San Francisco Bay Times - September 7, 2017

September 7 - 20, 2017 | sfbaytimes.com

Oakland Pride Festival See page 9

A Look Inside Oakland’s New LGBTQ Community Center SEE PAGES 10–11 Founders Jeff Myers and Joe Hawkins

PHOTO COURTESY OF OAKLAND LGBTQ CENTER

Oakland LGBTQ Center Volunteers

In the News Compiled by Dennis McMillan Local LGBT Organizations React to Trump Rescinding DACA Attorney General Jeff Sessions on September 5 announced that the Trump administration has rescinded the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. Congress was urged to replace it before March 5, 2018. Numerous Bay Area LGBT organizations, such as the SF LGBT Center, issued statements in response.

Roberto Isaac Ordeñana, Interim Executive Director/Director of Development and Marketing of the Center, said: “Today Donald J. Trump continued his immoral and cowardly attacks on the most vulnerable members of our communities. By rescinding DACA, Mr. Trump has put the futures of 800,000 young people who are achieving the American Dream at risk. His callous action today demonstrates his lack of leadership and continues his pandering to intolerant and hateful factions of the conservative movement. The SF LGBT Center will continue to work with national and local partners to ensure that all immigrants have access to all available resources by providing information, connecting them to legal aid, and supporting local and national legislative action to protect them.”

Bay Area lawmakers and CEOs also blasted the announced decision to end DACA. San Francisco 49ers Hire First Openly LGBT Coach in the NFL Full-time assistant coach Katie Sowers of the 49ers is not only the first full-time female coach ever hired by the team, but she is also the first openly LGBT coach in the entire NFL. Additionally, she is just the second woman hired by an NFL team as a

full-time coach. “No matter what you do in life, one of the most important things is to be true to who you are,” Sowers, openly lesbian, told Outsports when asked why she is discussing her sexual orientation publicly for the first time. “There are so many people who identify as LGBT in the NFL, as in any business, that do not feel comfortable being public about their sexual orientation. The more we can create an environment that welcomes all types of people, no matter their race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, the more we can help ease the pain and burden that many carry every day.”

LGBT Senior Bill of Rights Heads to Assembly for Final Vote Senate Bill 219 by Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), which creates an LGBT Senior Bill of Rights for seniors living in long-term care facilities, is awaiting a final vote on the Assembly floor. That could happen as early as this week. Last Friday, SB 219 was approved by the Assembly Appropriations committee. According to Senator Wiener and other supporters of the bill, SB 219 protects LGBT seniors from discrimination in longterm care facilities, such as a facility refusing to use a resident’s preferred name or pronoun, denying admission to a long-term care facility, transferring a resident within a facility or to another facility based on anti-LGBT attitudes of other residents, or evicting or involuntarily discharging a resident from a facility, on the basis of a person’s actual or perceived sexu-

al orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, or HIV status.

In addition, the bill requires that all long-term care facilities post a notice regarding this form of discrimination where its current non-discrimination policy is posted.

Bill That Would Extend Alcohol Service Hours Gutted in Appropriations Committee Another bill by Senator Wiener, Senate Bill 384, which would allow local communities to choose to extend alcohol service hours to 4 am, was gutted in the Assembly Appropriations Committee and replaced with language to create a task force to study the issue. “There’s no need to study anything. There’s nothing radical about letting local communities decide for themselves whether to let their bars and nightclubs go later,” said Senator Wiener in response. “It’s embarrassing that California shuts down its nightlife so early. We’re not going to give up. Nightlife matters to our economy and culture, and California’s one-size-fits-all approach to closing time needs to be reformed.”

Several Restaurants Close in the Castro In recent weeks, at least four restaurants have closed in the Castro: Zapata Mexican Grill, Mekong Kitchen, House of Chen and Café UB. Castro Merchants President Daniel Bergerac wrote, “There were various personal and business reasons for each closure, but we will miss them all.” Takeout from the House of Chen fueled many a late-night work session for the Bay Times team. (Their Sesame Chicken was fantastic!) The owners wrote that they are retiring, and we wish them well. On the upside, hopes are high for the former Patio Café space at 531 Castro Street, as previously reported.

Larry Metzger is working with Les Natali on the new Hamburger Mary’s there. Deccan Spice at 468 Castro and a German-themed spot at 17th and Church are also moving forward.

Castro Smash-and-Grab Crimes Spike Take care if you park in the Castro, as members of our team have been victims of multiple smash-and-grab crimes, as well as other damage to vehicles. In a single month, one member of our team had two car breakins that, due to extensive damage to the vehicle, cost thousands to repair.

Such crimes have also increased in other parts of San Francisco, leading SFPD to increase police officers walking neighborhoods. Previously, a citywide task force was supposed to curb the problem, but that group has since been disbanded. Please not only watch out for your own vehicles, but also those of your friends and neighbors, by reporting any observed break-ins. sfgate.com Alegre Home Care Returns to the Castro Alegre Home Care, an in-home care company, will open at 2253 Market Street and 16th by the third week of September. The business, which has caregivers who provide a range of inhome services—such as light housekeeping, meal preparation and companionship—has the goal of helping seniors and disabled individuals to stay independent. If Alegre Home Care sounds familiar, it is because the business used to be in the medical building at 18th and Collingwood Streets about a decade ago. hoodline.com Three Former Military Secretaries Are Helping the

Suit Against Trump’s Military Ban Recently we reported that the National Center for Lesbian Rights and GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders filed a lawsuit challenging President Trump’s directive to reinstate the ban on transgenders in military service. Now former Army secretary Eric Fanning, former Navy secretary Raymond Mabus, Jr., and former Air Force secretary Deborah Lee James have filed declarations in this lawsuit to support transgender service members. Fanning was the first openly gay secretary of a service branch. Lambda Legal and the ACLU have also filed lawsuits against the ban. lgbtqnation.com City’s 5th Navigation Center Opens at SF General The Hummingbird Psychiatric Respite Navigation Center has just opened at San Francisco General Hospital, offering help to those suffering from mental illness and drug addiction. This center is the f irst dedicated to helping this particular segment of the homeless population.

