1st mpox variant case reported in San Mateo County
by Liz Highleyman
TSF trans community bracing for 2nd Trump administration
by John Ferrannini
The first U.S. case of a potentially more severe variant of mpox, known as clade I, has been reported in San Mateo County, the California Department of Public Health announced Saturday, November 16. Health officials consider the risk to the public to be low, but they are urging people at higher risk – including gay and bisexual men – to get vaccinated.
San Francisco public health officials are also monitoring the situation. “At this time, there are no reported cases of clade I in San Francisco,” the department stated over the weekend.
Both San Francisco and San Mateo health officials said the risk of clade I is low.
See page 10 >>
Mandelman eyes SF board presidency
by Matthew S. Bajko
Once again, gay District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman is eyeing the board presidency position. With a moderate majority set to be seated on the 11-member governing body in 2025 and his having the most seniority on it, he is making the case that he has the experience to lead the board during what will surely be a rocky two years.
This is the third time Mandelman has put his name into contention for the powerful position at City Hall. He had sought it in 2022 and in 2019 but fell short of the six-vote threshold
See page 10 >>
he defiance was as palpable as the crisp air on the steps outside San Francisco City Hall November 18 as members of the city’s transgender and allied communities gathered to celebrate Transgender Immigrants Day. After all, it’s only been two weeks since the election of Donald Trump to a second term as U.S. president – following a campaign in which rolling back trans rights was a major theme.
“We have got your back,” said Honey Mahogany, a Black queer trans person who is the director of the city’s Office of Transgender Initiatives. “The Office of Trans Initiatives is here to serve, here to support you, and here to ensure that here, in California, we are going to Trump-proof this state.”
Trans leaders want the community to know they aren’t helpless – especially in more accepting parts of the country like San Francisco – and they also want to provide information about how people can prepare for January 20, when Trump is inaugurated as the 47th president.
Trump proposals
Trump’s campaign to return to the White House kicked off in 2022 on the heels of a resurgent antiLGBTQ backlash nationwide, particularly with regard to issues affecting the trans community. Hundreds of anti-LGBTQ bills – on issues ranging
from bathroom and sports access to identity documents and access to gender-affirming care – have been introduced in recent years, largely passing in conservative states.
In the closing stretch of the 2024 campaign, a TV commercial with the tagline “Kamala is for they/ them, President Trump is for you” (referring to
by Matthew S. Bajko
FDemocratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris) aired over 30,000 times and in every swing state. A Future Forward PAC analysis found it among the most effective of the campaign, swinging viewers 2.7% toward Trump after viewing it.
See page 2 >>
Program connects San Francisco older adults with visitors
2017 Media Kit 0 a
our years ago, during the height of the COVID pandemic, Billy Wiselogel answered his phone to take a call from Sue Fulcher. A volunteer with Little Brothers – Friends of the Elderly San Francisco, Fulcher was checking in to see how he was handling the disruptions brought on by the global health crisis.
Fulcher, 73, mentioned that one of the programs offered by the nonprofit senior services agency partnered older adults in San Francisco with visitors. Because of stay-at-home orders in place at the time, the hangouts were being conducted virtually, and Fulcher inquired if Wiselogel would be interested in being matched with someone.
“We had just a delightful chat,” recalled Fulcher, a retired resident of the East Bay city of Pleasant Hill who had begun volunteering with the San Francisco-based agency just as the COVID lockdowns went into effect in March 2020.
Sensing an immediate rapport with Fulcher over the phone, Wiselogel asked if he could be matched with her. It was the start that summer of a friendship which has been going strong ever since, developed at first via phone calls up to three times a week then over monthly meals at a restaurant somewhere in the city and different events they will attend, often with Fulcher’s husband, Bill, in
tow, as he also has served as a volunteer with LBFE.
“She just kept on calling me. It was the very worst time, I was really sick,” recalled Wiselogel, 72, who was recovering from having the then-novel coronavirus. “I realized I had a friend. I was so grateful, because I don’t know anybody.”
Fulcher told the B.A.R., “We laugh together,” as
for what has been a key ingredient to their forming a close bond.
The Los Angeles Blade covers Los Angeles and California news, politics, opinion, arts and entertainment and features national and international coverage from the Blade’s award-winning reporting team. Be part of this exciting publication serving LGBT Los Angeles from the team behind the Washington Blade, the nation’s first LGBT newspaper. From the freeway to the Beltway we’ve got you covered.
Wiselogel, a gay resident of the city’s Tenderloin neighborhood, had lost many of his friends during the height of the AIDS epidemic. Over the years, he found it difficult to make new ones, he told the Bay Area Reporter during an interview in October outside of an Asian restaurant at the Embarcadero Center downtown where he and Fulcher were having lunch during one of their routine get-togethers.
“I have a friend,” said Wiselogel when asked what the biggest impact has been from meeting Fulcher. Had the two not become acquainted, “It’d be awful,” Wiselogel said. “I would be lonely all the time.”
Fulcher chimed in that she feels “very lucky to have met Billy through that very first phone call.” To which Wiselogel interjected, “Same here, I feel very lucky. They don’t grow people like Sue on trees.”
The nonprofit agency is looking for more volunteers like Fulcher to help provide services to LGBTQ seniors and other older adults in the city, especially during the upcoming holidays. It offers a variety of opportunities on Thanksgiving and during Christmas for those looking to volunteer over the coming weeks and, the agency hopes, throughout the rest of the calendar year.
See page 11 >>
Dorothy Allison dies
Lurie names transition team
‘Jaja’s African Hair Braiding’
LBFE volunteer Sue Fulcher, left, talks with Billy Wiselogel, whom she has been visiting for four years.
Matthew S. Bajko
Supervisor Rafael Mandelman is making a pitch to be board president next year.
Courtesy the subject
Honey Mahogany, executive director of the San Francisco Office of Transgender Initiatives, spoke at a November 18 rally to mark Transgender Immigrants Day.
John Ferrannini
San Mateo County Health Officer Dr. Kismet Baldwin-Santana
From San Mateo County
Lurie taps gay OpenAI chief for transition team
by John Ferrannini
Gay OpenAI chief Sam Altman is one of 10 people tapped to lead San Francisco Mayor-elect Daniel Lurie’s transition team, it was announced Monday. Others include longtime city government leaders, the chair of the San Francisco Democratic Party, and the former interim chief executive of Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.
“I’m excited to introduce this talented and diverse team who will help guide our transition and lay the groundwork for the change San Franciscans demand,”
Lurie stated in a news release. “Every one of these incredible leaders brings a track record of shaking up the status quo to deliver results. My transition co-chairs share my commitment to building an accountable, effective government to tackle the many challenges confronting our great city.”
Altman stated to the Bay Area Reporter that “I’m excited to help the city I love, and where OpenAI was started, as it begins its next chapter with Mayorelect Lurie stepping into his new role.”
Lurie defeated incumbent Mayor London Breed in the November 5 election, as the B.A.R. previously reported.
The Levi Strauss heir and former nonprofit executive has never held elected office, and the transition team announced will be responsible for providing “critical guidance on ways the city can innovate to ensure better service to the people of San Francisco,” the release stated.
Part of this will be providing counsel to Lurie and other advisers as they build relationships with city agencies, create 100-day actionable plans with accountability metrics, and help determine who will lead the incoming administration, according to the release.
There are seven co-chairs and three senior advisers. Altman, 39, is the former president of the startup accelerator Y Combinator; in 2019, he became CEO of OpenAI, one of the world’s leading artificial intelligence labs.
Altman, who lives in the Russian Hill neighborhood, was controversially ousted by OpenAI’s board late last year but was reinstated after pressure from investors and employees.
Trans community From page 1
Trump made a number of promises in a video on his campaign’s website that would, if enacted, affect the trans community. He promised to “sign a new executive order instructing every federal agency to cease all programs that promote the concept of sex and gender
OpenAI is currently in a legal fight with co-founder Elon Musk, who has accused Altman and other current leaders of “maximizing profits” instead of concentrating on its original mission to “benefit humanity,” according to a civil complaint. Just three days ago Musk –whom President-elect Donald Trump announced last week will co-lead a new Department of Government Efficiency to recommend restructuring and trimming down of federal agencies – added Microsoft to his complaint.
Musk is alleging Microsoft and OpenAI created a monopoly to shut out competitors such as Musk’s xAI company.
For its part, OpenAI told BBC News that Musk’s claims are “baseless” and that in the past Musk had been in favor of a for-profit structure. OpenAI claimed in a blog post that Musk sought “absolute control” of OpenAI and had wanted to merge it with Tesla Inc., which Musk –the world’s wealthiest person – also owns.
Another transition co-chair is Nancy Tung, a career prosecutor who has been the chair of the San Francisco Democratic County Central Committee since a slate of moderate Democrats took power earlier this year. The committee had given Breed a sole endorsement in the mayor’s race.
“I’m honored to be part of Mayorelect Lurie’s transition team and excited to get started,” Tung told the B.A.R.
transition at any age.” He could reverse the Biden administration’s move to include trans people as part of the Title IX civil rights law, which could affect school policies on the use of pronouns and which bathroom and locker facilities students will be allowed to use.
Trump said that “any hospital or health care provider that participates in the chemical or physical mutilation of
Other transition co-chairs include Joanne Hayes-White, who was the chief of the San Francisco Fire Department from 2004-2019, and had endorsed Lurie in the race; José A. Quiñonez, the founding CEO of the Mission Asset Fund, which provides zero-interest loans to help low income people build credit; Ned Segal, a co-chair of the Lurie campaign who’d served as Twitter’s chief financial officer until he was fired during Musk’s takeover of the company in 2022; former Stockton mayor and current California Governor Gavin Newsom adviser Michael Tubbs; and retired San Francisco Police Department Commander Paul Yep, a relatively early Lurie endorser.
Three senior advisers were also announced November 18. The transition director will be Sara Fenske Bahat, the former interim chief executive of Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.
Fenske Bahat resigned March 3 after the museum closed following a protest against Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip. During a February 15 protest, artists modified their own work. The museum temporarily closed and YBCA employees and others signed an open letter accusing the center of censorship.
Fenske Bahat, who is Jewish, stated on LinkedIn that her resignation was due to “the vitriolic and antisemitic backlash directed at me personally since that night,” and refused to sign on to a
minor youth will no longer meet federal health and safety standards for Medicaid and Medicare – and will be terminated from the program immediately.” Laws restricting or banning gender-affirming care are now on the books in 26 states.
Tatyana Moaton, Ph.D., a Black trans woman who is the director of strategic innovation and partnerships with the San Francisco Community Health Center,
proposed academic and cultural boycott of Israel, the Jewish News of Northern California reported at the time.
Fenske Bahat’s father is Jerry Fenske, a founder of Gay Fathers of Houston in the 1980s. He’s a past treasurer of the Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club.
The transition counsel will be Ann O’Leary, former Newsom chief of staff and leader of his transition team when he became governor. O’Leary was also a senior policy adviser to Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign and was to be co-director of the Clinton presidential transition had she won the race.
O’Leary has served as a San Francisco deputy city attorney.
Ben Rosenfeld, who served as city controller from 2008 until his resignation earlier this year, was also listed in the release as a senior adviser but unlike Fenske Bahat and O’Leary was not given a specific role. The San Francisco Chronicle described Rosenfeld as the “wizard” of the city’s $14 billion budget.
Trans office head plans on staying
During her time as mayor, Breed made a number of appointments to city leadership from the LGBTQ community. At least one isn’t planning on pulling up stakes any time soon.
Honey Mahogany, who was chair of the San Francisco Democratic County
said she’s concerned about the health care implications because Trump could undo a Biden administration rule to expand the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act’s section 1557. The statute prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age, or disability; the Biden administration interprets that to include prohibiting discrimination on the basis of gender identity.
Central Committee before Tung, was appointed director of the Office of Transgender Initiatives in May. Mahogany told the B.A.R. November 14 that “I look forward to working with Mayorelect Lurie to ensure San Francisco lives up to its values and potential.”
Mahogany’s statement comes at a pivotal time for the trans community, which is bracing itself for Trump’s return to the White House. The president-elect has pledged to “sign a new executive order instructing every federal agency to cease all programs that promote the concept of sex and gender transition at any age” and reverse the Biden administration’s expansion of the 1972 Title IX civil rights law.
All the other LGBTQ department heads who the B.A.R. reached out to either declined to speak on the record or didn’t return the request for comment. These include Mawuli Tugbenyoh, a gay man who became acting director of the San Francisco Human Rights Commission after Breed’s friend Sheryl Davis resigned amid an ethics scandal; Dr. Grant Colfax, a gay man who is the city’s health director; Jeffrey Tumlin, a gay man who is the city’s transportation director; Carol Isen, head of the department of human resources; and Shireen McSpadden, a bi woman who is director of the department of homelessness and supportive housing. t
“That could drastically limit access to gender-affirming care for transgender individuals,” Moaton said.
Moaton also noted that Trump may seek to change people’s identity documents; the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles doesn’t allow people to update gender on their
See page 9 >>
Valor LX2 3-sided gas fireplace shown here with Murano glass, and reflective glass liner
San Francisco Mayor-elect Daniel Lurie named his transition team Monday.
John Ferrannini
Sam Altman, head of OpenAI, is a member of the Lurie transition team.
Viet Mac/OpenAI
Pilobolus re:CREATION
In this retrospective production, the pioneering acrobatic dance troupe invites us to step into a realm where imagination knows no limits, the boundaries of gravity and creativity blur, and storytelling takes on new dimensions.
THANKSGIVING WEEKEND
Nov 30–Dec 1
ZELLERBACH HALL, BERKELEY
San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus
Holiday Spectacular!
Celebrate
Dec 21
ZELLERBACH HALL, BERKELEY
KODO
One Earth Tour 2025: Warabe
In its latest creation, the famed taiko troupe creates a universe of sound and emotion through thunderous percussion and polished theatricality, the living bearers of a centuries-old Japanese folk tradition.
Jan 25–26
ZELLERBACH HALL, BERKELEY
Samara Joy
Still at the beginning of what is already a stellar career, the wildly talented vocalist Samara Joy boasts three Grammys to her name, her music steeped in tradition while deeply of the present moment.
Welcome this rising star of jazz in her Berkeley debut!
Feb 5
ZELLERBACH HALL, BERKELEY
BAY AREA PREMIERE
Dorrance Dance
The Nutcracker Suite
Explosive tap dance meets hot jazz rhythms in this acclaimed company’s intoxicating interpretation of the holiday classic, danced to Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn’s joyful take on the iconic Tchaikovsky
Dec 14–15
ZELLERBACH HALL, BERKELEY
Antonio Sánchez Birdman LIVE
The Academy Award-winning Best Picture, Birdman, screened to a live soundtrack
In this special screening and concert, Antonio Sánchez celebrates the 10th anniversary of Alejandro Iñárritu’s film (starring Michael Keaton) with a riveting live performance of his Grammy-winning solo drum set score.
