San Francisco Bay Times - February 8, 2018

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LGBTQ News & Calendar for the Bay Area

CELEBRATING FOUR DECADES (1978–2018) February 8–21, 2018 | sfbaytimes.com

PHOTO BY DON ALBONICO

GRACE CATHEDRAL and the cycle of life

PHOTO BY RINK

See pages 9–12

PHOTOS COURTESY OF GRACE CATHEDRAL

African American History Month: Celebrating Hidden Figures of Resistance and Truth Eisenhower, along with equally glowing, majestic portraits of Betsy Ross, Lewis and Clark, Thomas Edison, and Christopher Columbus ominously decorated our classroom walls and hallways all school year-round.

Cross Currents Andrea Shorter My four most favorite months of the year are February, March, June, and October. February because it is African A merican Histor y Month, which I will come back to in a minute. March for Women’s Her-Story Month, and June for LGBT Pride.

October for not only raising awareness of how we can end domestic and family violence, but also because it is my birthday month. You gotta add your birthday month in there, right?

For that matter, I should also add a fifth month: May. It is my honey’s birthday month, and lest I so publicly fail to add it to my list of favorite months of celebration, she is not likely to ever let me forget about such a glaring omission. So, honey, May it is.

It is now February, and it is African American History Month. It is customary in February to educate, revisit, reconstruct, celebrate, and deliberate about the contributions of the thousands of well-known and not so well-known African Americans in social, political, sports, arts, entertainment and business life, and all array of historic contributions that have— and continue to pave the way—as the first to do, to dare, and to just be what they were destined and “free to be.”

At the drop of a hat, I can certainly delve into the stories, the legacies, and impact of any number of figures that capture my fascination and admiration. These go from Fannie Lou Hamer to Bayard Rustin, from Justice Thurgood Marshall to Arthur Ashe, from Alvin Ailey to Toni Morrison, John Lewis to Ramsey Lewis, and so many, many more. They certainly include local groundbreakers like Willie L. Brown, Jr., Doris Ward, Ken Jones, Bishop Yvette Flunder, Ron Dellums, Barbara Lee, and Kamala Harris.

On this occasion, however, I must confess that lately when I think of the importance of African American history, I often think back to when I was a pupil at Indianapolis Public School 72 in the 1970s.

This was the era of “busing,” the often frightfully rocky road towards implementing school desegregation policies to rectify the separate but equal norms challenged by Brown vs. the Board of Education. Unlike my parents and grandparents, my younger brother and I attended what was called back then a “racially mixed” school.

For us, this basically meant attending school with 85 per cent white students, with the rest of us being black.

There were no Asian or Hispanic identified students, as they were virtually non-existent in the entirety of Indiana.

My maternal grandparents, mother, and her brothers and sisters all graduated from Crispus Attucks High School, the premier all-black school definitively and decidedly segregated by white supremacists and allied city leaders. My dad excelled in academics at another not much less segregated high school across town.

Whether you were at PS 72 or Crispus Attucks, posters of U.S. Presidents Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and

February is...

Of the f ifty or so K-8 school teachers at my school, there were eight African American teachers. In many regards, they were the first of many hidden figures along my own path who taught me about the importance of African American histories, and how quiet, but willful, acts of defiance can sow the seeds of resistance.

There was wood shop teacher, Mr. Woody. Yes, his name really was Mr. Woody. He was a petite, whippet of a man with a big personality and zero tolerance for “foolishness” as he seriously taught wood crafts (i.e., bird houses, carved housewares, etc.) just for the boys.

Mrs. Penn taught home economics (i.e., cooking, sewing, etc.), which served as the required gender segregated counterpart to wood shop for just us girls. Ms. Walker, Mr. Green, Mrs. Cunningham, Ms. Washington, Mr. Smith, and Ms. Crowly rounded out the black faculty who taught math, science, history, and other general education requirements.

On occasion, some amongst this minority group of teachers would make a quiet, but radical, subversive and revolutionary act: They posted portraits of at least one African American historical figure in their classrooms. Maybe it would be on the birthday or a commemorative appearance by Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, George Washington Carver, or the then recently slain Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

FANNIE LOU HAMER

MARTIN LUTHER KING, Jr.

FREDERICK DOUGLASS

RAMSEY LEWIS

GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER

RONALD DELLUMS

HARRIET TUBMAN

THURGOOD MARSHALL

JACKIE_ROBINSON

TONI MORRISON

JOHN LEWIS

WILLIE BROWN

KEN JONES

WILMA RUDOLPH

ALTHEA GIBSON

ALVIN AILEY

Every so often, Olympic greats like Jesse Owens, Wilma Rudolph, or Oscar Robertson, or other legendary athletes like Althea Gibson or Jackie Robinson, would pop up near the issued and approved pictorials of George Washington or Ben Franklin. There was never a Cassius Clay, Malcolm X, or an emerging Angela Y. Davis. Perhaps they knew the limits of their own radical subversive acts.

BAYARD RUSTIN If asked about these unusual people on the walls by one of their pupils, only then might that teacher offer some measured commentary about the historical significance of the particular displayed figure. After those few precious enlightening minutes, we’d then move on to the arithmetic, science, or history lesson at hand, from school books that were virtually whitewashed and cleansed of any portraits of African or people of color, with the exception of the obligatory one or two images and stories of colorfully feather crowned Indigenous Peoples ever so graciously and generously handing over their vast lands to the “we come in peace” alien, yet kindly, Godly Pilgrims.

Now, as a middle-aging woman living far, far away from the Circle City, I believe that most, if not all, of those teachers have since passed or are well into their 90s. Still, I do and will always remember each and every one of them. In speaking their names, I seek to honor the lessons they sneakily imparted about those less heralded monuments and their successive collective will to lead a people beyond the bonds of slavery to finding their rightful place as emancipated Americans.

I imagine them as young, dedicated educators organizing together how best and when to insert A. Philip Randolph, James Baldwin, Langston Hughes, Lorraine Hansberry, or Madam C.J. Walker as rightfully inclusive history, sparking the imaginations of all youngsters in their daily charge—black and white—about the tenacious complexities of truer American history.

This was many years before Black History Month would become a more widely celebrated African American History Month, and long before MLK, Jr., Day became a national holiday, and decades before the election, inauguration, and two terms of the first Black President of the United States. I sincerely hope that most of them were at least able to witness a once unimaginable milestone embodied in the ascension of one Barack Hussein Obama come to fruition.

The more I think about those grade school teachers, I believe the deeper lesson they were working to instill was that of the importance of the quest for truth.

Depending on who is telling the story, how they are telling the story, in what context, and why they tell the stories they do, history is not always about truth. The quests for civil and human rights through the social justice movement, no matter how the stories are told, are ultimately about a reckoning for and with truth: the inclusion of the truths of those omitted, discarded, and systematically divorced from the preferred realities constructed by those to whom such alien truths pose discomfort, obstacle, and threat to their enjoyment of the privileges and status quo fostered by their reluctance to owning up to the social, spiritual and even material consequences of denying essentially deemed inconvenient truths. What a vicious and exhausting cycle this can be. Still, like sunlight, such deeply repressed truth is bound to eventually break through the darkness.

That those teachers had to resort to subversive measures to present some modicum of exposure to these vital, undeniable histories was a testament to the effects of the corrosive power of those who sought to overtly subvert or dismiss the truth of our histories, but most importantly, the will to speak truth to that power. In their own way, to me, they were hidden figures of resistance.

Fear of the power of another’s denied truth can bear long reaching consequences, intended or not. As Bayard Rustin said, “To be afraid is to behave as if the truth were not true.”

Freedom resides in truth; truth resides in resistance. When self-evident truth is denied, none of us is truly free. The adage “the truth shall set you free” reminds us that the constant push and pull, negotiation towards inclusion, understanding, and acceptance can transcend barriers erected to hide, deny, or simply dare to obliterate truth, and therefore freedom.

Denying climate change or HIV/AIDS or foreign interference in our elections does not make those things not true, no more than does throwing mud in someone’s eye and telling them it was rain. It’s still mud.

My hope is that African American History Month not only serves as a continuous exploration, appreciation, and celebration together of the dimensions and depth of historical figures and monumental moments, but also in these times—when even the most basic, self-evident truths and aspirational hopes about a civil democracy are declared suspect by its chief leader—we resist by remaining inspired to keep on pushing to the fore those once inconvenient truths born of privilege and oppression towards the messy, but necessary, reconciliation to being more whole, and truly free.

Andrea Shorter is President of the historic San Francisco Commission on the Status of Women. She is a longtime advocate for criminal and juvenile justice reform, voter rights, and marriage equality. A Co-founder of the Bayard Rustin LGBT Coalition, she was a 2009 David Bohnett LGBT Leadership Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.

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In the News Compiled by Dennis McMillan City’s Oldest Gay Bar Closes After 108 Years The Gangway, in operation since 1910, closed on January 28. While this establishment at 841 Larkin Street did not identify as a gay bar until 1961, it was still considered to be San Francisco’s oldest bar for our community. Its last owner, Jung Lee, informed the San Francisco Chronicle that a wage-related lawsuit and the death of a longtime manager contributed to his decision to sell the bar.

Preserving LGBT Historic Sites in California reported that the new owner, Sam Young, has applied for permits to open “a laundromat with a kung fu theme.” Young also owns Kozy Kar on Polk Street and Kozy Kar 2 in Santa Rosa. The proposed name for the new venture is “Young’s Kung Fu Action Theater & Laundry.” Many long-time customers of The Gangway said “goodbye to an old friend” with notes posted via social media, such as at the bar’s Facebook page (Check The Gangway on Facebook).

Iconic Castro Store ‘Worn Out West’ Announces Closure Worn Out West, established in 1980, soon will be closing, according to owner Mike Holland. The store, located at 2352 Market Street, offers vintage clothing and consignment.

It was previously located on Castro Street. “We need to close the doors because of continuing business losses,” Holland informed the San Francisco Bay Times. “We appreciate all of the community support and are very sorry we cannot continue.” Worn Out West, like The Gangway, held iconic status in the LGBT community. Its loss will be felt deeply by its long-standing customers and represents greater change in the Castro, where high rents, competition from internet sales and more continue to impact brick-and-mortar stores. Inquiries concerning Worn Out West should be sent to wornoutwest2@ gmail.com Transgender Assaults at De Anza College Being Investigated as Hate Crimes On January 24, transgender student Deejea Smith was attacked near the Flint Garage on the campus of De Anza College in Cupertino, according to police. The suspect, an adult male, yelled an anti-gay slur before punching Smith in the face. “I was unconscious,” Smith told NBC News. “Don’t know for how long; I just know that I was.” Smith added that he was punched five days earlier in the same garage, but did not see who committed the crime. The college released a statement on February 5: “We are saddened and angered that such an incident could occur on our campus, which is deeply committed to inclusion. We have provided on- and off-campus resources to assist the student and are planning a series of events on countering hatred.”

The police are investigating the attacks as hate crimes. Anyone with information is asked to contact the college district police at 650-949-7313. nbcbayarea.com No Clear Losers, Winners During First San Francisco Mayoral Debate With the June 5 special election for mayor of San Francisco now less than 5 months away, the candidates have been participating in multiple publicly held events, such as the recent “mayoral forum” sponsored by the United Democratic Club. Five of the participating candidates—all of whom identity as Democrats—participated in the February 3 event: Angela Alioto, London Breed, Jane Kim, Mark Leno and Amy Farah 6

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Weiss. According to analysists such as Haley Rothwell of the organization California Blog and Tim Redmond of 48 Hills, the candidates shared similar thoughts on many topics. “For example,” Rothwell wrote, “they all felt strongly about keeping the city’s status as a sanctuary city.

They also all expressed a need to make sure that affordable housing, public services, and the police department continue to be well-funded and supported.” Redmond concludes that the lack of clear winners and losers in the race is “a problem when the city is in a serious crisis and so many voters are undecided.”

48hills.org and californiablog.org Black History Month Now Underway February is Black History Month.

The annual event has been observed since former President Gerald Ford proclaimed it in 1976. A precursor event, established by Carter G. Woodson and the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, was launched in 1926 and was celebrated during the second week of February.

To mark the current Black History Month, San Francisco Mayor Mark Farrell said: “San Francisco has long been at the forefront of the country’s civil rights struggle, and our City’s African American residents have always been the leaders in that valiant charge. This month, we celebrate this proud history of fearless and courageous activism, while acknowledging that the fight for justice and fairness is far from over.” He added, “I understand that recent political events and years of an unfinished agenda have caused pain and anguish within the City’s African American community. I want to assure our community members that I will make every effort to heal any wounds and continue to honor contributions from our African American leaders of the past, present and future.” (For more information about Black History Month, see page 5 of this issue.) sfgov.org Thousands of Marijuana Convictions to Be Expunged in San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón announced on January 31 that the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office will be retroactively applying Proposition 64, which legalized the possession and recreational use of marijuana for adults ages 21 years or older, to misdemeanor and felony convictions dating back to 1975. Although the initiative, which reduced criminal penalties for marijuana offenses after its passage in November 2016, provides reduction or dismissal upon a petition filed by a convicted individual, the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office will be reviewing, recalling and resentencing up to 4,940 felony marijuana convictions and dismissing and sealing 3,038 misdemeanors that were sentenced prior to the initiative’s passage. This will not require that any action be taken by those who are eligible pursuant to Proposition 64. “While drug policy on the federal level is going backwards, San Francisco is once again taking the lead to undo the damage that this country’s disastrous, failed drug war has had on our nation and on communities of color in particular,” said Gascón, who added that a “criminal conviction can be a barrier to employment, housing and other benefits, so instead of waiting for the community to take action, we’re taking action for the community.” sfdistrictattorney.org (continued on page 30)

Stop the Spread of D.C.’s Hate and Intolerance conforming individuals in 2016. In total, 22.2 percent of all hate crimes reported in the same year was with a bias against lesbian and gay people.

