is built on the foundations laid by these women and their contemporaries, and it is fitting that their home is the first San Francisco historic landmark dedicated to lesbian history,” Mandelman told the Bay Area Reporter. “They shared this home for more than half a century and it has clear historic value that should be preserved and celebrated. Early LGBTQ leaders like Phyllis and Del changed the world for the generations of queer people that would follow.”

It is expected to become an official city landmark by June 20, ahead of the city’s traditional Pride weekend. Discussions between the property owners and historic preservationists are ongoing on how to document the home, its place in LGBTQ history, and how it will be used going forward.

“We hope this will be an opportunity for many more people to learn about them and the work they did,” said Jones-McKeown during a hearing last week before a supervisor committee.

Due to it being located in a residential neighborhood, it is unlikely to be opened to the public as a museum. One idea preservationists are exploring is for it to be home to an artist or activist in residence program.

Journalists who first met in Seattle in 1952, Lyon and Martin helped launch the influential Daughters of Bilitis, the first political and social organization for lesbians in the United States.

They purchased the San Francisco property in 1955. Their home was a gathering place within See page 13 >>

<< Travel

2 • Bay Area Reporter • May 6-12, 2021

t

Monterey, Carmel start to welcome visitors

by Heather Cassell

S

ummer is right around the corner and with the state set to reopen June 15, barring changes in the COVID pandemic, California residents can check out many attractions closer to home.

The health crisis in the Golden State is beginning to ebb due to people getting vaccinated, meaning summer vacations might harken to domestic road trips for the season.

San Francisco Bay Area LGBTQ travelers are most likely going to be among the first to hit the road (if they haven’t already) taking in a great California adventure.

Two options are Carmel-by-the-Sea and Monterey. Just a couple of hours south of the Bay Area, these towns offer rugged adventure, luxury escape, and more. The region moved into the orange tier at the beginning of April and See Monterey, the county’s visitors bureau, is encouraging safe travel with up-to-date advisories and guidelines .

Individual hotels, tours, tasting rooms, and restaurants are also following pandemic guidelines as the county and state continue to reopen.

“I always love being the host for people to come down to Carmel,” said Amanda LeVett, owner of the Vagabond House, the only LGBTQ-owned bed and breakfast that’s located in the heart of the charming seaside town.

LeVett, who identifies as queer and nonbinary, and gay general manager Thomas Rogers would love to see more LGBTQ travelers visit Carmel and Monterey.

“I think we need more LGBT travelers in Carmel to shake it up,” LeVett, a Carmel native, said, imagining drag queens (and other women) registering their high heels at City Hall, one of the quirky ordinances that remain on the books.

LeVett’s father worked side-by-side with the legendary movie star Doris

Courtesy Monterey Bay Aquarium

The Monterey Bay Aquarium reopens to the public May 15; online reservations are required.

Day at the Cypress Inn and other Carmel Boutique Inns while her mother, an art collector, and Day created the interior designs.

“Carmel is unique,” Thomas said.

“It is one of those places that everybody wants to experience.”

LeVett added, “If you stay in Carmel, it’s like this perfect little hub. You’ve got everything around you.”

Thomas believes he and LeVett have achieved appealing to the queer sensibility as well as the digitally connected and eco-friendly needs in the recently renovated rooms, he told the B.A.R. The rooms are an open layout with minimalist modernist interiors that are in line with the building’s history.

Depending on what direction you go in, from Big Sur to Moss Landing, adventure awaits. Wine tasting, dining, and shopping to outdoor activities are all within a 30-minute drive or closer.

Things to do

The Monterey coast offers travelers a wide variety of activities and a generally slower pace.

The first thing LeVett and Rogers advise travelers to do is hike on the

plethora of trails along the coast.

LeVett, who is an outdoor enthusiast, loves taking their friends hiking in Big Sur. They typically like ending hikes with guests by dipping their feet in the river at River Inn while enjoying a cocktail, they said.

They also enjoy taking guests for a morning walk along the Carmel Beach and going to brunch at Stationæry, enjoying an afternoon cocktail at Terry’s Lounge at the Cypress Inn, or taking them on a backward drive along 17-Mile Drive .

The drive up the coast takes people from Carmel through Pebble Beach to the Monterey Bay Aquarium at the end of Cannery Row. “That’s one of my favorites,” LeVett said.

The aquarium reopens to the public May 15. Visitors will have to make reservations online and follow COVID-19 safety rules.

“We couldn’t be more thrilled to reopen our doors and welcome visitors, including the LGBTQ community, once again,” Cynthia Vernon, a lesbian who is the aquarium’s chief operating officer, told the Bay Area Reporter in a statement.

“From the incredible diversity of the Kelp Forest exhibit to playful otters and penguins, to learning about ways to protect our ocean, the Monterey Bay Aquarium is a really remarkable, fun place – and it’s a place for everybody,” she said.

Blue Water Ventures lesbian naturalist and tour guide Kim Powell, who lives up the coast in Santa Cruz, enjoys taking guests out onto the water in small groups kayaking, snorkeling, and whale watching to observe nature up close.

The pandemic gave Powell time to explore and to get locals out into the natural wonders of the Santa Cruz and Monterey Bay areas, she told the B.A.R. “It has been a year of great appreciation for what’s in my backyard,” Powell said. “I’ve always loved it here,” but the pandemic made her “love of this area even more.”

“Monterey Bay is a spectacular place to be whale watching,” said Powell, but one of her favorite places is at Elkhorn Slough at Moss Landing, just about a 25-minute drive from Carmel and Monterey.

During the late spring and summer, she takes guests – all-women and mixed groups – on guided sunset, full moon, and bioluminescent kayaking tours at Elkhorn Slough. At night, guests can see the bioluminescence plankton glow as their paddles move through the water sparking the algal blooms to light up.

Powell is leading smaller groups due to the pandemic and follows safety guidelines.

Other tours that are less outdoorsy, but still adventurous, are the coastal ride on Mad Dogs & Englishmen EBikes bike tour and the Land Rover Experience at the Quail Lodge.

Riding along the Carmel coast, I took in the scenery on a funky retro electric bike to the Carmel Mission, which is celebrating its 250th anniversary this year.

My recent trips to Carmel and the Carmel Valley were the most educational I’ve ever had in spite of being a Santa Cruz native and vacationing in the area throughout my life.

During my last trip, I learned the history that shaped Carmel into the charming village it became during the 20th century thanks to tour guide Gael Gallagher. The owner of Gael Gallagher’s Carmel Walks , she told stories and interesting details and facts about Carmel that were just as charming as the town itself while leading our small group through narrow passageways around the quaint seaside village.

Gay tour guide Evan Oakes, owner of AG Venture Tours, provides a variety of guided experiences, from taking guests out into Monterey’s farms and vineyards to walking tours, like the Carmel Valley Village Wine Walk and Monterey History Walk.

One of the best things about Carmel is its walkability, making it easy to eat, drink, and shop. One of my favorites is the self-guided Carmel Wine Walk . Some other wineries in the area are Scheid Vineyards Tasting Room in Carmel and Folktale Winery & Vineyards and Joyce Wine Company in the Carmel Valley.

I also suggest stopping in at Folktale Provisions, the winery’s newest marketplace, and at the Cheese Shop at Carmel Plaza for tasty souvenirs to bring home and share with your friends.

Where to eat

For restaurants, check online to see what is available. Some continue to offer to-go options, while others have reduced in-person dining capacity.

Reservations are suggested.

Delightful dinners can be found at Grasings, Mission Ranch Restaurant, the Whaling Station, Little Napoli, or See page 13 >>

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<< Community News

4 • Bay Area Reporter • May 6-12, 2021

t

Fundraising by LGBTQ merchants yields mixed results

by Sari Staver

A

fter several well-known LGBTQ-owned businesses launched successful fundraising campaigns, other businesses followed, with mixed results.

Two of the most successful were

by South of Market’s internationally acclaimed nightclub and cabaret Oasis (raising $268,000 in a 12-hour telethon) and the Castro’s Twin Peaks Tavern (raising $110,000 through GoFundMe).

But when Arlen Lasater, the owner of Daddy’s Barbershop in the Castro, launched its fundraiser the campaign fizzled, he conceded.

As of May 3, 32 people have donated $3,650, barely making a dent in his ambitious $100,000 goal.

“It hasn’t worked out so far,” said Lasater.

Lasater, a 61-year-old gay man, was strongly opposed to asking the public for money, he told the Bay Area Reporter in a recent in-

terview outside his 19th Street storefront. “I thought it sounded like begging,” he said.

But his employees pushed the issue, he said. “Business was so slow that it was clear I had to do something if we were going to be able to stay open,” he said.

So in mid-April, Lasater posted a GoFundMe to raise money for back rent while the shop was shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Now down to three barbers, Lasater said there isn’t enough business to keep them busy. “I had just one customer myself today,” said Lasater.

At age 46, after a successful business career, Lasater decided to go back to barber school. “I found out that I really love to cut hair,” he said. “I feel lucky to have found a career I have enjoyed.”

For several years, he worked at Joe’s Barber Shop, now located on Market Street, but previously in

the space above Daddy’s. Once he had a large established clientele, Lasater thought the time was right to strike out on his own.

“We had three-hour waits for a haircut on Saturdays,” said Lasater, recalling better times.

Even before COVID, business in the Castro was slipping, he said. At its busiest, five years ago, there were 17 barbers working seven days a week in the shop’s nine chairs.

The name Daddy’s was not a reference to the BDSM community, Lasater explained. When he was in barber school, Lasater was the oldest in the class.

“By the end of the school year, all of the students, the staff, the owners, the teachers, everyone was calling me ‘daddy.’ And so, ‘daddy’ came into my head and Daddy’s was born,” he said.

Lasater is involved in the leather community, and has served on the board of directors of the Folsom Street Events, which produces the

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Sari Staver

Sari Staver

Daddy’s owner Arlen Lasater holds the bat he keeps for protection as he stands outside his shop.

Auto Erotica owner Patrick Batt had success with his online fundraiser.

leather- and kink-themed Folsom Street Fair and Up Your Alley events.

A few years ago, Lasater asked himself if the boom years were over. After a handful of break-ins, Lasater started keeping a baseball bat nearby and wondered if the Castro had changed permanently.

“It’s not news that the neighborhood has changed,” he said, when many young tech employees moved to the city, driving prices up on rents and real estate in the neighborhood. “Gay people don’t feel they have to live in the Castro any more. We can go anywhere.”

The street crime and the people living in tents in the Castro didn’t boost the neighborhood’s reputation, he said. “If you’re going to do business here, you have to take (the crime) as a given,” Lasater said, During a trip to Palm Springs a few years ago, Lasater saw that the city was booming. Lasater had seen “the writing on the wall” and decided to test the waters down there to see if a Daddy’s might succeed.

So in 2018, Lasater opened a shop in Palm Springs and commuted back and forth as he watched the newer shop often booked solid.

“No comparison to what is going on” in the Castro, he said.

Although he hasn’t made any formal announcements, Lasater plans to continue operating Daddy’s in Palm Springs. But without money to pay the back rent, the future of the Castro location is in doubt.

“I don’t see how we’re going to be able to stay open,” he said. “We have had a great run.”

Modest campaign works

Other, more modest fundraising campaigns have worked.

For example, the vintage LGBTQ erotica and memorabilia store Auto Erotica had a crowdfunding campaign that quickly turned into a success, said owner Patrick Batt, a 74-year-old gay man, in an interview at the upstairs shop at 4077 18th Street.

After 25 years in the Castro, Batt’s business suffered from the pandemic’s stay-at-home orders.

“We don’t have an online presence at all,” he said. Tourists, who make up a large part of his business, have not been traveling in the numbers once found in San Francisco, he noted.

Like Lasater, Batt was hesitant to launch a fundraising campaign, but a persistent customer talked him into it so he posted a GoFundMe campaign.

Batt set a goal of $16,275 to cover six months of rent, an outstanding bill, and fundraising costs. As of May 5, the store had raised $15,561.

“The minute we hit the mark, the campaign will end,” he said.

“I’m comfortable now,” he said, that the business should be able to pull through the tough times, especially as people begin traveling again.

To Batt, Auto Erotica is much more than a shopping emporium.

“I consider this a living museum of LGBT history,” he explained.

“I am optimistic that despite the neighborhood problems, our business will continue to thrive.

There is such demand, and the shop is one of the few of its kind still around.” t

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<< Open Forum

6 • Bay Area Reporter • May 6-12, 2021

Volume 51, Number 18 May 6-12, 2021 www.ebar.com

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Biden’s got our backs

t

H

aving passed his 100th day in office, President Joe Biden has attempted to remedy four years of direct attacks by his predecessor with some important accomplishments for the LGBTQ community in pursuit of equity. He lifted the ban on transgender troops serving in the military. He nominated – and saw confirmed by the U.S. Senate – the first openly gay cabinet secretary, Pete Buttigieg at transportation, and the first openly transgender woman to serve in a senior position, Dr. Rachel Levine as assistant secretary for health. According to the LGBTQ Victory Fund, Biden has appointed at least 200 known out people to his administration, “exponentially more than any other president at this point in their administration,” the organization stated in a news release. “These appointees make an incalculable impact every day, drafting policies within agencies, advising on legislation, and debating critical issues at the highest levels,” stated Annise Parker, president and CEO of the Victory Fund. She added that the organization continues to work with the administration to ensure that trans and nonbinary people, queer people of color, and women are fully represented.

