November 28, 2024 edition of the Bay Area Reporter

San Mateo sheriff under fire for antigay texts

by John Ferrannini

Long-term survivors to be honored at SF World AIDS Day events

by John Ferrannini

The San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office is in turmoil after a report revealed Sheriff Christina Corpus used homophobic and racist slurs in text messages, and that there was a scheme to conceal rifles. The Board of Supervisors is taking steps to amend the county charter to empower it to remove the sheriff if voters pass the measure next year.

Corpus has not resigned as of press time November 22, though all five captains in the sheriff’s office have called for her ouster, alongside all of San Mateo County’s state and federal representatives, and numerous local representatives. Elected in 2022, Corpus has been the first woman elected sheriff of San Mateo County since taking office in 2023. She has been with the department since 2002 and is one of the first Latina sheriffs in California.

The San Mateo County Board of Supervisors unanimously voted November 19 to place a charter amendment on the ballot in a special election March 4 that would allow the board to remove the sheriff. It needs to be passed at a second meeting December 3, according to a news release from the county.

The charter amendment would authorize the Board of Supervisors to remove an elected sheriff for cause, which means violation of any law related to the performance of sheriff’s duties, flagrant or repeated neglect of the sheriff’s duties, misappropriation of public funds, willful falsification of official statements or documents, or obstruction of any investigation into the conduct of a sheriff, according to the release.

“Such an extraordinary move could take place only after a four-fifths vote by the Board of Supervisors and only after giving the sheriff written notice and an opportunity to be heard publicly,” the release stated. “These safeguards mean the board could only apply the charter amendment to a sheriff that egregiously violates the public trust and the oath of office.”

Damning report

The 400-page report, released November 12, was compiled by retired Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge LaDoris Hazzard Cordell, a lesbian, who declined to comment to the Bay Area Reporter. Cordell’s report painted a damning picture of Corpus, KGOTV reported.

Corpus has denied the allegations she has used a homophobic slur. The report states, “On July 13, 25, 2022 and August 15, 2022, Sheriff Corpus sent the civilian employee (#3) text messages criticizing a local City Council member by calling her ‘Fuzz Bumper,’ a homophobic slur directed at lesbians.”

The same civilian employee states that in 2022, Corpus used the N-word twice in reference to then-Sheriff Carlos Bolanos, whom the civilian employee was speaking with on a Zoom call (the civilian employee’s audio was muted and so the others in the meeting couldn’t hear the slur).

“The civilian employee’s adult son is biracial – (African American/Caucasian) and identi-

LGBTQ, health care, and AIDS activists will be commemorating the 36th annual World AIDS Day Sunday, December 1, with events throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. The observances come ahead of President-elect Donald Trump returning to the White House and fears among many advocates about what his administration might do in terms of budget cuts or other changes to public health matters.

Chief among the events is a ceremony from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the National AIDS Memorial Grove in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, the only federally designated memorial to those who died in the epidemic. John Cunningham, a gay man who is the grove’s chief executive, told the Bay Area Reporter that the San Francisco AIDS Foundation’s Vince Crisostomo will be honored with the Thom Weyand Unsung Hero Award “for his decades of selfless service to improving our community and the lives of which it is made.”

“Vince is truly an example of selfless service and we are so honored to bestow this award on him,” Cunningham said.

Crisostomo, a gay Chamorro, told the B.A.R. that he’ll be uplifting those who’ve died as he receives the award.

“The end of 2024 has been a really emotional

time of sadness and joy,” Crisostomo stated. “I feel that this recognition is not just me but all the people I have served and those lost to HIV who are the true unsung heroes.”

Cunningham said that at the event, Crisostomo will be participating in a conversation “focused on the nearly four-and-a-half decades of HIV and its impact upon the world” moderated by infectious disease expert and advocate Larkin Callaghan, Ph.D., and also featuring

Percy Vermut, a trans tutor and mentor with BreakthroughSF, the San Francisco chapter of a national nonprofit dedicated to supporting lowincome students in pursuing higher education; and Kimberly M. Canady, who is HIV-positive. Canady was born with HIV and was unaware she was living with HIV until her 10th birthday, according to her bio on The Well Project.

See page 4 >>

Report details needs of Bay Area Two-Spirits, Indigiqueers

by Matthew S. Bajko

Anew report said to be the first of its kind has documented the needs of the Bay Area’s Two-Spirit and Indigiqueer communities. The findings show that an overwhelming majority of respondents are able to access health care but struggle to pay for their everyday needs.

Called “Living in Abundance: Report on the Needs and Strengths of Indigenous 2SLGBTQIA+ Communities in the Greater Bay Area,” nearly 30% of the 222 people whose survey responses were used for the needs assessment feel connected to their Indigenous community “all of the time,” while 83% said they felt culturally connected to their Indigenous community through dance, ceremonies, spiritual practices, storytelling, food, music, language, arts, and medicinal herbs.

While 1,500 people responded to the survey, only responses from 2SLGBTQIA+ people, with the 2S shorthand for Two-Spirit, living in the nine-county Bay Area could be used for the findings in the report. Conducted by BAAITS, Bay Area American Indian Two-Spirits, it is the first such report the nonprofit has compiled in its 25year history.

The response, said BAAITS Executive Director Dr. Angel C. Fabian, “reinforced the fact we exist and there is a lot of very beautiful strengths in the community but also a lot of very deep needs.”

More than half of respondents were between the ages of 25 and 44, with 50% identifying as male. Three identified as nonbinary and five as Two-Spirit.

Almost 80% were American Indian/Alaska Native or First Nations. The rest were Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander or Indigenous people from the Americas, according to the report.

“We serve a very particular niche, which are the Two-Spirit and Indigiqueer community. And it is through culture that we are kind of highlighting their role in the community,” said Fabian, whose agency annually hosts the biggest powwow gathering for the 2SLGBTQIA+ community, with the

next one set for February 1 at Fort Mason in the city’s Marina district.

The survey finding that around a quarter of respondents struggle with housing and employment, and that more than 4% are uncomfortable with their use of alcohol and drugs, didn’t come as a surprise, Fabian told the Bay Area Reporter during a phone interview on the eve of Native American Heritage Month, which is celebrated in November.

“We knew that by word of mouth. What we were able to do with this particular community assessment is quantify it,” said Fabian, 52, who is Two-Spirit and Indigiqueer and was brought in to lead BAAITS close to two years ago.

Fabian was born into the Ben’Zaa or Zapotec Indigenous group of Mexico and grew up in the Central Valley’s migrant labor camps. They first came to the Bay Area in 1991 as an undergraduate at Stanford University.

Many 2SLGBTQIA+ Two-Spirits and Indigiqueers move to the Bay Area to find the ac-

ceptance they were not receiving in their own nations or the communities they grew up in, said Fabian, who in ceremonial spaces is known as Tlahuizpapalotl, which translates as Butterfly of Light. Others end up coming to the city due to the community resources that are available via different nonprofits or city agencies.

It is captured in the data from the survey responses about feeling a sense of belonging to their Indigenous communities here in the Bay Area, said Fabian.

“What that tells me is that the trajectory of the past 25 years has worked or is working,” they said about the various programs BAAITS and other groups have been able to offer. “What that tells me is the labor of love is working.”

In terms of medical care, 92.3% of the respondents said they could access the care they need. But 6.7% had problems finding the mental health, medical, or vision care they required.

San Mateo County Sheriff Christina Corpus

Courtesy San Mateo County

Dr. Angel Fabian, the executive director of Bay Area American Indian Two Spirits, stands in the new offices of the organization, located on Valencia Street.

Rick Gerharter

A person looks at names inscribed in the Circle of Friends during last year’s Light in the Grove benefit.

Courtesy NAMG

Sales family demands feds look into son’s death

by John Ferrannini

The family of a gay 20-year-old Korean/Filipino man found dead in a San Francisco high-rise nearly five years ago is formally requesting the United States Department of Justice launch a hate crimes investigation.

Glenn D. Magpantay, an attorney representing Angie Aquino-Sales and Jimmy Sales, who are the parents of the late Jaxon Sales, penned a letter November 20 to FBI Director Christopher Wray and Assistant U.S. Attorney General Kristen Clarke saying that they believe the man they hold responsible for Sales’ death violated federal hate crimes laws on the basis of Sales’ race and sexual orientation. The family is asking pursuant to the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr., Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009. The Bay Area Reporter is not naming the man as he has not been charged with a crime.

The San Francisco FBI office didn’t immediately return requests for comment. The Department of Justice declined to comment other than to state it had received the letter.

Died in 2020

As the B.A.R. previously reported, Jaxon Sales died March 2, 2020 in the Rincon Hill apartment of a 41-yearold white man. But his death was deemed accidental by officials and wasn’t investigated at the time by police as possibly a homicide.

Jaxon Sales was determined to have died of acute mixed-drug intoxication, with gamma-hydroxybutyric acid, methamphetamine, and cocaine in his system, according to the San Francisco Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. The Sales family previously told the B.A.R. that an official with the medical examiner’s office told them “no investigation is needed as ‘the gay community uses GHB,’” a statement they said is discriminatory, and which was previously reported by the B.A.R.

The parents of Jaxon Sales, who died nearly five years ago of an accidental drug overdose, want the U.S. Justice Department to launch a hate crimes investigation into the matter.

When reached by the B.A.R. at the time, a spokesperson for the medical examiner’s office neither confirmed nor denied the GHB statement was made to Jaxon Sales’ parents but said that an individual’s sexual orientation does not influence their medical determination.

While GHB is used recreationally by some gay men, it has also been linked to date-rape and murder.

The Sales’ letter states that “a federal investigation and prosecution are needed and warranted,” alleging that the man the family holds responsible for Jaxon Sales’ death “had a history of targeting and luring young, gay, Asian men to his apartment” in the Rincon Hill neighborhood.

“Jaxon was selected because he’s Asian, because he’s gay,” Magpantay told the B.A.R. in a phone interview.

“That was sufficient … a hate crime charge is warranted.”

Legal theory unveiled Magpantay is arguing that someone can be found responsible for a biasmotivated crime due to an immutable characteristic – in this case, sexual orientation and race – without it necessarily being caused by hatred of those groups.

“Does bias mean hate animus?” he asked. “And when I did research on this statute, I wasn’t sure. If you target someone because of race, ethnicity, or age, it doesn’t mean you hate them. Animus, hatred, isn’t a legal requirement in a hate crime. The victim has to have been selected and targeted because of their association with a particular protected category.”

The letter contains some precedents in an attempt to show that hatred of a group isn’t a requirement per se; for example, in the 2020 case Lucas v. the United States, one of the perpetrators and the victim shared the same sexual orientation, but the District of Columbia Court of Appeals acknowledged “it is well known that people can demonstrate bias and discriminate against others who fall within the same protected category as they do.”

In the Lucas case, a lesbian and her brother were convicted of beating a gay man in a homophobic attack during which they yelled, “faggot motherfucker,” among other slurs at the victim, according to prosecutors.

When pressed on the matter, Magpantay conceded that “on some level this is a case of first impression – I did not have a case fully on point adjudicated.”

“We’ll be creating a bit of new law if we get into that nuance,” he continued. “The defense can definitely say, ‘I don’t hate the person,’ but the element is ‘did you select him because of his race?’”

Angie Aquino-Sales agrees requesting a federal investigation is an appropriate step.

“We have gone through the process and honestly, there have been agencies within the city of San Francisco that have been responsive to us, and those who could make a difference that were not responsive to us,” she said, including state officials.

San Francisco police eventually did investigate the case as a homicide – for which Aquino-Sales said she was grateful – but charges weren’t filed by the San Francisco District Attorney’s office.

Among those she found “not responsive” was California Attorney General Rob Bonta. Aquino-Sales said he’d personally assured her he’d take a look at the case a second time after his office had initially declined to pursue it, but she has not heard back from him in over a year.

A Bonta spokesperson said November 22 that his office looked into the matter a second time and sent a letter September 17, 2024. The B.A.R. reached out to Magpantay to inform him and Aquino-Sales of this information but didn’t immediately hear back.

A wrongful death suit she filed in San Francisco County Superior Court against the man she holds responsible for her son’s death has been delayed. Aquino-Sales is representing herself in that legal matter.

“This is a very complex case,” she said. “When you’re a defendant, you’re not as willing to talk or answer, so there’s been delays on that, and also, I’m representing us and so learning the law and how to maneuver through and navigate through things that aren’t my profession definitely has taken some time.”

Magpantay said he has confidence that the Justice Department will continue to investigate hate crimes no matter whom President-elect Donald Trump appoints to head it. Shortly after the phone interview with Magpantay, Trump’s AG nominee, former Congressmember Matt Gaetz (RFlorida), withdrew himself from contention amid allegations he paid for sex, had been seen having sex with a

minor, and had been at a party where minors were present along with alcohol, cocaine, and MDMA.

“Once the Justice Department gets it, they’ll open up a file and commence an investigation. We’ll see what happens,” Magpantay said. “I cannot tell you whether the new attorney general or assistant attorney general for civil rights or FBI director will want to take it to fruition. I can say that hate crimes has bipartisan support – even Trump made statements after the Pulse nightclub shooting.”

(The Pulse nightclub shooting, during Trump’s first run for the presidency in 2016, was the deadliest terrorist attack in the U.S. since September 11, 2001; Omar Mateen killed 49 people and injured 53 more at a Latin night at an LGBTQ nightclub, Pulse, in Orlando, Florida. Mateen said he was avenging the U.S. killing of an Iraqi ISIS leader.)

The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act was signed by then-President Barack Obama in 2009. It expanded the 1968 federal hate crimes law to also cover sexual orientation and gender identity. On November 19, the act marked its 15th anniversary, and Principal Deputy Associate Attorney General Benjamin C. Mizer delivered remarks on the anniversary in Washington, D.C.t

The State of California offers help for victims or witnesses to a hate crime or hate incident. This resource is supported in whole or in part by funding provided by the State of California, administered by the California State Library in partnership with the California Department of Social Services and the California Commission on Asian and Pacific Islander American Affairs as part of the Stop the Hate program. To report a hate incident or hate crime and get support, go to cavshate.org.

Bas declares victory in Alameda supe race

by Cynthia Laird

T

he Alameda County Board of Supervisors apparently won’t have an out LGBTQ member after all. With new vote totals issued November 20, Oakland City Council President Nikki Fortunato Bas declared victory over gay Emeryville City Councilmember John Bauters for the open District 5 seat.

With the latest returns being released, Bas was ahead of gay Emeryville City Councilmember John Bauters by 415 votes. Earlier this week, Bas led by only 106 votes, according to previous returns. The new tally shows Bas with 50.15% to Bauters’ 49.85%.

Right after the election, it was Bauters who had been leading in the race. But he saw his lead vanish as additional votes were counted.

Bas posted on X shortly after the latest results were released November 20.

<< Two-Spirits

From page 1

Survey development

In developing the survey, BAAITS hosted a number of talking circles with a handful of participants at a time who could provide input on what questions to ask. It had selected six people to be community story keepers and lead the discussions.