“As we’ve been able to expand Navigation Centers in the city, we’ve been able to articulate different needs that our system has, and this is clearly an important gap to be filled in our system, one around behavioral health and providing care to people in that kind of crisis,” Sam Dodge, a deputy director at the city’s homelessness department, told the SF Chronicle.

There are four overnight beds at present for eligible adults who can be referred from city health agencies and the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing. Another 11 beds will become available in December.

It remains unclear if the new center will help to ease those at the growing homeless encampment in the Castro.

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San Francisco Bay Times Welcomes Three New Columnists!

This issue marks the debut of three new columnists for the San Francisco Bay Times: Louise “Lou” Fischer, Karin Jaffie and Tom Temprano.

We have admired all three for quite a while, and are honored to have them on the Bay Times team.

Lou is a San Francisco Commissioner, the Co-Chair of the Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club and an elected Assembly Delegate for the Democratic State Central Committee of the California Democratic Party.

Former Harvey Milk Club President and LGBT activist Tom Temprano is a Board Trustee at City College of San Francisco. He is also a talented DJ and the owner of Virgil’s Sea Room in San Francisco.

Side West on Wednesday nights with a popular trivia contest and comedy show. While nothing equals going to that weekly event in person, you will get to test your LGBT trivia skills with Jaffie/Tapata’s new column.

Graphic designer Karin Jaffie creates many of the beautiful posters, flyers, logos and more for various LGBT organizations and other clients. She is also an award-winning drag artist whom you might know as Kit Tapata (and Kitty Tapata too). Tapata holds court at lesbian-owned Wild

A few issues back, we also welcomed new columnist Andrea Shorter, who is President of the San Francisco Commission on the Status of Women. We are growing and glowing with pride over these and all of our columnists, photographers and designers— both new and longstanding.

Alice and Milk LGBT Democratic Clubs—More Similar Than Different

Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History Louise “Lou” Fischer Welcome to my debut column in the San Francisco Bay Times. I look forward to the opportunity to amuse and educate, as well as to engage with readers on issues that impact the LGBT community. As a veteran of both the women’s and LGBT liberation movements, and now a member of the Resistance movement, I follow the principles of author Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, who wrote the book Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History. (Yes, it was a book, and not just a bumper sticker!) I hope to encourage you to get active, resist the current Republican administration, and as Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi says, “Don’t agonize, organize!”

For my maiden voyage, I will address the questions that I hear most often as Co-Chair of the Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic club: Why are there two LGBT Democratic clubs in San Francisco?

In 1976, Harvey Milk and his supporters started their own club, presumably because they felt that Alice was not a good fit for their political

ideology. I was not at that meeting in 1976; I was an awkward 14-year-old in Connecticut collecting bicentennial quarters. I have personally experienced fractured organizations, however, and based on the countless public meetings I’ve attended over the years, I’m guessing it involved raised voices, door-slamming and some heated dialogue. It would have been a great scene in ABC’s recent production of When We Rise; too bad it wasn’t included. As it turns out, the existence of two LGBT clubs in San Francisco strengthens and increases Democratic engagement. While many of us are “homo-sexual,” we’re hardly “homo-genous,” so having two strong clubs provides options for the veritable rainbow of diverse views and ideas within our community.

What is the difference between the two clubs?

Initially, Alice was considered more “moderate” while Milk was strongly rooted in the “progressive-left” territory. At times, Alice moves more to the left on specific issues and Milk comes more to the center. In most elections, the clubs are usually closely aligned on state and local initiatives.

In the November 2016 election, the embarrassingly long ballot contained 17 state ballot measures and 25 local initiatives. For state and local initiatives, Alice and Milk matched on 71% of the propositions on which they took positions. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, there were a few candidate races with drama so intense that the clubs could have raised money by live-streaming the action on “payper-view.” But, in general, club members are respectful of the differences in candidate choices and treat each other with grace and civility.

Which club should I join?

If you really want to support LGBT Democratic clubs, join both. Go to membership meetings and determine

which club is a better fit. You might surprise yourself and find an unexpected home. I voted the Milk slate in the 1990s, but as I became more politically active, I met more Alice members and was recruited to join the Alice Board. After serving 2 years each as Co-Chair of the Field, Finance, and PAC committees, I’m now CoChair of the club.

Do the members of the clubs get along?

Yes, there is much crossover socially and politically, and a few relationships have fallen into “James Carville/Mary Matalin territory.” Alice and Milk co-sponsor events and deliver joint statements on issues of concern to the LGBT community. This year, the co-chairs/co-presidents of both clubs committed to work together as a united front against the unrelenting horror show of the Republican administration.