Even straight allies are making a huge difference. The Department of Housing and Urban Development, led by Secretary Marcia Fudge, formally withdrew a rule proposed in the Trump era that would have allowed taxpayerfunded homeless shelters to turn away transgender people on the basis of their gender identity. Last June the U.S. Supreme Court, in Bostock v. Clayton County, ruled 6-3 that a federal law – Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 – that bars discrimination on the basis of “sex,” also prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. HUD announced earlier this year that it would fully implement the Bostock decision in its application of the Fair Housing Act (https://www. ebar.com/news/latest_news//302239) and

Screengrab

President Joe Biden delivered his address to a joint session of Congress, as Vice President Kamala Harris and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi applauded when he mentioned the Equality Act.

take up cases of anti-LGBTQ discrimination in housing, which is consistent with the Supreme Court’s decision and the executive order Biden signed on his first day in office that ordered federal agencies to implement the ruling across the board for all laws barring sex discrimination.

Biden’s first address to a joint session of Congress last week contrasted positively in style and substance compared to recent presidents. No bombast or lies, like former President Donald Trump reliably spouted.

No congressman shouting “You lie,” as happened during one of former President Barack Obama’s speeches (indeed, the House chamber was at reduced capacity due to the COVID-19 pandemic). Instead, the country got a glimpse of a president who tries to lead by example and who attempted to persuade Americans about how his proposals will help the country as it recovers from the economic fallout of the pandemic.

Of course, there is still work to do. The top priority is passage in the Senate of the Equality Act, and while Biden doesn’t have a direct role in that, he did again come out in support of it last week. “I also hope Congress will get to my desk the Equality Act to protect LGBTQ Americans,” he said. Then, referencing anti-trans legislation in many states, Biden signaled strong support for trans people: “To all transgender Americans watching at home, especially young people who are so brave: I want you to know your president has your back.” That simple statement spoke loudly and profoundly to trans and nonbinary people across the country, especially after four years of being constantly targeted and scapegoated by the Trump administration. Now the work has moved to states where the former president is popular, as state lawmakers attempt to erase trans people through ridiculous policies that even they know have no rational basis.

We shudder to imagine what life would be like now without a president who has our backs, and instead with one who puts a bullseye on them. t

Guadalajara’s quest for the Gay Games

by Gustavo Staufert

A

s a proud Guadalajara native, or Tapatío as we refer to ourselves locally, I spend my days waxing poetic about all our beautiful city has to offer visitors. Guadalajara has an enviable heritage as the birthplace of tequila, mariachi, and charrería – Mexico’s national sport. But there is another defining aspect of the city that is just as important – our longstanding position as one of the most welcoming destinations in the world for LGBTQ+ visitors.

Tapatíos, including those with generations of roots in the region as well as new international arrivals, are the type of people who celebrate individuality and welcome change.

This collective mindset is just one reason why international chefs, artists, and entrepreneurs have migrated here to introduce innovative fusions of their craft. The eclectic, creative energy is palatable across all areas of the city, including our large LGBTQ+ community. Our leaders are committed to fostering this spirit and ensuring that our LGBTQ+ community continues to thrive. As part of these efforts, the state of Jalisco (of which Guadalajara is the capital) named its first sexual diversity director, Andrés Treviño Luna, who guides the state on LGBTQ+ goals and issues. The Guadalajara Tourism Board has furthered this cause as a member of the International Gay and Lesbian Tourism Association, and by participating in nationally recognized certification programs that serve LGBTQ+ visitors.

Holding true to Mexican tradition, Guadalajara is known for its warm, welcoming hospitality, so we are not the type of people to keep the magic of our city to ourselves. It is an honor to share Guadalajara with the many travelers we welcome from around the world each year, and we hope to see even more if selected to host Gay Games XII in 2026.

We are honored that Guadalajara has been named a finalist to host the Gay Games along with Munich, Germany and Valencia, Spain. It’s a city of inclusivity with a beautiful contrast of tradition and modernity that athletes, spectators, and others attending the Gay Games can thoroughly enjoy. LGBTQ+ athletes of all ages, athletic experience, sexual

Courtesy Guadalajara Tourism Board

Gustavo Staufert, director of the Guadalajara Tourism Board, advocates that the city should be chosen for Gay Games XII in 2026.

orientation, gender identity, physical challenges, and health status will participate in more than 35 sports at this prestigious event.

San Francisco hosted the first two editions of the Gay Games in 1982 and 1986, setting the example for future host cities.

So, why Guadalajara?

Hosting large-scale events for the LGBTQ+ community is right up our alley. We revel in them. Every June, we host one of the largest Pride celebrations in Latin America, which regularly attracts more than 100,000 revelers. These visitors come to celebrate their individuality among a rainbow spectrum of travelers as they enjoy a vibrant parade and entertainment, rallies, and more.

Visitors attending Guadalajara Pride have the chance to witness the intersection of heritage and our contemporary culture through our diverse mariachi musicians. Mariachi is on UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage list, dating back to the early 1900s when it kept to conservative traditions for many years. However, today, there has been an evolution of the genre that embraces mariachi of all sexual orientations, including members of all-female and LGBTQ+ mariachi

bands. They play their music, an ode to their heritage, proudly and can be seen not just at Pride, but at Guadalajara’s International Mariachi Festival held every September. This festival is a mecca for mariachi with more than 500 participants from around the globe.

The best of the best play alongside those who simply love music in a grand parade. Other festivals of note include Guadalajara’s International Book Fair, the world’s second largest book fair that highlights an LGBTQ+ literature section, and the city’s International Film Festival, Latin America’s most prestigious film festival which features the “Premio Maguey Award” for the best of LGBTQ+ cinema.

There is plenty to do in Guadalajara, even when a festival isn’t taking place. When Gay Games athletes have completed their events and are ready to relax, they will have myriad nightlife options. Guadalajara has the most LGBTQ+ bars and nightclubs of any city in Mexico, with more than 50 LGBTQ+ businesses. (Be sure not to miss Tacos Gay for late-night cravings.) The Chapultepec and Zona Centro neighborhoods offer the best of the best when it comes to lounges, dance clubs, and popular drag shows. For those who prefer quieter downtime, there are UNESCO World Heritage Sites to be explored including the Museo Cabañas, which features floor-to-ceiling murals by famed José Clemente Orozco; the sweeping blue agave fields and distilleries that produce the world’s tequila; and the Guachimontones, one of the few circular pyramid sites in the world that offer a quiet, spiritual place to be.

As a city, Guadalajara truly reflects the Gay Games’ core principles of “Participation, Inclusion and Personal Best,” and we hope to have the opportunity to bear witness to the joy and spirit of the Gay Games athletes together. However, no matter the outcome of the bid, we would be honored to welcome you to our city at any time and hope to see you soon.t Gustavo Staufert is the director of the Guadalajara Tourism Board

t

Politics >>

May 6-12, 2021 • Bay Area Reporter • 7

Group unites women behind Biden, Harris

by Matthew S. Bajko

S

A little razzmatazz

Adding some star power to the Women for Biden group’s efforts last year was Halle Morse, a lesbian and former Broadway actor who now lives in Atlanta. She relocated a year ago when a spring break visit to her girl-

Barry Schneider Attorney at Law Courtesy Halle Morse

Former Broadway actor Halle Morse launched the Broadway for Biden group.

friend led to an indefinite move.

Having earned an MBA from Columbia last May, Morse had pivoted her career to focus on management consulting. But she didn’t let her Rolodex of contacts from her time performing in and then producing shows lay fallow.

A day prior to graduating from Columbia’s business school Morse saw a classmate’s message looking for volunteers to assist with the Women for Biden group. Having marketing experience under her belt, Morse decided to lend a hand, at least during the summer when she had planned to take some time off.

It led her to meet Nash and subsequently launch the Broadway for Biden group to marshal the talents of her friends from the industry to help raise awareness about Biden’s campaign and attract other potential volunteers and donors. With Broadway and regional theaters shuttered because of the health crisis, and touring productions on hold, Morse didn’t find much resistance to her pitch for assistance, she told the B.A.R. in a recent phone interview.

“The sad thing was Broadway actors were very much out of work.

Their availability was our blessing,” said Morse, who said actors never tell when asked her age. “Any person we reached out to was willing to make a testimonial video for us.”

With the help of cofounders Jeff Metzler and Dimitri Moise and a leadership team, the Broadway for Biden group was able to setup phone-banking opportunities on Monday nights, held seven virtual town halls and a special “pep rally,” and streamed a special event last October that featured among its talented guests Glenn Close, Samuel L. Jackson, and out actor Nathan Lane. According to the group its various online efforts across myriad social media platforms generated 6 million engagements.

“Nobody tells stories better than Broadway actors,” said Morse.

The group remained engaged post Biden’s victory last November and helped with get-out-the-vote efforts in the two Georgia U.S. Senate runoff races, helping to secure a majority for the Democrats and ensuring Republicans’ lost their control of Congress’ upper chamber. For Morse personally, 2020 was the polar opposite of when Trump was elected in 2016 and she hadn’t been as engaged politically.

“I was a naïve liberal and just believing in the goodwill of our people and that justice would prevail,” she recalled. “I will never forget the feeling of losing that election as a New Yorker and as a liberal and as a queer woman of color.”

Trump’s victory led her to take part in the first Women’s March in 2017.

Her growing interest in politics partly

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an Francisco resident Jill Nash in 2017 left her corporate job to become a communications consultant for startup companies and have more time to volunteer. It coincided with the start of President Donald Trump’s administration.

Surprised that he had defeated former first lady and secretary of state Hillary Clinton, Nash embarked on a trip to talk to people in 15 states that went for Trump in 2016. Among her stops were Arkansas, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina.

“I was confused, so I decided to do a Red State tour and go talk to people who lived in Red states,” Nash, 60, a married lesbian told the Bay Area Reporter. “Oftentimes in the Bay Area we are here in a little bubble.”

Following her trip, Nash joined the board of GLAAD, the LGBTQ media watchdog group that has increased its focus on politics over the last five years. And as the 2020 presidential election began to ramp up, she came to a conclusion after sizing up the Democratic candidates.

“What I came away with was I was convinced Joe Biden was the only guy that could win,” said Nash. “So fast forward to a year ago January with the primaries starting, I went to Iowa and worked on Biden’s caucus campaign for two to three weeks. I go to the caucuses and it doesn’t go that well, so I wait to see what happens in South Carolina.”

Gay former South Bend, Indiana mayor Pete Buttigieg had pulled off a win in Iowa only to lose to Biden in South Carolina, due to his strong support among Black Democrats in the Southern state. With new life breathed into Biden’s bid, Nash dialed up a friend of hers overseeing an effort to reach out to women on behalf of the former vice president.

“I called her up and said this whole election is going to be virtual,” recalled Nash. “You knew it wasn’t going to go well with Trump at the helm during the pandemic. I said let me build a digital platform.”

Within a week of the website’s launch they had attracted the attention of 500 women online and quickly doubled it.

“It was one of those things if you build it they will come,” said Nash, who became a co-founder of the group Women for Biden and one of the 18 volunteer members of its national steering committee.

Last year, she often found herself putting in 10 hour days, six days a week helping to elect Biden as president and Kamala Harris as the country’s first female vice president.

“I have always been involved to some extent with political races as a volunteer or a fundraiser. But I have never spent the kind of time I spent, nor have the other women in the group, working for Biden,” said Nash.

“This was a job.”

And due to the COVID pandemic, the group conducted nearly all of its work virtually. In addition to bonding over their determination to elect Biden and Harris, the women commiserated over last year’s events while celebrating more joyous occasions.

“It has been a remarkable experience,” said Nash, who is looking forward to meeting the women she worked with in person now that they can get vaccinated for the virus.

space saving f urniture

Courtesy Jill Nash

Jill Nash, a co-founder of Women for Biden, met an unidentified volunteer at a Biden LGBTQ event at Blazing Saddles, a local bar in Des Moines.

prompted her decision to enroll in graduate school, which led her to volunteering on behalf of the Biden campaign.

Today, Morse has pulled back her activities to focus on her full-time job but continues to stay on top of political events. And more than 100 days into the Biden administration, Morse has nothing but praise for the candidate she worked so hard to elect to the White House.

“It’s really, all I can say, just a breath of fresh air. I am able let my shoulders relax,” she said. “The climate just feels different already. They are doing the work they need to do.”

As for Nash, she remains involved with the renamed Women for Biden/ Harris group and is helping it focus on the midterm elections next year with a goal of keeping the Senate and the House under Democratic control. It has also been engaging with its nearly 1 million members in the fight to protect voting rights at the federal level and in statehouses.