This alarming surge in hate crimes will likely continue to grow due to the hateful discourse and shortsighted policies that the federal government is pursuing.

Assemblymember Phil Ting A painful truth that we have learned from the last election is that those with hate in their hearts are more common than we thought. Even more tragically, the hateful rhetoric coming from our nation’s capital has given permission to those people to act on their prejudices.

The 2016 Hate Crime in California report by the state Attorney General found that, from 2015 to 2016, hate crime events increased by 11.2 percent. The most common types of hate crimes are those committed with a racial, ethnic, or nationality bias, followed by sexual orientation bias, and religious bias.

California had 207 hate crimes perpetrated due to the victim’s sexual or ientat ion and 27 hate cr imes against transgender and gender non-

California is a state of inclusion and diversity and, in order to preserve those values and to help prevent hate crimes, I introduced Assembly Bill (AB) 1985, which is sponsored

by Equality California and The Arc of California, to update the hate crime policies within local police departments.

Many police departments across the state have hate crime policies, but many of them are outdated and should be updated to include the model policy framework from the state Commission on Peace Officer Training (POST), which is more expansive and incorporates first responder and reporting responsibilities, training resources, and planning and prevention methods.

While California has some of the nation’s strongest hate crime laws, hate crimes can be difficult to prove.

A perpetrator doesn’t always shout racist or prejudiced words while committing the crime. AB 1985 would require hate crime policies to include information on bias motivations, so

police officers can understand what may be a bias motivator, which can help them to determine whether or not an incident is a hate crime.

We cannot legislate a person’s opinions, no mat ter how w rong or absurd they may be. But we can do our best to provide all of the resources necessary to help police officers prevent hate crimes and to protect their communities by responding to them in the best way possible. It’s not just up to law enforcement to protect those around us; as members of the community, we each have the responsibility to provide assistance wherever we can. If you see a hate crime happening, contact our local law enforcement right away so that officers can respond.

As a father of two, I believe strongly that we have a duty to speak out against injustice and to show younger generations the virtues of acceptance, tolerance, and equal rights.

When communities fight back against hate crimes, we become stronger together and united in battling intolerance and hate.

Phil Ting (D-San Francisco) represents the 19th Assembly District, which includes the Westside of San Francisco along with the communities of Broadmoor, Colma, Daly City, and parts of South San Francisco.

Protect Oakland Library Funding being diverted, and to ensure that the needed improvements in library services would be provided.

Out of the Closet and into City Hall Oakland City Councilmember At-Large, Rebecca Kaplan The Oakland City Council will hear options for a library funding Measure. One of the options is from the Mayor/Administration, which will have no funding allocation protections. The other option, which I support, includes revised language to add additional protections for library funds, should the measure pass.

This revised option is supported by community advocates and the Life Enrichment Committee.

When the original draft Library Ballot Measure was presented to the Life Enrichment Committee on January 9, 2018, members of the public urged that the Committee revise the measure to protect any funding from

At the Committee meeting, I made a motion to revise the language to protect these funds, to include: 1) Maintenance of effort of funding (protect funding for the stated purpose, not to be cut); 2) Support our students—make sure our youth have access to needed libraries at hours and locations that are available to them; 3) Equity in use of funds; 4) Extend hours and days libraries are open and full-time/permanent work.

I am urging that the public support, and the Council adopt, a version that protects library services and funding levels. As we work together to help protect and strengthen our libraries, I encourage us to include key steps to ensure that our community is well served. We must provide adequate support to our students, to ensure that youth have access to libraries at times and locations that help them be able to succeed, complete their homework, and that services are open when our youth can use them.

We should additionally include protection for library funding, known (continued on page 30)

See the story on Page 16 about the historic wedding aboard Celebrity Equinox.

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What Is the Sound of Two Hands Clapping?

John Lewis Perhaps the most famous Zen koan (a seemingly nonsensical or paradoxical question that Zen students are instructed to contemplate) is the koan: “What is the sound of one hand clapping?” Zen students may spend countless hours turning the question back and forth in their minds, trying to find a logical explanation of how one hand could clap by itself. At some point, students may exhaust themselves trying to reason their way to an answer, and instead learn simply to “become” the koan, holding it and embodying it both in meditation and daily life.

The koan then points students to a more direct experience of life firsthand, unfiltered or distanced by personal conceptualization, abstractions, and judgments. In a famous old Zen story, a young student Toyo repeatedly tries to answer the koan to no avail by reporting to his teacher sounds he had heard during meditation. Finally, Toyo’s mind opens, and he reports, “I could collect no

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I’ve played piano since I was a small child. For years, on weekend family visits before Tish became ill, I’d play piano for her in the living room while she and others chatted and prepared dinner in the kitchen. She loved hearing me play and looked forward to it whenever we visited.

After Tish became ill and she and Stuart’s dad moved to a retirement community, I brought my music with me when we visited, thinking it would be nice to play for her. Tish, however, had become very sensitive to sound, and each time I tried to play for her, she would gesture for me to stop. When we visited last fall, I almost didn’t even bother to bring the music with me, but at the last minute decided to do so, thinking I might have a chance to play if all were out of the house.

It was late on the last evening of our visit and time to say goodnight. As Stuart and I interacted with Tish seated in her wheelchair, she looked at me and suddenly gestured with her two hands as if she were playing the piano and a brightness and smile came over her face. We asked her if she’d like for me to play, and she

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We exchanged many hugs and kisses, and when I finally stopped playing, Zoe came up to me and licked my hands and arms without stopping for a long time. We all were alive, in the moment, without words—just music, hugs, kisses, barks, licks—and clapping. It was the last time we saw Tish alive.

As I went to bed that evening, my mind turned to the famous Zen koan, and I came up with a new one: What is the sound of two hands clapping? From subsequent researching I did, I learned that the full, proper translation of the famous koan is: “Two hands clap and there is a sound. What is the sound of one hand?” And I wondered if the sound of one hand clapping and the sound of two hands clapping could actually be the same. Had we together that night touched the soundless sound that young Toyo heard centuries ago?

John Lewis and Stuart Gaffney, together for over three decades, were plaintiffs in the California case for equal marriage rights decided by the California Supreme Court in 2008.

Their leadership in the grassroots organization Marriage Equality USA contributed in 2015 to making same-sex marriage legal nationwide.

PHOTO BY RINK

As I began to play, I began to hear joyful utterances coming from Tish, whose face was beaming with happiness. Out of my peripheral vision, I saw Tish moving her lower legs up and down, over and over to the music. Her black Labrador Zoe awoke from her slumber and lifted her head and began to bark playfully. And Tish did one of the few things that she could still do with her arms and hands. She started clapping. First to the beat of the music, and then as vigorously as possible after each song (we didn’t stop with just one). Everyone else joined in clapping, too.

Girl Scout Cookies for Sale Support the Girl Scouts of LGBT families and allies at this year’s cookie sales in the Castro, Noe Valley and more.

Check for where and when: girlscouts.org/en/cookies/cookies.html#94114

PHOTO COURTESY OF HEIDI BEELER

6/26 and Beyond

A few weeks ago, Stuart’s step-mother Tish, his father’s second wife of many decades and mother of Stuart’s three half-siblings, passed away from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis or ALS after a four-year struggle with the affliction. This unforgiving disease rendered Tish—an outgoing, fun-loving, energetic, engaged, vibrant, and verbal person—severely limited in her ability to eat, breathe, move her body or utter sounds, much less speak. Throughout the disease, Tish maintained an indomitable spirit and ability to live with joy in the moment whenever possible. One of her favorite activities when she had energy was cranking her high-tech wheelchair to its fastest speed and racing her adult kids through the streets of the retirement community where she and Stuart’s dad lived.

nodded enthusiastically. Tish’s daughter, who was responsible that evening for the hours-long process of helping her mom get to bed, agreed to one song, and I dashed to get my music.

Year of the Dog - Lunar Year 4716 Stop by the Chinese New Year display at the SF Main Library, 100 Larkin Street; or make your plans to attend the annual Chinese New Year Parade on February 24 where the San Francisco Lesbian & Gay Freedom Band will march and perform. Find more activities: chineseparade.com/calendar.asp

Leno Campaign Headquarters The old Pottery Barn site at 2390 Market Street is now the headquarters for the Mark Leno for Mayor campaign. You can stop by to pick up information or volunteer, 10am-8pm weekdays and 10am-2pm weekends. Find out more: markleno.com

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more” sounds, and then “I reached the soundless sound.” Toyo realized the answer to the koan through his direct experience.

and the cycle of life

Photos courtesy of Grace Cathedral

LARS HOWLETT/DISCOVERLABYRINTHS.COM

GRACE CATHEDRAL

WELCOME TO Carnivale AT GRACE CATHEDRAL! Dear San Francisco Bay Times Readers,

It is such a blessing to join the San Francisco Bay Times in welcoming you to this issue featuring Grace Cathedral and our annual benefit, Carnivale.

GRACE CATHEDRAL AND THE CYCLE OF LIFE

perial Court ceremony for legendary LGBT activist and entertainer José Julio Sarria, Absolute Empress I de San Francisco and the Widow Norton. At least 1,000 mourners—many of whom were in drag—attended the unforgettable service.

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ike a living work of art, Grace Cathedral means different things to all who visit this largest Gothic cathedral in San Francisco—the third largest Episcopal cathedral in the nation.

For members of the church, life’s big events take place here.

These include baptisms, weddings, confirmations, funerals and much more. For the homeless, the cathedral can signify survival through the Winter Interfaith Shelter program.

On Tuesday evenings, yoga practitioners come for both mental and physical fitness. Incredible concerts and other events are regularly held at the cathedral, including the spectacular annual Carnivale fundraiser. The AIDS Interfaith Memorial Chapel offers space for remembrance of those whose lives have been impacted by HIV/AIDS, including caregivers.

Members of our team at the San Francisco Bay Times have been to that chapel often. We have also celebrated Pride at the cathedral, admiring the rainbow lights glowing from the top of the 174-foot edifice during June. We have attended same-sex marriages, which have occurred for more than a decade in the cathedral—long before such ceremonies were recognized nationwide. We have also gone to funerals there, such as the Im-

We have visited the cathedral for comfort and contemplation, walking the labyrinths to release nervous energy and to quiet our minds. Veriditas is an organization dedicated to the “labyrinth experience” and that was founded by Reverend Dr. Lauren Artress, a member of our LGBT community (https://www. veriditas.org/). As Dr. Artress says, “The Labyrinth is a spiritual tool that has many applications in various settings. It reduces stress, quiets the mind and opens the heart. It is a walking meditation, a path of prayer, and blue-print where psyche meets Spirit.”

You do not have to be a religious, or even spiritual, person to find meaning in the labyrinths or in Grace Cathedral itself. They may be archetypes, but you can peacefully project whatever meaning you like on them.

Spend any time at the site, and the cathedral’s daily rhythms of life are evident. Over longer periods of time, seasonal and annual cycles emerge.

Over the decades, life’s entire cycle

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Grace Cathedral and the San Francisco Bay Times have much in common. We are both San Francisco institutions that share a deep commitment to the LGBTQ community. We both care acutely about ending discrimination and hatred in our society. We both are committed to celebrating the uniqueness of every person. I am grateful for the many ways that LGBTQ people have supported and ministered at Grace Cathedral over the years.

Grace Cathedral has long been a supporter of racial justice, women’s liberation, environmental stewardship, LGBTQ rights and marriage equality. We have become known around the Church for these ministries. On December 1, 2017, World AIDS Day, we re-dedicated our AIDS Interfaith Memorial Chapel. This place of peace and sanctuary was established in 1995 to remember people who died with AIDS and to honor caregivers.

On 365 days of the year, we offer worship, social services to people in need, music concerts, art exhibitions, lectures, volunteer opportunities, public dialogue, yoga and more. We do this to fulfill our mission, to exercise compassion, value inclusivity, nurture creativity and to foster learning. We do this to encourage people everywhere to love each other without exception.

I invite you to visit Grace Cathedral. You may want to come here to get married, attend a service, practice yoga, walk the labyrinths, hear a concert, take part in Carnivale—or simply to enjoy peace in a beautiful setting with stained glass and soaring columns.

Thank you, San Francisco Bay Times, for your service to the community and invaluable support to the mission of Grace Cathedral as the media sponsor of Carnivale.

