November 4, 2021 edition of the Bay Area Reporter by Bay Area Reporter

Flag town hall dropped

Dems balk at Fremont mayor

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Vol. 51 • No. 44 • November 4-10, 2021

Castro businesses surveyed on SOGI data by John Ferrannini

I Rick Gerharter

New San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu, right, signed the document to make his position official following being sworn in by Mayor London Breed.

Chiu sworn in as SF’s 1st Asian American city attorney by Matthew S. Bajko

avid Chiu became San Francisco’s first Asian American city attorney November 1 after taking his oath of office in the North Light Court of City Hall, where he had formerly served as the District 3 supervisor. He takes on the position as the office continues to investigate allegations of corruption in various city departments, from public works and building inspections to the city administrator’s office. He also takes on the role as hate crimes and violent, sometimes deadly attacks against Asian Americans have risen in the city and across the nation. Chiu vacated his state Assembly seat to become city attorney, prompting a contested special election to be held next year to pick his successor. Mayor London Breed administered the oath of office to Chiu, the city’s 31st city attorney. She had appointed him for the position after naming former city attorney Dennis Herrera as the new general manager of the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission. Herrera also started in his new position November 1. “David has a rich history in this city and we are looking forward to his work as city attorney,” Breed said at the event. Chiu said that he was “humbled by this moment.” “This is overwhelming,” he said. Chiu thanked the mayor and said he is looking forward to working with her and the entire Board of Supervisors “in an attorney-client privilege way.” Lance Toma, a gay man who’s CEO of San Francisco Community Health Center, said, “I am just thrilled and excited.” “Since he was on the Board of Supervisors he has been a champion for HIV, LGBTQ, and API communities,” Toma said. With inclement weather outside City Hall, Herrera quipped he has “done my part bringing some rain on my first day of being general manager.” Turning serious, Herrera talked about the relationship between the city attorney’s office and other city departments. See page 12 >>

n an effort to understand the effects of displacement in the neighborhood, the Castro LGBTQ Cultural District has begun collecting the sexual orientation and gender identity data of business owners within its footprint, District Manager Tina Valentin Aguirre told the Bay Area Reporter. “It was our idea because when I started with the organization last year, I’d met with the Castro Merchants and the [Castro/Upper Market Community Benefit District] and I asked some questions around the work they were doing and I wanted details around statistics and demographics relating to SOGI data,” Aguirre, a genderqueer person, told the B.A.R. “What I quickly learned was that neither of those groups collected that data. For me, that data is the minimum of what’s needed in order to understand the impacts of gentrification and the displacement of LGBTQ people.” The move comes at a time when public entities are being pushed in the direction of more SOGI data collection. As the B.A.R. previously reported, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors approved legislation allowing for the collection of the SOGI status of the city’s workforce and people who apply for jobs with it. Andrea Aiello, a lesbian who is the executive director of the CBD, had no comment when asked about the effort. Neither did Nik Blanchet,

Christopher Robledo

San Francisco State University sociology students Alejandro Barrientos, right, and Hanelye Mazariegos, second from right, speak with The Edge bar manager Michael Schauf, left, Wednesday, October 20, while volunteering with the Castro LGBTQ Cultural District to collect sexual orientation and gender identity data of neighborhood merchants. Cultural district manager Tina Valentin Aguirre is fourth from right.

a spokesman for the Castro Merchants Association, who stated “we don’t have a comment on the cultural district’s SOGI data project, no. We do not currently collect this data for our members, but we are in the early stages of considering reliable, maintainable ways to do this in the future.” Aguirre said that the data will be used in the district’s Cultural History, Housing and Economic

Sustainability Strategies, or CHESS, report, which will be presented to the supervisors next year. “This [writing a CHESS report] is part of the work that all eight cultural districts do,” Aguirre said, adding that each district is doing its own report that will be compiled into a single compendium. See page 2 >>

US Supreme Court rebuffs Catholic hospital appeal by Lisa Keen

he U.S. Supreme Court on Monday gave LGBTQ legal activists a significant sigh of relief. It also appeared to take some heed of the fact that a Texas abortion ban under scrutiny could have significant implications for same-sex marriage. The court announced November 1 that it would not take up an appeal seeking to challenge a lower California court decision that favored a transgender patient. The California Court of Appeal had allowed to proceed a lawsuit that patient Evan Minton had filed against a Roman Catholic-run hospital that refused to perform a hysterectomy as part of his gender confirmation. The Supreme Court’s vote was close: Three justices indicated they would have accepted the Catholic hospital’s appeal. It takes only four justices to grant an appeal. The justices – Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Neil Gorsuch – did not explain their dissent, as they sometimes do. The decision under challenge, Dignity Health v. Minton, came from a California appeal court in San Francisco on an important, but preliminary, legal matter. After the state Supreme Court refused review on the preliminary matter, the hospital chain, along with such groups as Alli-

Courtesy ACLU

The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a challenge to a California Appeal Court ruling favoring Evan Minton.

ance Defending Freedom, appealed directly to the U.S. Supreme Court. It was a long-shot appeal, because of the preliminary nature of the lower court ruling. The case involved Dignity Health, a chain of hospitals that includes both Catholic-run and non-Catholic-run facilities near Sacramento. It was a Catholic-run hospital, Mercy San Juan Medical Center, which abruptly canceled the scheduled hysterectomy for Minton, claiming that to do so would violate the “religious directives that govern Catholic health care institutions.”

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The individual dispute was quickly resolved when Dignity Health arranged for the surgery to take place at one of its non-Catholic affiliates. But Minton, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union and Covington & Burlington LLP, filed suit, alleging that Dignity Health’s actions violated the state’s nondiscrimination law, specifically its prohibition on sex discrimination and gender identity discrimination. The California Court of Appeal ruled that the lawsuit could proceed on the question of whether the hospital chain violated state law when it denied Minton “full and equal access” to treatment at the original hospital. In its petition to the U.S. Supreme Court, the Dignity Health chain claimed that the U.S. Constitution’s guarantee of free exercise of religion protects a religiously-affiliated hospital from being compelled to provide medical procedures that violate the religion’s tenets. Dignity Health’s petition said the case posed “a profound threat to faith-based health care institutions’ ability to advance their healing ministries consistent with the teachings of their faith.” It said the Catholic Church prohibits “sterilization.” The ACLU praised the high court’s decision not to review the case. See page 8 >>

<< Community News

2 • Bay Area Reporter • November 4-10, 2021

Castro cultural district drops flag town hall by John Ferrannini

n announced town hall on the subject of raising a more contemporary Pride flag at Castro and Market streets was quietly dropped by the Castro LGBTQ Cultural District last month. The district’s advisory board’s executive committee voted October 12 to cancel the town hall, district manager Tina Valentin Aguirre stated to the Bay Area Reporter. That vote came weeks after the town hall was supposed to have taken place – as it was initially announced for August or September. “This was due to a lack of capacity to implement the town hall as an event as we are focusing on other projects right now,” Aguirre, a genderqueer person, stated October 21. These projects include COVID-19 testing and vaccinations in the Castro, as the B.A.R. previously reported, and the collection of data about the sexual orientation and gender identity

Rick Gerharter

The rainbow flag flies at Castro and Market streets.

of business owners, managers and employees in the area. (See related story, page 5.) As the B.A.R. reported July 14, the Castro LGBTQ Cultural District announced a community survey and a town hall on the subject of the flag – after the district’s

advisory board voted 7-2 that the Gilbert Baker-designed rainbow flag that currently flies atop Harvey Milk Plaza be replaced by the Progress flag. Baker died in 2017. Charley Beal, the president of the New York-based Gilbert Baker Foun-

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dation, has been pushing behind the scenes with both gay District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman and Mayor London Breed’s offices for the flagpole to be landmarked, according to communications released as part of a disclosure request to gay activists Michael Petrelis and Bill Wilson. It will be eligible to be landmarked next year, and Mandelman is open to discussing the possibility. The Progress Pride flag is a variation on the rainbow flag that includes a chevron with the colors of the transgender flag, as well as brown and black stripes. It was unveiled in June 2018 by nonbinary designer Daniel Quasar, who made it in order to more explicitly represent transgender people and LGBTQ people of color. The cultural district is not, however, in charge of the flag installation. The Castro Merchants Association has long maintained the flag that has flown at Castro and Market streets since the flagpole there was dedicated on November 7, 1997 (though over the years there have been rare occasions when other flags have temporarily been hoisted). The business association ultimately adopted a policy that the Baker flag would fly fullstaff, 24/7, year-round. After the cultural district’s board’s vote, Castro Merchants President Masood Samereie, a straight ally, proposed a second flag pole be erected in the Castro to fly the Progress flag, or another flag. He added that the merchants “appreciate” the district’s “efforts to further community discussion through a planned survey and town hall.” The survey went live July 26 and

Castro SOGI

From page 1

Each district gets to identify its own priorities, and Aguirre hopes the data will be “shared with the planning department, the arts commission and the Office of Economic and Workforce Development, which have to date struggled with some of the needs of the cultural districts.” The city departments did not respond to requests for comment. The B.A.R. reached out to the Transgender District and the Leather and LGBTQ Cultural District to ask what they are doing for their parts of the CHESS report. Aria Sa’id, a trans woman who is president and chief strategist of the Transgender District, responded that the trans district’s section is done and on its website. The 24-page report discusses what the district did in 2020 to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, such as its relief fund and testing efforts; its entrepreneurship accelerator program; its participation in land use meetings of city agencies; and its advocacy for tenant protections. Robert Goldfarb, a gay man who is the executive director of the Leather and LGBTQ Cultural District, told the B.A.R. that the leather district didn’t know that the Castro cultural district would be collecting SOGI data. “It was not something we were planning on doing,” Goldfarb said, adding that the leather district will be including in its CHESS report the results of “a number of focus groups, town hall meetings, and individual interviews. We have tried to talk to the different demographic segments of the community, so we are trying to get information that comprises what the community is looking for us to do.” The Castro cultural district’s data collection will end later in November, according to two San Francisco State University interns brought on by the cultural district for the project. Alejandro Barrientos, a 23-year-old

was intended to be followed by the town hall. Aguirre stated to the B.A.R. October 20 that “the importance of the data collected by the inclusiveness survey is still very important to us, and we are actively working to complete the survey by December 1 [at] the latest.” Aguirre stated to the B.A.R. that the survey can now hopefully be incorporated in the Cultural History, Housing and Economic Sustainability Strategies, or CHESS, Report that the district will have to present to the Board of Supervisors next year. The district is currently collecting the aforementioned SOGI data for the CHESS report. “While the Castro representation and experiences survey does include questions about the flag, it has a much broader purview than a survey about the flag,” Aguirre stated. Aguirre also stated that the district will hold a town hall in January about the CHESS report. The merchants did not respond to a request for comment. As Hoodline reported in March, the merchants were one of four similar groups citywide that each received a $50,000 grant funded by tech entrepreneur Chris Larsen, who B.A.R. readers may remember also is funding community benefit districts throughout the city to install security cameras. One such proposal for the Castro was rejected in June. Samereie told Hoodline’s Steven Bracco, a gay city firefighter who is also on the cultural district’s board, that the merchants would be spending that money, at least partly, on the maintenance of the rainbow flag. t

gay man, and Hanelye Mazariegos, a 23-year-old pansexual woman, are surveying businesses. They are receiving college credits, having been recommended by San Francisco State University assistant professor Jen Reck, a queer woman who is collaborating with the district. “The students are doing an internship as part of their capstone requirement for their sociology major at SF State, and I’m the instructor of the course,” Reck stated to the B.A.R. “The goal of the internship class is that students learn from and serve our communities, apply sociological thinking to community work, and gain practical experience. “I am a research collaborator with the Castro LGBTQ Cultural District, conducting a participatory action research project focused on learning about the [district’s] social change work in the Castro,” Reck continued. “As a collaborator, I assist the [district] in data collection projects that will help them pursue their mission of cultural preservation and equity in the Castro. I helped connect these student interns with the [district] so that the interns could gain practical experience working with an LGBTQ-focused social change organization and the [district] could build its volunteer program. The interns are helping the [district] complete a data collection project that will provide important information about the neighborhood’s businesses.” The students started their work October 20. Aguirre said they will be trying to collect data for business owners, management, and employees. “We have plans to have interviews with the business owners and plan to take notes down on paper during those interviews,” Mazariegos told the B.A.R. If people aren’t available to speak at the time they arrive, they’ll return after finding out when business managers and owners will be available, the students said. See page 4 >>

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<< Community News

4 • Bay Area Reporter • November 4-10, 2021

Castro SOGI

From page 2

“We’re hoping to go door-to-door and collect the availability of folks,” Barrientos said. “I’m excited to be one of the first interns for this cultural district.” After their first day October 20, Barrientos stated to the B.A.R. that he was nervous to start. “As we started, those nerves subsided,” he wrote in an email. “Going to all

these businesses and being met with nothing but kindness was really reassuring. With the first day going as well as it did, I look forward to continuing the project and meeting all these businesses alongside Hanelye.” Mazariegos stated that the pair visited 17 businesses so far. “It was nice to see how much every business was proud to be either an ally for the LGBTQ community or proud to be directly part of the community,” Mazariegos wrote. “Most if not all the

businesses we spoke to were open and willing to answer our questions and many were interested in the data collection and how this data would benefit the community. Overall, good experience and I’m looking forward to speaking with more businesses.” One of those businesses was Auto Erotica on 18th Street, owned by Patrick Batt, a gay man. “They seemed very earnest and very easily rolled with my comment on how people of my generation re-

acted to the word queer as a negative,” Batt stated to the B.A.R. via email. “I did ask if they were interested in hearing my opinion of the Saturday closure of the Walgreens parking lot for vaccines. They said that was not part of their assignment. I asked them how the reactions had been going to the sexual orientation questions and they indicated they were going well with both straight and gay responses. They left a brochure. The entire interaction took less than five minutes. In retro-

spect I wondered about and should have asked why the district would be asking about orientation and what they were going to do with the results.” In June, Intentionalist announced that new guides in Apple Maps will help consumers connect to LGBTQowned small businesses in five cities, including San Francisco. In the Castro, LGBTQ-owned businesses on the site include Skin on Market, Castro Tattoo, and Hi-Tops. For more information, go to https://intentionalist.com/. t

Avenidas

ingery, LGBTQ Programs Coordinator/Community Liaison. of the LGBTQ Initiative, will provide his unique insights into the

November Events

Dr. Fred Luskin, Stanford Forgiveness Project. g our physical and mental health. He offers easily practiced skills

To join a group, email lgbtq@avenidas.org with the group name in the subject. Sunday, November 7th @ 2 pm

Wonder Women Lesbian Social Group - PICNIC The Wonder Women have decided to leave the screen for some green. Join the group for a picnic in the park. Contact Jenn Chan at jChan@Avenidas. org for information on this meet up. Socialize with our lesbian community. We meet virtually twice a month and host open conversations on news, trends, festivals, relationships, home projects, and what matters to you. Share your unique flair with this group as we strive to become the best social group for lesbian women in north Santa Clara County.