Nash told the B.A.R. she has been impressed by Biden and Harris since they were sworn in.

“I think for both of them it is an absolute breath of fresh air,” she said.

“They have inherited a mess. The discipline and the compassion and the competence is so refreshing and so reassuring because the previous administration it was so, it was alarming to see how they conducted themselves.”

Anyone can sign up for free with Women for Biden/Harris and receive emailed alerts about its activities via its website at https://www.womenforbidenharris.com/. t Web Extra: For more queer political news, be sure to check http:// www.ebar.com Monday mornings for Political Notes, the notebook’s online companion. This week’s column reported on Honey Mahogany’s kickoff event to become the first transgender, Black chair of San Francisco’s Democratic Party.

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<< Community News

8 • Bay Area Reporter • May 6-12, 2021

OFC celebrates 25 years with virtual gala compiled by Cynthia Laird Our Family Coalition will celebrate its 25th anniversary with a virtual gala honoring its past and embracing its future.

Night Out Goes All In takes place Friday, May 14, from 6 to 7:30 p.m.

Longtime LGBTQ-equality activist Jonathan Logan, president and CEO of the Jonathan Logan Family Foundation, will receive the agency’s Legacy Award. Logan founded Our Family, an East Bay organization that merged with San Francisco’s All Our Families Coalition to create OFC in 2002.

OFC’s History Maker Award will go to the ONE Archives Foundation in Los Angeles. It is one of the agency’s partners and has created innovative education programs and resources to tell inspiring stories about LGBTQ history, an OFC news release noted. Erik Adamian, associate director of education at the archives, will accept the award.

Finally, the National Center for Lesbian Rights will receive OFC’s Visionary Award for its decades at the forefront of advancing the civil and human rights of the LGBTQ community, the release stated. Executive Director Imani Rupert-Gordon, who just marked her first year leading the agency, will accept the award.

low-income or working class people.

For more information and to RSVP, go to https://ourfamily.org/.

SF Zen Center presents healing workshops

Courtesy Jonathan Logan Family Foundation

Jonathan Logan will be honored by Our Family Coalition.

OFC also has an online auction to help raise funds. Previews begin May 7 and bidding concludes at the end of the gala.

According to OFC’s website, it is staffing its San Francisco office Mondays through Thursdays from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. People interested in visiting the office should call 415-9811960 or email staff directly in advance to make arrangements.

Tickets for the virtual gala range from $20-$50, with a free option for

The San Francisco Zen Center will present an online workshop series “A Time to Heal: Insights on the Path to Healing Racialized Trauma” beginning Thursday, May 6, and continuing on Thursdays through May 27, from 4 to 5:30 p.m. Pacific Time.

Led by Jenée Johnson, the course will provide participants the opportunity to gather in community to explore the challenges of racialized trauma and heart-centered practices to foster resilience and healing.

The cost is $108 for current San Francisco Zen Center members and $120 for non-members. To register, go to https://sforce.co/3eeCuwq.

SF redistricting task force seeks members

The San Francisco Elections Commission invites city residents to apply for appointment to three seats on the nine-member redistricting task force.

The body is comprised of three appoin-

tees by the Board of Supervisors, three by the mayor, and three by the commission, which is seeking these applicants.

Following each decennial census, San Francisco redraws the lines of the 11 supervisorial districts to account for population changes. The task force works with an outside consultant to rebalance the population counts in each district. It then makes decisions on district lines based on the federal census and in accordance with the law and criteria established in the city charter. The task force will convene no earlier than August 1 and must complete its work

by April 15.

Those interested in applying for one of the three seats appointed by the elections commission must be 18 or older; have not been a candidate for political office or paid by a San Francisco candidate campaign in the last five years; have general knowledge of San Francisco’s neighborhoods and geography; have no conflict of interest as defined by city guidelines; and is not a direct hire employee of an elected official in San Francisco.

The application can be found at https://sfgov.org/electionscommission/. The deadline is June 1 at 5 p.m.

t

Surrogacy confab for future gay dads

Men Having Babies, a conference for gay men considering fatherhood through surrogacy, will hold its virtual event May 15-16.

Unique programs at the event include a panel on COVID-19’s impact on surrogacy, guidance on new financial assistance options for gay men, and how to attain surrogacy benefits from employers. Additionally, the popular personal stories panel returns, featuring community-known YouTuber gay dads.

Men Having Babies, a nonprofit, has been holding an in-person conference on the West Coast for the past seven years in collaboration with Our Family Coalition. Due to the virtual format, attendees are expected from around the world. The conference will utilize a specialized platform that will enable general presentations, breakout sessions, expo “tables,” and effective interaction.

The upcoming conference will include interactive sessions with medical, legal, and financial experts, as well as practical advice on what gay men need to know when considering surrogacy.

Registration is $20 per “seat” (single computer access). For more information, go to https://www.menhavingbabies.org/.

Presidio photo contest

The Partnership for the Presidio, in collaboration with the nonprofit Photoville, has announced a call for entries to its My Park Moment photo contest, an opportunity for anyone to submit a photo of their favorite park experience anywhere in the world.

According to a news release, amateur and professional photographers are welcome to submit images that show personal experiences in local and national parks: from a family picnic to a walk in the Presidio to a visit to Alcatraz or a trip to Yosemite.

See page 13 >>

Letters >> Lucky Strike or unlucky stroke?

Leafing through the current Bay Area Reporter print issue [April 29] I was rather amazed to see a fullpage ad supporting cigarette smoking. I never noticed this before, assuming that this weekly rag did not encourage and promote smoking in the gay community. I guess I was wrong. Even during these times of COVID-19, when our health and science professionals list smoking as a major cause of infection – not to mention tobacco use linked to nearly every disease imaginable – the B.A.R. chooses to ignore the evidence and push the product, choosing blood money over health.

Hmmm, maybe it’s just time to dump the publication, once and for all. We all know that the quality of its journalism has been deteriorating for a long time, pandemic or not. The paper once used discretion in advertising, but those days are apparently long gone. It will still be online, where readers don’t have to be insulted by cigarette ads. What a great way to celebrate your 50th anniversary!

So, what is this product you so recommend? Lucky Strike ... or do you mean unlucky stroke?

James Miller San Francisco

Lucky Strike-out

This is to inform you that I will not pick up and read another issue of your paper or patronize any of your advertisers as long as you run advertisements for cigarettes. What in the world are you thinking?

Allen Carson San Francisco

t

Community News>>

May 6-12, 2021 • Bay Area Reporter • 9

Milk plan shelved, artists pivot to Black history

by Matthew S. Bajko

A

s part of the celebrations commemorating the 150th anniversary of San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park in 2020, a local artist group had proposed installing a lighted tribute to the late gay supervisor Harvey Milk along the top center of the Music Concourse Bandshell. It was to be in addition to the planned renovations of the performing space’s lighting and sound equipment.

Also known as the Spreckles Temple of Music, the bandshell structure is at the western edge of Courtesy Illuminate the Music Concourse, which sits above the underground parking gaA view of some of sculptor Dana King’s 350, four-foot figures reprerage that serves visitors to the Calisenting Black ancestors that artists are proposing be placed around fornia Academy of Sciences, the de the plinth that formerly held the statue of Francis Scott Key, which Young Museum, and Japanese Tea was removed by activists last year.

Garden. It was built in 1900, surthe bandshell. It had unveiled such Breed opted this year not to reapvived the 1906 earthquake, has a neon art piece in November 2017 point Pearlman to another term on been renovated over the years, and on the mantel of the commercial the oversight body.) is the official home to the Golden building overlooking the plaza that Davis had told the Bay Area ReGate Park Band, which normally bears Milk’s name above the Castro porter last February following the performs on Sunday’s in the park Muni station.

Historic Preservation Commisduring the summer months.

It was part of the ceremonies that sion’s vote that he would reach out Leading the renovation project fall commemorating the 40th annito the oversight body members and was Illuminate, the arts nonprofit versary of Milk’s historic 1977 electry to get them to reconsider. Then that last year helped to light up tion as the first out gay supervisor the COVID pandemic hit, upendthe Pink Triangle placed atop the in San Francisco and the first openly ing the city’s plans to celebrate city’s Twin Peaks park throughout LGBT elected official in California.

Golden Gate Park’s birthday.

Pride Month during June. The While the quote is widely attributed While the audio upgrades and LGBTQ symbol is installed most to the late gay Supervisor Harvey lighting enhancements for the years just during Pride weekend at Milk, who was killed in 1978, it is bandshell were completed, Davis the end of the month, but it went unclear when he said it. ended up shelving his Milk art inup early and remained throughout To the stallation idea and came up with June due to the COVID pandemic ISO 12647-7 Digital Control Strip 2009consternation of Ben Da100 60 100 70 30 100 60 40 100 40 100 100 70 30 100 100 40 40 70 40 A vis, Illuminate’s founder and chief 70 an30entirely different proposal for leading to the cancellation of the100 60 visionary officer, the city’s Historic the historic structure inspired by official Pride parade. Illuminate is Preservation Commission refused the Black Lives Matter protests again working with Pink Triangle to approve the Milk art piece for that erupted across the country last co-founder Patrick Carney to do the bandshell structure. One of the summer. It brought renewed attena monthlong lighted installation 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 30 30 100 40 100 40 40 100 10 40 40 leading critics of it happened to be tion to the country’s racist past and this June. then-commissioner Jonathan Pearltreatment of various ethnic groups.

Last spring Illuminate had also man, a gay man and local architect One area of focus was public wanted to install a temporary light who called it “really inappropriate” monuments erected in cities that piece with the words “Hope will T:9.75" and “very jarring.” (Mayor London heralded figures who supported never be silent” on the facade of 3%

B

slavery. It led a group of protesters to take down a statue of Francis Scott Key from a plinth that had been part of a larger monument placed in Golden Gate Park at the other end of the Music Concourse from the bandshell.

While Key’s 1814 poem “The Star Spangled Banner” became the national anthem, he was a slave-owning lawyer who fought against abolition.

Following the desecration of the Francis Scott Key Monument, a city landmark, last June, it is now part of a citywide review that is looking at all of San Francisco’s publicly owned monuments and whether certain ones should be removed.

In the interim, Illuminate has partnered with the Museum of the African Diaspora to erect an installation called “Monumental Reckoning” this June in the Music Concourse that would remain through June 30, 2023. Former local CBS News anchor and sculptor Dana King would place 350, four-foot figures representing Black ancestors around the plinth.

Atop the bandshell Illuminate would install a neon sign of the words “Lift Every Voice,” taken from the poem “Lift Every Voice and Sing” by James Weldon Johnson. Also known as “The Black National Anthem,” with legislation in Congress to officially make it the national hymn, it was set to music in 1899 by Johnson’s brother John Rosamond Johnson.

70 40 40 40 70 40 40 70 40 70 40 40 3 10 As it happens, this June 17 marks James Weldon Johnson’s 150th birthday. And according to the NAACP, which Johnson was an early leader of, the song was first 20 70 70 70 70 40 70 40 40 0000 3.1 2.2 2.2 10.2 7.4 7.4 performed in public in the Johnsons’ hometown of Jacksonville, Florida as part of a celebration of Lincoln’s birthday on February 12, 1900 – the same year that the

Spreckles Temple of Music opened to the public.

“With all of my heart I wanted to see it happen, the Milk quote. But a part of me is grateful it didn’t get approved. Now what we are doing is right for right now with ‘Lift Every Voice.’ It is inclusive of Milk’s message but really resonates with the times,” Davis told the B.A.R. The project still needs sign off from both the Recreation and Park Commission, and the Historic Preservation Commission, said Davis, with the final votes not expected until early June. The city’s arts commission gave its approval to the installation at its May 3 meeting.

“It is such a powerful punctuation for this time period,” said Debra Walker, a lesbian and artist who serves on the oversight body. “It is an acknowledgement so beautifully done and so simply done and so powerful. I can’t wait to see it.”

Davis told the B.A.R. he is hopeful the project will get the needed sign offs and be publicly debuted June 19, a day after the official Juneteenth celebrations being held.

Having read Isabel Wilkerson’s 2020 book “Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents” that draws parallels between American slavery and the concentration camps of Nazi Germany, he sees Illuminates two projects it is working to unveil this June as in conversation with one another.

25 75 90 100 The 50pink triangle and “Monumental Reckoning,” said Davis, “are both part of a new narrative of American history.”

To learn more about the 25 19 19 50 40 40 75 66 66 100 100 100 80 70 70 100 “Monumental Reckoning” installation, watch this short video about the project: https://vimeo. com/533256187. t

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<< Community News

10 • Bay Area Reporter • May 6-12, 2021

t

SF center picks LGBTQ artists to replace defaced mural

by John Ferrannini

T

he defaced mural on the side of the San Francisco LGBT Community Center will be replaced by a work by queer Latinx artists, officials told the Bay Area Reporter.

DJ and drag star Juanita MORE!, recently elected empress of the Imperial Council of San Francisco, told the Bay Area Reporter April 29 that the next murals installed on the center’s exterior wall are supposed to be changed each year with new artists creating their own unique installation for the high-profile spot.

