November 30, 2023 edition of the Bay Area Reporter

Milk-Moscone vigil

Livin' the senior life

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'Golden Girls' Live

ARTS

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ARTS

04

17

Holiday shows

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Vol. 53 • No. 48 • November 30-December 6, 2023

Castro welcomes the holidays

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astro Merchants Association President Terry Asten Bennett, a straight ally who co-owns Cliff ’s Variety, welcomed a crowd to the neighborhood November 27 for the annual holiday tree lighting. “First Lady of the Castro” drag queen Donna Sachet emceed the event. Sachet and other speakers – including Mayor London Breed, and gay political leaders San Francisco District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman and state Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) – used the opportunity to urge people to do their holiday shopping in the Castro, as well as their holiday dining and drinking. The San Francisco Bay Area metro area has seen a sluggish recovery from COVID-era economic woes, but Wiener said during the event, “I think we’re finally starting to turn the corner.”

After a performance of “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer” by the San Francisco Lesbian/Gay Freedom Band – the story of which has a famous queer subtext – Santa Claus arrived and the tree was lit.

The holiday commemorations are only just beginning – a Hanukkah menorah lighting will be held at Jane Warner Plaza Monday, December 11, at 6 p.m., Asten Bennett told the Bay Area Reporter.

Bill Wilson

Assemblymember Evan Low

Low eyes South Bay House seat

by Matthew S. Bajko

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ith the news November 21 that Congressmember Anna Eshoo (D-Palo Alto) will retire from the South Bay House seat she has held since 1993, it provides an opportunity to see the first LGBTQ person from the Bay Area be elected to Capitol Hill.

Long considered a likely congressional candidate once a seat opened up, gay Assemblymember Evan Low (D-Cupertino) is widely expected to enter the 2024 race to succeed Eshoo. Low, 41, told the Bay Area Reporter that he is interested in running for it but is not yet ready to make an official announcement.

“Any person who follows in her footsteps must commit themselves completely to upholding her incredible legacy. Today, I’m going to celebrate one of our valley’s greatest public servants and a personal mentor to me. There are a lot of people in the community I need to talk to before I make a formal decision,” Low, who has until early December to decide, wrote in a texted reply November 21.

Last week, Eshoo released a video about her decision not to seek reelection next year in order to break the news to her constituents.

“As the first Democrat and first woman to ever represent this distinguished congressional district, no one could ever be prouder than me to carry our Democratic Party values,” Eshoo wrote in an email to her supporters.

Eshoo’s 16th Congressional District spans both San Mateo and Santa Clara counties.

She had first sought a House seat six years after winning election to the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors but fell short in the general election of 1988 to Republican then-Stanford professor Tom Campbell.

When Campbell opted not to run for another term in 1992, and instead mounted an unsuccessful U.S. Senate bid, Eshoo ran again and won. She has long been a champion of LGBTQ issues in Congress and has enjoyed strong support from the LGBTQ community throughout her time in the House.

See page 8 >>

John Ferrannini

Courtesy Evan Low’s office

Congressmember Barbara Lee stopped

by Assemblymember Evan Low’s “Marriage Equality Experience” at the recent state Democratic convention to show her support for repealing Proposition 8’s language in the state constitution.

CA ’24 ballot could have proand anti-LGBTQ measures

by John Ferrannini

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quality California recently raised nearly $100,000 for its campaign asking Golden State voters to repeal Proposition 8’s anti-same-sex marriage language from the state’s constitution – just as See page 5 >>

Departing head of SF AIDS legal agency reflects on tenure

by Cynthia Laird

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hen Bill Hirsh formally steps down as executive director of the AIDS Legal Referral Panel next month, he will leave the San Francisco-based nonprofit prepared for the future. ALRP, as it is known, has seen plenty of changes over Hirsh’s 24-year tenure, but providing free or low-cost legal services to clients living with HIV/AIDS in the Bay Area remains at its core.

Over the years, leaders of HIV/AIDS nonprofits in the city have come and gone yet Hirsh, a gay man, has remained at the helm of ALRP. He is one of the longest-serving executive directors of an HIV/AIDS service organization in San Francisco. But that will soon end. Hirsh announced earlier this year that he is retiring and will depart in late December.

Hirsh, 62, said he had “mixed emotions” about leaving the agency, which this year marks its 40th anniversary.

“I’m proud of the work we’ve done here and I feel good about the work we’ve done to ensure a smooth transition,” Hirsh, an attorney, said during a recent phone interview with the Bay Area Reporter.

“When you’ve dedicated as much of your professional life as I have, there are strong emotions tied to work. Letting go is hard.”

In late September, the agency announced that Matt Foreman, also a gay man and attorney, was appointed as ALRP’s next leader. He started sev-

Rick Gerharter

AIDS Legal Referral Panel incoming executive director Matt Foreman, left, joined outgoing Executive Director Bill Hirsch in the organization’s offices with a wall of commendations and supportive resolutions behind them.

eral weeks ago to provide a smooth transition and he and Hirsh are working together. Foreman is a previous executive director of the National LGBTQ Task Force and most recently led the LGBT Equality Program at the Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr. Fund. (The fund ended its LGBTQ grant program this year.)

Foreman said he is enjoying the transition.

“It’s been quite a jolt – a good one – to move from the gilded world of philanthropy and come back to

an organization providing direct services to people facing discrimination, poverty, and injustice,” he stated in an email. “I feel incredibly fortunate to be overlapping with Bill through the end of the year – I frankly have no idea how he has been able to juggle so many responsibilities at the same time, but that’s why our overhead is so low.”

Foreman also outlined some immediate goals for 2024.

See page 14 >>

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<< International News

2 • Bay Area Repor ter • November 30-December 6, 2023

Report touts South Bay’s immigrants

by Heather Cassell

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arla Pardo Valdovinos fled Mexico 26 years ago. She was running from the Mexican cartels and violence that more than a quarter century later continue to plague the Latin American country.

In a recent example of that violence, Mexican authorities found Jesús Ociel Baena Saucedo, 38, the first openly nonbinary judge in Latin America, dead next to the body of their partner, Dorian Herrera, in their home November 13, reported Courthouse News.

The cause of death remains unknown, said Mexico’s Security Minister Rosa Icela Rodríguez. Figueroa said that so far there is no evidence of foul play, reported CNN. The outspoken LGBTQ rights activist took office in October 2022.

The media outlet reported that Baena often took on LGBTQ issues – such as protecting transgender children – from the bench. They were also highly visible, regularly posting photos and videos of themselves in rainbow garments and accessories and dressing in women’s clothing on social media.

Baena’s fate was exactly what Pardo, 51, feared could happen to her. She crossed the Mexico-United States border illegally and settled in Santa Clara County, living undocumented for many years. Several years ago, Oasis Legal Services, a Berkeley-based advocacy organization that provides free legal and social services to LGBTQ asylum seekers, helped her obtain her citizenship in the U.S. Oasis works with LGBTQ asylum seekers throughout California and has a consultation center at The Q Corner office to work with LGBTQ asylum seekers in the South Bay. The Q Corner is a program of Santa Clara County’s Behavioral Health Services Department.

“We have always had a lot of clients who live in Santa Clara County because it’s really a rich community where many people who live there are immigrants,” said Rachel Kafele, Oasis co-founder and director of programs and advocacy. “It’s a place where a lot of LGBTQ folks come after they arrived in the United States [and] they’re able to find community there.”

Many of Oasis’ clients – there are about 200 annually and 800 cases ongoing – work in technology, manufacturing, or provide services to tech companies in the county. Many of the organization’s clients are also entrepreneurs who have opened their own small business.

“We try to stay with them during their asylum, during their whole kind of immigration journey,” she said.

Oasis operates on a budget of $2 million.

Kafele estimated most of the organization’s clients come from Mexico, Central America, and South America.

That’s not stopping as the organization has seen “a lot of recent arrivals” lately, and it receives “around five calls a day,” for assistance, she said. A segment of the LGBTQ asylee community that the organization does not have any funding for is working directly to represent recent arrivals who are in immigration court proceedings or who are in deportation court proceedings.

“That is something that we’re interested in,” Kafele added.

The power of immigrants

Pardo is now living her American dream, continuing to build her housekeeping business she started in 2012 and support her two employees – cis women – without worries about her status or freedom to be who she is.

“I feel successful, because I have my own business,” she told the

Courtesy M Stocker/AdobeStock

Three young LGBTQ immigrant cafe owners celebrate receiving an award announcement.

Courtesy Karla Pardo Valdovinos From Facebook

Santa Clara County Supervisor Susan Ellenberg

B.A.R. “I don’t have to work for nobody else.”

A couple of notable gay South Bay undocumented immigrants and immigrant advocates are Filipino Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Emmy-nominated filmmaker, and Tony-nominated producer Jose Antonio Vargas (https://joseantoniovargas.com/) and Mexican poet and storyteller Yosimar Reyes. Reyes and Vargas were both raised in Silicon Valley after being born in Mexico and the Philippines, respectively.

Reyes, a Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program recipient, better known as DACA, is currently touring the country with his one-man show, “Prieto” (translated from Mexican slang, “dark”), according to his biography on the American Immigration Counci’s website.

The B.A.R. reached out to Reyes and Vargas for comment, but they were both unavailable.

People like Prado, Reyes and Vargas all have one thing in common: they demonstrate the creativity and economic power of immigrants in Santa Clara County as a report, “New Americans in Santa Clara County,” published in September found.

The report was created by the American Immigration Council, which worked with the Santa Clara County Executive Office’s Office of Immigrant Relations, under its Equity and Social Justice Division.

It examines immigrants’ economic impact from business, workforce, and spending power in the South Bay. Key findings demonstrated that in 2021, while immigrants make up about 40% of the population, they contribute 54% of the gross domestic product created in the county each year – $255 billion in 2021. Immigrants are nearly half of the 1 million people who make up Silicon Valley’s labor force and accounted for 49.9% of its employed labor force. Immigrants fill crucial labor force needs in science, technology, engineering,

and math and other key industries accounting for 67% of the region’s science, technology, engineering, and math, or STEM, workers, 64% of manufacturing workers, and 56% of professional service workers. Immigrants in Santa Clara County contributed $5.1 billion to Social Security and $1.8 billion to Medicare in 2021, according to the report.

Pardo is one of those business owners.

Looking at the entire immigrant community “the evidence is so strong and so clear in their report,” said Santa Clara County District 4 Supervisor Susan Ellenberg. She noted that as businesses are created, economic mobility is achieved by these individuals and families.

“I don’t believe that the LGBTQ+ community is excluded or separate from that,” added Ellenberg, a straight ally.

“Our diversity and our inclusiveness are really the strength of Santa Clara County,” Ellenberg said. “It’s exciting that LGBTQIA+ immigrants would choose our county as their new home. I think it adds to the really colorful and rich tapestry that is Santa Clara County.”

OASIS’ Kafele stated, “The narrative that immigrants are a drain on society is just really proven false by this report. What really resonated with me is just how integral immigrants are to the success of our communities.”

While Ellenberg was upbeat about the report’s findings, she was cautious.

“The numbers are significant, but as far as numbers go, they never tell a complete story. There are so many immigrants that come to our community that are far less wellresourced,” she said, pointing to the Berryessa Flea Market immigrant vendors.

“Those tend to be the immigrants that are starting their own businesses” with a vendor cart that allows them to eventually “build wealth,” she said. “That’s where I see a lot of

Karla Pardo Valdovinos, a Silicon Valley housekeeping business owner, is living her dream in the United States.

really exciting, newly rooted impact in our community.”

However, if San Jose has its way, the affordable business incubator immigrants have had at the flea market might be a thing of the past.

The site of the flea market has been approved by the City Council for a new housing development next to the Berryessa BART station, which opened in 2020.

Silicon Valley could do more

Stakeholders from Ellenberg to Pardo believe the county could do better by LGBTQ immigrants, from access to entrepreneurial opportunities to employment, especially for transgender people.

Kafele noted that the report lacked any information about LGBTQ immigrants’ impact on Silicon Valley’s economy.

“I think one thing that’s missing from the report, or at least I didn’t see, is the LGBTQ representation,” she said. “How many immigrants in Santa Clara identify as LGBTQ? I think it is important to know and understand so that communities’ contributions can be recognized as well.”

Ellenberg agreed.

“We tend to look at refugees and asylum seekers by country of origin and don’t necessarily drill down to gender identity and whether or not that presents an additional barrier to folks,” she said. “I think it’s important to understand that clearly.”

Last year, the B.A.R. reported on the county’s alarming report about the state of transgender employment throughout the region produced by the county’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs. Researchers hired by the office surveyed 234 trans and nonbinary people living or working in Santa Clara County and 60% of people of color participants reported experiencing racial and ethnic discrimination in addition to bias against their

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gender identity or expression. The respondents identified as Asian/Pacific Islander (25%), Latinx (24%), and Black (11%). Whites made up 38% of the study.

Oasis’ clients have reported being discriminated against in past jobs, Kafele said.

The transgender study found that 70% of participants reported struggling or barely making enough money to get by. Only 44% of participants were employed full-time, while 12% were unemployed. Despite about half (46%) of participants holding a bachelor’s degree or higher, participants’ level of education compared to their income was low: 42% of participants had an income under $25,000 and 35% were between $25,000 and $75,000.

The transgender report didn’t examine entrepreneurship within the community.

Pardo said she didn’t feel supported by the county as an entrepreneur.

She built her business cleaning one house at a time, relying on client referrals. She said that funding and networking opportunities supporting LGBTQ entrepreneurs would benefit her and her business.

Kafele said that people running their own businesses is important.

“We have clients who have opened their own small businesses,” Kafele said. “Our clients have a big interest in how to open their own businesses. Owning their own business is very attractive to them because they really get to kind of have selfdetermination of what they’re doing and how they’re being treated.”

Ellenberg admitted that the flea market is “not as sexy, not as headline-catching as immigrants who come here and start tech companies.” But that’s not the point, she said, as the immigrant community is vastly diverse with people coming from prosperous, safe countries and those arriving from dangerous countries where people are fleeing for their lives.

Speaking from the top down, Ellenberg said she would like to see Congress enact policies that would allow asylum seekers to quickly apply for work authorizations. Currently, those can take up to nearly seven months to be approved at best, according to Boundless Immigration.

At the local level, Ellenberg is interested in exploring opportunities for alternative avenues for economic mobility for immigrants, such as worker-owned co-op businesses that don’t require a work authorization “since each employee is essentially a business owner.”

She would also like to create an immigrant welcoming center or immigrant welcoming hubs that would provide a bouquet of services from legal to health care to community-building initiatives, including services specific to the LGBTQ community, in one place.

Ellenberg realized that many LGBTQ immigrants may not feel safe sharing or being public about their sexuality or gender identity. She said the county needs to get the message out to queer and transgender immigrants that “it is safe here.”

She added that the county “needs to do a better job,” especially for transgender people no matter what their citizenship status is, to “walkthe-walk” and hire more people from diverse communities, especially the immigrant and LGBTQ communities.t Got international LGBTQ news tips? Call or send them to Heather Cassell at WhatsApp/ Signal: 415-517-7239, or oitwnews@gmail.com

<< Community News

t At Milk-Moscone vigil, activists plead with youth 4 • Bay Area Repor ter • November 30-December 6, 2023

by John Ferrannini

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ongtime activists who worked with the late San Francisco supervisor Harvey Milk and mayor George Moscone urged young people to embody the legacy of the slain heroes as America faces another divisive presidential election year during the annual vigil to remember the anniversary of their assassinations.

Hundreds came out to the city’s Castro neighborhood Monday, November 27, for the candlelight vigil, 45 years to the day the two were gunned down inside City Hall. The vigil is put on annually by the Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club and commenced at Harvey Milk Plaza.

“For 45 years, we have stood in the rain and cold – regardless if it was on Thanksgiving – because 45 years ago someone who led the LGBT community, the first openly gay public official in California, was taken from our midst,” gay Milk club President Jeffrey Kwong said. “For any one of us who was afraid to hold a partner’s hand in public, or come out to our parents … Harvey Milk was there to forge the way.”

Milk, a former Navy lieutenant and Goldwater Republican, became a progressive Democrat and was elected in 1977 to represent the Castro and surrounding neighborhoods on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. His victory was a milestone of the growing strength of the LGBTQ community in general and the Castro in particular. He was fatally shot the following year by disgruntled former supervisor Dan White, shortly after White killed Moscone after the mayor refused to reappoint White to the supervisor’s seat from which he had resigned on November 10.

White served only five of a seven-year sentence for his crimes, after which he killed himself on October 21, 1995.

The former police officer had been convicted of manslaughter instead of

John Ferrannini

John Ferrannini

People marched during the annual Milk-Moscone vigil Monday, November 27, in the Castro neighborhood.

Members of the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus performed at the annual Milk-Moscone vigil November 27.

murder, which prompted riots and fires in the Civic Center Plaza – as well as police reprisals in the Castro in what was known as the White Night riots.

Moscone’s death led to then-board president Dianne Feinstein assuming the mayoralty, which she held until 1988. Feinstein, who was elected a U.S. senator from California in 1992, served on that body until her death September 29 at the age of 90.

Former supervisor Carol Ruth Silver, a colleague of Milk’s on the board, was at the vigil and fondly recalled the good times before the assassinations.

“We used to take the trolley to the Castro or Church Street to have Chinese food after the meetings because the salaries we had at the time did not indicate we could eat anywhere else,” she said. “George Moscone didn’t have that problem – he was the mayor and rose through the Democratic Party … he would have been governor of California if he had not been shot down. He might’ve been president of the United States.”

Moscone, also a Navy veteran, hailed from the Marina neighborhood, then an Italian American enclave. A noted pro-

to take their civil rights, or what societal acceptance there is, for granted.

“We wanted you to take it for granted that you are valued. We are not there,” he said. “Everything that has happened to move us forward over 45 years could be swept away in the blink of an eye. If you take it for granted, they will take it away.”

Doubts about LGBTQ rights have become more salient in Republican circles since Democrat Joe Biden became president in 2021, with several conservative states banning gender-affirming care for transgender minors and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas indicating the court should revisit its 2015 ruling finding same-sex marriage is a constitutional right.

Gallup found this year that the percent of U.S. adults who found homosexuality “morally acceptable” dropped eight points from last year, from 71% to 64%.

Only two-in-five Republicans agreed that homosexuality is morally acceptable, which is down 15% from 2022, according to Gallup.

Nicole Murray Ramirez, a gay Latino San Diego community leader known as the Queen Mother I of the Americas

gressive and former majority leader in the state Senate, he was known as the “People’s Mayor” for seeking to include San Francisco’s diverse communities – including gays, Blacks, and Asian Americans – in city government. In April 1978, Moscone signed an ordinance introduced by Milk banning discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in the city.

Moscone’s widow, Gina, died last year, as the B.A.R. reported. Jonathan Moscone, one of their four children, came out as gay at the 1998 vigil for his father and Milk.

Relatives of Milk and Moscone were invited to speak if they were in attendance but neither had family members who addressed the crowd.

‘Out of the closet and into the voting booth’

Cleve Jones, a gay activist and Castro community leader who got his start with Milk, said he often is asked what Milk would think about any number of issues.

“I don’t know,” Jones said he replies.

“It’s a very different world.”

But Jones said he does know Milk would urge young LGBTQ people not

and Nicole the Great, was at the vigil.

Speaking in full drag regalia she said, “Read my silicone, Botox lips – we are never going back into those closets.”

Murray Ramirez is the titular head of the Imperial Court System, the philanthropic drag organization that began in San Francisco in 1965.

“In 2024, it will be out of the closet and into the voting booth,” Murray Ramirez said, calling for the “LGBTQA renaissance Harvey Milk would want us to have,” and urging vigilgoers to stand against antisemitism and Islamophobia, and with labor, women, and immigrants.

Murray Ramirez recalled meeting Milk in the early 1970s at the longshuttered Polk Street haunt Kimo’s.

They’d been introduced by José Julio Sarria, Empress Jose I, and founder of the Imperial Court System. Sarria, a gay Latino veteran, was the first openly gay candidate for public office in the United States, losing a San Francisco supervisor bid in 1961. Sarria, who died in 2013, was posthumously inducted into the California Hall of Fame in August.