“The level of openness and vulnerability our community members showed was moving. Some of the preconceived notions I originally held regarding potential need within the community fell short of what the

“Today, it appears that District 5 voters have selected me as their next representative to the Alameda County Board of Supervisors,” she wrote.

“I will bring an unflagging commitment and engage the community to serve every resident by expanding affordable housing and effective solutions to homelessness, accessible healthcare, good jobs, and safe communities,” Bas added. “One year ago, I answered the call from community-based advocates and Labor leaders to advance a vision of an equitable, prosperous and healthy future for every Alameda County family.”

Bas, a progressive, had the backing of numerous labor organizations for her campaign, according to her website.

Outgoing Supervisor Keith Carson had endorsed Bauters to be his successor.

With the recall of Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao easily passing, Bas had been in line as the current council president to become acting mayor until a special election was held.

community offered. Their needs were greater, deeper, and often in completely different areas than I imagined,” noted Emeryville resident Maritza Castillo, 45, who is Two-Spirit and a detribalized Nahua-Mexica.

One of the story keepers who now works part time for BAAITS as a community wellness ambassador, Castillo was struck by Two-Spirit youth saying they would like to have more “open access” to elders in their Indigenous communities. Meanwhile, they heard from many older LGBT community members that “they don’t identify with the younger generation’s approach to gender and

Now that Bas has won the supervisor race, however, the council will need to select a member to serve as acting mayor. The acting mayor would likely serve until April, when it’s expected a special election will be held to complete Thao’s term.

Bauters conceded Friday, November 22, in an email to supporters.

“With the ballot counting process nearing an end, and despite a very close race, it appears that Nikki Bas will be the next Alameda County Supervisor for District 5,” he stated. “I’ve called to wish Nikki the best of luck in her new role representing us at the Board of Supervisors.

“I am extremely proud of the positive campaign we ran, and am grateful to the countless number of supporters who helped us share that message with voters across the district. To the many of you who hosted events, contributed funds, or shared our message, I am deeply grateful for your love and support,” Bauters added.

sexuality,” as the report states.

“I think lack of access to elders was something that was repeated over and over again through the process, whether through youth or folks my age,” said Castillo.

Consultant Deborah Scott, 72, a straight ally who is Cherokee and president of Sage Associates Inc., said more work is needed to better determine the needs of 2SLGBTQIA+ Two-Spirit and Indigiqueer youth. The survey included responses from just 37 people ages 18 to 24.

“It was a hard group to kind of figure out; that bears some more work,” said Scott, who splits her time between

He also noted that his tenure on the Emeryville council will soon end.

“My time as a member of the Emeryville City Council is also drawing to a close on December 10. It has been my distinct privilege to represent the people of Emeryville these past eight years and I am proud of the work we’ve accomplished togeth-

Tulsa, Oklahoma and Austin, Texas.

“On the whole, I was very pleased with the report and the findings.”

She was particularly struck with the findings around people feeling connected to their Indigenous communities. She hopes it sparks an interest in building on that and ensuring people remain connected and have access to community spaces that feel safe and meet their various needs.

“There was a strong feeling of solidarity and alignment,” noted Scott.

“Even though we have differences internally, there was a strong sense of someone’s got my back.”

One topic that came up from the

er on housing, homelessness, environmental justice, active transportation, and community programming,” Bauters stated.

As for his next steps, Bauters stated he would be spending time with friends and family “and identifying a new employment opportunity that will allow me to continue my work addressing the important social justice issues facing our communities in the new year.”

In another race that is outstanding, gay Hayward school board candidate Austin Bruckner Carrillo is leading for the third seat with 15.96% of the vote. Three of the oversight body’s seats were up for grabs in the November 5 election.

The Alameda registrar will next post results Tuesday, December 3, but there are very few ballots remaining.

According to the California Secretary of State’s office, just 4,386 ballots to be cured are left to be tallied. It is not known how many of those include the District 5 race.t

talking circles was seeing if people could access the gender-affirming care they needed, which 94.2% said was “accessible.” But, as for their friends, 36.5% said they knew someone with no gender-affirming care provider.

In other aspects of health care access, 98.6% of respondents reported having friends in need of assistance. They reported knowing someone who needed help for alcoholism (63.1%); anxiety (50%); depression (47.3%); another mental health condition (19.8%); or pain management for a chronic condition (5%).

Courtesy the Sales family

Nikki Fortunato Bas, left, has declared victory over John Bauters for the District 5 seat on the Alameda County Board of Supervisors.

Courtesy the candidates

US Supreme Court to hear trans case

Analysis by Lisa Keen

The U.S. Supreme Court will soon take up an important legal question concerning whether states can ban medical treatment for gender dysphoria in youth. The case comes from Tennessee, one of several states that have enacted such laws, and oral arguments are set for Wednesday, December 4.

Certainly, there will be widespread media coverage. The “transgender issue” is being blamed in large part for Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris’ loss to Republican President-elect Donald Trump. Trump wielded the subject matter in many of his campaign speeches, claiming Harris was in favor of free sex-change operations for prisoners, migrants, and children. The targeted messages, including heavy use of anti-transgender ads during nationally televised football games in swing states, was effective in winning votes for Trump and in devastating the sense of safety for transgender people of all ages.

Now, a heavily pro-Trump Supreme Court will decide whether states can ban legitimate medical treatments for people under 18 who suffer from a recognized medical condition.

For those interested, anyone can listen to the one-hour oral argument live, listen to the recording, or read the transcript afterward. Here are important details to help understand what is being discussed:

Case name: U.S. v. Skrmetti. This appeal originated with LW v. Skrmetti, a case in which the parents of three transgender teenagers in Tennessee sued to stop the ban on treatment. The Supreme Court did not act on the original appeal from the three teenagers. Instead, it agreed to hear the U.S.

<< World AIDS Day

From page 1

There’ll also be a posthumous honor bestowed upon Hydeia Broadbent, who died at the age of 39 in February. Broadbent was a trailblazer for the Dandelion community – those who’ve had HIV their entire lives.

Broadbent’s birth mother abandoned her at a Las Vegas hospital at the time of her birth in 1984. Three years later she was diagnosed with the AIDS virus. She famously spoke at the 1996 Republican National Convention. Broadbent died of a

government’s position that argues the Tennessee law is unconstitutional.

Date/time of argument: Wednesday, December 4, at 7 a.m., Pacific Time.

Link for live audio stream: https:// www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/live.aspx

Link for recording and/or transcript: https://www.supremecourt. gov/oral_arguments/argument_audio/2024

Attorneys: Arguing for the families will be attorney Chase Strangio, 42, who came out as a transgender man while in law school at Northeastern University in Boston. He has been involved in some of the LGBTQ movement’s most high-profile cases in recent years, including Obergefell v. Hodges (same-sex marriage), Gloucester v. Grimm (trans use of public school bathrooms), Aimee Stephens v. Harris Funeral Homes (trans employee firing), and others. He is now co-director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s LGBTQ & HIV Project and will help represent the transgender plaintiffs. There will also be an attorney from the U.S. Solicitor General’s office, representing the U.S.’s opposition to the state bans, and an attorney from the Tennessee Attorney General’s office to defend the ban.

heart attack February 20. Cunningham said her father and sister will be at the December 1 event.

To RSVP for the free event, go to https://tinyurl.com/2mnxpcmt.

The day’s commemorations will be bicoastal, too. Cunningham said that “the quilt will be on display on the South Lawn of the White House as our nation grapples with our future.”

A comment from the White House wasn’t forthcoming by press time November 25.

Founded by the World Health Organization and the joint United Nations Programme on AIDS, World

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Chief argument for the U.S.: The Tennessee law violates the U.S. Constitution’s guarantee to equal protection under the law. In doing so, it discriminates based on sex and should be examined with a heightened level of scrutiny. Under the Tennessee law, a cisgender male teenager could use testosterone to enhance his stereotypical male attributes, but a transgender male could not.

Tennessee’s argument: States should be allowed to ban potentially irreversible sex-transition interventions for minors who may not be able to fully grasp the lifelong consequences and risks. Tennessee law prohibits puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and sextransition surgeries. The state also argues that the Supreme Court should use its easiest form of review (rational basis) in deciding whether the law can stand. In other courts: This type of case has emerged in several other U.S. federal circuit courts. This one comes from the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (which covers Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, and Michigan). A three-judge panel of the 6th Circuit ruled 2-1 that the state could legitimately ban such treatments for youth. It rendered the decision after first applying the lowest (easiest) level of review: rational basis. Attorneys for the

AIDS Day seeks to call attention to the global epidemic that has killed 36 million people since it was first discovered in 1981.

The WHO’s theme this year is “Take the Rights Path: My Health, My Right!” as the organization hopes people focus on remaining health care disparities and inequities.

Former Pelosi aide to be honored

The night before, on Saturday, November 30, from 6 to 9:30 p.m., the AIDS grove’s annual benefit, Light in the Grove, will return to the National AIDS Memorial Grove. Dan Bernal, a gay man living with HIV who’s UCSF’s vice chancellor for community and government relations and is the former local chief of staff of Congressmember Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco), will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award. Bernal also served on the San Francisco Health Commission for many years.

“I am deeply honored to be receiving the Lifetime of Commitment Award from the National AIDS Memorial,” Bernal stated to the B.A.R. “As a person living with HIV for more than 30 years, I know I wouldn’t be alive today without the leadership of Speaker Emerita Pelosi, the courage and hard work of the researchers and

plaintiffs argued that a more rigorous review was warranted (heightened) because the ban discriminated on the basis of sex and transgender status.

The legal question: Whether a new Tennessee law (known as SB 1) violates a citizen’s right to equal protection under the law by prohibiting all medical treatments intended to allow “a minor to identify with, or live as, a purported identity inconsistent with the minor’s sex” or to treat “purported discomfort or distress from a discordance between the minor’s sex and asserted identity.”

The political question: Trump made frequent statements on the campaign trail indicating he was opposed to gender care for people suffering from gender dysphoria. The current Supreme Court includes three of his appointees – all of whom helped deliver to Trump Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization in 2022, which overturned Roe v. Wade and the right to abortion. In the past three years, Tennessee and 21 other states have banned gender-affirming care. The laws do not attempt to protect the rights and health of children; they simply ban any treatment of gender dysphoria.

The basic medical science: The American Psychiatric Association has stated that a transgender person is one whose self-perception is as one gender but whose birth certificate (and often physical/sexual attributes) causes him or her to be perceived by others as the opposite gender. Some transgender people function and live happy lives without any medical intervention. Some suffer a dysphoria – anxiety, stress, withdrawal, and self-destructive behaviors – because of the constant, jarring discordancy between who they are and who others assume they are.

Professional medical organizations say children can experience this discordancy as early as age 3, but many experience it around age 7.

About 1% of the U.S. population is transgender. Of those, only about 2% take hormone blockers and 11% take gender-affirming hormones.

What doctors say: The American Medical Association says state bans on gender-affirming care are “a dangerous intrusion into the practice of medicine.” The American Psychiatric Association says that suppression of puberty hormones and administration of gender-affirming hormones may be warranted for some adolescents but “medical affirmation is not recommended for prepubertal children.” The Department of Justice brief notes that intervention for pre-puberty children includes “allowing a transgender child to live in accordance with their gender identity, including their clothing, hairstyle, name, and pronouns.”

The irony: Opponents of equal rights for transgender youth are arguing in this case that transgender youth should not be allowed to receive counseling, hormone blockers, or any form of surgery. These same opponents do not want transgender females to participate in girls/women’s sports because they say the transgender females have an unfair physical advantage (such as muscle mass) over females identified as females at birth. The sports issue might be less of a problem if transgender females were able to receive hormone blockers before they develop the stronger physical characteristics that appear in adolescence. Decision expected: With most LGBTQ-related cases, the Supreme Court has released its decisions in June, the last month of the session.t

clinicians at UCSF, and the community activism in San Francisco during the earliest days of the AIDS crisis.

“Like many long-term survivors, I feel gratitude as well as a responsibility to make my time meaningful and have an impact,” he added.

Pelosi has been a staunch advocate of HIV/AIDS funding and has regularly volunteered at the AIDS grove’s community days over the years.

Light in the Grove will be hosted by Sister Roma of the drag nun philanthropic group Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence “to ensure all guests have a fabulous evening,” Cunningham said.

Roma said she was very moved to emcee the evening.

“I am honored and thrilled to host Light in the Grove this year,” Roma stated. “It’s such a beautiful and important event supporting one of our city’s most iconic treasures. I can’t wait to share light and love with our community.”

Tickets, starting at $300, are available on Eventbrite. This is the AIDS grove’s main fundraiser; the nonprofit does not receive government funding.

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Mikey Madfes, the man behind SubliminalSF, RWS Presents, and SFMusic Online –unexpectedly died in his sleep on September 3, 2024.

As a child in San Francisco, Mikey was an accomplished Troop-88 Boy Scout and was active in PAL (Police Athletic League) soccer and Beth Shalom’s basketball team.

attending

his involvement in the Bay Area music scene.

Following graduation from San Francisco State University, Michael started providing freelance graphic and web design services to local businesses, building a large portfolio of deliverables for radio stations, film festivals, bars, and more.

Michael is survived by his father, David Madfes; sister, Sasha Madfes; and all the lives he touched with warm and welcomed hugs during his many years producing shows or

to name a

A three-part, two-venue event will be held in tribute to Mikey on Sunday, December 8 – because, WWMMD?

Photos are being collected for a December 8 slideshow; please upload submissions to  subliminalsf. com/submit-photos by Sunday, December 1.

Details for the events can be found at subliminalsf.com/memorial

While

George Washington High School, Michael started working part-time at Tower Records, jump starting

working at SF Eagle, Rickshaw Stop, The Ivy Room, Kilowatt Bar, Thee Parkside, Cat Club, Bottom of the Hill, Annie’s Social Club, The Masonic, The Fillmore, Bender’s, The Pound, and DNA Lounge – just

few!

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear a case involving the Tennessee ban on gender-affirming care for youth.

Fred Schilling, Collection of the SCOTUS

Participants in the 2022 World AIDS Day Observance in the National AIDS Memorial Grove carried panels of the AIDS Memorial Quilt to the Circle of Friends, where names of persons recently inscribed in the grove were read.

Rick Gerharter

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San Mateo sheriff should resign

San Mateo County Sheriff Christina Corpus made history when she was elected two years ago. A longtime member of the department, she became one of the first Latina sheriffs in the state and was the first woman elected to the position in the county. But in the wake of a scathing report and investigation, Corpus has been found to have engaged in lies, secrecy, intimidation, retaliation, conflicts of interest, and abuses of authority. The independent investigator hired by the county, lesbian retired Santa Clara Superior Court Judge LaDoris Hazard Cordell, has done these types of reviews before and has a solid reputation for fairness. Cordell concluded that Corpus should resign, and we agree.