Presentation licensed by Disney Concerts © All rights reserved.
Jan 18
ZELLERBACH HALL, BERKELEY
Takács Quartet with Jeremy Denk, piano
An exhilarating artistic matchup! The quartet is joined by pianist Jeremy Denk for Brahms’ Piano Quintet —among the towering creations in the composer’s catalog; plus works by Beethoven and Janáček.
Jan 25–26
HERTZ HALL, BERKELEY
Twyla Tharp Dance
Diamond Jubilee
Featuring Third Coast Percussion
The American dance titan celebrates 60 years of strikingly original, thoroughly accessible, and utterly uncategorizable works with a new collaboration with Philip Glass, whose score is performed live by the Grammywinning ensemble Third Coast Percussion; plus a revival of Tharp’s 1998 triumph Diabelli
Feb 7–9
ZELLERBACH HALL, BERKELEY
Asmik Grigorian, soprano Lukas Geniušas, piano
Among the most electrifying performers of her generation, the Lithuanian soprano makes her first West Coast appearance with an all-Russianlanguage Cal Performances debut recital, performing rarely heard songs— “small pieces of opera in a few minutes”— by Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff.
Dec 15
HERTZ HALL, BERKELEY
ADDED EVENT! Lise Davidsen, soprano Malcolm Martineau, piano
Norwegian soprano Lise Davidsen pulled off the operatic equivalent of a mic drop last season at the Metropolitan Opera, when she dazzled a sold-out house in her first NY solo recital.
In her Bay Area debut, she lends her voluminous tone and ravishing warmth of expression to beloved arias by Purcell, Verdi, Strauss, and Wagner, and songs by Grieg and Schubert.
Feb 4
ZELLERBACH HALL, BERKELEY
BAY AREA PREMIERE Batsheva Dance Company MOMO
Among the world’s most exciting makers of contemporary dance, Ohad Naharin brings his powerhouse company to Berkeley for the Bay Area premiere of a daring recent work.
Feb 22–23
ZELLERBACH HALL, BERKELEY
Lesbian author Dorothy Allison dies
by Cynthia Laird
Dorothy Allison, a lesbian and author who rose to fame with the publication of her critically acclaimed 1992 novel “Bastard Out of Carolina,” died November 6 at her home in Guerneville. She was 75.
The cause of death was cancer, according to the New York Times, which cited Ms. Allison’s representative the Frances Goldin Literary Agency.
Ms. Allison, who was raised in Greenville, South Carolina, experienced a harrowing childhood, as the Times’ obituary noted, including sexual abuse by her stepfather. She turned her hard early life into “Bastard,” but rendered it as fiction.
“I believe that storytelling can be a strategy to help you make sense out of your life,” she told the Times magazine in 1995. “It’s what I’ve done. ‘Bastard out of Carolina’ used a lot of the stories that my grandmother told me and some real things that happened in my life. But I took it over and did what my grandmother did: I made it a different thing. I made a heroic story about a young girl who faces down a monster.”
Ms. Allison’s son, Wolf Layman, who identifies as bisexual, told the Bay Area Reporter that his mother “went through a lot of unpleasant stuff when she was young.”
“She was endlessly worried her and her scarred-up brain would hurt others
Author Dorothy Allison Wikipedia
but she was a wonderful mother and I loved the hell out of her,” Layman said in a phone interview.
“She was an intensely fierce and intelligent woman and had a great deal of kindness for people she loved,” he added.
Ms. Allison was born April 11, 1949.
She attended Florida Presbyterian College (now Eckerd College) on a National Merit Scholarship and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in anthropology. She was a graduate student at Florida State University and the New School for Social Research at New York University.
“Bastard” was published by Dutton Press. According to a biography of Ms. Allison on Shepherd University’s website, where she was the school’s Appalachian
Heritage Writer in Residence in 2020, the book was selected as a Times Notable Book and was a finalist for a National Book Award. It went on to garner an American Library Association Award and the Ferro-Grumley Award, and in 1996 it was made into an award-winning film, directed by Angelica Huston.
Joy Johannessen, Ms. Allison’s literary executor, recalled Ms. Allison being astonished at the acclaim “Bastard” received.
“It surprised the hell out of her,” Johannessen told the B.A.R. in a phone interview. “She knew that she had written a good book but didn’t think it would get the recognition it did get.”
Ms. Allison went on to teach at universities and literary conferences over the years, Johannessen said, adding that “she was a beloved teacher.”
Johannessen also said that Ms. Allison was “wonderful to work with.”
“She was receptive to suggestions and always willing to revise,” she said.
In April, Johannessen accepted Publishing Triangle’s Bill Whitehead Lifetime Achievement Award on behalf of Ms. Allison, who could not attend.
“As I said to Davis Groff [the chair of the Publishing Triangle] not long ago, the problem with lifetime achievement awards is that the people who get them are old, and so are many of the
people who know them and love them,” Johannessen said. “Health issues have prevented Dorothy Allison from being here tonight in person to accept the Bill Whitehead award, and health issues have prevented me from being here in person to introduce her, but we are both with you in spirit, also known as livestreaming.
“I first met Dorothy when her late great agent Frances Goldin was seeking a publisher for a novel called ‘Bastard Out of Carolina,’” Johannessen continued. “I read the manuscript and fell in love with it and immediately made what I thought was a good offer, but my estimable colleague Carole DeSanti had the wit and foresight to put a floor down on her offer, which meant she could top me and did. So I didn’t get to acquire ‘Bastard,’ but I did acquire a lifelong friend and source of inspiration in Dorothy, and had the great privilege of working with her a bit on her book on an informal basis.”
Johannessen continued, “Dorothy Allison is a great writer, and I applaud the Publishing Triangle for confirming that with the Whitehead award. Dorothy Allison is a gifted and tireless teacher who by now has nurtured a couple of generations of writers of all stripes, to their eternal gratitude and ours. Dorothy Allison is a force of nature who produced an earthquake in publishing some 30 years ago with the publication of ‘Bastard Out of Carolina.’”
Layman said that Ms. Allison did have to “dial back” her work in the last couple of years. “She was giving speeches before she got sick,” he said.
Ms. Allison’s spouse, Alix Layman, died in 2022. The couple, who met in 1980 and married in 2008 just before the passage of Proposition 8, the state’s samesex marriage ban, had lived in Guerneville for the last 31 years or so, her son said. (Prop 8 was overturned two years later.)
Since its publication, “Bastard” has been translated into more than a dozen languages; its grit and brutal honesty portrayed in rich and lyrical language won national prominence for Allison. Her collection of essays “Skin: Talking about Sex, Class & Literature” was published in 1994, followed in 1995 by the lyrical and moving “Two or Three Things I Know for Sure.”
Ms. Allison won multiple Lambda Literary Awards, including for “Trash,” a collection of short stories, in 1989; “Skin,” in 1995; and “Cavedweller” in 1998.
The National Book Foundation noted that “Bastard” has been banned from libraries and classrooms over the years, but has found regular praise from critics, who “have likened Allison to William Faulkner, Flannery O’Connor, and Harper Lee, naming her the first writer of her generation to dramatize the lives and language of poor whites in the South.” t
Conservative lawyer Theodore Olson dies
by Cynthia Laird
Theodore Olson, a conservative lawyer who helped George W. Bush secure the White House and later worked to overturn California’s ban on same-sex marriage, died November 13. He was 84.
The Washington Post reported that Mr. Olson died at a hospital in Falls Church, Virginia. Gibson Dunn, a prominent law firm where Mr. Olson had long been a partner, announced his death. No cause was given.
Many in the LGBTQ community saw Mr. Olson as an unlikely choice when he was tapped by the American Foundation for Equal Rights to fight Proposition 8, California’s same-sex marriage ban that voters passed in November 2008. The foundation enlisted two same-sex couples, Kris Perry and Sandy Stier of Berkeley, and Paul Katami and Jeff Zarrillo of Los Angeles, to be plaintiffs in the case, known as Hollingsworth v. Perry. The foundation was founded by Chad Griffin, a gay man, to overturn Prop 8. (Griffin would go on to lead the Human Rights Campaign from 2012 to 2019.)
According to the Post, it was Mr. Olson who suggested to the foundation that David Boies, a well-known liberal lawyer, be brought on as co-counsel in the Prop 8 case. Boies had argued on the opposite side of Mr. Olson in the 2000 Bush v. Gore case that ultimately handed the presidency to Bush. The legal star power guaranteed media coverage, as people learned the stories of the plaintiff couples and why marrying was important to them.
In a phone interview with the Bay Area Reporter November 14, Perry, now executive director at Children and Screens, a nonprofit, recalled Mr. Olson’s legal acumen, and the initial skepticism that accompanied the announcement he would be arguing the case for the plaintiff couples.
“We were excited and interested in their legal partnership and legal approach,” she said of Mr. Olson and Boies. “They had a track record of being on opposite sides – in Bush v. Gore. We knew about Ted’s other efforts as a conservative.”
But as the case unfolded, Perry said that she saw something important was happening.
“It was an opportunity to break down this wall of partisanship” around marriage equality, she said. “And, in fact, that’s what happened.”
She recalled Mr. Olson talking to the press about the fundamental right to marriage, and in doing so, she said, he changed minds in the court of public opinion.
“He described marriage as a value most Americans hold dear,” Perry said, “and made it easier to win at the Supreme Court in Obergefell. It was actually really significant for him to step in. Conservatives began to see how they could support marriage equality.”
Perry added that the skepticism around Mr. Olson initially “was warranted and healthy.”
She noted, “He had to answer those questions and prove to everyone he was a good choice.”
Perry also recalled Olson working with her and Stier in prepping them for their testimony.
“He sat in rooms with Sandy and I day after day,” she said, adding that she had to overcome her fear of testifying.
Perry described herself as an “imperfect plaintiff” because she expected the status quo, as in not ever seeing same-sex marriage be legal.
“He personally helped me want that,” she said of the right to marry.
Perry said that she and Stier mourn Mr. Olson’s passing.
“He was a very warm, loving, generous, accepting person,” Perry said. “We lost a giant.”
The Hollingsworth v. Perry trial was held in federal district court in San Francisco, beginning January 11, 2010.
“Never before had evidence been presented in a federal court to refute the claim that a person’s sexual orientation should define whether he or she could marry,” the foundation stated on its website.
“During 12 days of trial proceedings, Ted Olson and David Boies built an airtight case rooted in constitutional principles that clearly showed Proposition 8 was based on nothing more than
prejudice and discrimination,” the website stated.
Then-federal chief judge Vaughn Walker presided over the trial, which was heard without a jury – he would come out as gay after the trial – and ruled that August that Prop 8 was unconstitutional.
“Chief Judge Vaughn Walker’s sweeping, 136-page ruling eviscerated the Proponents’ case,” the foundation’s website stated. “His decision unequivocally declared that Proposition 8 is unconstitutional, that it is discriminatory, and that it serves no purpose other than to create second-class citizenship for gay and lesbian Americans.”
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Walker’s decision in February 2012, and the U.S. Supreme Court in June 2013 upheld the appellate court’s decision.
Perry and Stier were married by thenstate attorney general Kamala Harris at San Francisco City Hall within hours of the high court’s ruling. Famously, Harris had to get on the phone to speak to the county clerk in Los Angeles to tell staff there to begin marrying same-sex couples, the first of which were Katami and Zarrillo.
Charles Moran, president of Log Cabin Republicans, praised Mr. Olson in a post on X.
“Ted was a longtime advocate for welcoming LGBT conservatives into the Republican Party and an ally to the Log Cabin organization,” Moran stated. “Most notably, he played a principled and critical role in the legal effort to overturn California’s gay marriage ban, arguing against Prop 8 in court and paving the way for the Supreme Court’s historic decision in Obergefell v. Hodges making marriage equality the law of the land. We are thankful for his leadership.”
The high court ruled in the Obergefell case in 2015, two years after same-sex marriage became legal in California.
In a footnote to the federal Prop 8 trial, last year the video tapes of that proceeding were finally released after a lengthy court fight by public broadcaster KQED, as the B.A.R. reported. Walker had wanted the case to be broadcast live to other federal courthouses, but the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against his request. Nonetheless, Walker did tape the proceedings, saying at the time it would aid his deliberations.
More recently, on November 5, California voters approved Proposition 3, which excises the old Prop 8 language banning same-sex marriage from the state constitution.
In a statement on Gibson Dunn’s website, the firm memorialized their colleague. Mr. Olson was the founder of the firm’s appellate and constitutional law practice group and served in many firm leadership positions, as well as senior government roles, including solicitor general of the United States under Bush from 2001-2004. Mr. Olson also served as assistant attorney general in charge of the Office of Legal Counsel in the U.S. Department of Justice from 1981 to 1984.
“Ted has been the heart and soul of Gibson Dunn for six decades and made us who we are today,” stated Theodore J. Boutrous Jr., partner at Gibson Dunn.
“He was not just an incomparable lawyer, mentor, role model, and friend, but he has made immeasurable contributions to the rule of law, our Constitution, and our country. We will miss him with all our hearts.”
Selected by Time magazine in 2010 as one of the 100 most influential people in the world, Mr. Olson was one of the nation’s premier appellate and U.S. Supreme Court advocates, the firm noted.
He argued 65 cases in the Supreme Court, including the two Bush v. Gore cases arising out of the 2000 presidential election; Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission; Hollingsworth v. Perry, the case upholding the overturning of California’s Proposition 8 banning samesex marriages; and U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security v. Regents of the University of California, successfully challenging the Trump administration’s rescission of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
>> Other work
Sutherland June 6, 1942 –October 25, 2024
Jim died after heart surgery October 25, 2024 in Bellingham, Washington. Born in Hartford, Connecticut on June 26, 1942, he lived in Colorado, Washington and Hawaii, settling in San Francisco. An avid bicyclist, Jim crossed the U.S. twice. The second trip was with Cycle for Life, the first AIDS bike-athon. The 70-day ride aimed to raise national AIDS awareness and funds to fight the disease. Jim had many jobs, including railroad yard worker, bank clerk, postal
Mr. Olson’s Supreme Court arguments included cases involving separation of powers; federalism; voting rights; the First Amendment; the equal protection and due process clauses; patents and copyrights; antitrust; taxation; property rights; punitive damages; the commerce clause; immigration; criminal law; securities; telecommunications; the internet; and other federal constitutional and statutory questions, according to Gibson Dunn.