See page 14 >>

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From the Cover>>

November 30-December 6, 2023 • Bay Area Repor ter • 5

CA ballot

From page 1

three initiatives that would limit the rights of trans residents have qualified for signature gathering.

LGBTQ rights organizations and leaders are concerned that the November 2024 California ballot could see pro- and anti-LGBTQ measures on it if at least one of the anti-trans initiatives qualifies.

Prop 8 repeal

As the Bay Area Reporter previously reported Assembly Constitutional Amendment 5 will be on the statewide ballot next November. Though Prop 8 – the voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage – has since been ruled unconstitutional, its “zombie” language technically remains a part of the Golden State’s governing document. After the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the right to abortion last year, Justice Clarence Thomas, in his concurring opinion, stated that the high court should revisit its precedents on same-sex marriage. That fear helped spark a call to once and for all assure marriage equality is reflected in the state constitution.

ACA 5 was introduced by state Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) and Assemblymember Evan Low (D-Cupertino), two gay men who often introduce and sponsor legislation protecting LGBTQ rights. It passed out of the Legislature and will next face voters.

Now the real work begins as a campaign takes shape to help pass ACA 5. EQCA, the statewide LGBTQ rights organization, is expected to play a leading role in the campaign. It is less clear how much EQCA will get involved in fighting any anti-trans initiatives that qualify. So far, the organization has not launched a decline to sign campaign, which is sometimes done in an effort to dissuade voters from providing their signatures for a measure to

Rick Gerharter

A person waves a rainbow-themed California flag during the 2016 Trans March in San Francisco.

qualify for the ballot.

Regarding ACA 5, Tom Temprano, a gay man who is managing director of external affairs at EQCA, told the B.A.R. on November 13 that the organization has started conversations “with a number of organizations involved in the initial Prop 8, or who do a lot of work in this space now,” including the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California and Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California. Both of those entities were involved with the No on 8 campaign, which supported marriage equality.

“We are beginning fundraising,” Temprano said, referencing the fundraiser held during the recent Democratic state convention in Sacramento alongside lesbian Senate president pro Tempore Toni Atkins (D-San Diego), Low, and Planned Parenthood.

“In partnership with organizations I mentioned, we will still be very actively engaged in the cam-

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paign and are planning to bring on a firm or firms to lead the ballot initiative effort,” Temprano said. “We want to make sure we have folks experienced in this work.”

Temprano told the B.A.R. November 28 that the November 17 fundraiser “raised nearly $100,000 and additional contributions are still coming in.”

Jodi Hicks, Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California’s CEO and president, issued a statement to the B.A.R. stating that “marriage equality is a fundamental right, and everyone deserves the right to live their life with who they love as their authentic selves” and tying both the Prop 8 repeal and anti-trans initiatives to the fight for reproductive rights.

“We must continue to fight for LGBTQ+ rights, protect our trans and BIPOC communities, and tirelessly defend against future threats in the judiciary system that undermine foundational liberties,” she stated,

referring to Black Indigenous people of color. “Protecting marriage equality is a critical step in the bigger fight for LGBTQ+ rights and protections.

Which is also why PPAC has taken a strong opposition stance against the three anti-trans initiatives that have been introduced.”

Hicks stated that Planned Parenthood “is committed to standing up for trans youth and advocating for their rights to access health care, education, and supportive environments free from discrimination and stigma” and that some of the same people are behind both anti-LGBTQ and anti-abortion and anti-contraceptive moves.

“This is a fight Planned Parenthood knows well as the anti-abortion extremists’ playbook is the same one being used to take away rights in the LGBTQ+ community,” Hicks added. “Transgender and nonbinary folks are having to travel to states like California for care. Just as access to abortion ensures bodily

autonomy and dignity, so does gender-affirming care, birth control, and any other care that allows all people to live their authentic lives.”

The ACLU of Northern California did not return a request for comment.

Atkins’ office declined a request for comment for this report, stating she is having time off with family, but referred the B.A.R. to the California Legislative LGBTQ Caucus, which did not return a request for comment.

Also at the state Democratic convention, Low hosted the “Marriage Equality Experience” – a mockup of a wedding set where delegates and others had the opportunity to record their vows to protect marriage equality, take a photo on top of a giant wedding cake, and fill a flavor bag at a candy bar. Among those who visited the booth was Congressmember Barbara Lee (DOakland), a straight ally who is running for the U.S. Senate seat formerly held by the late Dianne Feinstein (D-California).

Laphonza Butler (D), a Black lesbian whom Governor Gavin Newsom appointed to replace Feinstein after her September 29 death, has announced she will not run in 2024 for a full term.

Lee stated to the B.A.R. that as LGBTQ rights are under attack, same-sex marriage rights need protection.

“As we saw with the Dobbs decision, the GOP is organizing to turn back time and take away the freedom to make our own decisions over our bodies, who we love, and more,” Lee stated. “Protecting marriage equality is critically important as we continue to defend from the onslaught of Republican attacks on our rights. From statehouses to Congress, we must protect our freedoms and ACA 5 is a good example of California leading the way.”

See page 15 >>

<< Open Forum

6 • Bay Area Repor ter • November 30-December 6, 2023

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Volume 53, Number 48 November 30December 6, 2023 www.ebar.com

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California’s November 2024 ballot could see pro- and anti-LGBTQ measures on it.

EQCA needs to mount decline to sign campaign to thwart anti-trans measures

A

s we have reported, in early November, the California Secretary of State’s office cleared three anti-trans ballot measures to begin collecting signatures to qualify for the November 2024 ballot. That these proposed measures reek of transphobia is obvious even as they are cloaked in the so-called parents rights movement, which is just another way for conservatives to espouse anti-LGBTQ policies. It’s no secret that Protect Kids California, the group behind the three proposed initiatives, is anti-trans – it counts among its allies Assemblymember Bill Essayli (R-Riverside), who attempted to get a bill passed in the Legislature that would have forcibly outed trans students.

That bill stood no chance of passing in the Democratic-controlled Legislature – and died earlier this year – which Essayli most certainly knew would happen. Nevertheless, he used that legislation as a springboard to support similar policies that several school boards have now adopted across the state. (One of those districts, Chino Valley Unified, has been slapped with a preliminary injunction prohibiting it from enforcing most of the policy after Attorney General Rob Bonta filed a lawsuit against it earlier this year.)

It is no surprise that one of the three proposed initiatives would expand that forced outing policy statewide. Titled “Requires Schools To Report Any Change In A Student’s Expressed Gender, Without Exception for Student’s Safety,” it would, according to Bonta’s office, which is responsible for the title and summary of proposed initiatives, “require K-12 schools to notify parents whenever a student under the age of 18 asks to be treated as a gender different from what is listed on their school records.”

The second proposed initiative is titled “Eliminates Students’ Rights To Participate in School Activities Consistent With Their Gender Identity.” This is aimed squarely at trans youth who want to play school sports or take part in other activities. Bonta’s office noted that this proposal actually repeals a 2013 state law allowing students to participate in school activities that match their gender identity.

Finally, the third proposal is titled “Prohibits Gender Affirming Health Care For Minors.” This, as we’ve seen in numerous other states this year, would have a chilling effect on trans kids and their families even as California is now a refuge for those fleeing oppressive laws in their states.

Governor Gavin Newsom last year signed Senate Bill 107) by gay state Senator Scott Wiener (DSan Francisco), which makes it California policy to reject any out-of-state court judgments removing trans kids from their parents’ custody because they allowed them to receive gender-affirming health care.

All of these measures have to meet a high threshold before they can appear on the ballot.

The secretary of state’s office has stated that each needs signatures from 546,641 registered voters.

That means the proponents will actually need to collect many more signatures to account for ones that are deemed invalid or duplicated, as is standard with signature gathering efforts. The deadline to submit those signatures is April 29.

Decline to sign campaign

During this time, Equality California, the statewide LGBTQ rights organization, should mount a decline to sign campaign to go on the offense and discourage voters from adding their

signatures to the petitions. In a recent phone call Tom Temprano, a gay man who is the managing director of external affairs for the organization, acknowledged that EQCA has not yet launched such an effort. Temprano said that as far as EQCA is aware, there hasn’t been much happening on the signature-gathering front by Protect Kids California. But this belies what could be a rather stealth effort taking place in conservative parts of the state. As the holiday season approaches and more people are out shopping, the anti-trans forces could start to appear at malls and other businesses with their clipboards.

Too often, the LGBTQ community has been on the losing end of such initiatives, fighting an uphill – and expensive – battle to persuade public opinion during a campaign. (Case in point, the Proposition 8 campaign back in 2008.) It would be far better if none of these anti-trans initiatives appear on the ballot in the first place. By getting out in front and asking people not to sign these anti-trans initiative petitions, the community would at least have a fighting chance and be able to do some persuading of its own. EQCA should appeal to the fair-mindedness that many California voters exhibit. It should remind the public that decisions on health care are best left to the patient, their families, and medical providers.

And it should note that one of those proposed initiatives would repeal an existing state law that has not seen a lot of controversy – until recently, that is.

Prop 8 repeal

One thing voters will weigh in on next November is a state constitutional amendment to repeal the anti-LGBTQ Prop 8 language that is still embedded in the governing document. Assembly Constitutional Amendment 5 was passed by the Legislature earlier this year, and voters will have the final say. Co-authored by Wiener and gay Assemblymember Evan Low (D-Cupertino), ACA 5 is needed because, while marriage equality for same-sex couples has been the law of the land in the Golden State since the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 2013 ruling in Hollingsworth v. Perry, California’s constitution still contains outdated and discriminatory language from Prop 8 stating that same-sex couples are not allowed to marry, as Low’s website noted.

EQCA is expected to play a big role in this campaign, and if one or more of the anti-trans ballot measures qualifies, it will have a much tougher time marshaling resources to make sure ACA 5 passes – and the anti-trans initiatives fail.

It will cost a lot more money and require additional other resources such as campaign volunteers to conduct a battle on two fronts. Ballot fights in California are waged over the airwaves, and television advertising will cost millions of dollars.

Having both the same-sex marriage and antitrans measures on the same ballot is bound to bring an avalanche of anti-LGBTQ rhetoric to California, one of the most diverse and bluest states in the country. Over a year ago we editorialized about the potential pitfalls of a campaign to repeal Prop 8. Those come into even sharper focus with the possibility of the anti-trans initiatives qualifying for the ballot.

“After all, we certainly do not want a repeat of the No on 8 campaign that made us feel like second-class citizens even as we were fighting for

our own right to wed,” the editorial board wrote last July. “Although it was 14 years ago and much has changed politically in California since voters decided – by a margin of 52.24% to 47.76% – to forbid same-sex marriage here, we’re concerned that there are still broad pockets of conservatives who despise marriage equality. They likely will use arguments similar to what the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Catholic Church did in 2008: position same-sex marriage as bad for children and same-sex couples as groomers, the new boogeymen in today’s political discourse. The volatile issue of children and schools was a key centerpiece of the Yes on 8’s successful campaign and remains a hot-button topic today, especially with regard to trans kids and their families, which may or may not include same-sex parents but who are still a part of the LGBTQ community.”

Now, 15 years after Prop 8’s passage, imagine those proposed anti-trans initiatives are on the ballot. We can see the campaign commercials already – scapegoating trans kids and making them out to be freaks: “Boys playing girls sports have no place in California,” for example. Or misgendering people. Or portraying supportive teachers as groomers. The list goes on. Kids in schools will take on a whole new importance given that two of the three proposed initiatives address school topics.

What EQCA must do

EQCA leadership may not want to talk much about the proposed anti-trans initiatives, hoping they will just go away. But there’s a real possibility that at least one of them will qualify; and that is one too many.

Temprano told us that EQCA is “concerned about how the process unfolds,” and that while the majority of Californians support same-sex marriage – 75% according to some April polling EQCA had done – the same doesn’t necessarily translate to support for trans kids and their families. National polling from Gallup in June shows a majority of Americans – 69% – want kids to play sports based on the sex assigned at birth. That’s up seven points from two years ago, and shows how much work opponents of the proposed initiatives have to do.

EQCA should launch a decline to sign campaign now, initially focusing on the areas where school boards have adopted anti-trans policies. Right now, in addition to Chino Valley in San Bernardino County, those include Orange (Orange County), Rocklin (Placer County), Temecula Valley and Murrieta Valley (Riverside County), and Anderson Union High School District (Shasta County).

EQCA also needs to be proactive in informing its members and Democratic clubs around California about these developments and the real harm that could come to LGBTQ people, especially trans youth and their families – and to raise funds as well. We need supportive allies to step up and speak out, urging people not to sign these ballot initiative petitions. There are LGBTQ elected officials up and down the state – including smaller cities and rural areas – and they are in the best position to talk to their constituents about the detrimental effect these initiatives could bring if they’re on the ballot. LGBTQ candidates running in 2024 should also start talking about the dangers these proposals create for the trans community.

Our best chance for success in combating these proposed anti-trans initiatives is making sure they don’t qualify for the ballot. The sooner those efforts begin, the better. t

Politics >>

t Queer nightlife advocate Torres seeks SF Mission district supe seat

by Matthew S. Bajko

F

or more than a decade Stephen Torres has been a fixture in San Francisco’s Castro LGBTQ district. He has tended bar at the neighborhood’s famed Twin Peaks gay tavern the last 12 years.

As a member of the board of the Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club throughout the 2010s, Torres helped put on its events such as the annual vigil honoring the club’s late namesake, the city’s first gay supervisor, and the late mayor George Moscone. (Monday marked the 45th anniversary of the assassinations of the progressive political leaders on November 27, 1978.)

And since 2020 Torres has had a leadership role with the Castro LGBTQ Cultural District. Over the last two years he has served as its board co-chair, a position in which he took a leading public role in advocating for the preservation of fixed seating at the Castro Theatre as it transitions from a movie palace to more of a live events venue.

Due to his events planning and nightlife experience, Torres was named to the city’s Entertainment Commission last November. His joining the oversight body came as the local nightlife industry was still struggling to recover from the impacts of the COVID pandemic, which Torres had been working to address in the Castro via his leadership role with the cultural district.

Now Torres is aiming to take his experience gleaned from being a neighborhood and nightlife leader, as well as a local political insider, to the city’s Board of Supervisors. He is running for one of the seats that will be open due to term limits on the November ballot in 2024.

But it is not to represent the Castro, as he doesn’t live in the neighborhood.

A resident of the Mission Bernal area along outer Mission Street, Torres is seeking election to the District 9 seat being vacated by termed out Supervisor Hillary Ronen.

“I have lived in this district for the majority of my time here in San Francisco.

I know what it is like to be a District 9 constituent,” said Torres, 45, who largely grew up in Los Angeles and relocated to the Bay Area 25 years ago.

Torres, who identifies as both queer and gay, noted that the issues he has been tackling in the Castro, from preserving its identity as an LGBTQ neighborhood to addressing a glut of empty storefronts, overlap with the concerns Mission district residents and business owners have in wanting to maintain its being a Latino neighborhood with vibrant commercial corridors.

“We are all connected. All of our neighborhoods are connected,” he said.

“We do not live in silos.”

And his focus on entertainment issues dovetails with both the Castro and Mission districts, he added, as they are draws for nightlife in the city.

“At the core of why I am running for supervisor is we rely so heavily on service workers, also teachers and police and all these other support workers throughout the city, and none of us ... we are all struggling to survive,” said Torres.

“Most of us can barely survive. We are all a paycheck away from being homeless.”

Due to his decision to run for the supervisor seat, Torres will be stepping down at the end of the year as co-chair of the cultural district. He also resigned from his Entertainment Commission seat the day he filed to run, which he purposefully did on Halloween due to the holiday’s long association with the LGBTQ community as well as it being on the eve of the Day of the Dead celebrations in the Latino community. Due to a voter-approved measure, city commissioners seeking public office must

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he will make good decisions and be very customer oriented. I think he will be fantastic.”

Dufty leant Torres his support even though they were on opposite sides of the Castro Theatre fight, with Dufty supporting the plans of its new management team at Another Planet EnterThe Pet Daddies tainment to install flexible seating that Call 415-301-1909 or visit ThePetDaddies.com can be removed for concerts and other events. He noted to the B.A.R. that he doesn’t base his support of a candidate on if they agree with him on every issue, Attorney at Law more so on how they conduct themself during the policy or political debate.

“Stephen and I looked at the Castro Theatre issue differently. I hope my en• Divorce w/emphasis on dorsement underscores the fact he conReal Estate & Business Divisions ducted himself with a lot of integrity and • Domestic Partnerships, Support & Custody thoughtfulness,” said Dufty, who lives in • Probate and Wills the Castro. “I appreciate that I am not looking for somebody who is going to vote all www.SchneiderLawSF.com the time the way I am going to vote.”

Also backing Torres’ candidacy is nightlife impresario and drag queen *Certified by the California State Bar Juanita MORE!, who will be giving him “a full-fantasy drag makeover” at 315 Montgomery St., Ste. 1025, San Francisco, CA 94104 her Powerblouse party at the South of Market gay bar the Powerhouse this Saturday, December 2. She has promised that his signature moustache “will begone!” For Torres, whose roommate is Vice President of Advertising the drag queen Per Sia, it will be his first advertising@ebar.com time appearing in drag.

In an emailed pitch for people to make a donation to Torres’ supervisor bid, MORE! noted how she used to live in the Mission back in the early 1990s and has seen how it has changed over the years. Many of the issues its residents face, Torres has worked directly on since moving to San Francisco, she noted.

“Over the years, I’ve seen how quickly 44 Gough Street #302, San Francisco, CA 94103 this neighborhood has changed due to (415) 829-8937 • www.ebar.com gentrification compared to other areas in the city. It’s essential to have a representative who understands the challenges and can work towards creating a better future for all residents,” wrote MORE!, saying of Torres that he “is an out queer Latino who has been a great advocate for the community.”

Born in East Los Angeles, Torres moved with his family to the Central Coast after his father enrolled at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. After he graduated, the family moved to Pacoima in the San Fernando Valley, where Torres graduated from high school.

He shortly thereafter moved to the Bay Area because his coming out to his family “was not the easiest thing,” said Torres, who had friends at the time attending San Francisco State University. While When you plan your life celebration and lasting remembrance in his mom, who is English American, was advance, you can design every detail of your own unique memorial supportive, his Mexican American father and provide your loved ones with true peace of mind. Planning ahead was not. His parents are now separated, When your celebration lasting protectsyou your plan loved ones fromlife unnecessary stress and and financial burden, and he hasn’t spoken to his fatherWhen for you remembrance plan your celebration and lasting in allowing themlife to focus what will matter at design that remembrance time—you. in on advance, youmost can every “some time,” Torres told the B.A.R. advance, you can design every detail of your own unique memorial detail ofusyour owntheunique memorial andlegacy provide Contact today about beautiful ways to create a lasting “It was just hard to really grow as a at the San Francisco Columbarium. and provide your loved ones with true peace of mind.

Planning ahead young queer person in the environment your loved ones with true peace of mind. Planning I was in at the time. This provided a protects path your loved ones from unnecessary stress and financial ahead protectsProudly yourserving loved onesCommunity. from unnecessary burden, the LGBT by which I could be that person. I could them focus on whatburden, will matter most them at thattotime—you. stresstoand financial allowing be myself; I could find happiness,” heallowing said.

Seeing an anti-LGBTQ backlash again focus on what will matter most at that time—you. gaining ground in the country’s political Contact us today about the beautiful ways to create a lasting legacy discourse, and seeing how divided the at the San Contact FranciscousColumbarium. today about the beautiful ways to create city has become on various issues, Torres said his aim in wanting to be a supervisor a lasting legacy at the San Francisco Columbarium. is to help find common ground and unite One Loraine Ct. | San Francisco | 415-771-0717 Proudly serving our Community. people on a path forward for addressing SanFranciscoColumbarium.com the city’s myriad concerns.

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FD 1306 / COA 660 “I want to try and find a path forward where we focus on our commonalities and desire to live here in San Francisco.

