Happy leather pride week! The
www.ebar.com
Since 1971, the newspaper of record for the San Francisco Bay Area LGBTQ community
Vol. 47 • No. 39 • September 27-October 3, 2018
Alameda councilman Oddie comes out
Permit issues delay SF leather plaza project
Rick Gerharter
The leather pride flag flies at the Eagle bar as construction continues on a mixed-use development that will pay for a leather-themed public plaza nearby.
Courtesy Oddie campaign
Alameda City Councilman Jim Oddie
Welcoming Leather Week
by Matthew S. Bajko
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ermit issues have delayed construction of a leather-themed public plaza that will transform the roadway outside the Eagle bar in San Francisco’s South of Market neighborhood into a gathering place for residents and tourists. See page 16 >>
F
lags led the 2018 Leatherwalk Sunday, September 23, as nearly 150 walkers left the Castro district for South of Market in the traditional kickoff to Leather Week that culminates with the
Rick Gerharter
Folsom Street Fair Sunday, September 30. In SOMA, the group stopped at Oasis, the Powerhouse, Mr. S Leather, the Lone Star Saloon, and ended at the SF Eagle. For more on the fair, check out BARtab.
Leathermen Douche character by day, promotes anal health farmers by weekend S by Matthew S. Bajko
Courtesy Carlton Paul
Carlton Paul, left, and Andy Cross will be attending Folsom Street Fair Sunday.
by Alex Madison
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es, they wear leather chaps and one has won major leather competitions, but they also can their own fruit and make jam on their 10-acre farm. See page 16 >>
an Francisco health officials over the years have turned to cartoon characters in order to relay important health messages to men who have sex with men in attention grabbing ways. Most famously, the city’s health department in 2002 launched the Healthy Penis, an anthropomorphic phallus character, in order to promote regular testing for the sexually transmitted disease syphilis. The at-first controversial campaign proved successful and spawned several penis characters representing different ethnicities and their nemesis, Phil the Syphilis sore. The latest fictional figure to promote a sexual health message aimed at gay and bisexual men comes from the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. This time it is a blue douche bottle that at times dons eyeglasses or is adorned in a doctor’s white smock and stethoscope. Dubbed Douchie McDoucherson, and preferring gender-neutral pronouns, they were first introduced in early 2017 as a way to educate men on the proper way to anally douche. The character also encourages men to bring up anal health issues with their health care providers. “Douchie brings butt health and happiness out of the closet so you can care for your butt in the way it deserves,” explained the agency in
Courtesy SFAF
The San Francisco AIDS Foundation has introduced Douchie McDoucherson to provide tips on how to douche and to encourage men to talk about anal health.
a March 2017 post on its Beta blog. This summer the nonprofit ramped up usage of Douchie in posters and online to continue to spread a message of proper anal health. A banner featuring Douchie decked out in a harness will soon be displayed in the entrance of Strut, the men’s health clinic SFAF operates in the heart of the Castro. “There is no anal douching school you go to,” said Pierre-Cedríc Crouch, head of nursing at SFAF and its Magnet clinic housed at Strut. Crouch worked with Emily Land, a content marketing manager for SFAF and editor in chief of its Beta blog, on the initial content regarding
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by Matthew S. Bajko
A
fter more than five years together, Alameda City Councilman Jim Oddie married graphic designer Hideaki Ichizawa May 7 in a small, private ceremony. Ichizawa, who goes by Ichi, works for a local Japanese-language weekly magazine, See page 16 >>
proper anal health. The information informed the creation of the douche character, which was first designed by Laura Donnell, now the director of design at EvoShare. Roxane Chicoine, SFAF’s creative director, has created the iteration of the character for this summer’s campaign. One poster released this year features Douchie promoting a number of butt health tips. When it comes to douching, the poster advises men “to go easy” and only use water or saline at room temperature. It is best to limit douching to once a day, adds Douchie, and no more than two to three times a week. “A lot of people do it but don’t talk about it,” said Land in an interview this week with the Bay Area Reporter at Strut to talk about the campaign. Most people douche “in secret,” noted Crouch, and may be embarrassed to talk to their doctor about issues they are experiencing with their anus. Having the posters featuring Douchie in the exam rooms at Strut has encouraged patients to broach the subject, he added. “We want guys to start to talk about it and open up the conversation that people weren’t having,” said Crouch. It is important to ensure men have the right See page 16 >>