Love, Malcolm The Very Rev. Dr. Malcolm Clemens Young Dean of Grace Cathedral becomes evident. On certain days, the seeming ends of the circle converge, with youths playing in one corner while mourners quietly light candles in another.

Like the labyrinth, the observed pattern turns out not to be a simple circle after all, but a path with twists and turns that are not always predictable.

As for a handful of other beautiful, iconic places in San Francisco, Grace Cathedral offers a reliable, sturdy anchor to help us weather these unpredictable storms and to celebrate the better times. Its doors are open to everyone. Whether you have an afternoon or just an hour, consider visiting this venerable majestic friend to walk the labyrinths, admire the Keith Haring altarpiece, to seek out the stained-glass windows featuring Albert Einstein and John Glenn, or just to enjoy the towering space.

For more suggestions, check out the Top Ten Things to See + Do at Grace (gracecathedral.org/top-ten-things-to-see-do-at-grace/).

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GRACE CATHEDRAL

and the cycle of life

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LGBTQ News & Calendar for the Bay Area CELEBRATING FOUR DECADES (1978–2018)

Photos courtesy of Grace Cathedral

LARS HOWLETT / DISCOVERLABYRINTHS.COM

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GRACE CATHEDRAL

and the cycle of life

A PLACE AT GRACE

Photos courtesy of Grace Cathedral

Historic San Francisco Cathedral Lives Its Motto of ‘Grace for All’

By Lynn Aylward

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athedrals are not exactly cutting-edge, and many people are giving organized religion a miss, especially in free-thinking San Francisco. So, with its soaring Gothic architecture, long local legacy dating from the Gold Rush and beautiLynn Aylward ful traditional services, you might make the mistake of putting Grace Cathedral in the “nice place to visit at Christmas but I wouldn’t want to live there” category.

Until you go to Nob Hill on a Tuesday night and see 700 people of all ages doing yoga right in the cathedral, with colorful mats covering every inch of floor space, including the altar. Or join hundreds of others to groove to house music or hear popular NYC spoken word poet Sarah Kay, the cathedral’s 2017 Artist in Residence, declaim about urban angst and modern love.

Grace prioritizes its identity as San Francisco’s house of prayer for all people by meeting people wherever they are on their spiritual path, including if they are not on one.

“We’re open-minded and innovative,” Katherine Thompson, the cathedral’s Canon Director of Development, informs the San Francisco Bay Times. “Grace is a spiritual crossroads in one of the world’s most dynamic and beautiful cities. It’s a landmark and a visitor destination for tens of thousands of people from all over the world every year, but also the church home for about 500 households that include families and singles, children and seniors, and a diversity of ethnicities, races and sexual orientations.”

“We have two schools,” she adds, “and we put on scores of cultural events: concerts, dance, art exhibits, a conversation series and more. We offer beautiful traditional worship services every day of the week, but we also have yoga and a contemporary service and community called The Vine.”

Visitors come to see the cathedral’s striking architecture and art, including Jacob’s Dream, a work by Benjamin Bergery and Jim Campbell, the latter being the world-famous light artist who lives in Potrero Hill and whose work will soon permanently embellish the top of the Salesforce building.

But Grace is not just another pretty place. It has a long history of advocating for social justice. In the 1930s, the cathedral took a stand on the dockworkers’ strike and labor rights in San Francisco. In the 1950s and 1960s, it advocated for civil rights, and in the 1970s, for the ordination of women. In the 1980s and 1990s, the cathedral was at the forefront of serving people impacted by HIV/AIDS. The cathedral’s work on social justice will be further sharpened because the annual theme it selects to guide its programming focus is truth this year.

Not everything at Grace is lofty like its 91-foot nave. The cathedral has a children, youth and family ministry led by the Rev. Mary Carter Greene, who described herself in the cathedral’s video for Pride 2017 as “proud to be who God made me, a woman, a mother, an Episcopal priest and a lesbian.” Greene has revitalized the children, youth and family ministry, creating among other things a new children’s chorus that is open to everyone and gets to perform at Grace’s popular Christmas and Easter concerts and at summer arts camp.

Most of the events and programs at the cathedral are offered free of charge, and the cathedral holds a glitzy party, Carnivale, once a year to raise funds. This year the motif for Carnivale is “All You Need is Love” and it’s being held on February 13, which is also Valentine’s Day Eve as well as Mardi Gras. For the first time ever, the cathedral is offering half-price tickets to people 35 and younger, as it continues to look for ways to make sure there is a place for everyone at Grace.

The “San Francisco Bay Times” thanks Lynn Aylward, Kelly Costello and the entire team at Grace Cathedral for all of their help in preparing this issue. Grace Cathedral online: gracecathedral.org. Special thanks also to Rev. Dr. Lauren Artress and Dr. Dawn Matheny of Veriditas, and to Lars Howlett.

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7th Annual Two Spirit Powwow Photos by Rink The dramatic procession of dancers known as the “Grand Entry” ceremony provided a visual highlight for the 7th Annual Two Spirit Powwow held at Fort Mason on Saturday, February 3. Organized and produced by the non-profit LGBT service organization BAAITS (Bay Area American Indian Two Spirits), the event attracted more than 2000 participants and observers this year, according to reports provided to the San Francisco Bay Times. Held during BAAITS’ 20th anniversary year, the event was the first and remains the largest Two Sprit event that is free and open to the public. baaits.org

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F EBRUARY 8, 2018

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IMES Wanda Landowska: Going for Baroque TThrowback AYPhoto BRink S

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LGBTQ News & Calendar for the Bay Are) a CELEBRATING FOUR DECADES (1978–2018

United States. As life companions, the two women rema ined toget her until Landowska’s death in 1959.

1978

Faces from Our LGBT Past Dr. Bill Lipsky

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n January 9, 1978, after walking with friends and supporters from Castro Street up Market to the Civic Center, Harvey Milk joined Mayor George Moscone on the steps of City Hall. He had arrived there to be sworn in as the first openly gay man to serve as a City of San Francisco Supervisor.

Our throwback photo for this issue is the third in the on-going series of images by legendary photographer Rink, celebrating his contributions to the four decades of LGBT history recorded by the San Francisco Bay Times.

The image includes (left to right) Mayor George Moscone, Harvey Milk, Anne Kronenberg and State Senator Milton Marks. A few members of the surrounding crowd, which included young children, are also shown.

The beautiful music filling the concert hall may have been familiar to some in the audience, but the sound of it was something unusual, unknown.

In 1923, when Wanda Landowska played Handel’s Concerto for Harpsichord and Orchestra in B Flat in New York, it probably was the first time listeners had heard the instrument played in public. Her triumph was complete.

More or less single-handedly, after an absence of almost 100 years, she had returned the harpsichord to performance for modern ears.

For decades, harpsichords had been considered relics of the past. To those used to the lush, emotional romanticism of 19th century performance practice, they sounded harsh, dry and monotonous. Landowska disagreed.

The only way to perform the works of the great Baroque masters like Bach, Scarlatti, Couperin, and others—whose music was then mostly ignored or forgotten—was for her on the instruments for which they wrote it. Anything else, she believed, was dishonest, inauthentic and corrupt.

Eventually, many concurred.

Born on July 5, 1879, in Warsaw, Poland, Landowska was a child prodigy who became a dedicated musical scholar as well as a fine musician. Her goal was authentic performances with accurate scores of early music played on original instruments. She commissioned the construction of new harpsichords and returned long-forgotten works to the repertoire. Dedicated not only to the letter of the text, but also to its spirit, some of her recordings are now considered to be among the greatest in the history of preserved sound.

In 1920, Landowska settled in Paris, where she became a frequent visitor at the salon of the famed and openly lesbian expatriate American playwright, poet, and novelist Natalie Clifford Barney. Equally honest about her own sexuality, Landowska often played for Barney’s guests, who included Barney’s known lovers: the Armenian dancer, writer, and actress Armen Ohanian; the British poet Renée Vivien; and the American painter Romaine Brooks, a relationship that lasted more than 50 years.

Landowska met Denise Restout in 1933. Born in Paris in 1915, Restout received the first medal of the National Conservatory of Music (Paris) in 1930. Three years later, she began studying the harpsichord with Landowska, the year the maestra became the first person to record Bach’s Goldberg Variations on it. They fled France in 1940, eventually settling in the

Photos courtesy of Dr. Bill Lipsky

Landowska knew who she was. At her famed series of concerts in New York’s Town Hall in 1949, the stage was dec- Natalie Clifford Barney and Romaine Brooks orated to seem like a living room with her harpsichord at the center, a studio lamp nearby, and the lighting dim for an evening’s solitar y meditation.

She entered with palms pressed together, eyes looking heavenward, a nd receiv i ng a final word or two of Francois Poulenc and Wanda Landowska advice or inspiration from the master himself. Gliding slowly across the stage in velvet ballet slippers, she finally reached her instrument. She was ready at last.

Everybody else knew who she was, also. So formidable was her reputation and so absolute was her authority that they made the most repeated story about her entirely creditable.

During a visit from the famed cellist Pablo Casals, the two musicians discussed some differing interpretations of Bach’s notation. They could not agree. “Mon cher Pau,” she said at last. “Let us not fight anymore. You play Bach your way and I’ll play him his way.”

Landowska did more than revive the harpsichord to play eighteenth century music in the twentieth century.

She also brought the instrument into the modern orchestra. Manuel de Falla, rumored to have been involved romantically with the composer Maurice Ravel, wrote El retablo de maese Pedro and a harpsichord concerto specifically for her, the first new work for the instrument in more than 100 years.

François Poulenc, who composed his Concert champêtre for Landowska, stated, “The way in which she has resuscitated and re-created the harpsichord is a miracle.”

Poulenc believed that meeting Landowska was the first important artistic encounter of his life. It happened around the time he began his romance with the painter Richard Chanelaire.

He dedicated his Concert champêtre to her, but in the copy that he gave to his lover he wrote, “You are the sunshine of my thirty years, the reason for living and working.” Other relationships followed, although the gay American composer Ned Rorem claimed that Poulenc preferred meeting uniformed men in the tearooms of Paris and—like Camille Saint-Saëns before him—Arab boys in the back streets of French North Africa.

Poulenc often worked with openly gay writers and musicians. His cantata Le bal masqué included four poems

by Max Jacob, and his opera La Voix humaine used a libretto based upon a play by Jean Cocteau. Other works were written specifically for the gay French baritone Pierre Bernac, a

Wanda Landowska with Maunel de Falla in Granada (1922)

Wanda Landowska

professional partnership that lasted 28 years.

Devoutly interested in Catholicism, Poulenc composed religious scores throughout his career. The apparent contradiction between his spiritual beliefs and his way of life was easily explained, he said. “I am as sincere in my faith,” he told a friend, “as I am in my Parisian sexuality.” His comment would not have shocked or surprised Landowska. Once, interviewing an applicant who had come to study with her, she asked simply, “¿Et vous êtes un pédéraste, naturellement?” In her world, nothing was more natural.

Bill Lipsky, Ph.D., author of “Gay and Lesbian San Francisco” (2006), is a member of the Rainbow Honor Walk board of directors.

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Here Comes the Pride: Celebrity Cruises Holds Historic Wedding at Sea In a historic ceremony hosted on board Celebrity Equinox, Francisco Vargas and Benjamin Gray became the first same-sex couple ever to be legally married at sea on a major cruise line.

“Words cannot express how proud I am to congratulate Francisco and Benjamin at this truly historic moment, both for them and for Celebrity,” said Lisa Lutoff-Perlo, President and CEO of Celebrity Cruises.

“It’s a true privilege to know that the ceremony performed onboard Celebrity Equinox has made history as the first legal same-sex marriage at sea. Together we are paving the way for couples around the world to know that their love and commitment is to be celebrated equally, and that everyone is welcome on board a Celebrity cruise.”

Francisco and Benjamin

“There are only so many firsts in life, and we are thrilled to be the first-ever LGBTQ+ couple to marry at sea,” said Gray. “We are humbled to follow the trailblazers in the LGBTQ+ community who paved the way for us.”

The historic event follows a transformative vote, which passed in Malta’s parliament 66–1. A majority of Celebrity’s fleet is registered in this country. The long-awaited referendum opened the door for Celebrity to legally recognize same-sex marriages performed onboard while at sea, and to have the fleet’s captains officiate the ceremonies.

Vargas, who works for one of Celebrity’s top Travel Partners, Cruise Planners, said: “Traveling is in my blood— and when we heard Celebrity Cruises was celebrating equality and embracing our community, we wanted to be a part of it. We are grateful for the outpouring of support from our Cruise Planners family, and hope our story brings strength for others in the LGBTQ+ community to confidently love whomever they choose.”

The Celebrity Wedding Cruise program of fers onboard ceremonies and dest inat ion weddings for lovebirds. The Nautical Nuptials at Sea package includes a Capt a i n-led ceremony, a n event coordinator’s services, live music, one hour of photography, cake for two, a bottle of champagne, plus additional romantic turndown amenities post-ceremony, and more.

To learn about the Celebrity Weddings program and The Wedding Experience, visit Celebrity Wedding Planner (https://celebrityweddings.eweddingcalendar.com/ calendar/weddingPackagesEdit/ optId/753/) and say “I do.”