This is one of the most beautiful places in the world, and I want to make it a place for all of our community, you know,” said Torres. “I want to make everyone feel a connection again to their community.

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Courtesy the candidate

Stephen Torres has announced his candidacy for San Francisco supervisor in District 9.

step down from their oversight bodies.

“My work at the commission was very important to me,” said Torres, who told the Bay Area Reporter that he didn’t come to his decision to enter the supervisor’s race lightly. “I had to think about this. I had to consider this very carefully.”

When he first joined the Milk club and its board, Torres said he was often asked what office he planned to run for, but at that time he had no plans to do so. His thinking began to change as he gained more experience working with city leaders and department heads via his various leadership roles of recent years.

“I had felt there were people better equipped than I for that work. After working so closely in the city with all these different programs and departments, I began to think that is not necessarily true,” said Torres. “I am very equipped for this role. I can do this job; my work ethic speaks to that.”

Crowded field

Torres is the fourth out candidate to pull papers for the District 9 seat. Earlier this year two other gay men had done so: Trevor Chandler, who serves on the advisory board for statewide LGBTQ advocacy organization Equality California, and longtime AIDS and LGBTQ rights activist Michael Petrelis.

Queer progressive Jackie Fielder is also seeking the seat and secured an early endorsement from Ronen for her candidacy. Ronen had also endorsed her legislative aide Santiago Lerma, but he has since opted against running for the seat.

Roberto Hernandez, known as the mayor of the Mission, is seeking to succeed Ronen. Should he or Torres be elected, they would return Latino leadership to the District 9 seat. In Torres’ case, he would be the third out male leader to represent it.

Since the return of district elections for the board’s 11 seats, gay supervisors Tom Ammiano and David Campos both served two four-year terms as the District 9 representative. Ammiano was first elected to it in 2000 and Campos first elected in 2008.

They also early endorsed Fielder in the 2024 race. As for Torres, he launched his campaign with the backing of District 3 Supervisor Aaron Peskin, the board’s president who is also termed out next year, and gay former District 8 supervisor Bevan Dufty.

Under the city’s ranked-choice voting system, where voters can select up to three candidates in a supervisor contest, Dufty endorsed Torres as his number one pick and also endorsed Hernandez as his second choice.

“I think Stephen has distinguished himself as a community leader,” Dufty told the B.A.R. “He also has been involved in city government as an entertainment commissioner. I think his leadership qualities are stellar. I believe

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<< Community News

8 • Bay Area Repor ter • November 30-December 6, 2023

t

SF trans filmmaker donates trove of videos to public library’s Hormel Center

by Matthew S. Bajko

S

ince moving to San Francisco 31 years ago Texas Starr has turned his camera onto the city’s LGBTQ community to document it and to make video art. Throughout the 1990s he filmed demonstrations and other actions conducted by the activist groups Queer Nation and ACT UP/San Francisco.

Starr, a trans guy who is a video artist and filmmaker, traveled with other activists to the March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay, and Bi Equal Rights and Liberation held in Washington, D.C., on April 25, 1993.

He filmed the journey and gathering on Super 8 black and white camera film.

He also filmed the annual Dyke March in San Francisco held over Pride weekend in late June throughout the early 1990s. And he turned his camera on himself, with the footage over the years capturing his gender transition.

“Through my art I documented my transition. I wasn’t trying to document a transition, but it is very obvious I am changing,” said Starr, 54, whose artist pseudonym is Texas Tomboy Brand Prod.

His footage, Starr suspects, could be one of the first video documentations of a trans masculine formation that exists. He isn’t fully certain it is, Starr told the Bay Area Reporter, but he does know during those years he never encountered another trans male filmmaker making such work.

At a time before such things as cellphone cameras and social media, Starr noted it was pretty easy to spot someone with a camera at the various LGBTQ events and protests he was filming.

“Back then, it was very intentional to have a camera. Not everybody had a camera in their pocket,” said Starr. “I made friends with the people with cameras. There were no other trans filmmakers or video artists that I knew of, and I was looking.

I am kind of curious if other early trans artists were documented.”

Starr first began making video art

<<

Low

From page 1

As the B.A.R.’s online Political Notes column reported last year, Eshoo ran her first TV ads since being elected to Congress for her 2022

Texas Starr

Texas Starr is shown in one of the stills from his collection.

in the early 1980s, and over the decades produced hundreds of titles.

He early on also worked to safeguard his footage for prosperity, being trained as a preservationist at the Bay Area Video Coalition.

“I was one of the founding preservation technicians there,” he said. “I have been preserving and archiving my own work since 1984.”

Every five years he would update the format of his videos to keep up with the technological advances in film, with the most recent upgrade being to a 10-bit digital format.

“It has pretty high-quality resolution of the video,” noted Starr.

It also ensured that his footage could still be easily seen and shown to audiences.

“If it is an old format they can’t look at, it is null and void,” he said.

When the COVID pandemic hit in 2020, Starr used the disruption to everyday life to go through his videos and catalogue his collection.

He created a master list of 912 titles and documented each film’s running time, year made, the original format it was shot in, and if it was in color or black and white.

Starr also gave each video a short description and a rating system of G through X based on its contents.

Once he completed the project, Starr turned to where to house his collection.

Having had a relationship over the years with the San Francisco Public Library’s James C. Hormel LGBTQIA Center, on whose advisory board he serves, Starr approached the city-run archive about acquiring his videos.

“I just asked if it was appropriate to put it in the collection,” recalled Starr.

“I wanted to contribute something.

Now it is part of the Hormel Center and in the SF History Center.”

The two archival centers housed

at the Main Library in the Civic Center work collaboratively together. One oversight in the Hormel Center’s collection is representation of the transgender community, acknowledged Cristina Mitra, the Hormel Center’s program manager since 2021.

Trans people may be included among its holdings without being identified as such, she noted, because individuals did not publicly identify as transgender in the past.

Thus, Mitra said she is “really excited” about the acquisition last year of Starr’s digital archive.

“It is a fully digital archive of a trans artist,” noted Mitra.

The library is now working on making it accessible to the public online, with a goal of doing so by early 2025.

“One reason is it is a big project,” said Mitra, adding that securing grant funding to help pay for the digitization of the material into the

candidacy. In it, she touted being an original co-sponsor of the Equality Act, the federal omnibus LGBTQ rights legislation adopted by the House in 2021. (It died when the U.S. Senate failed to vote on it.)

It is believed to be the first time a

Bay Area congressmember highlighted their support of the Equality Act in a campaign commercial. In an interview Eshoo had told the B.A.R. she was proud to have that distinction.

“I have always believed there is one class of citizenship in our country and that is first class. So without the movement for equality and fullness of citizenship that can’t happen,” Eshoo had told the B.A.R. “I am very proud of that, so I wanted to highlight the Equality Act.” Eshoo also had the honor of being the first woman to serve as chair of the Democratic Party in San Mateo County, as she noted in her email to constituents. She also served as a member of the Democratic National Committee.

“I’m so proud of all we’ve achieved together and that the strength of our party rests on a strong foundation of clubs, caucuses, and county committees with our allies in Labor and other valued advocates. Our party continues to be strengthened by our diversity, and I’m confident this will continue because it is who we are,” wrote Eshoo. “As the last year of my service in Congress lies ahead, be assured that I will continue to bring my tenaciousness and unswerving commitment to my work to strengthen our democracy, and our work together for a sweeping Democratic victory for the country we love so much.”

In a statement he released reacting to Eshoo’s news, Low called Eshoo “an icon” and a “personal hero” to him. He also praised her for be-

ing a “champion who leads this community with tremendous energy, grace, and grit.”

He added that he is looking forward “to the many ways” the community can honor Eshoo for “her extraordinary service” over the years.

“We are so blessed to have her as our leader, gracefully navigating the complex issues in this valley of high expectations,” stated Low. “Her public service has been noble and selfless, advancing quality healthcare access for all, immigration reform rooted in compassion and humanity, and stringent consumer protections unfettered by special interests.”

As the B.A.R. reported last year, Low moved into the redrawn 26th Assembly District that includes Cupertino, Santa Clara, Sunnyvale, and parts of San Jose in order to avoid competing against his colleague Assemblymember Marc Berman (D-Palo Alto) for reelection to the state Legislature. Berman had been drawn into Low’s former Assembly District.

Doing so required Low to vacate the 1,100 square foot condo in Campbell that he co-owns with his brother, a San Jose police officer. He moved into the Sunnyvale home of his father and stepmother.

Low grew up in San Jose, and his parents separated when he was 18.

He graduated from San Jose State University and went on to win election to the Campbell City Council in 2006.

He was the first Asian American

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Approached Hormel Center

Hormel Center’s collection is another reason for why there is such a long time line.

Among Starr’s experimental films is footage of the memorial service for the gay journalist Randy Shilts set over music, said Mitra.

“It is kind of artsy and not historical in nature,” she noted.

Another of his works is a makingof documentary of Cary Cronenwett’s film “Maggots and Men” released in 2009. It was the first film to feature over 100 transgender actors.

“It was made here in San Francisco, and I shot the making of it,” said Starr. “We were filming it in 2007 and released it in 2008 at the Castro Theatre during Frameline.”

Today, Starr is more focused on being a video editor and no longer is out in the community capturing footage of events.

“I produce other people’s films,” he said. “I still make my own shorts, but I am not shooting anymore.”

He does continue to show his work, and was the featured artist in 2022 at the grand opening of the trans-centering art gallery Liminal Space that Sam Carmel opened near Seventh and Folsom streets in San Francisco’s South of Market neighborhood. For the closing of the show Starr screened three times as many of his videos as he had done at the kick off of it.

“It is the gallery that represents my work,” said Starr.

As for having the Hormel Center preserving his art, “it feels fantastic,” said Starr. He looks forward to now seeing it become widely available via its online platforms.

“I knew I was sitting on a little bit of a gold mine as far as San Francisco history goes, so it feels really great to know it is in a safe, secure place,” he said. “Since it is San Francisco, it is not likely to get burned down, as you just don’t know where things are going politically in the rest of the country. I feel like it is in its best possible place it could be in America.” t

to serve on the governing body. Four years later he became the youngest openly LGBTQ+ mayor in the country at age 26.

He first won election to the state Assembly in 2014. He has strong ties to Silicon Valley’s tech industry, which could benefit him in a House race as a source of support and financial donations to his campaign.

Low would be the second out candidate running next year for an open House seat in the Bay Area. Jennifer Kim-Anh Tran, Ph.D., a queer leader within the state’s Vietnamese American community, is seeking to succeed Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-Oakland), who is running for U.S. Senate rather than seek another House term.

Tran is the partner of Nenna Joiner, who owns several sex shops in the East Bay and a downtown Oakland nightlife venue. She is in a tough race to survive the March primary along with fellow Democrats BART board member Lateefah Simon and business owner Tim Sanchez, a U.S. Navy Reserves veteran who served in Afghanistan.

As the B.A.R. first reported in an online story November 17, there are now out House candidates in all three of the West Coast states.

The 2024 election could thus see the California congressional delegation’s LGBTQ contingent expand from its current two gay members, while those in Oregon and Washington state could see their first out members. t

t

Commentary>>

November 30-December 6, 2023 • Bay Area Repor ter • 9

Trans for the holidays

by Gwendolyn Ann Smith

W

e’re in that time of year, postThanksgiving but not yet Yule, when you cannot breathe without being bombarded by messages of family get-togethers for the holidays.

It is simply unavoidable, as companies seek to make that final, year-end money, and promote nostalgic stories of gift-giving and large spreads of food with family and friends.

Of course, for those of us who are trans, this may not be as happy a time as one might imagine.

Many of my trans friends are dealing with a lot right now. Not just the usual issues of politicians writing laws to outlaw us existing in public and getting adequate health care, nor the constant barrage of hatred focused on us from conservative and some mainstream media, but a holiday season that isn’t what we were promised by the wistful TV specials and the eager commercials that accompany them.

I have a lot of trans friends who are facing their first holiday season without the support and love of their famThe frustrating thing to me is this: ilies. For some, parents and siblings We are told, throughout much of our have shunned them, as invitations for lives, that our families love us unholiday gatherings are conveniently conditionally. Parents may tell you forgotten or, in extreme cases, they’re how they will always be there for you, told very clearly that they are through thick and thin – persona non grata at the famand yet, being a transgenily home. der or nonbinary person Others have had to turn becomes that bridge too far. away from their families for Indeed, if you pick up an their own health, because a air ISO 12647-7 Digital Control Strip 2009 of cynicism in this col100 60 100 70 30 100 60are correct.

100 70en30 100 60 100 70 A toxic, unsupportive umn, you vironment can be just so I come from a fambad as to require cutting ily where we once did one’s own ties. Early in those big gatherings my own transition, this for the holidays, when 100 60 100 100 70 70 30 30 100 100 60 100 100 70 70 30 30 100 100 60 100 100 was100something I found myself having everyone would come together, no70 70 to do in order to maintain my own matter how far away they lived, and sanity. It was simply the better choice spend that Christmas breakfast or to avoid family who were not supThanksgiving dinner hashing over portive of who I am. the year with one another.

B

Christine Smith

If you are willing to accept someone who you might find abhorrent simply out of some sense of family bonding during the holiday season, then why do you feel it is OK to shun a trans family member?

Let me lay it on the line: if you have a trans or nonbinary person in your family, I want you to understand that we have had a truly awful year on one level or another. A sizable number of people have, through words and deeds, done their level best to make our year a horrible one. Many of us have had to move to get basic care, as medical providers have either shut down or been barred from giving care in some states. Many may have seen issues in their schools and communities. Some have been harassed and assaulted.

Many, too, have had friends die due to anti-trans sentiment and violence.

These are the holidays, a time that should be about togetherness, goodwill, and yes, celebrating family and friends. If you cannot take a few hours out of your life to welcome a nonbinary or transgender relative, and offer them a moment of acceptance and joy, then why do you think you deserve their company in the first place? Perhaps it is you who should reconsider just what the holidays are all about.

Here’s one final word for my trans siblings. Family is what you make it.

Know there are those in your community who know at least some of 25 50 75 90 what100 where you’ve been and you’re going through. Your people are out there this holiday season, and you don’t need to be alone.t

Yet once I transitioned, I no lonNo, some people make it clear that ger heard where the holiday gatherthey see no reason why they should ing would be and, after a couple of accommodate a trans person in their years of animosity from my parents, families and decide to dig in their and their unwillingness to accept me heels, deliberately using an old name as, well, me, I moved on. It was a few and applying incorrect pronouns years later that my parents and I did whenever they can, knowing that start to talk again, though much of they can wield those as a weapon. my extended family has decided they It’s a strange way to celebrate the do not wish to have any contact with holidays. me. It is, frankly, just as well.

Yet one hears plenty of stories 40 40 100into40the 40 70 40 40 70 40 40 3 10 100 in-laws.

40 70 40 70 40 40 I30won’t100even get about how40 70the racist, right-wing Even today I’m not allowed to attend cousin is still allowed at the dinthose get-togethers. ner table, or the creepy uncle gets to Mind you, I’m not talking about come over, and so on. Their behavior, those awkward moments where famwhile seen as wrong, is still tolerated, 30 30 40 40 40 100 10 40 40 20 70 70 70 70 40 70 40 40 0000 3.1 2.2 2.2 10.2 7.4 7.4 25 19 19 50 40 40 75 66 66 100 100 100 80 70 70 100 ilies may100blow a100name or pronoun because they’re somehow still viewed Gwen Smith wishes everyone while passing the mashed potatoes, some comfort and joy this as family. season. You’ll find her at www. or might mistakenly put an item unI would like to see at least this same gwensmith.com der the tree that affirms the wrong level of acceptance extended to one’s T:9.75" gender. We know accidents happen. nonbinary or trans family member.

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<< Community News

10 • Bay Area Repor ter • November 30-December 6, 2023

Residents move into Palm Springs LGBTQ senior community

by Matthew S. Bajko

I

n early November Richard Alther moved into his new apartment at Living Out, a luxury rental community in Palm Springs targeted at active LGBTQ+ seniors age 55 and older. A gay man who paints and has authored five novels, Alther was among the first residents to do so.

“I haven’t met a lot of residents yet.

But, of course, I am looking forward to that,” Alther, 83, told the Bay Area Reporter during a phone interview a week into his new living situation.

A former Masters swimmer competitor who continues to swim recreationally, he was looking forward to the opening of the on-site pool that is 80 feet in length, long enough for him to do his laps.

“I am about to do my workouts in my backyard,” said Alther. “I told Paul and Loren, ‘Oh my god, this is worth the price of admission.’”

He was referring to Paul R. Alanis, a straight ally and developer, and Loren S. Ostrow, a gay Los Angeles resident, who partnered years ago to turn Ostrow’s vision for a welcoming retirement community for LGBTQ seniors into a reality.

They eventually acquired a nine-acre site on East Tahquitz Canyon Way in Palm Springs and broke ground on the project on November 5, 2021.

“This is something I have been dreaming of and thinking of for at least 25 years,” said Ostrow, 72, who serves on the board of the Los Angeles LGBT Center.

While a grand-opening event is being planned for mid-January, a smaller ceremony will be held December 6 to mark that residents have started to move onto the property and the opening that day of onsite restaurant Alice B. from lesbian award-winning chef Susan Feniger and her longtime business partner, Mary Sue Milliken.

“I will tell you the response from the first residents has been unbelievable,” said marketing officer LuAnn Boylan, 76, a lesbian who lives with her spouse in Los Angeles. “The sense of community here has already developed even with just the few we have moved in.

People came here because they want a community.”

Boylan is also on the board of the L.A. center and has served alongside Ostrow on it since 1993. They spoke with the B.A.R. during a joint phone interview ahead of the opening cere-

monies for Living Out. Already, a sense of belonging is developing among the tenants who have already moved into their apartments, Boylan said.

“There is a strong sense for the people who have moved in this is home for them. They can make new friends, cement the relationships they already have, and be in a space that is beautiful, comfortable, inclusive, and allows them to be who they are,” said Boylan.

“At least once a week when I am on property, tenants will stop me to say, ‘This is the best decision we made for ourselves.’ We are feeling really great about the fact they are experiencing it in the way we have hoped they would.”

Living Out consists of 122 units in a Y-shaped building, which as of last month was 50% pre-leased. The apartments are a mix of one and two bedrooms, with one-year leases ranging from $4,999 to $8,300 depending on size and location. (Two- and three-year leases can be negotiated.)

Included in the rental price are utilities, a cleaning service, continental breakfast, and the resort amenities.

For residents, it can be a significant cost-savings since they no longer need to buy home insurance, cover maintenance costs, and pay property taxes, noted Boylan.

“A large percentage of folks moving here are downsizing from private homes,” she said.

It is expected that the apartments will be fully leased by the spring, with upward of 200 people calling Living Out home. When the B.A.R. spoke with Ostrow, he said he had been so busy that the fact the first residents were now onsite had yet to fully sink in for him.

“It’s a pretty wonderful feeling to see people living in a way I was hoping they were going to be living,” he said.

Part of a growing trend

While Living Out is the first marketrate housing of its kind for LGBTQ seniors in Palm Springs, it is part of a growing trend in senior housing, noted Ostrow. Such developments are being marketed to a certain segment of the senior population, whether based on their being part of a specific community or having similar interests.

“What you are seeing across the country now is affinity group housing, particularly in senior housing, having like-minded people come together,

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be it they love Disney or be it Jimmy Buffet, or have a certain proclivity or certain religion,” said Ostrow, referring to the Cotino housing development The Walt Disney Company is building nearby in Rancho Mirage and to the 55+ community across the country in South Carolina called Latitude Margaritaville Hilton Head based on the lifestyle espoused by the late singer. “These communities have been around, although not in the numbers of communities now being developed.”

As people age in place at Living Out, they are allowed to have in-home caretakers should they encounter health issues that require some assistance. But, only to a certain point.

“We are clear in the lease that we don’t provide medical care or assistedliving services. You can have a caregiver come in,” explained Boylan. “When residents have reached the point where they are not able to care for themselves without a higher level of care, we will work with them to find them another placement.”