He served as private counsel to two presidents, Ronald Reagan and Bush, in addition to serving those two presidents in high-level positions in the Department of Justice.
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland issued a statement November 15.
“The passing of Ted Olson is an enormous loss for the legal community,” he stated. “Ted was an extraordinary attorney and public servant whose contributions to the Justice Department and the law will long be remembered.
“Ted exemplified what it means to be a principled person,” Garland continued. “Throughout his career, both in government and private practice, he held steadfast to what he believed was right, regardless of criticism from any quarter. Even more important, throughout his life, he treated everyone with great kindness and decency.”
Mr. Olson’s third wife, conservative lawyer and commentator Barbara Olson, was on American Airlines Flight 77 en route to a taping of Bill Maher’s ABC-TV show when the plane flew into the Pentagon on September 11, 2001. He later remarried and is survived by his fourth wife, attorney Lady Booth. t
employee, and legal secretary. In the late 1980s, Jim and his partner, Michael Goldberg, moved to Portland, Oregon, where he bought a home. After Michael passed away in 2003, Jim moved to Bellingham. He began traveling in a small RV, splitting his time between Bellingham and Yuma, Arizona.
Jim leaves behind many relatives (siblings, nieces, and nephews) in Connecticut, Nebraska, and Florida. Many of his friends in California, Washington, Oregon, and Texas have been profoundly affected by his passing.
Special thanks to his friends Linda and Paul who made decisions in Jim’s last days and guided him home to be at peace. There will be a Zoom memorial December 14 at 1 p.m. Pacific Time. Email PTannen9@gmail.com for the link.
Attorney for the plaintiffs Theodore Olson held a copy of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision declaring Proposition 8 unconstitutional on February 7, 2012.
Rick Gerharter
James
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In RFK Jr., Trump finds fox for hen house
President-elect Donald Trump’s nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to oversee the federal government’s massive Health and Human Services apparatus is akin to the fox guarding the hen house. A noted foe of vaccines, RFK Jr. is also an AIDS denialist. Both are extreme positions and have the real potential to endanger lives.
Those who have been paying attention have long known of RFK Jr.’s aversion to vaccines – and it’s more than just skepticism, sorry, New York Times. He has embraced the debunked theory that vaccines can cause autism and questioned the COVID vaccines a few years ago as the country was desperate for action in the wake of hundreds of thousands of people dying. Even today, years after botched scientific articles on autism and vaccines have been retracted, 60% of Americans are unsure there is a link, according to Gallup. That is evidence of the breadth of the anti-vaxx movement and its leaders, like RFK Jr. Most troublesome is his link to a measles outbreak in Samoa. According to reports, RFK Jr. visited a vaccine skeptic there in 2019, elevating anti-vaccine sentiment in the Polynesian country after the death of two infants who had received the measles vaccination, as the Times reported. The infants’ deaths were attributed to a mistake by the nurse who administered the vaccines, not the vaccine itself, the paper reported. Nevertheless, vaccination rates decreased and a deadly measles outbreak occurred. The National Institute of Health’s National Library of Medicine noted that 83 people died and 1,868 people were admitted to the hospital. RFK Jr., of course, denied any involvement.
had publicly supported leading vaccination opponents there, lending credibility to anti-vaxxers who were succeeding in increasing vaccine hesitation among Samoans.”
“Kennedy was being disingenuous, sidestepping his connection to that tragedy,” noted David Corn in a July article in Mother Jones. “Children’s Health Defense, the nonprofit anti-vaxx outfit he led until becoming a presidential candidate, had helped spread misinformation that contributed to the decline in measles vaccination that preceded the lethal eruption. And during his trip to Samoa, Kennedy
And don’t think that opposition to RFK Jr. is universal among LGBTQs. Gay Colorado Governor Jared Polis (D), who has joined a group of governors to resist Trump and his policies, is supportive of RFK Jr.’s nomination, posting that he agreed with him in opposing vaccine mandates. Polis stated he was “excited” because Kennedy “helped us defeat vaccine mandates in Colorado in 2019 and will help make America healthy again by shaking up HHS and [Food and Drug Administration].”
But in August, Polis posted, “Not sure how bringing back Measles and bringing back Polio makes anyone more healthy…” So now, Polis is helping to mainstream RFK Jr., as is Senator Cory Booker (D-New Jersey), according to reports. A spokesperson for Polis later clarified that “he definitely does not endorse actions that would lead to measles outbreaks and opposes unscientific propaganda that undermines confidence in the lifesaving impact of vaccines.” Good grief.
Vaccines have been a life-changing medical breakthrough for decades. Due to vaccines, polio has been eliminated from the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “The polio vaccine is safe and effective,” the CDC states. Other childhood vaccines prevent diseases such as measles and diphtheria and tetanus.
The 2022 mpox outbreak, largely affecting men who have sex with men and their social and sexual networks, was largely contained in the U.S. thanks to people getting vaccinated and changing their behavior. Now, however, the first case of a more dangerous mpox variant, clade I, was reported in San Mateo County over the weekend, bringing new attention to the need for people at higher risk, including gay and bi men, to get vaccinated.
HIV/AIDS is another area where RFK Jr. could do lethal damage if confirmed as HHS secretary. The federal government was initially abysmally silent about the disease when gay men, IV drug users, and others were dying by the hundreds back in the 1980s. It was left to local communities to provide a response, and San Francisco’s model of care was held up as an excellent example. Working with nonprofit partners and medical centers like Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, the city designed a system that provided medical care, services, and prevention. Eventually, the federal government began providing funding through various sources, including the Ryan White CARE Act and HIV prevention on the domestic side, and the muchlauded President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, on the global side. The advent of more effective medications beginning in the mid-1990s also slowed the spread. Since 2012, PrEP has been a tremendous boon to prevention efforts, though disparities remain, particularly in communities of color. Even Trump, in his first term as president, declared an ambitious goal that had bipartisan support: ending the HIV epidemic in the United States. (Spoiler alert: according to NPR, House Republicans last year wanted to defund it.)
On LGBTQ equality, California lawmakers aren’t taking anything for granted
by Scott Wiener
He was raising money to fight HIV at a Christmas show by the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus when longtime gay activist Cleve Jones said something that has stuck in my mind ever since. Speaking about the struggle for LGBTQ rights, he said, “If you take it for granted, they’ll take it away.” It wasn’t the first time I hoped Jones was wrong about something, but as usual, he wasn’t. Despite Donald Trump’s bigoted attacks against transgender people, he was reelected president two weeks ago, and many of his supporters very much want to see our hard-won progress on LGBTQ equality taken away.
The coming months and years are going to be difficult for our community. We know that Trump will seek to obliterate trans people – to end health care access, criminalize parents of trans kids and doctors who treat trans people, ban trans access to restrooms, locker rooms, sports, and other spaces, and strip away hard fought legal protections. As trans people are targeted by right wing ex tremists and blamed by some Democrats for the election loss – a bogus and harmful claim – we need to have trans people’s backs.
Fortunately, your LGBTQ elected officials haven’t taken anything for granted, and we’ve been preparing for this moment since red states began previewing what a right-wing federal government would seek to do. The California Legislature – one of the gayest Legislatures in the country, with 10% of lawmakers identifying as LGBTQ – has spent years building up a groundwork of protections that will serve as a strong base for the hard work of defending California’s LGBTQ community against a second Trump presidency.
Our community should take heart not just from the fact that Prop 3 passed, but from the margin by which it was approved. In 2000, California voters first banned same-sex marriage by a margin of 61% to 39%. In 2008, they again banned marriage equality but with a much weaker margin – 52% to 48%. This year, Prop 3 passed with 61% of the vote. While the attacks on our community continue – and the attacks on our transgender siblings should alarm us all – the results are a powerful reminder of how much hearts and minds can change in a relatively short period. We’ve also worked for years to address the multifaceted needs of the trans community, including health care needs, and in this year’s state budget, I worked with the LGBTQ Legislative Caucus to provide funds to support trans immigrants. These programs will provide critical legal services to refugees seeking asylum from transphobia abroad, and will serve as a strong base from which to continue working to defend this vulnerable community from Trump’s inhumane scheme for mass deportation.
protect LGBTQ Californians from MAGA extremists. The most prominent is Senate Bill 107, the Trans State of Refuge Law that I authored in 2022. SB 107 helps protect trans kids and their family members in California from being targeted by other states’ laws that criminalize gender-affirming health care.
Unfortunately, we know that not all of the attacks on our community will come from the federal government and other states. Trump’s hateful rhetoric and his allies’ incessant disinformation campaign about the trans community is triggering a horrifying rise in violence against trans people. This op-ed is published the day after the Transgender Day of Remembrance, and at least 32 transgender people have been murdered since November 20 last year.
With violence against transgender people still on the rise, our communities need more protection than ever. CalOES is in the process of selecting this year’s recipients of its Nonprofit Security Grant program, which provides funding to offset security costs for any nonprofit serving a community frequently targeted for hate crimes. Past recipients have included Planned Parenthood and LGBTQ community groups. I helped champion this program as co-chair of the Legislative Jewish Caucus – another community targeted by extremists.
Much work remains. As we wait to see what form the MAGA assault on LGBTQ people will take next, we are preparing plans to protect access to genderaffirming health care and PrEP, to keep information about LGBTQ people from being banned in libraries in schools, to safeguard personal data, secure access to IDs, and much more. Any threat to these core freedoms will be met with the full force of California’s right to self govern under the constitution.
The most recent example of this work is the massive success of Proposition 3, a ballot initiative I co-authored with gay Assemblymember Evan Low (D-Cupertino) in the Legislature. Prop 3 enshrined the right to marriage equality in the California Constitution by stripping away the zombie language left over from 2008’s infamous Prop 8. When the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, a justice signaled he would also like to revoke the federal right to marriage equality enshrined in the 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges decision. Prop 3 protects California residents from that particular nightmare.
Our Attorney General Rob Bonta is also poised to vigorously defend our LGBTQ communities from the assault Trump has promised. Governor Gavin Newsom recently declared a special session of the Legislature – to commence when we’re sworn in on December 2 – to fast-track additional funding that the attorney general can use to defend Californians from the threats presented by Trump and his allies.
The attorney general will have a strong array of legal tools at his disposal from previous efforts to
I’m deeply moved by the immense progress our state has made on LGBTQ equality and dignity since I first arrived in San Francisco 27 years ago. But there was a time before these protections were won, and our community managed to survive, thrive, organize, and resist. I’ll be drawing strength from those giants past and present upon whose shoulders I stand, as we enter the new year ready to fight any attack on our community’s basic dignity –indeed, our very existence. t
State Senator Scott Wiener, a gay man, was just reelected to represent District 11, which includes all of San Francisco and a portion of northern San Mateo County.
State Senator Scott Wiener
Courtesy Sen. Wiener’s office
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. AP See
t Politics >>
Milk’s alma mater keeps his memory alive
by Matthew S. Bajko
B ack in 1947, Harvey Milk arrived in Albany, New York as a freshman at what was then known as the New York State College for Teachers. During his college years, he covered sports as a reporter for State College News and joined the Jewish fraternity Kappa Beta.
In a harbinger of his historic election three decades later as the first gay person to win public office in San Francisco and California, Milk turned his attention to the Empire State school’s student government, though he lost his bid to be elected president of his freshman class. He found more success in athletics, wrestling on the school’s intercollegiate team and playing intramural basketball, volleyball, and softball.
“He was also known for being outspoken – a trait that would later become a hallmark of his public life – and a prankster,” noted the magazine for the school, now known as the University of Albany, in a package it created about Milk that can be found online at magazine.albany. edu/mini/harvey-milk. (https:// magazine.albany.edu/mini/harveymilk)
Over the years, the college has honored its famous gay alumnus in various ways. It opened the Harvey House at the start of the 2021 fall academic year to provide supportive housing on campus to LGBTQ students.
“I’ve always looked up to Harvey Milk and everything he’s done. The idea was that these students should have a place that’s explicitly for them so that they can succeed and thrive,” Harvey House founder Jake Evans, part of the university’s 2022 class, told the UAlbany Magazine.
“Harvey Milk was a champion of LGBTQIA+ rights during a time when many in the LGBTQIA+ community had to hide who they truly were because of hatred. He fought for the right of the LGBTQIA+ community to exist and find acceptance in the United States,” stated State University of New York Chancellor John B. King Jr. in announcing the new award in June during Pride Month. “Across the SUNY system, countless students who have and will continue to follow in the footsteps of Harvey Milk and other pioneers to ensure LGBTQIA+ rights are not eroded, and all are welcome and feel included on SUNY campuses.”
Gay New York state Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal, a Democrat who was reelected this month to his seat representing Manhattan’s West Side, had hailed the new honor for the university’s gay alumnus now celebrated globally as an LGBTQ civil rights icon.
“As an out member of the NYS Senate, I’m hopeful that the new SUNY Harvey Milk Scholarship will help provide the resources for future generations of deserving SUNY students to complete their studies and continue to advance the cause of LGBTQIA + human rights,” Hoylman-Sigal had stated in June.
Milk graduated from the public teachers college in 1951 with a mathematics degree and enlisted in the U.S. Navy as his parents had done. It would lead to his being stationed in San Diego, where he was a diving instructor.
Each spring, during its Lavender Graduation ceremony for LGBTQ students, the university awards a former student its Harvey Milk Alumnus Award. It is in recognition of the social justice work they have done post their graduation.
This year, the university created the Harvey Milk Award for Student Leadership for a current enrollee who has worked to improve LGBTQIA+ inclusiveness on campus for their fellow students. (https:// www.suny.edu/diversity/lgbtq/ harveymilkaward/) Applications opened Monday, November 18, with any fulltime upperclassmen eligible to apply for it.
After he was given an “other than honorable” discharge in 1955 due to his sexuality, Milk returned to his old haunts near his hometown of Woodmere, New York. He would return to California in the 1970s, this time moving to San Francisco. After establishing himself as a business owner and civic leader of the thenburgeoning LGBTQ Castro neighborhood, Milk won election to his supervisor seat in 1977.
Tragically, 11 months into his term, Milk was assassinated inside City Hall along with then-mayor George Moscone. The 1978 deaths of the two progressive politicians stunned the city and nation, and their indelible mark they left behind is annually honored during the Milk-Moscone candlelight vigil held around Thanksgiving week.
Hosted by the Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club, this year’s
event is taking place on the eve of the federal holiday. It will begin at 7 p.m. Wednesday, November 27, at Harvey Milk Plaza above the Castro Muni station at the corner of Castro and Market streets.