WORKSHOP 2

LEGAL ISSUES Attorney Diana Dean Gendotti Thursday, November 11th @ 3pm on Zoom Gay Men’s Walking Group Diana Gendotti is an estate planning and trust administration The has Gay Men’s Walkinglicensed Group is a greatfor way to get out of the house and has make new attorney who been 31 years, and anfriends in a safe and responsible way. The group meets for lunch, exercise, and social engagement each month at various locations around the Bay The Thursday Zoom is the planning for the upcoming walk office in LosArea. Altos. Shemeeting will onhighlight the meeting critical aspects ofon the following weekend. If you cannot make the zoom group but want to walk that is ok. Register for the group and we will email you meet-up inforestate planning, especially astheitZoom relates mation regardless if you attend meeting. to LGBTQ issues. Bring any burning questions! Saturday, November 13th @ at 11am in front of Museum (Look for person with rainbow umbrella)

Gay Men’s Walking Group ding STRONG Instructor, will lead everyone in a quick and hop. Join our group as we meet up at the Legion of Honor Museum in Lincoln Park for the “Color into Line: Pastels from the Renaissance to the Present” exhibit. Tickets are free for Bay Area residents. Please get your free tickets in advance by visiting: https://bit.ly/3bxfxCG

After experiencing the exhibit we will be meeting for a meal at WORKSHOP 4

Lincoln Park Bar & Grill located at 300 34th Ave, San Francisco, CA 94121

Please email LGBTQ@Avenidas.org to let us know that you will be attending. BUILD YOUR VILLAGE Facilitators: Tuesday, Jenn Chan and Austin, Avenidas November 16th Loretta @ 7pm on Zoom Women Lesbian Social right Group now. Building and Community Wonder is especially important Socialize with our lesbian community. We meet virtually twice a month and host open conversations on news, trends, strengthening your village will help you thrive. Discover festivals, relationships, home projects, and what matters to you. Share your unique flair with this group as we strive to opportunities forthenew connections within north ourSanta intergenerational become best social group for lesbian women Clara County. pen pal program and social groups. Learn where to find community resources and how to build a safe space.

Email LGBTQ@avenidas.org for more information on how to register for these great events, groups, and opportunities presented by Avenidas Rainbow Collective to our older LGBTQ Community members.

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<< Open Forum

6 • Bay Area Reporter • November 4-10, 2021

Volume 51, Number 44 November 4-10, 2021 www.ebar.com

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Report on Kakuma camp shows stark problems L ast month, the Organization for Refuge, Asylum, and Migration and the Rainbow Railroad released a much-needed report on conditions faced by LGBTQ refugees and asylum seekers at the sprawling Kakuma Refugee Camp and the nearby Kalobeyei Integrated Settlement in Kenya. About 160,000 people live at the camp, according to WorldBank.org. We have been reporting for years on the issues faced by queer refugees at the camp, including violence, and the seemingly slow response by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the agency that works in partnership with the government of Kenya, through Refugee Affairs Secretariat of Kenya, or RAS, to run the camp. The 36-page report paints a bleak picture for queer people living at the camp, even though Kenya is one of the few African countries that accepts refugees due to sexual orientation, gender identity, and expression of sex characteristics. According to the report, an exact number of LGBTQI+ refugees at the camp and settlement is not known, but estimates put the figure between 280 and 419. Most of those live in Kakuma’s Block 13, which has been the subject of much of our coverage. The report stated that interviews were conducted with 58 selfidentified LGBTQI+ asylum seekers from nine different countries, along with 18 key informants, or people such as activists and workers at the various agencies providing services at the camp. ORAM and the Rainbow Railroad commissioned John Ndiritu, an independent researcher and author, to write the report. He spent a month embedded at Kakuma in May. UNHCR was aware that an investigation and report were being conducted. By far the most troubling part of the report revolved around the violence and stigma faced by LGBTQI+ people there. Over 90% of the respondents reported being verbally insulted, 83% reported being physically assaulted with 26% reporting sexual assault, and 88% reported being denied police assistance due to their sexual identity. All of the transgender respondents reported having experienced physical assault. Community and religious leaders noted that most refugees in the camp were from cultural and religious backgrounds that are non-accepting of LGBTQI+ persons, the report stated. And many are afraid that LGBTQI+ people “could influence the life choices of young ones in the community,” ac-

Courtesy ORAM/Rainbow Railroad

Camp Kakuma is in Kenya.

cording to the report. Block leaders tasked with some security responsibilities, including conflict resolution and filing complaints with the police, reported they were overwhelmed by the negative attitudes among most of the refugees toward LGBTQI+ persons. Queer residents of Block 13 have become vocal and active in recent years, as we have reported. Yet this has led to a small percentage of LGBTQI+ refugees (8%) being concerned that the activism was affecting the overall relationship between LGBTQI+ asylum seekers and service providers in the camp. And three key informants related having heard of staged attacks in Block 13. “It is important to consider that many more may be affected by the actions of Block 13 but are hesitant to openly share their experiences due to potential consequences to their safety,” the report states. “It is also important to note the allegations of activity from activists in Block 13 have not been confirmed.”

Recommendations

The report includes 10 recommendations. We won’t get into all of them here, but suffice to say that some activists were not pleased that immediate resettlement wasn’t the top one. As ORAM Executive Director Steve Roth said, the situation is complex. He told us that resettlement to another country is not going to happen overnight and is a solution that’s not available to everyone. He has a point. U.S. immigration policy still doesn’t seem to have a plan to assist queer Afghan refugees from that war-torn country. In

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the shorter term, though, there are several things that can be done to assist LGBTQI+ refugees in Kakuma. The top recommendation in the report is that RAS must fast-track refugee status determination of LGBTQI+ asylum seekers with further support from UNHCR and civil society organizations. The backlog in cases is quite high, the report noted, and this would reduce the need for keeping asylum seekers in camps for long periods and fast-track relocation to safer and more accommodative environments. The second recommendation is that RAS and UNHCR must create more responsive and sensitive protection services for LGBTQI+ refugees. This, too, should be a top priority, especially given the report’s findings. This could include UNHCR-led safe houses away from the camp and sensitivity training for law enforcement, which is sorely needed. Police officers staffing the gender-based violence desk need to be sensitized on sexuality and sexual identity, and the report identified this as a relatively low-cost activity. The report did state that government resettlement must resume and that LGBTQI+ refugees from Kenya should be fast-tracked as its fourth recommendation. This would involve UNHCR and civil society organizations. Another recommendation is that UNHCR and civil society organizations continue to build skills development programs so that camp residents can work. ORAM started training queer refugees with entrepreneurial skills in 2019. It also provided seed funding for new ventures raising chickens and making soap. Roth said recently that they’ve hired two new local trainers and taken on five new local groups. Overall, the report should be seen by UNHCR officials as a document to embrace. As the refugee agency of the United Nations, it should be leading the calls for more equitable treatment of LGBTQI+ refugees at the camp, including increased funding and meetings with authorities and stakeholders from other communities. Ongoing education is critical, and we hope Kakuma sees marked improvement in safety for the queer refugees who don’t have anywhere else to go. Many escaped brutality in their home countries only to encounter more violence once they arrived at Kakuma. It’s time for civil society organizations to beef up their training and services, and for UNHCR and the Kenyan government to take action in regard to police training and responsiveness so that LGBTQI+ people can live in a safer environment. t

Support the Castro cultural district – and local businesses

by Melissa Newton & Alejandra Gomez

Bay Area Reporter

he Castro district has been a safe space and hotspot for the queer community, expression, and tourism for many decades. But when there is popularity there is a chance for profit for corporations, and a common theme of “gaytrification.” These corporations are engaging in “rainbowwashing” – such as promoting LGBTQ Pride Month – and then not engaging with meaningful support once the profit stream ends at the end of June. In many cases, large corporations entering queer spaces take business from locals hoping to maintain their small businesses within high-rent spaces, harming our community. For example, Bank of America at 18th and Castro streets recently attempted to remove the memorial and LGBTQ activism site. A true ally would be aware of the significance and history of the location, and would celebrate it, rather than ban it. Today 72% of residents currently identify as LGBTQ, but only 55% of new residents moving to the area are LGBTQ, meaning the Castro is losing its queerness, according to an article in the Financial Times. To make things worse, LGBTQ minorities are moving out of the area. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2010 the Castro had 12.5% African American population compared to a jarring 2.4% today. The Castro has seen rent prices climb by about $1,000 per month in less than a decade, forcing out people with lower incomes. In 2019, the city’s Board of Supervisors approved the Castro LGBTQ Cultural District for the neighborhood, securing city support and resources to prevent the queer identity from being lost. Community engagement and volunteer work with the Castro LGBTQ Cultural District can guarantee that the resource actually gives long-lasting help

Rick Gerharter

The Castro neighborhood and its LGBTQ cultural district need the support of residents to help keep it a queer space.

to the community. Volunteering holds the city accountable to preserve the Castro as an LGBTQ space, gives voice to those who may not be heard, and can teach you how to use your voice. Community members in the Castro have long felt the strain of being pushed out and silenced by gentrification and big corporations capitalizing on their identities and shared experiences. This stress has brought forward a new wave or movement emphasis that centers around volunteering and activism. Unless there is a need for another organization to come help gentrify the Castro, we must ensure that we, the residents, are helping and changing our community. Tourism itself seems to be contributing to pushing queer people out of the Castro. To be an ally to the community living in the Castro, tourists can support local businesses and honor certain spaces for queer voices. Taking action to preserve the Castro ensures that there is a safe space for locals and queer-identifying tourists for years to come. In order for the Castro LGBTQ Cultural District to stay for a long time and effectively represent the community, residents of all different

types of ethnic backgrounds need to volunteer to make sure there is actual representation of our voices. The Castro LGBTQ Cultural Center has specific volunteering opportunities that target different areas of the Castro like tenant advocacy and protection, workforce development, cultural competency, and more. Having volunteers that are actually a part of the community will ensure that the city is held accountable to guarantee the preservation of the Castro district. For all of their volunteering opportunities go to https://castrolgbtq.org/volunteer/ or email contact@castrolgbtq.org. Another powerful option to effectively support the Castro is for community members and tourists to shop at locally-owned stores. Spending $100 at a national chain store keeps $43 in the community, as opposed to $68 for a locallyowned business for the same $100. Shopping locally keeps more money in the local economy that is more likely to give workers a liveable wage than are national chains. Local businesses have always been at the heart of the Castro, as the most famous resident, the late supervisor Harvey Milk, owned a local camera shop. When our neighbors are being pushed out, we can use the same dollars we would spend anyway at a national chain or online to instead nurture our community. Local businesses were also hit the hardest during the COVID-19 lockdown. We recommend strolling down Castro Street and exploring neighborhood shops and restaurants. Many Castro small businesses also offer online shopping and curbside pickup. Now would be a great time to start shopping locally for the holidays. t Melissa Newton is a Castro resident and master’s of social work candidate at the University of Southern California. Alejandra Gomez is a master’s of social work candidate at the University of Southern California.

Politics>>

t Alameda Dems deem Fremont Mayor Mei anti-LGBTQ by Matthew S. Bajko

remont Mayor Lily Mei is the first person to be deemed antiLGBTQIA+ under a recent bylaws change adopted by the Democratic Party in Alameda County. It means she will no longer be eligible to be endorsed by it, nor will anyone who personally endorses her going forward. That could mean local officials who are endorsing Mei’s 2022 bid to succeed Senator Bob Wieckowski (D-Fremont), who will be termed out of his 10th Senate District seat, will be deemed ineligible to be endorsed by the Alameda County Democratic Central Committee in their next campaigns, like Fremont City Councilmen Rick Jones and Raj Salwan. It could also cause problems for Congressman Ro Khanna (D-San Jose), who is among Mei’s endorsers and was one of three central committee members to vote against the charges brought against her, prompting his proxy Martha Kreeger, a queer mother of two gay children, to resign. At a special October 14 meeting to consider the matter, 31 central committee members, or 91.9%, voted in support of finding that Mei was in violation of the local party’s new policy not to endorse candidates who take actions against LGBTQ rights. The decision came a month after the Alameda County Democratic Party became the first in the state to expressly restrict its support from candidates seeking elective office deemed to be antiLGBTQIA+. As the Bay Area Reporter previously reported, it was apparent that the endorsement ban would present an issue for Mei, who went from being an independent to registering as a Democrat when she ran for reelection as mayor in 2020. Back in 2010, when she served on the Fremont school board, Mei voted against a resolution to declare May 22 as Harvey Milk Day in honor of the slain gay San Francisco supervisor, who in 1977 became the first LGBTQ person elected to public office in California. Mei was specifically mentioned during the central committee’s June meeting when the new endorsement policy was first brought forward as well as by several of its out members in interviews earlier this summer with the B.A.R. regarding the proposal. According to the formal charges filed against her last month, Mei was accused of being anti-LGBTQIA+ for also voting against the inclusion of several books written by queer authors from an AP English curriculum when she was on the Fremont school board. She also came under criticism for not issuing a public apology for her votes or acknowledging the harm they had caused for LGBTQ students and others in the community. She was also derided for using a photo on her Senate campaign site of herself with Alameda County Supervisor David Haubert, who initially voted against flying the Pride flag when he was Dublin mayor. Elected committee member Lance Kwan, a gay man who cochairs the bylaws committee, argued that it was time for the local party to take a stand against Mei. An elected member of the Ohlone College board, Kwan was a Fremont Unified student when Mei served on the school board. “Did she endorse inclusive candidates for school board? Well, not in the last election,” said Kwan. “She takes contributions from conservative parts of our community not supportive of their LGBTQ brothers and sisters.”