Alice and Milk will always be different clubs with distinct personalities and philosophies, but both clubs are committed to Democratic values and fighting for our community, both locally and nationally. Together, we stand united against any assault on LGBT rights, attacks on civil liberties, exploitation of transphobia and the embrace of religious exemptions to condone LGBT discrimination.

Our unity is more important than our differences. Come and join us—you have two clubs from which to choose!

Louise “Lou” Fischer is the CoChair of the Board of Directors for the Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club and has served as an appointed and elected Delegate for the State Democratic Party. She is a San Francisco Commissioner and has served in leadership positions in multiple non-profit and community-based organizations.

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“Windows For Harvey” by Danyol Leon Artist Danyol Leon’s art project entitled Windows for Harvey was featured on the cover of the August 10 issue of San Francisco Bay Times. We asked Leon to tell us about his project which is on display at Openhouse’s 55 Laguna location.

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City College Update, Board of Education LGBT Candidates, Hope for Tenderloin’s Gangway The next election for the San Francisco Board of Education may be over a year away, but that hasn’t slowed down rumors that lots of LGBT candidates could be in the running. Prior to current commissioner Mark Sanchez’s victory last November, San Francisco hadn’t had any out representation on our school board in nearly eight years … and that last commissioner was Mark Sanchez during his first tenure on the board.

Tom Temprano Hello, San Francisco Bay Times readers! It’s an honor to be welcomed into your day as you flip through the pages, sit at your desk or thumb through this column on your phone. I’m excited to follow in the footsteps of my City College Board colleagues Rafael Mandelman and Alex Randolph, and come to you each month in a Bay Times column with my thoughts on politics, community news and maybe even a little pop culture just for fun.

City College Is Back and So Are Our Students There’s plenty to be excited about at City College as the 2017–2018 school year gets underway. Thanks to the voters of San Francisco, this fall is the first semester of the Free City College program. When Prop W passed last November, many of us hoped that the promise of free tuition would help to turn around the college’s downward enrollment spiral.

Turns out, we were right! After years of declining enrollment, City College is back, and so are our students!

Nearly 43,000 students have enrolled in classes this fall, 5,000 more than we had this time last year. I can’t tell you the number of students I’ve had come up to me and let me know that Free City was the inspiration that they needed to come back to school after a long break.

New LGBT Leadership on the Board of Education?

It looks like he could have some company come 2018, as the list of potential LGBT candidates like trans activist Mia Satya, Cal student leader Paul Monge, UCSF employee Martin Rawlings-Fein, and 2016 school board candidate Phil Kim grows longer and longer every day.

Another Day for the Gangway?

These days, it seems like we hear about a legacy gay bar closing nearly every other month. The latest casualty appeared to be the Tenderloin’s Gangway, but I hear there might be good news for the bar yet. The team that saved the Stud from closure last year, and turned it into the country’s first worker-owned night club, has been meeting with Gangway owners and city officials to move a plan forward to save San Francisco’s oldest gay bar.

Historic Preservationist Nate Allbee and activist/performer Honey Mahogany are working on the project. Hopefully they will be able to save this important historic bar too.

Cheers to that!

Tom Temprano was elected to the City College of San Francisco Board of Trustees in 2016, making him the city’s youngest elected official.

He also owns Virgil’s Sea Room, a small business in the Mission District, and is a member of the San Francisco LGBT Community Center Board of Directors. Follow him on social media at twitter.com/ tomtemprano & facebook.com/ tomtempranoSF

LGBT Good Vibes Evident at Berkeley Chocolate & Chalk Art Festival

PHOTOS BY JENNIFER L. VIEGAS

From rainbows to the transgender flag, creations at the Berkeley Chocolate & Chalk Art Festival, held on Sunday, August 27, often conveyed peaceful messages of social justice and diversity, as well as showcasing fine art. The works could be seen for days along the sidewalks of Shattuck Avenue in the Gourmet Ghetto in North Berkeley, and up a bit on nearby Vine Street. The free event, sponsored by The Coder School Berkeley, also included yummy chocolate drinks and edibles, such as Caribbean chocolate soup, Oreo shakes and habañero chocolate gelato.

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PRIDE in Oakland Photos by Robbie Sweeney and Jesse Brooks, Courtesy of Oakland Pride

Oakland Pride Parade + Festival 2017 We are excited to be participating again in the Oakland Pride Parade + Festival, which this year will take place on September 10. The Parade kicks off at 10:30 am at Broadway & 14th Street in Oakland. The Festival—main entrance at Broadway & 20th Street—opens at 11 am and ends at 7 pm. The San Francisco Bay Times will have a booth at the fest, so we hope to see you soon!

This year there is even more reason to celebrate in the East Bay, due to the recent opening of the Oakland LGBTQ Community Center at 3207 Lakeshore Avenue, entrance on Rand Avenue. We love that area and have had a base nearby for years. See the next few pages for a look inside the impressive new Center. Special thanks to Oakland Councilmember and Bay Times columnist Rebecca Kaplan for supporting both the Center and Oakland Pride, and for helping to make both possible.

Festival Entertainment and Activities There is no fee to watch the Parade, and just $10 gets you into the all-day Festival. The fee for children under 12 is $5, and this is definitely a family-friendly event. There is a Family & Children’s Garden that offers a safe and fun area for children of all ages and their LGBTQ parents/caregivers.