Providing such services under the Living Out banner is something Ostrow has thought about as his next venture. Should he do so, he said he isn’t sure he would locate such a facility in Palm Springs.

“People have asked us that question, what happens to me when I need assistance or need memory care? That is when, frankly, our community is the most vulnerable,” he said.

He does want to see the Living Out residential communities expand to other areas of the country. Their designs could be modified to meet their locations, such as having a more urban feeling in a city versus the resort atmosphere of the Palm Springs location.

“This is a concept that translates to wherever there is a significant gay community,” said Ostrow. “I feel there needs to be a strong LGBTQ community surrounding Living Out. But there are a lot of places where this would work, and I would like to do it.”

With the ranks of LGBTQ seniors expected to grow in coming decades, along with the rest of the American populace, the need for welcoming residential developments to house them is so great that Ostrow said he welcomes having competition from others in the market.

“If I could find a piece of land in San Francisco, or a property I could convert, I would love to be in San Francisco. I would love to be in San Diego and Long Beach,” said Ostrow. “There are so many places in California, and up and down the West Coast, I would love to be in. Frankly, I would love to be in Dallas; there is a big, strong LGBTQ community in Dallas.”

The inaugural residents at Living Out will not include Boylan, since her wife surfs and wants to remain near the coast. Nor does Ostrow have plans to move there, as his husband isn’t ready to leave Los Angeles for the desert enclave.

“He is kind of a loner. This is a very communal experience for people seeking that,” said Ostrow.

It is what drew Alther’s interest in moving there. Four years ago he lost his husband of 20 years, Ray Repp, a singer and songwriter who introduced folk music into Catholic masses. They

t

Courtesy Living Out

Living Out marketing officer LuAnn Boylan, left, joined Living Out codeveloper Loren S. Ostrow, and new resident Richard Alther to admire one of Alther’s paintings he donated to the senior living complex.

Courtesy Living Out

Living Out in Palm Springs contains 122 apartments.

Courtesy Living Out

A dining area staged in a Living Out apartment.

had split their time between the home Alther had earlier purchased on Lake Champlain in Vermont and the home they had bought a year into their marriage in a gated Palm Springs community.

Shortly after Repp’s passing, Alther read about Living Out in a local Palm Springs newspaper.

“I immediately was attracted to the idea,” said Alther, who sold the couple’s Palm Springs house last April. “Three seasons without my husband was too isolating.”

He returned to New England for the summer season until his new apartment at Living Out was ready to inhabit. While he is renting it year round, Alther plans to use it from October through May when temperatures in the Coachella Valley are the coolest.

Alther purposefully asked for a unit with mountain views, similar to

what he and Repp had enjoyed at their house. But it isn’t what sold him on becoming a resident at Living Out. “I am here for the community,” said Alther, who donated six of his paintings to the development to adorn its walls, with one hung in the lobby.

In addition to being able to utilize, and socialize by, the pool, Alther told the B.A.R. he was also eagerly awaiting the opening of the Alice B. eatery.

“The pool is to open next week and I plan to start hanging out there,” he had said last month. “The restaurant is opening December 6, and I told everybody my new lifestyle is I ain’t cooking.

I will be having people for drinks and nibbles then we can go downstairs for dinner. I can’t wait.” t

Born on July 11, 1972 in San Antonio, Texas, Joe moved to San Francisco in 1996. Throughout his life, Joe touched those around him with gentle kindness, a quick wit, creativity, and sense of humor. He will be remembered for his amazing resilience, artistic flair, love for friends and family, and dedication to loving pet care for many.

Joe is survived by his sister, brothers, their families, and many friends in the U.S. and abroad. During this difficult time, we collectively cel-

ebrate Joe’s life as a remarkable individual who will endure in our hearts.

A memorial service will be held in San Francisco Saturday, December 9, at 2 p.m. in the National AIDS Memorial Grove in Golden Gate Park.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the National AIDS Memorial Grove in Joe’s name.

May Joseph Marin rest in peace, and we sincerely hope that his precious memory brings comfort to those who mourn his passing.

To learn more about Living Out, visit its website at livingout.com

Obituaries >> Joseph Marin July 11, 1972 – October 21, 2023

With heavy hearts, we announce the passing of Juan Jose Marin (Joe or Joseph), 51, on October 21, 2023. Joe quietly left us after a brief battle with meningitis.

t

Community News>>

November 30-December 6, 2023 • Bay Area Repor ter • 11

Holiday tree lighting ceremony inspires hope compiled by Cynthia Laird

T

he Rainbow World Fund’s World Tree of Hope lighting ceremony and celebration will take place Monday, December 4, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Grace Cathedral, 1100 California Street in San Francisco.

Jeff Cotter, a gay man who’s executive director of Rainbow World Fund, an LGBTQ humanitarian group, will make remarks. The tree is unique in that it contains thousands of origami cranes that contain messages of hope for a better world. Origami artist Linda Mihara will be among the special guests, an email announcement stated.

According to the announcement, this marks the 18th annual tree lighting ceremony. The event will include emcee Donna Sachet, the Very Reverend Malcolm Young, the Grammy Award-winning San Francisco Boys Chorus, the consul general of Japan, and small business owner Manny Yekutiel. Empress Cameron StiehlMunro and Emperor Michael Chu will be on hand, along with Tammy Lynne Hall, and the Queer Chorus of San Francisco.

The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence will bless the tree.

There is no cost to attend. To RSVP, go to https://tinyurl.com/5n7zdyhc.

Rick Gerharter

The Rainbow World Fund’s World Tree of Hope stands in Grace Cathedral’s AIDS Interfaith Memorial Chapel.

program coordinator of HUES at the AIDS foundation.

The event aims to raise awareness about HIV and AIDS, celebrate the strength of HIV survivors, and foster understanding among generations of women, the release noted. There is no cost to attend.

Let’s Glow SF to light up icons

The Downtown SF Partnership will host its third annual Let’s Glow SF free outdoor 10-night event in which five iconic San Francisco buildings will be

illuminated. The event will take place December 1-10, a news release stated.

Let’s Glow SF will kick off Friday, December 1, at 6:30 p.m. at the foot of Market Street facing the Ferry Building, with a countdown kickoff ceremony open to the public. In addition to the Ferry Building, others that will be illuminated are Salesforce Tower, 415 Mission Street; Hobart Building, 582 Market Street; One Bush Street; the Pacific Stock Exchange, 301 Pine Street; and the Landing at Leidesdorff, 565 Commercial Street.

The release stated that the holiday

event will use high-tech Panasonic projectors and lasers to project large-scale art concepts across the facade of the buildings from 5 to 10 p.m. nightly. This is the first year that the Ferry Building will be included. Salesforce Tower will also showcase Let’s Glow SF artwork on the LED panel atop the building, visible throughout the Bay Area.

Mayor London Breed praised the event in a statement.

“Let’s Glow SF has become a signature annual holiday event for San Francisco that captures the charm and dynamic energy of our downtown,” Breed stated. “I am thrilled to once again support the Downtown SF Partnership in lighting up downtown to bring San Franciscans and visitors into the area, showcasing the arts and the city’s beauty in this special way.”

For more information, go to downtownsf.org.

BTQ Cultural District in the South of Market neighborhood.

The signs would help promote the cultural district, Bryan Dahl, a legislative aide to gay District 6 Supervisor Matt Dorsey, told the board’s land use and transportation committee during a November 13 hearing.

Dorsey sponsored the proposal. San Francisco Public Works and the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency are aware of the plan, Dahl said.

Leather district officials also spoke at the committee meeting, as the Bay Area Reporter previously reported.

David Hyman, another cultural district board member, said wayfinding is important.

“I take joy and pride in the way San Francisco celebrates its neighborhoods,” Hyman said. “It would make this a visible declaration of our pride.”

SF supes OK leather district signs

MTT Way approved by supes

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors on November 28 unanimously approved a resolution to add placemaking signs to existing street signs at 26 intersections in the Leather & LG-

The one block of Grove Street adjacent to Davies Symphony Hall will soon be commemoratively named MTT Way in honor of Michael Tilson See page 14 >>

SOMA holiday market

The San Francisco Leather & LGBTQ Cultural District’s popular Second Saturdays event moves indoors December 9 and has a holiday theme.

According to the cultural district’s newsletter, 35 kinky vendors will be at the SOMArts Cultural Center, 934 Brannan Street, from noon to 5 p.m.

In addition to the vendors, there will be a bondage suspension program from Twisted Windows, “Oogie-Boogie,” a nightmare before Christmas burlesque by Alotta Boutté, and an Instagram photo booth with naughty Santa and some kinky elves.

There will also be a gear swap (more info at https://sfleatherdistrict.org/ saturday/#gear).

In addition to the cultural district, the holiday market is presented by Folsom Street and the SOMA West Community Benefit District, with support from Success Centers.

There’s a free shuttle to other South of Market locations, including the SF Eagle, Azúcar Lounge (opens at 3 p.m.), Zozi’s Loft, Powerhouse (opens at 4 p.m.), Leather Etc., and Mr S Leather.

Admission to the holiday market is free. For more information, go to sfleatherdistrict.org/holiday.

SFAF World AIDS Day event in Oakland

Healing & Uniting Every Sista, or HUES, a program of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, will unveil the “Songs of Our Mothers” mural on World AIDS Day, Friday, December 1, at 7 p.m. at Oakstop, 1721 Broadway in Oakland.

The World AIDS Day event will feature the lives and experiences of women living with HIV, a news release stated.

“We are mothers, grandmothers.

We are women who lived through turbulent times in our 20s and are finding our way as we age. We have explored our passions through careers in advocacy, and we are now women, maturing into elderhood with strong life stories that should be shared with younger generations of women,” said one participant, who was not named in the release.

At the event, the founding “Mothers” of HUES, who are long-term survivors of HIV, will share their experiences living with HIV through the unveiling of a nine foot mural, a short film, and other works of art.

“We invite the community to join us in honoring these incredible women and their stories. Their journey exemplifies resilience, hope, and the human spirit,” stated Ebony Gordon,

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

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<< Community News

14 • Bay Area Repor ter • November 30-December 6, 2023

<<

“Often community assets are at risk if cuts are deep enough,” Hirsh said.

AIDS legal agency

From page 1

Honors

“For the new year, I see three priorities. First, I am looking forward to working with our board, staff, and stakeholders to develop a new strategic plan to guide us for the next three to five years,” he explained. “Second, with Bill’s help, ALRP and other organizations serving people with HIV are going to do everything possible to keep city funding from being slashed during the upcoming budget process. Finally, we need to help more people understand the often-overwhelming challenges so many of our older HIV+ neighbors face on a daily basis – I thought I was reasonably well-informed, but it turns out I was clueless.”

ALRP’s beginnings

Having done his undergraduate studies at Pennsylvania State University, Hirsh moved to the Bay Area to attend Golden Gate University School of Law, from which he graduated in 1983. He held a series of jobs in the mental health and welfare fields. Before joining ALRP in March 2000, Hirsh directed the Mental Health Association of San Francisco, where he coordinated a broad-based public policy advocacy effort to increase affordable and supportive housing for people with mental health disabilities.

ALRP began as a project of Bay Area Lawyers for Individual Freedom, or BALIF. During the height of the AIDS crisis in the 1980s, LGBTQ attorneys gathered to see what they could do to help young gay men who were dying. They decided to help draft emergency wills for the sick men, and ALRP eventually became its own nonprofit.

It continues to rely on the services of attorneys who volunteer their time (called panel attorneys) and also has its own staff of lawyers and legal professionals.

“There are more than 500 active attorneys who provide services in a broad array of civil legal matters – immigration, employment, credit, as well as estate planning and housing,” Hirsh said of the panel lawyers.

In terms of current staff, Hirsh said that there are 13 attorneys when the organization is fully staffed; there are a couple of vacancies right now, he explained.

“We remain a very frugal operation, there’s not a lot of administrative levels,” he said, adding there is a volunteer coordinator, development director, office manager/ bookkeeper, and the executive director in addition to the legal support staff.

Over the years, ALRP’s services have evolved from drafting wills to fighting HIV/AIDS discrimination in housing, employment, and benefits. The shift to providing more direct services began in the late 1990s, Hirsh said. In a story 10 years ago on the occasion of ALRP’s 30th anniversary, Hirsh said that housing was the No. 1 issue for clients.

It still is.

“Over time, our housing team has become even more robust,” Hirsh said, adding that the need for in-house attorneys for housing matters is largely because those issues move through the courts faster.

He noted that the San Francisco ballot measure passed by voters in 2018 established a right to counsel for all residential tenants facing eviction. The ordinance went into effect in 2019, and provides funding. Prior to that, Hirsh said the agency had to fight every year

<<

News Briefs

From page 11

Thomas, a gay man who served as the San Francisco Symphony’s music director for 25 years. The San Francisco Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the resolution November 13.

<<

Milk-Moscone vigil

From page 4

“I, a pre-op transsexual in go-go boots, had the nerve to tell him [Milk] that he needed to cut his hair if he was going to win,” Murray Ramirez said.

The two bonded over their Republican pasts, voting for Arizona senator

t

Courtesy ALRP

In October, District 9 Supervisor Hillary Ronen, left, presented a commendation to outgoing AIDS Legal Referral Panel Executive Director Bill Hirsh, as his son, Jesse Tanenbaum, and brother, Rich Hirsh, joined him in the board chambers.

for funding for its lawyers. The agency receives about $800,000 a year for tenant right to counsel services, Hirsh said.

“ALRP is an important part of that network of legal services organizations,” Hirsh said, adding it handles cases for those living with HIV. “We added a couple of attorneys, paralegal support, and social work support as well,” he said.

ALRP currently operates on a budget of $2.1 million, Hirsh said.

The agency assists about 2,300 clients annually; about 800 are helped with housing issues, according to Hirsh.

“I’m really proud of the work we do around housing and to keep people stably housed,” he added.

In terms of employment discrimination cases, Hirsh said there hasn’t been an uptick, though ALRP continues to see those issues.

“But we just got a case where an employer disclosed [an employee’s] HIV status,” he noted. “There are still many nasty things that happen and still great stigma associated with HIV.” One of the goals of San Francisco’s Getting to Zero program is to reduce stigma, in addition to dramatically reducing new HIV transmissions and HIV deaths by 90% by 2025. In 2021, the most recent year available, San Francisco had 160 new HIV transmission cases, according to the Department of Public Health.

Hirsh has been recognized throughout the year as he prepares to depart ALRP. In August, he was honored by the San Francisco AIDS Foundation’s HIV Advocacy Network with its Catalyst for Change Award.

On October 3, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors paid homage to Hirsh. District 9 Supervisor Hillary Ronen presented Hirsh with a commendation for his years of service. In attendance were Hirsh, his son, Jesse Tanenbaum, and his older brother, Rich Hirsh.

Ronen recognized Hirsh for his “fierce commitment” to defending the rights of vulnerable communities.

More recently, the Golden State Warriors honored Hirsh as part of its LGBTQ Pride Night festivities during a center court ceremony at Chase Center November 1 where he received his own blue and gold Warriors jersey. A news release from ALRP stated that Hirsh and his brother, Rich, a big Warriors fan, sat courtside during the thrilling game against the visiting Sacramento Kings where Warriors star Klay Thompson hit a 17 foot shot with less than a second on the clock, winning the game by one point.

Gay District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, who helped arrange the Warriors’ tribute to Hirsh, said he would miss Hirsh and his advocacy.

“Bill has been a tireless and effective leader for ALRP and advocate for city funding for HIV/AIDS,” Mandelman wrote in a text message. “It’s hard to imagine the budget process without him.”

As Hirsh finishes up his final weeks, ALRP’s board co-chairs have thanked him.

“We can never adequately thank Bill for his exceptional vision and tenacious leadership over the last 24 years,” stated co-chair Jackie Gross.

Co-Chair Scott Zimmerman noted that Hirsh has become a “trusted community partner with a national reputation for providing exceptional client services.”

“Bill was responsible for an organization that provided critical legal assistance to over 20,000 individuals, while fighting for resources for the broader legal services community across the Bay Area,” Zimmerman added.

Hirsh said he’s proud of keeping ALRP “thriving over challenges over an extended period of time.”

“I’m really proud of the work we do around housing,” he said, adding it’s “impossible” for clients living with HIV/AIDS to succeed without housing.

As for challenges, there are many.

“Aside from the fact that AIDS is still around and we don’t have a cure, truly to get to zero we have to improve the affordable housing crisis for people with HIV,” Hirsh said. “We have to add the crises of mental health and substance use. I don’t know if we’ll get to zero until we address those three big things.”t

These days, many of ALRP’s clients are dealing with mental health and substance use issues, in addition to HIV/ AIDS, Hirsh said. There is also the aging of the HIV population, as treatment advances have led many people to live fairly normal lives. In other words, HIV/ AIDS is no longer the death sentence it was back in the 1980s and early 1990s.

“Cognitive impairments related to aging are exacerbated by HIV,” Hirsh pointed out.

Jesus Guillen is a client of ALRP. An HIV and aging independent consultant, Guillen is also the founder and director of the HIV Long Term Survivors International Network Group.

“To speak about Bill Hirsh, for me, is to speak about one of the most balanced and important voices in the Bay Area HIV community, but even more simply, and in a greater way, the human com-

In addition to serving as the head of ALRP, Hirsh has for many years been co-chair of the city’s HIV/AIDS Provider Network, a group of nonprofits that work together on things like getting HIV/AIDS funding in the city budget.

Hirsh was asked how long he has co-led the group.

“In my mind, forever,” he quipped.

“I’m not 100% sure.

“After Mike Smith left, Lance Toma and I stepped in as co-chairs. That was five to 10 years ago,” Hirsh said, referring to the former executive director of the AIDS Emergency Fund and the current CEO of the San Francisco Community Health Center, respectively. (Smith retired when AEF merged with PRC in 2016.)

In an email, Toma, a gay man who has long led the community health center, praised his colleague.

“It has been a privilege to co-chair the San Francisco HIV/AIDS Provider Network with Bill since 2015,” Toma wrote. “He is one of the most passionate and dogged HIV advocates with a laser focus on housing. I have such deep admiration and adoration for Bill. The HIV community of San Francisco is as strong and vibrant as it is because of Bill’s tireless work at ALRP and with HAPN.”

Hirsh said that Laura Thomas, director of harm reduction policy for the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, would be joining Toma as co-chair of the provider network.

Thomas did not respond to a request for comment.

As the B.A.R. reported this summer, San Francisco’s budget includes $1,250,000 for housing subsidies that will be available for people living with HIV. It is less than the $3.6 million sought by HIV advocates, who noted the money is also earmarked for keeping seniors (60+) and adults with disabilities (18+) housed.

“Here is the rub with the housing subsidies. While we were able to get the $1.25 million for year one, there is only $500,000 in year two,” Hirsh said at the time, referring to the city’s two-year budget for fiscal years 2023-2024 and 2024-2025.

Hirsh said in the interview that San Francisco is unique because it’s a city and a county. And he cited a longtime city policy that when cuts are made by the federal government to the Ryan White CARE Act, the program that provides grants to local jurisdictions for HIV/AIDS treatment and services, the city backfills the shortfall using general fund dollars.

“Advocates were able to get that commitment from local government,” Hirsh said.

He talked about the different strategies in how the city approaches cuts.

And he pointed out people involved in advocacy work often have a broader, longer view as the city’s financial picture has gone up and down over the years.

“So you need the view of advocates who share with decision makers” the lessons of mistakes from the past, he added.

Hirsh also warned that next year the HIV/AIDS Provider Network likely will be focused on fighting cuts, as the city’s budget woes continue.

“Next year the city is facing a particularly tough budget year,” he said.

Already, Mayor London Breed in October ordered city departments to cut 3% from their budgets in view of the grim budget outlook. City officials have noted the structural budget deficit could reach $500 million by the 2025-2026 fiscal year, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

The city’s current budget is $14.6 billion annually.

Tilson Thomas is suffering from an aggressive form of brain cancer.