“I think this memorial is always a reminder of the nonlinear path of history, you know, and the fact the queer community has seen real progress and real setbacks, you know, often happening within months of each other or years,” said gay District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, a former Milk club president.
Serving in the seat that Milk had once held, when it was known as the District 5 seat, Mandelman plans to speak at this year’s vigil. He told the Bay Area Reporter the somber memorial is taking on renewed meaning following the November 5 election that returned Republican President-elect Donald Trump to the White House.
The Trump administration next year is expected to unleash a broad assault against LGBTQ rights.
Transgender Americans are particu larly in its crosshairs, with the GOP leader pledging to curtail their ac cess to gender-affirming health care and rescind their non-discrimina tion protections. (See related story, page 1.)
“This is a community that makes progress and experiences setbacks, and we persevere because we have to,” said Mandelman. “But our his tory hasn’t always moved forward in a way we want it to.”
Perhaps no time is more im portant than today to recall Milk’s now-famous mantras about provid ing those marginalized by society a reason not to despair and give up. As Milk said 46 years ago during his inauguration as a new supervisor, “I will fight to give those people who had once walked away hope, so that those people will walk back in.” 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 local races with LGBTQ candidates around the great Bay Area region.
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.
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A portion of the timeline for the late Harvey Milk is part of an online package the University of Albany created for its famous alumnus, who attended the school when it was known as the New York State College for Teachers.
From University of Albany
SJ council to appoint Torres replacement
by John Ferrannini
The San Jose City Council decided November 19 to have a special election in 2025 to fill its vacant District 3 seat following the resignation of gay disgraced councilmember Omar Torres. An appointment will be made in the interim before the election is called for a date to be determined.
District 3 encompasses San Jose’s downtown, including the LGBTQ neighborhood termed the Qmunity District. It had been represented since 2023 by Torres, who resigned and was arrested November 5 on suspicion of three counts of sodomy and oral copulation of a child. Torres’ cousin came forward after news reports of Torres admitting in text messages to another man of having sex with a 17-year-old boy.
A Santa Clara County Superior Court judge decided last week to hold Torres without bail, as the Bay Area Reporter reported online (https://www.ebar.com/ story.php?ch=news&sc=crime&id=33 6466&title=torres,_hiding_from_cameras_at_sex_charges_hearing,_held_ without_bail). His next hearing is scheduled for November 22, at which time his attorney, Nelson McElmurry, can decide if the defense needs more time before proceeding with that and a preliminary hearing. Torres has entered a “procedural” plea of not guilty, his attorney previously said.
<< Editorial From page 6
But to hear RFK Jr. tell it, HIV does not cause AIDS. In 2021, he wrote in his book “The Real Anthony Fauci” that “heavy recreational drug use in gay men and drug addicts was the real cause of immune deficiency.” Though that was an early theory as to the origins of AIDS, it was debunked over four decades ago. In a fact sheet, GLAAD stated that RFK Jr. has attrib-
San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan was full throated in his support for an appointment followed by an election. He had come out against appointing someone to serve out the remainder of Torres’ term through early 2027.
“I think that fundamentally the best way to ensure trust in our institutions and represent democracy is to give people the ability to run in competitive and open races – to give voters the opportunity to ask the tough questions and vet those candidates,” he said. “I would prefer the collective wisdom of 10,000 District 3 residents than the collective wisdom of 10 councilmembers.”
The next regular election for the District 3 seat is in fall 2026. Mahan said that
uted the disease to factors such as recreational drug use, particularly amyl nitrite (“poppers”), and lifestyle stressors. This is AIDS denialism, a fringe belief that has been thoroughly debunked by the scientific community.
“In fact, the connection between HIV and AIDS is well-established science.
In 2008, the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier for their discovery of HIV as the cause of AIDS,” the organization stated.
only a special election can help restore trust lost over Torres’ alleged misconduct.
The special election is expected to cost between $2 and $2.3 million. An appointee would have to declare their noncandidacy in the election, or the council may put the filing deadline for the special election first so that the councilmembers would know who is running in the election before making an appointment.
“I don’t think you can put a price on the value of trust in our institutions,” Mahan said. “We do manage a $6 billion dollar budget a year; overall we have a lot of responsibilities … and the most important thing we can do is to ensure trust.”
Not everyone was in favor of the proposal; District 2’s Sergio Jimenez and District 4’s David Cohen voted against.
“When we’re running for reelection, we’re not always present,” Jimenez said. “I think we have to be careful, and District 3 residents have to be careful what they ask for. You’ll have a group of people perpetually running for office till … November [2026]. I don’t think it’s healthy; I don’t think it’s good.”
A number of individuals told the San Jose Spotlight they’d be seeking the seat, either by appointment or election, including Matthew Quevedo, Mahan’s deputy chief of staff who led a nowcalled off recall effort while Torres was still in office; Latina Coalition of Silicon Valley Executive Director Gabriela
RFK Jr. also supports a ban on gender-affirming care for trans youth, which is something that should be decided by trans youth, their parents, and doctors. We oppose the numerous state bans prohibiting such care because they are unhelpful and largely based, not on medical research, but on prejudice and misinformation. Trump declaring numerous times during the recent campaign that schools were providing trans surgery to youth were just lies and nonsensical. No rational
Chavez-Lopez; Housing policy analyst Aimee Escobar; Carl Salas, an engineer; and Irene Smith, an attorney.
Gay man vies for seat
Another officeseeker is Anthony Tordillos, a 33-year-old gay man who is currently chair of the San Jose Planning Commission.
Tordillos said in a November 18 phone interview that he’s running for the District 3 seat “because first and foremost I love our downtown community.”
He didn’t rule out seeking the appointment in addition to running in the special election in a brief interview with the B.A.R. after Tuesday’s council meeting.
He said he wants to make San Jose affordable for families.
“That’s why my husband and I settled down here – to raise a family,” he said. “I want to ensure San Jose is the best place to raise a family.”
Tordillos, who is originally from Washington state, and his husband don’t have children just yet; they moved to the Bay Area in 2014 and settled in San Jose in 2018. He said he’s “been involved in policy at the city level … working with city staff on issues from housing production to homelessness and economic development” as part of his work on the commission.
Tordillos said he hopes to restore honor to the seat and represent the LGBTQ community in a positive way.
person actually believes that is happening. Major medical associations support gender-affirming care, but the bans in place have left many physicians unwilling to provide it, for fear of losing their medical licenses.
In short, RFK Jr. should not be confirmed as HHS secretary. But Trump, in his quest to install sycophants, has said that he could use recess appointments for his most controversial picks – or all of them, who knows? – sidestepping the Senate confirmation
“In the weeks immediately following the reporting on the allegations against Councilmember Torres, I saw a number of folks online pointing to those allegations and abuses to justify the worst things they say about gay people more broadly – that we’re predators and can’t be trusted in positions of power,” he said.
He also said LGBTQ people need to stay resolute in the public square even as resurgent anti-LGBTQ attitudes have grown in recent years.
“Republicans spent over $200 million on anti-trans ads to drum up hatred and fear, and now we’re looking down the barrel toward a second Trump administration,” he said. “With all of that negativity and hatred, now is not the time for queer people to retreat back into the shadows. Now is the time to step up and lean into the fight ahead.”
Tordillos said there are “pros and cons” about having a special election versus an appointment.
“Special elections are expensive and low-turnout, so not always the most representative process, but they are a more democratic process, arguably,” he said. “District 3 has already been without representation for over a month now, and so in a special election – with several months to run – we’re looking at no representation for businesses and people in District 3 for several more months. … I trust they’ll [the council] come to the right balance.” t
process altogether. It seems that many GOP senators, who will be in the majority come January 3, aren’t all that upset by this possibility. Abdicating their responsibility under the Constitution to provide advice and consent would set a grave precedent for our democracy. We don’t understand why senators would want to give up power, and bending the knee to Trump would further put the country on the road to authoritarianism. t
San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan spoke at the November 19 City Council meeting.
Election 2024 >>
identity documents anymore, she said, and under the new policy, trans Floridians who’ve already had licenses changed won’t be able to receive a replacement license consistent with their gender identity even if their birth certificates have been changed.
Furthermore, licenses may be canceled, suspended, or revoked if the state finds someone “misrepresented” their sex.
“I will ask Congress to pass a bill establishing that the only genders recognized by the United States government are male and female – and they are assigned at birth,” Trump has said.
Sasha Buchert, a trans woman who is the nonbinary and transgender rights project director at Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, told the B.A.R. that Trump “has made very clear statements he wants to redefine sex as it’s understood in federal law and is taking that from some of the state legislation we’ve seen across the country.”
“Given the rhetoric and the hostility, it wouldn’t surprise me in the least” if Trump followed through on these promises, Buchert said, but she added it’s worth remembering the “chaos and herky-jerky policymaking” of his first administration.
Buchert also said that “there are plenty of resources available to help with the name and gender change process” for identity documents, especially in the Bay Area.
The president-elect also said that “if any teacher or school official suggests to a child that they could be trapped in the wrong body, they will be faced with severe consequences, including potential civil rights violations for sex discrimination, and the elimination of federal funding.” He also wants the Justice Department to investigate “Big Pharma and the big hospital networks to determine whether they have deliberately covered up horrific long-term side-effects of ‘sex transitions.’”
Buchert said politically-motivated investigations are a possibility.
“It’s difficult to ascertain what they have in mind, but as with the last Trump administration, there are folks involved with the administration who’ve expressed extreme animus targeting trans people and will be looking toward places like Texas where the attorney general has weaponized state bans on care to investigate certain entities,” Buchert said. “This is care that is clearly protected in many parts of the country.”
In the area of sports, Trump has pledged to interpret Title IX in a way that would prevent trans women from participating in women’s sports. Buchert said that this may be blocked in the courts, as the Biden administration’s Title IX interpretation was based on the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Bostock v. Clayton County (2020) that placed trans people under the aegis of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
“The quarrel for how Title IX is interpreted is a quarrel not with Lambda Legal but with the courts, and the U.S. Supreme Court,” Buchert said.
Nonetheless, expect an executive order on the matter, she said.
“They spent over $200 million on ads – it was their closing message – so it’s clear they’ll seek to enforce this in some way,” Buchert said.
“They’ll probably be a splashy executive order on day one, which likely will be challenged in court,” she continued.
The last time Trump was in office, he decided to ban trans people from service in the U.S. military. President Joe Biden overturned that ban when he entered office.
Fighting back
There are a number of things individuals can do to protect themselves, people contacted for this article said.
Moaton, saying Florida’s license change could portend similar moves on the federal level, said people should update any identity documents they can to reflect their current situation.
“Having identity documents updated will be important before the new administration,” Moaton said. “They usually go after things they consider the softest target.”
Mahogany also advised that people change their passports and update birth certificates.
“There are many reasons people may not change those things, but if it’s something you’ve been meaning to do, don’t put it off any longer,” Mahogany told the B.A.R. in a phone interview. “Don’t delay any of those really important things on your checklist that’ve been there for a long time. Now is the time to take action.”
Mahogany said the “entire queer community” could heed that advice.
“If you’ve been putting off getting married to your partner, get married to your partner, because it will be much harder to invalidate a marriage that already exists,” Mahogany said.
Buchert said, “One thing I would urge readers to consider is to get off social media.”
“The algorithms are designed to continue to demoralize and outrage you and keep you fixated on that device, and from what I can see, it’s really damaging to the community. That’s the one thing I would urge readers – limit exposure to social media.”
Moaton said organizing and getting involved with organizations on the ground is a powerful defense, too.
“I’ve said it before – San Francisco has been a beacon of hope for many,” she said. “It has stood out as a true leader, one, being a sanctuary city, that sends a message to trans immigrants and those
who are asylum seekers. Trans individuals, trans veterans, all of those folks are welcome in San Francisco. San Francisco as a whole and individuals in San Francisco are poised to make a statement – no matter what comes in this new administration, we will not stand idly by.”
Moaton was referring to action taken this summer when the San Francisco Board of Supervisors declared the city a sanctuary for transgender and other gender-nonconforming people, as the B.A.R. reported.
At the state level, California has a law that provides refuge to trans kids and their families that was authored by gay state Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco). It went into effect in 2023.
Katie Conrad, a pansexual San Francisco woman, is working to help with the effort of building community. She’s the co-president of a new nonprofit, FLUX SF, that’s seeking to hold events “that bring the trans community together in a positive way and provide resources, really just fostering a sense of belonging.”
The first of those events will be Thursday, November 21, from 7 to 10 p.m. at the Tenderloin Museum, 398 Eddy Street.
“We’ll have at least one sizable event per quarter and then smaller events on a more frequent basis,” Conrad said in a phone interview with the B.A.R. “The goal of our events is to address that and make sure people have that community they can lean on. All of
our events are free, they are open to everyone regardless of economics, and they’re open invite.”
Conrad said that FLUX SF is in touch with AIDS Healthcare Foundation, Trans: Thrive (a project of the San Francisco Community Health Center) and the Transgender District.
The B.A.R. asked Transgender District leaders for an interview for this report; the district replied with a series of slides posted to its LinkedIn and said a longer statement would be forthcoming by November 19. This has not been received as of press time.
In the LinkedIn post, the district stated it is “here to stand with” the community.
“Through every shift, we stay grounded in the power of our resilience,” the post states. “Now, more than ever, we’re committed to amplifying Transgender and Gender Nonconforming voices and to holding space for everyone impacted.”
‘We refuse to let anyone be left behind’
At the Transgender Immigrant Day event, Jorge Rivas, a gay man who is the executive director of San Francisco’s Office of Civic Engagement and Immigrant Affairs, echoed those sentiments.
“Across the nation, we’ve seen alarming trends – rising anti-immigrant, antitrans legislation and rhetoric,” Rivas said. “In San Francisco, we refuse to let anyone be left behind.”
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Jorge Rivas is the executive director of the San Francisco Office of Civic Engagement and Immigrant Affairs.
Rick Gerharter
“Given the very low risk to the public of exposure to clade I, the standing guidance for preventing mpox has not changed,” San Mateo County Health Officer Dr. Kismet Baldwin-Santana stated.
The San Mateo patient had recently traveled from eastern Africa, where there is an ongoing clade I mpox outbreak. The individual had mild illness and was treated at a local medical facility shortly after returning to the United States. Laboratory testing confirmed that the person had clade I, and specimens are being sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for further viral characterization.
“The affected individual received health care in San Mateo County based on their travel history and symptoms,” according to the CA DPH release. “The individual is isolating at home and recovering. People who had close contact with this individual are being contacted by public health workers, but there is no concern or evidence that mpox clade I is currently spreading between individuals in California or the United States.”