November 4-10, 2021 • Bay Area Reporter • 7

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“She was one of the first to come around and support us, and people change over time and they www.SchneiderLawSF.com come around. I am not going to use one incident to do this litmus test on her,” said Quinto, one of the few HIV-positive elected lead*Certified by the California State Bar ers in the Bay Area who plans to seek a third and final four-year 400 Montgomery Street, Ste. 505, San Francisco, CA council term next November. “She is one of the best mayors in Alameda County representing one of the most successful cities, the city of Fremont. She has supported our community and mentored many LGBTs over the years.” The immediate past president of the League of California Cities’ LGBTQ Caucus, Quinto called the vote against Mei “a witch hunt.” He said other LGBTQ leaders privately share his concerns but are afraid to speak up publicly. “A lot of LGBTs are concerned with the central committee and are afraid to step up because they think the central committee is not going to support them,” he said. Assemblyman Bill Quirk (DHayward), a member of the central committee, did speak in favor of Mei. He noted that he signed the marriage certificate for his daughter, who is bisexual, when she wed her wife and that his brother “was gay before it was popular.” “I just want to say I don’t see the evidence that Lily Mei is currently a homophobe, not based on what she is doing,” said Send resumes to: Quirk, who is seeking CoreyMD@iCloud.com reelection next year to his 20th Assembly District seat. He noted that the central committee has the option to endorse someone else in the state Senate race, which could be impacted by the redistricting process underway and result in Fremont being carved into a different Senate district. “If you don’t think we should endorse Lily Mei, fine,” said Quirk. As for Quirk, he is likely to be challenged by gay nurse and union leader Jennifer Esteen, who would be the first out Black member of the Legislative LGBTQ Caucus if elected. Although Quirk is not listed on Mei’s campaign website as one of her endorsers, his support of her likely means he has little chance of being endorsed When you plan your life celebration and lasting remembrance in in 2022 by the central committee. advance, you can design every detail of your own unique memorial “This is something the Republiand provide your loved ones with true peace of mind. Planning ahead can Party does,” said Quirk of the When your celebration lasting protectsyou your plan loved ones fromlife unnecessary stress and and financial burden, vote against Mei. As for the DemWhen you remembrance plan your celebration and lasting in allowing themlife to focus on what will matter most at design that remembrance time—you. in advance, you can every ocratic Party, he said, “We believe advance, you can design every detail of your own unique memorial detail ofusyour owntheunique memorial andlegacy provide people can change and, when they Contact today about beautiful ways to create a lasting do, we should accept them and for provide at the San Francisco Columbarium. your loved ones with true peace of mind. Planning ahead your loved ones with true peace of mind. Planning what they are.” protects your loved ones from unnecessary stress and financial ahead protectsProudly yourserving loved onesCommunity. from unnecessary burden, the LGBT Annie Koruga, a queer member allowing them focus on whatburden, will matter most them at thattotime—you. of the Alameda central committee stresstoand financial allowing who took the lead role in draftfocus on what will matter most at that time—you. ing the bylaws proposal, told the Contact us today about the beautiful ways to create a lasting legacy B.A.R. that the vote against Mei at the San Contact FranciscousColumbarium. sends a powerful message to other today about the beautiful ways to create elected officials that homophoa lasting legacy at the San Francisco Columbarium. bia will no longer be tolerated or One Loraine Ct. | San Francisco | 415-771-0717 brushed aside by the local party. Proudly serving our Community. SanFranciscoColumbarium.com “Both queer people and straight Proudly serving the LGBT Community. allies seem to be taking queer isFD 1306 / COA 660 sues and anti-LGBTQIA+ discrimination quite seriously,” said Koruga. t

415-781-6500

Courtesy Twitter

Fremont Mayor Lily Mei

Central committee member Melissa Shuen-Mallory, a queer nonbinary femme who serves on the board of the New Haven Unified School District, argued that Mei’s actions on the school board continue to reverberate today, with LGBTQ students like her goddaughter continuing to face discrimination and feel unsupported by school administrators. “This is a very important issue that affects our children day-to-day and affects our LGBTQ+ adults,” said Shuen-Mallory, who was among the committee members to push for adoption of the endorsement bylaws change. “This is looking for patterns and seeing if this is someone we want in our Democratic Party.” Speaking in her own defense, Mei told the committee members that she never voted to ban any LGBTQ books from being made available to Fremont students. As for recognizing Harvey Milk Day, Mei argued she was supportive of adding Harvey Milk Day to the school calendar in addition to honoring other local civil rights leaders, which she noted took several votes by the school board to make happen. “I think it is important for us to be able to honor that and we have been able to do that and celebrate that in the community,” said Mei of Milk day. She also pointed out that as mayor she has routinely proclaimed June as Pride Month, raised the rainbow flag at Fremont City Hall, hired LGBTQ people to important city positions like city manager and police chief, and appointed out members to various city oversight bodies. The photo of her with Haubert was taken with other local mayors who had joined the group Mayors Against LGBTQ Discrimination during a convention for municipal leaders from across the country held in Boston one June where they walked in that city’s Pride parade. “I know the local party has endorsed candidates with the same voting record. I hope you provide me with the same grace for my votes. I have changed, given they were a decade ago,” said Mei, adding that she has backed several LGBTQ candidates in recent years. “I hope the committee considers my rich history of support for LGBTQIA+ rights today.” One of those out candidates endorsed by Mei was gay El Cerrito City Councilman Gabe Quinto, who submitted a letter in support of her that was read during the central committee meeting in which he said Mei was “not anti-LGBTQ and I would never support her if she were.” In a phone interview with the B.A.R., Quinto blasted the local party’s decision against Mei.

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<< Commentary

8 • Bay Area Reporter • November 4-10, 2021

A change of the season by Gwendolyn Ann Smith

all is one of my favorite times of year. Unlike the other seasons, it feels like an unhurried transformation, as we move through the hanging days of summer, slowly feeling the air grow chillier. The leaves go from verdant great to a collection of reds, oranges, and yellows to rival springtime, before fully withering and falling. It is a liminal space, sitting between summer and winter. In the midst of it, too, lay Halloween, itself a perfect example of this transformation. Oh, sure, we can take Halloween at face value. It’s the last day of October, where us adults may partake in drunken, costumed revelry at house parties or neighborhood gatherings, while children participate in the long-held tradition of going door-to-door for any manner of sweet treats. Yet the event is much deeper than this. So many traditions treat Halloween as a sacred night, a time when the veil between the living and the dead is a thing, and magic may be around us. A time when there is more to life than the mundane existence we explore every day of the year. It is a time where wearing costumes is considered an expectation, and where putting together just the right look will find you rewarded by

Hospital appeal

From page 1

“Dignity Health is trying to claim it’s an LGBTQ-friendly organization but when Evan needed care he was turned away because he is transgender,” stated Elizabeth Gill, senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s LGBTQ & HIV Project. “It’s wrong that anyone

onlookers and social media likes. The costumes themselves can run the gamut, from witty puns and political commentary to superhero onesies and sexy cheerleaders. For those of us who are trans – or even those few who may not have realized they were trans, but still wear attire that may not necessarily be the conceptions and expectations of their gender assigned at birth – this combination of transformation and magic conspires, giving them a rare moment to show the world desires buried deep in their souls. It is, perhaps, the one day outside of our local Pride event where we might be able to share our truest forms and find ourselves applauded for it. That is, in a word, powerful. I’m not writing this in advance of Halloween, however. This isn’t about the excitement leading up to our spookiest day of the year outside of tax season, but about the inevitable days afterward, when the costume is back in the closet and the makeup is but a memory. Yet, for some, their experiences on October 31 might have opened up more questions than they may realize they had on the 30th. In the last few years, predominately in online circles, a term has gained popularity. People who may not yet have come to realize that they may be trans are now often referred to as an “egg,” with the inevi-

table personal revelations they may soon be going through about their trans nature being labeled as “cracking the egg.” It’s an apt metaphor not only for its obvious allusions to changing into a new form, but also for the potential trauma of having to crack and destroy that egg you once were to become your authentic self. For many of us, Halloween is that moment when we get to explore our trans feelings in a more or less safe environment, when we can easily claim that the outfit we put together for the night was just a lark. It’s a chance to try things out for size, as it were. For some of us, of course, this is old hat. Indeed, for myself, it’s on its head a bit. I’m more likely to be viewed as someone who is just trying on an identity on Halloween nowadays, rather than it being so clear as to who or what I may be on the other 364 days – but I digress. It’s those who may have had a moment to explore that night who I want to speak to most today, who are now sitting in the days after Halloween trying to answer one key question: What next? Maybe this Halloween you let a girlfriend or other friend dress you

up. Maybe you thought it might be fun to dress up as a guy just this once – you know, as a clever joke. Maybe you just thought it would be cool to dress up like a character who is of a different gender than the one you present in your daily life. Now, perhaps you find yourself wanting to have that experience again, and are coming to a realization that maybe, just maybe, you are drawn to it more than only a costume: maybe there is something in that outfit that speaks to you on a much deeper level. I’m here to tell you, first and foremost, that that is OK. You are allowed to feel that way. It doesn’t necessarily mean anything. Yes, it may be part of your trans journey – but it also might not be. For now, I’d suggest you don’t read too much into things. This is a time for you to explore and consider. Use this moment as a catalyst, and keep your mind open to possibilities. Maybe now is a time to learn more. Seek out resources, either from your local bookshop or from the comfort and safety of your internet-connected device. You may even want to look for online or local support groups and the like, if you feel

would be turned away from health care because of who they are, and when a health care provider denies care to a population they claim to serve, that’s hypocrisy.” Minton stated that he’s had multiple medical emergencies since Dignity turned him away. “I can’t stand to go to my neighboring Dignity hospital because

of the discrimination I was put through,” he stated. “In one instance, I called my doctor and had them talk me through a procedure I performed on myself to avoid having to go into one of their hospitals. I hope Dignity Health will finally take responsibility for what they did to me and what they continue to do.” Minton added that he “applauds”

transgender Californians and people across the country who are sharing their denial of care experiences. “This should not be our private pain and shame,” he stated. In a statement, Dignity Health stated that it stands against discrimination of all kinds. “We realize that people who are LGBTQ have faced significant and

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the need to talk to others. More than this, I want you to understand that you are not alone. Your experiences, no matter where they may lead, are valid, and there are a great many people who will cheer you on no matter what. The veil is thin, and we are in a time of great magic. Consider what you may have felt on Halloween and explore what may be your possible future. Feel the magic of autumnal transformations. t Gwen Smith went with a “SpiderGwen” hoodie this year. You’ll find her at www.gwensmith.com

long-standing challenges getting the care they need from supportive and knowledgeable providers,” the statement read. “We regret that Mr. Minton’s hysterectomy was incorrectly scheduled at one of our facilities that does not provide the service he needed.” Dignity also stated that in keepSee page 10 >>

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<< Community News

10 • Bay Area Reporter • November 4-10, 2021

Help decorate RWF’s World Tree of Hope R

ainbow World Fund, the LGBTQ humanitarian nonprofit, is preparing for this year’s installation of its World Tree of Hope, and people can submit wishes and sign up for decorating shifts. This year is the 16th lighting of the tree, which features origami cranes inscribed with wishes for the future of the world. The tree will be lighted during an in-person celebration Monday, December 6, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Grace Cathedral, 1100 California Street in San Francisco. Decorating the tree will also take place at Grace Cathedral, and various three- to four-hour shifts are available for volunteers. An email from RWF noted that all volunteers must be vaccinated for COVID-19 and bring

proof, such as a photo of the vaccine card on your phone, and the organization will follow current San Francisco guidelines. Shifts begin Saturday, November 6, and Sunday, November 7, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and continue on weekends and some weekdays through November 28. Once you have selected dates and times, RWF will email you to confirm. The lighting ceremony will feature drag artist Donna Sachet; the Grammy Award-winning San Francisco Boys Chorus; the Very Reverend Malcolm C. Young, dean of Grace Cathedral; the Lesbian and Gay Chorus of San Francisco; Tammy Hall; origami artist Linda Mihara; RWF founder Jeff Cotter; and the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, who will bless the tree. The event is free. To send a wish, go to https://www.

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Speier to unveil exhibit of San Mateo residents lost to COVID

Congresswoman Jackie Speier (DSan Mateo/San Francisco) will open a weeklong exhibit, “In America: Remember,” to reflect on the San Mateo County residents who have died of COVID-19. The unveiling will take place Sunday, November 7, at noon at Leo Ryan Park, 650 Shell Boulevard in Foster City. According to a news release, the exhibit is inspired by an installation of more than 690,000 miniature white flags that artist Suzanne Firstenberg placed on 20 acres on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. in September. “Visiting the exhibit in D.C. was deeply moving and I want to bring that impact home to my district,” Speier stated. “Suzanne Firstenberg succeeded in illustrating the enormity of the pandemic tragedy. I believe that displaying the white flags in every county in America could help us heal and come together. It is also a way to remember the lives of people who we have lost locally.” Other officials who will make remarks include Foster City Mayor Sanjay Gehani; Dr. Grace Firtch of Kaiser Permanente; and pastor Paul Baines of WeHOPE. Singer Liz Buljan and bagpiper Fred Payne will provide music for the event. According to the San Mateo County Health Department, there have been 623 COVID deaths and 52,788 cases in the county as of October 28. The vaccination rate is over 90%, one of the highest in the country.

A community you can connect with.

Rick Gerharter

Rainbow World Fund’s inspiring World Tree of Hope, as seen at Grace Cathedral last year.

Coast Pride fundraiser

In other Peninsula news, Coast Pride will hold a wine tasting fundraiser Sunday, November 7, at Table Wine, 1710 Francisco Boulevard in Pacifica. There are two seatings: 1 to 3 p.m. and 3:30 to 5:30. Tickets start at $75 for a trio of wines and a coupon for tacos from Taqueria Pacifica, which is next door. Sponsorship levels are also available. Attendees must show proof of COVID vaccination and face masks are required. For tickets, go to https://bit. ly/2ZNEG9W.

Webinar on Kakuma Refugee Camp report

The Organization of Refuge, Asylum, and Migration and the Rainbow Railroad recently released a report on conditions for LGBTQs at the Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya. As the Bay Area Reporter’s Out in the World column reported last week, (https://www. ebar.com/news/news//310074) the document makes several recommendations to improve conditions at the sprawling camp, and provides much needed and previously lacking infor-

Hospital appeal

From page 8

ing with its Catholic faith, “at our Catholic-sponsored care sites we do not offer certain services including sterilizing procedures such as hysterectomies to any patient regardless of gender identity, unless the patient has a life-threatening condition. “Although the Supreme Court will not consider this important issue at this time, we plan to continue to pursue the case at the lower-court level,” Dignity Health stated.