MORE! declined to disclose the names of the new mural creators since their selection has yet to be officially announced.

“It is time for it to be changed,” said MORE!, a local nightlife event producer who for a number of years now has overseen the entertainment at the LGBT center’s annual Soiree fundraiser.

Roberto Isaac Ordeñana, the deputy executive director of the center, told the B.A.R. that the two new artists are members of the LGBTQ community.

Last week, the center decided to paint over artist fnnch’s honey bear mural on the side of its Octavia Street building after it was defaced with graffiti.

The graffiti came as fnnch, who has painted a plethora of stylized honey bears all over the city – faced criticism over describing himself as an “immigrant” to San Francisco since he hails from the state of Missouri.

The altercation (https://www.instagram.com/p/CN-qwbvBoIR/) between fnnch and street artist DoggTownDro, which took place in front of the LGBT center mural, was posted to Instagram April 22.

“He speaks in Colonial settler idiom and I don’t think he understands the resonant effects these copy and paste bears have on us as natives or the violent effects the gentrification

Scott Wazlowski

Artist fnnch’s honey bear murals on the LGBT community center were defaced with graffiti and subsequently painted over.

that he’s tryna to gussy up here does,” DoggTownDro wrote in the post.

Over the next weekend, the mural was vandalized. It was painted over April 27, and subsequently more graffiti showed up.

Fnnch, who is straight, did not respond to a request for comment for this story, but in a statement to KQED-TV (https://www.kqed.org/ arts/13896515/honey-bear-muralpainted-over-by-sf-lgbt-center-artistfnnch-responds), he said he painted the honey bears on the community center to commemorate the 25th anniversary of his uncle’s death from AIDS and that he has raised over $20,000 for the center.

“I have been creating Pride art and donating to LGBT charities as long as I’ve been creating street art, and last year was of particular importance to me as the 25th anniversary of my uncle’s death from AIDS,” fnnch stated. “We [fnnch and publicist Mark Rhoades] decided that a mural was something people could enjoy in a socially distant fashion, and so he approached the SF LGBT center, asking if we could paint one there. ... I also helped fundraise over $20K for the

Center through T-shirt sales, painting donations, and my partnership with [ice cream company] Humphrey Slocombe.”

Rhoades, a longtime supporter of the center, told the B.A.R. that the honey bear mural can be a blueprint for future efforts.

“Unfortunately, the defacement of murals throughout San Francisco is a common occurrence and has sadly become part of the urban landscape,” Rhoades stated in an email to the B.A.R. “Owing to the success of this partnership, the SF LGBT center will be partnering with other artists. So we look at this experience as a successful way to have celebrated Pride and the SF LGBT center all the while uplifting the community through fnnch’s art.”

In a public statement, the center distanced itself from fnnch’s “immigrant” remark, which he himself apologized for as well.

“Though we believe every artist we work with is entitled to their own opinion, the center does not agree with fnnch’s recent comments, and we have shared our concerns about the impact of his comments directly with him” the center posted to Instagram.

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When asked why the center did not pick an LGBTQ artist for the mural, Ordeñana told the B.A.R. that fnnch had been the one who, through Rhoades, reached out to them.

“Fnnch shared that part of his motivation for the project was to honor the memory of his uncle who had died from AIDS 25 years ago,” stated Ordeñana, who is president of the city’s arts commission. “Fnnch also generously offered to maintain the mural for the temporary period that it was up and throughout the year. We accepted his generous offer, and his was the first mural in our ongoing project.”

Ordeñana told the B.A.R. that the center “very shortly” will announce the names of the artists installing the new mural and the title for it.

“The artists who will exhibit next are members of the local LGBTQ+ and BIPOC community and the next mural will be unveiled for Pride Month this coming June as intended,” he stated. “In 2022 and beyond, we will be holding a public call requesting artists to submit their qualifications and proposals to select from. Our goal is to showcase a variety of perspectives, art and artists representing our diverse community.”

New Western Addition mural to debut May 8

Through her own Juanita MORE! San Francisco Mural Project, MORE! has collaborated with artists to create and install six murals around San Francisco since 2019 that feature herself or her French bulldog Jackson, or the pair together. The most recent one was created in 2020 by gay artist Blake Cedric and adorned the boarded up frontage of the GLBT Historical Society Museum. MORE! and her canine companion were featured along with three other LGBTQ community leaders.

Her latest mural, created in collaboration with artist Simon Malvaez,

is set to debut May 8 at a private property fronting Alamo Square, a city park across the street from the famous row of Victorian houses known as the Painted Ladies. Over the years different artwork has been displayed on the chain link fencing that surrounds the empty lot on Steiner Street in the Western Addition neighborhood.

The artwork will be used for her Pride party poster, which MORE! is reviving this year. Held annually as a fundraiser for a local LGBTQ nonprofit, MORE! canceled the 2020 party due to the COVID pandemic. So far MORE! is staying mum about the details of where and when her Pride bash will be held.

“It is still a secret location,” MORE! told the B.A.R. She is also working with District 3 Supervisor Aaron Peskin and his office on securing a location somewhere in the city’s northern most supervisorial district, where she has lived for three decades, to install her eighth mural.

Sister Roma of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence joked with the B.A.R. that she was “tired” of seeing the honey bears all over town and was looking forward to seeing the new mural go up at the LGBT center. Her comment was made in jest since fnnch in early April debuted a honey bear mural paying homage to the drag nun philanthropic group on the exterior of South of Market gay bar the Powerhouse. Coincidentally, the Folsom Street venue is where MORE! has long hosted her monthly Powerblouse party.

“I am all for street art graffiti. Number one because street art speaks to the people,” said Roma. “Whether it features a honey bear or Juanita MORE!, I love it. I am excited to see what comes next at the LGBT center.” t Matthew S. Bajko contributed reporting.

Plan on anything but the same thing.

It’s a quick flight to your long weekend.

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<< Community News

12 • Bay Area Reporter • May 6-12, 2021

t

PlanningAhead Ahead isisSimple Planning Simple The benefits are immense.

Planning Ahead is Simple The benefits are immense.

The benefits are immense.

When you plan your life celebration and lasting remembrance in advance, you can design every detail of your own unique memorial and provide your loved ones with true peace of mind. Planning ahead When your celebration lasting protectsyou your plan loved ones fromlife unnecessary stress and and financial burden, you remembrance plan your celebration and lasting allowing themlife to focus what will matter at design that remembrance time—you. in on advance, youmost can every

AIDS quilt promotes walk

When in advance, you can design every detail of your own unique memorial detail ofusyour owntheunique memorial andlegacy provide Contact today about beautiful ways to create a lasting isitors to the weekly Art Mart on Noe Street in the atyour theloved San Francisco Columbarium. and provide loved ones with true peace mind.

Planning ahead your ones with true peace ofof mind.

Planning Castro District on Sunday, May 2, looked at panprotects your loved onesProudly from unnecessary stressunnecessary and financial burden,els from the AIDS Memorial Quilt. Four of the earliest ahead protects yourserving loved onesCommunity. from the LGBT panels were on display as part of an effort to enlist peoallowing them focus on whatburden, will matter most them at thattotime—you. stresstoand financial allowing focus on what will matter most at that time—you.

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ple for the upcoming AIDS Walk, which will take place virtually Sunday, May 16, which is earlier than usual.

For more information and to sign up for the fundraiser, go to https://sf.aidswalk.net/.

SF arts panel OKs leather, LGBTQ plaques project

by Matthew S. Bajko

One Loraine Ct. | San Francisco | 415-771-0717

Rick Gerharter

project to install sidewalk markers recognizing current and former LGBTQ businesses in San Francisco’s South of Market neighborhood has won the approval of the city’s arts commission. Meanwhile, more of the leather-themed Eagle Plaza public parklet on 12th Street has been revealed.

As the Bay Area Reporter first reported in September, the Leather & LGBTQ Cultural District aims to place bronze plaques in the sidewalk

A community you can connect with.

near where various LGBTQ bars, shops, and bathhouses operated or currently are located in SOMA. At one time there were more than 120 such establishments, but today the number is down to 12.

The arts commissioners approved the design of the historical markers without comment on 13-0 vote, with one member absent, at their May 3 meeting. The unanimous backing had been expected, as the commissioners who serve on the civic design review committee had unanimously supported the sidewalk plaques when they met last month.

Such storied establishments as the Folsom Street Barracks, The Arena, Ramrod, The Brig, and the Club Baths of San Francisco would be memorialized with the historical markers. Ones would also be installed at the Eagle bar at 12th and Harrison streets and The End Up nightclub at the corner of Sixth and Harrison streets.

Another would be located at the former home of the B.A.R at 395 Ninth Street. The weekly LGBTQ newspaper, celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, called the location home from December 1988 until October 2013.

Leather district leaders have been working with local LGBTQ historians Shayne Watson and Gayle Rubin, who specializes in leather history, to finalize the list of locations. Roughly 80 locations have already won approval from city leaders to receive plaques, with the others identified by Watson and Rubin to be added to the official list in the future.

Courtesy Leather & LGBTQ Cultural District

A rendering of one of the leather district plaques pays homage to the former locations of Folsom Street Barracks and Red Star Saloon at 1145-1147 Folsom Street.

The leather district has been in close talks with the city’s Public Works Department and the office of District 6 Supervisor Matt Haney, who represents SOMA, about incorporating 14 of the sidewalk plaques along Folsom Street as part of a pedestrian safety improvement project that city agency has underway. The Board of Supervisors endorsed the plaques in early April.

Berkeley-based Artworks Foundry, which created the Rainbow Honor Walk plaques found in the city’s Castro LGBTQ district, would be hired to fabricate the leather district plaques, whose design was created by Jon Stoa.

The bulk of the plaques will be installed between Fifth and 12th streets in SOMA, according to Cal Callahan, the leather district’s manager.

See page 13 >>

Obituaries >> Patricia Smith

September 28, 1929 – March 30, 2021

Life at San Francisco Towers is everything you love about the city and more. It’s a smart, sophisticated, inclusive senior community. Stay involved in your favorite activities. Enjoy the conveniences of a Life Plan Community. And experience the peace of mind that comes with planning for the future now. For singles or couples, San Francisco Towers is the welcome you’ve been looking for.

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Pat Smith died on March 30, 2021 after a brief illness.

She was a lifelong resident of San Francisco and was always proud to call it her home.

Pat was born with orthopedic irregularities that required extensive hospitalization as a child. These challenges remained with her throughout her life and gave her a determination and particularly strong nature. All who knew her soon learned not to underestimate her resolve. She possessed a lively spirit, was great fun to be with, and could tell a bawdy joke with the best of them.

She was married twice early in life but her third and final marriage to Tom

Smith in 1958 lasted 35 years until his passing in 1993.

She worked for many years starting in 1951 at United Airlines in its San Francisco location at Union Square.

From 1971 to 1987 she owned and operated Cozy Corner, a dry cleaners on Capp Street. During the AIDS crisis she became a fixture in the gay community offering rides, friendship, and counsel to countless young men. She served on the board of directors for the AIDS Emergency Fund and was honored with the B.A.R. Hometown Hero Award in 1989.

Her family and friends wish to express their heartfelt gratitude to Mary Ann Kurtz and Sui-Mi Wong, who provided years of caring support to Pat. Their devoted efforts allowed her to remain in her home on South Van Ness Avenue, which had been her fervent wish in the final years of her life.

t <<

Community News>>

City College

From page 1

When asked if the administration takes issue with the messaging of AFT 2121, Zapeda said, “Yeah, yeah,” before saying “I wouldn’t even phrase it as taking issue. Basically, we’re right-sizing the college without decimating it. That’s incorrect.

We’re not decimating it. There’s no programs being cut. What’s being cut is this huge overhead of salary expenditures. You don’t need salary expenditures if you’re right-sizing.”

When reached for comment about how he would vote, Tom Temprano, a gay man who is vice president of the college board, said, “It’s too soon to say because we don’t know yet what we are voting on.”

Temprano said he hopes that the number of layoffs can be “significantly reduced” by concession bargaining between the administration and the union, which would “try to see if there are ways in the contract that exist to avoid layoffs,” such as implementing furlough days.

“These are really challenging times for City College,” Temprano said.

“Multiple audits have pointed to a lack of fiscal stability. The enrollment is the lowest in a long, long time.”

While the trustees and the supervisors have been working on a solution for some time to spare “some of the most in-demand programs, and programs essential to economic recovery,” it is highly unlikely anything could be agreed upon in the next week.

“That proposal is more about regrowing City College and giving a stronger foundation moving forward,” Temprano said.

City College board President Shanell Williams, a bisexual woman, told the B.A.R. that there is “misin-

<<

News Briefs

From page 8

A selection committee of artists,

<<

Plaques

From page 12

The district will be seeking an estimated $120,000 to pay for at least 50 of the plaques from the community impact fees the developer L37 Part-

<<

AIDS foundation

From page 1

Hollendoner, as the Bay Area Reporter previously reported, will join the staff of the Los Angeles LGBT Center in July to eventually take the reins of that organization.