Two types of mpox
There are two major strains of mpox, clade I and clade II. Clade II was responsible for the global outbreak in 2022, which mainly affected gay and bisexual men. This strain continues to circulate
to be elected board president. Mandelman told the Bay Area Reporter November 14 that he plans to talk to his board colleagues about earning their support for the powerful post.
“How many times have we been here before?” he quipped.
It has been decades since the board had an out president. Two gay former supervisors have served in the post: Tom Ammiano (1999-2003) and years before that, the late Harry Britt (1989-1991).
Due to his winning a special election in June 2018 for his supervisor seat centered in the city’s LGBTQ Castro district, Mandelman will have the most seniority among the supervisors next year. And although he is term limited from running again in 2026, Mandelman noted the board presidency is a two-year term and several of the recent holders of the post served during their last years on the board.
“Serving one two-year term is pretty standard,” noted Mandelman.
Also pursuing the board presidency is District 7 Supervisor Myrna Melgar, who was reelected to a second fouryear term on the November 5 ballot. Two years ago, she had backed District 1 Supervisor Connie Chan, who also won reelection, to be board president.
In that contest the progressive supervisors were split, with some initially backing District 10 Supervisor Shamann Walton. The moderates all supported Mandelman, who ended up dropping out and throwing his support behind District 3 Supervisor Aaron Peskin, who clinched the board presidency after 17 rounds on a 7-4 vote. (Melgar and Chan were among those who voted for Peskin in the end.)
Melgar told the B.A.R. November 14 that she doesn’t expect to see a similar situation when the newly config-
at a low level in the U.S. When the CDC stopped updating its national count this past January, it had tallied more than 32,000 total cases, resulting in 58 deaths.
In San Francisco, 31 cases have been reported so far this year, according to the San Francisco Department of Public Health website.
Concurrent clade I mpox outbreaks are underway in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and nearby countries, prompting the World Health Organization to declare a public health emergency of international concern in August. More than 12,000 confirmed cases and 53 confirmed deaths have been reported in Africa in 2024, but testing is limited, and suspected cases exceed 50,000.
One outbreak in central and east Africa, involving viral subtype Ia, mainly affects children and is primarily spreading via close physical contact and contact with wild animals. The other, involving subtype Ib, appears to be largely driven by sexual transmission – both heterosexual and homosexual – and has affected many sex workers.
Isolated cases of clade I mpox have been reported in several other countries outside of Africa in recent months, and a small cluster of cases attributed to household contact was identified in the United Kingdom in early November. The San Mateo patient is the first clade I case reported in the U.S. The CA DPH announcement did not indicate whether this person has clade Ia or Ib.
Clade I mpox has historically had a
ured board meets January 7 to swear in the winners of last week’s odd-numbered supervisor races and vote on a new board president. Peskin is among the current members who are departing, as he is termed out and ran unsuccessfully to be elected mayor.
“I think it will be a completely different experience,” Melgar predicted.
She plans to sit down with Mandelman, whom she called her “work husband,” to discuss the presidency race. As he only recently returned from a trip to New York, the two haven’t had a chance to meet other than seeing each other at a party this week.
“There are pros and cons to both of our leadership styles for the board, and for us individually in terms of what we are trying to do. I am hoping we can work it out and avoid a big thing,” said Melgar, who said her pitch to her board colleagues is “I am going for boring.”
Mandelman told the B.A.R. he welcomes having a sit down with Melgar along with the other nine supervisors as he works to line up support.
“Yes, within the bounds of the
higher fatality rate than clade II, especially among children. During the 2022 clade II outbreak in the U.S., the mortality rate was around 0.2%, but people with advanced HIV are more likely to develop severe illness.
Fatality estimates for clade I mpox in Africa have ranged up to 10%, but mortality depends on access to medical care.
“Death rates are expected to be much lower in countries with stronger healthcare systems and treatment options, including the United States,” according to a CDC news release. “Current data supports that subclade Ib has a lower death rate of less than 1% both in and outside of Africa. The recent travel-associated clade I mpox cases outside of Africa have all been attributed to subclade Ib; there have been no deaths associated with these cases and available data for a subset has detailed relatively mild disease courses.”
Mpox vaccination urged
Mpox is primarily transmitted via skin-to-skin contact, including sex, hands-on caregiving, and contact between members of a household. It can also spread through saliva, respiratory droplets at close range and contact with materials such as clothes or bedding used by people with mpox lesions.
“Casual contact, like one might have during travel, in an office, classroom, or store, is unlikely to pose significant risks for transmission of mpox,” according to the CA DPH announcement.
Brown Act. I am trying to talk to as many of my colleagues as possible,” said Mandelman, referring to the law governing how elected leaders can meet to conduct their official business.
Serving as board president next year will have even greater importance with Daniel Lurie, a political novice who has never held elected office before, serving as the city’s next mayor. Plus, there will be five new board members come January due to the incumbents they are replacing being termed out or leaving for higher office.
“I would like to do it at this time because we have a new mayor who is not experienced in the bureaucracy here and half of my colleagues are going to be new,” noted Melgar. “So, I have a leadership style that is ... I worked with young people before I became a supervisor and I am used to mentoring and supporting others while they develop.”
She added, “I like that, so I think my skills and specific leadership style is good for the moment right now.”
Mandelman made similar points as for why he feels he is best suited to succeed Peskin as the next board president.
“I really think it is going to be important to have someone who can work with the new administration and work with everybody on the board to try to have San Francisco represent as united a front as possible. And also show that a very progressive city like San Francisco can also be effectively governed,” he said.
Immense challenges
Whoever does take over the gavel at the supervisors’ meetings will be faced with immense challenges due to the city facing financial headwinds and a likely hostile administration from Republican President-elect Donald Trump, noted Mandelman. Everything from San Francisco’s stance as a sanctuary city for illegal immigrants
As of November 13, the CDC assesses the risk from the central and east Africa outbreaks as “low” for the overall U.S. population and “low to moderate” for gay and bisexual men and people in their sexual networks. Although a small number of travel-associated clade I mpox cases are expected, federal experts think transmission is likely to be low compared with African countries due to smaller and less crowded households, better access to improved sanitation and health care, and the lack of animal reservoirs.
Mpox causes a painful rash that can appear anywhere on the body, sometimes accompanied by fever and other flu-like symptoms. Standard treatment involves supportive care and medications, though a recent study found that the antiviral drug TPOXX (tecovirimat) is not as effective for clade I mpox. Federal, state, and local health officials are urging people at higher risk to get vaccinated regardless of whether or not a local outbreak is underway. These include men who have sex with men, transgender and nonbinary individuals, people living with HIV, those using or eligible for PrEP, sex workers and those in their sexual networks. There is currently no vaccine shortage, and SF DPH offers it to anyone who wants protection from mpox.
Two doses of the Jynneos vaccine should be given at least four weeks apart. People who received only one dose in 2022 can get the second at any
and transgender individuals to standing up for reproductive rights and addressing climate change is likely to come under fire by Trump, his cabinet, and GOP congressional leaders whose party will be in control of both chambers in 2025.
Already, HIV service providers are warning about potential cuts in their federal funds. San Francisco AIDS Foundation CEO Tyler TerMeer, Ph.D., a gay Black man living with HIV who co-chairs the AIDS United Public Policy Council, sounded the alarm in a guest opinion piece he wrote for the B.A.R.’s November 14 issue.
“As we look toward the uncertain political landscape ahead, we are deeply concerned about the potential for federal cuts to HIV and AIDS services under a new administration,” noted TerMeer.
Mandelman had one word to describe how he is feeling about the November 5 federal election results.
“Terrible,” said Mandelman.
Electing at this moment in the country’s history a gay man as board president will send a powerful message to the rest of the country, contended Mandelman. It would be both “important and historic,” he added.
“I think we are all concerned about what is looking like it could be an unprecedented assault on queer families, what is already an unprecedented assault on queer families, queer people, the weaponization of anti-trans fears. That was one of the key elements of Trump’s election and could well prove to be one priority for this federal administration moving forward,” said Mandelman. “And then, on top of that generally, will be an assault on lots of priorities and values that San Franciscans care about. ... We are not going to know how bad it is going to be, but based on the cabinet appointments he is announcing, it could be pretty bad.”
Melgar told the B.A.R. that Mandelman is making valid points regarding
time and do not need to restart the series. Booster doses are not recommended for those who have completed the two-dose series, and people who have already had mpox do not need to be vaccinated. Evidence indicates that the vaccine protects against both clade I and II mpox. A CDC study found that only around a quarter of eligible individuals have received two doses of the vaccine nationwide, but the rate is considerably higher in San Francisco.
“SF DPH along with Bay Area, state and federal partners continue to monitor clade I mpox in the United States,” according to a statement the health department sent to the Bay Area Reporter. “The two-dose mpox vaccine provides the best protection against mpox, including clade I. ... The mpox vaccine is available through health systems and clinics. Those who do not have insurance or are having difficulty accessing care are welcome to visit SF DPH’s San Francisco City Clinic. We will continue to update the community if further actions are needed to protect health.” While mpox testing, vaccines, and treatment are now readily available in the U.S., this is not the case in Africa. Advocates stress that providing these tools is critical to limit the spread of the disease both within Africa and to other countries.
For more information on mpox vaccines, testing, and treatment, go to sf.gov/get-mpox-vaccines-testing-andtreatment. t
the elevation of an LGBTQ leader to the board presidency. She also noted that her being an immigrant and woman of color, as she was born in El Salvador and fled as a child in the 1980s, also would send a similarly powerful message with the rights of both immigrants and women also coming under attack at the federal level by Republican lawmakers.
“I think, whatever we do, will be consistent with our values,” said Melgar, adding of Mandelman, “I just love the guy so much.”
They are both policy geeks, she noted, who both strive to take the time and make the effort to “getting it right” when it comes to their work as supervisors. She intends not to make their bidding for the board presidency personal, said Melgar.
“I am not going to say anything negative about his leadership style,” she said. “It is all good. We are also lucky to have in San Francisco this access to riches.”
Whatever decision the supervisors make about who should lead them Melgar said she will be able to abide by it.
“Obviously, I am not the only person able to do it, and other people bring assets to it as well. It is not my style to have a big public fight,” she said. “If my colleagues decide I have the skills appropriate for the moment that is what will happen. If they decide they want someone else to do it that is fine, too.”
Mandelman said his main focus as board president would be to ensure a well-run city government, something he believes will also be a priority for the Lurie administration. He hopes to see the supervisors and mayor move beyond the infighting of recent years.
“I am hoping we are moving into an era where we can actually come together, face our common enemies, and make more progress in areas where the city is struggling,” he said. t
That refusal has kept Rivas’ office busy, working with the Center for Immigrant Protection on asylum cases.
“Since 2020, we have provided 280 consultations and screenings, filed over 73 affirmative asylum applications, filed 36 work permit applications for LGBT immigrants, and managed to gather over 32 asylum cases for trans and gender-noncon -
forming immigrants,” he said. “Even though this program has supported individuals in critical moments, we know it is not enough.”
The center was also the beneficiary of a $150,000 state budget ask for trans, immigrant asylees from Wiener earlier this year, which was approved through the regular budget process over the summer.
“I’ve worked with folks in the trans community and the trans immigrant community for a long time
and there are a lot of challenges, and my intent here is to help with capacity building in the community,” Wiener told the B.A.R. in a November 18 phone interview.
“We were all hoping Trump wouldn’t come back into power,” he added. “But that’s what has happened and supporting the community is more important now, given his threats of mass deportations and eliminating the trans community.”
Mahogany told the B.A.R. last
week she’s not planning on leaving her post even as Breed, who appointed her, leaves office to make way for Mayor-elect Daniel Lurie.
Asked about how her office will serve and support the trans community, Mahogany said that a lot of work is being done behind the scenes right now.
“Currently, we’re really working to organize a lot of the trans service providers and we are convening meetings with them and with the
city and state legislators,” Mahogany said. “We’re working with city departments to make sure we’re able to meet the needs of trans folks here in San Francisco. As these conversations continue to develop, hopefully we can report on what we can do if folks come here seeking refuge. I’m really eager to talk to the incoming mayoral administration to see the ways in which they can go further in their support for the trans community.” t
District 7 Supervisor Myrna Melgar is also seeking the board presidency.
Courtesy the subject
<< Mandelman
In addition to its Visiting Volunteer Program, LBFE needs volunteers to offer its elderly clientele tech support, rides to medical treatments, or join them on walks in their neighborhood. They also need people willing to make visits on clients’ birthdays who otherwise would spend the day alone.
Anyone interested in doing so can sign up online via a special form posted at https://forms. gle/6mAweD6XugSRt7Gk8. Volunteers do need to be at least 18 years of age for the visiting programs, complete a background check, and attend a one-time orientation prior to participating.
On Thanksgiving Day, November 28, volunteers are needed to deliver meals and visit for an hour one of the more than 350 isolated older adults LBFE works with in San Francisco. People have until Monday, November 25, to sign up to volunteer on that Thursday.
“You can do as little as you want or as much as you want and will feel the same amount of self-satisfaction from knowing you did this little thing that is literally going to light this person’s day up,” said Shannon Kennedy, 55, who joined LBFE’s board in 2021 and, since 2022, has served as its secretary.
The South of Market resident, who identifies as asexual but with romantic inklings, works as the director of client services at the BRIO Financial Group, which specializes in working with the LGBTQ community and individuals with a chosen family. She found LBFE searching for volunteer ideas for the firm and ended up signing up herself, first for its “Elf for an Elder” 2021 holiday gift initiative similar to Toys for Tots through which Kennedy bought and hand delivered presents to several seniors via the agency.
“That hooked me,” recalled Kennedy, who then became a visiting volunteer like Fulcher.
She was matched with a woman who emigrated from Russia and is now 86 years old. They have celebrated birthdays together, attended jazz concerts, and see each other nearly every Saturday.
“I consider her now part of my family,” said Kennedy, who never had grandparents she was close with as a child growing up in Pennsylvania. “For those of us who didn’t have necessarily present or healthy older adults in our family lives, this has been an eye-opening and cathartic experience to me, to foster that bond in an organic and not obligatory way.”
Kennedy, who first moved to San
ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-24-559206
In
OCT 31, NOV 07, 14, 21, 2024
In the matter of the application of KATHRYN VICTORIA CUIFFO, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appears from said application that petitioner KATHRYN VICTORIA CUIFFO is requesting that the name KATHRYN VICTORIA CUIFFO be changed to KATHRYN VICTORIA YI. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 103N, Rm. 103N on the 26th of DECEMBER 2024 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.