He was appointed music director of the symphony in 1995 and stepped down in 2020, becoming music director laureate. San Francisco Mayor London Breed proposed the legislation in October.

The honorary street sign is in rec-

ognition of Tilson Thomas’ many years of service to the symphony and his upcoming 79th birthday.

At the board’s land use committee meeting November 13, symphony officials endorsed the proposal, as the B.A.R. previously reported.

Priscilla Geeslin, chair of the symphony’s board of governors, said

the body “wholeheartedly” supports the honorary street name for Tilson Thomas. She pointed out Tilson Thomas held a Pride concert at a time when LGBTQ rights were under attack and the symphony inaugurated Chase Center in 2019 with a concert featuring the rock band Metallica.

Matthew Spivey, CEO of the symphony, also stated his support.

“He fully embraced his role with style, grace, and vigor,” Spivey said of Tilson Thomas’ tenure as music director. t

Barry Goldwater over President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964.

“Yes, I did a lot of LSD in the 1960s,” Murray Ramirez joked.

Gwenn Craig, a lesbian and former San Francisco police commissioner, recalled co-coordinating the San Francisco campaign against Proposition 6, which would have banned gays and lesbians

from teaching in public schools. The statewide proposition lost, ending a string of gay rights defeats at the ballot box.

Craig said Milk was jubilant during their last one-on-one conversation – excited at all the political experience San Francisco’s LGBTQ community was getting, and that No on 6 veterans would be able to launch their own careers. She and

others were depressed for months after Milk was gunned down.

But then Craig said, they realized that the fight was now theirs to continue.

“We realized that we were Harvey’s legacy,” Craig said. “I wanted to come here to ask you to become Harvey’s legacy – to be Harvey’s legacy in this city and in this troubled nation of ours.”

After the speakers, attendees marched to the beat of drums from Harvey Milk Plaza up Castro Street to 575 Castro Street, where Milk once owned his famed camera store, and dispersed after the San Francisco Lesbian/Gay Freedom Band played “I Left My Heart in San Francisco.”t

Other health issues

munity,” Guillen wrote in an email.

“For many of us HIV long-term survivors, we know without a doubt the importance of leadership and allies, and Bill has been doing that for a long time,” Guillen added. “And for people like me aging for the first time with HIV, the feelings of invisibility, isolation, and loneliness are very present every day. So, doing a job that implies protection and safety for a community that had suffered so much, from the beginning of everyday deaths to the present of many of us who carry those deaths in our souls and spirits, has been a monumental journey.”

Hirsh pointed out areas of need for long-term survivors include mental health care and food security. Additionally, training support for front line staff and housing subsidies are critical, he said.

Other clients may need assistance in different areas.

“They may want accommodations in both employment and housing due to disability status,” Hirsh said.

HIV/AIDS Provider Network

For more information on ALRP, visit alrp.org.

t

Community News>>

November 30-December 6, 2023 • Bay Area Repor ter • 15

Diversion likely for Emeryville hate crime defendant

by John Ferrannini

T

he case of the man prosecutors allege committed hate crime vandalism at an Emeryville senior housing facility will likely go to diversion instead of trial.

As the Bay Area Reporter previously reported (https://www.ebar. com/story.php?ch=news&sc=anti_ hate&id=329296), Ayman Badr, 64, has been charged with one count of vandalism under $400 and another of “violation of civil rights.” He is alleged by Beth Rosales, a resident at the Avalon Senior Housing community in Emeryville, to have torn down a Pride display in June after making a homophobic rant.

The final details are set to be worked out December 20 in Department 108 at the Wiley W. Manuel Courthouse in downtown Oakland. A pretrial hearing November 29 was originally to occur November 1 but was pushed back after Badr’s attorney requested a continuance.

At the hearing in Department 106, Judge Pelayo A. Llamas Jr. said, “I feel that where there’s a conflict between different belief systems and values the best way is to try to bridge them first, rather than to punish.”

To that end, he agreed to support a deal between the Alameda County District Attorney’s office and Badr – 10 hours community service, $121.40 in restitution to Rosales, $93.84 in restitution to another person, and a letter of apology.

Alameda County Deputy Public Defender Karl Lindemann, representing Badr, requested a three-week continuance so that he and the DA’s office

<<

CA ballot

From page 5

Low, who may soon make an announcement that he will seek the U.S. House seat being vacated by retiring Congressmember Anna Eshoo (D-Palo Alto), told the B.A.R. that the booth had “great energy” and was informative to delegates.

“Countless people did not remember, nor did they know that Proposition 8 is actually still in our state constitution,” he stated.

Low’s Assembly website includes a sparse Repeal Prop 8 page. The page currently includes an infographic and a link to a news release announcing he and Wiener had introduced ACA 5.

When asked when this page will be updated, Low stated that “not until at least after the [secretary of state] office and [attorney general] confirms all measures that qualify in addition to issuing the title and summary. As I mentioned, ACA 5 won’t get a proposition number until much later in 2024.”

Temprano told the B.A.R. that internal polling shows ACA 5 has good chances for passage. EMC Research did an online survey of 1,200 likely November 2024 voters back in April showing that 75% agreed with the statement “everyone has a constitutional right to marry who they choose regardless of gender or sexual orientation.”

Sixty-four percent strongly agreed with the statement, the polling memo states, and the majority stuck across age, ethnicity, and region of California. Even 47% of registered Republicans agreed.

Compare that to Prop 8, which banned same-sex marriages in the Golden State in November 2008 after it had already been legal by order of the state Supreme Court. In what had been an unexpected result, 52% of Californians voted for the measure the same

John Ferrannini

A man charged with vandalism for tearing down a Pride display likely will be accepted into a diversion program, an Alameda County Superior Court judge decided November 29

could discuss which specific “LGBTQ+ sensitivity training course” Badr should attend as part of the deal.

Rosales, who has been married to a woman for 13 years but is now separated, suggested one through OPEN Pride (https://www.omnicomgroup. com/culture/diversity/open-pride-2/), according to Deputy District Attorney Mas Morimoto, but Lindemann said he wanted to do more research in consultation with Morimoto.

Lindemann said the Emeryville Police Department treated his client differently because of his national origin and religion, even noting them in a police report. Rosales had told the B.A.R. last

month that Badr hails from Egypt.

“The DA’s proposed terms are commensurate with the allegations, but I would suggest in light of the claims made by the police officer in the police report that the court is empowered to make any remedy in the interest of justice,” Lindemann said. “It’s very rare we find explicit … racism and bias.”

Llamas said that the court would not be ruling on the question of whether Badr was illegally discriminated against, but said Lindemann could bring that to “another venue.” The judge noted the “many pages of supportive letters for the defendant.”

“You have criticisms about the facts

day the state gave 61% of its votes to Barack Obama during his first run for president.

“A lot has changed nationally and in California since Prop 8 was passed,” Temprano said. “I think largely folks in California are supportive of samesex marriage and the right to marriage equality, and that bears out largely across the political spectrum – folks with strongly-held religious beliefs.”

Indeed the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were bastions of support for Prop 8 15 years ago. The B.A.R. asked Temprano if EQCA is ready for other unexpected changes in public perception. As the B.A.R. has reported, nationally the percent of U.S. adults who found homosexuality “morally acceptable” dropped eight points from last year, from 71% to 64%. (https://news.gallup.com/ poll/507230/fewer-say-sex-relationsmorally-acceptable.aspx). Only twoin-five Republicans nationally agreed that homosexuality is morally acceptable, which is down 15% from 2022.

And while last year’s Proposition 1 passed handily – adding a right to abortion and contraceptives to the state constitution following the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v.

Wade – there were campaigns arguing that it was an expansion of abortion rights, and not simply codification of pre-existing state law.

“The hope is there won’t be a significant misinformation campaign,” Temprano said. “That said, obviously we will be prepared to combat any sort of negative campaign against this initiative. We’re also keenly aware right now the LGBTQ community is under attack in California. We not only want to be prepared to respond to attacks against marriage equality but also the larger attacks the community is facing at this time.”

Anti-trans initiatives

EQCA is less sure about the possibility of as many as three anti-trans initiatives on the same ballot as the Prop 8 repeal measure.

As the B.A.R. previously reported, the trio would require schools to report to parents any change in a student’s expressed gender identity, without an exception for the student’s safety; require trans students to participate in school activities and use bathrooms consistent with their assigned sex at birth; and ban gender-affirming care for minors.

The three initiatives were qualified

by Secretary of State Shirley N. Weber, Ph.D., and each require 546,651 signatures from registered voters by April 29. The group Protect Kids California submitted the initiatives to Attorney General Rob Bonta in August for titles and summaries.

Protect Kids California did not return multiple requests for comment.

Some school boards in California have passed forced outing policies, such as in Chino Valley, where a state judge ruled the district could not enforce most of the new rule outing transgender and nonbinary students to their parents without their consent after it was sued by Bonta’s office, as the B.A.R. reported (https://www.ebar.com/story. php?ch=news&sc=legal&id=328148).

Temprano said that “the Prop 8 repeal aside, it’s just terrible that in 2024 there are folks in California who continue to – whether it’s school boards or the state legislature or the ballot – who are demonizing LGBTQ+ youth.

“It’s dangerous,” he continued. “They have no place in California.”

But it’s still unclear if California voters feel the same way due to sparse statewide polling on these questions.

A Gallup poll earlier this year showed 69% of Americans at-large would limit sports to a student athlete’s sex assigned at birth, for example.

the officer put into the report,” Llamas said. “I make no judgments about whether that was appropriate or not.

The underlying behavior is what I’m focusing on. Mr. Badr has certain beliefs, contrary to the signage, and in our society and law those are permitted as well; obviously, there are limits to that, which he crossed.”

The Emeryville Police Department did not immediately return a request for comment.

Badr was not in attendance at the hearing. The B.A.R. had the opportunity to speak with him in person October 24, at which time he declined to give contact information, saying, “I don’t want to talk to you. You published information that’s unfair and actually also you published information that’s not correct. I will hold you responsible for it. You tarnished my reputation and took one side of the story.”

Rosales had told the B.A.R. that Badr’s behavior frightened her, leading her to decide to inform the police.

“I don’t want to put myself under the rage of this man,” she said last month.

Badr has since been removed from the complex’s steering committee and was evicted from the complex altogether.

There’s a “zero tolerance policy” there for hate actions, Rosales said.

She told the B.A.R. that Badr claimed he put a sign in between the LGBT banners saying that “he only supported heterosexual marriage,” and claimed it was torn down.

“He said he tore down the banners because someone tore down his little comment,” Rosales said. “Whether or

not he put up a note, he didn’t have the right to do that.”

Rosales and the DAs’ office did not immediately return requests for comment.

Asri Wulandari, a nonbinary trans woman who is manager of communications for the San Francisco Office of Transgender Initiatives, told the B.A.R. that “these initiatives are doing a lot more harm than good to our youth.”

“Everyone deserves access to safety and body autonomy, especially transgender young people,” Wulandari stated. “These far-right extremist policies are fearmongering and scapegoating tools to further vilify the transgender community, starting with our youth who are especially vulnerable. We, as Californians, cannot accept this.”

When asked how the confluence of the measures might affect ACA 5, Wulandari stated that “regardless of the push from extremist groups to get these anti-trans initiatives to the ballot, they cannot undo years of activism and progress from the LGBTQI+ community.”

“It is clear that the majority of voters in California have moved beyond this outdated law,” Wulandari stated of Prop 8.

But not everyone is so sanguine – at the annual vigil commemorating the assassinations of supervisor Harvey Milk and mayor George Moscone, several longtime activists argued that LGBTQ civil rights are very much up for grabs next year. As the B.A.R. reported, Nicole Murray Ramirez, a gay Latino San Diego community leader known as the Queen Mother I of the Americas and Nicole the Great, argued a rebirth of LGBTQ activism is necessary to prevent a return to the closet, and gay AIDS Memorial Quilt co-founder Cleve Jones said, “everything that has happened to move us forward over 45 years could be swept away in the blink of an eye. If you take it for granted, they will take it away.”

Wiener spoke at the vigil, mentioning the initiatives and the school boards’ actions.

“With the explosion of anti-LGBTQ

hate around the country, it’s essential that California remain a beacon of hope and a place of refuge for our community,” Wiener told the B.A.R. before the vigil. “We must never allow bigotry to prevail in our state.”

Last year, Newsom signed Wiener’s Senate Bill 107, designating the state as a refuge for trans kids and their families. The law makes it California policy to reject any out-of-state court judgments removing trans kids from their parents’ custody because they allowed them to receive gender-affirming health care.

Temprano told the B.A.R. November 13 that EQCA has not decided whether it should start a decline to sign campaign for the initiatives, which would ask people not to sign the initiative petitions.

“We have not made a decision about whether to do a decline to sign,” he said.

“It’s offensive and it’s dangerous that there are folks in California who are trying to score political points and bring attacks on trans youth to the ballot in this state in 2024,” he added, referring to the proposed initiatives. “It feels almost unthinkable, but here we are.”

Temprano reiterated this November 28.

“Equality California and our partner LGBTQ+ civil rights organizations are continuing to monitor the activity of this extremist group,” Temprano stated, referring to Protect Kids California. “We aren’t taking any options off the table, including a decline to sign campaign, and will be prepared to launch an opposition effort if and when necessary.”

Wiener stated he trusts EQCA will make the smartest decisions.

“I’m confident our LGBTQ leadership organizations will strategically do whatever it takes to ensure this hateful abomination of a ballot measure never becomes law,” Wiener said. t

name ANTHONY MARK RAUS be changed to ANTHONY MARK HAUNT. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 103N on the 25th of JANUARY 2024 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-23558325

Marsh hearing delayed – again

Also at the Wiley W. Manuel Courthouse, the preliminary hearing of the UC Berkeley employee charged in the killing of Curtis Marsh, a gay Black man, in Oakland earlier this year was pushed back to the new year.

The preliminary hearing was rescheduled by the request of the DA’s office on October 17 to November 17, as the B.A.R. previously reported (https:// www.ebar.com/story.php?ch=news&s c=crime&id=329107). Before the November 17 hearing, David Briggs, the attorney for defendant Sweven Waterman, heard from the DA’s office requesting another continuance. The hearing is now scheduled for January 10 in Department 111. Waterman has pleaded not guilty to the charges. t The State of California offers help for victims or witnesses to a hate crime or hate incident. This resource is supported in whole or in part by funding provided by the State of California, administered by the California State Library in partnership with the California Department of Social Services and the California Commission on Asian and Pacific Islander American Affairs as part of the Stop the Hate program. To report a hate incident or hate crime and get support, go to cavshate.org.

Legals>> ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-23558330

In the matter of the application of KELLY MICHELLE HATFIELD, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appears from said application that petitioner KELLY MICHELLE HATFIELD is requesting

that the name KELLY MICHELLE HATFIELD be changed to KELLY MICHELLE HAUNT. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 103N on the 25th of JANUARY 2024 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

NOV 09, 16, 23, 30, 2023

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-23558331

In the matter of the application of ANTHONY MARK RAUS, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appears from said application that petitioner ANTHONY MARK RAUS is requesting that the

NOV 09, 16, 23, 30, 2023

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF

In the matter of the application of ADON SEBASTIAN GERRARD, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appears from said application that petitioner ADON SEBASTIAN GERRARD is requesting that the name ADON SEBASTIAN GERRARD be changed to ADON REYNOLDS. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered,

<< Classifieds

16 • Bay Area Repor ter • November 30-December 6, 2023

that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 103N, Rm. 103N on the 25th of JANUARY 2024 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

NOV 09, 16, 23, 30, 2023

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-23558348

In the matter of the application of KIDONG KIM, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appears from said application that petitioner KIDONG KIM is requesting that the name KIDONG KIM be changed to ERIC KIDONG KIM. 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 6th of FEBRUARY 2024 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

NOV 09, 16, 23, 30, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401660

The following person(s) is/are doing business as SPIRITUAL PSYCHIC READER, 810 EDDY ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed MARY MARKS. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/17/2023. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/17/2023.

NOV 09, 16, 23, 30, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401746 The following person(s) is/are doing business as V&Z SERVICES, 1384 VALENCIA ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed YANCY A. CASTRO BALDELOMAR. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/27/2023. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/27/2023.

NOV 09, 16, 23, 30, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401782

The following person(s) is/are doing business as PERFECT HARDWOOD FLOORS SERVICE, 1130 CLEMENT ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94118. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed DUC NGO. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/01/2023. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/01/2023.

NOV 09, 16, 23, 30, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401783 The following person(s) is/are doing business as COMMON CLOTH, 1250 48TH AVE #4, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94122. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed WILLIAM J. MCCARTHY. 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 11/01/2023.

NOV 09, 16, 23, 30, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401796

The following person(s) is/are doing business as LANDLINE HOME, 717 VALENCIA ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed ANTHONY J. LEO. 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 11/02/2023.

NOV 09, 16, 23, 30, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401X

The following person(s) is/are doing business as COLIBRI DOULA SERVICES, 1638A BRODERICK ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94115. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed DANNHAE HERRERA-WILSON. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/01/2023. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/03/2023.

NOV 09, 16, 23, 30, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401818

The following person(s) is/are doing business as D & S JANITORIAL, 237 MORSE ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94112. This business is conducted by a general partnership, and is signed DAVID OSVALDO ROSALES & SERAFIN CANELO SANCHEZ. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/04/2023. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/03/2023.

NOV 09, 16, 23, 30, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401674

The following person(s) is/are doing business as HERRERA FINANCIAL SERVICES, INC, 1370 VALENCIA ST #A, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed HERRERA FINANCIAL SERVICES, INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/29/2022. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/18/2023.

NOV 09, 16, 23, 30, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401715

The following person(s) is/are doing business as THE PARTHENON, 582 SUTTER ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed HAVIN INC. (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 10/25/2023.

NOV 09, 16, 23, 30, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401761

The following person(s) is/are doing business as STRAND PARLOR SF, 2823 18TH ST #105, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed JUAN G. CORPORATION (CA).

The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on

SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA RAPID TRANSIT DISTRICT (BART) NOTICE TO PROPOSERS REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS (RFP) FOR ON-CALL HAZARDOUS TREE REMOVAL SERVICES, RFP NO. 6M3704 BART is now accepting proposals from on-call hazardous tree removal contractors.

Interested firms must register on BART’s Procurement Portal at https://suppliers.bart. gov. All solicitation documents, including the RFP, must be downloaded directly from the Portal. A Pre-Proposal Meeting will be held on December 1, 2023 at 9:30 a.m. local time via Zoom – instructions on registering are included within the RFP. The District’s Equity Program(s) will be explained, and participants can share contact details to network with other firms. The due date for submission of proposals for this RFP is 2:00 PM local time on Tuesday, December 26, 2023. Proposals shall be submitted to the following address: Attn: District Secretary’s Office San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District, 2150 Webster Street, 10th Floor, Oakland, CA 94612 11/30/23 CNS-3760387# BAY AREA REPORTER

10/20/2023. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/30/2023.

NOV 09, 16, 23, 30, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401774

The following person(s) is/are doing business as SAN FRANCISCO ENDODONTICS, 500 SPRUCE ST #204, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94118-2048. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed RALAN WONG DDS, INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/24/2004. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/31/2023.

NOV 09, 16, 23, 30, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401801

The following person(s) is/are doing business as J.AEBI COACHING, 2 APPLETON AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed JESSICA AEBI ENTERPRISES LLC (CA).

The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/01/2023. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/02/2023.

NOV 09, 16, 23, 30, 2023

SUMMONS: NOTICE TO DEFENDANT: MATTHEW FISK, AN INDIVIDUAL; DOES 1-5, INCLUSIVE, YOU ARE BEING SUED BY PLAINTIFF: LENDMARK FINANCIAL SERVICES, LLC, A LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY. CASE NUMBER: CGC-22-602924

NOTICE! You have been sued. The court may decide against you without your being heard unless you respond within 30 days. Read the information below. You have 30 CALENDAR DAYS after this summons and legal papers are served on you to file a written response at this court and have a copy served on the plaintiff. A letter or phone call will not protect you. Your written response must be in proper legal form if you want the court to hear your case. There may be a court form that you can use for your response. You can find these court forms and more information at the California Courts Online Self-Help Center (www.courlinfo.ca.gov/selfhelp), your county law library, or the courthouse nearest you. If you cannot pay the filing fee, ask the court clerk for a fee waiver form. If you do not file your response on time, you may lose the case by default, and your wages, money, and property may be taken without further warning from the court.