Corpus’ homophobic texts and racist comments were sustained by Cordell in her report and are just two of the many problems uncovered in the sheriff’s office. “When Sheriff Corpus texted several homophobic slurs about a local city official to an employee, and when she uttered a racial slur in the presence of an employee, she violated the County’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy’s commitment to a workplace free of discrimination and harassment,” Cordell’s report stated. Corpus has denied the accusation, but county supervisors, who have demanded that she resign, offered forensic proof that the homophobic slurs came from her phone, as we reported online last week. Over the years, we have seen other Bay Area law enforcement agencies caught up in anti-LGBTQ texting scandals. This is something that is unacceptable. Law enforcement personnel, especially an elected sheriff, should certainly know better. Not only do these types of messages demean others, but when they come from the leader of an organization, they also send the wrong message to the rest of the department; namely, that it’s acceptable behavior. It is not. In this case, as Cordell noted, the actions violated county policy.

hire Victor Aenlle as her executive assistant. Cordell’s report sustained numerous allegations against Aenlle, including that he and Corpus have a personal relationship that is a conflict of interest. “Despite their denials, there is factual evidence that Sheriff Corpus and Victor Aenlle have a personal relationship, beyond mere friendship,” the report stated. “In fact, the evidence establishes that they have had an intimate relationship. This relationship has led Sheriff Corpus to relinquish control of the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office to Aenlle, someone who has far more experience as a Coldwell Banker associate real estate broker than he has in law enforcement. Sheriff Corpus violated the Office’s conflict of interest policy when she hired Aenlle; she violated the policy by having Aenlle directly report to her; and she violated the policy when she repeatedly recommended pay increases for him.”

Aenlle also had a conflict of interest in negotiating a lease for a property for the sheriff’s office.

Corpus knew or should have known of Aenlle’s connection to CBRE and should have removed Aenlle from participating in the transaction.”

And Aenlle, a civilian employee, is not authorized to wear a badge that closely resembles the badge worn by sworn deputies, the report stated. “By wearing a gold badge, he has likely committed a misdemeanor for willfully wearing a facsimile badge that could deceive a civilian into believing he is a sworn officer with full police powers,” the report stated. “Sheriff Corpus, by issuing the gold badge to Aenlle, may have committed a misdemeanor, as well.”

And it goes on from there. Corpus fired an assistant sheriff for cooperating with Cordell’s investigation, the report stated, and other employees have described retaliatory and abusive behaviors under Corpus and Aenlle’s leadership, according to the report.

The San Mateo County Board of Supervisors has found itself without the ability to fire Corpus –she is an elected official. But the board has decided to hold a special election in March for the purpose of voters approving a change to the county charter that would give the supervisors the ability to fire the sheriff for cause. It’s an extraordinary measure but one that we believe is warranted. Such a firing could only happen by a four-fifths vote by the board and only after giving the sheriff notice and an opportunity to be heard publicly. The proposal was passed unanimously at its first reading and a second reading will take place December 3, where it is expected to also pass.

Equally troublesome is Corpus’ decision to

“Aenlle played a major role in securing a lease of property for a new substation brokered by Coldwell Banker Real Estate (“CBRE”),” the report stated. “Aenlle, who is an associate broker with CBRE, had a conflict of interest and should not have participated in the lease negotiations. Sheriff

It’s too bad that the situation  in San Mateo County has come to this. But it’s clear that Corpus is not doing a good job and appears to only consider her own interests, not those of county residents who rely on the sheriff’s office for services. And a sheriff’s office rife with conflicts is not serving anyone except the perpetrators.

Corpus should do the correct thing and resign. But as long as she doesn’t, San Mateo supervisors must move ahead with the charter amendment, and voters should approve it next year.t

The battle for our lives continues

by Cleve Jones and Tyler TerMeer

Another election has passed, and with it comes the promise of change – or the threat of backsliding. As people who have fought on the front lines of the AIDS epidemic, we know all too well how much power Washington, D.C. wields over the lives of people living with HIV. We’ve seen what happens when our government turns its back on the vulnerable, and we’ve seen what we can achieve when we refuse to accept their apathy.

Let us be clear: the stakes for people living with HIV, particularly here in San Francisco, could not be higher. The nominees being floated for key roles in the next administration – those who will decide the future of our health care, prevention strategies, and human rights – are a direct threat to everything we’ve fought for.

Nowhere is this more apparent than in the nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to a critical cabinet position overseeing public health policy. This nomination to lead Health and Human Services is not only deeply concerning, it poses a grave threat to the health and well-being of people living with HIV and LGBTQ+ communities. RFK Jr.’s history of spreading misinformation about vaccines and undermining public health initiatives directly contradicts the evidence-based ap proaches that have saved millions of lives in the fight against HIV and other infectious diseases.

This appointment threatens to erode decades of progress in advancing LGBTQ+ health equity and ensuring access to lifesaving prevention and treatment services. It signals a dangerous shift away from science-driven policy and compassion-centered care – cornerstones of public health that our communities rely upon to thrive. The appointment of RFK Jr. would send a chilling message: that science, evidence, and the well-being of marginalized communities are expendable. This is a punch to the gut to those of us who have spent our lives advocating for policies grounded in truth and compassion.

are staggering. Federal funding for programs like Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Division of HIV Prevention, Housing Opportunities for People With AIDS, the National Institutes of Health’s Office of AIDS Research, Minority AIDS Initiative, the ACA/Medicaid expansion, and Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s harm reduction initiatives – cornerstones of care for people living with HIV and people who use substances – are now at risk. In San Francisco, these funds are not just numbers in a budget; they are the lifeline for thousands of people who rely on access to medications, mental health support, housing, and prevention tools like PrEP. Without this support, the most vulnerable among us will be left to fend for themselves in a system designed to exclude them.

For decades, San Francisco has been the epicenter of resistance. When the government ignored us during the early days of AIDS, we didn’t wait for them to care. We created our own systems – our own model of care that put love and dignity at the center of medicine. But make no mistake, we were able to do that because we demanded accountability. We fought tooth and nail for every penny of federal funding, every inch of progress.

that your campaign promises or previous time in office have been forgotten. You said you would prioritize ending the HIV epidemic. Prove it. Or prepare to face the wrath of a community that knows how to fight.

Because we will fight. That’s what San Franciscans do. From the Castro to City Hall to the steps of the Capitol, we’ve always made our voices heard. And we’re not afraid to be loud, to be angry, to demand what is ours: the right to live with dignity, to thrive, to be seen as full human beings. For those who think this is just rhetoric, let us remind you of the price we’ve already paid. We have buried too many of our own. We have held the hands of the dying. We have fought, cried, and screamed for a better future. We won’t let you take that future away from us.

But this is not just about fighting back. It’s about moving forward. It’s about building a world where HIV is not a death sentence, where stigma is a relic of the past, and where everyone – regardless of race, gender, sexuality, or income – has access to the care they need.

San Francisco has always been a beacon of what’s possible. We’ve led before, and we will lead again. But we can’t do it alone. We need every one of you – every activist, every ally, every person living with HIV – to join this fight.

The election may be over, but the battle for our lives continues. And if history has taught us anything, it’s this: When we stand together, we are unbreakable.t

Cleve Jones is a co-founder of San Francisco AIDS Foundation, creator and co-founder of the AIDS Memorial Quilt and author of “When We Rise: My Life in the Movement.” He is a human rights activist with a history of activism spanning five decades.

These aren’t abstract dangers. They are wolves in the hen house, people who have spent their careers undermining the very systems that have saved millions of lives. They don’t believe in harm reduction. They don’t believe in LGBTQ+ equality. And they sure as hell don’t believe that health care is a human right.

The implications of this political landscape

Today, that fight is as urgent as ever. The programs we built – Ryan White funding, PrEP subsidies, harm reduction services – are under siege. For people living with HIV in San Francisco, losing these supports could mean losing their lives. The coming battles in Congress and the White House will not just be about budgets and policies – they will be about whether our lives matter. And to the new administration, we say this: We are watching you. Don’t think for a second

Tyler TerMeer, Ph.D., is CEO of San Francisco AIDS Foundation, a member of the AIDS United Governing Board of Directors and has served for nearly a decade as the elected co-chair of the AIDS United Public Policy Council. He is passionate about improving the health of people living with HIV, ensuring that LGBTQ+ people have access to affirming care, that our nation’s overdose response is treated with the dignity and humanity that all people deserve, and in supporting and empowering, Black-led organizations and Black and Brown leaders. TerMeer holds a Ph.D. in public policy and administration from Walden University. Both authors are living with HIV.

San Mateo County Sheriff Christina Corpus

From KPIX-TV

Cleve Jones, left, and Tyler TerMeer, Ph.D.

Courtesy Cleve Jones

Contra Costa County LGBTQ councilmemberselect make history

by Matthew S. Bajko

Starting next month, city councils around the Bay Area will begin welcoming back LGBTQ incumbents and newly elected members following the results of their races in the November 5 election. And in Contra Costa County, several city councils will mark pink political milestones in December.

Concord will witness the seating of its first out council person due to the election of Pablo Benavente, while El Cerrito will have the first council with a queer majority in the Bay Area. The El Cerrito City Council is not only set to have a four-person LGBTQ bloc on its five-member governing body but also California’s first known Black lesbian mayor.

Currently mayor pro tem, City Councilmember Carolyn Wysinger is set to take over the mayor’s gavel at the council’s December 17 meeting. The ceremonial mayoral position rotates among the council members each December.

“It is a shock to a lot of us,” said Wysinger, a former president of San Francisco Pride who this year is cycling off the committee that oversees the LGBTQ event, of seeing her small, suburban city make LGBTQ political history.

That Tuesday night is also when Councilmembers-elect Rebecca Saltzman and William Ktsanes, who both happen to be out parents, will take their oaths of office to join the council.

Saltzman told the Bay Area Reporter she is planning to have a prominent LGBTQ leader officiate her oath of office and for Ktsanes as well if he wants to coordinate with her on whom to ask. While she had told the B.A.R. when she entered the council race about the possibility of seeing her city mark a queer political milestone, now that it will be a reality, she said it is only beginning to sink in with other people.

of his council having a queer majority.

“I know West Hollywood and Palm Springs have done this time and time again, but it is exciting to see it happening here in the Bay Area.”

Wysinger told the B.A.R. that she is unaware of another Black lesbian serving as mayor of a city in the Golden State. She joked she has had “all my Black lesbians” looking to find out if one had served in the role.

“None of us have dug up one yet,” quipped Wysinger, who has asked her boss, California Controller Malia Cohen, to administer her mayoral oath of office.

Cohen, whom Wysinger serves as her political director and communications director, had sworn in gay Pinole City Councilmember Devon Murphy as his city’s ceremonial mayor in 2022. He became the first known out Black mayor in the Bay Area, while that November saw Tyller Williamson become the first gay Black elected mayor of Monterey, California.

Murphy and Williamson both won their reelection bids this month. In Murphy’s race for two council seats up for grabs, he took first place with 39% of the citywide vote.

“They are surprised,” said Saltzman, a lesbian who is stepping down from her elected seat on the board that oversees the BART regional transit agency.

After the B.A.R. had reported online November 6 about El Cerrito being on the cusp of having a historic number of out councilmembers, numerous people forwarded the story to Saltzman to express their amazement at the achievement. Both Palm Springs and West Hollywood have had queer council majorities, but until now, no city in Northern California has had one.

“People are very excited,” said Saltzman, who placed second in her race for three council seats with nearly 28% of the citywide vote based on the unofficial returns.

Ktsanes, a gay dad who is a University of San Francisco adjunct professor in the School of Management’s Master of Science in Financial Analysis program, took third place with 22.32% of the vote. He did not respond to a request for comment by the B.A.R.’s press deadline this week.

They will serve alongside Wysinger and gay City Councilmember Gabe Quinto, whose win in 2014 marked the first time someone known to be living with HIV was elected to public office in the Bay Area. The fifth councilmember will be Lisa Motoyama, a straight ally who won reelection this month and came in first place with close to 30%.

“It is appropriate that it is happening here in El Cerrito and is the first in Northern California,” said Quinto

“The math is mathing,” said Murphy, who had told the B.A.R. last week he would wait for the vote to be certified to declare victory but, with all ballots counted, did so in a post on X Monday. “But again, it is really exciting. I love Pinole so much.”

He will be sworn into a second term that same Tuesday night as his council counterparts are in El Cerrito. Next year in December, Murphy is poised to again serve as his city’s mayor pro tem, setting him up to return as mayor in late 2026.

“I am very much looking forward to serving a second term. I also want to thank the voters for their incredible support of me being number one again,” Murphy said of this year’s election outcome. “It inspires me. ... My focus is on ensuring every Pinole resident feels safe, heard and supported. I will do that for the next four years.”

Taking his oath of office December 10 will be Benavente, 33, who is not only the first LGBTQ person elected to the Concord City Council but only the second person of color. He is a gay Latino.

Benavente and his husband, Simon Woods, have a nearly 2-year-old daughter and a pup named Melvin, who is a rat terrier and fox terrier mix. While he had hoped Wood would be able to swear him in, Benavente was told his city clerk will be officiating his oath of office.

He will be one of the youngest gay fathers in elected office in the Bay Area, something he hadn’t registered until asked about bringing the perspective of a youthful out parent to the

council by the B.A.R. While proud of the representation he will bring as a councilmember, it wasn’t central to his campaign, he noted.

“I didn’t run on being gay. I didn’t run on being Latino or identity poli tics. I ran on the issues,” said Bena vente, who didn’t hide his family from voters, having prominently featured them on his campaign website. (The fathers agreed, however, to maintain some privacy with their daughter, never clearly showing her face in photos and asking the B.A.R. not to publish her name.)

Benavente had lost his first council bid in 2016 when the seats were still decided citywide and opted not to run four years later. This year, sensing voters were ready for new leadership of the council district, he entered the race against incumbent District 4 City Councilmember Edi Birsan

He defeated Birsan, who happened to be Concord’s ceremonial mayor this year, by 75 votes, as of the latest vote count.

“People wanted change and they got the change they wanted,” said Benavente, who was boosted by his serving as chair of a successful $30 million tax measure for road repairs Concord voters approved in 2020.

As for how long El Cerrito will maintain its queer council majority, it will be determined by what Wysinger and Quinto decide to do when they are up for reelection in 2026. Quinto told the B.A.R. he still needs to discuss his plans with his partner but is look ing at running for a fourth term.

“We shall see. I am not ready to go yet,” said Quinto, elected in October as first vice president of the League of California Cities Board of Directors.

Asked if she had decided on seek ing a second term or perhaps run for a higher office that may open up in two years, Wysinger demurred and would only say, “No comment.” She allowed that she is still processing the results of this year’s election and is glad to see that Benavente was able to expand the ranks of LGBTQ electeds in the eastern section of their county.