Texas abortion ban

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In a much more highly publicized action November 1, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in two appeals concerning Texas’ recently-enacted law banning most abortions. U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar said Texas was “attempting to thwart the supremacy of federal law” when it “enacted a law that clearly violates” the Supreme Court’s rulings in Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey. “If Texas can nullify Roe and Casey in this manner, then other states could do the same with other constitutional rights or other decisions of this court that they disfavor,” said Prelogar. The Texas law in question, known as SB 8, is one that makes it illegal to obtain an abortion after six weeks of pregnancy. The law also allows any citizen to file suit against anyone who violates the ban, or helps someone else violate it, and promises the court will award such citizens a minimum of $10,000 per successful lawsuit. The law further notes that Texas “never repealed” its ban on abortion

mation on LGBTQ+ asylum seekers and refugees living in the camp. Now, ORAM and Rainbow Railroad will hold a webinar sharing the report’s findings to those who are interested. The online meeting will be held Wednesday, November 10, at 8 a.m. Pacific Time. There is no cost to attend. According to a news release, some of the report’s major findings include that 71% of those surveyed fled their home countries due to persecution based on their sexual orientation or gender identity; 90% said they have been verbally assaulted while at Kakuma; and 83% said they suffered physical violence at the camp. John Ndiritu wrote the report. A total of 58 LGBTQI+ asylum seekers from nine different countries were interviewed, along with 18 others the report refers to as key informants, such as representatives of refugee-serving organizations, community and religious leaders, and LGBTQI activists. To read the report, go to https://bit. ly/3nRPOdZ To RSVP for the webinar, go to https://bit.ly/3CBhv0R. t subsequent to the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court. That text and Prelogar’s warning have special resonance for LGBTQ people: Just last month, a state representative in Texas noted that the state’s laws limiting marriage to one man and one woman were never amended or repealed. And he suggested the state essentially ignore the Supreme Court’s ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges, which struck down state bans on same-sex marriage. Justice Sonia Sotomayor asked an attorney representing Texas in court Monday whether the state could enforce an “SB 8-style liability on anyone who officiates, aids, or abets a same-sex wedding” or seeks to stop private consensual sexual conduct, protected under the Supreme Court’s ruling in Lawrence v. Texas. “This is not limited to abortion,” said Sotomayor. Justice Brett Kavanaugh asked questions suggesting that an SB 8-style law might also be used by citizens who want to go after “anyone who declines a good or service for use in a same-sex marriage. ...” As an initial matter, the Supreme Court is expected first to rule on whether or not to grant the U.S. Department of Justice’s request for an injunction barring continued enforcement of SB 8, which took effect in September. The court is later expected to rule on the constitutionality of the Texas ban. In a brief submitted by attorneys general of 22 states, including California, Illinois, Michigan, and New Jersey, lesbian Attorney General Maura Healey of Massachusetts See page 12 >>

<< Community News

12 • Bay Area Reporter • November 4-10, 2021

Chiu

From page 1

“If you do this job long enough chilliness will resolve to grudging respect,” he said. “If you do the job long enough [that] eventually evolves to admiration.” Former SFPUC general manager Harlan Kelly was charged in a federal criminal complaint with taking bribes in the city’s corruption scandal that saw the arrest of former Public Works director Mohammed Nuru last year on public corruption charges. Kelly’s wife, Naomi Kelly, had served as San Francisco city administrator but resigned in February. She has not been charged in the corruption scandal, which has also ensnared several local developers and city employees responsible for permitting development projects. Herrera had launched a corruption investigation following the multiple arrests, prompting concerns that his departure would mean his mayoralappointed successor would de-prioritize the issue. Chiu pledged Monday that he was committed “to rooting out corruption and holding City Hall to the highest ethical standards.” And Herrera, in his remarks, expressed his full support in seeing Chiu take over leadership of what he called “the best” city attorney office in the country. “He is going to forge his own path,” said Herrera, who held the role for close to two decades. “I know he is going to be great.” Until now, an Asian American or Pacific Islander has never led the city attorney’s office in its 120-year history. It is another political glass-ceiling breakthrough position for Chiu, who in 2014 became the first Asian American to represent San Francisco’s eastern neighborhoods in the state Legislature. “It’s historic. I’m looking forward to working with him,” gay District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman told

Hospital appeal

From page 10

warned that the court’s decisions concerning the Texas ban will have

Rick Gerharter

Mayor London Breed, right, administers the oath of office to David Chiu, as his wife, Candace Chen, and son, Lucas, look on.

Nonetheless, Chiu passed groundbreaking LGBTQ bills during his time in the Assembly. One of his first legislative achievements was requiring various state agencies to collect sexual orientation and gender identity data. The issue gained greater scrutiny during the COVID pandemic, as it brought to light myriad hurdles in gathering and reporting SOGI demographic information. This year saw Chiu’s bills requiring public colleges and universities not to deadname students on their academic records and diplomas, and ensuring the privacy rights of people receiving sensitive health care services, such as gender-affirming care, become law. LGBTQ rights are expected to remain top of his mind as city attorney. Now that Chiu has officially vacated his Assembly seat, Governor Gavin Newsom must call a special election to fill it. It will need to be held before March 21, and the winner will serve the rest of Chiu’s term through early December 2022. They will need to run in next June’s primary and then the November general election for a full two-year term in the state Assembly. Chiu will also have to run next year to serve out the remainder of Herrera’s term through 2023. Chiu’s opponent in his 2014 Assembly race, gay former District 9 supervisor David Campos, is once again seeking the seat. Now chief of staff to District Attorney Chesa Boudin, Campos is running against fellow progressive District 6 Supervisor Matt Haney, a straight ally. Two other straight candidates are also running: City College of San Francisco trustee Thea Selby and former Obama administration staffer Bilal Mahmood, who returned to the Bay Area to launch a tech startup and last year co-founded the 13 Fund foundation to invest in local nonprofits in San Francisco and New York City. t

the Bay Area Reporter. “He’s got big shoes to fill in Dennis Herrera. I trust David is going to build on the work Dennis did and continue supporting his lawyers he brought on to the city attorney’s office.” Chiu, a straight married father, was also the first AAPI president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, having first won election in 2008. Upon his swearing-in as city attorney, Chiu received congratulations from the California Asian American & Pacific Islander Legislative Caucus, which he had formerly chaired. “I’ve been proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with David Chiu during our time in the Legislature, as we have fought to give a stronger voice to Asian American and Pacific Islanders across California,” stated gay Assemblyman Evan Low (D-Campbell), vice chair of the AAPI caucus. “It is not a coincidence that an AAPI hate crime David witnessed in college motivated him to become an activist and public servant. We are living in a volatile time as hate

crimes targeting the AAPI community have spiked. David Chiu will absolutely help San Francisco become a more inclusive, equitable, and just city.” The son of Chinese immigrant parents, Chiu grew up in Boston and later graduated law school at Harvard. He has long worked on LGBTQ rights issues, such as in 1996 while working for then-Senator Paul Simon (D-Illinois) on Capitol Hill who unsuccessfully tried to block the anti-gay Defense of Marriage Act. Chiu had told the B.A.R. in 2013 the DOMA fight in Congress led to his moving to town nearly two decades prior. “That DOMA vote was truly ... it was an incredibly dark day in the U.S. Senate and a part of why I needed to move to a place like San Francisco, which to me and so many others has always been a beacon of tolerance to the rest of the world,” said Chiu, noting that “the struggles the LGBT community has are struggles that have been a part of the broader fight against discrimination and big-

otry that has been a part of American history. LGBT struggles are the civil rights fight of our generation.” His own sexual orientation had been the subject of gossip in San Francisco political circles, with some believing he was gay. Chiu, who married public interest lawyer Candace Chen after meeting her when she volunteered on his first supervisor campaign, had joked to the B.A.R. that he wasn’t “the first, single, straight elected official to have heard rumors like that. This is San Francisco.”

“profound consequences.” The brief noted that the attorneys general “recognize that state legislatures across the country have strongly held policy preferences in areas as

diverse as gun rights, freedom of religion, marriage equality, and voting rights that may at times be in tension with, or even conflict with, constitutional principles.” But it added that,

“We likewise recognize the vital role that judicial review plays in resolving these tensions. But, where longstanding precedent clearly and unambiguously forecloses a particular policy

as unconstitutional, a state cannot be permitted to disregard that precedent by passing an unconstitutional law and shielding it from federal judicial review.” t

Arnold Rice

William Townsend Stewart

October 24, 1957 – October 6, 2021

May 25, 1951 – October 20, 2021

Arnold Rice, born October 24, 1957, in Chicago, Illinois; died October 6, 2021, in San Francisco, California, at age 63. He was the son of Albert Anthony “Tony” Woodson and Margaret (Rice). Raised in Chicago, Arnold later lived in New York City and Los Angeles. He was an artist and architect. In 1985 he was diagnosed with HIV. He moved to San Francisco in 2002, and in 2004 married Jay Davis. The marriage ended and, in 2005, he married James “Jim” “Tahara” Windsor, an original San Francisco Cockette. Love at first sight. Arnie and Jim were together almost 17 years. During quarantine Arnold became depressed and refused further HIV medical help. At home an unforeseen aortic aneurysm suddenly ended his life. With tears, Jim held him as he died. In addition to his partner, survivors are: sisters, Claudette Cohen and Kim Rice; and brother, Eron Rice, all of Chicago; friends and relatives. His mother and brother, Kevin Rice, previously deceased in Chicago. Following cremation a memorial service was held October 18 at the home. A Rice family funeral will be November 13 at the Johnson Funeral Home, 5838 West Division Street, Chicago. Dearest Arnold, I will always love and miss you. Jim.

William Townsend Stewart, of Martha’s Vineyard and San Francisco, died October 20, 2021, after receiving diagnosis of an aggressive cancer in July. He was 70 years old. William was born May 25, 1951, in Providence, Rhode Island, the only son of Frank Stewart and Caroline Townsend Stewart. He earned a B.A. in Russian from Reed College in 1973. William was a professional calligrapher. His works include a logo for the long-running NPR series “Music from the Hearts of Space,” the Kimono condom logo, and calligraphy for books by the poet James Broughton, as well as dozens of works of fine art calligraphy. As “Sister Succuba,” William was among the first Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. He created the Sisters’ handwritten calligraphic logo, and is credited with proposing the phrase “Perpetual Indulgence” at the Sisters’ founding meeting in his apartment in 1979. He and Gilbert Baker were first to be canonized Saints of the Order. William lost several close friends and lovers to AIDS and volunteered with Shanti Project during the crisis. In 2014, he established Groundswell, a queer retreat center and intentional community in Mendocino. Though disease cut his life short, William laid plans for Groundswell’s survival, intending the forested refuge to remain a place of ecological stewardship and service to queer and other marginalized peoples. William is survived by a close circle of dear friends and a wide community of Radical Faeries, Sisters, and fellow travelers.\

Groundbreaking LGBTQ bills

Having won election to the city’s 17th Assembly seat, which previously had been held by a string of gay and lesbian leaders, Chiu entered Sacramento pledging to be a vocal advocate for LGBTQ issues. His first year in the Legislature he asked to join the Legislative LGBTQ Caucus, but the affinity group for LGBTQ lawmakers denied him membership since he is not a member of the LGBTQ community.

Obituaries >> Lawrence “Goombah” Kelleher

CCSF Outreach Advertisements Prepared by The Office of the Clerk of the Board Pursuant to Admin. Code 2.81 Tell the Redistricting Task Force where to draw the San Francisco Supervisorial District lines! Visit the Redistricting website for directions on how to virtually attend their meetings.

January 16, 1943 – October 21, 2021

Website: www.sf.gov/public-body/2020-census-redistricting-task-force Contact the Clerk, John Carroll, at (415) 554-4445 or rdtf@sfgov.org for more information. VACANCIES AVAILABLE! The Assessment Appeals Board resolves legal and value assessment issues between the Assessor’s office and property owners. Board vacancies are as follows: Board 1 – one; Board 2 three; and Board 3 – five. Hearings are quasi-judicial, conducted in a manner similar to a court setting, with evidence and testimony presented by the parties. The Board then evaluates the evidence and testimony and renders its decision. To be eligible for seat appointment, you must have a minimum of five years professional experience in California as either a: (1) public accountant; (2) real estate broker; (3) attorney; or (4) property appraiser accredited by a nationally recognized organization, or certified by either the Office of Real Estate Appraiser or the State Board of Equalization. The San Francisco District Attorney’s Office is Hiring Job Code and Title: 8177-Attorney (Civil/Criminal) The San Francisco District Attorney’s Office is one of the most respected and innovative prosecutor’s offices in the United States. Our mission is to promote justice by fostering accountability and repairing harms by using data-driven, evidence-based approaches. We are dedicated to addressing the root causes of crime, preventing recidivism, centering survivors, and eliminating inequities in the criminal legal system—including through reduced reliance on incarceration. Duties: • • • •

Preparing and trying cases in the San Francisco Superior Court Writing and litigating motions Interviewing witnesses Conducting and supervising investigations

Qualifications: • • •

Admittance to State Bar of California Comprehensive knowledge of state and federal municipal codes and laws Effective written and oral communication skills

Salary Range: $131,144 - $229,736 annually For the complete posting, please visit www.sfdistrictattorney.org, or contact Shavaun Tolliver, Senior Human Resources Analyst (628) 652-4040. The attached file is the Sheriff’s Office submission for the outreach advertising space. I hope it meets all the requirements. If anything needs to be changed in our advertisement, please let me know. Thank you for notifying us of this opportunity. Child support matters can be complicated, stressful, and confusing. The Department of Child Support Services helps parents understand the process so they know their rights and options for making and receiving support payments. We are available to assist you in person or by phone. Call us today at (866) 901-3212 or visit us online at www.sfgov.org/dcss to learn how we can help you. Schedule an appointment to open your case at https://sfgov. org/dcss/opening-case. The City and County of San Francisco encourage public outreach. Articles are translated into several languages to provide better public access. The newspaper makes every effort to translate the articles of general interest correctly. No liability is assumed by the City and County of San Francisco or the newspapers for errors and omissions. CNSB#3524160

/lgbtsf

The constellation of stars we know as Larry Kelleher passed gently from our view October 21, 2021. Born to Alice and Hugh, Larry was one of five brothers living life in the Bronx. After serving four years in the U.S. Navy in Texas, he returned to New York City. In 1978, inspired by the Advocate Experience workshop, Larry moved to San Francisco with John Burrow (JB). He worked for Pacific Bell until his retirement. “Goombah,” as he was also known, was a spiritual seeker and enjoyed silent retreats, Tai Chi, singing, laughing, and philosophy. He loved the outdoors, hiking, and windsurfing. He appreciated travel, good food, music, and his friends and family. Larry was beloved by brother Jimmy and his East Coast family including nieces, nephews, and cousins; he was Linda’s USF grad-mate, Gaby’s dance husband, Chris’s spiritual brother, and the man who captured Scott Poli’s heart. He was cherished by his many friends, both near and far. We’ll miss his jokes and recited poems, his Irish soda bread, the glint in his eye, and his boyish grin. A celebration of life will be held at Swedenborgian Church, November 20, at 11 a.m. For information, email mdstiver52@gmail.com. Special thanks to UCSF Parnassus.

Community News>>

t Ex-Fremont city manager won’t face DV charges by John Ferrannini

an Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin did not file charges against the former city manager of Fremont, who was arrested in September in connection with a domestic violence case. Mark Danaj, 52 – who at the time was Fremont’s city manager – was arrested in San Francisco the night of September 15 after an altercation on Fremont Street between Folsom and Harrison streets. The alleged victim was a 25-year-old man. “Our office did not file charges in this case due to insufficient evidence,” Boudin spokeswoman Rachel Marshall told the Bay Area Reporter November 3. “Mr. Danaj and the complaining witness had two different accounts, and without any physical evidence or inde-

pendent witnesses, we were unable to file charges against Mr. Danaj.” Danaj departed his job without explanation shortly after his arrest – but with a severance package of over $300,000. According to the California penal code, battery (harmful violence against someone without their consent) is domestic when it “is committed against a spouse, a person with whom the defendant is cohabiting, a person who is the parent of the defendant’s child, former spouse, fiancé, or fiancée, or a person with whom the defendant currently has, or has previously had, a dating or engagement relationship.” Danaj was booked and subsequently released. The San Francisco Police Department and Danaj’s attorney, Berry

November 4-10, 2021 • Bay Area Reporter • 13

Wilkinson, did not return requests for comment. Danaj came out as gay after he was hired as Fremont’s city manager, according to Alameda County officials. At a recent special meeting of the Alameda County Democratic Party Central Committee, part of Fremont Mayor Lily Mei’s unsuccessful argument against charges that she is anti-LGBTQIA+ was her “hiring LGBTQIA+ community members at the highest levels of city government such as city manager and police chief among others.” Danaj’s resignation was effective September 30 and was given without explanation, according to the East Bay Times . “It has been my honor to serve the City Council, employees, and residents of Fremont,” he stated.