There are other legal requirements. You may want to call an attorney right away. If you do not know an attorney, you may want to call an attorney referral service. If you cannot afford an attorney, you may be eligible for free legal services from a nonprofit legal services program.

You can locate these nonprofit groups at the California Legal Services Web site (www.lawhelpcalifornia.org), the California Courts Online Self-Help Center (www.courlinfo.ca.gov/selfhelp), or by contacting your local court or county bar association. NOTE: The court has a statutory lien for waived fees and costs on any settlement or arbitration award of $10,000 or more in a civil case. The court’s lien must be paid before the court will dismiss the case. The court’s lien must be paid before the court will dismiss the case, as the person sued under the fictitious business name of Matthew Fisk. The name and address of the court is: Superior Court of San Francisco, 400 McAllister St. Room 103, San Francisco, CA 94012-4514.

The name, address, and telephone number of plaintiffs attorney, or plaintiff without an attorney, is: DONALD DUNNING (SBN 144665); JAMES MACLEOD (SBN 249145), THE DUNNING LAW FIRM APC, 9619 CHESAPEAKE DR. #210, SAN DIEGO, CA 92123; (858) 974-7600.

NOV 16, 23, 30, DEC 07, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401787

The following person(s) is/are doing business as KIMCAR JANITORIAL SERVICES, 523 NAPLES ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94112. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed DAMARIS L. CABRERA LIMA. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/08/2020. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/01/2023.

NOV 16, 23, 30, DEC 07, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401839

The following person(s) is/are doing business as GREEN VALLEY LANDSCAPING SERVICES, 375 GARCES DR, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94132. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed ALAN J. VARGAS VARGAS. 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 11/07/2023.

NOV 16, 23, 30, DEC 07, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401866

The following person(s) is/are doing business as C&K BEAUTY SALON, 1551 NORIEGA ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94122. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed BRIAN TOAN HUNG CHUNG. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/01/2023. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/08/2023.

NOV 16, 23, 30, DEC 07, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401867 The following person(s) is/are doing business as GARDEN COURT, 1700 16TH ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed JAMES D. GALLAGHER. 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 11/09/2023.

NOV 16, 23, 30, DEC 07, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401879

The following person(s) is/are doing business as KAMALA BODHI WELLNESS, 109 BARTLETT ST #201, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed SAMANTHA HO. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/28/2023. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/09/2023.

NOV 16, 23, 30, DEC 07, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401856

by a limited liability company, and is signed SARITA’S GRILL & BEER, LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/07/2023. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/07/2023.

NOV 16, 23, 30, DEC 07, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401803

The following person(s) is/are doing business as DUB CITY TOWING, 1155 INDIANA ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94107. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed DUB CITY TOW LLC (CA).

The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/02/2023. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/02/2023.

NOV 16, 23, 30, DEC 07, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401779

The following person(s) is/are doing business as WAU+LOVE CONSULTING; SF SUNSHINE PAWS DOG WALKING; BLACK SHEEP DESIGN CONSULTING, 1945 CLAY ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed THE WAU UNIVERSITY, LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 09/21/2023. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/31/2023.

NOV 16, 23, 30, DEC 07, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401739

The following person(s) is/are doing business as JENN BAN STUDIO, 266 CARL ST #B, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94117. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed JENN BAN STUDIO LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 09/20/2023. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/27/2023.

NOV 16, 23, 30, DEC 07, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401889

The following person(s) is/are doing business as SUTRO HEIGHTS, CORPORATION, 659 45TH AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94121. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed UPLYFT ASSISTED CARE, LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 09/01/2023. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/09/2023.

NOV 16, 23, 30, DEC 07, 2023

STATEMENT OF ABANDONMENT OF USE OF FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME FILE A-0400621

The following persons have abandoned the use of the fictitious business name known as BUN APPETIT; ME SO HUNGRY; WING MAN; MR CLUCK; SLIDERMEISTER, 320 11TH ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103. This business was conducted by a limited liability company and signed

by GOURMET HUB, LLC (CA). The fictitious business name statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/13/2023. The abandonment of fictitious business name statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/01/2023.

NOV 16, 23, 30, DEC 07, 2023

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-23558372

In the matter of the application of BATMUNKH GERELMAA, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appears from said application that petitioner BATMUNKH GERELMAA is requesting that the name BATMUNKH GERELMAA be changed to BATMUNKH NOMUNKHAN. 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 23th of JANUARY 2024 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

NOV 23, 30, DEC 07, 14, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401883

The following person(s) is/are doing business as NINA MARION, 45 SURREY ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94131. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed NINA YHAP. 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 11/09/2023.

NOV 23, 30, DEC 07, 14, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401923 The following person(s) is/are doing business as CITY CHIK ENTERPRISES, 751 GRAFTON AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94112. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed JEANETTE WRIGHT. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 02/05/2023. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/14/2023.

NOV 23, 30, DEC 07, 14, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401725

The following person(s) is/are doing business as CAPTAIN MOLLY’S SF BOAT COMPANY, 160 CENTRAL AVE #4, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94117. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed MOLLY BREIVIS. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/26/2023. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/26/2023.

NOV 23, 30, DEC 07, 14, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401948

The following person(s) is/are doing business as HEATER MEDIA, 1638 LARKIN ST #7, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed MIRANDA HEATER. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/13/2023. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/20/2023.

NOV 23, 30, DEC 07, 14, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401673

The following person(s) is/are doing business as 500 LEAVENWORTH APARTMENTS, LP, 500 LEAVENWORTH ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109. This business is conducted by a limited partnership, and is signed 500 LEAVENWORTH APARTMENTS, LP (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 09/29/2009. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/08/2023.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as R&R SMART FIX, 2770 MISSION ST SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed RAMON MARTINEZ. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/12/2022. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/18/2023.

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401900

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401849

NOV 16, 23, 30, DEC 07, 2023

NOV 23, 30, DEC 07, 14, 2023

NOV 16, 23, 30, DEC 07, 2023

The following person(s) is/are doing business as KASA REAL ESTATE GROUP, 595 PACIFIC AVE FL 4, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94133. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed AVENUE 8 INC. (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 11/10/2023.

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401797

The following person(s) is/are doing business as SKYLARK, 3089 16TH ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed 3089 16TH STREET LLC (CA).

The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 04/28/2023. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/02/2023.

NOV 16, 23, 30, DEC 07, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401838 The following person(s) is/are doing business as SARITA’S GRILL & BEER, 995 VALENCIA ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted

NOV 23, 30, DEC 07, 14, 2023

The following person(s) is/are doing business as DOMINO’S PIZZA, 5200 GEARY BLVD, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94118. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed AHI FOODS INC (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 11/08/2023.

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401846 The following person(s) is/are doing business as DOMINO’S PIZZA, 728 GEARY ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed ARI FOODS INC (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 11/08/2023.

NOV 23, 30, DEC 07, 14, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401844 The following person(s) is/are doing business as DOMINO’S PIZZA, 320 BAYSHORE BLVD, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94124. This business is conducted by

a corporation, and is signed AAI FOODS INC (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 11/08/2023.

NOV 23, 30, DEC 07, 14, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401848 The following person(s) is/are doing business as DOMINO’S PIZZA, 3116 NORIEGA ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94122. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed ASI FOODS INC (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 11/08/2023.

NOV 23, 30, DEC 07, 14, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401906

The following person(s) is/are doing business as THE UPPER HAND NAIL SPA, 3836 24TH ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94114. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed THE UPPER HAND NAIL SPA (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/10/2023. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/10/2023.

NOV 23, 30, DEC 07, 14, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401931

The following person(s) is/are doing business as MAGIC PLUMBING HEATING & COOLING, 1455 BANCROFT AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94124. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed MAGIC PLUMBING INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/01/2023. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/15/2023.

NOV 23, 30, DEC 07, 14, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401814

The following person(s) is/are doing business as GREENTREE MAINTENANCE, 1398 BRYANT ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed GTM WORKS, 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 11/03/2023.

NOV 23, 30, DEC 07, 14, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401911

The following person(s) is/are doing business as LUNETTE CAMBODIA, 1 FERRY BLDG STE 33/47, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94105. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed NYUM BAI (DE).

The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/13/2023. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/13/2023.

NOV 23, 30, DEC 07, 14, 2023

IN THE MATTER OF M.A.P.O. LEILA GARDINO DOS REIS HAS FILED A PETITION FOR GUARDIANSHIP ASKING THAT LEILA GARDINO DOS REIS AND CELSO JOSE DA SILVA BE APPOINTED AS GUARDIANS OVER M.A.P.O., BIOLOGICAL CHILD OF VAGNER HENRIQUE PEDRA DE OLIVEIRA AND DEISIENE PEREIRA. HEARING DATE TO BE SCHEDULED. 30 SPRING STREET, NASHUA, NH 03060, 9TH CIRCUIT COURT - NASHUA

IMPORTANT NOTICE TO PARENTS This petition asks the court to decide whether guardianship over your child is needed and if the proposed guardian is appropriate.

If a guardian is appointed, the court will determine the guardian’s rights, powers and duties over your child.

This could include matters of care, custody or control, religious upbringing and other parts of your child’s life including visitation. It is also possible that you may be ordered to pay child support. If guardianship is granted, it will continue until the court enters an order ending or changing it or until the child reaches 18 years of age.

Each parent has the right to object to or to contest the guardianship petition. Each parent has a right to consent to the granting of the guardianship petition by doing so before the court or the court’s designee as specified in RSA 463:8, IX. Each parent is required to attend the hearing whether consenting or objecting to the petition. If you fail to appear at the hearing, the court may grant the guardianship and make other orders without your input.

Notify the court of your objection via mail at 30 Spring Street, Nashua, NH 03060, or by calling 1-855-212-1234.

As a parent, if you are not the petitioner, you must complete and file a UNIFORM CHILD CUSTODY JURISDICTION AND ENFORCEMENT ACT (UCCJEA) AFFIDAVIT with the court on or before the day of the hearing. You must forward a copy of the UCCJEA AFFIDAVIT to the Petitioner or the Petitioner’s Attorney.

NOV 30, DEC 07, 2023

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-23558379

In the matter of the application of MOHAMMED MAKSAOD ABDUL MAJID SHAIKH, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appears from said application that petitioner MOHAMMED MAKSAOD ABDUL MAJID SHAIKH is requesting that the name MOHAMMED MAKSAOD ABDUL MAJID SHAIKH AKA MOHAMMED MAKSUD ABDULMAJID SHAIKH AKA MOHAMMED MAKSUD SHAIKH be changed to MOHAMMED MAKSUD SHAIKH. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 103N, Rm. 103N on the 1st of FEBRUARY 2024 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

NOV 30, DEC 07, 14, 21, 2023

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-23558371

In the matter of the application of PETERS CLAUDE LOUIS GISSELERE, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appears from said application that petitioner PETERS CLAUDE LOUIS GISSELERE is requesting that the name PETERS CLAUDE LOUIS GISSELERE be changed to PETERS CLAUDE LOUIS MALHERBE. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 103N, Rm. 103N on the 20th of FEBRUARY 2024 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

NOV 30, DEC 07, 14, 21, 2023

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-23558361

In the matter of the application of KEVIN WILLIAM RUDER, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appears from said application that petitioner KEVIN WILLIAM RUDER is requesting that the name KEVIN WILLIAM RUDER be changed to NICOLAS KEVIN CANALES OUIMETTE. 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 15th of FEBRUARY 2024 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

NOV 30, DEC 07, 14, 21, 2023

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-23558388

In the matter of the application of LEE DUPONT MAYEUX, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appears from said application that petitioner LEE DUPONT MAYEUX is requesting that the name LEE DUPONT MAYEUX be changed to LEE MAYEUX ANDERSON. 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 9th of JANUARY 2024 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

NOV 30, DEC 07, 14, 21, 2023

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA,

t

COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-23558389

In the matter of the application of MELISSA TIFFANY HUNG, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appears from said application that petitioner MELISSA TIFFANY HUNG is requesting that the name MELISSA TIFFANY HUNG be changed to MELISSA KWANG ANDERSSON. 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 9th of JANUARY 2024 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

NOV 30, DEC 07, 14, 21, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401960 The following person(s) is/are doing business as 4 THE LOVE OF DOG, 1450 SUTTER ST #223, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed JAMES JASMIN. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/21/2023. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/21/2023.

NOV 30, DEC 07, 14, 21, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401857

The following person(s) is/are doing business as SOLECITOS FAMILY HOME DAYCARE, 4480 MISSION ST #B, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94112. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed OSIRIS ALVARADO. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/08/2023. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/08/2023.

NOV 30, DEC 07, 14, 21, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401901

The following person(s) is/are doing business as BED AND BREAKFAST JAM, 830 EDDY ST #702, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed GABRIEL DAVID CHEUK. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/07/2023. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/10/2023.

NOV 30, DEC 07, 14, 21, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401975

The following person(s) is/are doing business as CONCEPTM; RINCON HOUSE OF BABEL, 1592 UNION ST #387, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94123. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed STEVE MORIN. 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 11/28,2023.

NOV 30, DEC 07, 14, 21, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401840

The following person(s) is/are doing business as DESIGN BLITZ; BLITZ; STUDIO BLITZ; BLITZ ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN; BLITZ SF; BLITZ SAN FRANCISCO; ALPHAPUP OFFICE, 435 JACKSON ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94111. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed DESIGN BLITZ (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/11/2022. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/08/2023.

NOV 30, DEC 07, 14, 21, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401934

The following person(s) is/are doing business as TRAVEL A GOGO, 3739 BALBOA ST #235, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94121. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed SOL LEGACY VENTURES (DE). 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 11/15/2023.

NOV 30, DEC 07, 14, 21, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401956

The following person(s) is/are doing business as ZUPERPET, 819 BOSWORTH ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94131. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed MIGHTYREAL 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 11/20/2023.

NOV 30, DEC 07, 14, 21, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401835

The following person(s) is/are doing business as THANK YOU SAINT, 2377 SAN JOSE AVE #18, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94112. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed THANK YOU SAINT LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 09/20/2023. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/07/2023.

NOV 30, DEC 07, 14, 21, 2023

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by Jim Gladstone

I

magine if you will, a San Francisco encounter between the host of the “Rocky Horror Show” and Rose Nylund.

He plunges his beak into her nether regions, rhapsodizing about her aroma, “So sweet!”

“Holy Saint Olaf, Senator!” Rose shrieks.

“That’s not what I meant when I said I asked you to take a peek at my parklet!”

He emerges with an eyeroll: “Perhaps you’re confused. I’m Frank-N-Furter, not Scott Weiner.”

‘The Golden Girls Live!’ lives on D’Arcy Drollinger and Coco Peru carry the torch

D’Arcy Drollinger, Holotta Tymes, Miss Coco Peru and Matthew Martin in ‘The Golden Girls Live!’

The twain have met

‘A Very Judy Christmas’

SF Symphony’s ‘Holiday Gaiety’ Cabure Bonugi

David Allen

‘Dear San Francisco’

The cultivation of that sense of a shared culture is part of why Drollinger returns to these roles on a near-annual basis. And why he decided to produce the “Golden Girls Live!” again this Christmas season, even in the absence of close friend and collaborator Heklina, who died in April. In recent years Heklina played a spectacularly corrosive Dorothy Zbornak, the role originated by Bea Arthur in the 1985-1992 sit-com.

The cast most recently also featured Holotta Tymes as Sophia (replacing the late Eddie

Music, dance and camp fun for your Yule

Connie Champagne’s ‘A Very Judy Christmas’ Our local chanteuse known for her heartfelt Judy Garland cabaret homage with a bit of whimsy returns to the popular martini bar’s intimate lounge, with accompanist Barry Lloyd and guest singer Olivia Gonzales. $40. Dec. 16 & 17, 7pm.

Martuni’s, 4 Valencia St. www.facebook.com/events/894474682021868 Golden Gate Men’s Chorus’ ‘Star of Wonder’ Under the directorship of Joseph Piazza, the chorus performs winter anthems, joyful carols, and sentimental holiday classics. $30-$50. December 14-19 at St. Matthew’s Lutheran Church, 3281 16th St. www.ggmc.org

Sunday’s a Drag: Holiday Extravaganza Following a 15-year run at The Starlight Room, the “First Lady of the Castro” Donna Sachet recently relocated her classic “Sunday’s a Drag” brunch show to Club Fugazi. The program celebrates the history of drag in San Francisco, with performances by Sachet, Mercedez Munro, Khmera Rouge, and Ehra Amaya. $89-$99, Dec. 17 only, Club Fugazi, 678 Green St. www.clubfugazi.com San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus Holiday Spectacular SF Gay Men’s Chorus’ annual extravaganza features a rousing mix of holiday music, come-

DANCE

Smuin Contemporary Ballet’s ‘The Christmas Ballet’ The late Michael Smuin’s joyous “Christmas Ballet” is the company’s ever-evolving holiday program. This year’s rendition features world premiere works by Smuin Associate Artistic Director Amy Seiwert and former Smuin artist Nicole Haskins. The company’s popular LGBTQ Night (Dec. 19), hosted by worldwide drag sensation Lady Camden, is a one-night-only performance featuring special programming and casting that celebrates the LGBTQ community. Every ticket purchased also supports Project Open Hand, The

San Francisco Ballet’s ‘Nutcracker’ There are countless productions of “Nutcracker” around the Bay Area, but San Francisco Ballet’s version is the most opulent. Set in San Francisco during the 1915 Panama Pacific International Exposition, the production features more than 150 world-class dancers and a full orchestra performing Tchaikovsky’s iconic score. There will be plenty of children in attendance, but the show also makes for a wonderful holiday night on the town for adults. $25-$388, Dec. 13-30, War Memorial Opera House, 301 Van Ness Ave. www.sfballet.org RAWdance’s ‘Loving Still’ Here’s something different for the holiday season. RAWdance presents the world premiere of “Loving Still,” a dance work performed by five pairs of male dancers, inspired by the book, “Loving: A Photographic History of Men in Love, 1850s -1950s,” a collection of more than 300 previously unpublished photos capturing the beauty of same-sex love throughout history.

From members of the military to the heirs of high society, images from the book will be reproduced in large format and displayed in the venue. Free with RSVP, Dec. 8-10, 836 Montgomery St. www.rawdance.org See page 22 >>

Matt Haber

Berkeley Symphony’s ‘Holiday Winds’ Get into the holiday spirit with an evening of uplifting music performed by a quintet of Berkeley Symphony woodwind players. “Holiday Winds” features favorite Christmas carols as well as new compositions. Stay afterwards for a festive post-show reception. $40, Dec. 3, Piedmont Center for the Arts, 801 Magnolia Avenue. www.berkeleysymphony.org

dic routines, and Broadway-style production numbers. This year’s program showcases ballroom dancing champions Photis Pishiaras and Ron Jenkins, and the world premiere of “Where Winter Rests in Sleep,” composed by Alessio Tranchell, winner of SFGMC’s Annual Composition Competition. The Chorus’ Christmas Eve performances at the Castro Theatre always sell out, so get tickets early. Or you can catch the Chorus earlier in the month at the Sydney Goldstein Theatre, Zellerbach Hall in Berkeley, or Green Music Center in Rohnert Park. $25-$145, Dec. 8-24, various Bay Area locations. www.sfgmc.org

Chris Hardy

MUSIC

Imperial Council of San Francisco, the LGBT Asylum Project, and other nonprofits. $25-$119, now through Dec. 24, various Bay Area venues. www.smuinballet.org

Gooch

F

rom classical music and dance, to campy classics featuring your favorite drag performers, there’s something on stages across the Bay Area to bring joy and inspiration to your holiday season. Sick of Santa? Not nuts for “Nutcracker”? We’ve also included a few offerings for those looking to escape the barrage of holiday programming this month.