SFAF has been affected by the pandemic. Last year it had to cancel its AIDS/LifeCycle event, which it produces with the Los Angeles LGBT Center. In 2019, participants of the bike ride, which goes 545 miles from San Francisco to Los Angeles, raised a record-breaking $16.7 million that was split between the two nonprofits. This year, a virtual TogetheRide is underway, though it

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Lesbians’ residence

From page 1

the city’s lesbian community and the site of various meetings and events.

Lyon died last April at the age of 95.

Martin died in 2008 at the age of 87 weeks after the women were the first same-sex couple to legally marry in California that June.

<<

Monterey, Carmel

From page 2

Seventh & Dolores.

Taking a break from outdoor activities and wine tasting in Carmel, I suggest stopping in for a refreshing craft brew at the

May 6-12, 2021 • Bay Area Reporter • 13

During the virtual news conference, AFT 2121 characterized the 65% cuts as potentially decimating to the institution.

Tamika Jones, a City College faculty member in the computer and information technology department,

said that she learned the skills at City College herself that helped her to get ahead. She is the parent of a first-year student.

“City College has been a symbol of new beginnings in my life,” Jones said.

“My professors were supportive and that motivated me to work hard.”

Though she initially didn’t finish a degree at City College, Jones said what she learned helped her in a position with Pacific Gas and Electric Company.

“The technical training I received at City College of San Francisco made a huge difference in terms of the opportunities that would have otherwise not been available to me,” she said.

Her department – which trains people to work in cybersecurity, web development, cloud administration and technical support – may not survive the cuts, Jones said.

“Our students come to us hungry to learn these high-demand skills in order to change their lives,” Jones said.

“Employers see the drive our students have and come back again and again.

We are diversifying tech, but right now, that mission is under threat. I’m one of four instructors that received a pink slip in [the department]. Between us, we teach 23 classes and our absence would impact 300-500 students every semester. ... If these cuts go through, I’m honestly not sure our department would be able to survive.

This school is a beacon of hope, and right now we need your support to keep that alive.”

Alumnas Shaw San Liu, the executive director of the Chinese Progressive Association, and Maria Rivera, a student at UC Berkeley, talked about the toll that the cuts would take on English as a Second Language, or ESL, classes.

“I think of our members who

through City College ESL and vocational training programs have been able to obtain stable employment in child development, in hospitality and in custodial work,” Liu said. “Over half the ESL classes being cut is ridiculous right now for our communities.”

Rivera, an immigrant from El Salvador, learned English through ESL classes at City College.

“I found a job, but couldn’t perform well because I couldn’t speak the language,” Rivera said. “So I looked for classes to speak English, and I found ESL at City College at the Mission campus and I started there.”

Eventually, Rivera was able to take for-credit classes at the main campus on Ocean Avenue. She called her counselors “my stars” for helping her navigate her way to transferring across the Bay. “God sent them to me,” Rivera said.

Now, her parents are learning English, too, and Rivera is on track to graduate this spring from UC Berkeley with a degree in mathematics and a minor in education so that she can one day become a teacher.

“My dream has been made possible by the classes I took at City College,” Rivera said. “It’s my home. That’s why I’m kind of sad. Immigrants – we need to be educated to give back to the city.

We work in our city and we need to be able to speak the language of the city.”

Alan D’Souza, an at-large representative on the AFT 2121 executive board, said that the ESL program at City College is the largest non-credit program in the state.

“We are a wealthy city, and at this point, not only can San Francisco afford it, but the rest of the nation can afford it,” D’Souza said. “Especially at a time when communities of color are more affected by these cuts, we need to stand up for City [College].” t

educators, and nonprofit leaders will choose 400 photos to display outdoors in a dynamic, large-format show in the Presidio of San Francisco,

part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, the release stated.

The free show will start in September as a lead-up to the opening of the

Presidio Tunnel Tops next spring. The show will take place at locations surrounding the future Tunnel Tops area, where visitors can see progress on the

new trails, overlooks, and play areas.

The deadline to enter is May 28.

For more information, go to https:// bit.ly/2SfJtN8. t

ners will be required to pay for its 244-rental unit housing development in SOMA. The city’s planning commission recently approved the project to be built at Folsom and 11th streets adjacent to the gay nightclub Oasis, which should be receiving a plaque of its own someday.

In the meantime, the eastern side of Eagle Plaza, the public parklet on 12th Street between Harrison and Bernice streets, has come out from behind construction walls. The $1.85 million project, begun in 2019, is turning a portion of the roadway into a community gathering space honor-

ing SOMA’s leather and LGBTQ communities.

It is named after the gay-owned Eagle bar that abuts the western side of the plaza. Sidewalks at both entrances into the plaza have been painted the blue, white and black colors of the leather flag, a gigantic version of

which now flies from a flagpole installed at the Harrison Street end of the plaza.

Over the weekend the leather district posted photos about the recently opened parklet section to its website at https://bit.ly/3aWPfdi. t

has a goal of raising $5 million.

On the plus side, SFAF raised $306,000 as part of Activate 2020, coinciding with Giving Tuesday, a day for people to donate to nonprofits in the run-up to Christmas.

According to ProPublica’s paycheck protection program database, the foundation received $1.8 million in PPP loans last year and reported 237 jobs as of May 1, 2020.

According to an annual financial report the foundation published for Fiscal Year 2019-2020, the foundation had a revenue of $52.0 million and expenses of $48.9 million.

According to the foundation’s IRS Form 990 for 2018, the most recent that is publicly available, the organiza-

tion had total revenue of $48.1 million and total expenses of $44.2 million. That tax form was filed in 2020.

In it, SFAF listed eight employees who earn more than $100,000, which they are required to name. Hollendoner’s salary and benefits at the time totaled $376,430, according to the document.

SFAF went through layoffs in 2002, due to post-9/11 donor fatigue, as the B.A.R. reported at the time. Back then it faced a $2.5 million budget gap and laid off 28 of its 117 employees.

Senior management took a 10% pay cut, while Pat Christen, then the executive director, took a 12% cut in her salary. t

The Lyon-Martin House is the second property related to LGBTQ history to receive city landmark status this year. In April the supervisors landmarked the Japanese YWCA/Issei Women’s Building at 1830 Sutter Street, where the pioneering gay rights group the Mattachine Society hosted its first convention in May 1954.

This summer it is expected that the gay-owned Eagle bar South of Market

will also become a city landmark. To date, San Francisco has landmarked two gay bar locations — the Twin Peaks in the Castro and the now-defunct Paper Doll in North Beach.

The other LGBTQ landmarks are the former home to the AIDS Memorial Quilt on upper Market Street and the late gay supervisor Harvey Milk’s residence and former Castro Camera shop at 573 Castro Street. t

Alvarado Street Brewery & Bistro at the Carmel Plaza.

Breakfast and brunch are my jam. If you do too, you will love locally beloved breakfast spots, the Wild Plum Cafe, Katy’s Place, and The Village Corner.

New favorites added to my list recently include farm-to-table Stationæry and the new L’Aubette Belgian Bakery, which serves traditional Belgian waffles and other treats. t

formation” being spread about the college’s plan by people affiliated with the faculty union and on social media.

“There is a narrative out there that we don’t need to do this, that this isn’t a very serious financial issue,” Williams said. “I’ve been seeing out there a number of groups who think the board is not doing enough to lobby for additional resources, which is not true. We have to move to reduce our expenditures. The can has been kicked down the road for a number of years, before my time on the board.”

Like Temprano, Williams is hoping for concessions in negotiations. Nonetheless, the board has to “make sure there is parity between full-time faculty and full-time equivalent students.”

‘Devastating impact for students’

Jesse Kolber and Pau Crego Walters teach at City College, for now. They take issue with the administration’s messaging.

“It does actually affect part-time people,” Crego Walters, who identifies as a trans and queer person and teaches in health education, told the B.A.R. “There’s no security that I will receive an assignment every semester.

But in my case, I teach a transgender health class and an HIV/hepatitis class and, if I’ve taught a certain number of times, I get to be offered it before others. But with these layoffs, full-time people will have first choice, so it does effectively lay me off. I’m the only out trans faculty member in my department and I teach two classes relating to trans community health.”

Kolber, who identifies as a queer, trans man and teaches in behavioral sciences, told the B.A.R. “Yes, I agree with what Pau said.”

“Trans and queer people are already underrepresented in this insti-

tution – particularly as professors and in teaching roles. It’s unlikely students would have a trans professor, but they do have that at City College,” Kolber said. “But now we are facing layoffs.

When you lay off queer, trans, and nonbinary faculty you’re affecting queer, trans, and nonbinary students and their ability to feel comfortable and safe. It’s really impactful to students, making sure students are safe.”

Crego Walters added that “by laying off trans and LGBTQ faculty, that limits mentorship opportunities for LGBTQ students.”

Kolber and Crego Walters both said that the implementation of the new gender inclusion policy at the institution may be threatened. The college board passed the policy in January 2020; it is designed to protect transgender and gender-nonconforming students and staff who said they were mistreated.

“Jesse and I work at City College. In addition to faculty roles, we worked on passing a gender inclusion policy,” Crego Walters said. “We have been continuing implementation work, as the college is not up to par with the gender inclusion policy. But if we are laid off, we will not be able to continue that, which will have a devastating impact for students.”

Kolber said he “really hope[s] the trustees do the right thing and consider how this will affect the queer and trans community at CCSF.”

‘This school is a beacon of hope’

For the full story go to ebar.com

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Our agency is also hosting virtual outreach events throughout every month, which are posted on our website under the “meetings” section and our Twitter (@SF_DPA).

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The City and County of San Francisco encourage public outreach. Articles are translated into several languages to provide better public access. The newspaper makes every effort to translate the articles of general interest correctly. No liability is assumed by the City and County of San Francisco or the newspapers for errors and omissions.

CNSB#34655106

<< Legals

14 • Bay Area Reporter • May 6-12, 2021

Legals>> ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-21-556248 In the matter of the application of SU JUNG HAN, 1924 GREAT HIGHWAY, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94116, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner SU JUNG HAN is requesting that the name SU JUNG HAN be changed to CLAIRE SUJUNG HAN. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Rm. 103 on the 20th of MAY 2021 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

APR 15, 22, 29, MAY 06, 2021 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-21-556260 In the matter of the application of CARMINA PRICILLA GONZALEZ, 1188 MISSION ST #2013, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner CARMINA PRICILLA GONZALEZ is requesting that the name CARMINA PRICILLA GONZALEZ be changed to PRISCILLA CARMINA CORTEZ. 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 20th of MAY 2021 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

APR 15, 22, 29, MAY 06, 2021 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039306100 The following person(s) is/are doing business as OTHER OPTIONS; MORGAN OAKES GALLERY, 1465 CUSTER AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94124. This business is conducted by a married couple, and is signed SHERIDAN OAKES & CAROLINE OAKES. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/01/87. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/25/21.

APR 15, 22, 29, MAY 06, 2021 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039288700 The following person(s) is/are doing business as LITTLE DOG WALKER, 100 FILBERT AVE #B, SAUSALITO, CA 94965. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed STACY PARLIN. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 02/16/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/10/21.

APR 08, 15, 22, 29, 2021 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039315100 The following person(s) is/are doing business as SAN FRANCISCO GAY MEN’S CHORUS, 170 VALENCIA ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed GOLDEN GATE PERFORMING ARTS, INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 03/01/78. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/09/21.

APR 15, 22, 29, MAY 06, 2021 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039304300 The following person(s) is/are doing business as BAESUGAR, 215 FILLMORE ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94117. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed CHRISTINA MARIE PINCKNEY. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 02/14/21. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/23/21.

APR 15, 22, 29, MAY 06, 2021 NOTICE OF PETITION TO ADMINISTER ESTATE OF RAYMOND C. YIN (AKA RAYMOND YIN, AKA RAYMOND CHING HSIANG YIN) IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN

FRANCISCO: FILE PES-20-303725 To all heirs, beneficiaries, creditors, contingent creditors, and persons who may otherwise be interested in the will or estate, or both, of RAYMOND C. YIN (AKA RAYMOND YIN, AKA RAYMOND CHING HSIANG YIN), C/O MARISSA C. SMITH (SBN#275382), 4306 GEARY BLVD #301, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94118. A Petition for Probate has been filed by JACQUELINE L. YIN in the Superior Court of California, County of San Francisco. The Petition for Probate requests that JACQUELINE L. YIN 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: MAY 10, 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: MARISSA C. SMITH, 4306 GEARY BLVD #301, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94118; Ph. (415) 742-4522.

APR 22, 29, MAY 06, 2021 SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-21-556277 In the matter of the application of CASEMIRO TEIXEIRA CAMARA, 77 VAN NESS AVE #1011181, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner CASEMIRO TEIXEIRA CAMARA is requesting that the name CASEMIRO TEIXEIRA CAMARA AKA CAS CAMARA be changed to CAS CAMARA. 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 1st of JUNE 2021 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

APR 22, 29, MAY 06, 13, 2021 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039317400 The following person(s) is/are doing business as HYDE & PACIFIC LIQUOR, 1600 HYDE ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed CHRISTINA YOUNG SIN PARK. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/04/09. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/13/21.