Celebrity Equinox

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P HOTOS C OURT ESY OF C EL EBRIT Y C RUISES

The grooms were joined by their immediate family for an int imate ceremony officiated by Captain Dimitrios Manetas. They exchanged vows against the signature backdrop of the rose wall in Blu Restaurant, the location befitting the most memorable of moments.

Overcoming Toxic Shame - Part 2: Tools for Healing and supported rather than rejected.

But there is also an internal dimension to healing. Since toxic shame usually has its roots in childhood abandonment, abuse and trauma, recovery almost always requires accessing your “inner child”—the part of you that was traumatized in the first place—and learning to support, love, and protect that part of yourself.

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CONTRIBUTORS Writers Rink, Sister Dana Van Iquity, Ann Rostow, Patrick Carney, Kate Kendell, Alex Randolph, Heidi Beeler, Gary M. Kramer, Dennis McMillan, Tom Moon, Tim Seelig, Cinder Ernst, John Chen Rafael Mandelman, Jewelle Gomez, Phil Ting, Rebecca Kaplan, Leslie Katz, Philip Ruth, Bill Lipsky, Karen Williams, Donna Sachet, Gary Virginia, Zoe Dunning, Marcy Adelman, Stuart Gaffney & John Lewis Brandon Miller, Jamie Leno Zimron Thom Watson, Michele Karlsberg Lyndsey Schlax, Randy Coleman, Debra Walker, Howard Steiermann, Andrea Shorter, Tom Temprano, Lou Fischer, Karin Jaffie, Brett Andrews Photographers Rink, Phyllis Costa, Jane Higgins Paul Margolis, Chloe Jackman, Bill Wilson, Jo-Lynn Otto, Sandy Morris, Abby Zimberg, Morgan Shidler ADVERTISING Display Advertising Standard Rate Cards are available online at sfbaytimes.com and by calling: 415-503-1375

Examined Life Tom Moon, MFT In the last issue I described “toxic shame” as a deep and sometimes debilitating sense of self-loathing that results from traumatic experiences of being repeatedly humiliated, rejected, and treated as worthless. When people are subjected to this kind of treatment, especially when it happens in childhood, they often absorb shame into the very fabric of their identity. The result is a feeling of “basic badness”—a pervasive sense of oneself as defective and unlovable.

Recovery from toxic shame requires reparative relationships—connections with friends, partners, family members, therapists—in which your fundamental humanity is respected

Inner child work has evoked its share of ridicule, and is sometimes criticized as sentimental and hokey, because the work involves replacing harsh and judgmental self-talk with the softer language of warmth and self-acceptance. But inner child work has been an accepted part of psychotherapy for almost fifty years, and that’s because it gets results. The practices are essentially self-compassion in action, and when you learn how to re-parent your inner child using them, you develop a deep and strong connection with yourself that can have positive repercussions throughout your life.

It is almost a psychological law that, as adults, we treat our inner child the way our caregivers treated us when we were children. This is how we perpetuate our shame–by habitually, if unconsciously, re-capitulating attitudes of contempt and hostility toward the most vulnerable aspects of ourselves. That’s why the first step in

In Memoriam: Dennis Peron Beloved activ ist Dennis Peron (1945–2018) died on January 27 due to respiratory failure, according to his spouse, John Entwistle, Jr. Peron, known as the “Father of Medical Marijuana,” spent much of his life lobbying for statewide medical marijuana legislation. His activism particularly took root during the HIV/AIDS crisis, after he witnessed how marijuana eased many symptoms. Peron co-wrote Proposition P, which passed in 1991 and led to doctors not being penalized for prescribing marijuana to treat various illnesses, such as cancer and multiple sclerosis, as well as HIV/ AIDS. He opened the San Francisco Cannabis Buyers’ Club, cowrote Proposition 215 concerning the legalization of medical marijuana, and much more. Chronicling his colorful life along the way was San Francisco Bay Times photographer Rink, who met him right after Peron moved into a Haight Ashbury Commune in 1969. To read Rink’s personal and engaging remembrances about Peron, please visit sfbaytimes.com

this work is to set an intention to make friends with your inner child.

One way to do this is to evoke the presence of your child by, for instance, looking at pictures of yourself as a child and remembering how it felt to be this innocent being that you once were. Talk to this child, and make a promise that, going forward, you will listen to this person, and that you will do all in your power to love and protect her/him. Repeat this practice on a daily basis until the habit of being on your own side begins to take root.

When you can feel, even if only fleetingly, that you are in your own corner and are not your own worst enemy, you can deepen the practice by remembering some of your most shaming experiences from childhood. Ask yourself what would have been the most soothing and helpful words for you to hear from someone at that time. Write what you hear on a piece of paper, and then imagine that someone in your adult life whom you respect and trust is saying these words to you. Let your inner child hear them. Now imagine that you, as an adult, are holding your inner child, and that you are re-parenting your child by saying these words out loud.

Tell the child in you that you will always listen to what he/she has to

say, and that you will never judge his/ her feelings. Be alert to the part of you that judges yourself, and eliminate words like “weak” and “failure” from your self-talk. Check in with your inner child several times a day and ask how this little person is feeling.

Listen to and accept what you hear without any judgments about whether the feelings are right or wrong.

Ask yourself about what words you didn’t hear enough when you were young. Ask your inner child directly what this person needs to hear from you. Work to replace critical self-talk with phrases like: “I hear you,” “I love you,” “You didn’t deserve this,” “I’m sorry you were hurt,” and anything else that tells your inner child that you care for this person and are loyal to his/her well-being.

Toxic shame subsides when the inner child begins to feel safe and cared-for because he/she is held by the adult side of you in a protective and loving embrace. We make this possible when we commit to doing all that we can to make sure we never treat ourselves the way that we were treated by those who abused us.

Tom Moon is a psychotherapist in San Francisco. For more information, please visit his website http:// tommoon.net/

Photos by Rink

In 2006, then Assemblyman Mark Leno honored activist Dennis Peron at the Proposition 215 Party held at the SF LGBT Community Center.

Activist Mary Jane Rathbun (“Brownie Mary”), District Attorney Terrance Hallinan and Dennis Peron at a rally in 1995.

Dennis Peron at his desk in his medical marijuana club on Market Street in 1996.

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Phil Wilkie, Denise Wells, Eileen Hansen, Stephen Ellis, Dennis Peron and Sal Rosselli at a Hansen campaign event in 2002.

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Dennis Peron and supporters staffing an information table on Haight Street in 1980 18

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Dennis Peron at City Hall for a rally in 1995 promoting hemp as a source of rope and fuel

David Smith with Dennis Peron in 2010 at the annual Harvey Milk Birthday event

GLBT Fortnight in Review

By Ann Rostow Lunch at Tiffany’s This has nothing to do with GLBT news, but do you remember the zillion dollar no-bid contract for repair of the Puerto Rican electrical grid that went to a one-man shop from Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s small home town?

Well, I guess that was not an anomaly, because now I’m reading (in The New York Times) about a $156 million FEMA contract for 30 million readyto-eat meals that went to a scam artist from Atlanta named Tiffany Brown.

Brown, who had already had several previous government contracts cancelled, managed to produce just 50,000 meals, none of which were actually edible because they required heating.

As for Trump, I’m not sure I can comment anymore. The man has traveled too far away from my frames of reference. He’s surreal. Something out of a strange dream. I saw him babbling about something unintelligible the other day. “We caught them! ... ohhhh we caught them good!” I think he was talking about the trysting FBI agents, or maybe the Democrats in general. I don’t know. I’m starting not to care. It’s like when you get sick. First you fight it. You take something. You struggle to your feet, stagger into work. Then you rest. But it doesn’t get better, and at some point you put the covers over your head and retreat from the world until it goes away.

Politically, that’s where I am. Mel and I have cut our cable news habit down to the bone. Maybe someone can just wake us up when it’s all over. Maybe with a nice cup of tea and some toast.

Keep It Down, Guys By the way, I was just reading that hot tea is linked to throat cancer and also that “everyday noises” increase your risk for heart disease. I was reminded of my short stint as a health news writer, when I had to read raw material from Reuters on the subject of medical and pharmaceutical experiments.

Some graduate student would notice that one mouse in twenty lost an extra milligram after eating anise f lakes in some trial and I could produce a headline like: “Miracle Licorice Diet: Can Candy Make You Thin?”

Keep in mind that I smoked two packs of cigarettes at that time and generally had my first glass of wine around lunchtime. My boss was just as bad, and he also wrote a column on healthy living while pretending to be a fit young housewife. We loved coming up with lists of “five ways to lose weight” or “ten ways to get into the best shape of your life!” We advised readers to park an extra block from their office or take the stairs, choking with laughter on our Winston Lights with every trite suggestion. Ah, those were the days! Fun times. Regular presidents.

What? You wanted some gay news?

This is a GLBT news column? Sorry, I forgot for a minute, and just as I was about to tell you what I thought of Phantom Thread and the Super Bowl ads!

So, speaking of the Super Bowl and GLBT news, I guess a bunch of heterosexual Philadelphia fans in Minneapolis made their way to the Eagle Bolt Bar under the mistaken impression that this gay men’s bar was actually named for Pennsylvania’s pro football team.

You know, I read this cute story several times, and I’m not buying it.

Minneapolis is half a continent away from Philadelphia, and “Eagle” is a generic bar name. So, no. The bar was not named for the Eagles football team and I can’t imagine anyone thought that might be the case. Further, from all accounts, the straight out-of-towners had a great time at the Eagle Bolt, where signs in the window indicated Super Bowl fans would be welcome. And by the way, why would a Philadelphia fan fly to Minneapolis to watch the game

on TV in a bar? Were these TV viewers Minnesota-based Eagles fans who lived in Minneapolis in the first place? In that case, they should recognize their local bars and/or watch the game from home. Something doesn’t add up!

I hated Phantom Thread. Is something wrong with me? I also thought Darkest Hour was just okay.

Title VII Victory in New England Let’s get serious now! Recently, it was the turn of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit to rule in favor of a gay or lesbian sex discrimination plaintiff under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. As you know, Title VII is the federal law that protects workers against discrimination based on race, sex, national origin and religion. And as you probably recall, one of the key issues in the modern fight for gay civil rights is whether or not laws that outlaw sex discrimination inherently outlaw gay discrimination as well. Put another way, is antigay discrimination a form of impermissible sex discrimination?

In making our Title VII case, one of our main problems is that this question has already been settled throughout the federal appellate courts as of decades ago, and as you might imagine, it has not been settled in our favor. So now, we don’t simply have to convince threejudge panels, but we basically have to convince full courts of appeal, sets of six or ten judges at a time, and we must convince them to reverse their prior antigay decisions.

So far, we’ve been successful before the full court of appeals for the Seventh Circuit (in the Hively case last year), and we are waiting for a Title VII ruling from the full court of appeals for the Second Circuit in the Zarda case (dead sky diver, remember?). The Zarda case was argued in September, so we should get a ruling shortly.

The recent First Circuit case, involving a Providence, New Hampshire, fire fighter, may or may not be appealed to the full bench or the High Court.

The High Court, however, recently declined to hear the appeal of one of our losing Title VII efforts, the case of a lesbian security guard at an Atlanta hospital. In that case, we lost before a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, and the full court declined to review the matter. Petitioned to the High Court, the justices said no a few weeks ago.

Without descending into the legal arguments in favor of our cause, one worrisome aspect of our situation is that Justice Kennedy has had ample opportunity to come down in favor of full equality for gay and lesbian Americans, and arguably he has resisted. It’s strange to say, considering this is the champion of gay rights on the Court, the man who has written our four biggest opinions, the man who ended sodomy laws and heralded marriage rights.

But Kennedy has never really articulated the case for gays under the Equal Protection Clause. He’s never argued, like the Obama Justice Department, that gays are a beleaguered minority, and that discriminatory laws should therefore be evaluated with the suspicion that prejudice might be involved. Kennedy has never maintained that sexual orientation belongs in the parade of characteristics protected against bias under federal law. Instead, he has more or less argued, under the Due Process Clause, that gays should not be harmed, that we don’t deserve a second-class status, and that we deserve respect.

Make no mistake, that’s not the same as saying we deserve equality, which is why it is scary to be asking this Court to take an absolute stand on gay rights.

Are we equal or not, we want to know?

And before the Court will even answer that question, it will tell us whether or (continued on page 30) S AN F R ANC IS C O BAY T IM ES

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From the Coming Up Events Calendar See page 28 Friday, February 16 - A Shirley Chisholm Story: Unbought & Unbossed, The Stage Play @ Birel L. Vaughn Theater, 3201 Adeline Street, Berkeley. A retrospective of the first African American woman to run for President. 8pm. Through February 25. blackrepertorygroup.com

Wednesday, February 21 - Question Bridge: Black Males @ Oakland Museum of California, 1000 Oak Street, Oakland. A selection of videos featuring more than 160 black men from across the U.S. WednesdaysSundays through February 25. museumca.org

Daniela Vega Discusses Groundbreaking Role in Oscar-nominated A Fantastic Woman

Film Gary M. Kramer Trans actress Daniela Vega gives a remarkable performance as Marina, a trans woman grappling with the sudden death of her lover, Orlando (Francisco Reyes), in the Chilean drama A Fantastic Woman. As Marina meets Orlando’s family, they disrespect her, and abuse her mentally, emotionally and physically. She also encounters impertinence from the police, who investigate her in regard to Orlando’s death. Yet through these difficulties, Marina shows her strength and her empowerment, which is what makes A Fantastic Woman so affirming. The actress chatted via Skype with me for the San Francisco Bay Times about her Oscar-nominated film.