San Francisco Symphony: ‘Holiday Gaiety’ One of the Bay Area’s most popular LGBTQ holiday events is SF Symphony’s annual “Holiday Gaiety,” co-emceed by conductor Edwin Outwater and Peaches Christ. The program features our city’s world-renowned orchestra with performances by Bianca Del Rio; vocalist Dylan Mulvaney; mezzosoprano and aerialist Nikola Printz; vocalist Renée Lubin; Sister Roma; dancers Rory Davies and Michael Phillis from the cast of “Baloney;” and the SF Gay Men’s Chorus. $35-$109, Dec. 15, Davies Symphony Hall, 201 Van Ness Ave. www.sfsymphony.org

See page 18 >>

Mark Foehringer’s ‘Nutcracker Sweets’ If you’ve got little ones who aren’t quite ready for the two-hour classical ballet experience, “Nutcracker Sweets” is just for you. Now in its 15th year, this 50-minute version of the ballet features beautiful sets and costumes and a live nine-piece chamber orchestra. Don’t make a fuss if the kids next to you talk to the characters on stage; audience participation is encouraged. $23.50-$49.50, December 2-23, Cowell Theater at Fort Mason, 2 Marina Blvd. www.nutcrackersweets.org

Holiday happenings

by Philip Mayard

Bell/Cookie Dough) and Matthew Martin as Blanche.

“Before she died,” said Drollinger, “Heklina and I had discussed what we’d do if one of the girls left. It was very clear to us that the show, and San Francisco’s love of the show, was bigger than us individually, so it would definitely go on.

But finding someone locally who could fill her shoes locally was difficult. Well, it was impossible.”

Helena Palazzi

White, in a conversation with the Bay Area Reporter over Thanksgiving weekend.

“I have to work harder to land Rose’s jokes because they’re more nuanced and layered. So much of what’s funny in how she delivers her lines, and her strange joy in telling the same old story yet another time. She’s a bit surreal.”

Both parts, iconic in American queer communities, require precise delivery of dialogue, because loyal audiences have the scripts entirely memorized. They’re fanatical.

Kent Taylor

The unlikely collision of these characters is just another November day for D’Arcy Drollinger. Two weeks after hanging up the flashy black cape and corset he wore to play Frank in the immersive “Rocky Horror Show,” he slips into a sturdier girdle to play Rose, the dim-witted double-entendresse originated by Betty White, in holiday season staple “The Golden Girls, Live!” which opens November 30 at the Victoria Theatre.

“Frank-N-Furter is more physically demanding, but Rose is more complex,” said Drollinger, who shares a January 17 birthday with the late

SF Gay Men’s Chorus

‘The Christmas Ballet’

‘Nutcracker Sweets’

‘Loving Still’

<< Theater

18 • Bay Area Repor ter • November 30-December 6, 2023

The unscripted self

by Jim Gladstone

“W

hy would anyone read reviews?!” asks the brash title character of David Cale’s funny, brainy one-actor play “Harry Clarke,” now at the Berkeley Rep. “Surprise me!”

You’re safe to continue, dear reader.

As performed by Tony and Emmy winner Billy Crudup, this vividly devilish show is spring-loaded with so many surprises on so many levels that

Monday 8am

reading reviews could never spoil it.

Neither could reading the script, or even hearing Crudup and director Leigh Silverman’s recorded version, which is available through Audible (I’d listened twice before seeing the Berkeley production).

Crudup affects different voices – including two completely distinct British accents; one cockney, one posh – for each of the approximately two dozen characters in a this sprightly-

Open Daily!

(last seating 9:45pm)

Tuesday 8am

New Adjusted Hours

(last seating 9:45pm)

Wednesday 8am

Billy Crudup in Berkeley Rep’s ‘Harry Clarke’

told tale of self-consciousness, classconsciousness and the unconscionable actions they provoke.

But he also brings them to life with crisp physical shifts. Crudup confidently leads with his pecs when he’s Harry; abashedly wobbles his head as a crunchy granola songstress; and matches a vocal stutter with trembling hands as Philip Bruggelstein, the bullied gay Indiana school boy from whose damaged psyche the adult Harry emerges.

Crudup’s delicious comic timing extends from his lines through his limbs.

Watching this performance feels a bit like peering through that gizmo optometrists use to adjust a prescription, rotating through different lenses on each eye: Is this one better?— CLICK—Or this?— CLICK—How about this one?

You can always see Crudup, but with every miniscule softening and sharpening he delivers a distinctly different character. This cipher-like transmutability will be familiar to viewers of Apple TV’s “The Morning Show,” in which Crudup’s cryptic network executive changes demeanor on a dime.

Hidden secrets

(last seating 9:45pm)

Here, Crudup’s performance metaphorically echoes and amplifies the instability of Bruggelstein, who moves in and out of his hardy Harry Clarke persona – initially on purpose, but later involuntarily – as a coping mechanism as he flees his middle-class background and inveigles himself into upper crust New York society.

Thursday 8am Open 24 Hours

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Open 24 Hours

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(last seating 9:45pm)

<<

Proudly serving the community since 1977.

Golden Girls Live!

From page 17

Friend of Dorothy

Ultimately, Drollinger offered the role to Los Angeles-based drag performer Clinton Leupp, known as

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tickets: TheRhino.org Theatre Rhinoceros / 4229 18th St, San francisco in The Castro John Fisher, Executive Artistic Director

Kevin Berne

Billy Crudup in ‘Harry Clarke’

The One Percent is represented by the Schmidts, a family of four, each of whom is deftly etched by Crudup – the wine-tipsy septuagenarian matriarch is small masterpiece of characterization – and three of whom are sexually toyed with by Harry.

After several narrative twists and turns, playwright Cale doesn’t quite stick the landing, though. Our solipsistic main character is, appropriately enough, on an exotic island. He’s superficially happy but fundamentally a fraud. In short order, his triumph will slip from idyllic to Pyrrhic. “Harry Clarke” ends as unsettled as it begins.

Still, if Cales’ script doesn’t wrap things up with a Christmas bow, it compensates with a treasure trove of Easter eggs. “Harry Clarke” is loaded Miss Coco Peru, who had been a close friend of Heklina’s and shared the physical stature and imposing character that helped make Heklina’s Dorothy so memorable.

“When he first asked,” recalled Peru in a recent phone interview, “I oddly didn’t hesitate, which is not the way I usually operate. I was so devastated about Heklina and I hadn’t been able to attend her memorial. I thought it could help me have some closure.

“There’s another layer, too, explained Peru. “I was friendly with Bea Arthur” (Arthur passed in 2009).

“She loved queer people and she was brought to my show years ago by [famed female impersonator] Charles Pierce.

She just took a liking to me. She was my guest for ‘Conversations with Coco.’

Peru conducted a live interview series at the Los Angeles LGBT Center from 2005-2016.

“Her friendship meant so much to me because she was someone I’d absolutely adored when I was a kid, Peru added. “I remember listening to my parents’ cast recording of ‘Fiddler on the Roof ’— she played Yenta the Matchmaker—and her voice and attitude just resonated with me. Then I got to see her on TV every week as Maude and I became obsessed. Those slow burns she did were a real influence on me.

“Bea told me that when she was starting in the business she felt like an outsider. She was tall and had that deep voice and all the young actresses seemed to be short and blond and aspire to play ingénues. She felt left out, and I think that’s part of why she had such a connection to the gay community.”

Bosom buddies

NOV 9th - DEC 3rd, 2023 America’s Premier and Longest-Running Queer Theatre

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TICKETS

Neither Drollinger nor Peru were particular fans of “The Golden Girls” when it originally aired on NBC broadcast television. Both were in college for four years of its run and spent little time watching TV. Over time, they gravitated to the show in syndication as it became a fixture for gay viewers. Still, Peru admitted, “When I first saw it, I had this annoyed reaction; ‘Why is Bea sharing the spotlight?!’”

While in San Francisco for rehearsals and the run of the show, Peru is living in a guest apartment connected to

with enough sly references and winking meta-commentary to provide surprises through multiple viewings.

There’s a series of film noir jokes and homages; an inclusion of singer Sade in the plot that not only accentuates the silky flow of Harry’s cons but rewards a close reading of the lyrics of “Smooth Operator” and “Hang On to Your Love,” and the crucial scene quoted above, which takes place in a theater and invites audiences to cogitate on not only the function and purpose of reviewing, but that of acting, of lying, of playing oneself in the world.t ‘Harry Clarke,’ through Dec. 23. $33-$163. Berkeley Repertory Theatre, 2015 Addison St. (510) 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.com

Above: D’Arcy Drollinger (right) and Holotta Tymes in a 2022 production of ‘The Golden Girls Live!’

Below: Miss Coco Peru

Drollinger’s home.

“It’s been great,” said Drollinger, “We’d been friends in the sense of having lunch together when she was in town to do a show, but she was closer with Heklina, so it’s been nice to have a chance to get to know each other better. And she’s made fast friends with the rest of the cast.”

For most of the 30 years prior to this one, Coco Peru has spent the Christmas season in Florida where her mother has been spending her golden years.

“As she got older, every year I felt I needed to go,” said Peru. “Now she’s 97 and this opportunity came along.

But she gave me her blessing, told me to take it. My mom’s always been great with Coco. She says ‘Even when I die, you should never miss a live performance.’”t ‘The Golden Girls Live!’ through December 23. Victoria Theater, 2961 16th St. (415) 863-7576. www.thegoldengirlslive.com

Everything we know started in the stars.

The Universe in Us A new planetarium show narrated by Diego Luna

The universal truth? Everything around you shares a celestial ancestry.

Trace how generations of exploding stars forged every atom and element that make up Earth, the Solar System—and us.

Now open | Get tickets at calacademy.org Every visit supports our mission to regenerate the natural world.

32371-CAS-Spark-Bay Area Reporter-9.75x16-11.22.23-FA.indd 1

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11/22/23 3:09 PM

<< Film & Books

20 • Bay Area Repor ter • November 30-December 6, 2023

‘eVil Sublet’

Queer horror comedy to play Balboa Theater

by David-Elijah Nahmod

A

llan Piper’s “eVil Sublet” (the stylized title) is a queer horror comedy that delivers. It’s a supernatural parody on how far people in New York City will go to obtain affordable housing.

The film offers strong laughs and even stronger scares, and features TV legend Sally Struthers (“All in the Family”) in a small supporting role.

On December 2 at 8pm the film will screen at the Balboa Theater as part of the Another Hole in the Head Film Festival. Piper will be there in person for a Q & A, joined by Jennifer Lee Houston, the film’s leading lady and Piper’s real life wife, and by cabaret star Leanne Borghesi, who also plays a supporting role in the film.

Houston and Charley Tucker star as Alex and Ben, a married couple in Manhattan who are desperate to find affordable housing. They’re so desperate that they move into a three-bedroom apartment in the East Village that has a history of mysterious deaths; dozens of them. It doesn’t take long for Alex to start seeing ghosts and hearing strange voices. Then a friend of theirs (Patrick Wang) chokes to death in the apartment. Alex becomes desperate to find out the apartment’s secret, and to get out of that creepy place.

Meanwhile, a gay couple from Coney Island (Pat Dwyer, Stephen Mosher), one of whom who has psychic powers, takes it upon themselves to help Alex and Ben. Borghesi plays Hedy, Alex’s ex-wife and best friend, and yes, the two women have a musical number.

“Jen and I love cabaret star Leanne Borghesi,” Piper said in an interview with the Bay Area Reporter. “So we had to find a way for her to not just be one of the stars of the movie, but also to sing in it.”

t

Left: Jennifer Lee Houston in ‘eVil Sublet’ Right: Leanne Borghesi and Jennifer Lee Houston in ‘eVil Sublet’

Borghesi, who is a lesbian, is not the only LGBT-identified person in the film. A decade ago, Dwyer and Mosher were featured in Piper’s documentary “Married and Counting,” which was narrated by gay actor

‘eVil Sublet’ director Allan Piper

George Takei. That film documented their quest to travel the country and marry in every state where same-sex marriage was legal.

“While they’d never acted on screen together, I knew they were absolutely electric to watch,” said Piper. “So I wanted to put them back on the big screen.”

Both Piper and Houston love New York, and made “eVil Sublet” in part to pay homage to the city they call home.

They also love horror movies.

“But for some reason horror movies are usually set in the middle of nowhere,” he said. “And movies that are set in New York, both horror and non, are often shot somewhere else and don’t feel like the New York we know.

So we wanted to celebrate our city with scenes on the historic Wonder Wheel and Spook-a-Rama and with sideshow performers from Coney Island, USA.” Piper reports that he and Houston got to meet Struthers socially and became friends with her. Struthers told

them that doing a horror movie was on her bucket list.

“Getting to work with a star of her caliber in a genre she’d never done was a dream come true,” said Piper. “Now I was a filmmaker on the Obama 2012

Sally Struthers in ‘eVil Sublet’

and Hillary Clinton 2016 campaigns, and I was the supervising politics producer for “Now This” for four years, so I have filmed with presidents, governors and secretaries of state. I don’t spook easily. But I’d never asked such a big star to do something completely outside the area of what they normally do, so it was a little nerve-wracking. By the way, she insisted on doing all her own screams, and they’re blood-curdling.”

Four of the five lead characters in “eVil Sublet” are LGBT-identified, and they’re played by LGBT actors, something that was very important to Piper. He knows these actors well, and tailored the roles to align with the performers’ identities.

“But I do worry when people make rules about who should play what,” he said. “Because acting is a job, and employers shouldn’t be grilling job applicants about who or how they love.”

Piper added that he is proud of the fact that the lead role in “eVil Sublet” is a bisexual woman who isn’t being fetishized for male enjoyment.

“Bi people are underrepresented in media,” said Piper. “It’s important to represent that bi people can be in a hetero relationship, like Jen and me, and it doesn’t negate their queerness.” “eVil Sublet” has already screened on the East Coast and reactions to it have been quite positive, according to Piper. There have been non-stop laughter, screams, squeals and gasps.

“The world is full of real-life horrors right now,” he said. “We want to give you 105 minutes of fun. And if we bust some stereotypes in the process, all the better.”t ‘eVil Sublet,’ December 2, 8pm, Balboa Theater, 3630 Balboa Street, part of the Another Hole in the Head Film Festival www.balboamovies.com www.holehead2023.eventive.org

Long-awaited Streisand memoir tells all

by David-Elijah Nahmod

A

t age 81, after more than 60 years in show business, superstar Barbra Streisand’s long-awaited memoir is finally out. In interviews, Streisand

has said that she worked on the book for the better part of ten years. It was a massive undertaking.

“My Name is Barbra” clocks in at 970 pages, and no wonder. Streisand has lived an extraordinary life. She has

starred in blockbuster films, directing three of them. She has released dozens of albums and sold millions of records. She has been on Broadway.

She has performed concerts in sold out stadiums. And she has broken bread with some of Hollywood’s biggest stars, as well as with major political figures. She has a lot to tell, and she tells it beautifully.

Streisand begins at the beginning, recalling her unhappy childhood in Brooklyn. Her father died when she was 15 months old, and the family, consisting of Streisand, her brother and mother, were forced to move in with her grandparents. All five of them were crowded into a one-bedroom apartment. Her mother was emotionally distant, never telling her about her father (“I didn’t want you to miss him,” Mom said years later), and never showing Barbra any affection or offering her approval (“I didn’t want you to get a swelled head” was the excuse).

Her mother remarried and her stepfather treated her horribly, going so far as to tell Streisand that she was “ugly.” Streisand escaped by going to the movies, dreaming of becoming a famous actress.

That dream came true beyond her wildest dreams. Streisand began her career by singing in clubs, quickly amassing a following and getting good reviews in the press. By the time she was in her early twenties she was starring on Broadway, playing real-life show business icon from the past Fannie Brice in the musical “Funny Girl.” In 1968, at age 26, she starred in the film version of the play and won an Oscar. There were best-selling albums, TV specials and one movie after another.

A magical life

Her later life became truly magical.

She recalled getting a fan letter from

legendary movie star Henry Fonda and being told by crooner Frank Sinatra that if anyone ever gave her a hard time “I’ll take care of it.”

Practically everything Streisand touched turned to gold. Yet through it all she remained a shy girl from Brooklyn. Eventually she ventured into territory where women in Hollywood were not allowed and became a film director. Her 1983 film “Yentl,” the story of a young girl in 1904 Eastern Europe who disguises herself as a man in order to study the Torah, became a tribute to the father she lost.

She directed two more films. All three of her directorial efforts were hits, yet she was never nominated for a directing Oscar and struggled to be taken seriously by her male crews.

Streisand writes about all of this, and much more, with grace and aplomb. Her prose glides across the page with ease. She recalled her involvement in politics, becoming close friends with President Bill Clinton and getting, from Clinton’s mother Virginia, the affection she never got from her own mother.

Streisand is a strong supporter of gay rights. She writes about her failed attempts at making a film of gay writer Larry Kramer’s AIDS play “The Normal Heart,” a film she never got to make because the egotistical Kramer became so impossible to deal with.

When the film was finally made for HBO without her involvement, she rejoiced nonetheless, glad that this important story got to be seen by a wider audience. In the chapter on “The Normal Heart,” Streisand expresses support for her son Jason, who is gay.

She became appalled by the fact that gays were not allowed to serve in the military and produced “Serving in Silence,” a TV movie in which Glenn Close played real life army nurse Margarethe Cammermeyer, who sued the federal government when she is discharged from the military for being a lesbian. The film was well received, and she went on to produce “What Makes a Family,” another TV movie. This time she told the story of a lesbian couple who had a child. When the partner who carried the child dies, the survivor found that she had no legal claim on the child. Streisand expressed great satisfaction in telling these stories, which mean so much to her, even though she herself is not a lesbian.

“My Name is Barbra” ultimately stands as a self-portrait of a life well lived. Streisand accomplished everything she set out to do with almost surreal levels of success. Her book, so easy to read in spite of its massive size, is a must-read for fans who have followed her career across the years.

Streisand leaves quite a legacy, and this book documents it all. t ‘My Name is Barbra’ by Barbra Streisand, Viking Press, 970 pages, $47. penguinrandomhouse.com www.barbrastreisand.com

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Books>>

November 30-December 6, 2023 • Bay Area Repor ter • 21

Handsomely talented

by Tim Pfaff

E

ven allowing for the fact that authors don’t always get to choose their titles, Nancy Spada’s new “Beyond the Handsomeness: A Biography of Thomas Schippers” (Universal Music) hits a sour note. Her chatty, lopsided, frequently infuriating look at the much-celebrated but shortlived musician has the laudable goal of analyzing what was great about Schippers “beyond” his looks. But, in her account, he’s ever the looker.

Why would you use “handsomeness” in a title anyway? It’s a word all right, but an awkward one. Say it out loud to see how clumsy it sounds.

Without even broaching the touchy subject of looksism in the classical music world, a biography that includes the man’s own thoughts about his good looks overshoots the “beyond.”

Spada references Jane Howard’s December 6, 1963, Life magazine profile, “Matinee Idol Maestro,” twice. In it, Hansen enthuses, “The brilliant young conductor is tall, with the face and body of a Greek god at a time when Greek gods are hard to find.”

Schippers confided to Howard that Hollywood called, but he didn’t answer. Elsewhere we learn that Columbia Artists Management head Ronald Wilford opined that Schippers was “too good looking for his own good.”

“Admired by many for his classical handsomeness,” Spada goes on, “he provoked nearly unanimous adulation for his musicianship and for the apparent ease with which he conducted scores of the utmost complexity.

Members of the audience were often taken aback by his physical aspect, which was clearly impossible to hide when entering the orchestra pit, before being intrigued and, in the end, enchanted by his profound and passionate musical interpretations.”

“There were very few people I interviewed,” Spada insists,”who knew and worked with Schippers who did not comment on his looks, men and women alike.”