APR 22, 29, MAY 06, 13, 2021 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039316000 The following person(s) is/are doing business as YAMEEN, 5758 GEARY BLVD #224, SAN

May 2021 Outreach Advertisements The San Francisco Board of Supervisors, Assessment Appeals Board (AAB) is seeking a Senior Administrative Analyst to provide administrative and analytical support for the AAB. Under general direction of the Acting Administrator, the Senior Administrative Analyst plans, organizes, and leads complex, sensitive, and detailed analytical work and will direct and perform difficult, complex, and/or sensitive projects. Duties include, but are not limited to, performing analytical work, developing benchmarks, measuring performance, coordinating/conducting trainings, reporting findings, and presenting recommendations to management, departments, officials and stakeholders.

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Hearings are quasi-judicial, conducted in a manner similar to a court setting, with evidence and testimony presented by the parties. The Board then evaluates the evidence and testimony, and renders its decision.

To be eligible for seat appointment, you must have a minimum of five years professional experience in California as either a: (1) public accountant; (2) real estate broker; (3) attorney; or (4) property appraiser accredited by a nationally recognized organization, or certified by either the Office of Real Estate Appraiser or the State Board of Equalization.

FRANCISCO, CA 94121. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed YAMEEN FRIEDBERG. 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 04/12/21.

APR 22, 29, MAY 06, 13, 2021

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039316200 The following person(s) is/are doing business as SF BAYSHORE GROCERY OUTLET, 355 BAYSHORE BLVD, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94124. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed BAYSHORE FAMILY MARKET (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 04/12/21.

APR 22, 29, MAY 06, 13, 2021 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039313600 The following person(s) is/are doing business as DIM SUM CLUB, 2237 TARAVAL ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94122. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed DIM SUM CLUB INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 03/11/21. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/07/21.

APR 22, 29, MAY 06, 13, 2021 NOTICE OF PETITION TO ADMINISTER ESTATE OF LYNN MCKANNAY, AKA LYNN BLASKOWER MCKANNAY IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO: FILE PES-18-302353 To all heirs, beneficiaries, creditors, contingent creditors, and persons who may otherwise be interested in the will or estate, or both, of LYNN MCKANNAY, AKA LYNN BLASKOWER MCKANNAY, C/O RICHARD H. MCKANNAY JR., 170 AVILA ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94123. A Petition for Probate has been filed by RICHARD H. MCKANNAY JR. in the Superior Court of California, County of San Francisco. The Petition for Probate requests that RICHARD H. MCKANNAY JR. 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: MAY 26, 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: RICHARD H. MCKANNAY JR., 170 AVILA ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94123; Ph. (415) 217-9696.

APR 29, MAY 06, 13, 2021 SUMMONS (FAMILY LAW) SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO NOTICE TO RESPONDENT: CARMEL VALENZUELA SANCHEZ, YOU ARE BEING SUED. PETITIONER’S NAME IS MICHAEL JAMES SANCHEZ CASE NO. FDI-15-784009 You have 30 CALENDAR DAYS after this Summons and Petition are served on you to file a Response (form FL-120 or FL-123) at the court and have a copy served on the petitioner. A letter, phone call, or court appearance will not protect you. If you do not file your Response on time, the court may make orders affecting your marriage or domestic partnerships, your property, and custody of your children. You may be ordered to pay support and attorney fees and costs. For legal advice, contact a lawyer immediately. Get help finding a lawyer at the California Courts Online Self-Help Center (www.courts.ca.gov/selfhelp), at the California Legal Services website (www.lawhelpca.org), or by contacting your local county bar association.

NOTICE: The restraining orders following are effective against both spouses or domestic partners until the petition is dismissed, a judgment is entered, or the court makes further orders. They are enforceable anywhere in California by any law enforcement officer who has received or seen a copy of them.

INVITATION TO BID - DVBE

The Request for Proposals is being issued by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.

The Board is seeking qualified firms to provide proposals for Budget and Legislative Analyst Services to provide detailed review of legislation pending before Board Committees and the Board including Annual Appropriation and Salary Ordinance, supplemental appropriation requests, leases, contract agreements, Municipal Code changes and Charter Amendments; provide policy analysis and evaluation of options for legislative initiatives that are of interest to the Board; provide policy analysis and support to the Government Audit and Oversight Committee regarding the Civil Grand Jury Reports; and perform management audits of City departments and programs to assess whether subject departments and programs are achieving economy, efficiency and effectiveness. The deadline for the proposal submission is May 14, 2021. For more information, please go to SF City Partner page https://sfcitypartner.sfgov.org/ pages/Events-BS3/event-search.aspx (Event ID 0000005205).

Child support matters can be complicated, stressful, and confusing. The Department of Child Support Services helps parents understand the process so they know their rights and options for making and receiving support payments. We are available to assist you by phone during this time of COVID-19 public health emergency. Call us today at (866) 901-3212 or visit us online at www.sfgov.org/dcss to learn how we can help you.

The City and County of San Francisco encourage public outreach. Articles are translated into several languages to provide better public access. The newspaper makes every effort to translate the articles of general interest correctly. No liability is assumed by the City and County of San Francisco or the newspapers for errors and omissions.

CNSB#3465096

Project Name and Description: Hillcrest Elementary School Roof Improvement SFUSD Project No. 11903 25% Local Hire Requirement GAF - Single-Ply Reroofing Asbestos Removal Needed Location: 555 Franklin Street & 601 Mcallister Street San Francisco CA 94102 Trades/Services Requested: Roofing & Asbestos Removal Bid Date and Time: May 18, 2021 2pm Company Name: Roofing & Solar Construction Inc. Address: 7100 Crow Canyon Rd. Castro Valley CA 94552 Email Address: cassyfabiani@roofingsolarinc.com Contact Person: Cassy Fabiani

FEE WAIVER: If you cannot pay the filing fee, ask the clerk for a fee waiver form. The court may order you to pay back all r part of the fees and costs that the court waived for you or the other party.

SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO, 400 MCALLISTER ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102; the name, address, and telephone number of petitioner’s attorney, or the petitioner without an attorney, is: MICHAEL JAMES SANCHEZ, 750 O’FARRELL ST #107, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94107.

July 05,2015 Clerk of the Superior Court by MELISSA ORTIZ, Deputy.

WARNING: California law provides that, for the purposes of division of property upon dissolution of a marriage or domestic partnership or upon legal separation, property acquired by the parties during marriage or domestic partnership in joint form is presumed to be community property. If either party to this action should die before the jointly held community property is divided, the language in the deed that characterizes how title is held (i.e., joint tenancy, tenants in common, or community property) will be controlling, and not the community property presumption. You should consult your attorney if you want the community property presumption to be written into the recorded title to the property.

STANDARD FAMILY LAW RESTRAINING ORDERS: Starting immediately, you and your spouse or domestic partner are restrained from: 1. Removing the minor child or children of the parties, if any, from the state without the prior written consent of the other party or an order of the court; 2.

Cashing borrowing against, canceling, transferring, disposing of, or changing the beneficiaries of any insurance or other coverage, including life, health, automobile, and disability, held for the benefit of the parties and their minor child or children; 3. Transferring, encumbering, hypothecating, concealing, or in any way disposing of any property, real or personal, whether community, quasi-community, or separate, without the written consent of the other party or an order of the court, except in the usual course of business or for the necessities of life; and 4. Creating a nonprobate transfer or modifying a nonprobate transfer in the manner that affects the disposition of property subject to the transfer, without the written consent of the other party or an order of the court. Before revocation of a nonprobate transfer can take effect or a right of survivorship to property can be eliminated, notice of the change must be filed and served on the other party.

You must notify each other of any proposed extraordinary expenditures at least five business days prior to incurring these extraordinary expenditures and account to the court for all extraordinary expenditures made after these restraining orders are effective. However, you may use community property, quasi-community property, or your own separate property to pay an attorney to help you or to pay court costs.

APR 29, MAY 06, 13, 20, 2021

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-21-556177 In the matter of the application of LIA CRUZ, 1265 INGALLS ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner LIA CRUZ is requesting that the name LIA CRUZ AKA LESLIE ANN LOREN CUSHMAN AKA ANALEIGH LISETTE CUSHMAN AKA LESLIE ANN LOREN CUSHMAN-MELVILLE be changed to ALESSIA THALIA ALTA. 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 3rd of JUNE 2021 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

APR 29, MAY 06, 13, 20, 2021

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FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039321400 The following person(s) is/are doing business as KALEIDOSCOPE; KALEIDOSCOPE FOODS, 1661 TENNESSEE ST #2K, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94107.

This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed REGENERATION FOODS LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/01/21. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/19/21.

APR 29, MAY 06, 13, 20, 2021 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039314400 The following person(s) is/are doing business as MAXWELL’S PET BAR, 1734 CHURCH ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94131. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed THE DOG BAR 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 04/7/21.

APR 29, MAY 06, 13, 20, 2021 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-21-556300 In the matter of the application of ANTHONY DEAVEREAUX BLANCHARD, TH ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner ANTHONY DEAVEREAUX BLANCHARD is requesting that the name ANTHONY DEAVEREAUX BLANCHARD be changed to ANTONIO FRANCISCO DEAVEREAUX. 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 06, 13, 20, 27, 2021 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039316600 The following person(s) is/are doing business as AAA CONCRETE CONSTRUCTION AND PLUMBING CO, 3450 SACRAMENTO ST #124, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94118. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed ROBERT KORMAN. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/01/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/12/21.

MAY 06, 13, 20, 27, 2021 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039316100 The following person(s) is/are doing business as THE GARDEN HOME, 4095 MISSION ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94112. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed ADAM CHANG. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 03/01/20. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/12/21.

MAY 06, 13, 20, 27, 2021 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039323900 The following person(s) is/are doing business as FIVE STAR ELECTRIC, 17 REDONDO ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94124. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed CARLOS H. AGUILAR. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 03/18/21. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/26/21.

MAY 06, 13, 20, 27, 2021

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039320600 The following person(s) is/are doing business as DEXISION CONSULTING, 1101 PACIFIC AVE #501, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94133. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed ANGELO FRANCHINI. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 03/22/21. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/16/21.

APR 29, MAY 06, 13, 20, 2021

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039319300 The following person(s) is/are doing business as THE CABLE CAR STORE, PIER 39 SPACE P-3, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94133. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed D AND D RETAIL ENTERPRISES INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/24/96. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/14/21.

MAY 06, 13, 20, 27, 2021

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039309300 The following person(s) is/are doing business as URBAN VERSES, 255 KING ST #308, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94107. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed ALEXIS L. SPENCERBYERS. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/04/10. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/02/21.

APR 29, MAY 06, 13, 20, 2021

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039323500 The following person(s) is/are doing business as PARK PRESIDIO LIQUORS, 4400 CALIFORNIA ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94118. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed GOLDEN PARK VENTURES INC (CA). 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 04/26/21.

MAY 06, 13, 20, 27, 2021

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039320700 The following person(s) is/are doing business as FULLFILLED FOODS; MASAK MASAK, 1661 TENNESSEE ST #2K, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94107.

This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed FULLFILLED LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 02/08/21. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/16/21.

APR 29, MAY 06, 13, 20, 2021

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039323600 The following person(s) is/are doing business as SUPER SAM, 691 MCALLISTER ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed G&S LIQUOR AND CONVENIENCE STORE INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/29/18. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/26/21.

MAY 06, 13, 20, 27, 2021

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We had to develop a language and mutual respect and a way of listening that was different than just being in a band with friends. There are so many more levels and more nuances involved in a relationship.

JB: I always say that writing music with a partner is like going to college for your relationship. You learn how to communicate in different ways. I think the creative process, in general, brings out a lot of your personality that is usually kind of tucked away. It’s a unique thing to be creating with somebody else. A very specific thing to do with other people. Very rarely do we get to see that side of a partner while they’re in the middle of the creative process.

by Gregg Shapiro

The song “Daddy” makes reference to “fuckin’ quarantinin’,” “Kamikaze” contains a virus reference, “Beach House” has the line “stressed out and stuck in.” Would it be fair to say that the album is a product of the pandemic?

RB: Yeah, definitely. When we got to California, we got to a little house in Oxnard, which is 15 miles north of L.A. We had to quarantine there. We knew this going in.

The journey of what we had gone through, traveling from New York to California, formulated what we were dealing with and what we knew was coming. Being in that house alone together and letting it all sink; the most dominant themes and things that were going on were those of the pandemic. The weight and the magnitude of what was coming and what we were in the middle of.

I

n his own right, gay modern rock icon Roddy Bottum is a living legend. His association with influential bands including Faith No More (remember “Epic” and “We Care A Lot”?) and Imperial Teen (remember “Yoo Hoo”?) put him in a class by himself.