“We really do need that representation over there. The farther you go from west county across the central county into east county, it is a whole lot more difficult to elect diverse people out there,” noted Wysinger.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 the red wall a number of LGBTQ candidates hit in Riverside County. Keep abreast of the latest LGBTQ political news by following the Political Notebook on Threads @ https://www.threads.net/@matthewbajko. Got a tip on LGBTQ politics? Call Matthew S. Bajko at (415) 8298836 or email m.bajko@ebar.com.

Carolyn Wysinger, left, Devin Murphy, and Pablo Benavente will take their seats next month on the El Cerrito, Pinole, and Concord city councils, respectively.

Courtesy the subjects

Clothing store rides retail coattails into 2nd decade

by Matthew S. Bajko

For close to 20 years, husbands Miguel Lopez and Gabriel Yańez have successfully navigated various clothing trendlines and changes in the way people shop for attire to keep their Sui Generis Designer Consignment open for business in San Francisco’s LGBTQ Castro neighborhood. While it hasn’t been easy, it remains a labor of love for the couple, who celebrated their store’s 18th anniversary this year.

“We keep adapting to the changes and want to be a part of the changes,” explained Lopez, 53, who grew up in Guadalajara, Mexico and has called San Francisco home since 1991.

Lopez and Yańez, who is also in his 50s, began their consignment business in a small storefront on the 200 block of Church Street. They relocated Sui Generis in 2011 to its current, far larger location at 2231 Market Street.

They also had opened a women’s shop, first in the Castro then Cow Hollow, but shuttered it in the fall of 2020, as the COVID pandemic effectively wiped out its sales. Four years prior, they had also closed a pop-up shop they had opened in the Castro after it didn’t perform well.

“The best move we ever made was to have one store,” Lopez told the Bay Area Reporter during a recent interview in the basement of Sue Generis where they store and prep clothing to be put on display and have a tiny break room space for its staff of six to eight people.

people’s calendars, there has been an uptick in sales of neckties, he added.

At any given time, there are 5,000 men’s and women’s apparel items for purchase on the 1,800 square foot sales floor, arranged by color. An overwhelming majority, 90%, is brought in by people locally, with the rest of the items sourced from other cities, said Lopez.

“Consignment reflects the cultural changes going on in the city,” he noted.

Thus, when the health crisis resulted in stay-at-home orders and employees started telecommuting for work, people were shopping for more “relaxed clothing,” said Lopez. More recently, with more employees going back to their offices and cultural events and galas once again filling up

Sui Generis remains a go-to for its customers coming in for a nice outfit to wear out to dinner or a night on the town, but as larger department stores and other clothiers retreat from San Francisco’s downtown shopping district, it is seeing more male bridal party members in need of tuxedos and shoes to wear on the wedding day. Longtime customers, both straight and gay, are now bringing their teenage children in to shop for them ahead of school dances or other events requiring less casual clothing.

“The longer we are in business and the better quality of product we have, the more well known we have become through the years,” said Lopez, who worked for years as a senior women’s seller for Ralph Lauren

Everything they sell in the store is also available for purchase via their website at suigenerisconsignment. com. (https://suigenerisconsignment. com/) But mostly people use it to browse before coming into the store, said Lopez, rather than buying online.

They have survived various upheavals to their business brought about by

changes in the Castro over the years. They took a big hit in sales when the annual Pink Saturday street party, which had been held in the neighborhood the evening prior to Pride Sunday, was canceled in 2015.

“We lost so much business because of Pink Saturday because people were not coming into the Castro to celebrate,” said Lopez.

Last year, they noticed fewer people coming in to shop during the day, which Lopez attributed to a lack of “anchor” events to draw shoppers to the neighborhood. A former board member of the Castro Merchants Association, he has been pleased to see the business group hosting more activations like the recently launched night market to give people a reason to come to the LGBTQ neighborhood.

“Our longevity is because we owe it to our Castro clients and friends. They have been the greatest supporters of our store,” said Lopez.

While the holiday shopping season is critical for most retailers, Sui Generis doesn’t put any special focus on luring in Christmas shoppers, said Lopez. Their business doesn’t see many people coming in for gifts, and gift-buying is not something they are aiming to increase, he said.

“We see a little bump in December from people wanting to look nice for the holidays, but it is not crazy. At least not in our store,” Lopez said.

The week post-Christmas, however, is one of their busiest, as people look for outfits to ring in the new year at fancy parties or dinner at a nice restaurant.

“Our best week is before New Year’s,” said Lopez. Now the oldest business on their block of upper Market Street, “other than the dry cleaner,” said Lopez, Sui Generis is a destination for its customers both locally and internationally. It hopes to remain so for years to come.

“We are a staple of the Castro at this point,” said Lopez.

Sui Generis opens at 11 a.m. Fridays through Mondays and at noon Tuesdays through Thursdays. It closes at 6 p.m. except on Sundays, when it closes at 5.

Noe merchants lure shoppers with window displays

Merchants along the 24th Street commercial corridor in Noe Valley, on the other side of Liberty Hill from the Castro, are hoping to lure more shoppers to their district this holiday season via a window and parklet decorating contest they are launching. Various storeowners are taking part and putting up festive displays in their windows.

Marie Antoinette inspired the design of the windows at the boutique When Modern Was, 4001 24th Street at Noe Street. The fanciful display, with female courtesans decked out in lavish costumes that spill open to showcase the store’s home decor merchandise is the creation of Victor Rivera, 71, also known as the drag queen Pat N Leather

Having begun his career in visual merchandising and costume designs back in New York City, Rivera has continued to adorn storefronts in San Francisco since moving to the Bay

No rest in Congress

by Gwendolyn Ann Smith

I

n an election that saw a convicted felon vowing to put an end to the so-called gender insanity of letting transgender people actually have a small handful of rights in the United States actually win the presidency, there was one small, bright spot for the transgender community: Sarah McBride won her bid to represent Delaware in the United States House of Rep resentatives.

McBride, a Democrat, has been a member of Delaware’s state Senate since 2021, and is now the very first openly transgender person to serve in Congress. It’s a big deal.

Nancy Mace (R-South Carolina), went on the attack. Mace, who in 2021 said, “I strongly support LGBTQ rights and equality. No one should be discriminated against,” had clearly changed her tune.

In better times, I would regale you with her story: how she staffed several campaigns in Delaware. That she interned at the White House. How she ended up as a friend with President Joe Biden and his family. I’d likely be unable to resist mentioning my own all-too-brief visit with her when she came through my area and signed a copy of her book, “Tomorrow Will Be Different: Love, Loss, and the Fight for Trans Equality.”

These aren’t better times.

No sooner had the dust settled on the election than Congressmember

Labeling McBride as a “guy in a skirt,” Mace pushed to bar transgender people from using restrooms inconsistent with their sex assigned at birth. After House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) pushed for a rule change that served the same purpose, Mace doubled down, crafting a bill designed to bar “Biological Men from Women’s Spaces on All Federal Property.” This would prevent transgender people from accessing restrooms in much more than Congress, including national parks, museums, and airports.

McBride, meanwhile, has meekly accepted the rule change, treating it as the distraction that it is. “I’m not here to fight about bathrooms,” said McBride. “I’m here to fight for Delawareans and to bring down costs facing families.”

Nine years ago, voters in Houston overturned the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO), after a campaign that included some of the first modern anti-trans propaganda. Indeed, even though the law was focused on banning discrimination for a host of

classes ranging from sexual orientation to military status, the ordinance was pushed by its opponents as a “bathroom law” due to HERO protecting the right of transgender people to use a restroom consistent with their gender expression.

Since the HERO repeal, the power of the transgender bathroom panic has waxed and waned. It was all but forgotten in recent years, after a stinging rebuke in the wake of the repeal of North Carolina’s House Bill 2. Antitrans forces largely moved onto sports bans and such.

Yet, in the wake of the November 5 election, it has come roaring back.

According to AdImpact, nearly $215 million was spent on ads depicting transgender people as a threat. That works out to about 134 bucks per transgender person.

While the ads were largely targeting Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris for supposedly supporting “taxpayer-funded sex changes for prisoners” – and while Republican candidate former President Donald Trump was pushing a ruse that children were receiving gender confirmation surgery in their elementary schools – the specter of transgender people in bathrooms was not far behind.

Now, the issue is right back at the forefront, at the heart of Congressmember-elect McBride’s new position.

Area in 2005. A customer at the Noe Valley store, he became friends with its owner, Dona Taylor, and began dressing its windows six years ago.

“I want to attract people and have them say, ‘I got to look at this.’ You can’t get more lavish, rich, or more flamboyant than with Marie Antoinette,” said Rivera, who drew inspiration from the French look of Taylor’s store.

Dave Karraker, who with his husband earlier this year opened a branch of their MX3 Fitness at 4045 24th Street, pitched the Noel Valley Holiday Window Contest to the neighborhood business association as a way to build word-of-mouth about the shopping district throughout San Francisco and attract customers from outside Noe Valley this Christmas.

“It is something I have had in mind for a long time,” said Karraker, who took the concept from the town of Westport, Connecticut, which he visited growing up during Christmastime to see the store windows in its downtown business district all decked out for the holiday.

He is hopeful to replicate that “magical moment” he fondly remembers this year in Noe Valley.

“There is no reason why neighborhoods in San Francisco can’t do something similar,” he said.

A select group of judges will walk the street December 17 to determine winners of the window contest. Various Noe merchants have donated prizes for the gift baskets to be handed out to the storeowners with the funniest, most elaborate, and most San Francisco window or parklet.

It officially kicks off Sunday, December 1, coinciding with the annual lighting of the holiday tree in the Noe Valley Town Square near the intersection of 24th and Vicksburg streets. There will also be a Winter Wine Walk from 4 to 7 p.m. Thursday, December 5, where participants pay $40 for a wine glass obtained at the public parklet and can enjoy different wines poured at participating businesses as they (hopefully) shop. Tickets can also be purchased online at https:// noemerchants.com/winewalk/t

Got a tip on LGBTQ business news? Call Matthew S. Bajko at (415) 829-8836 or email m.bajko@ ebar.com.

I don’t want to spend too much time blaming the victim. I can’t help but think of the treatment of Hiram Revels, the first Black U.S. senator, elected during Reconstruction, and how he was treated. In more modern times, I also consider how Congressmembers Rashida Tlaib (D-Michigan) and Ilhan Omar (D-Minnesota) – the first Muslim congressmembers – have been treated. Congress is rife with bullies seeking to take down their newest members, especially if they do not fit a very narrow band of identities. I do wish McBride had done more to stand up for herself and, what’s more, I want her to stand up in light of Mace’s further attacks on trans rights. Both McBride and Mace will have private restrooms in their House offices, so the rule change will likely have little effect on their day-to-day lives. It will, however, cause harm to any transgender or gender-nonconforming person who visits Congress and doesn’t have access to such facilities, let alone

the facilities that would be so barred across the country if Mace’s bill passes. Likewise, for Mace, she has been positively gleeful over the attention she’s gotten for this move, high-diving into the news cycle post-election and making a big political splash. This is exactly what we could expect from her, or most other GOP congressmembers.

Yet, I cannot help but once again see the silence of the left. Aside from Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) calling Mace “disgusting” and calling this a ploy to “make a buck and fundraise,” as well as House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (DNew York) stating that Mace “clearly needs an intervention,” the Democratic Party has largely met this with all-too-characteristic silence.

After all, it’s what they did all election, so why stop now? If they cannot stand up for one of their own, then how can we expect them to stand up for any of us?

We are indeed in a time of “gender insanity,” but it’s not coming from the trans community. If McBride is unsafe, and if so few of her colleagues will stand up to defend her, then I fear there’s not much hope for the rest of us.t

Gwen Smith has used a congressional restroom before. You’ll find her at www.gwensmith.com.

Christine Smith

Sui Generis held an event for Queer LifeSpace that included the nonprofit’s Executive Director Ryan MacCarrigan, left, supporter Juanita MORE!, and the store’s co-owner Miguel Lopez.

Courtesy Sui Generis

Victor Rivera, aka drag queen Pat N Leather, recently installed his Marie Antoinette inspired window display at the Noe Valley store When Modern Was.

Matthew S. Bajko

Sisters, SF Krampus announce pageant Community

compiled by Cynthia Laird

The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence and San Francisco Krampus will hold their annual Krampus pageant Saturday, December 14, from 4 to 8 p.m. at El Rio, 3158 Mission Street.

The pageant honors the scarier side of the holiday season, a news release stated. The Sisters, a philanthropic drag nun organization, stated that this year’s event will benefit Larkin Street Youth Services, a nonprofit that works to end youth homelessness and serves LGBTQ youth.

Krampus is a horned half-goat, half-demon figure from Central and Eastern Alpine folklore who accompanies Saint Nicholas to punish children who have misbehaved. The name Krampus comes from the German word Krampen, which means claw.

The pageant will feature spooky drag performances, DJs, amazing costumes, and live music. People are welcome to enter the Krampus contest, where the winner will take home a special effects makeup gift package.

“Other top contestants will receive unique prizes to help them through the holiday season ... if you catch our drift,” the release stated.

Contestants will be judged in three categories: costume, all interpretations of Krampus or other evil beings are welcome; talent act, a short piece such as lip synching, dancing, a speech, or something else; and a question-and-answer session where they will respond to simple questions “from our panel of stern judges,” as the release put it.

to $20 is requested at the door (cash, Venmo, and PayPal accepted). No one will be turned away for lack of funds.

The release noted that last year’s event raised over $6,000.

For more information, see the above website or the Facebook page, “SF Krampus Pageant 2024.”

Tenderloin Tessie

Thanksgiving dinner

Tenderloin Tessie will have its annual Thanksgiving dinner for those in need Thursday, November 28, from 1 to 4 p.m. at First Unitarian Church, 1187 Franklin Street (at Geary Boulevard) in San Francisco. A news release stated that all are welcome.

In addition to the meal, there will be entertainment, free haircuts by a pop-up barbershop, a free gift bag, and free clothing from Tenderloin Tessie’s partner, the St. Anthony Foundation, according to the release.

Those interested in entering the contest can sign up at krampus-pageant-info.

The event is for those aged 21 and older. A suggested donation of $10

As in past years, Michael Gagne, president of the Tenderloin Tessie board, stated that volunteers are needed for the event. Shifts are available on Thanksgiving from 9 a.m. to noon,

noon to 4 p.m., and 3 to 6. People must show proof of COVID vaccination and ID to help out, the release stated.

Helpers are also needed Wednesday, November 27, from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Saturday, November 30, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Both stints are for truck workers to get items from storage and then return them after the dinner, Gagne noted.

To volunteer contact Gagne at (415) 584-3252 (landline, no test), or email tenderlointessie@gmail.com.

Spread holiday cheer to seniors via letters

People looking for a way to give back this holiday season can check out Sonoma County Library’s Send Our Seniors Mail program. The letter-writing campaign encourages kindness and support for senior citizens in the community during the holiday season and beyond, a news release stated.