Gary M. K ramer: Your performance is notable because it is mostly internal; as Marina, your expressions and body language convey so much emotion. Can you talk about how you portrayed Marina?

Daniela Vega: Marina is crafted based on three main pillars: one is dignity, one is rebelliousness, and the last one is resilience. These vital characteristics create many emotional layers that make up the character. They are tied to the infinite questions the film raises—because the film raises questions, it does not provide answers.

Gary M. Kramer: Do you feel pressure as a trans actress to “carry” this film, and represent the trans community?

Daniela Vega: No, I don’t feel like an activist. I’m just an artist, working, and what I do is move people through art. I’m an artist, not an activist.

Gary M. Kramer: The film depicts many micro- and macroaggressions that Marina faces.

Folks get her name wrong, and treat her without dignity and

kindness. What experiences from your life can you say relate to Marina’s encounters?

Daniela Vega: I have experienced violence like many people have. But in this interview, I only want to speak about the film, not my personal life.

Gary M. Kramer: How did you work with writer/director Sebastián Lelio on the depiction of the trans character and issues? Were there things you needed to make him aware of?

Daniela Vega: More than anything, with Sebastián, the work we did together was to create a character that would connect with many people. Sebastian is an empathic and measured person. Those characteristics were why I trusted him.

Gary M. Kramer: The film has you sing ing in your first and last scenes. I understand you are an accomplished opera singer. Can you talk about the performances and your fabulous

KIT’N KITTY’S

QUEER POP QUIZ

dance sequence? I loved seeing you “perform” in the film.

Daniela Vega: Sebastián decided to put opera in the movie.

I sing opera, and the arias chosen are related to the content of the film. I carry opera in my body. Dance is something I’ve never done before, so that was new. That dance scene was a fun, magical experience!

Gary M. Kramer: What can you say about the mix of harsh realism and the magical realism in the film?

Daniela Vega: The film tends to be fantastical in some moments, and I think that lends itself to be dreamlike in some places. But the f ilm goes beyond those moments to be poetic as a whole. The film can’t be labeled in one way, so we are referring to it as a trans-genre film.

Gar y M. K ramer: There have been great strides for trans visibility both in film and TV, but also in society at large. What observations do you have about how this

ing them as well as for the person receiving them.

Gary M. Kramer: What scene or scenes were the most difficult for you?

film can improve visibility and acceptance?

Daniela Vega: The film is more than answering questions—it seeks questions.

And some of those questions are what are we doing with our time here? What are we doing for new generations? Are we building a future for them, or leaving things in uncertain hands? Are we destroying it?

Are we seeing more acceptance? That’s not for me to answer, but for the audience.

Gary M. Kramer: The film is fantastic. Your performance is fantastic. But in what ways are you, Daniela, “a fantastic woman”?

Daniela Vega: No, I am not a fantastic woman. I am a woman who works, and has dreams and fears like all others. Marina is a fantastic woman, and I am sure there are many other fantastic women all around the world.

Gary M. Kramer: I love the scenes of Marina punching bags, or jumping on the car. Can you talk about her aggressive, empowered behavior?

© 2018 Gary M. Kramer

Daniela Vega: Instead of reacting violently towards people, Marina takes it out on objects. This is something we should all do more of. Acts of violence toward people are damaging for the person inf lict-

Gary M. Kramer is the author of “Independent Queer Cinema: Reviews and Interviews,” and the co-editor of “Directory of World Cinema: Argentina.” Follow him on Twitter @garymkramer

OUT OLYMPIANS Who was Team USA’s first out gay male Olympian?

A) Greg Louganis B) Johnny Weir C) Adam Rippon D) Gus Kenworthy ANSWER ON PAGE 30

Daniela Vega: Three scenes were physically and emotionally complex. First, when Marina [meets] Sonia, there is psychological violence. Second, when she is forced to be photographed by the doctor, and has to take off her clothes. And third, when she is kidnapped, and they put tape on her head because she is rejected.

Karin Jaffie as Kitty Tapata hosts Miss Kitty’s Original Trivia Nights at The Wild Side West on Wednesday nights from 8 pm–11 pm, 424 Cortland Avenue in San Francisco. As Tapata says, “It’s free, fun and friendly! To play is to win!”

S AN F R ANC IS C O BAY T IM ES

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CASTRO

When Is Old Old?

STREETCAM presented by

TLC: Tears, Laughs and Conversation Dr. Tim Seelig Is age really just a number?

sfbaytimes.com

Take yourself back in time. It could be a month, a year, or decades ago.

When was the very f irst time you thought, “I’m getting old”? Now, go back one more time. When was the first time you had the courage to say, “I feel old,” out loud?

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Transport yourselves to majestic locations with candles inspired by Zion National Park, Joshua Tree and the California Redwoods.

Mixture Bath & Body Relax in the soothing waters of Mixture.

Be it a luxurious foaming bath or an herb and flower infused bath tea, you’re sure to enjoy the pampering moment you so deserve.

Meri Meri Nobody does Valentines like Meri Meri. This whimsical collection of cards and party accessories will put a smile on even the most stodgy of friends.

Y

ou’re done with those holidays for everyone else, so this one’s just for you and your dearest love.

Valentine’s Day is a celebration of appreciation and an opportunity to spoil your most favorite person in the whole wide world.

The adage “age is just a number” is exhausting. Really? Sure, age is a number. But it is so much more than that, too. Everything we do is based on it. Get a pencil and put a number next to the following: • kindergarten • driver’s license • high school • drinking age • got married • mid-life crisis • became a grandparent • AARP and movie discounts • retirement • social security There are a lot of moving age targets in the middle of all of those, of course. Fill in your own. You know I grew up in Texas, so the numbers are a bit scrambled. Those who weren’t Baptist didn’t drink—in front of each other. Drinking and driving started before high school and sometimes marriage.

Why, you ask, would you wander in the murky waters of the age discussion? Must we discuss painful things such as this?

There are several reasons: 1. I have recently visited granddaughter #2 in Texas. OMG. Two years old.

2. I just had a birthday. Unremarkable number. Not really interested in being this age.

3. I have spent a great deal of time this month arranging for my Dad, who is 93, to move from independent living to assisted living.

When is old old? Well, it depends on if you are talking about milk or wine!

Or yourself.

Feeling old is not helped by living in a city where the young’uns literally rule. I would not even begin to ana-

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arrangements. Unbeknownst to Dad, I toured assisted living locations, selected one, signed him up, arranged for people to pack his things, take 2/3 of them to Goodwill, the rest to his new home—then told him.

My own days are not helped by conducting a chorus that keeps getting younger every year, instead of the opposite. I absolutely feel old when they bring their suggestions for music and their blank looks at my mention of Sondheim, Cole Porter or Gershwin.

How about when the musical guest comes on Saturday Night Live and you are way not interested in them?

Needless to say, he didn’t take it very well. But we’ve talked multiple times every day. I’ve been back twice to help in the last 3 weeks. My husband and I will be going to Fort Worth to help with the move this very week.

I felt old when I first came out many years ago and began conducting a chorus of people much younger than I. I learned very early on to keep my mouth shut, smile and then run out to try to find that music (all prior to YouTube, iTunes, Spotify, etc.).

At that point, I had basically spent the first 35 years of my living in two places: church and the opera stage, some of it in Europe. I missed all the pop

It’s not un l i ke some coming out s t or ie s . W hen some finally have the courage to come out about their sexual orient at ion, t hey a re somet i mes disappointed when people say, “Duh.” I t ’s t he s a m e with “I’m old.”

You get one of t wo responses.

It’s either, “Oh no, you’re not!” (check for growing noses or fingers crossed behind backs) or, “Yup” (honest friends).

Ethics Supply Candles

lyze millennials. There are tomes that cover the topic. And even those wellthought out, thoroughly-researched conclusions are defied every single day by a generation that refuses to be defined.

music of the 70s and 80s. When the millennium approached, my chorus did a retrospective of the last century. When it got to the 80s, the medley had what was apparently a very popular tune that I did not recognize— at all. They sang through it and then I said ... wait for it, “Do you think the audience will recognize the song ‘Thriller’?”

I never lived that down. Eventually, I just had to move!

Now, back to my Dad. Yes, I am starting to see the tell-tale signs of age in myself. I have certainly watched it up close and personal in my Mom, who passed 6 years ago, and now my Dad. Not unlike many of you, I had a fragile, even troubled, relationship with my Dad, the Baptist preacher. Mom and Dad moved into independent living just as I was moving here. Mom died the next year and Dad had been doing well until last February. He fell and broke his hip. Then, my only brother died of brain cancer followed

by Dad having serious cranial surgery for advanced melanoma.

A month ago, the independent living facility called me—the only offspring left—to say Dad no longer qualified for the “independent” part and they needed me to come and make other

Every single day, I must tell him that he is going to have to let go—of things and control. You can imagine that I am a bit controlling. I learned it at his knee! It is heartbreaking to watch and know the pain. I do not want to be where he is. And I do not want to do this to my own children and grandkids.

One of the imponderables for me is that I spent my entire early life singing songs about the joy of going to heaven—pearly gates, streets of gold, and fabulous marabou wings. Yet, it is those very people who are scared to death to die.

My t a keaway here is that heaven is now and it i s my res ponsibilit y to create it. There are no guarantees in life. There is no guarantee that I will even have a tomorrow. Certainly, there is no guarantee of a sparkly heaven awaiting. All I k now i s to day. All I really know is right now, the next hour. In fact, my very next thought should be, “How can I make life better, happier, and more joyful for me—and, more importantly, for those around me—right now?”

If I do that, maybe age doesn’t matter. Maybe it is just a number after all.

I can make life better for people of any age: my granddaughter Eden Mae, who is 2, and my 93-year-old father John Earl. I need to strive to make life better for everyone in between. I’m lucky enough to do that by bringing music into their lives. Eden Mae sings “Frozen” every day. John Earl sings “When We All Get to Heaven,” “I’ll Fly Away,” “Lookin’ for a City” and other songs about heaven (and sin, of course)!

What does old mean to you? What does age mean? Pick a number between 2 and 93. Any number. Now, would you really trade your current age for that number, or any other?

I know my number is just that. I’m going to enjoy today. After all, I get the movie discounts!

Dr. Tim Seelig is the Artistic Director of the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus.

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE DE YOUNG AND LEGION OF HONOR

San Francisco Wall Painting (1979/2017)

by Richard Jackson

Image courtesy of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

The site-specific panoramic diptych San Francisco Wall Painting (1970/2017) by artist Richard Jackson was recently added to the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco’s holdings of works by California artists. It constitutes a significant addition to the de Young’s renowned collection of American Art. Since the 1970s, Jackson has engaged in an expansive painting practice that seeks to reinvent the medium’s potential by upending its technical conventions. Over the course of his career, he has turned paint from a means of expression into a method of adhesion, and from a carefully applied substance into one that is indiscriminately poured, smeared, spattered and thrown.

Jackson first came to international attention in 1992.

His work has been featured in numerous group exhibitions, including the 1999 Venice Biennale and the 1997 Lyon Biennale of Contemporary Art, as well as at Zentrum fuer Kunst und Medien, Karlsruhe. Recent solo exhibitions have been organized by the CAB Art Center, Brussels; Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst, Ghent; Museum Villa Stuck, Munich; and the Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach.

Born in Sacramento, Jackson lives and works outside Los Angeles.

For more information: https://deyoung.famsf.org/

Time to Cross Borders

By Lyndsey Schlax (Editor’s Note: Teacher Lyndsey Schlax of the Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of the Arts launched the nation’s first onsite high school LGBT course in 2015. She still offers that groundbreaking class, but is now teaching Ethnic Studies this semester. The two subjects often intersect, so in this column her students share their thoughts about both Ethnic Studies and LGBT-related matters, including their concerns, what they have learned in class and more. All of the below pieces were written by students in Grade 12.)

Transitioning For the past several weeks our LGBTQ+ class has been transitioning into Ethnic Studies. For our introduction to this subject, our teacher asked us to read the book The Hate U Give (THUG) by Angie Thomas.

This book is focused on the character Starr, who is a young black woman attending a private, mostly white, school in the suburbs.

Throughout this book she is f ighting for her friend who was killed unrightfully. This book has brought my thoughts back to the LGBTQ+ community and how many people of color not only struggle with discrimination due to race but also based on their gender identity. Before fully focusing on Ethnic Studies, our class watched Paris Is Burning, which really connected both themes and the heartfelt events and struggles that have targeted the community overall.