The Garden is hosted by Our Family Coalition, with Kaiser Permanente, Children’s Fairyland, the Oakland Public Library, the Berkeley Public Library, the Museum of Children’s Arts, Six Flags, Abundant Beginnings, the Oakland Fire Department and the Oakland Zoo. There will be jumpy tents, a petting zoo, pony rides, carnival rides, book giveaways and much more.

Featured Stages include the Womyn’s Stage, Community Stage, Latin Stage and Main Stage. Entertainment at the Festival this year includes performers such as Alex Newell, Frenchie Davis, Latrice Royale, Elettrodomestico and Princenation. Grammy Award-nominated Andra Day will be this year’s Main Stage headliner! We will never forget her emotional performance of “Rise Up” on Austin City Limits, which happened at the time of the Pulse nightclub massacre in Orlando. Day dedicated her performance to all of the victims and their families.

We will be in good company among the booths for various community organizations and servic-

Oakland Pride Sunday, September 10 oaklandpride.org es. Ample food and drink offerings will be available within the Festival grounds too.

History & Goals East Bay Pride was celebrated in Oakland from 1997 to 2004 and was led by the efforts of former Oakland City Councilmember Danny Wan and the Oakland LGBT Roundtable. “Oakland Out in Oakland” commenced with a celebration of LGBT life in 2005 and 2006. Pride had not taken place in Oakland since that time.

In 2008, Kaplan and others led efforts to re-organize an LGBT Roundtable. Since then, members of the Roundtable and the LGBT community representing all walks of life decided that it was time to resuscitate Oakland Pride for the long term and to advocate for LGBT rights and interests, including the development of the community center. Since the renewal of this effort, Oakland Pride has been busy networking with allies and partners.

Oakland Pride wants to be of assistance in providing a sustainable solution to implement or support needed services for challenges in our community—especially in low-income, multi-cultural elder and young LGBT communities. To do so, the organization collaborates with a host of organizations that help our community and that represent the breadth and depth of LGBT people throughout the East Bay. Oakland Strong According to Oakland Pride, Oakland is home to the third largest LGBTQ community in the country, with the highest concentration of lesbian households per capita. It is little wonder then that the Parade and Festival reach around 50,000, and that number is sure to grow this year.

San Francisco-based Priceonomics, which studied data from the U.S. Census, has named Oakland the most diverse city in the country. According to the data-crunching business: “We treated

our major ethnic and r a c i a l g r ou p s l i k e ‘companies,’ and each group’s ‘market share’ was the percentage they comprised of the city’s population.” Oakland’s diversity, including its growing LGBT population, is yet another source of Pride for this great city on the east side of San Francisco Bay. If you’re reading this in SF or in other parts of the Bay Area, we urge you to make the short journey over to the Parade and Festival.

Some street parking is available and there are nearby lots, but the best way to go is via BART. Exit at the 12th Street/City Center or 19th Street Station and you’ll be a short walk away.

Andra Day

Alex Newell

Frenchie Davis

Elettrodomestico

Latrice Royal

After Parties Several after parties will follow the festivities. The White Horse Bar will present its fabulous “Showgirl Sundays” with DJ Luna.

For this and other WHB events: http://whitehorsebar.com/

Princenation

Valentino is hosting one of the biggest after parties at Bench and Bar. It will feature go go dancers and the best in hip hop, house and top 40 all night long. www.club-bnb.com Butterscotch

And, if you’ve danced yourself out at the Festival, you can check out “No Man’s Land – Women.

Queers. Comedy” at the Ivy Room in Albany. Just allow enough time to get there from Oakland, as the doors open at 6 pm, show at 7 pm. http://ivyroom.ticketfly.com/ To become a volunteer for Oakland Pride and/ or to learn more about the upcoming Parade and Festival, please visit: http://www.oaklandpride.org/volunteer S AN F R ANC IS C O BAY T IM ES

Siri

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PRIDE in Oakland

Oakland at Last Has an LGBTQ Comm Photos by Jane Higgins

A

ll of us here at the San Francisco Bay Times extend a warm welcome to the new LGBTQ Community Center staff, board and volunteers in Oakland. By the time you read this, the Center will have likely had its grand opening, which fell on our publication day, September 7. We’ll tell you more about the opening event in our next issue.

It is amazing to think that there have been an estimated 25 LGBTQ community centers in California, but Oakland was the only major city in the state without one … until now!

The organization is Oakland’s first-ever multi-cultural, multiethnic, multi-gender, and intergenerational LGBTQ Community Center. We love that its grand opening was scheduled just days before the annual Oakland Pride parade and festival. (See preceding page.) Before those events, we sent photographer Jane Higgins to the Center to provide you with a detailed look.

Founders Jeff Myers and Joe Hawkins sat in the future multipurpose room of the space in the building that they share with other non-profits and small businesses.

They were justly filled with optimism and pride.

“For the first time in its history, the city of Oakland will have an official LGBTQ+ community center that serves the diversity of our community regardless of age, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status, but will be focused on the most vulnerable and marginalized among us.” Hawkins said.

Myers, the new non-profit’s Board President, a surgical scrub nurse and frequent community volunteer, expressed: “This is a big moment for us! Having a safe space is critical, not just to come together, but a place to find support and community at a time when hate crimes directed at our community are on the rise.”