Biographer Nancy Spada

with composer Gian Carlo Menotti, of “Amahl and the Night Visitors” fame, with whom Schippers helped create the Spoleto Festival after the two sported around Italy seeking the right locale. They fell out after Schippers married Nonie.

It’s a matter of record elsewhere, including Howard Pollock’s new biography of composer Samuel Barber, that Schippers was “romantically” involved both with Menotti and Barber, Menotti’s lifelong partner. Schippers’s legendary collaboration with Barber came in his conducting of the premiere of Franco Zeffirelli’s production of Berber’s “Antony and Cleopatra,” commissioned for the opening of the newly re-

It started with the organ

Thomas Schippers’ album, ‘Opera Overtures’

Gay colleagues

Spada breezes past the other thing people who know little else about Schippers know: his versatile sexuality. It was “bisexuality” of the Leonard Bernstein variety, about which more is revealed in the new Bernstein biopic, “Maestro,” though Schippers does not appear in it.

Schippers clearly doted on his wife Nonie, an heiress to the Grace shipping fortune, in no small part for her tireless doting on him. From all accounts, a key to their successful marriage was that Nonie “understood.”

Against the odds, she predeceased him. Schippers died on December 18, 1977, of lung cancer, at 47.

It begs belief that the people Spada interviewed did not include friends and colleagues who would have known about Schippers’s extracurricular pairings. His initial renown was hitched to his long association

built Metropolitan Opera, in 1966. It was one of the most notorious flops in American music history, for which only Schippers and the cast won raves.

So then there was Zeffirelli, too.

The roster of Schippers’s principal colleagues and associates is a catalog of the gay music celebrities of his day (though, given the era, none would have used the word “gay”). He prepared the premiere of “The Tender Land,” an opera for television by Aaron Copland, whose homosexuality still comes as a surprise to many music lovers. And then there were Ned Rorem and Benjamin Britten, the latter arguably the most famous out composer of the 20th century, although Spada leaves it unclear whether Britten and Schippers met in person.

Author’s collection, courtesy of Doris and Henry Schippers

Thomas Schippers in 1950

Sandy Underwood, courtesy Universal Publishers

Thomas Schippers at Cincinnati’s Music Hall, conducting the Poulenc Concerto from the keyboard

As musically versatile as Bernstein, Schippers was a child prodigy at the piano. He made a name for himself conducting the Chicago Symphony in Mendelssohn’s Second Piano Concerto from the keyboard.

But his “true love,” Sapada says, was the organ. “Tommy’s chief pleasure, when other little boys were out playing baseball,” Spada breathlessly contends, “was to practice the organ in the church until late at night and then fall asleep in the chancery.” He also conducted the Organ Concerto of Francis Poulenc, also famously gay, from the keyboard, claiming it wanted only one musician.

His work with his hometown orchestra, the Cincinnati Symphony, was as devoted as it was longlasting.

The list of international orchestras he conducted and sometimes served as director is long.

It’s a conspicuous failing of Spada’s book that, dodging a full performance history, she refers the reader, for example, to the orchestra’s official website for details about his work with the New York Philharmonic. Similarly, although she credits him with the many, sometimes groundbreaking, recordings he oversaw, Spada includes only a “limited” (but lengthy for all that) discography. It’s a pity it doesn’t also include leads to his live, unofficial, “sound check” items.

Similarly, his professional musical education receives summary treatment. The Curtis Institute, the Juilliard School, Harvard, and Yale all crowd into two busy paragraphs.

As inviting and breezily informative as “Beyond” is, it leaves the central mysteries about Schippers untouched, not only the sexual liaisons but the aspects and qualities of his music-making that made him so beloved and kept him so sought-after. Spada seems willing to settle for the fact that Schippers insisted on spontaneity and sought never to conduct a piece the same way twice, plus her claim that his conducting was “profound” and “passionate.”

Pretty is, we learn yet again, as pretty does, but the lingering question is, how does pretty do?t

‘Beyond the Handsomeness: a Biography of Thomas Schippers,’ by Nancy Spada. Universal Publishers, 168 pages, $34.95 www.universal-publishers.com www.thomasschippers.com

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<< Holiday TV & Events

22 • Bay Area Repor ter • November 30-December 6, 2023

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t

The Lavender Tube on queer holiday viewing

by Victoria A. Brownworth

T

o paraphrase the song, “It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas movies, everywhere you go.” As we lamented elsewhere, how is it I love Christmas so much and really don’t like Christmas movies? And why are there so many of them?

Perhaps it’s just that I am not a romcom aficionado. Or perhaps I am just weary of the straight trope. But there are some queer Christmas movies out there, including a new one for this season from Hallmark, so grab your eggnog and cookies and settle in for some queer holiday cheer.

Family plan

This year, Hallmark is debuting a lesbian Christmas rom-com as well, which is amazing. “Friends & Family Christmas” premiering December 17, stars Ali Liebert (“One of Us Is Lying”) and Humberly Gonzalez (“Ginny and Georgia”). And it’s a fake dating trope romance, too! Overwhelmed by Christmas events and a surprise visit from her parents, photographer Dani (Gonzalez) asks lawyer Amelia (Liebert) for help. Pretending to date is the perfect solution until real feelings start to develop in the magical atmosphere of Christmas.

Liebert identifies as queer and has discussed using her work to support representation in a Go Mag interview, saying, “I think having a specific space for conversation that promotes and celebrates work that uplifts queers is really important.”

Liebert, who starred in the queer fave “Lost Girls,” said, “It’s more important to me now, being queer myself and also portraying queer people in TV and film and having a space where people can speak to how they feel in being represented. Actors, writers and directors can use our voices to promote a representation of our community. It’s important to see how folks feel about that.”

Holiday rom-com

Hallmark’s 2023 holiday movie, “Christmas on Cherry Lane” stars everyone’s fave romancer, Hallmark’s #1

Left: Ali Liebert and Humberly Gonzalez in ‘Friends & Family Christmas’ Middle Left: Vincent Rodriguez III and Jonathan Bennett in ‘Christmas on Cherry Lane’ Middle: Philemon Chambers, Jennifer Coolidge and Michael Urie in ‘Single All the Way’ Middle Right: Dia Frampton with Ashley Argota in ‘I Hate New Year’s’ Right: Rue McClanahan in “Some of My Best Friends Are...”

gay romantic lead, Jonathan Bennett.

Here Bennett is paired with Vincent Rodriguez III (“Crazy Ex-Girlfriend”) for a sweet confection in which three families celebrate Christmas at turning points in their lives.

A young couple preparing to welcome their first child; an empty-nester and her fiancé ready to start a new chapter; and a couple who unexpectedly have the chance to expand their family on Christmas Eve celebrate the holiday as they navigate these turning points in their lives. That last couple are Mike (Bennett) and Zian (Rodriguez), who are waiting for news about their efforts to adopt a child. It premieres December 9.

Singles night

And “Single All the Way,” from 2021, is still pretty fabulous. Netflix’s first original gay Christmas movie follows a perpetually single man who convinces his friend to pretend to be his boyfriend for the holidays, not knowing his meddling mom already has plans to set him up on a blind date with someone else.

Desperate to avoid his family’s judgment about his perpetual single status, Peter (Michael Urie) convinces his best friend Nick (Philemon Chambers) to join him for the holidays and pretend that they’re now in a relationship. But when Peter’s mother (Kathy Najimy) sets him up on a blind date with her handsome trainer James

Dan McBride

Hillary Goidell

(Luke Macfarlane), the plan goes awry.

This is just such an enjoyable offering in this genre, in part because the cast is fantastic and the one-liners are just pitch-perfect.

“How did I not know your mother had a drag name?” asks Nick as Peter tells him he has to refer to his mother as “Christmas Carol.” And when Jennifer Coolidge says, “The gays just know how to do stuff!” it’s a moment.

Auld lang signs

“I Hate New Year’s” is a kind of “Last Christmas” of films. The 2020 musical romantic dramedy is directed by Christin Baker, from a screenplay written by Kathryn Trammell.

Layne Price (Dia Frampton) has enjoyed a successful music career, however she’s hit a creative roadblock that she’s unable to overcome.

Interpreting advice from a fortune teller as meaning that she should revisit her roots, Layne sets out to return to her hometown of Nashville, Tennessee for New Year’s Eve. Her best friend Cassie (Ashley Argota) is determined to confess her love to Layne, however Layne herself is more interested in finding one of her exes.

As the two search, Layne finds herself starting to realize that she may be in love with Cassie as well.

Frampton was runner-up in the inaugural season of “The Voice” and thus she’s very believable as a singer/songwriter. The film also stars one of our

Reed Flores

fave trans actresses, Candis Cayne as Zelena/Marley. It’s available on Vudu, Amazon, YouTube, Google Play.

Scrooges

The 2012 film “Scrooge and Marley” is the gay Christmas movie everyone forgot, but why? A gay successful piano bar owner Ebenezer “Ben” Scrooge (David Pevsner) despises Christmas and other people. He also mistreats and underpays his employees. One night, Scrooge encounters the ghost of Jacob Marley (Tim Kazurinsky) – who died ten years before the film – in chains, warning Scrooge that he will suffer the same fate in the afterlife, and that the three Spirits will visit him.

After he goes to sleep, Scrooge encounters the Ghost of Christmas Past (Ronnie Kroell), who transports him to the 1970s. There, they see Ben’s father (Michael Joseph Mitchell) kicking Young Ben (Drew Anderson) out of the house after seeing Ben make love to one of his male classmates.

Four months later, Young Ben befriends a young disco club employee Jacob Marley (Nicholas Bailey) and is hired by the club owner Fezziwig, who treats him like a son. Young Ben develops a relationship with Bill (Christopher Allen), whom he met at Fezziwig’s club.

In the mid-1980s, Ben and Jacob trick Fezziwig into transferring his business to them and then kick Fezziwig out. Outraged about Fezziwig’s fate and having enough, Bill ends the relationship with Ben, upsetting Ben.

Kevin Berne

Eventually, Bill dies of AIDS in 1987, yet Ben refuses to visit him when Bill is dying or to mourn him.

Chicago Now deemed the story “faithful to the Dickens classic, but with a gay-friendly twist.” Watch on Vudu, Tubi, YouTube and Amazon Prime.

Besties

Boomer queers can revisit their youth immediately post-Stonewall and others can get a blast from the past by watching a surprise gay Christmas movie from 1971, “Some of My Best Friends Are...”

On Christmas Eve 1971, in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village, a group of gay men and lesbians meet at the mob-owned Blue Jay Bar to talk about their lives and relationships.

New York Times film critic Vincent Canby wrote at the time that the movie was “a second-rate spin-off from ‘The Boys in the Band,’” with “hammy performances and a sentimental screenplay that sounds as if it had just been let out after 30 years in a closet.”

Meow. Spill that tea. Now you know you want to see for yourselves, right?

The cast of stars includes Rue McClanahan, Gil Gerard, Gary Sandy, Joey Taylor, Fannie Flagg, Sylvia Syms, Royal Ballet dancer David Drew, Nick Denoia (the later murdered Chippendales choreographer) and the luminous Warhol star Candy Darling, who died just three years later at only 29.

Watch the entire film on YouTube.t

Terry Lorant

Left: ‘Dance-Along Nutcracker’ Middle Left: ODC/Dance’s ‘The Velveteen Rabbit’ Middle: ‘The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee’ Middle Right: A.C.T.’s ‘A Christmas Carol’ Right: Panto in the Presidio’s ‘Sleeping Beauty’

<<

Holiday Events

From page 17

‘Dance-Along Nutcracker’ Part musical comedy, part dance-ityourself ballet, and part band concert, at “Dance-Along Nutcracker® 2023: The Nutmare Before Christmas!” audience participation is all but required.

San Francisco’s Lesbian/Gay Freedom Band provides the music and the audience does almost everything else. Costumes are encouraged, so dust off your tutu and toe shoes and let your inner sugar plum fairy come to life. $27-$65, Dec. 16 & 17, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Forum, 701 Howard St. www.dancealongnutcracker.org ODC/Dance’s ‘The Velveteen Rabbit’ A beloved tale of love, loyalty, and unconditional acceptance, ODC/ Dance’s “The Velveteen Rabbit” has resonated with the LGBTQ community for 37 years. The production features choreography by KT Nelson,

music by Benjamin Britten, and live narration. $30-$125, Dec. 2-10, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, 700 Howard St.; Dec. 16-17, Douglas Morrison Theatre, 22311 N 3rd St., Hayward. www.odc.dance Oakland Ballet’s ‘Nutcracker’ Artistic Director Graham Lustig’s choreographic take on the holiday classic features music performed by the Oakland Symphony and the Piedmont East Bay Children’s Choir.

The lavish set designs take on an Art Nouveau style, fitting with the opulent theater’s archtecture. All performances are held during the day, including two shows with sweet treats and dancer meet-and-greets afterwards. $26$126, Dec. 16 & 17, Paramount Theatre, 2025 Broadway, Oakland. www.oaklandballet.org

THEATRE

Club Fugazi’s ‘Dear San Francisco’ Affectionately dubbed “a love let-

ter to San Francisco,” this immersive production brings together Cirque du Soleil-style acrobatics, irreverent humor, local history, and heartfelt personal stories from the cast as well as audience members. This month the club will be decked out in Christmas decor, while the critically acclaimed show will be sprinkled with special holiday joy. A special New Year’s Eve performance includes bottomless bubbly and a celebration at midnight. $69-$175, now through Jan. 6, Club Fugazi, 678 Green St. www.clubfugazi.com ‘Disney’s The Lion King’ There’s a reason more than 100 million people around the world have seen the theatrical spectacle that is “Disney’s The Lion King” since its premiere in 1997: it’s really pretty fabulous. Winner of six Tony Awards, the groundbreaking musical set a new standard for Broadway blockbusters, with its imaginative direction and astounding puppetry by Julie Taymor,

and music by Elton John and Tim Rice. $85-$268, now through Dec. 30, Orpheum Theatre, 1192 Market St. www.broadwaysf.com TheatreWorks Silicon Valley’s ‘The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee’ A quirky group of sixth graders (played by adults) competes in a riotous competition, overseen by an equally oddball team of grown-up officials. Hilarity and camaraderie ensue as the earnest young spellers bond through competition while learning some life lessons and discovering themselves along the way. $30-$92, Lucie Stern Theatre, 1305 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto. www.theatreworks.org American Conservatory Theater’s ‘A Christmas Carol’ With plans to premiere a new production in 2024, this year will be your last chance to see A.C.T.’s beautiful production of the holiday classic, “A Christmas Carol,” which has delighted Bay

Area audiences for more than 20 years.

With spectacular sets, a cast of more than 40 decked out in Victorian finery, plus magical ghosts and charming music, you won’t want to miss the chance to see this uplifting production one last time. $15-$135, Dec. 6-24, Toni Rembe (formerly Geary) Theater, 415 Geary St. www.act-sf.org Panto at the Presidio’s ‘Sleeping Beauty’ If you still miss “Beach Blanket Babylon,” head out to Panto at the Presidio, which returns with its outrageous re-imagining of the classic fairy tale “Beauty.” A zany mashup of fractured fairy tales, parodies of pop songs and current events, the whole family will enjoy this rollicking show set in the kingdom of Pantoland, a mythical place that bears a striking resemblance to contemporary San Francisco. $20$60, now through Dec. 30, Presidio Theatre Performing Arts Center, 2340 Chestnut St. www.presidiotheatre.orgt

t

Music>>

November 30-December 6, 2023 • Bay Area Repor ter • 23

Q-Music: Oy to the world!

By Gregg Shapiro

A

t the time of this writing, the war between Israel and Palestine is raging with no end in sight. To take our minds off the ongoing tragedies and to celebrate the holiday season, the following are some musical suggestions to get you into the spirit of the time.

While it’s true that iconic diva Cher is both timeless and ageless, she was not, in fact, present at the birth of Jesus. Proving that it’s never too late to do something unexpected, Cher pulls out all the stops for her first-ever holiday album, simply titled “Christmas” (Warner). She takes us to the (Christmas) club on the songs “DJ Play A Christmas Song” (co-written by Sarah Hudson, first cousin of Kate and Oliver), “Angels In the Snow” (featuring backing vocals by Cyndi Lauper), and the Tyga duet “Drop Top Sleigh Ride” (both co-written by Sarah Hudson and queer singer/songwriter Ferras).

Cher’s in good voice throughout “Christmas,” especially on the contemporary standards “Please Come Home For Christmas,” the rocking “Run Rudolph Run,” the Stevie Wonder duet “What Christmas Means To Me,” and “Santa Baby.” However, the real standout here is the uplifting Cyndi Lauper duet “Put A Little Holiday In Your Heart,” on which the women take us to church, and will have more than a few of us looking for a tambourine to shake along to the song. www.cherfanclub.com

years since the first Christmas song was composed, the massive selection of tunes written for the holiday borders on overwhelming. For his first Christmas album, “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year” gay Greek tenor George Perris draws on the Great American Holiday Songbook (the title tune, “Sleigh Ride,” “The Christmas Song,” and “The Secret of Christmas”) and other resources.

What Perris brings to the project is a kind of international holiday flair. We get “Silent Night” in English, as well as in French (“Douce Nuit”) and Spanish (“Noche De Paz”), “The Little Drummer Boy” in English, Spanish (“El Tamborilero”), and French (“L’enfant Au Tambour”). www.georgeperris.com Queer comedian and actor Scout Durwood brings more than just the funny to her new holiday album, “Kirk Pasich Project Presents A Scout Durwood Christmas” (KZZ Music/Blue Élan). Wordy title aside, Durwood is in possession of a powerful set of pipes and approaches the material

with reverence and respect. Like Cher, Durwood takes a spin on the musical sleigh that is the Motown holiday classic “What Christmas Means To Me.” She delivers an appropriately gooey rendition of “A Marshmallow World” and turns up the twang on her readings of Shelby Lynne’s “Ain’t Nothing Like Christmas” and JD McPherson’s “Ugly Sweater Blues.” Durwood rocks out on her take on The Ramones’ “Merry Christmas (I Don’t Want To Fight),” and stuns with her gorgeous version of Irving Berlin’s “Count Your Blessings Instead of Sheep.” www.scoutdurwood.com Practically every theater queen worth their weight in ticket stubs knows the story that Stephanie J. Block was replaced as Elphaba by Idina Menzel before “Wicked” opened on Broadway.

But Block rose from the ashes and won awards for playing the role in the national tour of “Wicked,” and continued to perform in a variety of popular musicals on and off Broadway.

In other words, Block can sing and does so beautifully on her new holiday album “Merry Christmas, Darling” (Club 44). The dozen tunes include familiar standards such as the title track, “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas,” “Little Drummer Girl” (on which she’s joined by daughter Vivienne), and “O Holy Night.” Additionally, Block performs a handful of newer holiday numbers, including two by out singer/songwriter Ann Hampton Callaway: “God Bless My Family” and “Manhattan In December.” instagram.com/stephaniejblockt

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EAT, DRINK, AND BE MERRY! TWO SHOWS ON

NYE!

“ WOW! ” – KCBS

“ HIGHEST RATING! ” – SF Chronicle

“MIND BLOWING. 90 MINUTES OF ACROBATIC BLISS.” – Mercury News

More than 2000 years since the birth of Jesus, and several hundred

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Professional headshots / profile pics Weddings / Events

Going out

“ BEST NIGHT OUT!” – SF Magazine

“A CELEBRATION.” – KQED Arts

PRESENTS

FROM

From choral concerts to classy drag queens, we’ve got another diverse batch of arts and nightlife events (like the popular Big Top at dance club Beaux; see photo), this week and every week on www.ebar.com.

“Christmas is a baby shower that went totally overboard.”

—Andy Borowitz

Shows Weds–Suns | Drinks & Small Bites Available

We’ve decked the halls this season! Come celebrate with family, friends, co-workers. And ticket gift certificates are perfect for the person who has everything.

ClubFugaziSF.com | 415-273-0600 CLUB FUGAZI | 678 Green Street | San Francisco

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Chanticleer Christmas Bay Area Reporter 1

11/21/23 1:37 PM