Although most of our focus this semester will be on the history about the world and all of its colors, I believe that both histories go hand in hand since the color of one’s skin is also an identity that individuals may find themselves struggling with. I strongly recommend THUG since it is an eye24

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opening reminder of how blessed we are as a class to be taught about the importance about all histories, communities, and identities.

Time to Cross Borders Do you know that there are different types of borders that hold us back from the truth, or an obstacle? In a piece I read in Ethnic Studies called The Historian as Curandera by Aurora Levins Morales, she explained the steps that are needed to help break theses boundaries. Before I tell you what she discussed, I have to tell you why it is time to cross borders. We must cross borders to break the cycle of power being abused on those who are oppressed, and the only way that can happen is if we are reminded of our history, geography, and time.

Morales talks a lot about the dominant narrative, which is the story that makes the world perceive people of culture in the way that is told by those of power. There are instances in Morales’ work where she gives us examples of what boundaries look like.

They can be physical walls, such as the border that keeps us as people separated from each other based on ethnicity or even boundaries that lower the interest of those who want to learn about the truth.

I think that Morales is right about crossing borders, and I can also say that I do every day. At my school Ruth Asawa School of the Arts, I am a World Dancer. You’re probably asking, “What is a World Dancer?” Well, for myself it is someone who studies different forms and styles of dance from different parts of the world and who learns about the cultures as well.

For example, my dance instructor teaches a Global Perspectives class where we discuss the history behind

STUDENT VOICES Lyndsey Schlax has been a teacher in the San Francisco Unified School District since 2008. She is uniquely qualified to address multiple areas of LGBT studies, having also specialized in subjects such as Modern World History, Government, Economics and U.S. Politics. She is a National Board Certified Teacher, and earned her M.A. in Teaching at the University of San Francisco. a dance that we are learning. This is important in the art community, to learn about the origins of the art that is studied and also to recognize who the creators of these wonderful things are.

It is time for us to stand up to those who exert power on us, but we have to be willing to cross into territory of the full truth to respect ourselves.

Rethinking History History should be healing. We live in a world where history often leaves behind those who did not have the power to be visible. Farmworkers, immigrants, factory workers, people of the LGBTQ community, women, and people of color are just a few of (continued on page 30)

it’s Mitch. I mean really. Is he known for keeping his word?!”

By Sister Dana Van Iquity Sister Dana sez, “What are the far right Repugnicans talking about when they say ‘The Deep State’? The only deep state I know of has the Grand Canyon!”

ACADEMY OF FRIENDS held a TOAST THE NOMINEES party to celebrate with drinks at suiGENERIS in the Castro. We enjoyed cocktails while shopping for our gala outfits to the Academy of Friends’ annual Oscar party—this year entitled “Under the Big Top.” Board Vice Chair Matthew Denckla pointed out fellow board members in the room. Co-Board Chair Gil Padia mentioned the beneficiaries: Aguilas, AIDS Legal Referral Panel, HIV AIDS Nightline, Maitri, Positive Resource Center, and Project Open Hand.

Representing AIDS Legal Referral Panel were Volunteer Coordinator Hannah Center and volunteer Ray Dolan (who back in the day was Sister Ivanna Tramp).

I’m begging her to get back into drag as Ivanna Tramp during these terrifying Trump times. Co-Board Chair Lee Johnson spoke about Academy of Friends annually producing the world’s premier Academy Awards Night Charity Gala as the centerpiece of its efforts to raise funds, award donations, and encourage volunteerism that benefit a diverse set of HIV/AIDS organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area. In typical Academy of Friends’ fashion, everyone at the event will enjoy food provided by the Bay Area’s finest restaurants and caterers, wine, and champagne by amazing vintners along with a fun way to watch the 2018 Oscars.

Join them on Sunday, March 4, at City View at the Metreon for their 38th Annual Academy Awards Night Gala. academyoffriends.org Sister Dana sez, “Happy Birthday, Emperor Norton, inspiration for today’s Court of Imperials, you don’t look a day over 200!”

The monthly CASTRO ART WALK, where the public is encouraged to take a self-guided tour of art studios and locations to enjoy the creativity in the Castro, was held on February 1. The following locations took part: Art Attack SF, 2358 Market Street Suite 1; The Artist’s Gallery, 4406 18th Street Suite A; Spark Arts, 4229 18th Street; Dog Eared Books, 489 Castro Street; Blush!

Wine Bar, 476 Castro Street; Norden Living, 3618 17th Street; Club 440, 440 Castro Street; The Apothecarium, 2029 Market Street; S16 Home, 286 Sanchez at 16th Street; and Ruby’s Clay Studio & Gallery, 552A Noe Street. Art at most of these locations will remain on display until being exchanged for new art at the March Castro Art Walk. Spark Arts provided a small youth band, The Funky Feathers band from the Ruth Asawa School of the Arts, to play for us. castroartwalk.com Sister Dana sez, “As we go to press, I wonder whether Mitch McConnell will keep his word about DACA and immigration reform on February 8th— while the government could possibly run out of money. Hey,

We art enthusiasts went to STRUT, the gay/bi/transmen Castro center for health and social wellness, for the monthly gallery reception on February 2, presented by Baruch Porras-Hernandez, Community Organizer. On display then and all month long at 470 Castro Street are the works of artist JOSE JOAQUIN FIGUEROA entitled LGBTQ RELATED DRAWINGS. Jose Joaquin Figueroa is an Oakland based artist born in Caracas, Venezuela.

Figueroa uses postmodern strategies to create artworks that “reflect on the fragility of fleeting moments, the complications of inter-layered identities, and the impossibility of a single perspective.” Figueroa has exhibited at Southern Exposure, Berkeley Art Museum, and Embark Gallery, all in the Bay Area; Museo de Arte Contemporaneo, Bogotá, Colombia; Longwood Arts Project in New York, among others. He attended Skowhegan School for Painting and Sculpture in 2009, received his B.F.A in arts from the Cooper Union in 2014 and his M.F.A. from U.C Berkeley in 2016. He is currently an Affiliate Artist at Headlands Center for the Arts. He draws imagining an “aerial and extracorporeal perspective that generates a vigilant record of his everyday environments.” He says his drawing practice is constantly evolving and incorporates the use of “text as a formal resource while following premises of ethnographic methodologies.” The resulting images are panoramic exposures developed on site and in public. The drawings are water colored with liquids that belong to the depicted environment such as water, coffee, wine, or others. There are almost 100 selections on various unframed paper pieces (some ripped from a three-ring binder with holes showing). There is something for anyone to relate to. For me, the ones that brought back memories were those depicting Burning Man, Faerie Village during Gay Pride Parade, street protests, trans rights demonstrations, drag shows, and especially memorable was the Castro Theatre John Waters appearance hosted by the late great DQ Cookie Dough. I have to give a shout-out to the jeans jacket I saw a guy wearing with its back emblazoned with big, red block letters as a homonym in a totally politically correct: “Know Fems! Know Fats!” I just gotta say, what a fashion statement, and props to that! strutsf.org I was delighted to attend—not as press or representing any organization, but as a longtime good friend of Mark Leno—at one of the many MARK LENO FOR MAYOR fundraisers, SHAKE UP CITY HALL! at Daddy’s Barbershop in the Castro.

My dear friend Donna Sachet was also there. We have loved this man way back in the day since he was a major shaker for a new, badly needed LGBTQ community center, and has been in politics going forward since the ‘80s. I love his progressive goals: changing the status quo of City Hall; going against Big Money buying democracy; establishing a mental health justice center; creating 50,000 units of affordable housing; stopping the epidemic of car break-ins; and defending San Francisco against Trump—the orange ogre oligarch that continually works his hateful agenda attacking people of color, women, immigrants, and LGBTQ San Franciscans. Oh yes, not to mention Mark becoming the first openly gay mayor of EssEff! sfethics.org, markleno.com Sister Dana sez, “Valentine’s Day is coming. Just why we care about Saint Valentine who in ancient days married hetero couples—and give candy and

flowers on this day—is crazy to me. But here are some heartfelt events coming up!”

You will love experiencing the true spirit of Mardi Gras with San Francisco’s KREWE de KINQUE Mardi Gras club! Our annual Bal Masque, with the theme “FLIGHT 420,” will be held at the spectacular Castro nightclub The Café (Market at Castro) on Saturday, February 10. Expect wild costumes, outrageous performances, regal Kings & Queens, and sexy shenanigans by the West Coast’s authentic LGBTQStr8 krewe! 6–9 pm ($20 advance/$25 door): Bal MASQUE XV is hosted

by KDK King XIV Barry Miles & KDK Queen XIV Lady Cuki Couture, featuring dancing with music by Sergio Fedasz(Go BANG!), costumed tableaux show, the crowning of KDK King & Queen XV, $5 Stoli drink special, $7 Hurricanes, exciting silent auction and raffle prizes, and no host full bar service. Also, professional staged Photos by Gooch! Free beads to VIPs from Queen VII Sister Dana.

There will be free admission to The Café’s night event, but you must stay in the venue after 9 pm. Proceeds benefit Larkin Street Youth Services. Since 1984, Larkin Street Youth Services has reached over 75,000 young people, ages 12 to 24, through a range of services including outreach, shelter, housing, health, wellness, education and employment. facebook.com/KDKinSF ART SAVES LIVES Castro gallery and performance space, curated by San Francisco local artist Thomasina De Maio, will hold the anticipated FEBRUARY RECEPTION on Friday the 9th of February, 6–8:30 pm at the 518 Castro Street gallery.

There will be a live show featuring

African-American performers, Alotta Boutee, Magnolia Black, Jack Noir, and Mojo Deville in honor of BLACK HISTORY MONTH— as well as dozens of pieces of art by such local artists as Wilfredo Santana, Bill Bowers, Keenan Faiz, Hank Strohbeck, Michael Staley, Jerry Frost, and Jack Stelnicki.

Free refreshments will be served.

What’s not to love?! Sister Dana has volunteered for Krewe de A new exhibition Kinque’s benefits for many years and we expect that will happen again this year on Saturday, February 10, at The Cafe when Bal Masque XV at GLBT HISbegins at 5 pm with a VIP Hosted Bar and Creole Buffet to be followed TORY MUSEat 6 pm by the Masked Ball. mardigrassf.bpt.me UM drawing on rare posters and ephemera will highlight the journey MON.” This will be their third benof black lesbian activist Angela Daefit show with touring casts from this vis: from radical scholar, to politiamazing show, and they have alcal prisoner, to revolutionary icon, to ways sold out and garnered rave republic intellectual. The Reception is views. This time out, cast members on Friday, February 9, 7 pm at 4127 will be performing songs “Off the 18th Street. Curated by collector Résumé”—songs they used to auLisbet Tellefsen and historian dition for their Broadway roles and Amy Sueyoshi, ANGELA DAVIS: got them where they are today. JoinOUTSPOKEN” considers some ing the cast of BOOK OF MORof the roles Davis has played in the MON for this special benefit cabaret American political imaginary and show will be cast members from Bay explores the complexity and impact Area Musicals’ “THE WEDDING of her life across nearly half a centuSINGER.” This will be an evening ry. glbthistory.org of heart-felt music and comedy. reaf-sf.org RICHMOND-ERMET AID FOUNDATION’s first “One Night Sister Dana sez, “That was not Only” benefit cabaret for 2018 will a State of the Union speech, but be on February 19, 7:30 pm at the rather a State of Onion, because Marines’ Memorial Theater feait made me cry for our counturing touring cast members from try as Trump peeled away noththe Tony Award-winning Broading but hype, hyperbole, and hypocrisy.” way show “THE BOOK OF MOR-

SENATE BILL 1 Offers Opportunities for California’s Small Businesses Senate Bill 1 (SB1) will provide $54 billion in transportation funding over the next 10 years for both state and local roads. This is an opportunity for small business participation on planning and public works projects with local and state transportation agencies.

Caltrans is hosting workshops throughout the state on “How to Do Business with Caltrans”, “Prime Contracting”, and “Subcontracting”.

As well as hosting Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) Certification workshops.

Roughly $5.4 billion will be allocated annually for projects on the State Highway System, Local Roadway repair, State Bridges and Culverts, Active Transportation, Trade Corridor Enhancements, Congested Corridors, Local Planning Grants, Matching Funds and Public Transit.

Small Business is Big Business for Caltrans Contracting.

Don’t miss your chance to learn of bidding and certification opportunities. For workshop information: www.dot.ca.gov/hq/bep/calendar2.htm For more information on SB1: rebuildingca.ca.gov S AN F R ANC IS C O BAY T IM ES

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PHOTO BY PAUL MARGOLIS

Sister Dana Sez: Words of Wisdumb from a Fun Nun

Round About - All Over Town Photos by Rink

Castro Village Wine Company on 19th Street

Now Voyager Travel Agency on 19th Street

Kenya Pfister, Char Dine, Landa Lakes and U-Phoria presented a performance at the Alexander Hamilton Post 448 Veterans and Native Two Spirits People Living Legacy Celebration.

Photographer Michael Addario displayed his artistic views of North Beach and the Golden Gate Bridge at Jane Warner Plaza.

Academy of Friends board chair Gil Padia welcomes a guest to the Academy of Friends Toast the Oscars party at Sui Generis.