His latest musical project, Man on Man, with boyfriend Joey Holman, may be his most personal, as well as his queerest. Take the song, “It’s So Fun (To Be Gay),” for example, which includes the line “Birds do it, bees do it/We do it too,” or the overt and graphic sexuality of “1983” and “Daddy.” Add to that an impressive variety of musical styles and the duo’s eponymous Polyvinyl Records May 7 debut ranks among the best of 2021.

Gregg Shapiro: For those not in the know, how did the two of you meet?

Roddy Bottum: We’re both musicians and we both live in New York. Joey had reached out to me [two years ago] about an Imperial Teen song that he liked. He was doing a recording and he was asking about a recording technique that Imperial Teen had used. We started to talk and soon after we had that conversation, I was performing in a band called Nasty Band and we were doing a big show.

Joey came to the show and we met then and started hanging out.

What can you tell the readers about the genesis of Man On Man, including the name of the duo?

Joey Holman: The genesis was us going out to California during the beginning of COVID. Roddy’s mom was sick. His family is from

Man On Man Joey Holman and Roddy Bottum L.A. We thought it would be best, considering that we didn’t know what was going to be happening, to get out that way in case something serious happened with his mom. We rented a car and we drove west. We were in the middle of Texas and Roddy said, “Wouldn’t it be cool if we just made a few songs while we’re in quarantine?” That was the beginning of it.

After writing probably three or four songs, we were taking a lunch break and we were talking about what our project was going to be called.

I just said Man on Man, and it stuck.

Can you please say a few words about your songwriting process and if it differs, at all, from the way you wrote songs in your other bands?

RB: It was an interesting journey writing music together. Though we’re both musicians, we hadn’t written together before we went to California. It’s kind of a stretch. I always admire when couples do things together in any realm. Creatively though, it’s especially intense. I’ve never created and written with a boyfriend before, so that was completely new.

Kristen Loken/San Francisco Opera

San Francisco Opera presents The Adlers: Live at the Drive In concert at the Marin Center.

Back in Business

SF Opera, Symphony return with live and drive-in concerts

by Philip Campbell

A

fter more than a year of waiting and worry, the San Francisco Opera (SFO) and San Francisco Symphony (SFS) are back to live, in-person performances. It

nF Sa

rancisco

only feels sudden because the pandemic has destroyed our sense of time.

Both organizations have been planning cautiously for the resumption of live concerts for months. SFO predicted live opera for spring back in February and, with customary ingenuity and ambition, is making good on the huge

promise with big drive-in performances and outdoor simulcasts.

No carhops or window speakers, an FM signal mix is broadcast to each car, but no one will stop you from bringing your own popcorn.

Whether you drive or have friends with a vehicle, a new production in English of Rossini’s

What would it mean to you if the yearround Pride anthem “It’s So Fun (To Be Gay)” was embraced as such at global Pride events?

JH: I think that would be a dream for us. We had a long conversation last night that reenergized our understanding of what Man on Man is. We want people to feel they’re completely fine if they don’t identify as straight or if they don’t subscribe to a certain gender or whatever it is. Non-straight people are completely A-OK. We’re going to be donating our first day/ launch day Bandcamp sales to an organization called Born Perfect, whose goal is to end conversion therapy. That really speaks to the whole point of the song. We have so many moments of feeling stress. Most of our lives we see very clearly that the world is mostly straight.

See page 16 >>

perennial favorite The Barber of Seville seems a fine choice for a happy return to business.

Social distancing is built-in, and masking remains in common areas, but the Marin Center Drive-In and Fairgrounds create a big openair venue following safety protocols developed along state, local and industry guidelines.

A new 90-minute adaptation by Director Matthew Ozawa is romping its way intermission-free. Presented without chorus for health reasons, conductor Roderick Cox makes his Company debut leading an 18-piece SFO ensemble, performing in an 80’ by 40’ orchestra tent. The pandemic isn’t over yet and opera is a respiratory art, but specially designed singers’ masks will be removed onstage.

Streamlined to fewer characters, the exciting cast ensures fast-paced action. Baritone Lucas Meachem is Figaro, the titular barber. Mezzosoprano Daniela Mack is Rosina, with Laura Krumm singing the final three performances.

Alek Shrader, reprises the role of the Count that he last performed at the War Memorial Opera House in 2013. Performances continue May 1, 4, 7, 8, 11, 14, 15.

Adler Fellows

SFO’s return to live performances includes a welcome chance to witness eleven Adler Fellows in open-air concerts at the Marin Center. A 70-minute program of operatic favorites, The Adlers: Live At the Drive-In, spotlights the 2021 resident artists, including sopranos Anne-Marie MacIntosh, Elisa Sunshine and Esther Tonea; mezzo-soprano Simone McIntosh; tenors

SPACE RESERVATIONS NOW BEING ACCEPTED! The Bay Area Reporter’s annual edition celebrating San Francisco Pride 2021 will publish on June 24.

EDITION

Reserve your advertising space by calling Scott Wazlowski at (415) 829-8937 or email advertising@ebar.com

See page 16 >>

<< TV

16 • Bay Area Reporter • May 6-12, 2021

Wins and Losses The Lavender Tube on ‘Pose,’ Page, ‘Mare,’ ‘Crip Camp’ and more with the emergence of a vicious new upstart house, which forces the House of Evangelista members to contemplate their legacy.

“I hope that this show can empower the ones behind us, the queer ones behind us,” Porter told The Hollywood Reporter. “They see representation of themselves, and they can move through the world and into the world empowered and know that they are enough just as they are and to dream the impossible. You can be anything you want to be.”

Amen. It’s a lot. Be prepped to weep, cheer and say goodbye; on FX and Hulu.

Pose Season 3

by Victoria A. Brownworth

T

he final season of the awardwinning FX drama Pose begins this week. It will be hard to say goodbye to this groundbreaking series that put so many untold gay and trans stories on screen for the first time. On April 29, New York opened a not-quite-post-pandemic red carpet for the premiere and it was something.

Cast members Mj Rodriguez, Billy Porter, Dominique Jackson, Indya Moore, Hailie Sahar, Dyllón Burnside, Angel Bismark Curiel, Sandra Bernhard, Jason Rodriguez and Angelica Ross were in full high ball couture for the event.

“We’re coming in with a bang!”

Rodriguez, who plays Blanca, the mother every gay or trans child should have, told The Hollywood Reporter. “Pose, baby.”

For so many of us who lived through the most terrible days of the AIDS crisis that was so heartbreakingly recorded on these very pages, Pose felt like the first true story of our lives–and our deaths.

The breadth of this series as it tran-

<<

sitioned from ball culture to AIDS crisis to activism has been so deeply personal.

“To me, it’s always been more than a show,” Pose creator Ryan Murphy said at the premiere. “It’s a movement.”

The resonance of each new piece of this history was both a gut-punch and an “oh yes!” When Pray Tell (Billy Porter) picks up that food tray left on the floor outside his lover’s hospital room.

How many times did we witness that scene in real life? Or that emotional roller coaster of Angel’s (Indya Moore) affair with a straight married man from the suburbs? These and so many other moments were seared onto our hearts with Pose.

Season 3 takes place in 1994, with Blanca struggling to balance being a mother with being a present partner to her new love and her latest role as a nurse’s aide.

As AIDS becomes the leading cause of death for Americans aged 25 to 44, Pray Tell, who was diagnosed in Season 1, contends with unexpected health issues.

And then the artists must deal

Elliot Page: “It is life-saving”

Elliot Page, Oscar-nominated star of Juno and Inception and star of The Umbrella Academy, has done a powerful interview with Oprah for her new Apple TV+ show.

Page echoed what so many trans people have said after transitioning. He explained how after surgery, it was incidental things, like wearing a T-shirt, having a towel around his waist after a shower or touching his chest, that made him “feel comfortable in my body for probably the first time.”

Page said that his surgery has given him a whole new sense of self “because it is such a freeing, freeing

Elliot Page

Back in Business

From page 15

Zhengyi Bai, Christopher Colmenero and Christopher Oglesby; baritone Timothy Murray; bass Stefan Egerstrom and pianists Kseniia Polstiankina Barrad and Andrew King.

Performances are May 6 and May 13. https://www.sfopera.com

Symphony seating

For months, the San Francisco Symphony has been streaming a rich selection of digital performances. Surprisingly satisfying, and a fine and intimate way to keep in touch and be better acquainted, the free content will remain and continue to evolve. Beautifully presented and tech-flawless, watching has brought

Stefan Cohen/San Francisco Opera

Daniela Mack as Rosina and Alek Shrader as Count Almaviva in Rossini’s The Barber of Seville.

light to dark times.

I didn’t think going back to Davies Symphony Hall was likely for some time yet, so the recent announcement of a return to live per-

formances May 6 to June 25, 2021 came as something of a shock.

The concerts each Thursday and Friday begin with Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen, leading live

<<

Monday through Thursday 8:30AM - 7PM

Friday Saturday and Sunday 8:30AM -8 PM.

Proudly serving the community since 1975

3991-A 17th Street, Market & Castro 415-864-9795

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Crip Camp

experience.”

Page added, “This is incredibly new. I feel like I haven’t gotten to be myself since I was 10 years old.”

The actor leaned in to tell Oprah, “I want people to know that not only has it been life-changing for me, I do believe it is life-saving and it’s the case for so many people.”

Watch the whole interview, which premiered April 30, on Apple TV+. But bring tissues, because it is a deeply emotional experience.

Brave, honest and so, so powerful.

Crip Camp Redux

We know the weird Academy Awards are well and truly over, but just as folks are still writing about Chadwick Boseman being cheated of his last chance to win an Oscar, we want to note how intolerably wrong-headed it was for the Academy to neglect Crip Camp as Best Documentary feature.

There are 81 million disabled Americans. (A disproportionate number are LGBTQ, too.) Crip Camp is a film documenting the disability rights movement. There really is no conceivable way to overstate the importance of this film as an entrée into and recording of that story.

The rage and pain evidenced

indoor performances for invited medical professionals and community partners. 75-minute sets without intermission follow with seven additional concerts led by Jeremy Denk, James Gaffigan, Ken-David Masur, Joseph Young, Joshua Weilerstein, and Esa-Pekka Salonen.

The long freeze of the pandemic is melting a little, but I confess to initially wondering what effect drastically reduced hall occupancy and social distancing would have on the live concert experience. How comfortable should potential attendees feel?

With intelligence and common sense, the SFS has put some reassuring (and remarkably strict) rules in place. Proof of vaccination and/or a recent negative test result; mandatory face coverings that completely

on Twitter after the award was announced and Crip Camp lost to My Octopus Teacher was palpable as it was massive.

America erases and dismisses disabled Americans every day. Crip Camp is a film about the fight to be seen and recognized and valued.

The Academy also didn’t split the screen during the documentary presentation, so we didn’t see Deaf actress Marlee Matlin signing, we only heard her interpreter, a man.

This was an epic fail and lost opportunity to raise up America’s largest minority. And yet another reminder that the non-disabled are so ableist that they saw and felt the humanity of an octopus more keenly than that of millions of disabled humans. You can watch Crip Camp on Netflix.

So for the various vicissitudes and the subliminally sublime, you know you really must stay tuned.t

Read the full column, with coverage of Stephanie Ruhle’s takedown of WV Governor Jim Justice’s comments on his anti-trans legislation, and Kate Winslet in Mare of Easttown, on www.ebar.com. cover nose and mouth; 6-foot distancing, etc., should help alleviate nervous concerns.

The guidelines will ease with time- especially as San Francisco moves to the more lenient yellow level, but hall capacity will only increase to 50%. Taking baby steps is not too cautious.

Tickets go on sale May 6. Repertoire is on the website. The first three weeks include shorter compositions with a lyrical feel. Future content will be announced.

The SFS box office has a tradition of patient understanding and professionalism. Don’t hesitate to ask questions or seek guidance.

San Francisco Symphony Box Office: 415-864-6000. www.sfsymphony.orgt

Man on Man

From page 15

“Two At A Time,” which includes the wonderful lines – “Look ahead at all the possibilities/Living to the best of our abilities/Windows open, yes to visibility,” not only sounds like the perfect summer song for the beach or blasting from open car windows, but also one with a vision of a post-COVID-19 world. Am I on the right track?

RB: Certainly, yeah. That’s what we’re aiming for. I think when we were in the throes of the pandemic, and all of the sort of intensity that I was talking about before, it was our goal, everyone’s goal in the world today, right now, to get through this. I think we, as a world, are so much looking forward to the possibilities of getting through this all.

That’s where our heads were at in the making of all our songs.t

Joey Holman and Roddy Bottum

Read the full interview, with videos, on www.ebar.com

Listen and buy Man on Man’s music and merch at www.polyvinylrecords.com/artist/ man_on_man

<< Theatre & Film

18 • Bay Area Reporter • May 6-12, 2021

She kissed a girl F*ck7thGrade’s innovative entertainment

Jill Sobule and her band in F*ck7thGrade

by Gregg Shapiro

B

orrowing a page from John Cameron Mitchell and Stephen Trask’s Hedwig and the Angry Inch handbook, Jill Sobule’s fabulous and fierce F*ck7thGrade (City Theatre Company), is a musical presented as a rock concert. The show, with a book by Liza Birkenmeier, shares a tuneful quilt constructed of songs from eight of Sobule’s studio albums, from her 1990 major label debut Things Here Are Different

through 2019’s independently released Nostalgia Kills.