Community members are invited to create cards, postcards, drawings, or letters and mail them to any of the participating local senior centers, where the facilities’ staff then distribute the mail to seniors deemed most in need of human connection provided by the cards and letters, the release noted.

Sonoma County Library Director

Erika Thibault called letter writing “a time-honored way of communicating” with people, especially during the holidays. “This program provides a wonderful way for community members to connect with local seniors in a positive, upbeat and personal way,” Thibault stated.

Local senior facilities report that seniors welcome the unexpected mail.

“The letters and cards bring a smile to our seniors and brighten their day,” stated Anna Miller, resident manager at Sonoma’s FAHA Manor. “They all love getting mail.”

Mary Lockhart, resident services coordinator of senior properties at Burbank Housing, noted, “Isolated seniors are often without family connections and this small act of kindness lets them know somebody cares. Residents also share their cards with each other and the little heartfelt messages – especially those written by children – bring them great joy and laughter.”

For letter and card guidelines and the list of participating senior facilities, visit sonomalibrary.org/sendmail. If people know of a potential Send Our Seniors Mail facility, they can email the library at sendourseniorsmail@sonomalibrary.org.

Sonoma County Library has more than 780,000 physical items at its 14 libraries, three special collections, and a mobile library van. During its most recent fiscal year (2023-2024), more than 1.4 million people visited a library, and total book and online circulation reached 4.4 million, according to the release.

Leather district updates on sidewalk plaques

The Leather & LGBTQ Cultural District has provided an update on its sidewalk plaque initiative. The sidewalk markers, which help commemorate leather history in the city’s South of Market neighborhood, were approved by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 2021.

This year’s LeatherWalk, held September 22, served as a fundraiser for the plaques, with donations continuing to be accepted through early October. This month, the leather district noted that the effort “marches on.”

“So far, our Leather Legacy Landmarks sidewalk plaque initiative has raised over $13,000. A great response from our community,” the district’s newsletter stated. “Now, our goal is to raise an additional $9,000 to install all of the sidewalk plaques we have planned for 2024-25.”

The first 17 plaques are expected to be installed in conjunction with San Francisco Public Works’ upgrade to Folsom Street, which is underway, according to the cultural district. A total of 77 plaques are planned.

Cal Callahan, a gay man who’s manager of the cultural district, stated in a Facebook message that the first six plaques are expected to be installed in the spring as part of the Folsom streetscape project.

People can still donate to the sidewalk marker initiative. To do so, go to sflcd.org/plaques.t

Revelers participated in last year’s Krampus pageant.

From Sisters’ Facebook page

Volunteers prepared to serve bread at last year’s Tenderloin Tessie Thanksgiving dinner.

Courtesy Tenderloin Tessie

The grove isn’t the only place World AIDS Day will be commemorated. As the B.A.R. previously reported, there’ll be chalk available on Castro Street for writing or drawing remembrances of people who’ve died from AIDS from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. December 1 as part of Inscribe, the brainchild of long-term survivor George Kelly, who’s been putting on the event since 2015.

Kelly said that 25,000 people have died of HIV/AIDS-related conditions in San Francisco since 1981 when the then-mysterious infection first made itself apparent.

“Those people used to walk the sidewalks, work in the bars, the restaurants, shops,” Kelly told the Castro Merchants at its November meeting. “It was very much a big loss to our community and so, on World AIDS Day, we remember all the people who died of AIDS and particularly celebrate the people who used to live in the Castro. … We’ll have festive disco music from our era, our generation. I invite you all to come out.”

And Kelly is bringing a new generation on to help; Rhett Anderson, who is also gay, will be assisting with the event so it can continue for many years to come.

“Fortunately, and this is not common in all areas, especially not in rural America, you just have to go down to Fresno or another rural area and know gender-affirming care doesn’t exist, we are one of the few urban areas that does have access,” said Fabian.

Expecting influx of people

With Republican-led states cracking down on gender-affirming care, and the incoming Trump administration expected to do so as well, Fabian said San Francisco-based agencies are expecting to see even more people from out of state coming to the city for services. They already have been having conversations with their counterparts at other LGBTQ nonprofits about how to handle the influx.

“The impact of anti-LGBT legislation that is happening in all these red

fies as African American,” the report states. “Corpus knows her son because he volunteered for Corpus’ campaign for sheriff. The civilian employee was stunned and upset yet remained silent out of fear of retaliation.”

The San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office didn’t return a request for comment for this report.

San Mateo County Supervisors Ray Mueller and Noelia Corzo announced November 21 that the forensic evi-

“Inscribe means a lot to me because, as a younger generation gay guy, I want to remember where we came from, how we got here,” Anderson said. “When I was 17, I went to Planned Parenthood, I asked for HIV prevention, they gave me PrEP. So before I was even having sex, I already had the whole work George’s generation gave us.”

Nonprofit programming

On December 1, the AIDS foundation and The Reunion Project will be starting a storytelling anthology project with long-term HIV survivors. “We Live: Voices of the First Generation to Survive HIV/AIDS” will seek to preserve their stories.

“This project was borne out of a series of writing workshops SFAF conducted with long-term survivors in collaboration with activist and longterm survivor Cleve Jones,” Crisostomo stated. (Jones is the co-founder of the AIDS quilt and a longtime gay activist.) “The stories that emerged in the workshops were insightful and incredibly moving – and Cleve observed that many accounts of how people survived and what they experienced during the height of the AIDS epidemic are oftentimes overlooked or left out of HIV and AIDS history and discussion. Each and every longterm survivor has their own story and experience, and they all deserve to be

states directly impacts what happens in Indian country. Unfortunately, if your gender-affirming care is taken away from you then you are going to go somewhere you can access it,” said Fabian.

Although Fabian wouldn’t disclose how much the needs assessment cost, it was partly funded via a two-year grant from the San Francisco Human Rights Commission. It had set aside in 2023 $5 million, which was distributed to 13 LGBTQ-serving organizations in awards of up to $750,000. They are using its findings in their talks with the city’s health department on receiving funds to hire a case manager to be on site at BAAITS’ offices at 415 Valencia Street it moved into during Pride Month in June. It doesn’t provide direct health services but does partner with the Native American Health Center, which provides medical services at its 160 Capp Street location in San Francisco and

dence confirmed the homophobic slur came from Corpus’ phone. They also revealed a November 14 memorandum from Undersheriff Dan Perea to Corpus informing her of a scheme to conceal three rifles at the sheriff’s office.

Victor Aenlle, Corpus’ former chief of staff, allegedly had access to the rifles – which was potentially a felony since Aenlle had since become a civilian employee, according to the memo, which stated that Aenlle instructed Perea to change the code to the safe in which the weapons were held several times. Perea stated he refused; Aenlle re-

remembered, documented, and preserved for future generations.”

People who want to learn more can do so at the foundation’s website.

Additionally, “Focus on Living: Portraits of Americans with HIV and AIDS,” a photography exhibition by San Francisco-based photographer Roslyn Banish, will open December 1 at the GLBT Historical Society Museum, 4127 18th Street, in the Castro. The museum is open from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 1:30 to 5 p.m. on Sunday. The exhibit runs through March.

“My goal has been to humanize HIV/AIDS, to get beyond the stereotypes and statistics,” Banish stated. “In the end, I hope we are all more knowledgeable about the disease. I especially hope we are more compassionate and understanding of those brave souls who, despite enormous challenges, have managed to stay focused on the business of living.”

The exhibition focuses on interviews and photographs from 1997 to 2002. There’ll be a related film screening of “Red Reminds Me…” –a program of seven videos reflecting the emotional spectrum of those living with HIV today – Thursday, December 12, from 6 to 8 pm. It’s open to the public.

Admission to the museum is $10 for nonmembers but is free for

is in the process of opening a 14,000 square foot community and clinical facility at 3050 International Boulevard in Oakland’s Fruitvale neighborhood by winter 2025.

“This also allows us to tap into other funding sources to both elevate and continue elevating the strengths and meeting some of the needs,” said Fabian of the people BAAITS serves.

Those needs are only going to grow, predicted Fabian, particularly with Republicans now in control of both the White House and Congress.

“The direct impact of anti-LGBT legislation is that people flee for their lives and end up in urban settings like ours. What that means for us is we have to continue raising those resources to meet the need and telling the story,” said Fabian. “Part of the year two process is getting in front of the city agencies and saying this is what the community is telling us and asking how can we partner.”

portedly told him, “This is how they’re going to get me.”

According to reports, Corpus is involved in a romantic relationship with Aenlle. He was previously the department’s chief of staff and has been elevated to assistant sheriff. Corpus has denied the relationship, but the report alleges it has existed since 2021.

KTVU-TV reported that the same day the report was released, Corpus arrested Carlos Tapia, the president of the Deputy Sheriff’s Association, on suspicion of felony grand theft and theft by false pretenses.

members. For the screening, people can RSVP at the society’s website, glbthistory.org.

Oakland

In Oakland, there’ll be a World AIDS Day commemoration at the Lake Merritt Sailboat House, 568 Bellevue Avenue, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The theme is “Putting People First: East Bay Communities on the Rise” and there will be performances, awards, and food. People can RSVP on Eventbrite at https://tinyurl. com/3fxundm8.

The Oakland LGBTQ Community Center will be screening “Lost Holiday,”

One sentiment expressed by survey participants was that even in San Francisco, Two-Spirits often feel neglected by the larger LGBTQ community. As an example, Fabian pointed to how Two-Spirit is often erased from the acronym or not included along with the transgender and queer communities.

“I believe it is a work in progress,” they said, pointing out that the resolution declaring San Francisco to be a sanctuary city for gender-nonconforming people the Board of Supervisors adopted in June specifically identified Two-Spirit people as being covered by it.

The report’s accounting of lateral discrimination faced by Two-Spirits, whether within the LGBTQ community or society in general, stood out for Castillo, who grew up in Tucson, Arizona and came out as Two-Spirit 25 years ago. Living in the Bay Area for 19 years, she has only noticed in the past five there being greater recognition

The station also reported on an internal memo where Corpus said she is not resigning.

San Mateo supervisors stated Corpus has eroded trust in the community.

“We need a sheriff we can trust,” Corzo stated in a news release. “As a community, we must stand united against lies and corruption, especially when it continues to harm our own people.”

Mueller and Corzo had already called upon Corpus to resign. They’ve been joined by Congressmember Kevin Mullin (D-San Francisco/San Ma-

starring Jussie Smollett, on December 1 at the Grand Lake Theater. The center stated on Instagram that all seats are full for the free event but there is a wait list in case seats become available.

There will also be a meet and greet with Smollett, a gay actor who was in the Fox television drama “Empire.” Smollett’s conviction for allegedly staging a racist attack against himself and lying to police about it in 2019 was overturned by the Illinois Supreme Court earlier this month.

San Jose

In San Jose, there’ll be a flag raising ceremony Wednesday, December 4, from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the James P. McEntee Plaza located at 70 West Hedding Street, hosted by the Santa Clara County Public Health Department and the Office of LGBTQ Affairs. The event is free and open to the public.

Starting next year, California will annually officially recognize World AIDS Day. As the B.A.R. previously reported, in June Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill by gay state Senator John Laird (D-Santa Cruz) calling for the recognition. Whomever occupies the governor’s office will proclaim each December 1 World AIDS Day. Because the law goes into effect January 1, it will first be officially done on December 1, 2025.t

of Two-Spirit individuals, specifically within Indigenous communities.

While a good first step was various city and outside groups adopting and reciting land acknowledgements, in which they recognize San Francisco sits on the traditional land of the Ramaytush Ohlone people, other actions are needed to support the local Indigenous community, noted Fabian. They pointed to support for returning access and management of ancestral lands back to Native peoples, and supporting Two-Spirit organizations like BAAITS.

“I would ask your audience what is the action, how are you supporting Indigenous movements,” said Fabian, pointing to a saying of the sober community that they have been a part of for 20 years. “Without action it is just words.”

To learn more about BAAITS, and to read its assessment report in full, visit its website at baaits.orgt

teo), outgoing Congressmember Anna Eshoo (D-Palo Alto), state Senator Josh Becker (D-San Mateo), and Assemblymembers Marc Berman (D-Palo Alto), and Diane Papan (D-San Mateo), who issued a joint statement November 18.

“This damning report coupled with the dismissals and resignations of the entire command staff of the Sheriff’s Office demonstrate that this is an agency in crisis,” the joint statement reads, in part.

“Our county can no longer afford the chaos and failed leadership of Christina Corpus. Our communities deserve better.”t

County of San Francisco, CA on 09/26/2024. NOV 07, 14, 21, 28, 2024 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 2024-0404843 The following person(s) is/are doing business as PEDAL & PRUNE, 153 LEXINGTON ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed ALEXANDER PFEUFER. 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 10/30/2024. NOV 07, 14, 21, 28, 2024

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 2024-0404676 The following person(s) is/are doing business as EL PARAISO, 1198 TREAT AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed GLORIA CELINA NAJARRO. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/20/2009.

14, 21, 28, DEC 05, 2024 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-24-559254 In the matter of the application of RICHARD SIRIRUT WANNAVIROJ

Actor Jussie Smollett will be in Oakland for a World AIDS Day screening of his film, “Lost Holiday.”

Festive and fabulous

by Philip Mayard

When the holiday performing arts season arrives, the Bay Area shines as a beacon for LGBTQ arts and culture. From fierce drag performances to queer choral ensembles, classical concerts to new adaptations of “A Christmas Carol” and “The Nutcracker,” our region offers an incredible spectrum of holiday shows that celebrate our diverse community.

MUSIC

San Francisco Symphony December transforms Davies Hall into a whirlwind of holiday festivity. Highlights include Los Angeles-based theatrical circus company Troupe Vertigo soaring above the audience in “Holiday Cirque” (December 2); “The Colors of Christmas”

featuring Peabo Bryson, Jackie Evancho, Jennifer Holliday, and BeBe Winans (Dec. 3-4); and the symphony providing live accompaniment to two favorite holiday films: “Elf” (Dec. 19-21) and “The Muppet Christmas Carol” (Dec. 12 and 14).

San Francisco’s LGBTQ community always turns out in flamboyant attire for the Symphony’s glittering “Holiday Gaiety” program. Once again conducted by Edwin Outwater and hosted by Peaches Christ, this year’s program features drag stars Lady Camden and Latrice Royale (“RuPaul’s Drag Race”), Kylie Minono, and Sister Roma. Vocalists include Tonywinning Alex Newell (“Shucked”), mezzosoprano and aerialist Nikola Printz, and the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus. $39$225, Dec. 13, Davies Symphony Hall, 201 Van Ness Ave. www.sfsymphony.org

tions. www.chanticleer.org

by Kyle Amato

The long, long, long-awaited film adaptation of the stunningly successful Broadway musical “Wicked” is finally upon us. After years of delays and months of inescapable marketing, I can scarcely believe it. Of course, there is a catch: this is only part one of the story, stretched beyond comprehension to a whopping two-hour and forty-minute runtime. The film is as maximalist as the show, featuring bombastic orchestration, complex choreography, and special effects that make it look closer to “Harry Potter” than “The Wizard of Oz.” “Wicked” exists to overwhelm its audience, to make them

feel the plight of the so-called Wicked Witch of the West.