PRC’s Cal Callahan, co-host Matthew Denckla and PRCs Gayle Roberts at the Academy of Friends Toast the Oscars party at Sui Generis.

Guests at the Academy of Friends party at Sui Generis.

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Guests at the Academy of Friends Toast the Oscars party at Sui Generis.

Swirl Wine Shop on Castro Street

At the Alexander Hamilton Post 448 Veterans and Native Two Spirits Peoples Living Legacy Celebration, artist and author Will Roscoe joined event coordinator Derek Smith holding the San Francisco Bay Times.

Take Me Home with You! Big Bubba

Good Vibrations on Polk Street

"Howdy, my name is Big Bubba! At over 100 pounds, I’ve got a lotta extra love to give! I might be big, but deep inside I still feel like a playful puppy. I love meeting new people, going on long walks, and playing fetch. My ideal home would be with someone who would give me lots of love ... and treats!”

PO Plus on Castro Street

Big Bubba is presented to San Francisco Bay Times readers by Dr. Jennifer Scarlett, the SF SPCA’s Co-President. Our thanks also go to Krista Maloney for helping to get the word out about lovable pets like Big Bubba.

To meet Big Bubba, as well as other pets seeking their forever homes, please visit: San Francisco SPCA Mission Campus 250 Florida Street San Francisco 94103 415-522-3500 Panelist Danny Kodmur, GLBTHS executive director Terry Beswick, moderator Lito Sandoval and panelists Tracy Garza, Tadhg Laakso, Laura Bock, Catherine Kudlick and Frank Lester at the Fight Back Series event at the GLBT History Museum.

Aside from major holidays, the adoption center is open Mon–Fri: 1–6 pm and Sat–Sun: 10 am–5 pm. Free parking is available for those wishing to adopt!

For more information: sfspca.org/adopt

Dr. Jennifer Scarlett and Pup

Fitness SF Trainer Tip of the Month Chris Bailey, Fitness SF Castro "You don't always need a ton of heavy weights to build and tone muscle. I love Single-Leg Lunges while using a Bosu-Ball. Simply bend the forward knee and bring your other knee close to the ground.

You will really feel this in your hamstrings and glutes!"

SF Sketch Randy Coleman Randy Coleman hails from New York, but has lived in San Francisco since 1975.

Coleman shares that before moving to the Bay Area, he studied Art History and Architecture at Boston University while working as a resident artist for architectural rendering at a Massachusetts historical society. “All of my life I’ve been an artist,” Coleman says. “To know me is to know that I have a passion for art and architecture. I love this project for the San Francisco Bay Times, and hope that you enjoy my sketches.”

Tore Kelly, Director of Creative & Social Media for Fitness SF, provides monthly tips that he has learned from professional trainers. For more information: fitnesssf.com

© Randy Coleman, 2018

As Heard on the Street . . . Who is your Valentine on February 14?

compiled by Rink

Miso Hornay

Justine Kessler

Koledon Lambright

Katie Rosenberger

Derek Smith

“Landa.”

“Jet.”

“Jack.”

“Marco.”

“Luke.”

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COMING UP

Compiled by Blake Dillon

CALENDAR OF UPCOMING EVENTS sfbaytimes.com

8 : Thursday Ginger Nation SF IndieFest Screening @ Roxie Theatre, 3117 16th Street. The West Coast premiere of comic Shawn Hitchin’s award-winning comedy presenting bizarre tales from his adolescence and his experience as a sperm donor to his lesbian friends. 9:15pm. sfindie.com Megabytes! The Musical @ Shelton Theater, 533 Sutter Street. A world premiere musical comedy revue by Morris Bobrow on the frustrations, annoyances and occasional joys of tech. 8pm, through March 3. goldstar.com 20th SF Independent Film Festival @ Roxie Theater, Victoria Theater and 518 Gallery. SF IndieFest celebrates two decades of presenting independent films and digital programs from around the world. Continues through February 15. sfindie.com Diane Amos and Friends @ Black History Month Comedy Night, Ashkenaz Music & Dance Community Center, 1317 San Pablo Avenue, Berkeley. Known as The Pine Sol Lady for having starred in their commercials for more than 20 years, Amos, the daughter of a pair of lesbian mothers, will be joined

by Donald Lacy, Tim Jackson,Valerie Vernale, and Lisa Geduldig. 8pm. ashkenaz.com

9 : Friday MECCA 2.0 Women’s Happy Hour @ Beaux, 2344 Market Street. The monthly networking happy hour for women continues.

6-9:30pm.

MECCA 2.0 on Facebook.

OUTspoken Angela Davis Exhibit Opening @ GLBT History Museum, 4127 18th Street. The new exhibit includes rare posters and ephemera tracing the turbulent history of activist and radical thinker Angela Davis. 7-9pm. glbthistory.org 2nd Friday Contra Dance @ First Unitarian Church, 685 14th Street, Oakland. A Circle Left dance featuring The Whoots with Kelsey Hartman. 11pm-2am. lcfd.org/sf/calendar.html

10 : Saturday Cris Williamson - Love Is Love: The Valentine Show @ Freight & Salvage, 2020 Addison Street, Berkeley. Legendary singer/ songwriter Cris Williamson and a band of friends will present an evening of songs of the familiar, then,

now and forever. Valentine’s Day at The Freight will include champagne specials and Valentine’s treats. 8pm. thefreight.org Grace and Laurie Lynn’s Big Gay Valentine’s Dance @ Vintners Inn and John Ash & Co., 4350 Barnes Road, Santa Rosa. A women’s LGBTQI+ dance for all in our community. 7:30-11:30pm. biggayadventures.bpt.me MAX SF Day Trip to Sacramento @ Via Amtrack #720 departing from Emeryville and other locations. This fun outing, led by docent Ken Dixon, includes a visit to the California State Railroad Museum and lunch in Old Sacramento.

Check schedules for location departure times.

E-mail Ken: svnupsf@gmail.com Queer Sonoma Second Saturday @ Penngrove, California. Wear your western attire for this month’s queer takeover of a “straight” bar where the mission is building rural queer community, increasing visibility, creating fun and safe nightlife. 8pm12am. Check Queer Sonoma on Facebook for details.

Oakland Dragtacular Valentine Bash @ Oakland LGBTQ Community Center, 3207 Lakeshore Avenue. Hosted by Cruzin D’Lo, the party includes drag performances, raffles and contests with a host of entertainers. 8pm. oaklandlgbtqcenter.org Valentines Play on the Bay! @ Departing from Jack London Square. DJ Rockaway will present a floating dance party for women who love to dance. 9pm-12am.

DJ Rockaway on Facebook The Ultimate Whitney Houston Tribute and Valentine’s Day Bash @ Club BNB Nightclub, 2020 Broadway, Oakland.Valentino presents a special hip hop bash and tribute to everything Whitney Houston, including poster giveaways, tribute CDs plus a show with Cemora Valentino-Devine and more. bench-and-bar.com

11 : Sunday Randall Museum’s Grand Reopening @ Randall Museum, 199 Museum Way. Following a $9 million renovation, the Museum, long noted as an LGBT family friendly space, will host a ribbon cutting followed by free entertainment and kids activities. 10am-3pm. randallmuseum.org Sunday’s A Drag @ The Starlight Room, Powell Street. Hosted by Donna Sachet, the event features 28

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a brunch and a troupe of entertainers. It is described as “The Greatest Drag Show in San Francisco,” and we agree that it is great! Two shows every Sunday at 11am and 2pm. starlightroomsf.com MAX SF Party @ Finn Town, 2251 Market STreet. MAX SF’s second Sunday event for men 40+ returns anew with this event, limited to 100 attendees, to introduce plans for trips, partnerships, gatherings and more. 3-6pm. masxf.org Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir with Special Guest Linda Tillery @ Freight & Salvage, 2020 Addison Street, Berkeley. Under the direction of Emmy winner Terrance Kelly, the Choir presents its 4th Annual Black History Month Celebration with LGBT community icon Linda Tillery as their special guest. 8pm. thefreight.org

12 : Monday Love Biteth: LGCSF’s 15th Annual Anti-Valentine’s Cabaret @ Martuni’s, 4 Valencia Street. The Lesbian/Gay Chorus of San Francisco will present a show, not strictly Shakespearean, inspired

by A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

7-9pm. lgcsf.org Trans Voices! @ Strut, 470 Castro. This event in the series, featuring genderqueer artists of all levels from beginners to professionals, features Star Ah Mer Ah Su, Kay Nilsson and more. 8-10pm. strutsf.org

13 : Tuesday Harriet Tubman: A Forgotten Legacy and a Forgotten History @ SF Public Library, Latino/Hispanic Community Room, 100 Larkin Street. Dr. Tarik Farrar of City College’s African American Studies Department will present a lecture on the often forgotten contributions of Harriet Tubman. 6-7:30pm. sfpl.org GGBA February Make Contact @ Spark Arts, 4229 18th Street. The long-standing business networking event will be Valentine’sthemed, with appetizers and drinks provided. Make new social and business contacts while viewing inspiring art. 6pm–8pm. ggba.com The Perfectly Queer Reading Series @ Dog Eared Books, 489 Castro Street. Featured authors for February include Meg Elison (The Book of the Unnamed Midwife), Monica Noland (Maxie Mainwaring, Lesbian Dilettante & Dolly Dingle, Lesbian Landlady) and Anna Pulley (The Lesbian Sex Haiku Book with Cats!). 7pm. dogearredbooks.com Carnaval SF 40th Anniversary Mardi Gras Fat Tuesday Party @ El Rio, 3158 Mission Street. Wear costumes, masks and beads and join the celebration at seventeen venues in the

Mission District including El Rio with live samba drummers, dancers and lively music from salsa and soca to cumbia and rumba. 6-8pm. elriosf.com

14 : Wednesday SF Valentine’s Day Pillow Fight! @ The Embarcadero in front of The Ferry Building. The annual pillow fight where you can take your anger out on love or just find someone to beat with your pillow.

5-8pm. urbandiversion.com Aphrodisiacs of the Tropics @ San Francisco Conservatory of Flowers, 100 JF Kennedy Drive.

Indulge your senses with a trip to the rainforest and enjoy sensuallyinspired experiences taking place throughout the Conservatory galleries. 5:30-9:30pm conservatoryofflowers.org LGBT Book Club @ Dog Eared Books, 489 Castro Street. The club will discuss Jack and Lem: John F. Kennedy and Lem Billings: The Untold Story of an Extraordinary Friendship. 7pm. dogearedbooks.com Joyce Carol Oates @ City Lights Bookstore, 261 Columbus Avenue. The author will read from her new book of short fiction entitled Beautiful Days. 7pm. citylights.com Anti-Valentine’s Day 80s Power Ballad Sing-A-Long @ Roxie Theater 3117 16th Street.

For those who can’t stand Valentine’s Day, you can sing, hold lighters in the air and sway to the music of Journey, Guns ’n Roses, Bon Jovi, Warrant and many more. 9:15pm. roxie.com Tapata Trivia Round UP! @ Wild Side West, 424 Courtland Avenue. Kit Tapata hosts the weeklyon-Wednesdays trivia competition mixed with music and live improv at the popular Bernal Heights location.

7–9pm. tapatatwins.com

15 : Thursday SF Beer Week NightLife @ California Academy of Sciences, Golden Gate Park, 55 Music Concourse Drive. This will be a frothfilled evening of brews, featuring dozens of local breweries with music by Sweater Funk DJs. 6pm. calacademy.org We’wha: The Life & Times of a Traditional Zuni Two-Spirit @ GLBT History Museum, 4127 18th Street. The presentation will focus on the famed Zuni Two-Spirit who led a tribe in ceremonial activities. We’wha (1849–1896) was a male-bodied individual who lived, in part, as a woman. 7-9pm. glbthistory.org Sundance Saloon @ 550 Barneveld Avenue. Country-western dancing for the LGBT community and friends (21+) every Thursday.

5-10:30pm. sundancesaloon.org

16 : Friday Smuin 2018 Choreography Showcase @ Cowell Theater, Fort Mason Center for the Arts & Culture, 2 Marina Blvd. The event includes new works and a variety of genres, showcasing the skills of its talented and athletic dancers.

An intimate Q&A with dancers and choreographers will follow the performance. 7:30pm. Happens again on Saturday, February 17 at 2:00pm. smuinballet.org

The Waiting Period @ The Marsh San Francisco, 1062 Valencia Street.

Brian Copeland’s award-winning work addressing his struggles with depression and suicidal thoughts.