Danaj came to the Bay Area’s fourth most-populous city initially in 2018 after being fired from the position of city manager in Manhattan Beach also without explanation, according to the Long Beach Press Telegram. He received $250,000 at that time, the paper reported, also because he was being let go before the end of his contract. Wilkinson claimed at the time that Danaj was persecuted because he did not let the City Council overstep its boundaries in decisions proper to the city manager’s office. The Times reported that the Fremont separation agreement required nondisclosure from city officials, who were only allowed to say that “the departure was settled in a mutually acceptable manner” if asked about it. However, the agreement, viewed by

the Times, provided for over $300,000 in severance. Danaj received $294,292 in a lump sum, according to the Times, $50,000 for leave time, and $22,325 in monthly installments until next August. These monies have to be paid because part of Danaj’s employment contract with the city of Fremont stipulated that he’d be entitled to it if he was fired by the City Council for any reason other than willful misconduct. In a statement, Mei thanked Danaj for his service. “Mark has led the city through several major milestones this past 18 months as we navigated through an unprecedented historical pandemic,” Mei stated. “Through its strong leadership team, Fremont is well positioned to move forward and maintain its track record of stability. I wish Mark all the best.” t

OCT 21, 28, NOV 04, 11, 2021

business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/15/04. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 09/22/21.

Legals>> ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-21-556644

In the matter of the application of NATHANIEL PAUL LYTLE, 345 6TH ST #901, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner NATHANIEL PAUL LYTLE is requesting that the name NATHANIEL PAUL LYTLE be changed to DON EIGHT. 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 NOVEMBER 2021 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

OCT 14, 21, 28, NOV 04, 2021

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-21-556663

In the matter of the application of SUI MAN CHAN, 1346A 20TH AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94122, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner SUI MAN CHAN is requesting that the name SUI MAN CHAN be changed to VICTORIA CHAN. 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 21st of DECEMBER 2021 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

OCT 14, 21, 28, NOV 04, 2021

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-21-556659

In the matter of the application of BINGYI YU, 640 FRANCISCO ST #1508, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94133, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner BINGYI YU is requesting that the name CARLAM JIALIN LI be changed to ANNIE JIALIN YU. 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 21st of DECEMBER 2021 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

OCT 14, 21, 28, NOV 04, 2021

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-21-556667

In the matter of the application of ELIANNA ROSE LASKEN, 325 OCTAVIA ST #218, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner ELIANNA ROSE LASKEN is requesting that the name ELIANNA ROSE LASKEN be changed to ELIANNA BADB O’SHEA. 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 23rd of NOVEMBER 2021 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

OCT 14, 21, 28, NOV 04, 2021

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-21-556652

In the matter of the application of KAREN LYNN HOWARD, 547 27TH AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94121, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner KAREN LYNN HOWARD is requesting that the name KAREN LYNN HOWARD be changed to MIA ANN HOWARD. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Rm. 103 on the 16th of NOVEMBER 2021 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

OCT 14, 21, 28, NOV 04, 2021

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039512100 The following person(s) is/are doing business as B & G AUTO REPAIR, 1 INDUSTRIAL ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94124. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed LESTER L. CHAN. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/01/15. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/06/21.

OCT 14, 21, 28, NOV 04, 2021

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039508300

The following person(s) is/are doing business as EC BUILDING MAINTENANCE MANAGEMENT, 31 LAUSANNE AVE, DALY CITY, CA 94014. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed EDWIN CANIZALES FLORES. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 09/29/21. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/01/21.

OCT 14, 21, 28, NOV 04, 2021

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039513800

The following person(s) is/are doing business as LARKIN ST. LAUNDROMAT, 1868 LARKIN ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed ARTHUR C. CHAN. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names

on 05/27/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/07/21.

OCT 14, 21, 28, NOV 04, 2021

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039512200

The following person(s) is/are doing business as PACIFIC MEDICAL TRANSCRIPTION, 3450 GEARY BLVD #212, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94118. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed AMY KELLY. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/01/21. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/06/21.

OCT 14, 21, 28, NOV 04, 2021

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039513600

The following person(s) is/are doing business as THE TALK SHOW COUNSELING SERVICES, 855 BRANNAN ST #451, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed JOSE V. FERIA. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/07/21. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/07/21.

OCT 14, 21, 28, NOV 04, 2021

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039508400 The following person(s) is/are doing business as BRIGHTSOURCES, 5758 GEARY BLVD #106, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94121. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed EUN JIN JEON. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/28/21. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/01/21.

OCT 14, 21, 28, NOV 04, 2021

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039513500

The following person(s) is/are doing business as MARIETTA’S A MOTHERS TOUCH CLEANING SERVICE, 2127 QUESADA AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94124. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed HARVEY SALAZAR. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/16/14. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/07/21.

OCT 14, 21, 28, NOV 04, 2021

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039515200 The following person(s) is/are doing business as VISION POWERED VENTURES, 268A DOLORES ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed KRISTIN HAYDEN. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 09/15/21. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/12/21.

OCT 14, 21, 28, NOV 04, 2021

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039511800

The following person(s) is/are doing business as SF ORTHODONTICS; SAN FRANCISCO ORTHODONTICS FOR CHILDREN AND ADULTS; 3501 CALIFORNIA ST #202, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94118. This business is conducted by a general partnership, and is signed RODNEY STERLING LEE, SAMANTHA NICOLE LEE & ELIZABETH UBALDO. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/06/21. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/06/21.

OCT 14, 21, 28, NOV 04, 2021

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039506600

The following person(s) is/are doing business as ARCADIA HOME CARE & STAFFING, 1388 SUTTER ST #904, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109-5438. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed PRAC HOLDINGS, INC (DE). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 04/01/18. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 09/30/21.

OCT 14, 21, 28, NOV 04, 2021

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039504500

The following person(s) is/are doing business as DISPUTE, 650 CALIFORNIA ST, FLOOR 7, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94108. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed PINEAPPLE TEAM INCORPORATED (DE). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 09/01/21. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 09/30/21.

OCT 14, 21, 28, NOV 04, 2021

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039514500

The following person(s) is/are doing business as BAY AREA REPORTER, 44 GOUGH ST #302, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed BAR MEDIA INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/01/2013. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/08/21.

OCT 14, 21, 28, NOV 04, 2021

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT

FILE A-039499000

The following person(s) is/are doing business as MAREA MEDIA; ART OF MAC; IN MOTION MEDIA; IMAGE AND MOTION; IMAGE AND MOTION MEDIA; RUTH GUMNIT MEDIA; 2020 15TH ST #9, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94114. This business is conducted by a married couple, and is signed RUTH GUMNIT & MARGUERITE SALMON. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/30/07. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 09/28/21.

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039513300 The following person(s) is/are doing business as PORTOLA CLEANER, 725 PORTOLA DR, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94127. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed SUN-JU KIM. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/01/21. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/07/21.

OCT 14, 21, 28, NOV 04, 2021

OCT 21, 28, NOV 04, 11, 2021

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039508600

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039519100

The following person(s) is/are doing business as MAX’S JANITORIAL & POWERWASH, 39 SANTA YNEZ AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94112. This business is conducted by a married couple, and is signed MAXIMO MENDOZA & NINETTE MORRIS-MENDOZA. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/01/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 09/01/21.

OCT 14, 21, 28, NOV 04, 2021

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039509300

The following person(s) is/are doing business as FLYLUXGLOBAL, 1971 45TH AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94116. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed SLAVA KAPLAN. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/14/21. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/14/21.

OCT 21, 28, NOV 04, 11, 2021

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039520200

The following person(s) is/are doing business as OTEX USA, 364 CHESTER AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94132. This business is conducted by a married couple, and is signed TANYA CHIU & TONY CHIU. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/28/10. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/04/21.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as SPORT TOLLIVER, 308 EDDY ST #101, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed RACHEL TOLLIVER – SOLE PROPRIETOR. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/14/21. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/15/21.

OCT 14, 21, 28, NOV 04, 2021

OCT 21, 28, NOV 04, 11, 2021

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039497600

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039521400

The following person(s) is/are doing business as CORNERSTONE REALTY, 101 MILTON ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94112. This business is conducted by a married couple, and is signed NANCY GERALDINE RAZNICK & ALAN MICHAEL RAZNICK. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/08/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 09/30/21.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as ONE WITH PEACE MARTIAL ARTS, 1725 NEWCOMB AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94124. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed NAYO ESTEBAN MOUTON-FUESTES. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 03/13/21. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/18/21.

OCT 14, 21, 28, NOV 04, 2021

OCT 21, 28, NOV 04, 11, 2021

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039513100

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039499400

The following person(s) is/are doing business as MOST SIGNIFICANT BIT PRODUCTIONS, 715 SHRADER ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94117. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed MOST SIGNIFICANT BIT LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/07/21. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/07/21.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as UNION SQUARE ENDODONTICS, 490 POST ST #1516, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed DARREN MACHULE D.M.D. PHD. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 04/01/06. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 09/28/21.

OCT 14, 21, 28, NOV 04, 2021

OCT 21, 28, NOV 04, 11, 2021

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039510400

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039521900

The following person(s) is/are doing business as SERIOUSLY ADDICTIVE MATHEMATICS S.A.M. SINGAPORE MATH, 1489 WEBSTER ST #200, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94115. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed CPP LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/05/21. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/05/21.

OCT 14, 21, 28, NOV 04, 2021

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039514400

The following person(s) is/are doing business as MOVEMINT; MOVEMINT RELOCATION CONCIERGE; 1365 10TH AVE #10, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94122. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed MOVEMINT RELOCATION CONCIERGE LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 03/01/21. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/08/21.

OCT 14, 21, 28, NOV 04, 2021

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039514900

The following person(s) is/are doing business as THE MADRIGAL, 100 VAN NESS AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed 100 VAN NESS LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/01/21. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/08/21.

OCT 14, 21, 28, NOV 04, 2021

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-21-556677

In the matter of the application of CHUI YUK CHAN, 473 30TH AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94121, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner CHUI YUK CHAN is requesting that the name CHUI YUK CHAN AKA ALICIA CHUI YUK CHAN AKA ALICIA CHUI YUK LUI AKA ALICIA C. LUI AKA ALICIA LUI be changed to ALICIA LUI. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Rm. 103 on the 30th of NOVEMBER 2021 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as TIAR LEI, 2685 TAYLOR ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94133. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed TIAR LEI DUKE. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/08/21. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/18/21.

OCT 21, 28, NOV 04, 11, 2021

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039492700

The following person(s) is/are doing business as TACO SAN BUENA, SANSOME & BUSH ST RTE #2, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94104. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed SANTANA ESG INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 02/02/05. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 09/22/21.

OCT 21, 28, NOV 04, 11, 2021

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039492800

The following person(s) is/are doing business as TACO SAN BUENA, SHOTWELL & 16TH ST RTE #62, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed SANTANA ESG INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 02/02/05. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 09/22/21.

OCT 21, 28, NOV 04, 11, 2021

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039492900 The following person(s) is/are doing business as TACO SAN BUENA, 768 SANSOME ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94111. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed SANTANA ESG INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 09/12/07. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 09/22/21.

OCT 21, 28, NOV 04, 11, 2021

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039492600 The following person(s) is/are doing business as TACO SAN BUENA, 2598 HARRISON ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed SANTANA ESG INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact

OCT 21, 28, NOV 04, 11, 2021

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039517300

The following person(s) is/are doing business as CP PARTNERS COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE, 2 EMBARCADERO CENTER #1440, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94111. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed FLORIDA PETE INCORPORATED (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 10/13/21.

OCT 21, 28, NOV 04, 11, 2021

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039520300

The following person(s) is/are doing business as KANVAS; THE CANLAS BROTHERS; 188 KING ST PH7, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94107. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed KANVAS REAL ESTATE, INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/14/21. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/15/21.

OCT 21, 28, NOV 04, 11, 2021

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039494300

The following person(s) is/are doing business as CODI, 1846 TAYLOR ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94133. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed HIVEN INC. (DE). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 04/20/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 09/23/21.

OCT 21, 28, NOV 04, 11, 2021

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039517200

The following person(s) is/are doing business as LE PHENIX LIFESTYLE, 1538 PACIFIC AVE #116, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed CMO HAIR STUDIOS LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N/A. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/13/21.

OCT 21, 28, NOV 04, 11, 2021

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039522200

The following person(s) is/are doing business as HAZE VALLEY, 500 LAGUNA ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed MR.C’S LLC (DE). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/18/18. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/18/21.

OCT 21, 28, NOV 04, 11, 2021

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039522100 The following person(s) is/are doing business as HIGH ROAD BIKE CO., 597 HAYES ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed CALILION LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/25/21. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/18/21.

OCT 21, 28, NOV 04, 11, 2021

STATEMENT OF ABANDONMENT OF USE OF FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME FILE A-038399700

The following persons have abandoned the use of the fictitious business name known as PACIFIC MEDICAL TRANSCRIPTION, 3450 GEARY BLVD #212, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94118. This business was conducted by an individual and signed by DOLORES PEREZ HEILBRON. The fictitious name was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/15/18.

OCT 21, 28, NOV 04, 11, 2021

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-21-556693

In the matter of the application of SHANKAR DHAKAL & GITA PANERU, 225 HYDE ST #407, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioners SHANKAR DHAKAL & GITA PANERU is requesting that the name AROGYA DHAKAL be changed to PRANAV DHAKAL. 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 7th of DECEMBER 2021 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

OCT 28, NOV 04, 11, 18, 2021

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-21-556689

In the matter of the application of ALEXANDER WILLIAM MOSIAK, 163 FAIRMOUNT ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94131, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner ALEXANDER WILLIAM MOSIAK is requesting that the name ALEXANDER

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November 4-10, 2021 • Bay Area Reporter • 14 OCT 28, NOV 04, 11, 18, 2021

WILLIAM MOSIAK be changed to ALEXEI OSTAPOVICH MOSIAK. 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 4th of JANUARY 2022 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039526300

The following person(s) is/are doing business as APMEDIATIONSF, 576 2ND AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94118. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed BRUNO AUGUSTUS PEGUESE. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 02/01/20. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/25/21.

OCT 28, NOV 04, 11, 18, 2021

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-21-556682

In the matter of the application of MARITELL RAMIREZ VILLAVICENCIO, 1153 GENEVA AVE #B, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94112, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner MARITELL RAMIREZ VILLAVICENCIO is requesting that the name MARITELL RAMIREZ VILLAVICENCIO AKA MARITELL RAMIREZ be changed to MARITELL VILLAVICENCIO. 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 30th of NOVEMBER 2021 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

OCT 28, NOV 04, 11, 18, 2021

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039506100

The following person(s) is/are doing business as LATIN AMERICAN WORKOUT, 1242 S. VAN NESS AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed JAIME MARTINEZ-CASTRO. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 09/29/21. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 09/30/21.