In this manner, the film is a complete success. In terms of staging, director Jon M. Chu makes some baffling choices that only hinder his talented performers, led by Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande. It stands to make one billion dollars in box office and streaming receipts.

Oz and oddities

In the land of Oz, the people celebrate. A young girl from Kansas has melted the Wicked Witch of the West with a bucket of water. Glinda the Good Witch (Ariana Grande) watches the Munchkins dance from her bubble, silently reflecting on her school days with her former

friend Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo), before anyone had any magical titles. Elphaba was an outcast from the day she was born, with green skin and uncontrollable telekinetic powers, preferring the company of books and talking animals. Fate brings Glinda and Elphaba together at Shiz University, a school where the curriculum is vaguely magic-centric but is otherwise no different than our colleges. The rivalry between pink and green swells, each vying to prove herself to Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh)

and win an audience with the Wonderful Wizard of Oz himself (Jeff Goldblum).

Describing the plot of “Wicked” only does it a disservice. You need only roll with it and enjoy the music of Stephen Schwartz, deftly performed by the enthusiastic cast. The music is not the issue here. It’s the lighting. The film is somehow underlit and overlit at the same time, forcing its protagonists to wander through shadows and blinding lights while belting their songs.

The sets are well designed and the costumes are top notch, but we can hardly see them half the time. The other half, we need sunglasses as the light blinds us. It’s a real shame that such an expensive production seemingly did not employ any key lights. It was distracting to watch Elphaba disappear into shadow while singing “The Wizard and I” with no thematic purpose, just feeling as though the lighting rig wasn’t ready.

Rage and range

Ariana Grande is the clear standout, a master of physical comedy and disarming sweetness who takes over every scene with a toss of her hair. She could easily walk away with an Academy Award for this performance.

Cythia Erivo has a magnificent voice, but the character of Elphaba is flattened and far less dynamic than her pink counterpart. The actual depth to Elphaba’s character has fluctuated over the years, sometimes bubbling with rage, sometimes more of a Quasimodo figure. Here she mostly stands and watches people debate her humanity, rarely interjecting until the very end.

It’s an unfortunate choice that fortunately cannot take away the power of the song “Defying Gravity,” what everyone is here to see. Erivo

A Chanticleer Christmas San Francisco’s beloved “Orchestra of Voices” Chanticleer returns to the Bay Area, presenting their world-renowned harmonies in venues from Petaluma to Carmel. Here in San Francisco, the Grammy-winning ensemble will illuminate St.

Ignatius Cathedral (Dec. 22) with their signature blend of classical, jazz, pop, and spirituals, including fresh interpretations of seasonal favorites. $36-$80, Dec. 12-23, multiple Bay Area loca-

Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande in ‘Wicked’

Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo in ‘Wicked’

SF Symphony’s “Holiday Gaiety” with Peaches Christ and Edwin Outwater

Chanticleer

Joel Simon

San Francisco Ballet’s ‘Nutcracker’

‘The Golden Girls’

by David-Elijah Nahmod

2024 is a big year for “The Gold-

en Girls Live: The Christmas Episodes.” The annual drag parody, which began almost two decades ago, will for the first time perform at the Curran Theatre. But the excitement doesn’t end there. On December 6, 7, and 8, vocalist Cindy Fee, who sang the iconic theme song “Thank You for Being a Friend,” will perform the song live from the Curran stage. The show will open on December 5 and run through December 22.

“The Golden Girls Live” will star a who’s who of the drag world. Matthew Martin and Coco Peru will play Blanche and Dorothy respectively, while Holotta Tymes will be seen as Sophia. And the extremely busy D’Arcy Drollinger, who currently serves as San Francisco’s Drag Laureate while also owning and operating Oasis, essays the role of Rose. Drollinger couldn’t be more excited about having the show move to the Curran and getting Fee to join in.

“As a San Francisco native, it’s been a lifelong dream of mine to perform at such an iconic theater,” Drollinger said in an interview with the Bay Area Reporter. “The very theater where they filmed ‘All About Eve.’”

Drollinger noted that there was a poignancy about the move to the Curran. She recalled her last conversation with the late and beloved Heklina, which took place the day before Heklina passed. Drollinger and Heklina used to produce “The Golden Girls Live” together, and Drollinger had told her friend that she was going to meet with the Curran.

“So of course she is very much on my mind as we prep the show to move into the theater,” Drollinger said.

Staying golden

Though Drollinger wouldn’t say whether or not she needs to get the rights to the show from “The Golden Girls” copyright holders, she did say that many of the show’s creators had

DANCE

ODC Dance: The Velveteen Rabbit

ODC Dance’s “The Velveteen Rabbit” brings to life a story that has resonated with LGBTQ audiences for more than 100 years, through its

seen their productions and loved them. Drollinger feels that they see the live shows as a tribute, a way to keep the original series relevant.

“Not to beat our own drum, but I feel that our show is part of the lon-

timeless message of love, loyalty, and acceptance. Now in its 38th year, the production combines KT Nelson’s expressive choreography with Benjamin Britten’s score, and narration by Broadway veteran Geoff Hoyle.

ODC’s loving production of “The Velveteen Rabbit” continues to celebrate the transformative power of being truly seen and loved for who you are.

gevity of the original show,” he said. “Don’t get me wrong, the original show is amazing. The writing, those four groundbreaking actresses, the costumes, all of it. And it has been in syndication since it ended, which also has a lot to do with it. But our drag tribute to the show lit a fire with audiences and also subsequent productions. There are so many drag ‘Golden Girls’ shows now happening all around the country. I think that is a big part of its success with new, younger markets.”

When the live shows began, the audience consisted primarily of gay men, but the audience has since grown to include straight people, young and old. According to Drollinger, some audience members travel in from out of state to see the show. But like the TV show, the stage version remains particularly popular among gay men.

“Sassy, strong, funny women have

$30-$125, Nov. 30–Dec. 8, Blue Shield of California Theater at YBCA, 700 Howard St. www.odc.dance

San Francisco Ballet: Nutcracker

Of the numerous “Nutcracker” productions gracing Bay Area stages, San Francisco Ballet’s version reigns supreme. America’s first “Nutcracker,”

many gay men have had to do throughout the years. It was also very accepting of societal issues of the day, one of the first shows to write about homelessness and to explore and accept sexuality outside of the box.”

For many years Fee barely gave a second thought to the fact that she had sung what may be the most famous TV theme song of all time. She was busy raising her children and singing commercial jingles, though she was always aware of the fact that the show’s popularity never seemed to wane.

Fee never really talked about what she had done musically, but it was her husband who was always her biggest champion. She recalled an incident at a restaurant in Philadelphia where her husband told a table of rowdy women that she was the singer of “The Golden Girls” theme. She expected them to ask her to sing it, but instead all twelve of them stood up and sang the song to her.

“That was really fun,” she said. “Somewhere along the way, through all the years I became aware of how much the show and my contribution to it meant to so many generations of people.”

always resonated with gay men,” Drollinger said. “And those characters, while they loved each other, could throw shade like nobody’s business. Exactly why it lends itself to drag, I feel like the gay community is drawn to it.”

Drollinger is thrilled to have Fee performing in the show.

“I still can’t really believe it’s happening,” he said. “I had heard she was performing and had a cabaret show, so we reached out to her and she said yes. It’s going to be pure magic to hear her sing the theme song live.”

Finding family Fee, who also spoke to B.A.R., had her own views as to why “The Golden Girls” resonates so strongly among gay men.

“I think it’s because the show is about finding a family,” Fee said. “A sense of belonging. That’s certainly something

first performed here in 1944, the production sets the classic tale against the backdrop of San Francisco’s 1915 Panama Pacific International Exposition. This opulent production, highlighted by the stunning “Journey through the Snow” finale in Act I, enchants audiences of all ages. $39-$445, Dec. 6-29, War Memorial Opera House, 301 Van Ness Ave. www.sfballet.org

Mark Foehringer Dance Project: Nutcracker Sweets

Perfect for young audiences, Mark Foehringer Dance Project’s “Nutcracker Sweets” offers a delightful 50-minute adaptation of the holiday classic. Now in its 16th year, this family-friendly production features a live chamber orchestra and welcomes the enthusiastic responses of its youngest viewers, making it an ideal first ballet experience. $23.50-$59.50, December 7-22, Cowell Theater at Fort Mason, Marina Blvd. and Buchanan St. www.nutcrackersweets.org

Dance-Along Nutcracker

Get out your tutu and toe shoes for this quintessential San Francisco experience. Dance-Along Nutcracker

Fee feels that “The Golden Girls” leaves a powerful message and legacy.

“I think that we are, particularly in this country that seems so modern and accepting and as recent elections have shown is anything but, are all looking for a sense of belonging, of acceptance,” she said. “Bossy, a bit dumb, clever, sharp witted and a bit of a slut as the characters were written, whatever we identify as, we all deserve love. As the saying goes, especially right now as we face Thanksgiving, with our politically divided families, friends are the family we choose.”t

‘The Golden Girls Live: The Christmas Episodes,’ December 5-22, 8pm except Sundays, 2pm, Curran Theatre, 445 Geary Street. $39-$125. Cindy Fee will perform December 6, 7 and 8 only. www.broadwaysf.com

returns with “The Case of the Golden Nutcracker,” blending live music, dance, and interactive mystery. The story unfolds to Tchaikovsky’s beloved score, performed by the 75-piece San Francisco Pride Band, while audiences are encouraged to dress in costume and dance along during select musical numbers. $28$48, Dec. 7-8, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Forum, 700 Howard St. www.dancealongnutcracker.org

See page 18 >>

Coco Peru, Holotta Tymes, D’Arcy Drollinger and Matthew Martin in ‘The Golden Girls Live: The Christmas Episodes’

Courtesy Broadway SF

<< Holiday Performance

From page 12

Singer Cindy Fee

Above Right: Mark Foehringer Dance Project’s ‘Nutcracker Sweets’ Below: ‘Dance-Along Nutcracker’

SF Gay Men’s Chorus

by John Ferrannini

T

he San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus will welcome all comers to its annual Holiday Spectacular and Home for the Holidays shows this December. The latter show, traditionally held at the Castro Theatre on Christmas Eve, will be held this year for the first time at Davies Symphony Hall. The Castro venue is, of course, shuttered till next year due to the ongoing renovation and restoration project spearheaded by Another Planet Entertainment.

Danny Sullivan, a gay man who’s the principal pianist and music supervisor starting his second season with the chorus, said that it’s “going to be a new experience.”

“We’re going to be able to fit a lot more people in that venue than we could at the Castro Theatre,” Sullivan told the Bay Area Reporter.

<< Wicked

From page 12

delivers on that end, but I’m curious to see if she’s allowed any danger when she is ostensibly ‘wicked’ in the story’s back half.

Mercifully, “Wicked” is one of the few “Part Ones” to have its “Part Two” ready to go. In just a year’s time, audiences will be treated to the back half of this magical story, where they keep all the uninteresting songs. It will also probably make one billion dollars.

While I wish the homoeroticism of Glinda and Elphaba’s friendship shone through as strongly here as it can on the stage, Ariana Grande singing “Popular” and Jonathan Bailey’s shockingly gyratory dancing are plenty queer enough

Sullivan said there are a few attractions that attendees have to look forward to, including a diva medley (“though maybe I shouldn’t give away who the diva is,” Sullivan said) and a new composition with music by Holly Near, who wrote the first song the chorus publicly performed back in 1978, “Singing for Our Lives.”

“Holly wrote that music. She’s still around and has brand new music premiering in this concert,” Sullivan said.

The winner of a composition contest that took place will have their work performed by the chorus, too.

“From a musical perspective, I think the things to be most excited about are the Near commission, the contest winner and the diva medley,” he continued. “I’ve written myself a new arrangement of ‘Silent Night,’ one of the first things I’ve arranged for the chorus. They do it every year in sign language, which is a wonderful thing, but I’ve reharmonized the tune.”

for gay audiences to cheer.

The real test is if anyone can stand the film’s atrocious lighting and languid pacing (we only reach “Dancing Through Life” an hour into the story), but I have a feeling it won’t matter.

“Wicked” is undeniably powerful despite some misguided plot elements, but that’s just how musicals work. Far be it from me to reject what the story of Elphaba’s defying gravity means to audiences around the world. Hopefully Jon M. Chu takes a plea for threepoint lighting to heart and does some digital magic of his own before next year’s finale.t

‘Wicked’ is currently screening at several Bay Area cinemas. www.wickedmovie.com

Choral community

Expect more of the “big, dancy show numbers which are super fun,” as in past years, Sullivan said.

“We just have the most fabulous band,” he said. “They are some of the best in the bay.”

The seven-piece band will be accompanied by the 275 members of the chorus and a troupe of 20 specialty dancers, according to a news release.

“This year, SFGMC’s theme is ‘together,’” stated SFGMC Artistic Director and Conductor Jacob Stensberg, “and there is no better time to create family and togetherness than during the holiday season. ‘Together’ embodies the spirit of community, love and connection that pours from the stage in our every note. It showcases the connection between the members of the chorus, our audience and our larger community. It is the pure definition of what the holidays represent – the warmth, the laughter,

and the love – and we can hardly wait for you to experience it with us.”

The chorus also has a message for the country as it finds itself at an “inflection point” following the election.

“In 1981, we traveled across this great country in a radical act of love and defiance as the first gay chorus in existence, supporting the queer community during the onset of the AIDS pandemic. And as we did in 2017 with the Lavender Pen Tour and in 2024 with the Love Tour –the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus will continue to stand as a guiding light against darkness and a beacon of love to dispel hate,” the statement reads, in-part.

“In these times, our dedication to protecting the dignity, security, and welfare of our community is more crucial than ever. We will continue to stand together, resilient in our mission to foster a world where everyone can live openly and authentically. Together,

let’s keep moving forward, lifting each other up and using our voices to ignite hope and inspire change.”t

The Holiday Spectacular shows will be December 6, 8pm and December 7, 3:30pm and 8pm at the Sydney Goldstein Theater, 275 Hayes St. December 15, 5pm at Weill Hall, Sonoma State University. December 17, 5pm at Zellerbech Hall, University of California, Berkeley.

The Home for the Holidays shows December 24, 4pm and 7pm at Davies Symphony Hall, 201 Van Ness Ave. Tickets range from $30 to VIP packages at $209. www.sfgmc.org

Those in the South Bay can attend the Silicon Valley Gay Men’s Chorus December 13 and 14 at 8pm and December 15 at 3pm at Campbell United Methodist Church, 1675 Winchester Boulevard in Campbell. www.svgmc.org

San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus

Both photos: Stefan Cohen

Jeff Goldblum and Michelle Yeoh in ‘Wicked’ Universal Pictures

t << Theater & Cabaret

Pride, no prejudice

by Jim Gladstone

Kausar Mohammed is dreaming of a color-blind Christmas.