5:30pm Sundays through March 4. themarsh.org

Picture and Best Actor (2:30pm and 7pm) and Dunkirk, nominated for eight awards, including Best Picture and Best Director (4:50pm and 9:20pm). castrotheatre.org

19 : Monday

Question Bridge: Black Males @ Oakland Museum of California, 1000 Oak Street, Oakland. A selection of videos featuring more than 160 black men from across the U.S., answering each other’s questions on family, love, interracial relationships, community, education and wisdom. Wednesdays through Sundays through February 25. museumca.org

40 Plus Men’s Group @ Oakland LGBTQ Community Center, 3207 Lakeshore Avenue, Oakland.

A new monthly (1st Monday) multiMary Wilson @ Feinstein’s at the ethnic support group for men 40 Nikko, 222 Mason Street. Wilson is and over. 7–8:30pm. a founding member of The Supremes oaklandlgbtqcenter.org and she will be in San Francisco for Munros Weekly Drag Show two shows (also February 10). 8pm. Launch @ Midnight Sun, 4067 18th feinsteinsatthenikko.com Street. A new drag event billed as a A Shirley Chisholm Story: Unbought & Unbossed, The Stage Play @ Birel L. Vaughn Theater, 3201 Adeline Street, Berkeley. BRG Mainstage Productions presents a retrospective journey into the life of Shirley Chisholm leading up the the presidential campaign of the first African American woman to win the Democratic Party’s nomination. 8pm. Continues through February 25. blackrepertorygroup.com Friday Music Video Party Night @ White Horse Bar, 6551 Telegraph Avenue, Oakland. A video music party every Friday night at the historic White Horse in Oakland.

9pm–2am. whitehorsebar.com UHAUL SF + Hot Toddy @ Club F8, 1192 Folsom. A joint party for girls who love girls, with UHAUL SF and Hot Toddy. 10pm-2am.

UHAUL SF on Facebook

17 : Saturday Not My President’s Day Evening of Comedy @ Brava Theater Center, 2781 24th Street. Brava presents an evening of stand-up comedy featuring a lineup of brown, queer and Muslim comics including Chris Garcia, Francesca Fiorentini, Karinda Dobbins, Johan Miranda, Dhaya Lakshminarayanan and Zahra Noorbaksh. 8-10pm. bravaorg

drag show RDR AS3 Ru-view. 9pm– 2am. midnightsunsf.com

20 : Tuesday Queer Youth Meal Night @ SF LGBT Center, 1800 Market Street.

For LGBTQ youth 18–24, the event provides networking with community service providers from LYRIC, Larkin Street, HRTC and Street Soccer USA plus drop-in mental health services. 5pm on Tuesdays. sfcenter.org Queer and Trans Open Mic @ Oakland LGBTQ Community Center, 3207 Lakeshore Avenue, Oakland. Presented by Spectrum Queer Media and hosted by Kin Folkz and Blackberri, the event provides a safe, alcohol and scent free space for transformative collective self-care with the LGBTQIA2S and Authentic Ally community. 7pm on Tuesdays. oaklandlgbtqcenter.org Oscar Nominated Double Feature: Darkest Hour and Dunkirk @ Castro Theatre, 429 Castro Street. Darkest Hour, nominated for six awards including Best

21 : Wednesday

LGBTQ+ People of Color Yoga @ Oakland LGBT Community Center, 3207 Lakeshore Avenue, Oakland. The event is held every 1st and 3rd Wednesday each month.

6:30pm. oaklandlgbtqcenter.org

22 : Thursday NightlLife Spotlight @ California Academy of Sciences, Golden Gate Park, 55 Music Concourse Drive. A celebration of the beauty and wonder of coral reefs with music by DJ Proof with samples of Filipino cuisine and Lambanog, a coconutbased alcoholic speciality. 6pm. calacademy.org A Queer Love Story: Jane Rule & Rick Bébout @ GLBT History Museum, 4127 18th Street. Author Marilyn Schuster will discuss her new book on the correspondence of lesbian novelist Jane Rule and gay journalist and AIDS activist Rick Bébout. 7-9pm. glbthistory.org RuPaul’s Drag Race Showing @ Oakland LGBTQ Community Center, 3207 Lakeshore Avenue, Oakland. Held every Thursday.

8-10:30pm. oaklandlgbtqcenter.org

The Roast of Heklina @ Castro Theatre, 429 Castro Street.

Roast mistress Jackie Beat will be joined by Peaches Christ, Sister Roma, Katya, Ana Matronic and more for the roasting of “the meanest and most outrageous drag queen of them all.” 7-11pm. castrotheatre.com OutWest LGBTQs Country Western Dance & Social @ Wischemann Hall, 465 Morris Street, Sebastopol. The alcohol-free and fragrance-free dance includes 2 step, east & west coast swing, waltz, nightclub 2 step & line dancing.

6:30pm-10pm. outwestdance.com Country Nights Women’s Partner Dancing @ Lake Merritt Dance Center, 1st Floor Lounge, 200 Grand Avenue, Oakland. First Saturdays Women’s partner dancing and lessons. 7pm on First Saturdays.

Lesson; 8pm Dancing. countrynightsdance.com

18 : Sunday Earthquake Party @ Aunt Charlie’s Lounge, 133 Turk Street.

Empress Renita Valdez, Emperor A.N. Stephen Dorsey and Empress Tiger Lily will emcee the benefit party with a raffle, show and surprises.

4-7pm. imperialcouncilsf.org Belle Bottoms Presents Valentines @ Martuni’s, 4 Valencia Street. A Valentine’s show for all, even the sad, the lonely and those overthrowing the patriarchy.

7–8:30pm. missbellbotoms.com S AN F R ANC IS C O BAY T IM ES

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NEWS (continued from page 6) Tree Dedication Held at Pink Triangle Park Pink Triangle Park + Memorial invited the public to attend a special re-placing tree dedication for International Holocaust Remembrance Day on January 27 at noon. The Pink Triangle Park at 2454 Market Street is the first permanent, free-standing memorial in the U.S. dedicated to the persecuted and murdered homosexuals during the Nazi era. The park and monument were conceived and built by the Eureka Valley Neighborhood Association, a neighborhood association for the Castro, Upper Market and Duboce Triangle areas. The park continues to evolve as a living human rights memorial with the dedication from local residents and businesses, school kids, tourists and visitors, along with the generous support from private and public donors. pinktrianglepark.org Senator Wiener Adjourns California State Senate in Memory of Cannabis Activist Dennis Peron Senator Scott Wiener ( D - San Francisco) adjourned the California State Senate in memory of cannabis activist Dennis Peron (April

KAPLAN (continued from page 7) 8, 1945–January 27, 2018). Wiener honored Peron for his leadership in the cannabis legalization movement, particularly for how he dedicated himself to helping people living with HIV. “Dennis Peron was a hero,” said Wiener. “He fought for the health needs of people living with HIV during a very dark period—when our federal government not only abandoned us but was hostile toward us. Dennis was willing to put his own freedom on the line to help people access medical cannabis. Dennis will go down in history for his work, and we all mourn his passing.” (For Rink’s photo tribute to Peron, see page 18.) sen.ca.gov GLAAD Study Finds Less Than Half of Americans Now Accept LGBT People For the f irst time in four years, Americans are less accepting of LGBTQ people in a dangerous, yet not entirely unexpected, reversal of progress. GLAAD recently released the findings from its fourth annual Accelerating Acceptance report, showing that the attacks on the community by the Trump administration are having a real effect. While the past several decades have yielded remarkable progress

for the LGBTQ community in the United States, acceptance of LGBTQ people is slipping, and discrimination is increasing, in the face of attacks, bias, and erasure by the Trump administration. This is the first time the Accelerating Acceptance report has shown a drop in acceptance for LGBTQ people. 2017 has demonstrated that the path to full equality and acceptance is not guaranteed, but in the face of this erosion, GLAAD says it will work to ensure 100% acceptance of LGBTQ people everywhere. glaad.org Randall Museum to Reopen on February 11 The Randall Museum at 199 Museum Way in San Francisco’s Corona Heights Park will be reopening on February 11, following extensive renovations. The museum, popular with LGBT families due to its proximity to the Castro and HaightAshbury districts, focuses on science, nature and the arts. The new museum will feature improved accessibility, a STEM lab, expanded exhibits and more. Corona Heights Park also features fantastic views of the Bay Area skyline and a popular Dog Play Area. randallmuseum.org/

as a “maintenance of effort” provision, in the upcoming Measure, to make sure that funds are used for the intended purpose, rather than to replace cuts from elsewhere. Our public and community advocates have asked for these protections, and voters should have a right to know that money they vote for will be used as intended.

Councilmember At-Large Rebecca Kaplan was elected in 2008 to serve as Oakland’s citywide Councilmember; she was re-elected in 2016. She also serves on the Board of the Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD), and as the Chair of the Alameda County Transportation Commission (ACTC).

ROSTOW (continued from page 19) not a business owner can ignore civil rights law where gays are concerned.

The answer to that question will illuminate our near-term future.

What Happens in Bakersf ield Stays in Bakersfield Speaking of whether or not someone can ignore public accommodation protections, you may have noticed an ominous decision out of superior court in Bakersfield, where a judge ruled that it was just fine and dandy for a Christian baker to give the back of her hand to two lesbians who were shopping for a wedding cake.

In this case, the court ducked any question of religious freedom, ruling instead that Cathy Miller of Tastries Bakery had every right to decline the business because designing a wedding cake is a form of speech, protected by the First Amendment. You may remember this line of thinking from the Masterpiece Cakeshop case, which is mainly grounded—not on religion— but on freedom of speech.

Judge David Lampe based his decision on the fact that Cathy Miller was not asked to pull a cake off the rack, but she was asked to design a special cake, based on the examples she had on display. (In the Masterpiece case, by contrast, baker Jack Philips declined to work with two gay men before the details of a cake were even discussed.)

Second, Miller apparently had some kind of deal going with another baker, explaining to the court that she had an arrangement to send gay clients over to her tolerant competitor. You know, dear readers, we don’t have to be lawyers to recognize that you cannot avoid anti-discrimination law by agreeing in advance to send your inferior Black customers across the street to that nice lady who believes everyone is equal. Nonetheless, Judge Lampe seemed to think Ms. Miller’s solution was more than adequate to atone for any hurt feelings that might have resulted from her antipathy towards same-sex unions.

Most importantly, Judge Lampe made an assumption that baking a cake is a form of speech without producing any explanation for this flawed conclusion.

As we’ve pointed out in discussing Masterpiece Cakeshop, if baking a cake is speech, then so is preparing food for the buffet and arranging f lowers

for the wedding reception. And as for forced participation in a gay wedding, isn’t the guy who sets up the chairs being forced into an unwelcome show of support for gay unions? Why should the antigay taxi driver have to take the guests to the door? And what if it’s not gay weddings you object to as a business owner, but interracial weddings or women drivers? You get the picture, and we hope at least five members of the Supreme Court see it as well.

Rankin Agonistes As far as I know, the governor of Bermuda has not yet signed the nefarious bill that revokes the court-ordered right to marry for gay couples and replaces it with domestic partnerships.

It’s not even clear that Governor John Rankin has the power to veto the legislation, although there’s a lot of support for anything that might preempt the tourism-killing provision. Meanwhile, British lawmakers are wringing their hands over the bad publicity, but there’s nothing they can do. Yes, Bermuda is a British Overseas Territory.

But long gone are the days when the U.K. will stick its nose into the political affairs of its satellites.

I’m not sure why I’m focusing on Bermuda, when there is marriage news all over the world that I choose to ignore.

I think it’s because I can’t possibly cover all the news from Panama and Costa Rica and El Salvador and Indonesia and Russia. But I can stretch out my arms figuratively and embrace that lonely little British island just sitting there in the middle of the Atlantic with its pink stucco cabanas and tiny motorbikes and perfect beaches. Why, Bermuda? Tell us why?

By the way, some rubber stampers in Russia accidentally ratified a same-sex marriage contracted by two gay Russian men in Denmark when they returned to Mother Russia with revised paperwork in hand. Don’t ask me what exactly happened, but it was enough to generate several days of faux headlines about how Russia had recognized a gay marriage. Not only was that not the case, but the official involved in the incident was f ired and the two men snuck back out of the homophobic country with no plans to return. arostow@aol.com

STUDENT VOICES (continued from page 24) the groups that have been left out of the master narrative taught in these classes.

KIT’N KITTY’S

QUEER POP QUIZ ANSWER (Question on pg 21) C) Adam Rippon Adam Rippon gets the gold for this one, as he qualified before Kenworthy, both of whom are competing in the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. Louganis and Weir both did not publicly come out prior to their competing.

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The only way I was able to learn about my own history was through the lyrics of old folk songs and stories that have been passed down many generations.

There were a few sentences in my seventh-grade history book about the Potato Famine in Ireland. It was framed as though the Irish were just a group of helpless farmers when, in fact, the English laid out the farmland in such a way that it caused the fungus on the potatoes to spread much more quickly.

Native Americans receive a few sentences as well, and then just disappear after the Trail of Tears, when in actuality there were hundreds of tribes in North America, each with their unique culture and customs. When

they are mentioned, it is usually in regard to their violent nature and how they attacked settlers.

The stories of LGBTQ people usually receive no mention at all. Students who are part of these communities therefore have nothing to relate to, and become disconnected from their culture. My connection to my family’s history is mostly stories about my ancestors’ experiences, and things that I have had to figure out on my own, from learning how to play the songs that they might have heard.

Students will actually want to learn history if those that they are learning about look like them.

For more information about the Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of the Arts, please visit sfsota.org/

Professional Services

PHOTO BY SANDY MORRIS

N ewPer spec ti ves Center for Counseling

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