OCT 28, NOV 04, 11, 18, 2021

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039523200

OCT 28, NOV 04, 11, 18, 2021

The following person(s) is/are doing business as BIG JOE LOGISTICS AND POWER, 1438 GREEN ST #5B, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed RACKUP LOGISTICS AND LIFTS INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/20/21. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/20/21.

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039523100 The following person(s) is/are doing business as CAPRICHO, 829 MOULTRIE ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed JULIAN BILLOTTE. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 09/01/94. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/19/21.

OCT 28, NOV 04, 11, 18, 2021

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039525400

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039523000

The following person(s) is/are doing business as STUFF; AUNT BILL’S STUFF; 150 VALENCIA ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed STUFF INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/01/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/22/21.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as GOOD REAL ESTATE TEAM, 891 BEACH ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed GRANT IBANA. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/19/21. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/19/21.

OCT 28, NOV 04, 11, 18, 2021

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039525100

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039524200

The following person(s) is/are doing business as ERIN ELIZABETH HAIR STUDIO, 2668 GREAT HIGHWAY, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94116. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed ERIN ARIAS. 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 10/21/21.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as CRATOS, 1489 WEBSTER ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94115. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed CRATOS PORTABLE CHARGERS INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/21/21. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/22/21.

OCT 28, NOV 04, 11, 18, 2021

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039522900

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039507800 The following person(s) is/are doing business as F8, 1192 FOLSOM ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed CITY CAPITAL MANAGEMENT GROUP INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 02/11/15. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 09/30/21.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as TRES CHIC HAIR STYLE, 234 WEST PORTAL AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94127. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed AICHA ELHATTAB. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 09/07/20. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/19/21.

OCT 28, NOV 04, 11, 18, 2021

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039524300

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039519400

The following person(s) is/are doing business as SUM IT BOOKKEEPERS, 25 SIERRA ST #W301, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94107. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed VASANTHA NAGANATHAN. 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 10/21/21.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as YO YO HAIR SALON, 4409 CALIFORNIA ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94118. This business is conducted by a married couple, and is signed CHIEN MING CHIU & WYNNIE WONG. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 03/15/12. The

statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/15/21.

OCT 28, NOV 04, 11, 18, 2021

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039522000 The following person(s) is/are doing business as CGL BUILDERS, 262 SUNSET PARKWAY, NOVATO, CA 94947. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed CHIRAIRO GROUP LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/15/21. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/18/21.

OCT 28, NOV 04, 11, 18, 2021

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039524100 The following person(s) is/are doing business as TVEST FINANCE, 265 EDDY ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed RACHIEROO GROUP LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/19/21. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/21/21.

OCT 28, NOV 04, 11, 18, 2021

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039524700

The following person(s) is/are doing business as FIBEROLOGIES, 2562 SUTTER ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94115. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed HAMERKOP LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N/A. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/22/21.

OCT 28, NOV 04, 11, 18, 2021

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039518700

The following person(s) is/are doing business as CANIHAN FAMILY CELLARS, 1815 JONES ST #5, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed CANIHAN WINES LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/16/06. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/14/21.

OCT 28, NOV 04, 11, 18, 2021

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039516400

The following person(s) is/are doing business as SILVER SPUR, 1914 IRVING ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94122. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed SHOTSKI LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 03/01/17. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/13/21.

OCT 28, NOV 04, 11, 18, 2021

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039522300

The following person(s) is/are doing business as TAILORFADE, 230 6TH ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed DAPPER & DETAILED LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N/A. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/19/21.

OCT 28, NOV 04, 11, 18, 2021

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-21-556698

In the matter of the application of CHERRY MARY SHEEDY, 391 ELLIS ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102, for change of name having been filed in Superior

Tell the Redistricting Task Force where to draw the San Francisco Supervisorial District lines! Visit the Redistricting website for directions on how to virtually attend their meetings. Website: www.sf.gov/public-body/2020-census-redistricting-task-force Contact the Clerk, John Carroll, at (415) 554-4445 or rdtf@sfgov.org for more information.

Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner CHERRY MARY SHEEDY is requesting that the name CHERRY MARY SHEEDY be changed to SHANNON MARY OBERPRILLER. 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 DECEMBER 2021 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

OCT 28, NOV 04, 11, 18, 2021

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-21-556577

In the matter of the application of SLAWOMIR MACIEJ LIGUS, 875 VERMONT ST #101, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94107, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner SLAWOMIR MACIEJ LIGUS is requesting that the name SLAWOMIR MACIEJ LIGUS be changed to OOZIE LIGUS. 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 11th of JANUARY 2022 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

NOV 04, 11, 18, 25, 2021

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-21-556718

In the matter of the application of RALEIGHA SAMUELLA GARCIA, 750 HARRISON ST #804, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94107, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner RALEIGHA SAMUELLA GARCIA is requesting that the name RALEIGHA SAMUELLA GARCIA be changed to MARICELLA SAMANTHA MAXWELL. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Rm. 103 on the 16th of DECEMBER 2021 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

NOV 04, 11, 18, 25, 2021

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039522700

The following person(s) is/are doing business as G AND G CUSTOM ART AND STUDIO, 437 CAMPBELL AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94134. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed GUILLERMO FLAMENCO. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/01/21. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/19/21.

NOV 04, 11, 18, 25, 2021

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039526100

The following person(s) is/are doing business as 380; FREE PRESS MUSIC, 850 OAK ST #5, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94117. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed CHRISTIE HARBINSKI. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 07/14/15. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/25/21.

NOV 04, 11, 18, 25, 2021

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039527300 The following person(s) is/are doing business as LADIES FIRST NAILS, 601 TARAVAL ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94116. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed THOA THI NGUYEN. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/14/21. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/26/21.

NOV 04, 11, 18, 25, 2021

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039531600 The following person(s) is/are doing business as E YE’S PLUMBING, 335 VERNON ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94132. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed EUGENE JIAN WEI YE. 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 10/29/21.

NOV 04, 11, 18, 25, 2021

VACANCIES AVAILABLE! The Assessment Appeals Board resolves legal and value assessment issues between the Assessor’s office and property owners. Board vacancies are as follows: Board 1 – one; Board 2 - three; and Board 3 – five. Hearings are quasi-judicial, conducted in a manner similar to a court setting, with evidence and testimony presented by the parties. The Board then evaluates the evidence and testimony and renders its decision. To be eligible for seat appointment, you must have a minimum of five years professional experience in California as either a: (1) public accountant; (2) real estate broker; (3) attorney; or (4) property appraiser accredited by a nationally recognized organization, or certified by either the Office of Real Estate Appraiser or the State Board of Equalization. Families Grow Healthy with WIC! San Francisco Department of Public Health (SFDPH) Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) Nutrition Program provides healthy foods, nutrition tips, breastfeeding support, health care referrals and community information. You may qualify if you: • Are pregnant, breastfeeding, just had a baby; or

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039527100 The following person(s) is/are doing business as VALE JUICE CO., 2769 BRYANT ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed DOMINIC ALLING. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 09/28/21. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/26/21.

NOV 04, 11, 18, 25, 2021

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-093527400 The following person(s) is/are doing business as BSR EATS, 50 CLEMENT ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94118. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed BSR EATS INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/01/20. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/26/21.

NOV 04, 11, 18, 25, 2021

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039529700 The following person(s) is/are doing business as MARKIEDOODLE, 273 SUSSEX ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94131. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed STARFISH LIBERATION ARMY (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/01/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/28/21.

• Had a recent pregnancy loss; or • Have a child or care for a child under age 5; and • Have low-to-medium income; or

NOV 04, 11, 18, 25, 2021

• Receive Medi-Cal, CalWORKS (TANF), or CalFresh (SNAP) benefits; and

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039525700

• Live in California To learn about California WIC Program, visit www.MyFamily.WIC.ca.gov or call 1-888-942-9675 To enroll in SFDPH WIC Program visit, www.sfdph.org/wic to start your application or call 628-2176890 to make an appointment. Newly pregnant individuals, working families, including military and migrant families are encouraged to apply! WIC welcomes dads, grandparents, foster parents, or guardians who care for eligible children. This institution is an equal opportunity employer. Child support matters can be complicated, stressful, and confusing. The Department of Child Support Services helps parents understand the process so they know their rights and options for making and receiving support payments. We are available to assist you in person or by phone. Call us today at (866) 901-3212 or visit us online at www.sfgov.org/dcss to learn how we can help you. Schedule an appointment to open your case at https://sfgov.org/dcss/opening-case. The City and County of San Francisco encourage public outreach. Articles are translated into several languages to provide better public access. The newspaper makes every effort to translate the articles of general interest correctly. No liability is assumed by the City and County of San Francisco or the newspapers for errors and omissions CNSB#3525866

The following person(s) is/are doing business as GURUNG KITCHEN, 1033 IRVING ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94122. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed SOLTI RESTAURANT 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 10/25/21.

NOV 04, 11, 18, 25, 2021

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039532800

The following person(s) is/are doing business as THE G SPA, 490 POST ST #1703, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed OFFICE MD (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/01/21. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/01/21.

NOV 04, 11, 18, 25, 2021

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039524900 The following person(s) is/are doing business as NUEVO ARGENT, 5880 3RD ST #517, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94124. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed DNAP LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/11/21. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/22/21.

NOV 04, 11, 18, 25, 2021 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039518900 The following person(s) is/are doing business as HEY BEAUTIFUL, 2500 POLK ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed HEY BEAUTIFUL LCC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/01/21. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/14/21.

NOV 04, 11, 18, 25, 2021

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039534400

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by Victoria A. Brownworth

ueens, the new ABC musical drama series (we still miss Smash so much!) stars Brandy, Naturi Naughton, Nadine Velazquez and Eve J. Cooper as a group of 40something hip hop queens who in 1999 were once in a hit group on the rise called Nasty Bitches. Then sh*t happened. The show’s premise is reuniting these fictional musicians (played by real musicians) to see what pops. In the opening episode, Brianna (Eve) says, “So a mom, a washed-up musician, a disgraced daytime TV host, a lesbian church lady and a young rapper fresh out of rehab are going on a world tour?” Tell us more, queen! Brianna, also known as Professor Sex and a former hip-hop sex symbol, is now a mother of five. Naomi (Brandy) also known as Xplicit Lyrics, was the musical creative in the group and she always expected to hit the charts in a solo career, but instead she’s singing in locals with no customers. Jill (Naturi Naughton) was known as Da Thrill, but was hiding in the closet because of the homophobic industry and her queerhating religion. She has finally found love, but is it safe for her to finally come out? Valeria (Nadine Velazquez), was Butter Pecan, the Latina of the group who joined late. Valeria hosts The Shade, a top-rated morning talk show. When a screw-up knocks her off her pedestal, she rediscovers her connections with these women who came of age with her. The women are fabulous, the chemistry is tremendous and the music is awesome; Tuesdays on ABC, streaming on Disney+

The Long Call

If you loved Fleabag, as we did, then you love its co-star, Ben Aldridge. Aldridge, 35, came out as gay on Instagram on National Coming Out Day 2020, which makes him perfect for his newest role as the first lead gay male detective in a British crime series. Anyone who follows us on Twitter knows we spend nearly every Friday night immersed in BritCrimes on BritBox. The Long Call is a new BritBox series starring Aldridge as detective Matthew Venn. “As [it was] the UK’s first male gay detective on primetime I was resolute that we should cast a gay actor,” said series director Lee Haven Jones in Pink News on his casting of Aldridge. The Long Call TV series is based on the novel of the same name by Ann Cleeves, the first in her new Two Rivers series. Cleeves is a favorite of ours. Her Vera Stanhope novels have been dramatized as the long-running

Queens, Baes & Ben

New dramas, characters and a Brit detective hunk

The cast of ABC’s Queens

BritBox series Vera, starring Oscar-nominee Brenda Blethyn. Cleeves’s Jimmy Pérez novels were made into the BritBox TV series Shetland, starring Douglas Henshall as Pérez, now in its sixth season. Both are fabulous and often feature queer storylines. Venn, like all of Cleeves’s characters, has a dark past. He and his husband Jonathan (Declan Bennett) have returned to the small Devon community that Venn left 20 years ago after being rejected by his family and their church. That evangelical church Venn grew up in, The Brethren, turned its back on him cruelly. But when his father dies, Venn can’t stay away. And the crushing history of his former life begins to be revealed. A subsequent murder puts Venn in the midst of what he does best–no matter what the repercussions. With the brilliant Juliet Stephenson as Venn’s mother Dorothy. (If you’ve never seen Truly, Madly, Deeply, do see it; the film and Stephenson are stunning.) The Long Call also stars out bisexual actress Pearl Mackie, well-known as Bill Potts in Doctor Who. Mackie plays Venn’s colleague D.S. Jen Rafferty, who has moved to Devon from London to escape her own traumatic past. When TV picks up a Cleeves series, actors are set for years. The audience is captivated by her atmospheric stories and dark tale-telling. It would be super if that happened with Venn and Aldridge. Aldridge previously told ITV: “I’m delighted to be playing Matthew Venn, a brilliantly

Ben Aldridge in The Long Call

Amazon’s Tampa Baes

unorthodox detective who audiences will see solving a gripping and intricate case, while simultaneously surmounting a deeper, more personal mystery within himself.” Aldridge went on to call the series a “poignant and complex journey of self-discovery and sexual and religious identity, which navigates the tension between pride and shame.”

Tampa Baes

Are we really watching this new Amazon docu-series set in Tampa, Florida that follows a group of hot, hip lesbians as they struggle for coolness ascendancy and most “it girl” status? Yes we are. Don’t tell us you can watch a bazillion iterations of Real Housewives and you can’t watch Tampa Baes, which is The L Word meets The Real World with cute hot lesbians, queer grrls and straight ladies who say they aren’t bicurious, but there is, of course, lots of drama. Amazon describes the series as “The young lesbian ‘it-crowd’ navigating and celebrating life in Tampa Bay; Florida’s LGBTQ+ hub and the place to see and be seen.” Viewers are told the Tampa Baes are “always ready for an adventure or a good party,” but are also “ambitious and unapologetic, while constantly battling stereotypes and labels.” Okay. Is that why we are watching? No. It is not. Tampa Baes is meant to be candy and cookies on your splurge day, and it is that. This is a fun and fractious frolic. Get hooked. There is some seriousness. Coming out queer does not go well in one bae’s Latinx household. Switching partners creates real-life lesbian drama everyone will recognize. There’s

E.R. Fightmaster in Grey’s Anatomy

partying and dancing and even zip-lining. But there is also a whole lot of yearning for connection, which is at the heart of the series. The down side is there is not much diversity. This is a ‘one-size tankini suits all’ series with few body differences and everyone is gorgeous. Also, in a state that is nearly 50 percent people of color, this is a very white and light-skinned people of color group. We would really have liked to see more women of size and more dark-skinned women of color. If the producers bring this back for a second season, they should check that brown paper bag test at the door.