The queer Pakistani actress, who grew up in San Jose, is thrilled to be playing one of the heroines of the Jane Austen canon, Elizabeth Darcy, in “Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley,” now playing December 4-29 in a TheatreWorks Silicon Valley production at Palo Alto’s Lucie Stern Theatre.

The play, by widely-produced Bay Area playwright Lauren Gunderson and Margot Melcon, is a sequel to “Pride and Prejudice” that finds bookworm Mary Bennet, frustrated at being entangled in her sisters’ romantic mishaps, launched into an amorous adventure or her own.

“Elizabeth is a dear, beloved character,” said Mohammed in an interview with the Bay Area Reporter, “so, as an artist, it’s incredibly fulfilling to have the opportunity to step into that. And as a person of color, I appreciate being cast as a character who’s attached to what many people might think of as a staid classic. I’m a strong believer that POCs should be welcome to take on roles that are traditionally played by white people.”

Developed at TheatreWorks’ Writers Retreat, “Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley” premiered at the Marin Theatre Company in 2018 and has since been mounted to enthusiastic reviews at more than ten theaters nationwide, with Black, Asian, and South Asian actors cast in multiple productions.

“We don’t need a special excuse to appear on stage,” said Mohammed. “We exist without apology. There doesn’t have to be a racial context for why we’re cast.”

“As a queer person,” she added, “I

love how relatable and universal this story is even if my character is married to Mr. Darcy, who is maybe one of the straightest men on earth. It’s a reminder that things all come back to ‘love is love.’ Sisterhood is sisterhood. Family is family. These are things that exist for queer people as much as nonqueer people.”

Friends and family

At TheatreWorks, “Miss Bennett” is

directed by Jeffrey Lo, the company’s Associate Producer of Casting and Literary Management. A FilipinoAmerican, Lo recently helmed the company’s production of “Little Shop of Horrors,” setting his take in San Francisco’s Chinatown.

But his casting of Mohammed in “Miss Bennet” doesn’t just reflect a rejection of old school norms; it also reflects some old school ties.

“One of the first plays I did in high

Angst-bedazzled cheer

by Jim Gladstone

Barbara Dixon, aka Broadway Barbara, is a has-been/never-been of the Great White Way. Always the chorine, never the star, her persona sugarcoats the prickly bitterness of Elaine Stritch with the eternal sunshine of Barbara Cook (Kick in a little Gwen Verdon to boot).

She’s bringing her “Holiday Spectacular” cabaret show, chock full of Broadway dirty laundry and angstbedazzled Christmas cheer (The dreidel song, too!), to Feinstein’s at the Nikko on Dec. 5.

Also, she doesn’t exist. Broadway Barbara is the singing, dancing fictional concoction of actress Leah Sprecher.

Like Jiminy Glick, the fatuous talk show host embodied by Martin Short, or Moira Rose, the obliviously selfinvolved former soap actress played by Catherine O’Hara in “Schitt’s Creek,” Barbara is a weirdly endearing showbiz relic.

Sprecher drew on her own early experiences as a supporting player in musical comedies and the reminiscences of former leading ladies in their solo cabaret shows to develop the Barbara character. And Barbara has given Sprecher’s career an unexpected second act.

Beyond her years

“Even as a kid, I was always cast in character roles for older women,” said Sprecher, now in her early 40s, in an interview with the Bay Area Reporter.

“I was one of the ‘Pick a Little, Talk a Little’ ladies in ‘The Music Man,’ and Aunt Eller in ‘Oklahoma.’ I would look at these pretty ingenues with beautiful voices and feel a little jealous. I wished I could be like that.

“When I was studying musical theater at UCLA, I was told that it would take me a long time to grow

med has built a diverse acting career including playing Fast Track on the CW television series “The Flash” and voicing Yaz on the animated series, “Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous.” She also wrote and starred in the semi-autobiographical short film “The Syed Family Xmas Eve Game Night,” which was featured in both San Francisco’s Frameline and San Jose’s Cinequest film festivals.

“It’s the story of three Muslim Pakistani sisters, one of who brings her female partner home to introduce to the family over Christmas,” said Mohammed, realizing only as she spoke that Christmas was a common theme of the film and “Miss Bennet.”

“That’s so funny. I’d never drawn that parallel before,” she said. “You know, as Muslim people, we never celebrated Christmas as a religious holiday, but sometimes Eid overlaps with the Christmas season, and there are always a lot of Muslim weddings around that time of year, so the season is festive anyway. It’s about getting together with family more than anything else.

“Still, this year, because of the show, I’m feeling a holiday spirit more than I might have otherwise. I wouldn’t have had a Christmas tree around me every day without this set.”

school was written and directed by Jeffrey,” said Mohammed.

The one-time students at San Jose’s Evergreen Valley High haven’t had a chance to work together since they were teenagers, but Mohammed, who now makes her home in Los Angeles, and has auditioned for TheatreWorks productions in the past, has long sensed the opportunity would come around.

In the intervening years, Moham-

And like the Darcy-Bennett clan, Mohammed will have a family gathering to celebrate the season this year.

“My sisters are coming in from Sacramento and Arizona to see the show.”t

‘Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley,’ Dec. 4-6 (previews), Dec. 7-29. $34-$115. Lucie Stern Theatre, 1305 Middlefield Rd., Palo Alto. www.theatreworks.org instagram.com/kausartheperson

‘Broadway Barbara’s Holiday Spectacular’

into my type. But I did find myself gravitating to older parts, because I found them more interesting anyway.”

Sprecher’s favorite college role was Joanne in Stephen Sondheim’s “Company,” a part originally played on Broadway by Stritch. After college, Sprecher moved to New York to pursue musical theater and found a modicum of success.

“In regional theater and on tours, I’d dance in the ensemble and usually cover an older woman’s role. When I toured with the musical of [television

sitcom] ‘Happy Days,’ I covered for Marion Cunningham. The guys who played my son and his buddies were older than I was.”

After a few years, Sprecher returned to the west coast, floundering a bit as she tried to find the right niche for her talents. Along with several friends she’d met in New York, she helped found the Transcendence Theatre Company in Sonoma.

A woman of character

Eventually settling back in Los

Angeles, Sprecher changed course from musical theater and threw herself into the city’s vibrant improvisational comedy scene. She trained at the Groundlings School and, in relatively short order, found herself auditioning for the esteemed sketch company’s Sunday night showcase cast. Her audition piece was Broadway Barbara’s debut.

“I first came up with Barbara just for that five-minute sketch,” said Sprecher.

“She was auditioning for the lead in a production of ‘42nd Street,’ trying to prove she still had the singing and dancing chops to cut it. It was the most successful sketch I’d ever done. The audience response was just great.”

Over the next few years, even as Sprecher took on other projects, she heard Barbara in her head, like a siren song.

“I just kept thinking that this character was right for a full-length show.”

In 2018, Sprecher finally committed to developing a full-length routine, ‘Everything’s Coming Up Barbara.’ But she only had the opportunity to present the finished act a few times before in-person entertainment was

shut down by the pandemic.

At around the same time, Sprecher first got together with Bradley Stevens, a comedy writer who is now her husband. The couple, who this year became first time parents, devoted the lockdown to bringing up baby, and Barbara.

They began writing and posting short Barbara videos on social media, which, to their surprise went, as Barbara might put it, va-va-viral

More than 400,000 TikTok and Instagram followers have delighted in Broadway Barbara’s accounts of run-ins with legends, entrepreneurial schemes (Her signature line of body oils and shapewear is Barbara Dixon’s Smells and Tights), and Fosse-style dance lessons.

“Eventually we realized that there was enough of an audience and enough enthusiasm that we were going to be able to start doing live performances.”

Since 2021, Broadway Barbara has performed three distinct cabaret acts at venues from coast to coast.

“Over the past few years,” said Sprecher, “I feel like Leah has retired from performing and Barbara has taken over. I feel so satisfied by this show because I never felt that I was able to bring all of what I have to offer to a role before: acting, singing, dancing, comedy. And it’s all on my terms. I’m not waiting for someone to cast me.”

The parallels and overlaps of Sprecher’s real life career and her character’s fictional story undoubtedly help explain why Barbara is always presented with as much empathy as parody. Her against-all-odds gumption and enthusiasm are infectious. You’ll laugh at her, but you’ll also root for her.t

‘Broadway Barbara’s Holiday Spectacular,’ December 5, 8pm, $75. Feinstein’s at the Nikko. 222 Mason St. www.feinsteinssf.com

Leah Sprecher as Broadway Barbara

Leah Sprecher

Kausar Mohammed

Stanley Kellis

A time capsule of the Castro’s recent past

by Finbar LaBelle

I

n his latest book, “My Gay History,” Man about the Castro Mark Abramson opens a window to a wealth of personal journal entries from 2003 to 2008. A lifelong diarist, having kept a journal since the age of eighteen, the longtime San Francisco author has mastered the art of reflective writing. He has honed the craft and edited the rest, creating a mustread blueprint for an era that shows the profundity of the prosaic.

For the author of “Beach Reading,” a mystery series set in San Francisco’s Castro district, the epistolary form proves an inspired choice that works well in Abramson’s favor. The dayto-day intimacy of the format lends readers an unfiltered glimpse into Abramson in all of his varied forms.

From sipping on drinks with local legends like Armistead Maupin at iconic gay bars like The Eagle to navigating romantic affairs, attending gay touchstones like the Folsom Street Fair, and dissecting the political and social landscape of The City, his writings are as varied as they are vivid and witty.

The collection exemplifies that a gay man’s life, especially in San Francisco, unfolds in a rich tapestry of parks, paloozas, art, drag queens, cruising, and above all, possessing the wit and wisdom to put it all down on the page.

Never without his humor, Abramson titles the opening chapter “As Serious as a Heart Attack” (dated Monday, April 7, 2003), beginning in the UC hospital on Parnassus, where he is just a week

into recovering from open-heart surgery. The following descriptions of his life bound to a hospital bed are hilarious and poignant, illustrating the experience with an author’s curious eye.

The convalescing Abramson is clear about laying out, in quintessential gay fashion, that there is a proper etiquette and unspoken timetable on when it is appropriate to call someone recovering from a heart attack.

Abramson is eventually discharged from the hospital, and the reader is led into a pivotal and uncertain time in his life. He’s unemployed, living with an alcoholic roommate, and enduring a grueling year-long Hepa-

titis C treatment. The setting evokes a “dog day diaries” sentiment – capturing, at times, the mundanity and struggle of simply making it by.

Castro memories

Simultaneously, the seemingly more vibrant and free-loving reverie of the Castro lingers in his mind, a symbol of a chapter now behind him and all of San Francisco, which continues to change. Time marches forward, lovers are found and lost, friendships are rekindled, trips are taken, and perspectives are reshaped as he transitions into middle age.

Abramson’s entries are as compli-

cated and layered as life itself, sometimes having the gall to show himself as an unsavory character. He blends sweet glimpses of urban magic with raw, unvarnished realities, painting vivid scenes of sweet overheard conversations on public transit or the aftermath of a hookup who stole all the cash from his wallet.

The mix of drama, humor, and genuine intrigue makes the collection hard to put down. It’s a testament to finding meaning in chaos and humor in heartache; readers will undoubtedly be hungry for more.

Something intriguing and dramatic is always happening in Abramson’s life, but the collection is not without its edifying moments.

Complexities arise as Abramson lives through the Bush era, the liberal contradictions surrounding the response to Iraq, and the celebration of gay marriage legalization at City Hall, followed by Proposition 8.

Novelistic memoir

Figures come and go. Funerals are held. Epidemics and pandemics ravage (for a more vivid account, read Abramson’s “Arlene Francis and Me: Pandemic Diaries from Castro Street

2020”). Condoms are worn fervently, and then they are forgotten. Youth runs for the back exit more quickly than we think.

Additionally, the book is novelistic, vividly capturing eras and offering readers a front-row seat to snippets of San Francisco history. It evokes familiar faces most locals cherish, from rubbing elbows with famous drag queens to sharing time with iconic writers like San Francisco Chronicle columnist Leah Garchick.

Above all, Abramson’s honesty stands out, with the journal entry format allowing his life to serve as both a mirror and a lesson. His book transforms into a piece of living history, capturing how places like the Castro evolve over decades – its faces, rhythms, and crises shifting – while standing with an enduring and indefatigable essence.

A powerful undercurrent of the collection is Abramson’s ability to show the reader that life, like fads or political movements, is cyclical and constantly in flux. His collection offers more than stories; it carries wisdom. With candid advice and reflection, Abramson invites readers to dive into his “jumble jaded jingle-jangle journal” and savor the ride.t

‘My Gay History’ by Mark Abramson, $18.95, Minnesota Boy Press www.markabramson.net

Mark Abramson reads from and signs copies of his books Sun, Dec. 1, 4pm at Fabulosa Books, 489 Castro St. www.fabulosabooks.com

A gay odyssey complicated by racism

by Brian Bromberger

When his first novel, “The Swimming Pool Library” appeared in 1988, Alan Hollinghurst created a sensation with his explicit sexual candor, almost absent in British literature, as well as writing unapologetically from a gay point of view. Probably England’s finest prose stylist, Hollinghurst, now 70, in his latest book has created an elegy, a reminiscence on gay life from the 1960s to the present, but through the lens of class and race as it impacts on art and sexuality.

It’s his most accomplished novel since his best-known “The Line of Beauty,” a deconstruction of sex, class, and power in Margaret Thatcher’s England, which won the 2004 Booker Prize.

“Our Evenings” is written as a memoir by an actor, Dave Win, born in the 1940s and now in his late sixties, as he reflects back on his life and career. He comes from a lower-middle-class background, brought up alone by his seamstress mother Avril in the market

town of Foxleigh.

At 13, Dave is awarded a scholarship to Bampton, a top boarding school, through his kind benefactors Mark and Cara Hadlow, who will take an interest in him throughout his life. It is Mark’s death at age 94 that inspires Win to pen his autobiography on his colorful life.

School bully

The first half of the book concerns his years at Bampton, especially a momentous week spent at the Hadlow’s estate Woolpeck. Their son Giles is a classmate of Dave’s. He will later become a Tory politician supporting Brexit and a push to get rid of immigrants.

As a student he was a boorish lout, a spoiled bully, throwing out slurs (“you dirty mongrel”) at Dave or locking him in half-nelson wrestling holds, and occasionally taking advantage of him sexually.

Dave discovers a gift for theater which he will pursue when he attends Oxford. He struggles with his

sexuality and performing on-and-off-stage to the expectations of others, playing the exotic with a desire to please. Moments of condescension and microaggressions, stalk him throughout his life. At Oxford, he describes his existence as a “chaos of privilege and prejudice.”

As the rebellious 1960s proceeds, Dave decides to pursue his passion for acting, becoming involved with an experimental acting troupe, sometimes involving nudity.