During the fall of 2020, due to the inability to produce indoor performances during the pandemic, Pittsburgh’s City Theatre constructed a drive-in stage at Hazelwood Green. It was there that F*ck7thGrade was filmed before a live audience, safely socially distanced and seated in their cars.

After making her entrance on a vintage bicycle, Sobule, in unfastened white overalls and a “Music

Is My Only Friend” t-shirt, takes the stage and tears into a song about wanting and getting a blue Raleigh Chopper bike when she was in 6th grade in the early 1970s. She also wanted to be a spy and a rock star at that age, and everything seemed to be working out for her. She embraced being a “weirdo.”

But everything changed when she entered seventh grade. At that time, it wasn’t cool to be a girl guitar player who could shred better than the boys. She was obsessed

with watching the Watergate trial, while her mother was having an affair “with the guy who sold us our station wagon.” Unlike her female classmates, Jill showed little interest in gossiping about boys or wearing makeup. Additionally, she was pigeon-toed and had to wear “so not good looking” corrective shoes.

Fortunately, Mary, a cool new girl arrived halfway through the school year. Jill started hanging out with her and her freak friends. They got high. Then Jill found herself attracted to Mary and, if it wasn’t for a puke incident, might have had her first same-gender sexual experience.

She switched schools, which didn’t help. She sought refuge in music, which became her “savior.

As with many queer people, life got better for Jill in college, which included a life-changing year abroad in Spain. It was there that she had her first walk of shame following a night with a woman. Back in the States, she “dropped out of school so I’d have time for waitressing, finding open mics, and figuring out where the lesbians hung out.” Just as she was preparing to leave Denver and move to New York with a girlfriend, she met a record label guy who invited her to Nashville which led to her first record deal.

Shortly thereafter, Sobule had her big breakthrough moment with her 1995 hit single “I Kissed A Girl” (not the inferior Katy Perry rip-off). The

t

rest, as they say, is pop music history, which Sobule reveals in humorous and heartbreaking detail.

On almost all of her albums, Sobule has included at least one song about the horrors of junior high school and adolescence. What makes F*ck7thGrade more than a jukebox musical is the feeling one gets that she’s been writing towards something like this all along. She’s a natural-born storyteller in song and in speaking, and hers is a story, a cautionary tale of survival, that needs to be told. Rating: B+t Streaming now through June 30, 2021 at citytheatrecompany.org

Jill Sobule in F*ck7thGrade

‘The Normal Heart’ Online reading to benefit One Archives Foundation

by Jim Provenzano

T

The cast of the online reading of The Normal Heart

he late author, playwright and AIDS activist Larry Kramer’s The Normal Heart presented a scathing critique of complacency and concern in the early years of the AIDS pandemic.

Originally staged at The Public Theatre in 1985, the 2011 Broadway revival won three Tony awards.

American Conservatory Theatre won raves for its 2012 production, and Ryan Murphy’s HBO film adaptation aired in 2014.

The “fiercely polemical drama” (New York Times) remains a classic of gay-themed theatre, with Kramer telling the story of the frightening days when gay men

began getting sick and dying. His protagonist Ned Weeks grows frustrated with a ‘passive’ version of the Gay Men’s Health Crisis, and combats his family, friends and even New York City Mayor Ed Koch.

On May 8 at 5pm PST, an online staged reading, directed by Emmy winner Paris Barclay, will include a stellar cast of mostly people of color and LGBT actors performing the play.

The cast includes Sterling K. Brown (This Is Us, Black Panther); Laverne Cox (Orange Is The New Black, Promising Young Woman); Jeremy Pope (Hollywood, Choir Boy); Vincent Rodriguez III (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Insatiable):

Guillermo Díaz (Scandal, Weeds); Jake Borelli (Grey’s Anatomy, The Thing About Harry); Ryan O’Connell (Special, Will & Grace); Daniel Newman (Walking Dead, Homeland); Jay Hayden (Station 19, The House Bunny); and Danielle Savre (Station 19, Heroes).

The virtual reading will include a special introduction by Martin Sheen.

Proceeds benefit The One Archives, the Los Angeles-based LGBT archive. The one-night streaming event will include a postshow Q&A with Barclay and cast members.t Tickets range from $10 to $100. www.onearchives.org/

‘Together Together’ Trans actress Patti Harrison shines in lead role

by David-Elijah Nahmod

F

or some time now transgender actors have been campaigning Hollywood to start casting them in trans roles, as most trans roles have been played non-trans actors. Now, along comes a film that turns the trans actors’ issue on its head, a film in which a trans actress plays a cisgender pregnant woman.

Though Ed Helms is top billed, its transgender comedian Patti Harrison who walks away with the top acting honors in Together Together, Nikole Beckwith’s charming new comedy/drama about the relationship between a prospective single

dad and his surrogate. Helms is quite good as a lonely guy who wants to be a dad more than anything in the world, but it’s Harrison who takes center stage as the film progresses.

The film opens with what at first appears to be a job interview, but it’s actually Matt (Helms) interviewing a possible surrogate mom. Anna (Harrison) makes it clear that she’s not going to let him cross her boundaries, a point she drives home with even greater clarity when Matt shows up at her front door after she’s carrying the baby. A young man named Bryce (Evan Jonigkeit) is leaving her apartment, and Matt wants to know if Anna and Bryce had sex. Anna in-

forms Matt that this is none of his business and that she intends to do whatever she pleases. Still, she accepts Matt’s dinner invitation.

As the pregnancy progresses a platonic friendship develops between the two. Matt, who’s been unlucky in love, obviously wants to be close to Anna. She, however, is planning to move out of state to go to school after the pregnancy and tells Matt that it’s probably best if they’re not friends. But as the birth date draws closer, it becomes apparent that they care for each other more than either is willing to admit.

Together Together is a lovely film about loneliness and reaching out, a

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Ed Helms and Patti Harrison in Together Together.

story about two people who might have fallen in love under different circumstances. Helms and Harrison play off each other beautifully, with each of them conveying a simultaneous desire to reach out and a fear of doing so. They get able support from a wonderful supporting cast.

The film was shot in San Francisco and includes a scene filmed at the intersection of 21st Street and Sanchez, as well as another scene shot by the J Church Muni station in Dolores Park, though for the most part, the film is shot indoors

and doesn’t take advantage of the city’s stunning vistas.

Together Together is ultimately a reflective story, funny in parts but also quite serious at times. It’s a low budget film that won’t win any major awards, but it deserves to be seen. It’s a sweet and lovely film that explores the possibilities of platonic love. Hopefully the film will launch Harrison on a career as a leading lady of cinema.t

Read the full review on www.ebar.com

t

Books & 50 in 50>>

May 6-12, 2021 • Bay Area Reporter • 19

Queer spring non-fiction

by Gregg Shapiro

A

fter a brutal winter, made even more difficult by the pandemic and killer storms, the Spring Equinox has arrived and warmer weather days are in sight. The following new non-fiction books are a good way to welcome the new season.

Let Me Tell You What I Mean (Knopf, 2021) by celebrated writer Joan Didion opens with a lengthy intro by gay writer Hilton Als, before delighting readers with previously uncollected essays written between 20 and 50 years ago on topics as timely as ever, including college admissions stress, addiction programs, the state of journalism, as well as one on the late gay photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, all in her sharp observational style.

Based on the novel by the late, gay writer James Leo Herlihy, the Oscar-winning 1969 movie Midnight Cowboy was groundbreaking in many ways, not the least of which was its depiction of homosexuality. Shooting Midnight Cowboy: Art, Sex, Loneliness, Liberation, and the Making of a Dark Classic (FSG, 2021) by Glenn Frankel takes a long, hard look at how it came to be and the impact that it had on the culture.

As colorful as its subject matter, and hefty, too, The Queens’ English: The LGBTQIA+ Dictionary of Lingo and Colloquial Phrases (Clarkson Potter, 2021) by Chloe B. Davis has the potential to be an indispensable volume for the alphabet soup of our community, as well as for our legion of supporters and allies.

An American Covenant: A Story of Women, Mysticism and the Making

of Modern America (Topple Books/ Little a, 2020), the debut book by queer, Brooklyn-based writer Lucile Scott is described as “a history of mystic resistance and liberation,” focusing on five women – Marie Laveau, Cora L. V. Scott, Helena Blavatsky, Zsuzsanna Budapest and Marianne Williamson – “who transcended the expected to transform America.”

Prolific Danish playwright Emma Gad (1852-1921), whose “theatrical productions raised important and still pressing questions about sexuality and morality,” is the subject of Lynn R. Wilkinson’s Laughter and Civility: The Theater of Emma Gad (University of Wisconsin Press, 2020), which combines biography, history and analysis to remind us of Gad’s value.

Incorporating multiple meanings of the term “hip check,” from the way it’s used in reference to athletes to “the inspection of racialized gender,” The Small Book of Hip Checks: On Queer Gender, Race and

Writing (Duke University Press, 2021) by Erica Rand, examines “the workings of queer gender, race, and writing,” via familiar names including tennis legend Serena Williams, ballet dancer Misty Copeland, and figure skater Debi Thomas.

In his memoir The Secret Gospel of Mark (Seven Stories Press, 2021), gay poet Spencer Reece (The Clerk’s Tale) takes readers on his journey through Yale, alcoholism, his retail job at Brooks Brothers, Harvard Divinity School, and Episcopal priesthood, and ultimately how it was poetry that saved his life.

The late gay poet James Merrill, author of The Changing Light at Sandover, as well as the memoir A Different Person, was also known as “one of the 20th century’s last great letter writers,” and A Whole World: Letters from James Merrill (Knopf, 2021), edited by Merrill scholars Langdon Hammer and Stephen Yenser, spans his lifetime in correspondence, from the early 1930s to the mid-1990s.

Melissa Febos, the inaugural recipient of the Jeanne Cordova Prize for Lesbian/Queer Nonfiction from Lambda Literary, returns with her new essay set Girlhood (Bloomsbury, 2021), examining “the narratives women are told about what it means to be female and what it takes to free oneself from them.”

In Three Dads and a Baby (Cleis, 2021), Ian Jenkins, MD, one-third of a polyamorous throuple with his partners Alan and Jeremy, embarks on a quest for fatherhood utilizing various methods, resulting in the birth of a daughter via surrogate making them the first-ever polyamorous family to become a child’s legal parents, a story you may have seen on CNN. Award-winning gay poet, screenwriter and educator Brian Broome’s coming-of-age memoir Punch Me Up to the Gods (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2021) follows the author from his Ohio childhood “as a dark-skinned black

boy” who harbored crushes on other boys to his journey through “indiscriminate sex and escalating drug use” to his present-day life in Pittsburgh.

Mark Stevens and Annalyn Swan, the 2005 Pulitzer Prize and National Book Critics Circle Award-winning biographers of De Kooning: An American Master, have turned their attention to the late gay figurative painter Frances Bacon with the extensive and expansive Frances Bacon Revelations (Knopf, 2021) featuring 90 illustrations within, as well as 32 full-color pages of photographs.

Where would we be without straight allies such as Olivia Laing? Laing, who has written about Andy Warhol, Derek Jarman, Kathy Acker and David Wojnarowicz, to name a few, continues in this direction with her new book Everybody: A Book About Freedom (Norton, 2021), which features Christopher Isherwood, Susan Sontag, Andrea Dworkin and others.t

50 years in 50 weeks:

1975: Empress and an elephant

nd the fi u o y elp We’ll h ct gift this perfe ay!

D s ’ r e Moth

1975

was a great year for B.A.R. covers, but the most legendary image of the year is assuredly that of Empress Doris riding an elephant down Polk Street for the annual Gay Freedom Day Parade on the cover of the July 10, 1975 issue (photo by Ron Williams). How did it happen? And why?

According to Wally Rutherford’s Imperial Newsletter on Page 20: “Doris’ first thank you is to Her new friend, Tagu. If you didn’t get a chance to see this extremely intelligent elephant in the Gay Freedom Day Parade, you missed a turbulent but fantastic ride.

“The idea of riding an elephant has long been a dream for Doris. Finally, Her dream was realized through the courtesy of the *PS, Casa de Cristal, Mind Shaft, Nickelodeon, Rendezvous, Bay Area Reporter and the new Church Street Station. Tagu came from Marine World, Africa U.S.A. and the trainers accompanying her were courteous and quite concerned over Doris’ safety.

“Doris promises Her Court that she will not take anymore chances during Her Reign.”

The issue also includes a two-page photo spread of the Parade, and one of Harvey Milk’s columns covering the day, straight media’s lack of coverage, and city funding iniquities.t

Read more at https://archive.org/details/BAR_19750710/mode/2up

Helpful hint: This is not that perfect gift!

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