Although acceptance of LGBTQ+ people has increased over the years, demonstrated by the 2008 legalization of same-sex marriages in California, a recent California Department of Justice report shows that the state has experienced an 11% increase in hate crimes since 2015, and the top two targets of hate crimes, according to the report, were African-Americans, and members of the LGBTQ+ community.

In addition, we note a 2016 report by the Human Rights Commission, which ranked municipalities on how they strive or not to support the LGBTQ+ people who live and work in their cities. Of the top 10 largest cities in California, Oakland ranked in the bottom 3 cities ahead of Santa Ana and Fresno, with a Municipal Equality Index (MEI) score of 77 out of a possible max score of 100. Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Sacramento, and Long beach all received a score of 100, and each of those cities have successful LGBTQ+ community centers.

East Bay cities have had a tough time sustaining centers for the LGBTQ community. Over a f ive-year period, centers specifically targeting LGBTQ people in the East Bay have closed. The Lighthouse LGBTQ Community Center in Hayward closed in 2014 after serving the community for 14 years, followed by the closing of the Sexual Minority Alliance Of Alameda County Youth Center, which served youth of color in Oakland for over a decade. It was destroyed by a fire in 2012, and unfortunately never recovered. It closed in 2015.

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We are very optimistic about the new Oakland LGBTQ Community Center, however.

That is in large part due to the tireless backing of Oakland Councilmembers Rebecca Kaplan and Abel Guillen, and to the Center’s leadership. Both Hawkins and Myers are longtime residents of Oakland and are respected LGBTQ+ community organizers.

Joe Hawk i ns spea rheaded ef for t s to start Oakland Pride and is a founding member. He served as Oakland Pride Co-chair for the first few years of its existence. Hawkins also has an impressive track record working as a non-profit executive creating and leading projects on a range of issues including housing and homelessness, technology workforce development and training for youth, HIV/AIDS, substance abuse, and a variety of social justice issues affecting marginalized communities.

Jeff Myers is a former union Vice President and served as the Volunteer Coordinator at Oakland Pride. He was recruited by Hawkins to help out in 2010.

“One of the things that I was very attracted to when Joe first reached out to me when he was the Co-chair of Oakland Pride, was Pride’s mission statement and its goal of helping to facilitate the creation of Oakland’s first community center serving all LGBTQ+ people,” Myers said. “I was so excited about helping to raise money to open a center. But after years of talking about making it happen with no progress, I reached out to Joe and we decided that the time was now!”

“So many of us were anxious about what is next and where do we go from here after the elections,” Hawkins said. “Talk of opening a center had been on the table since we included it in the mission statement of Oakland Pride over 8 years ago, but discussions between Jeff and I accelerated after the elections. It was just the kick in the butt that we needed to get the ball rolling.”

And that is just exactly what they have done. The two started a new non-profit called the “Oakland LGBTQ Community Center Inc.” in June of this year. The mission states: “The Oakland LGBTQ Community Center, Inc., is committed to supporting and enhancing the well-being of LGBTQ individuals, our families and allies.”

The non-profit organization has secured a headquarters space in the “Co-Munity building” at 3207 Lakeshore Ave., just above a mobile phone store in Oakland.

“Considering the high cost of rents, we were very fortunate to have stumbled upon this place to get us started and to work with such a welcoming operator,” Hawkins said. “We are also excited about the Lake Merritt area location, which is very LGBTQ+ friendly and in district 2, which is led by ‘two spirited’ city Councilmember Abel Guillen, who has also generously donated $1,000 dollars to the organization.”

The space secured by the new Oakland LGBTQ+ Community Center is in the offices of “Startup Admin Co-Munity,” which offers startups services to include offices with shared spaces and

the administrative support needed to build a successful organization and expandability as they grow.

“There is much agreement in the community that this Lake Merritt location is ideal and is in a popular LGBTQ+ destination area here in Oakland,” Myers said. “But we have funded this out of our own pockets and in order to stay here, we need help reaching people who can help us raise the money necessary to operate at this site.”

According to Myers, the new center is the main tenant in the Co-Munity space, with a monthly rent of around $5,000. Other tenants that the organization has attracted to the space include Spectrum Queer Media and the LGBTQ Perinatal Wellness Associates of the Bay Area.

“Oakland’s LGBTQ+ community is the most diverse underserved population in Oakland, in the most racially/ethnically diverse city in America,” Hawkins said. “Our new center will offer an ambitious new model of LGBTQ+ service delivery in our city, where a variety of services for our community will be delivered to a diverse LGBTQ+ population under one roof and working in collaboration with other organizations. This is something that has never been attempted before in Oakland.”

The grand opening, tonight from 6 pm–9 pm, will feature an art installation and guest speakers including Mayor Libby Schaaf.

“We have already attracted hundreds of volunteers and have hosted a series of community service input meetings in August to determine which services the community feels are most important and/or are missing here in Oakland, and we will fundraise towards those goals,” Hawkins said.

We definitely agree with him and Myers, who shared: “The local LGBTQ+ community needs a physical space in which to gather and share resources and to support one another. Our community is desperately underserved in Oakland. The LGBTQ+ community is still marginalized—especially LGBTQ+ people of color, youth, seniors, and transgender individuals, which make up a large part of Oakland’s diverse community.”

“It’s really important for all of us to be united,” he added, “and we believe that this new center is the missing link that will facilitate that.”