OCT 31, NOV 07, 14, 21, 2024
ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-24-559214
In the matter of the application of MICHELLE MARIE LOGSDON, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appears from said application that petitioner MICHELLE MARIE LOGSDON is requesting that the name MICHELLE MARIE LOGSDON be changed to MICHELLE MARIE LOGSDON GAUVIN. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 103N, Rm. 103N on the 26th of DECEMBER 2024 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.
OCT 31, NOV 07, 14, 21, 2024
ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-24-559208
In the matter of the application of DARIA CHRISTINE FLUOR-SCACCHI, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appears from said application that petitioner DARIA CHRISTINE FLUOR-SCACCHI is requesting that the name DARIA CHRISTINE FLUORSCACCHI be changed to DARIA CHRISTINE BACIO. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 103N, Rm. 103N on the 24th of DECEMBER 2024 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted. OCT 31, NOV 07, 14, 21, 2024
ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-24-559209
“We want people to know we are an ally.”
–Cathy Michalec, LBFE executive director
Francisco in 1995, told the B.A.R. that quite a number of the seniors LBFE works with are LGBTQ. They could use more volunteers from the LGBTQ community, she noted, as those signing up tend to skew female and younger.
“There is so much opportunity to really make a difference in someone’s dayto-day. That is harder to come by in your usual working person’s adult life,” said Kennedy. “To just veer outside of your to-do list and do something that is selfless in a way that has great impact.”
Especially during the holidays, providing companionship to an older adult, even briefly, “is absolutely critical,” she said.
“The degree of social isolation in these older adults, whether they live in a more shared living facility or are independently living, is huge. Particularly with those who have mobility issues as well, where they literally cannot leave the home,” said Kennedy. “I have had the benefit of just seeing the impact in the person with the multiple folks I have visited. It is supremely impactful.”
Six-month commitment
For the visiting program, volunteers are asked to make a six-month commitment to start with. There is a current waiting list of more than 100 seniors, noted Kennedy, who added for those who are LGBTQ, the agency coordinates dedicated visits for Pride in June.
Any senior age 65 or older living in San Francisco (or age 60 and up if living with a disability in the city) can sign up for services with LBFE. The agency does ask seniors about their sexual orientation, LBFE Executive Director Cathy Michalec told the B.A.R. Of those matched with a visiting volunteer, 17.78% identify as gay or lesbian.
(The local chapter, which has an annual budget of $480,000, is part of a larger agency that began as a Catholic brotherhood in France but no longer has any religious affiliation. As it works with all seniors, the San Francisco-based organization prefers to go by its acronym and
In the matter of the application of STEVEN PATRICK BUSS, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appears from said application that petitioner STEVEN PATRICK BUSS is requesting that the name STEVEN PATRICK BUSS be changed to STEVEN BUSS BACIO. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 103N, Rm. 103N on the 24th of DECEMBER 2024 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted. OCT 31, NOV 07, 14, 21, 2024
FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 2024-0404801
The following person(s) is/are doing business as STORMBLUE, 755 MANGELS AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94127. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed DAVID MERRILL. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/05/2024. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/25/2024. OCT 31, NOV 07, 14, 21, 2024
FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 2024-0404781
The following person(s) is/are doing business as SAN FRANCISCO MUSICAL THEATER, 865 SAN JOSE AVE #2, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed EVE DEL CASELLO. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/21/2024. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/23/2024. OCT 31, NOV 07, 14, 21, 2024
FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 2024-0404777
The following person(s) is/are doing business as DONALD JEWELRY COMPANY, 727 JACKSON ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94133. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed DONALD WONG. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/07/1995. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/23/2024. OCT 31, NOV 07, 14, 21, 2024
FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 2024-0404816
The following person(s) is/are doing business as FRIENDLY LOCKSMITH AND SECURITY, 4619 LINCOLN WAY #C, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94722. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed VSEVOLOD KANTOR. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/01/2024. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/28/2024. OCT 31, NOV 07, 14, 21, 2024
FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 2024-0404813
The following person(s) is/are doing business as SALEEMA INTERNATIONAL SALON, 2418 SAN BRUNO AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94134. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed VINCENT
has pushed for a change to a more inclusive name that isn’t so male-centric.)
As for its clientele, nearly 82% are heterosexual or straight; 10% are gay; 1.4% are lesbian, 1.4% are bisexual, less than 1% are asexual; and 4% didn’t disclose their sexual orientation. The average age of its clients is 82.
“Absolutely, since I started nine years ago, we have more LGBT seniors coming in,” said Michalec, 65, a straight ally who lives in Oakland with her husband.
Since arriving at LBFE in October 2015, Michalec has made it a point to let LGBTQ seniors know they are welcome at the agency. She noted they added a Pride flag to their brochure and to the back of clipboards used at events.
“We want people to know we are an ally. Other seniors talk to other seniors,” she said of the importance of utilizing that word of mouth within the city’s older LGBTQ community. “I think our programs are more visible.”
“It would be nice not to have that worry then we can put volunteers on the waitlist instead of our older adults,” said Michalec, especially during the upcoming holidays. “So many other social services agencies are closed on Christmas Eve and Christmas; we are not, we provide that service. Everyone wants that Hallmark Christmas, and our older adults don’t get that.”
Bonded over longtime city connections
Born in Montgomery, Alabama with a father in the U.S. Air Force, Wiselogel grew up a military brat with three siblings. His two sisters live in the Central Valley, while his older brother is in the Midwest; their parents are deceased.
At age 14, while living in San Jose, Wiselogel would hitchhike his way to San Francisco to hang out in the city and crash at the homes of his friends on weekends. He eventually met several sugar daddies, one of whom worked for a local concert promoter who would get him into shows for free.
“I was an experimental kid,” recalled Wiselogel, who knew he was gay at the age of 5. “My parents had a second home on the Delta, a houseboat. They didn’t know where I was half the time.”
Lost friends to AIDS
Many LGBTQ seniors lost their whole friends group to AIDS, like Wiselogel, said Michalec, or are of a generation of LGBTQ seniors who were ostracized by their biological families when they came out of the closet. Now dealing with isolation and loneliness, it can gravely impact their health, she stressed, leading to depression and higher risk for strokes, high blood pressure and heart attacks.
“The health effect is equivalent to 15 cigarettes a day for prolonged isolation. Can you imagine the health effects of that?” asked Michalec. “People don’t think about it.”
To meet its current demands for its visiting program, Michalec said they would welcome a pool of volunteers numbering 150 to 200. At the moment, there are 50.
JONES. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/28/2024. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/28/2024. OCT 31, NOV 07, 14, 21, 2024
FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 2024-0404814
The following person(s) is/are doing business as SALEEMA BOUTIQUE OLD & NEW, 2420 SAN BRUNO AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94134. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed VINCENT JONES. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/28/2024. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/28/2024. OCT 31, NOV 07, 14, 21, 2024
FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 2024-0404787
The following person(s) is/are doing business as BILLIARD PALACADE, 5179 MISSION ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94112. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed FLORES BILLIARDS INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/01/2024. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/23/2024. OCT 31, NOV 07, 14, 21, 2024
FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 2024-0404794
The following person(s) is/are doing business as KALIMERA, 561 COLUMBUS AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94133. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed NORTH BEACH GYROS INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/24/2024. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/24/2024. OCT 31, NOV 07, 14, 21, 2024 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 2024-0404791 The following person(s) is/are doing business as HEALTHWELL PHYSICAL THERAPY GROUP, 1200 GOUGH ST #700, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed AMBER REHABILITATION INC. (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on
Having grown up in San Francisco in the Cow Hollow neighborhood, Fulcher was well aware of the city’s thenblossoming LGBTQ community. She, too, gets to reminisce about her experiences in the city with Wiselogel when they meet up.
“We have a lot in common because we both love San Francisco,” she said. “We will talk about food. We have a width breadth of things to chat about.”
Very early on Wiselogel disclosed he is gay to Fulcher, and the two quickly established a close bond, she recalled. She also lost friends and colleagues to the AIDS epidemic.
“I think he was very comfortable talking with me. I was very open in receipt of that,” said Fulcher, who worked in the city in advertising and human resources. “He shared so many stories of, you know, San Francisco in the seventies. The parties, the get-togethers, just that whole era. I was there during all of that.”
After high school, Wiselogel attended beauty school and worked as a hairdresser for two decades at a salon in Palo Alto. Eventually, he moved to San Francisco in the 1970s and has rented an apartment in the Tenderloin for the past three decades.
“Everybody was doing it with everybody else,” recalled Wiselogel, noting that the weekly issues of the B.A.R. were “a lot thicker” back then.
Diagnosed with AIDS and unable to continue working, he quit his stylist job in the late 1990s. He qualified for housing subsidies for people living with HIV, which helped cover his then $300 monthly rent payments.
“I had a fabulous group of friends; we would get together on weekends. The Castro used to be a great place to have brunch,” recalled Wiselogel. “In the late 1980s, early 1990s, I lost a lot of people.”
Now, he gets to share the stories of those days and the people he ran around with back then with Fulcher.
“We both have open minds,” said Wiselogel when asked why the two click as friends. “There is nothing I can tell her that would offend her.”
LBFE works with its counterpart agency On Lok, which also provides services to seniors. One of On Lok’s other partner nonprofits is Openhouse, the LGBTQseniors focused service provider, and runs a day program for out older adults at its campus on Laguna Street off upper Market Street. For the past year, Wiselogel has been enrolled in it and has begun to meet other LGBTQ seniors via it.
“They kind of set you up so you have a life,” he said.
It came about because Fulcher and Wiselogel had played bingo at a party they attended together, and he later expressed interest in playing it more often. Fulcher got a suggestion from LBFE to check out On Lok’s website.
“Billy had so much fun playing bingo. A couple weeks later he said he would love to go to a place to play bingo,” recalled Fulcher.
Volunteering with LBFE “is a unique opportunity,” said Fulcher, to ensure that seniors who may have lost their family, or whose relatives don’t live in the Bay Area, aren’t alone or feel isolated.
“I think Little Brothers does incredible work. There are so many people in this city who are lonely. They do so much to help in that regard,” Fulcher said of the nonprofit. “I would encourage anyone looking for a volunteer opportunity to talk to Little Brothers. Once established, it is so rewarding.”
To learn more about LBFE and the programs it offers and needs volunteers for, visit its website at https://littlebrotherssf.org/. For questions call the LBFE office at (415) 771-7957. t
14, 21, 2024
FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 2024-0404745
The following person(s) is/are doing business as BASK BODY, 400 BEALE ST #907, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94105. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed DAYS ACTIVE LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N/A. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/18/2024. OCT 31, NOV 07, 14, 21, 2024
FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 2024-0404783
The following person(s) is/are doing business as PATEK PHILIPPE SAN FRANCISCO; PATEK BOUTIQUE SAN FRANCISCO; PATEK PHILIPPE BY KEARNS, UNION SQUARE; KERNS PATEK SF, 259 POST ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94108. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed PPBK, UNION SQUARE, LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/15/2024. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/23/2024. OCT 31,
by Jim Gladstone
Laughter and tears, insult and injury; motherhood, sisterhood and the lifeblood of a neighborhood is all in a day’s work at Jaja’s African Hair Braiding, the eponymous Harlem salon of Jocelyn Bioh’s piquant microcosmic comedy, now at Berkeley Repertory in its premiere West Coast production.
Following a passel of vibrantly drawn women, African immigrants, and Black Americans over a single day in a single setting, Bioh evokes an enormous variety of emotions and experiences.
She writes deftly, with a light touch, floating laugh-out-loud dialogue and endearing characterizations atop a smartly subliminal current of political and human rights concerns.
That undertow grows ferocious in the play’s final ten minutes, abruptly swamping the comedy and pulling the show toward the dangerous, dubious waters of Theater with a Lesson to Teach Us.
Still, under Whitney White’s direction, the bone-deep, precisely detailed performances of a stellar ten-actor ensemble and eye-tickling artistry of the production’s design team (David Zinn, sets; Dede Ayite, costumes; Nikiya Mathis, hair and wigs; Jiyoun Chang, lighting) more than compensate for the script’s didactic finale.
An open door for open minds
On entering Peet’s Theatre, audience members see a rolled-down metal security door, dimly lit at center stage. The sign above it reads “Jaja’s African Hair Braiding,” but to those unacquainted with such a business, or unaccustomed to spending time in an urban Black milieu, it might seem to say, “Keep Out.”
‘Jaja’s
a bit anxious but ready to oversee the day’s commerce.
Soft-spoken Miriam (Bisserat Tseggai) is one of four hairdressers who rent chairs from Jaja and tend to their clients here; gossiping, daydreaming, and eking out a living from early morning to after 9pm.
As the door rolls open, a funky pink beauty shop interior slides forward and literally unfolds before the audience’s eyes. We’re drawn in and this
enclave reaches out to us. It’s a pleased-to-meetyou moment, a cultural threshold crossing.
By “we” and “us” I mean the large proportion of audience members (including this writer) at the Rep and on Broadway, where this play debuted, who are white, well-to-do, and rarely, if ever, set foot in spots like Jaja’s.
Women already familiar with the vibe and chatter of braiding shops will quickly acclimate to the array of accents, rapid overlapping conversations, Afropop music, and haircare vernacular that fill the show’s 80 intermission-less
minutes. They’ll find themselves feeling reflected, represented, and honored.
Empathetic environs
It may take a little longer for others to attune to the scenario. As well it should. We may be welcomed guests, but we’re on someone else’s sacred ground (Even the play’s four Black male characters, all played by Kevin Aoussou, seem to feel a bit out of place in this arena of female
by Philip Mayard
Under the leadership of Artistic Directors Matt Kent and Renée Jaworski since 2011, Pilobolus has flourished as one of America’s most unique and engaging cultural institutions. From its humble beginnings as an experimental dance collective at Dartmouth College in 1971, Pilobolus has transformed the landscape of physical expression through its unique blend of modern dance, magical stagecraft, athletic prowess, and acrobatic innovation.
Kent, who joined the company as a performer in 1996, recently spoke with the Bay Area Reporter about his unlikely life path, from the fields of rural Georgia to the helm of one of the world’s most innovative and popular performance ensembles.
Philip Mayard: I read that you’ve had no formal dance training. Can you tell me about your childhood and youth? Were there any clues that you might pursue a career in dance?
Pilobolus: dance magic
Matt Kent: Looking back on it now, at age 52, I had a very unexpected career in dance. I grew up in the suburbs of Atlanta, which are now more suburban, but I walked through a cow pasture to get to elementary school. I played upright string bass and I was also a preacher’s kid. My dad was a Methodist minister.