Grey’s Anatomy

The pandemic made us fall out of love with hospital series, even though we have been faithful to Grey’s Anatomy since it first debuted in 2005. Now in its 18th season, the series that had the longest-running lesbian couple in prime time, has had numerous queer and trans storylines and currently features a gay male couple. Now the series has introduced a non-binary character. E.R. Fightmaster plays recurring character Dr. Kai Bartley. Fightmaster is the first nonbinary actor to play a non-binary doctor on Grey’s Anatomy. Trans actor Alex Blue Davis played surgical resident Casey Parker in Seasons 14-16. Jake Borelli, who is openly gay, co-stars on the series as Dr. Levi Schmitt. Sara Ramirez, who came out as queer and bisexual in 2016 and non-binary in 2020, played Dr. Callie Torres for 11 seasons. Torres was bisexual and in a lesbian marriage to Dr. Arizona Robbins (Jessica Capshaw) for a decade. Torres is the longest-running LGBT character in U.S. television history, appearing over 11 seasons and in 239 episodes. Variety quotes ABC on Bartley’s character: “They are dedicated to their craft and extremely talented at what they do. Confident as hell and able to make even the most detailed and mundane science seem exciting and cool, Kai and Amelia [Shepherd, played by Caterina Scorsone] bond over their shared love of medicine and the brain.”t

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<< Books & Music

16 • Bay Area Reporter • November 4-10, 2021

Leonard, Larry & Tim Gay comics legend Tim Barela by Gregg Shapiro

wenty years after Tim Barela’s final comic strip of Leonard & Larry ran in print, the endearing gay couple is celebrated in The Complete Leonard & Larry Collection. Beginning in 1983, Barela was able to incorporate subjects that still resonate today, including committed relationships, gay fatherhood, AIDS, same-sex marriage, gay priests, queer offspring, and finding connection. Gregg Shapiro: Tim, when did you become aware of your talent for drawing and visual art? Tim Barela: I just always drew as a kid. I never knew a time when I wasn’t interested in drawing or understood the basics of art. It came naturally. When I got to grade school, what I couldn’t understand was that most other kids didn’t get it the way I did, that all they could do was draw clunky stick figures and worse. They didn’t grasp the mechanics of drawing shapes and shading and perspective. I guess, for me, it was just instinctive somehow. Who were some of your influences when it came to illustrating comics? The same goes for cartooning and cartoon illustrations. Most influential was what I saw on TV and in newspaper funny pages. But as far as the development of my per-

Leonard & Larry creator Tim Barela

sonal style, I think the most significant influence was a cartoonist named - if I remember correctly - Dave Berg who drew features in Mad Magazine. He had a realistic, cartoony style that I really liked and tried to emulate. I can certainly see Berg’s influence. One of the things that stands out is the detail in your drawings, from rain on a car to the various shapes of noses to male pattern balding to fashions of the period. The funny thing about your pointing out the unique features of my various characters is that so many previous reviewers have always complained about not being

able to tell them apart, who was who, that everyone looked alike. When I drew Leonard & Larry, I did try to make everyone individual and unique. Whether I succeeded or not is in the eye of the beholder, I suppose. As far as fashion was concerned, I always thought I was really bad at it. Mostly, I don’t care much about fashion and barely notice what people wear. At least until I needed to pay attention for something I was drawing.

Staying on the subject of the various characters in the Leonard & Larry series, what are the challenges and rewards of juggling multiple storylines and characters? It would be boring if there weren’t other, secondary characters with situations and storylines of their own. It’s more like real life when you can deviate from your main characters’ lives and explore the lives of other people in the universe you’ve created. How much, if any, of Tim is in Leonard or Larry, or any of the other characters for that matter? There are a lot of different aspects of my personality in all my

characters. Both Leonard and Larry. But Jim, Larry’s employee, probably has more of me in his character than any of the others. Larry owns Larry’s Leather, a shop on trendy Melrose Avenue. Your recent book launch was held at The Barracks, a leather bar in Palm Springs. Would you please say a few words about your association with the leather community? I’ve always been associated with the leather community. I used to be a real, Harley-riding biker, after all. I got my start drawing cartoons for motorcycle magazines, long before Leonard & Larry came along. And I’ve never been able to keep bikers, leather and the occasional bit of kink from creeping into my storytelling and cartoons.

The book closes with a new, 2021 four-panel comic by you, your first in several years. How did this come about? My current editor and publisher, Ian Henzel, insisted that the story in my new book, which ends abruptly because the strip was canceled back in 2002 and no one else wanted to pick it up, needed to have a sense of closure. That the new book, as Ian put it, needed “a bow” on it. And he was right. And since my strip took place in real time one of only three North American comic strips to ever do so, I can proudly say, and my characters aged, I thought it would be fun to do a sort of “where are they now” kind of cartoon to close the book with. To show that Leonard and Larry are still around, but like the rest of us, they’ve both grown old. And yet, nothing about their relationship over these long years has changed all that much.t The Complete Leonard & Larry Collection, paperback and hard cover, $40-$50. www.rattlinggoodyarns.com

Read the full interview on www.ebar.com

Music for a new century Mark Adamo concerts at Bay Area venues by Philip Campbell

he battered but brave Bay Area arts community is finally putting the pandemic into the rear view

mirror. Live classical and contemporary music concerts are back big time, moving on with encouraging speed, diversity, and regularity. New Century Chamber Orches-

t h g u a c e b t ’ n o D ! d e d n a h y t p m e With supply chain issues in the news, we’ve stocked up on all the things you need, and use. This holiday season, Cliff’s Variety will turn your shopping woes into the happiest of happy ho-ho-ho’s.

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tra (NCCO) continues its 2021-2022 season, November 4 - 7, with a program featuring American contemporary works, including the exciting world premiere of gay composer Mark Adamo’s “Last Year,” a cello concerto starring Jeffrey Zeigler. Making his NCCO debut, Zeigler also appears as soloist in William Grant Still’s (Dean of African-American Classical Composers) “Phantom Chapel.” He will lead the conductorless chamber Jill Steinberg Henry Fair ensemble in the world premiere of Paola Presti- Cellist Jeffrey Ziegler Composer Mark Adamo ni’s reimagining of Tanya Tagaq’s “In Me” and Andy blame went to the unnecessarily and Jeffrey Ziegler’s return to the Akiho’s “Oscillate.” lush and busy production, but a lot Bay Area, where he performed with As intriguing as the overall bill of the problem lay with Adamo’s Kronos Quartet for eight years, will appears, the Adamo concerto is arown overwrought –if earnest and certainly make the best case. guably most promising. Internationpainstakingly researched– libretto. The concert concludes with “Osally known for his operas and vocal A feminist take on both canonical cillate” by Andy Akiho, a 2012 New works, he won delighted praise for and Gnostic gospels, this Mary had York Philharmonic commission for his debut opera Little Women, which her own cross to bear and, even with string orchestra, percussion and has become one of the most pera luminous Sasha Cooke in the title piano that received its West Coast formed American musical dramas role and barihunk Nathan Gunn as premiere in January 2016 at San of the past twenty-five years. Jesus, the results proved decidedly Francisco Symphony’s SoundBox. Commissioned to write works mixed. Still, critics and audiences alFour different performances in for Houston Grand Opera and most unanimously praised Adamo’s the Bay Area include: Thursday, Dallas Opera, most recently, Santa satisfyingly tuneful music and glitNovember 4 at 7:30 p.m., First Fe Opera presented the world pretering orchestrations. Congregational Church, Berkeley; miere of a newly commissioned work, The Lord of Cries, with liUnless they hit big, most new Friday, November 5 at 7:30 p.m., bretto by Adamo and music by operas do not get second chances. First United Methodist Church, celebrated composer and Adamo’s Carmen, Madama Butterfly, and La Palo Alto; Saturday, November 6 husband, John Corigliano (The Traviata survived troubled starts at 7:30 p.m., Herbst Theatre, San Ghosts of Versailles, Symphony No. to enter the standard repertoire. Francisco; Sunday, November 7 at 1: “Of Rage and Remembrance”). Adamo’s Gospel will probably never 3 p.m., Osher Marin Jewish ComThe other half of the gay power have comparable success, but genmunity Center, San Rafael. couple might be in town to support uine admiration of his talent and For listeners unready to return “Last Year,” but all eyes and ears will ambition, and a chamber reduction to in-person concerts, an audio rightfully be on Adamo. His last big of the score should help insure fustream will be available for standsplash in San Francisco (and it was ture productions. alone advance purchase. The renotorious) was the June 2013 world Interest runs understandably cording will be available to buyers premiere of The Gospel of Mary high for “Last Year.” Inspired by approximately one week after the Magdalene, a San Francisco Opera Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons” the final performance with unlimited commission. new concerto ponders how the Balistening for 30 days. Access to the The reviews were all over the roque composer might have writaudio stream is also offered to ticket map, including the Bay Area Reten the score today under threat of holders as part of their purchase.t porter’s ‘The Passion of Mary Magglobal warming and climate change. dalene,’ and ranged from qualiProvocative, no? Adamo’s gift for www.cityboxoffice.com fied approval to punishing. Much melody should connect all the dots www.ncco.org

Books>>

November 4-10, 2021 • Bay Area Reporter • 17

Daley’s news Gay Olympian Tom Daley’s memoir’s a splash by Tim Pfaff

hat you won’t read in Tom Daley’s new memoir, Coming Up for Air (HarperCollins), is that barely had he dried off from achieving a life goal of becoming an Olympic champion at last summer’s much-delayed 2020 Tokyo games than he gave a press conference so heartfelt, so unexpected, so bold and disarmingly direct that it has attained greatest hits status. The British diver –who may not be known in only that way for much longer, such a runaway train is his bright, rapidly unfolding future– spoke of the honor of being not just an Olympic multi-medalist but also by doing so as an out, understandably proud gay man. He made this statement while acutely aware that too many of his counterparts were doing so as citizens of countries in which being out and gay carried at least the potential of a death sentence. Daley’s message to LGBTQ people everywhere was not just that their wildest dreams could be achieved but that there was a whole family they likely knew nothing about that was there to support them in their struggles. Daley could have included that immediately viral press conference in Coming Up for Air. The mesmerizing story he tells there includes his medal wins in Tokyo, at the age of 26 his fourth Olympics. But for all

the candor in his story, there’s little room for self-congratulation and none for self-proclaimed heroism. He begins his non-linear tale with a harrowing account of one of the signal traumas of his diving career. At the 2012 Olympics in Rio, he won a bronze medal only after requesting and being granted a “redive,” to compensate for a bungled attempt at his maximum-difficulty, signature dive, which he named the Twister. Flash photography was officially forbidden, but when Daley leapt from the ten-meter platform, a blinding burst of flash bulbs distracted him from the rigors and terrors of the dive. No athlete wants a do-over, say nothing of one at such a highexposure event, but Daley had just enough self-esteem to ask for the chance to do what he knew he could, and had trained years for. But the medal he won hung heavy on him and, “the lowest of lows,” the experience dogged him for years. “It was like I was having a mid-life crisis at the age of 18.” The Chinese divers who have become his fiercest competitors internationally make what they do look as difficult as it is. Daley is that other kind of star athlete; he makes it look easy. His talent, and the fruit of his heavily disciplined training, are all but eclipsed by the Bambi eyes, killer smile, camera-licking looks, seemingly tireless sense of humor

Tom Daley

borne on a positively musical verbal delivery, unerring sense of the line between flirting and tease and an almost Oscar Wildean knack for gilding every performance with a sense of fun, likely naughty. He draws from a seemingly fathomless fund of charm that can make Price Harry come off like Ebenezer Scrooge by comparison. Tellingly, if immodesty is all but absent in Coming Up for Air, so, too, is self-pity. In addition to the inescapable hazards of diving from any height –concussions by hitting the water incorrectly, say nothing of the diving board, broken bones, near-constant pain from training– Daley can report that, prior to the agonizingly on-again, off-again “2020” Olympics, he was hospitalized for COVID-19 and, at the last possible moment, underwent key-

hole surgery on a torn meniscus. What balances it all –shoring it up this side of terminal dramaqueenism– is his capacity not just to stick to the facts but to illuminate them for lay sports fans. “Diving is considered a collision sport,” he writes matter-of-factly. Somehow his pointing out that years of grueling training are tested in dives that average 1.6 seconds also puts things in perspective. If Coming Up for Air has a motto, it is this: “Many athletes will tell you that we spend hours and hours training our bodies and muscle memory, and fuelling ourselves with the right food, but if you can’t train your mind and the way you think, then you can never be your best.” Having become an Olympic knitter as a way to keep focus out of

Personal pieces Drew Pisarra’s ‘You’re Pretty Gay’

by Jim Piechota

n queer author and poet Drew Pisarra’s second collection of short stories (after the impressive debut, Publick Spanking), he really wants you to know all about his feelings, his life, his history, and every nuance in between. Presented through mostly freeform narration, some stories, like the opener, “Fickle,” is directed right at the reader, and delivered devoid of dialogue or long conversational sequences. Pisarra gets his messages across through an artistic, unorthodox manner of prose. It’s the kind of writing that’s wonderfully akin to a well-prepared stand-up comic act or spokenword poetry belted out across a dimly lit café filled with artistic queers eager to behold the next unexpected wellspring of inspirational wonder from within their community. In “Arctic Chill,” a kind of autobiographical comingof-age diatribe unraveling in a most unrestrained fashion, Pisarra describes his gay boyhood initially as a fourth-grade student, then to college in New Orleans where he first experienced the joys of same-sex coupling after coming out to his stepfather. The story then takes a bizarre hard left in the form of a trip to the North Pole to visit Mrs. Claus where he becomes acquainted with the First Lady of Christmas as they “ate our cookies and drank our cocoa to the sound of Santa I suppose snoring in the room next door.” In the slick two-pager, “The Blow,” Pisarra drives his parents’ car to a local old-school video arcade, a “dilapidated house of fun” where the porn booths “smelled awful … the floor was sticky and

there was no way I was going to sit in that chair,” until a very giving stranger squeezes in next to him and orally deflowers him. Whether it be a cap in the closet in “The Hat From Hell,” the caterpillar in “What Bugs Me,” or a magical “last adolescent vacation” to New Orleans after his senior year in high school in “Flashes of the Future,” many stories expertly and creatively condense Pisarra’s awkward childhood into a series of emotions or a capstone event that is as uncomfortable as it was unforgettable for the author. “Sometimes it seems as if your whole life could pass by in a single day, as if one day could encapsulate your whole life.” The trials of his early adventures in dating come along fast and furious toward the conclusion of the collection and form some of the funniest and most entertaining parts of the book. Behold the author’s experiences with the worst kisser he’d ever locked lips with (“he’s pushing against my mouth as if it were playdough while simultaneously licking every surface of my teeth, my gums, my tongue.”), a former dancer whose pics were much younger versions of his real-life looks, and a one-night trick in an apartment building with a shared bathroom on each floor where things get messy when the author couldn’t remember which apartment door his sex date lived in. Each of the fifteen entries will evoke a variety of emotions from laughter to shock, nostalgic sadness to sexual bliss, and that’s quite a feat. Pisarra is better known for his works of poetry, so the prose here is unique, alternative, and impulsively inspired, making great

creative use of language and how playful and moldable it can become in the hands of a writer who doesn’t limit himself to conventionally -boxed formats.