For more information about the Oakland LGBTQ+ Community Center, and/or to make a donation, visit their website at www.oaklandlgbtqcenter.org or contact Hawkins directly at joehawkins777@gmail.com

munity Center!

Board of Directors: John Hanson, Manifair Hwang, Dawn Edwards, Chris Norman, Aviva Prager, Michael Rood, and our co-founder and board president Jeffrey Myers; not pictured: Reality Relliford, Clarence Watson III, David Beasley and Nic Ming

As Heard on the Street . . . When, where, and why did you last go to Oakland? compiled by Rink

Miss Jamie C.

Olga Talamante

Lenore Chinn

Arthur Corbin

Nikos Diaman

“Last week to Lake Merritt to try to rent an apartment”

“I visited the Greenlining Institute’s new building in Oakland. They work to build economic opportunities for people of color.”

“Recently, to visit Chinatown, where my mother grew up. I also go there to be at my parents’ gravesites.”

“A few years ago, to go to the magnificent Paramount Theatre, where I have also brought impressed tourists.”

“A couple weeks ago to Chabot Park, for my son’s wedding ceremony.”

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Summer of Love 2.0: How Love and Coalition Won Against Hate town. Our message was and remains unequivocally loud and clear—white nationalism, white supremacy, and neo-Nazi hate is not welcome in San Francisco, and has no place in our America.

Cross Currents Andrea Shorter Working together as community activists, clergy, and city leaders to plan for public safety, counter-protests, rallies, vigils, marches, and other coalitiondriven community-building defenses against the anticipated visitation of hate and hate speech planned to occur at Crissy Field, San Francisco was on the ready to full on ‘represent.’

And, boy oh boy, how San Francisco came together to rise and resist.

Every community, every tribe, and every generation of our profound diversity that resides on the 7x7 swath of land and Bay rallied. From Chinatown to the Castro, from Nob Hill to the Bayview, from the Mission to the Sunset, from Yerba Buena Island to the Haight, and beyond; from techies to labor leaders, from world-class performers (thanks, MC Hammer!) to reformed gang leaders, from immigrants to native born, we raised our voices as one big sonic boom reverberating vibes of peace, love and understanding as the City of Saint Francis.

An Evening about Lesbian Pregnancy

Thank you to Entertainment Commissioner and Pride Main Stage producer Audrey Joseph and to Kate Kendell— fierce leader of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, the Hellman and Rosenberg Foundations and others— for so quickly organizing the Peace, Love and Understanding CounterProtest Rally in the Civic Center.

Marchers streamed in from different corners of the City into a massive lovein, which elevated and celebrated our values as expressed by speakers and local entertainers. It culminated in a rousing, spirited come-together rally

by Bay Area native son Michael Franti.

Thank you to the Human Rights Commission for listening to the request of our youth by working with them to organize a series of workshops about the histories, purposes, and applications of non-violent resistance.

Thank you to Juanita More!, Cleve Jones, leaders of the Women’s March, Alex U. Inn of Mama’s Boyz, Olga Talamante, the SF LGBTQ Community Center and others who rallied thousands at Harvey Milk Plaza before marching from the Castro to Civic Center. Along the way, the marchers

Thank you to Rita Semel and our inter-faith council of Christian, Muslim, and Rabbinical leaders who, along with civil rights leaders such as Eva Paterson of the Equal Justice Society, held our community together in reflection, meditation, and solidarity about our values.

As the dust settles around the events of that epic No Hate August weekend, and we retire from self-congratulatory, yet well-deserved, praises into the normalcies of the day, we remain clear that the work continues, and we must be resolute to lead that work in coalition.

One way to continue supporting the ongoing work of several organizations that fight daily for our civil and human rights is by checking out NoHateSF.org Established by Cleve Jones and the Horizons Foundation, NoHateSF.org provides a platform to raise muchneeded funds for nearly 20 organizations, including the Asian and Pacific Islander Wellness Center, Disability Rights and Education Defense Fund, Association of American Indians SF, La Raza Community Resource Center, Muslims Advocates, National Center for Lesbian Rights, the National Immigration Law Center, Planned Parenthood, SF NAACP, the San Francisco Jewish Community Center, SF LGBTQ Community Center, Southern Poverty Law Center, and Transgender Law Center.

This is one helpful and impactful way to continue to support those vital cross currents of movements that work to build community and coalition to elevate us all to higher ground.

In the resilient spirit of the Summer of Love 2.0, let’s strive for more peace, more love, and more understanding.

Andrea Shorter (left) and Cleve Jones marched in front of Gilbert Baker’s Rise and Resist rainbow banner leading the march of thousands from Harvey Milk Plaza to Civic Center on Saturday, August 26, in protest of the Patriot Prayer at Crissy Field event scheduled and then cancelled by the organizers. (See additional photos on Page 19)

PHOTO BY MORGAN SHIDLER

GAY WOMEN’S GATHERING

In hurried yet viable coalition, together we pushed back against violent forces that seek to divide us as a community and nation, eventually and actually chasing agents of hate out of

Much appreciation is due to Mayor Ed Lee, Board of Supervisors President London Breed, Supervisors Mark Farrell and Jeff Sheehy and the Board of Supervisors, SFPD, federal and regional law enforcement agencies, State Senator Scott Wiener, and Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi for putting up a good fight to reject the permission of hate, and for the major preparations to safeguard against potential violence at Crissy Field, Alamo Square and throughout the City.

blended into an even greater crowd swell with more critical resistance participants from Dolores Park. What an honor it was to march with Cleve and his bull-horn, in the tradition of Harvey Milk, in diverse procession down Market Street behind the beautiful rainbow banner proclaiming “Rise and Resist” created by the late Gilbert Baker.