That was my first exposure to performing. He got up there, no matter how he felt, and told stories he hoped would inspire and affect people’s lives in a positive way. He was a very progressive and liberal minister, which was and still is pretty rare in the south. He always invited everyone, including LGBTQ people, to his church.
But even when I was in college, if you’d told me I would be a modern dancer, I would have laughed in your face. It wasn’t something I’d ever even considered.
So how did you get interested in dance?
I was studying music therapy at the University of Georgia, and a girl I knew invited me to watch
a modern dance class. Those professors were speaking about movement more like martial arts than dance. I thought that was interesting and they needed male performers, so I went into the dance department and I slowly fell in love with it. There were all these powerful, beautiful, creative, talented women. I never took a dance class, but I started creating work for these dancers.
How did you learn about Pilobolus?
I remember going to the university library and checking out VHS tapes of this weird company I’d heard of called Pilobolus. I saw those tapes and thought, “Now that I could do!”
So I went to a Pilobolus workshop. That was the only training I ever had, and I immediately
knew I had found my tribe. It was like I won the lottery. I dropped out of school and joined Pilobolus.
Do you still perform with the company? No, I only perform in our interactive kids show, in which I’m a narrator. I may move around on stage, but I’ve had some injuries that prevent me from jumping. But I never really had that “retirement moment” when I thought, “Damn, I can’t do this anymore.” Because we’re such a collaborative company, and we are all so huddled around a common purpose, that when others are performing, it feels like there are six of me on stage. They are manifestations of what I envision in my mind.
Two of the play’s most genial characters soon arrive. The proprietor’s daughter Marie, a recent high school graduate, is bubbly,
Awa Sal Secka and Tiffany Renee Johnson in ‘Jaja’s African Hair Braiding’
A powerful comedy of community at Berkeley Repertory
African Hair Braiding’
Ben Krantz Studio/Berkeley Rep
Artistic Director Matt Kent on the company’s rebellious legacy
Steven Pisano
Brigid Pierce
Holiday jollies at ‘La Cage Aux Folles’
by Jim Gladstone
The major new production of “La Cage Aux Folles” that debuted at the Pasadena Playhouse on November 17 would qualify as seasonal theater based on tinsel quantity alone.
The opening production number features haystack-sized mounds of the stuff. Not only do they shimmer, they shimmy. Ornamented with wide eyes and juicy lips, these dancing silver hillocks suggest “A Muppet Family Christmas” on acid.
Over the course of the show, audiences are also treated to projections of stained-glass windows that spin like pinwheels; costume design that verges on surrealism; and one awfully of-themoment America First absurdity, a billboard-sized painting of Jesus playing football with kids from a “Dick and Jane” book. (“La Cage aux Folles” is set in Saint-Tropez, France.)
This hallucinatory lark of a revival, starring gay Broadway veterans Cheyenne Jackson and Kevin Cahoon, is directed by Sam Pinkleton, the cockeyed visionary who helmed last year’s oddball “The Wizard of Oz” at A.C.T. and is currently represented on Broadway by Cole Escola’s ridiculous, raunchy “Oh Mary!”
Like Christmas at its least dysfunctional, Pinkleton’s take on “La Cage Aux Folles” is at once painstakingly sincere and unapologetically kitschy, with just the right amount of too much.
While the original 1983 book and score by the openly gay team of writer Harvey Fierstein (“Torch Song Trilogy”) and composer Jerry Herman (“Mame,” “Hello Dolly”) remain
intact, the acceptance-seeking starch and polish of the show’s three Broadway productions are swapped out in Pasadena for a ragtag, DIY vibe.
And Pinkleton’s diverse cast presents a broad spectrum of gender expression. Past productions have largely implied that there’s a highly limited range: men, women, and men who dress as women.
A quick trip to see this joyously refreshed 21st-century iteration would make an ideal holiday gift for the queer theater lovers in your life. You’ll have to celebrate early though; the show runs only through December 15.
Behind the scenes
Based on the French play and film of the same name, both from the 1970s, “La Cage Aux Folles” was the first Broadway musical to center a romantic same-sex couple.
The original 1983 production of “La Cage Aux Folles” won six Tony awards, including Best Musical, and ran for more than four years. There have been two subsequent Broadway revivals, and the show’s hallmark song “I Am What I Am” has become a widely recorded gay anthem.
In the show, suave Georges and high-strung Albin (played by Jackson and Cahoon, respectively, in Pasade-
he said, referring to the 1996 nonmusical film version starring Robin Williams and Nathan Lane.
“I saw it when I was around 20, and what I remember so distinctly is that the people the movie was skewering were my pastors and my teachers. The morality police were the weirdos; the queer people were the normal ones.
“What I’m loving about the show now that I’ve been getting into the script is how much I relate to this longtime gay couple. The way these guys banter and give each other shit reminds me of me and my husband. You’ve got to be able to give each other a zinger.”
A fan’s notes
“I saw the original Broadway production, recalled Kevin Cahoon. “I must have been about 10 years old. Can you imagine? I certainly had never seen a drag queen before. But to be honest, my memory of that show is that it was the shiniest, sparkliest ball of joy I’d ever seen.
na) own the titular night club, where Albin also performs, under his drag name, Zaza.
Having raised Georges’ son, Jean-Michel, together, the couple is stunned when the young man gets engaged to the daughter of an antigay politician, and insists that Georges play straight and Albin absent himself when her parents come for a visit.
Disguises, farce, and frolic ensue.
Just prior to the start of rehearsals for the Pasadena Playhouse production, the Bay Area Reporter spoke with Pinkleton, Jackson, and Cahoon about their perspectives on “La Cage Aux Folles.”
Finding family
“When the Playhouse first came to me with the idea of doing ‘La Cage’, I wasn’t interested,” said Pinkleton. “I thought of it as a very old-fashioned show. There was a gay couple, but all I really remembered was a line of drag queens doing high kicks. But then I revisited the script and realized there was a lot more potential to it. I wanted to dig deeper.”
In past productions, the queens of the chorus, known collectively as the Cagelles, had a Rockettes-like uniformity, both in appearance and personality. Pinkleton has reimagined them as an odd lot of misfit outsiders, each unique in look and demeanor.
He also realized that the bonds formed among the Cagelles echoed the relationships at the core of the show.
“It’s really all about the chosen family,” said Pinkleton. “Whether it’s Georges and Albin building their lives and their business together; Albin, taking on a maternal role in Jean-Michel’s life; or this beautiful community of folks who come together at ‘La Cage’ and are united by the joy of making shows, which of course I love.”
Pinkleton, 37, also recognized that, having first seen “La Cage Aux Folles” in his late teens or early twenties, his reflexive reaction to a couple who had been together for decades and raised a now-adult child was to consider them
“old men.”
“But thinking about it now, I realized that you could be 44 and have a 20-year-old son! Cheyenne, who is about to turn 50, has kids. He’s one of the most vibrant, vital people I know. I’d had an idea in my head that these guys were near the end of their lives. Now I think of them as being in the thick of it.”
Recognizing one’s self Cheyenne Jackson didn’t share Pinkleton’s preconceptions about the show, because he’s never seen it.
“I have to admit, I wasn’t familiar with the musical,” said Jackson, who has 8-year-old twins, Willow and Ethan, with husband Jason Landau.
“I did know ‘The Birdcage,’ though,”
“I also remember that Jacob, the housekeeper in the show, picked up a statue by its penis and carried it off stage. That’s what stuck in my little 10-year-old mind.”
In Pasadena, Jacob is played by George Salazar in a charisma-charged comic performance. Seen by the right people, this minor role could make him a major star.
Cahoon, a Texas theater kid, had come to the show with a group of classmates from his acting school at Theater Under the Stars, their annual trip to New York, chaperoned by his mother.
“I have the coolest mom,” he said, “She’s still the coolest. We never really discussed the show in detail. But we agreed that it was hilarious; a wonderful show with a wonderful message.”
As a child actor, Cahoon had the opportunity to perform with Marilyn Maye, the actress and cabaret star, who he came to idolize. He played nephew Patrick to Maye’s Auntie Mame in Houston, and later went to see her as Dolly Levi in Galveston.
“‘Mame’ and ‘Hello Dolly’ are both Jerry Herman shows,” said Cahoon, pointing out their connection to “La Cage Aux Folles.”
“When I heard Marilyn sing those big Jerry Herman songs, like ‘If He Walked into My Life’ and ‘Open a New Window,’ it just permeated my DNA in a way I can never explain. And now, as Albin, I’ll get to sing the big Jerry Herman song. Sometimes it feels like I’m channeling her. It’s my own Marilyn moment.”t
For Pasadena travel tips, see the full article on www.ebar.com.
‘La Cage Aux Folles,’ through Dec. 15. $44 and up. Pasadena Playhouse, 309 S. Molino. www.pasadenaplayhouse.org
Cheyenne Jackson and Ryan Haddad in ‘La Cage Aux Folles’
Jeff Lorch
The Cagelles in ‘La Cage Aux Folles’
Jeff Lorch
Jeff Cahoon and Cheyenne Jackson backstage at ‘La Cage Aux Folles’
Jeff Cahoon
by Brian Bromberger
“Martha, why do so many people hate you?” asked Barbara Walters in a pre-trial interview with business-tycoon, writer, television personality and homemaking queen Martha Stewart. This is the exact question at the heart of the new Netflix documentary “Martha,” which tries to reconcile the visionary Martha “who made the world a more beautiful place and democratized fashion, taste, and style,” with the unlikable, controlling, contradictory, perfectionistic Martha. She’s called the original influencer, but also a bitch.
Filmmaker RJ Cutler tries to explain the paradox by charting her life’s journey from a difficult childhood to media mogul to her current status as the cool grandma, who roasted Justin Bieber on Comedy Central, posed at age 81 for the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue, and co-hosted a dinner party show with Snoop Dogg. We’re presented with an invincible, scathing Martha loved and feared, who remains an enigma, just more candid.
Morphed
Her background was not a privileged one as one of six children growing up as Martha Kostyra in New Jersey. She was her salesman father’s favorite, but he was cruel and a perfectionist. She became a semi-successful teenage model to support her family.
Enrolling at Barnard, she met lawyer Andy Stewart, marrying him at 21, despite her father’s objection. He slapped her when he found out her fiancé was
Jewish. She had a daughter Alexis. She became a stockbroker, unusual for women in the 1960s.They restored an old farmhouse in Westport, Connecticut, where she developed her homemaking skills. She started a catering company. A publisher acquaintance of her husband suggested she write a book on “entertaining.” It was a hit and eventually she morphed into appointment television, creating her own female-run company, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, becoming the first woman billionaire.
Along the way, her marriage fell apart and she divorced her husband,
claiming he cheated on her repeatedly (culminating in a fling with Martha’s floral designer on their Connecticut property), though she also was unfaithful (“a very brief affair with a very attractive Irish man; it was nothing”).
She defines the world as she sees it, inconsistencies and all. He wanted the divorce, which made her miserable. “I have to go to San Francisco and talk about weddings and my wonderful life. I hope you are enjoying your freedom. And I hope my plane crashes.”
Charged
Then there was all that unpleasant insider trader business, where her broker instructed Martha to sell her ImClone stock after CEO Sam Waksal tipped her off. In 2004, she was found guilty of conspiracy, obstruction and lying to federal investigators after a media circus. She was sentenced to five months in prison at Alderson, West Virginia (“Camp Cupcake”). “It was horrifying. I had to be a trophy for these idiots in the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Those prosecutors should’ve been put in a Cuisinart and turned on high.”
horrible things about me during the trial. She’s dead now, thank goodness and nobody has to put up with that crap she was writing all the time,” might serve as insight into the “real” Martha.
A colleague pipes up, “She treated her staff like shit.” She’s seen scolding her kitchen helper about using the wrong knife to cut an orange.
Martha has been vocal in her disapproval of the film, which is one indication why this documentary is so riveting. Her basic complaint is that she had no control over the final cut. She hates the unflattering camera angles, resents the final scenes of her as a lonely old lady walking hunched over in her garden. Scenes with her grandchildren weren’t included, and the film spends too much time on her 2004 trial and prison sentence.
“It was not that important…less
than two years out of an 83-year-old life. Even the judge was bored and fell asleep. I considered it a vacation, to tell you the truth.”
We have a strong woman standing up for herself and overcoming obstacles, yet sometimes deserving the title the Queen of Mean. Cutler manages to prod Martha into revealing more than what she intended, particularly that she doesn’t see the irony of building her career on the fantasy of a perfect home, when her life was anything but perfect.
Yet the public has exonerated and embraced her. She’s smart, complicated, witty, demanding, impenetrable, ahead of her time, everything we love in a diva. Ultimately, nothing can defeat her and despite all her flaws, that’s a good thing.t
www.netflix.com
She was thrown into solitary confinement for accidentally touching a guard, but also taught business courses for the inmates. However, her boyfriend Charle Simonyl of 13 years, only visited her once in prison (“I don’t think he liked hanging out with somebody in jail”), though he did send a plane for her when she was released. Two years later he dumped her in bed with post-sex banter, “I’m gonna get married to Lisa and her parents don’t want me to ever speak to you again.”
She lost over a billion dollars, with advertisers pulling out of her magazine. Her “Martha Stewart Living” TV show was canceled. She had to resign from all her corporate boards, including her own company. Executive producer Mark Burnett rescued her with a new program, “The Martha Stewart Show.”
She was disappointed with a show in which she had virtually no control, but it ran for eight seasons. “It felt more like prison than being at Alderson.”
Obsessed
Much of the documentary is a long interview with Martha, interspersed with archival footage and audio interviews with friends, colleagues, and family members, plus excerpts from her diaries and letters. Her body language and facial expressions reveal someone uncomfortable, wrestling to maintain her composure.
One clip during a break filming an Easter brunch episode shows her upset about being asked about her trial, resulting in an icy stare, yet when the camera rolls, she switches on the smiling, calm, assured expert. Overall, she doesn’t come across as happy or fulfilled, just work/task-obsessed.
“A New York Post woman wrote
Martha Stewart in the Netflix documentary
Martha Stewart in the Netflix documentary Netflix
Steven Underhill
‘Memoir of a Snail’
by Gregg Shapiro
People of all ages have grown to love the stop-motion animation movies of Nick Park, including “Chicken Run” and the “Wallace & Gromit” series. In “Memoir of a Snail” (IFC Films), Oscar-winning gay filmmaker Adam Elliot takes the genre in new, queer, and adult directions.
As she tells her pet snail Sylvia, Grace (voiced by Sarah Snook) remembers everything from her childhood, right from the start in the womb, alongside her twin brother Gilbert (voiced by Kodi Smit-McPhee).