Although he becomes known, it’s always as a second-tier artist, with audiences recognizing his face but forgetting his name.

We follow Dave’s brief affair with Chris, a civil servant whose landlady charges him rent when he stays overnight, an open relationship with Hector, a fellow Black actor, which lasts a few years, though he’s devastated and jealous when Hector leaves to pursue a hit movie career in Hollywood.

Hollinghurst has often been compared to Henry James with a similar psychological stream-of-consciousness style, describing the internal state of mind, contradictory motives, and perceptive/witty analysis of social dynamics as a way of defining his characters:

“I couldn’t tell if it was the sort of poshness inseparable from good manners, or the sort that absolves you of any such thing.”

Character digressions

Plot isn’t as central here, but there can be seemingly long dense digressions with observations on a character’s assessment of someone else, revealing that character’s traits. The first half of “Our Evenings” can

be sluggish with lots of impressions by characters as if they are talking to themselves, resulting in a lagging momentum hampered by an excess of mellowness, as you’re not sure when or where the novel is heading. But persevere, as the second half gallops faster, transporting us to a breathtaking finale which will stun the reader.

Hollinghurst has much to say on the thriving of LGBTQ folk amidst discrimination. But he seems to be issuing a warning that England is in danger of becoming like the selfimportant Giles. Hollinghurst’s answer is love, the love Win feels for his craft, his mother, and Richard.

Dave refuses to be defeated by his losses and unfulfilled dreams, even as he must continually reinvent and assert himself. He summons up the best aspirations of what England is trying to be in the late 20th/early 21st century. Dave’s subtle triumph gives “Our Evenings” quiet strength, of a life steeped, not in drama but a steady accumulation of pivotal self-defining moments. “Our Evenings” is not only a tour de force for Hollinghurst, but one of the pinnacle gay novels of 2024.t

‘Our Evenings: A Novel’ by Alan Hollinghurst. Random House, $30. www.penguinrandomhouse.com

Author Mark Abramson

Author Alan Hollinghurst

Seasonal Shows, TV & Events Listings

‘Home for the Holidays’

Lower Left: Panto at the Presidio’s ‘Peter Pan’

Lower Middle: Circus Bella’s ‘Kaleidoscope’

Lower Right: Nina West hosts ‘A Drag Queen Christmas’

St., San Mateo.

Smuin Contemporary Ballet:

The Christmas Ballet

This year’s edition of Smuin’s “The Christmas Ballet” includes world premieres by Artistic Director Amy Seiwert, company artist Brennan Wall, and Smuin alum Rex Wheeler. The two-act performance spans classical ballet to contemporary dance, complete with tap, jazz, and comedic numbers. The company’s popular LGBTQ Night returns on Dec. 20, featuring Lady Camden, who’ll host and perform at both the performance and the festive afterparty across the plaza. $40$99, Dec. 5-8 (Mountain View Center for the Arts, 500 Castro St., Mountain View), Dec. 13-24 (Blue Shield of California Theater at YBCA, 700 Howard St.). www.smuinballet.org

Peninsula Lively Arts:

Three Unique Nutcrackers

If you’re looking for holiday spirit on the peninsula, there are three distinctly different versions of “The Nutcracker” to enjoy. Members of Peninsula Ballet Theatre will perform “Nutcracker Sweet,” an abridged, 50-minute version of the classic ballet appropriate for families and children ages 3-9. $30-$40, December 7-8, Studio One, 1880 South Grand St., San Mateo.

Then, the company will present their classic full-length “Nutcracker,” featuring a cast of 85 dancers and singers from Skyline High School. $35$70, Dec. 21-22, San Mateo Performing Arts Center, 600 North Delaware

Or, if you’re looking for something different, check out “Hip-Hop Nutcracker,” a full-length production by Peninsula Hip-Hop Productions showcasing urban break dance styles and Tchaikovsky’s score, overlaid with heart-thumping industrial beats.

$35-$70, Dec. 21-22, Fox Theatre, 2215 Broadway, Redwood City. www.peninsulalivelyarts.org

THEATRE

Dear San Francisco:

Home for the Holidays International circus artists from The 7 Fingers blend spectacular acrobatics with holiday magic in a show that captures the spirit of our beloved city. This enchanting fusion of artistry, spectacle, and intimate storytelling celebrates both holiday magic and San Francisco’s vibrant history and culture.

$108-$192, now through Dec. 29, special New Year’s Eve celebration performance Dec. 31, Club Fugazi, 678 Green St. www.clubfugazisf.com

American Conservatory Theater:

A Whynot Christmas Carol

A.C.T. presents the world premiere of playwright Craig Lucas’ new take on the holiday tale. Directed by A.C.T. Artistic Director Pam MacKinnon, this comedic play within a play follows the trials and tribulations of a small-town theater troupe as they stage an overly ambitious version of “A Christmas Carol.” Tony Award winner David Zinn’s inventive design reveals the hilarious behind-the-scenes chaos as the determined ensemble navigates mishaps and creative differences.

$25-$118, Nov. 26-Dec. 24, A.C.T. Toni Rembe Theatre, 415 Geary St. www.act-sf.org

A Drag Queen Christmas For one night only, the 10th anniversary tour of “A Drag Queen Christmas,” hosted by Nina West, comes to San Francisco’s Golden Gate Theatre. The show features a bevy of drag superstars including Sasha Colby, Roxxxy Andrews, Crystal Methyd, Angeria Paris VanMichaels, Plane Jane, Sapphira Cristal, and Jimbo The Drag Clown. $60-$342, Dec. 10, Golden Gate Theatre, 1 Taylor St. www.broadwaysf.com

Panto at the Presidio: Peter Pan Panto, Britain’s enormously popular holiday theater tradition, brings the spirit of cheeky fun to both sides of the footlights. While children delight in the colorful characters and fairy tale adventures, adults savor the clever wordplay and topical satire. This year, the world premiere of “Peter Pan” begins with a brief stop in San Francisco before soaring away to Neverland. The show features characters from the fairy tale like Tinkerbell and Captain Hook, but brings back audience favorites from past Pantos, including Pecker, the smart-mouthed chicken, and the Dame, who loves to pour the Neverland tea. $17-$68, Dec. 3-29, Presidio Theatre Performing Arts Center, 2340 Chestnut St. www.presidiotheatre.org

Circus Bella: Kaleidoscope

Back for a second year, “Kaleidoscope” continues Circus Bella’s 17-year tradition of bringing joy to thousands of children and families in the Bay Area. Performed in the round in a 350-seat, heated, big top circus tent, “Kaleidoscope” features a diverse cast of 11 performing thrilling feats of bal-

ance and strength, outrageous humor, and slapstick antics. Original music is performed live by the six-piece Circus Bella All-Star Band. Circus concessions will be available at the performance, with more food and beverages at discounted prices at the Gourmet Grotto and Greyhound Bar nearby. $55-$75, Dec. 13-Jan. 5, Beale at Howard St. (the Crossing at the East Cut). www.circusbella.org

San Francisco Mime Troupe:

A Red Carol

San Francisco’s iconic political satire theater company, best known for its annual summer tour around Bay Area parks, heads indoors with “A Red Carol: An Activist Adaptation of the Dickens Classic.” Adapted and directed by Michael Gene Sullivan, this production takes a distinctly modern approach to “A Christmas Carol.” Collectively, the company believes that Dickens wasn’t trying to make people feel good, he was trying to show them a stark reality and scare them into being more human. “A Red Carol” aims to re-establish this narrative as a revolutionary call to action. $20-$40 sliding scale, Dec. 14-29, Z Space, 450 Florida St. www.zspace.org/redcarol

African-American Shakespeare Company: Cinderella San Francisco’s African-American Shakespeare Company is committed to providing an opportunity and place for actors of color to hone their skills and talent in mastering some of the world’s greatest classical roles. This holiday season the company will present their unique production of “Cinderella,” the tale of a young girl discovering the power of her own voice and following her dreams. $18-45, Dec. 20-22, Herbst Theatre, 401 Van Ness Ave. www.african-americanshakes.orgt

Read the full feature at www.ebar.com.

Giving thanks

As the holidays approach, one small but uplifting thing we are giving thanks for is gay actors giving us great TV. Colman Domingo checks all the boxes.

“The Madness” is an original Netflix conspiracy thriller series in which Domingo stars as a media pundit who must clear his name after he accidentally stumbles upon a murder in the Pocono woods and becomes the main suspect, because he is Black and the victim a white supremacist. Lavender Tube columnist Victoria A. Brownworth also covers Ronan Farrow’s HBO documentary “Surveilled,” about the multi-billion-dollar spyware industry, “Our Oceans,” narrated by Barack Obama, and “60 Minutes” “Silicon Savannah” episode, about the exploitative and abusive tech industry in Kenya, all on www.ebar.com.t

Weinstock

Colman Domingo in ‘The Madness’

‘Leonardo da Vinci’

by Tim Pfaff

Ken Burns documentaries are their own category. There are documentaries, and then there are Ken Burns documentaries. Burns’ latest, with Sarah Burns and David McMahon, “Leonardo da Vinci” (PBS), crowns his achievements to date. It blends history and culture with the sensibility and sensitivity that both Burns and his subject share.

Even in his own time, the 15th century, the Italian Renaissance, Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was the archetype of what we now call the Renaissance Man. Today he’s perhaps best remembered as a painter, famously of the fresco of “The Last Supper” and the oil painting “Mona Lisa.” The Burns documentary places him in the category of geniuses that includes Shakespeare and J.S. Bach.

The new documentary also ac-

knowledges his world-changing work as a sculptor, draftsman, scientist, architect, mathematician, and even military munitions innovator. There was, it credibly asserts, nothing Leonardo found in his environment about which he was not curious and spurred to deeper investigation and understanding.

But early on, the documentary, narrated by Keith David, notes that among the things he famously was, he was known in his lifetime as “good company.” The two-episode, threehour documentary capitalizes on that by making him good company today.

The queer Leonardo

The Leonardo story is told as linearly as possible for a subject with such overlapping talents. What’s telling is that it isn’t confined to the account of Leonardo’s homosexuality, well known in his own day, to its

the supreme Renaissance Man

own chapter or an appendix. Early on Burns’ writers declare, without sensation, that Leonardo was, knowingly, what we would now call “gay,” and that that was, if not common, generally accepted in his own time.

That said, they also note that as a young man Leonardo was jailed for being found in a male brothel, which qualifies contentions about the acceptability of homosexuality then. Two of his students or apprentices became life companions. Gian Giacomo Caprotti da Oreno was introduced to his studio, where he proved more a hellion than a disciple, but with the nickname of Salai stayed with Leonardo thereafter, lending his image to a number of Leonardo’s visual works. Leonardo called another student, Francesco Melzi, his best student, and Count Melzi, too, remained a literal follower to the end.

The notebooks

The documentary returns time and again to the astonishing notebooks Leonardo kept throughout his life. Accompanying his own text (voiced by Adriano Giannini), written backwards to be read in a mirror (likely to keep possible censors at bay), are the innumerable, dazzling illustrations Leonardo made to document his own discoveries and, given some of their un-achievability in his own time, dreams.

His lifelong desire for human flight is represented both in his detailed drawings of bird and bat wings and his drafts of imagined flying machines. The results of his investigation of human anatomy, much of which was learned by dissecting cadavers, are in themselves marvels of drawing, true to their subjects. His drawing of a child in the womb strikes people dumb.

More astonishing yet, modern science and medicine have found most of those drawings accurate. Burns repeatedly notes that Leonardo’s consummate skills in drawing underwrote his most ambitious scientific inquiries, and that art and science did not merely coexist in his work; his art enabled and augmented his science.

Perfectionism gets a bad name these days, but the catalog of his many unfinished works hints at its centrality in his world view. “Tell me anything that was ever done,” the film quotes him as saying. Leonardo didn’t just spend years on individual projects, he often simply kept the works he had undertaken on commission. But the commissioners kept coming, and coming back.

Mystery of Mona

In a move reflective of Walter Isaacson’s masterful (and, as a book, beautiful) biography of Leonardo, the film sees Leonardo’s life work as culminating in “La Gioconda” (the “Mona Lisa”). How much the portrait mattered to Leonardo is reflected in the fact that he carried the canvas across Italy throughout his late career, always refining and deepening it. He also took other paintings we would now consider masterpieces on the road with him.

Its overexposure, and in poor prints, has made life hard for the “real” “Mona Lisa.” The subject’s mysterious, ambivalent smile has eclipsed most other aspects of this stunning oil painting, so much so that it turns up in the title of an art-history-based fictional movie “Mona Lisa Smile.”

Ryan Gosling recently got a laugh from saying that when he took his daughter to see the real “Mona Lisa,” her wordless judgment was a thumbs-down.

By the time she appears in Burns’ documentary, “Mona Lisa” has been around all the right blocks. A true reproduction shows more than Leonardo’s careful, layered brush strokes. There’s also the landscape in the distance suggesting infinite space, alongside Leonardo’s capture of linear perspective he brought to peak

expression over the years. And then there is the subject, rendered at a level of accurate anatomical detail that the veins in her hands and the architecture and skin tones of her thorax. Above all is that enigmatic smile, a subtle reflection of the subject’s own interior beauty, looking back at the viewer with a knowing eye, exquisitely rendered, of course.

One of Leonardo’s signal innovations as a painter was to lend his subjects psychological depth. It works wonders in the other paintings and reaches a pinnacle of mastery as well as mystery in “Mona Lisa.”

The art of the documentary Burns and company bring their own visuals to bear on the documentary. Paired split-screen with anatomical drawings are modern pictures and film of the human body. Over a soundtrack that largely disappears (as it should in such a project), there’s a vast array of exemplary contemporary art not by Leonardo that provides expanded perspectives, sometimes literally.

Predictably, there is also a company of talking heads, specialists in various aspects of Leonardo’s art and science with genuinely interesting things to say and perspectives to lend (in English, and subtitled Italian and French).

But the realization that all these “interruptions” to the pageant of Leonardo’s own achievements prove welcome, not just for the authority they add to the project, but for the short breaks they give an audience likely to be overwhelmed by the beauty and soul of the polymath’s remarkable work.

Burns gives us not just the extent of Leonardo’s curiosity and its myriad satisfactions, but the intricacies of the dance of art and science. The viewer emerges changed, as the world has been by Leonardo da Vinci.t

‘Leonardo da Vinci,’ by Ken Burns, Sarah Burns, and David McMahon; streaming on demand at www.pbs.org www.kenburns.com

A portrait of Leonardo da Vinci in ‘Leonardo da Vinci’

PBS/Florentine Films

Above: Sketches of Gian Giacomo Caprotti da Oreno

Middle: ‘Anunciation’

Below: Anatomy sketches

Above: ‘Ginerva de’ Benci’ Below: ‘Mona Lisa/La Gioconda’

Art by Leonardo da Vinci / Photos: PBS/Florentine Films

Art by Leonardo da Vinci Photos: PBS/Florentine Films