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.

Thursday, September 14th 6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.

The Women’s Building - Audre Lorde Room 3543 18th St. #8. San Francisco, CA 94110

Join us for a FREE event Gay Women’s Gathering: An Evening on Lesbian Pregnancy at The Women’s Building in San Francisco.

A doctor, attorney, and sperm bank rep will discuss everything you need to know about working with sperm donors, legal safeguards for LGBT families and medical procedures, like insemination and in vitro fertilization. Zika avoidance will also be discussed.

Refreshments will be served. Reservations preferred.

Email corey@path2parenthood.org

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On Saturday, August 26, an estimated group of about 1,000 positioned themselves on Ocean Beach to form a giant heart, which was photographed and filmed from above. The gathering was organized in response to the planned “Patriot Prayer” rally that was supposed to occur in San Francisco that same day, but was later cancelled. As participants got into place and sang familiar songs, such as “This Land Is Your Land,” an American flag was raised in the center of the giant heart. A similar demonstration was held in Walnut Creek earlier that Saturday, with the participants spelling out “END HATE!” Related videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ae9_ KNc_Qfk and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtrGi2qWj38&list=PL6p0LZEDd7bv8TfT8veh VUSnjZ4b5_jVh and https://vimeo.com/231396666

PHOTO BY PAOLO VILLACARLOS

Beachgoers Form Giant Heart in San Francisco

Roland Schembari and Bill Hartman, Co-Founders Randy Alfred, Founding News Editor 1978

How Should We Speak to Each Other?

Part 2: Focus on Needs, Not Judgments One reason this happens with such depressing regularity is that most of us, in our conf licts, have been conditioned to take moralistic stances with each other. We frame the issues in terms of right and wrong, winning and losing. Whenever we do that, we lose contact with our intentions— which are always about values, needs, and feelings—and focus instead on trying to defeat the other person.

Kim Corsaro Publisher 1981-2011

2261 Market Street, No. 309 San Francisco CA 94114 Phone: 415-601-2113 525 Bellevue Avenue Oakland CA 94610 E-mail: editor@sfbaytimes.com www.sfbaytimes.com

The Bay Times was the first newspaper in California, and among the first in the world, to be jointly and equally produced by lesbians and gay men.

We honor our history and the paper’s ability to build and strengthen unity in our community.

The Bay Times is proud to be the only 100% LGBT funded and owned newspaper for the LGBT community in San Francisco.

Dr. Betty L. Sullivan Jennifer L. Viegas Co-Publishers & Co-Editors

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Design & Production

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Technology Director

Carla Ramos Web Coordinator

Examined Life Tom Moon, MFT In the last issue, I shared that the first step in practicing effective speech is to keep our eyes on the prize—to be constantly mindful of our intentions for speaking in the first place.

What do I want in my life? I want to give and receive love. I want relationships with others to be mutually satisfying and fulfilling. For almost all of us, something like these are our deepest needs, and effective speech means making sure that how we speak is likely to bring us closer to meeting them. A couple comes to mind, Rubin and Alan, who have lost sight of what they really want, and who have become diverted instead into protecting their egos, winning arguments, and blaming each other.

It’s easy to see why this happens.

When we feel unfairly criticized or threatened in any way, an almost automatic response is to close up emotionally. We typically don’t express our hurt, or our needs, because it feels dangerous to show any vulnerability at such a point. Instead, we go into aggressive/defensive stances, and focus on doing battle. When we do this, even people we love become “the Other,” the enemy. It’s a natural response, but it should also be obvious that it’s virtually impossible for this stance to result in anything productive.

What can we do instead? I think that an important first step in recognizing that our habitual, self-defeating modes of communication are deeply ingrained is just to do or say nothing at all. Take a deep breath, take a time-out, if you can, and let the adrenaline subside. Then, ask yourself something like: “What unmet

How does this work in practice?

Here’s an admittedly oversimplified example. Rubin and Alan, the couple I referred to above, are at each other’s throats about finances. Rubin accuses Alan of being a profligate spendthrift, and Alan accuses Rubin of being a joyless tightwad. When they drop the accusations, and start to focus on their needs, Rubin is able to reveal his fear that they’ll run out of money and have nothing for their retirement. He needs safety, and he needs to feel that Alan is protective towards both of them.

need of mine is provoking my anger right now?” Do your best to shift the focus from moralistic judgments of the other person to attention to your own needs and feelings in the situation. This is not always so easy to do, because it means returning to openness and vulnerability, which can feel like a foolhardy thing to do in a conflict situation.

When we can make that shift, though, we often find that a perceptible shift also occurs in our bodies. We relax our armor a little, and feelings that we’ve suppressed come welling up— such as sadness, grief, hurt, longing, or frustration. Instead of the disconnection that self-righteous rage engenders, we deepen and make more contact with our own hearts. We access empathy and compassion for ourselves.

Alan, on the other hand, wants to give and receive generosity and share joy with Rubin. When they stop “should-ing” all over each other and start focusing instead on what each of them needs, their differences don’t disappear, but they’re much better equipped to discuss them with mutual empathy and respect. They are therefore much more likely to find reasonable compromises.