Born premature (not “fully-baked” as she says) with a cleft lip, Grace’s life began tragically when her mother died during childbirth. Plagued by a “smorgasbord of afflictions,” Grace found comfort in her mother’s snailthemed jewelry box, and gave Gilbert, with whom she was inseparable, the snail ring she found inside.
Raised by their father Percy (Dominique Pinon), a French former street performer, now paraplegic and alcoholic, they make the best of their situation in early 1970s Australia. But when Percy dies, the twins are sent into foster care and separated. Grace goes to Canberra to live with a childless couple, Ian and Narelle.
Unfortunately for Gilbert, he
Tell me more about the company’s collaborative creative process. Does that work style influence the kinds of dancers you look for?
Joining Pilobolus is like agreeing to be part of this weird organism. It’s really important that when people see the company, they think, “Yes, that looks like Pilobolus.” But they also see [company dancers] Sean, Darren, Hannah, and so on. There are many, many dancers out there who can do the moves and there’s a type of mover that we are drawn to. But after you get that pool of auditionees, finding performers with a collaborative mindset is more important than their physical technique.
We look for people who are relentlessly curious. I love my dancers but they are rebellious, and sometimes I want to kill them because they question everything. Sometimes it would
moves in with religious fanatics Ruth and Owen, and their brood, on a fruit farm near Perth, where he is forced to pray four times a day. Gilbert vows to save the money he earns in the apple orchard so he can come for Grace, and they can escape to Paris.
Five years later, sadly, neither of their lives have improved, al-
be easier if they’d just shut up! But I don’t want them to shut up. What they are doing is participating in the creation and the re-creation of art.
Speaking of rebellion, the first line of the company bio is “Pilobolus is a rebellious dance company.” What’s been the key to keeping the company rebellious all these years?
When we’re creating, we believe that if something is not serving a story or a narrative, it shouldn’t be in our dance. I’m not talking about words. But if what we’re experimenting with is not part of the evolution of some idea through time, space, and people’s bodies, we need to reconsider it.
Of course, there are “tricks” or feats of strength. For example, when we made a Houdini-inspired escape piece with Penn and Teller, we started with literal tricks. We tied someone up, put them in a bag, and they came out with a different set of clothes on. But even with that, the unfolding of how we got
though Grace’s is slightly better than Gilbert’s. While volunteering at the library, Grace meets the amazing and elderly Pinky (Jacki Weaver), described by Grace as “a true eccentric” who smelled like “ginger and secondhand shops.” Aside from Sylvia, Pinky is Grace’s only real (and human) friend, “the jewel in the Canberra junk heap.”
there, it all told a story. It’s about how we frame those tricks.
Tell me about the program the company will be performing at Zellerbach Hall this month.
This is called the “re:CREATION” tour, and the title is sort of a pun. We are performing some older works and we’re doing new works, and all of those pieces are born again every time they are performed in front of an audience.
One of the attributes I love about
It’s also important to know that Pinky was terrified of Alzheimer’s and loved her garden where she grew vegetables. Grace and Gilbert maintain an ongoing correspondence, even as Grace, who took comfort in her snail collection, still grieved the loss of her family members. Meanwhile, Gilbert is suffering under Ruth’s cruel and
our work is that they possess an emergent quality. When you take all the components and put them together, it becomes something none of us – not the dancers, choreographers, or designers – could have ever predicted or imagined.
Are you looking forward to returning to Berkeley?
It’s been too long since we’ve been to Berkeley! It’s such a great town to hang. So many tour stops, you’re either
watchful eyes, as she disapproves of his long-held fascination with fire and magic. However, he remains determined to stay strong, especially after he discovers Owen’s hypocrisy, as well as his blossoming sexuality and attraction to foster brother Ben.
Lonely and loveless, Grace’s life gets better when she meets and falls in love with her new neighbor Ken, a microwave oven repairman. As the date of their wedding approaches, Grace receives devastating news from Ruth about Gilbert. From there, her life begins to spiral downward, including a shocking discovery about Ken. It is only through Pinky’s nurturing that she can recover. Then Grace has the chance to do the same for Pinky as her health rapidly declines.
Elliot’s stop-motion animation work is nothing less than dazzling. The detail in every scene makes this the kind of movie that benefits from repeated viewings. Additionally, the multi-layered story, with its many thoughtful messages (including “Life can only be understood backwards but we have to live it forwards”) provides us with plenty to think about. Elliot’s imaginative imaginary world, including the surprise conclusion, may likely have viewers shedding real tears. Rating: A-t
www.memoirofasnail.movie
in the theater or sort of stuck in a hotel. Berkeley is a great walking town and it’s still kind of got that ’70s vibe, which really aligns with what we do. People in Berkeley are intellectual and will have deep thoughts about what we are doing, but they aren’t snobs, they’re also going to laugh.t
Pilobolus, $31-$96, November 30-December 1, Zellerbach Hall, Berkeley. www.calperformances. org www.pilobolus.org
‘Memoir of a Snail’
<< Pilobolus
From page 13
A Pilobolus
‘Mel Odom: Gorgeous’
by Cornelius Washington
Some artists use time-honored fine art techniques to sell commercial products. However, illustrator par excellence Mel Odom used his formidable painstaking talents to introduce to the world the emerging gay culture of the 1970s.
His seminal work with Blueboy magazine led him to become the darling of the publishing industry, and magazines (Omni, Viva, Time, Vogue Japan and, ironically, Playboy) quickly booked him. He was also commissioned by diverse entities like Mrs. Diana Vreeland and Tori Amos. The eroticism, wit and southern gothic sensibility of Odom’s illustrations leave you spellbound.
His new book, “Mel Odom: Gorgeous” (Apartamento Publishing) is a celebration of a career that is staggering in its versatility. From his love for Barbie and doll culture, to his quasi-dreamlike cover images for several Anne Rice novels, the book is deeply personal, featuring images of the author, both nude and fullyclothed, along with intimate details about each of his works, his childhood and his sexuality.
In his interview, the gracious and humorous artist not only answered questions from The Bay Area Reporter, but also from several talented creatives who are inspired by his legendary work.
Cornelius Washington: What motivated you to publish a new book in today’s age?
Mel Odom: Editor Luis Venegas and I had been talking about collaborating on a book for years. It had been 40 years since my last published collection and I had done so much work since then. It just seemed like the right time to do it. An artist likes to see their work in solid form, not just a fleeting image on a screen. When the grid goes down you can still read a book.
Your art and career span decades. Please describe the book’s editing process.
I basically let Luis do it. I supplied as much of the work I’m proud of to Luis and let his editor sensibility take over and connect the dots of an almost fifty-year career. I’m too enmeshed in what my favorites are and what and who I was doing at the time. I’ll save all that for a memoir.
Please explain your techniques. My drawings are an astoundingly tedious process that starts with my original sketch being drawn on vellum. I frequently create several sketches for an assignment. After the specific sketch is decided on, I have a copy made of the sketch, rub a soft pencil lead on the back of it and retrace all the lines, in order to transfer a pale version of the drawing onto a piece of smooth hot press illustration board. Then, I remove the traced print and redraw the lines of the drawing again to make them darker and more permanent on the board. I then add the color with Peerless dyes and water, using them as watercolors. After the long and tedious process of
that, I then go over the color with a layer of soft pencil, to add the tones and details of the image.
This takes days, but it’s where the magic happens. I use a lot of reference but pick and choose which details are important to what I want to say within the drawing. After the colored image is drawn this way, I trace the drawing again on frosted acetate to create a stencil to protect the drawn parts. I cut the frosted acetate stencil out. I then use gouache to paint the background whatever color I choose.
Using the acetate stencil to cover the drawn portions, I fleck layers of gouache specks that create a lovely texture and allows you to make the background more a part of the whole and relate to the subject of the drawing.
After I get the background the colors I want, I remove the protective stencil and go over the outside lines of
the image again to better connect the subject with the background. Then, it’s finished and I take a nap.
What did you learn in art school that has put you in good stead, as opposed to being merely talented and self-taught?
I had a great first art teacher, starting when I was seven. Mrs. Oquinn Askew taught me most of what I used throughout my career. She would do things like throw a sheet over a chair and tell me to draw the shading of the folds. She was a sweet taskmaster and I would take her classes once a week and draw mundane things like an old tennis shoe or an apple. It wasn’t to make a pretty picture but to learn how to draw. I did this from age seven till my late teens.
Regarding your seminal work with Blueboy magazine, looking
back, what, if anything, would you do differently, and do you realize how important it is?
I can’t think of anything I would do differently. That period is now so long ago that it’s obtained a sort of mythic importance in my life. I was new to New York City and was in my late-20s when I started working for Blueboy and those images were the first instances of my being called on to perform outwardly as a gay man and express what that meant to me. It gave me a visibility as a queer that was undeniable and a huge luxury for me at the time. The cat was out of the bag and there was no putting it back in. These drawings were queer and beautiful and it screamed, ‘This is what and who I am, and this is my proof.’ I know how important it was to me and have been told by others what it meant to them. There were portraits of now-lost loved ones in those drawings.
A couple of years ago, I was interviewed on film about my work for Blueboy and discovered that I was the major contributor to the magazine, as well as being one of the last contributors alive.
How do you feel about Barbie culture, in general, as the film has solidified it?
I think anything that celebrates individuals who excel at being themselves is good news.t
Read the full interview on www.ebar.com.
‘Mel Odom: Gorgeous!’ $35, Apartamento Publishing www.apartamentomagazine.com www.mel-odom.com
Artist Mel Odom
Charlie Saputo
Upper Left: Mel Odom’s ‘Birthmark,’
Upper Right: Mel Odom’s ‘Arrangement,’
Left: Mel Odom’s
‘1001 Movie Posters’ New book celebrates
Film posters for ‘Attack of the 50-ft. Woman,’ ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s,’ ‘Metropolis’ and ‘King Kong’ are among the many included in ‘1001 Movie Posters: Designs of the Times’
by David-Elijah Nahmod
“1001 Movie Posters: Designs of the Times” is a big book, clocking in at 638 pages. It’s a hardcover book and quite heavy. There are literally 1001 poster images between its covers, beginning from 1895, when the very first short films were shown, all the way to 2021. The book is an invaluable history lesson and pays homage to hundreds of poster designers who created images that are now seen as serious works of art.
As the book states, there is some debate as to when the first films were shown, with many historians pointing to an event on December 28, 1895 in the basement of the Grand Cafe in Paris. Less than fifty people were in attendance for a showing of ten 50-second shorts. The audience was stunned. Nothing like this had ever been seen before.
The co-authors, Tony Nourmand, Graham Marsh, Christopher Frayling, and Alison Elangasinghe, certainly did their homework. Sprawled across two pages are the original two posters that were used to advertise
<< Jaja’s
From page 13
expression).
that historic event. This is followed by several posters for short films which were directed by the legendary American inventor Thomas Alva Edison in 1896. “All moving pictures, true to life,” states one poster.
The book follows the history of film through the silent era, with posters from the mid-1910s, such as D. W. Griffith’s legendary if racist
Bioh refuses to dilute her characters’ specificity and authenticity, insisting that the audience tune in their rhythms, that we look and listen closely, carefully, and with respect.
We may learn something, but they’re not here to teach us.
From belligerent Bea (Awa Sal Secka) to dejected Aminata (Tiffany Rea Johnson) to regal, misguided Jaja herself (Victoire Charles, jawdroppingly charismatic in her single, revelatory scene), these women’s life stories – largely shared through fragments of conversation rather than stagy monologues – are as intricate and occasionally awe-inspiring as the elaborate hairstyles they create.
There are plenty of differences among the women of Jaja’s, from their domestic situations to their future aspirations. But in opening up to each other, sharing space and stories, they find common ground, form resilient bonds, and begin to build a mutual support system.
It’s akin to what happens when theater is at its best.t
‘Jaja’s African Hair Braiding’ through Dec. 15. $47-$139. Berkeley Repertory, Peet’s Theatre, 2025 Addison St. www.berkeleyrep.org
Civil War spectacle “The Birth of a Nation” from 1915. The authors were well aware of the fact that 21st century readers might find some of the images offensive, such as “Birth of a Nation,” which glorifies the KKK. The very beginning of the book offers a warning: “Readers may find upsetting some of the visual images contained in posters dating from past times. The posters have been presented in this book exactly as they were first printed, for historical and study purposes. This book in no sense endorses the images and sentiments expressed in some posters which were issued many years ago.”
Cinematic art
Fortunately, the vast majority of the posters in the book will offend no one, such as a beautiful full-page image used to advertise the 1917 historical drama “Cleopatra,” starring silent film siren Theda Bara. “Cleopatra” is now a lost film, but the poster remains.
Not all of the posters were from American films. The authors found two posters from the legendary science fiction film
“Metropolis,” one that was used in its native Germany, and another created for French distribution. The authors also name many of the artists who created the posters, and include short biographies for each artist. The research that went into the writing and production of this book is exhaustive.
The book continues into the 1930s, and includes a poster image for a 1932 film with the curious title “Cock of the Air.”
Many genres of film are represented, such as gangster films, horror films, and musicals. Many stars are represented, like Bette Davis and Audrey Hepburn. Throughout the book there are not only more American films, but more European films, such as the French and German posters for “M,” a 1931 psychological horror film from Germany. The artwork is stunning in both.
Animated films are not forgotten. There are colorful posters for Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck cartoons, as well as artwork for Disney features such as “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” (1938) and “Fantasia” (1940).
This fascinating history lesson continues through the 1940s, the ’50s, and the ’60s, (Japanese cinema is included in the ’60s section) and the more
permissive 1970s, where the authors presented both the X- and R-rated posters for Stanley Kubrick’s dystopian masterpiece “A Clockwork Orange.” Black filmmaker Spike Lee is included as the journey continues across the decades, as are blockbusters from more recent times like “Jurassic Park” and Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.”
Adult films are also included, with artwork from the legendary “Deep Throat” and other adult classics with amusing titles like “Angelique in Black Leather,” “Is There Sex After Marriage,” and “Sex Odyssey.”
Literally hundreds of films across a time period of 120 years are remembered. It’s an impressive volume. The book concludes with mini-bios of each of the authors, and an exhaustive index in which every single poster and the artists who created them are listed alphabetically by page number. “1001 Movie Posters” might make the perfect gift for the film buff on your list.t ‘1001 Movie Posters: Designs of the Times’ by Tony Nourmand, Graham Marsh, Christopher Frayling, Alison Elangasinghe, 638 pages, hardcover, $95, Reel Art Press. www.reelartpress.com
Aisha Sougou and Melanie Brezill in ‘Jaja’s African Hair Braiding’ Ben Krantz Studio/Berkeley Rep
