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Vol. 49 • No. 39 • September 26-October 2, 2019
Courtesy Robert Haynes/Facebook
Eric Slomanson/Courtesy End Hep C SF
Robert Haynes’ new vanity plate is a play on “depravity.”
UCSF epidemiologist Meghan Morris, Ph.D.
Hep C rising nationwide, but SF sees progress
by Liz Highleyman
H
epatitis C rates are rising and the epidemic is moving into younger age groups, a shift linked to the ongoing opioid crisis, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. As a consequence, efforts to eliminate the virus are falling behind. “We’ve now experienced a 375% increase in new [hepatitis C] cases since 2010,” said Frank Hood of the AIDS Institute. “Hepatitis C can be cured, and we can end the epidemic in our lifetimes. With data showing that the crisis is worsening, we are calling upon the administration and the Congress to commit the necessary resources until hepatitis C is eliminated in the country.” In San Francisco, where hepatitis C is mostly occurring among people who inject drugs, several local initiatives to expand testing and treatment are showing good results, researchers and advocates reported at a September 16 research symposium sponsored by End Hep C SF. Shared injection equipment is the most common route of hepatitis C virus transmission, but it can also be transmitted sexually – especially among gay and bisexual men – and from mother to child. Over years or decades, chronic HCV infection can lead to severe liver complications including cirrhosis, liver cancer, and the need for a liver transplant. There is no vaccine to prevent hepatitis C, but new antiviral medications can cure most people in eight to 12 weeks with few side effects.
New CDC numbers
Each week, health departments across the country report cases of viral hepatitis to the CDC. The latest national surveillance figures, through the end of 2017, show 3,186 reported acute, or recent, HCV infections, for a rate of 1.0 per 100,000 people. This represents an 8% jump from the prior year and continues a steady rise over the past decade. But experts estimate that fewer than one in 10 acute HCV infections are ever diagnosed, so the actual number is probably around 44,300. The CDC estimates that 2.4 million people have chronic HCV infection lasting more than See page 12 >>
OCT 25-27 co - p r es e n t e d by z s pac e
Vanity plate chides DMV censorship
Huge flag greets Leather Week
P
aul Valente, right, raises the new leather flag Sunday, September 22, as representatives from many leather community groups helped unfurl it, including Bay Area Reporter leather columnist Race Bannon, third from left. The new flag and flagpole are part of Eagle Plaza, believed to be the world’s first leather public parklet, which fronts the Eagle Tavern and is expected to be finished later this year. Attendees at the event, which ended the annual
by Matthew S. Bajko Jane Philomen Cleland
Leather Walk, included District 6 Supervisor Matt Haney. Last week, before the flagpole was installed, Eagle Tavern owner Alex Montiel wrote inside of it “#leatherbindsusall,” and his name and the name of his former business partner, Mike Leon, who died in May. For more Leather Week events, and information on the Folsom Street Fair Sunday, September 29, check out the BARtab section.
A
gay man whose request for a vanity license plate signaling he is a leather daddy was rejected by California’s Department of Motor Vehicles has succeeded in a bit of linguistic revenge against the state agency. Turning the DMV’s censorious policies on their head, San Francisco resident Robert Haynes won approval this summer for a vanity license plate that reads “DEPRAVT.” It is lifted straight from the rejection letter the DMV had sent him explaining it could not See page 13 >>
Lesbian-owned pharmacy opens Castro flagship location by Matthew S. Bajko
A
lesbian-owned independent pharmacy chain is opening its flagship location in the Castro this weekend in a new storefront on upper Market Street. It will also be the first independent pharmacy in California to provide its customers 24-hour access to their medications through a kiosk known as an automatic drug dispensing system. TIN Rx Pharmacy will open its doors Saturday, September 28, at 2181 Market Street. The retail space was carved out of the former Myriad food hall and was where the bar Mrs. Jones had operated. It is the company’s third location and its first pharmacy in an urban setting. Life and business partners Christina Garcia and Patricia J. Nachman opened their first location in 2017 when they took over a rural pharmacy in Los Molinos, California north of Chico. The business, Latimer’s Pharmacy, has operated in the Tehama County community since 1946. The following year the couple acquired a second rural pharmacy, Old Time Drugs, in nearby Corning, California. It first opened in 1970. “This business is dreamed up by pharmacists and created by pharmacists to cater to our patients,” said Garcia. “I am in a fight to keep
Rick Gerharter
TIN Rx Pharmacy co-owners Christina Garcia, left, and Patricia “PJ” Nachman enter the consultation room at their new pharmacy in the Castro.
independent pharmacies open.” When they first took over the Los Molinos pharmacy, the women received death threats due to being a lesbian couple, recalled Garcia. But as the community came to know them, and realized they are the biggest private business with a location in town, the women came to feel embraced.
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“We employ over 50 people with up to 20 employees between the two rural pharmacies,” said Garcia, “so they always come to us for support for fundraisers. Once they knew we would always be there for the community, the community warmed up to us.” The couple, together eight years and engaged See page 12 >>