At just 85 pages, no word or phrase here is squandered or wasted. Pisarra’s world is just pure fun and amounts to pages of queer creative writing and storytelling at

the pool has made him a meme, but it’s his gradual but steady investigation of mindfulness that has been his salvation. The book’s roughest chapter in every respect, including as a piece of writing, is his account of the death of his devoted father, at 40, of a “grapefruit-sized” brain tumor. Steering clear of excuse-making and evasive pathologizing, he charts his reluctant realization that PTSD is as much a regular companion as is his phenomenal support network. Two matters that stand out –because they’re both unexpected and then explored at depth– are an eating disorder he has wrestled down but knows will be with him always, and a never-ending struggle with a fickle body image. Literally millions of his followers on social media count as his “close observers,” and he cites the challenges of a living in a body seldom covered by more fabric than can be held in the palm of a hand – and the almost routine sexualization of it that results. “As my profile became bigger,” he writes, “it was like I was public property and everyone needed to know everything about my private life, where nothing was off limits.” It’s a challenge that will only become greater no matter how smart the wardrobe the media-savvy gay husband and father adds to his Speedos. He’s done us all as well as himself a favor by, between dives, Coming Up for Air.t

its finest.t

You’re Pretty Gay by Drew Pisarra, Chaffinch Press, $17.95 www.chaffinchpress.com

<< Theatre & 50 in 50

18 • Bay Area Reporter • November 4-10, 2021

Drag in their family by Jim Gladstone

ust a day after Bob the Drag Queen, GottMik and a handful of other celebrity lip syncers put on a slick Halloween extravaganza at the Warfield last week, I had a phone conversation with Terry Guest, the Chicago-based playwright of At The Wake of a Dead Drag Queen, being presented by Theatre Rhinoceros through November 14. “Different people have different reasons for doing drag,” Guest remarked. “Today, there are lots

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of people who get started because they want to get on RuPaul’s Drag Race. But that wasn’t at all the case for my uncle. Drag was simply a way for him to express himself in a way he couldn’t otherwise.” Guest’s uncle Anthony –who is the central character in Wake and whose stage name was Courtney Berringers (note the lack of kitschy puns)– did drag shows every weekend in Albany, Georgia, a small flood-prone city three hours south of Atlanta whose largest employers include a Miller Brewing factory and

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a customer service telephone hub. “This was small town drag from the 1990s to 2005,” explains Guest. “You weren’t trying to sell anything, or to get on TV. You were just doing it to be you. There are no tourists coming to town to see the show. These are very poor people living close to the bone. You’re playing for the same people this week as last week. You’re doing it for yourself as much as for anyone else.” In the Rhino production, directed by Tanikaa Baptiste, Anthony/ Courtney is played by company veteran Devin Cunningham and his partner Hunter/Vickie is played by Mario Mazzeti, who this critic praised as “genderbendingly brilliant” in Custom Made Theatre’s 2019 production of Cloud 9. Guest was 15 and just beginning to begin exploring his own homosexuality when his uncle came out to him about a year prior to dying of AIDS. “I didn’t have any concept of what being gay or queer meant,” Guest recalls. While neither Guest or his uncle articulated the younger man’s queerness at the time, the playwright recalls that “He became a really important figure in my life when he died. It haunted my growth, sexually.” It’s less of a haunt and more of a hoot when post-mortem Anthony/ Courtney addresses audiences from beyond the grave in Wake, which, while bittersweet at times, is largely a laugh-out-loud celebration of overlooked lives that are due reconsideration. Anthony died in the 1990s, but Wake arrives in the era of Woke.

Family mysteries

“A lot of the play is me trying to fill in the mysteries of my uncle’s life,” says Guest. “I knew him very well as a kid, but I didn’t see him in drag. We didn’t talk about his relationships. I have some letters that he left to me, but I didn’t do much research beyond talking to my mom and my grandmother. But you know, even when I write about my life, it’s sometimes hard to be sure what’s real and what’s imagined. Do I really remember that scene from my childhood, or is it because my mother told me a story about it or showed me a photo of it?” In its humor, celebration of African-American traditions, and respect for small town southern lives, Guest feels that in Wake he’s infused his uncle’s life with joy and

Mario Mazzetti and Devin Cunningham in At The Wake of a Dead Drag Queen

asked me if I think he would have chosen to live his life as a woman if that had felt like a possibility.”

They perform

Playwright Terry Guest

perspective that may not have been accessible to Anthony in the 1990s. “But I feel very connected,” says Guests. “Maybe he has found a way to speak through me.” Among the intriguing questions raised by the momentous social changes that have passed between the period of the events portrayed in Wake and today is whether, were he alive in the present day, the reallife Anthony/Courtney might have considered themself trans or nonbinary rather than a drag queen. “This is impossible to know,” says playwright Guest, “I mean the word ‘trans’ existed in 2005, but not with the context it has now. My uncle always used ‘he’ pronouns except on stage, but my mother has even

Today’s era of expanded public gender possibility takes the spotlight at Theyfriend, a nonbinary performance festival at the Brava Theater’s cabaret space on November 18 and 19 (The shows will also be available via on-demand video from Nov. 30 to Dec. 7). Curated and produced by Kevin Seaman, artistic director of queer arts collective Diamond Wave, the festival features three newly commissioned works by nonbinary local artists Edgar Fabian Frias, LotusBoy, and Peekaboo. Los Angeles-based performance artist Cassils and Boston’s nonbinary hip-hop artist Billy Dean Thomas are also on the bill.t At The Wake of a Dead Drag Queen, presented by Theatre Rhinoceros, through Nov. 14. Thu-Sat. 8pm; Sun. 3pm at Spark Arts, 4229 8th St. $25. (800) 8383006 www.therhino.org Theyfriend, presented by Diamond Wave, Nov. 18 & 19, 7pm at Brava Theater Center, 2781 24th St. $18 and up. www.diamond-wave.org/ programs/theyfriend

Edgar Fabián Frías, Lotus Boy and Peekaboo in the Theyfriend Nonbinary Performance Festival

50 years in 50 weeks:

2001’s tragedies, tallies, titalation by Jim Provenzano

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e were all so naïve back then; at least, I was. Early in 2001, my Sports Complex column achieved new levels of snark in my occasional ‘sporn’ forays (the intersection of sports and porn, thunk up long before Brit writer Mark Simpson claimed it as his own) with ‘Topped Chad,’ about Colt and Playgirl model and one-time porn bottom Chad Ullery, who co-starred in an American Gladiators rip-off. In September, things changed. A more somber sports column ruminated on Mark Bingham’s heroism. But even after the tragedies of September 11, our Arts section remained somewhat aloof in coverage or perspectives on 9/11. Lily Tomlin was interviewed. San Francisco Opera got a feature in October. The attitude seemed to be, “Keep Calm and carry on.” The 2001 year in review issue from November 22 offers an overview of the arts highlights in a year stuck in amber by the catch phrase, “Never Forget,” but one some would prefer to.t Read more at https://archive.org/details/bayareareporter

Wakefield Poole (February 24, 1936 – October 27, 2021)

Remembering a visionary

Wakefield Poole in Jim Tushinski’s 2010 documentary I Always Said Yes: The Many Lives of Wakefield Poole

by Michael Flanagan

Sand, man

Beginning in the late 1960s he began experimenting with both Super8 and 16mm film. It was in this context that he first considered making a gay adult film. In an Oct. 1, 1977 interview on the New York cable access program Emerald City, Poole discussed how Boys In The Sand came into being. He went to see the 1971 Tom DeSimone film Highway Hustler with five friends and, “I was laughing, one was sleeping, one was bored to death.” He was inspired, as he told interviewer Frank O’Dowd, “Someone ought to be able to make a porno film that is attractive, and that no one is degraded in, and I just decided to do it; bought a Bolex camera and shot the first segment of Boys In The Sand.”

t is a rare person who changes the visual imagination of the world, but Wakefield Poole was such a person. Before Boys In The Sand, gay male adult films had been consigned to the world of short loops, films that were considered seamy and degrading, best described as “dirty pictures.” Poole’s vision changed that permanently. Born Walter Wakefield Poole in Jacksonville, Florida, there are hints from his background that show where that vision may have come from. He studied dance in his youth and toured with the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo from 1957 to 1958 and went on to work as a dancer and a choreographer, and director in New York in the 1960s. A young Wakefield Poole as a dancer. He both appeared in and wrote for Dance Magazine. As part of Rod Alexander’s Dance Jubilee, from October 1959 to March 1960 he was part of a tour in many countries, including Greece, Afghanistan, India, Thailand, Taiwan and the Philippines. In 1960, Poole first appeared on Broadway as a dancer in Finian’s Rainbow and later, in 1965, he was an associate choreographer for Richard Rogers and Stephen Sondheim’s Do I Hear A Waltz. As described in the website for Poole’s book Dirty Poole: A Sensual Memoir, “Poole was a member of the corps de ballet in the waning years of the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, and then went on to a successful career as a dancer, choreograThe film was shot over a series of pher, and director on TV, Broadway, weekends on Fire Island. As Poole and the West End, working with told O’Dowd, “It was all shot in the theater legends Stephen Sondheim, Pines, Fire Island. We actually shot Richard Rodgers, Noel Coward, in a two-and-a-half month period. Jerome Robbins, Ethel Merman, Each section we did in sequence. Gwen Verdon, and many more.” We did one in June, one in July and

Wakefield Poole filming on the set of Bijou, 1971/1972.

Casey Donovan and Danny Di Cioccio in Boys in the Sand.

one at the beginning of August. And when you see the film, you can see that because it was my first film and because I didn’t know anything about making films, it gets a little better. By the time I got to the third one, I almost knew what I was doing.” Boys In The Sand was very much a labor of love among friends. Alongside the memorable Casey Donovan, one of the other actors, Peter Fisk, was Poole’s lover. The title came from Poole’s long time financial adviser Marvin Shulman, who was making a pun on the gay stage play The Boys In The Band. The film opened at the 55th Street Playhouse, which was across the street from Shulman’s apartment. When the film was released on December 29, 1971, it was advertised in the New York Times. Regardless of print advertising, it was word of mouth that made the film a box office sensation. By the afternoon of opening day, there were lines down the block to see the film.

Film fame

Director and producer of the documentary I Always Said Yes: The Many Lives of Wakefield Poole Jim Tushinski described the buzz surrounding the film in an Indiewire article, Who Is Wakefield Poole and Why Haven’t You Heard of Him: “Straight couples and women showed up. Rudolf Nureyev drove hundreds of miles to see the film. Going to a screening, you might see Angela Lansbury, Liza Minnelli, or Halston in the audience.” Boys In The Sand started the “porno chic” trend often attributed to Deep Throat (released in June 1972). I asked John Karr, former editor and porn reviewer for the Bay Area Reporter, how Poole changed gay porn. “He didn’t so much change it as invent it. At the time all that was available was very low-quality loops, mostly supplied by the mafia. Here was a gay man making an actual film -it wasn’t a loop. He almost invented the genre. Of course it existed before him, but the change that he brought was so great as to make it a whole new thing. He certainly upped production values and had a theatrical run. His version of porn was a total sea change from what came before - [films before Boys] were quite by happenstance, rather casually put together and without much production value, very much inexpensively done. Wake brought gay porn to the mainstream.” Within a year of Boys, he released his second film Bijou. Regarding his production cycle, he told Emerald City, “Once I picked up the camera and started shooting, I got the disease.” Bijou was also an acclaimed film and had significant box office. Poole told Emerald City, “Al Goldstein [of

Screw magazine fame] gave Boys In The Sand the worst movie of the year and Bijou the best movie of the year, which I just loved.” Following Bijou, Pool made Wakefield Poole’s Bible in 1973, which was softcore and straight (the only heterosexual film to be made by Poole). Although an artistic success, it was a financial disaster.

article which outed him as a pornographer and he was kicked off the project. Regarding Broadway’s response, Karr said, “Because of the porn movies he made he was ostracized from Broadway. He couldn’t get work. He needed to start over.” So once again Poole reinvented himself by going to culinary school and becoming a chef – an amazing characteristic in the face of his adFlashy diction. Karr reflected on this abilIn 1974, Poole’s lover Fisk deity, saying, “One of the things I’m cided to move to San Francisco and fond of about Wake was his ability Poole followed. Shortly after movto reinvent himself. He developed ing, Fisk and Poole broke up, but an ongoing career as a gay filmthey started the art gallery and gift maker of sexual content and then shop Hot Flash of America (2351 was taken down by addiction and Market St.) together with Paul he managed to overcome that and Hatlestad. Hot Flash sold highturn himself into a chef, which reend art, much of which was from ally worked for some decades.” Poole’s collection, which had been In 2010, the Fire Island Pines divided between Fisk and Poole International Film Festival deupon their breakup. clined to show Boys In The Sand, so Regarding the patrons of Hot two community members, CrayFlash, Karr said, “These were highton Robey and Philip Monaghan, steppers within their own circle. rented a hall and showed the film. They were the guys throwing the It was an odd coda to an amazing first big all-night disco dance parcareer. In his article for Indiewire, ties with the sex room in the back. Tushinski reflected on how notions These were people who summered regarding sexuality from the 70s on Fire Island.” had become taboo by 2010. “There is an effort among LGBT cultural gatekeepers to de-sexualize our history,” he wrote. “They want our pioneers to be G or PGrated because they want LGBT people to be seen as just like everyone else – parents, husbands, wives, and respectable members of society. The sexual parts of LGBT history make most heterosexuals uncomfortable. They even make many LGBT people uncomfortable. So it’s best if these things are swept under the rug and forgotten.” In an odd way this slight was a compliment to Poole, showing how radical and sex-positive his work was, and how it still challenges the more repressed among us. Bill Harrison in a poster for Wakefield Poole had reWakefield Poole’s trippy Bijou. tired to Jacksonville, Florida at the time of his death at age 85.t It was also in San Francisco in the ’70s that Poole began smoking cocaine and descended into addiction, which is discussed quite frankly in Tushinski’s film. Poole directed Moving in 1974, which reunited him with actor Casey Donovan onscreen. He would go on to direct five more feaBLACK MASCULINE & ture films and two shorts. HANDSOME He returned to New York in 1981 Very discreet, hung, as associate to the director for the also friendly and clean musical Bring Back Birdie which fully vaccinated. In/out. featured Chita Rivera. In TushinsCedric 510-776-5945. ki’s film, he reveals that while workAll types welcome. No ing on the play someone posted an blocked numbers please.

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