Once we have accessed these feelings toward ourselves, we find it much easier to access the same empathy and compassion for the other person, too.

Then the person we’re arguing with is no longer the adversarial Other, but someone we hold in our hearts with whom we are temporarily having difficulty. We’re empowered to discuss our disagreements with more open-heartedness, asking ourselves and each other what we both need, and exploring how we can cooperate in meeting those needs.

In the next column, I’ll continue the theme of effective speech with a discussion of five traditional guidelines for avoiding speech that causes harm.

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

Mario Ordonez Juan Ordonez

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, Elisa Quinzi, Randy Coleman, Debra Walker, Wendy Ross, Howard Steiermann, Andrea Shorter, Tom Temprano, Lou Fischer, Karin Jaffie Photographers Rink, Phyllis Costa, Jane Higgins Paul Margolis, Chloe Jackman, Bill Wilson, Jo-Lynn Otto, Sandy Morris, Abby Zimberg ADVERTISING Display Advertising Standard Rate Cards are available online at sfbaytimes.com or calling: 415-503-1375 Custom ad sizes are available. Please inquire! The Bay Times reserves the right to reject any advertising at the discretion of the publishers.

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Bay Area Heat Wave medications, such as diuretics, sedatives, tranquillizers or some heart and blood pressure drugs.

Aging in Community Dr. Marcy Adelman The recent heat wave that hit the Bay Area broke all records. Downtown San Francisco on Friday, September 1, set an all-time high of 106 degrees.

The city’s previous all-time high temperature was 103 degrees in 2000.

The weather service reported that it was going to be hot, very hot. I knew a heatwave was coming, and that it would last the weekend, but boy, even with the warnings, the intensity of the heat wave was startling. On Saturday morning, I woke to this extraordinary sunrise and quickly took a photo.

Rather than take this heatwave as a one-off experience, it can be understood as fitting into a pattern of increasingly higher temperatures due to global warming. Heatwaves are less destructive to health, life and property than hurricanes and tornados, but they are, nonetheless, a risk to health and life, and especially to older adults and elders with chronic health issues.

According to the National Institute of Aging, older adults with cardiovascular conditions and people on some prescription drugs are at especially high risk.

Hyperthermia is an abnormally high body temperature caused by a failure of the body’s heat-regulating mechanisms to deal with the heat coming from the environment. You are at risk for hyperthermia if you are dehydrated, have been diagnosed with heart, lung or kidney disease, have high blood pressure, or take certain

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LGBT RESOURCES FOR SENIORS

To avoid hyperthermia, stay hydrated by drink ing plent y of water; eating light meals; wearing light cloths and a hat if you go out; seeking airconditioned environments like a library, mall or community center; buying a fan, and avoiding caffeine and alcohol. You also can reduce body temperature by taking a cold shower or applying cold, wet cloths to your wrists, neck, armpits and groin.

Heat stroke is a lifethreatening form of hyperthermia.

It occurs when the body temperature rises to 104F (40C) or higher. The common symptoms of heat stroke are fatigue, dizziness, feeling faint, muscle cramps, high body temperature, rapid pulse, rapid breadth or trouble breathing and disorientation. To avoid serious risk of injury or death, call 911.

High temperatures can also negatively impact air quality. Poor air quality can have a major effect on people with asthma and other respiratory illnesses. Children are more sensitive to pollutants and are more likely than any other age group to be challenged by asthma. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a group of lung disorders that results in blocked airways. COPD, such as emphysema and chronic bronchitis, is most common in older adults.

In California, heatwaves and summer wildfires are a dangerous mix that further reduces air quality by affecting ozone levels. According to the Bay Area Air Quality District, the smoke this past weekend from wild-

• Openhouse: 415-296-8995 openhouse-sf.org/ • Family Caregiver Alliance: 415-434-3388 www.caregiver.org • Institute on Aging: 415-750-4111 www.ioaging.org/

PHOTO BY MARCY ADELMAN

Distribution

fires in Northern California was a major contributor to the Spare the Air alert for the Bay Area. High temperatures alone can be cause for an alert, but this time, it was both temperature and ozone levels.

Air quality alerts are reported on local television and radio news. You can also go directly to Spare the Air alerts at http://www.sparetheair.org or receive air pollution forecasts and alerts by going to AirNow (http://baaqmdsparetheair.enviroflash.info/) or call 415-749-4900. If there is a “Spare the Air” alert and you have asthma or COPD, stay inside and reduce your level of exercise.

During heatwaves, check in with your neighbors and your friends. Ask them how they are and if they could use some assistance. If you have a fan to lend, let them know. If you are feeling a little dizzy and fatigued yourself, call a friend or relative and let them know. Stay safe.

Marcy Adelman, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist in private practice, is co-founder of the non-profit or-

• National Resource Center on LGBT Aging www.lgbtagingcenter.org/ • Project Open Hand San Francisco: Nutrition Services, 415-447-2300 www.openhand.org/ • SAGE: 212-741-2247 www.sageusa.org/about/ • Shanti Project, Inc: HIV Services and Life Threatening Illnesses, 415-674-4700 www.shanti.org/ ALZHEIMER’S ASSOCIATION PROGRAMS AND SERVICES: • 24/7 Helpline: 1-800-2723900, www.alz.org/norcal/; Online Community: www. alzheimersblog.org/lgbt-forum • Memory Clinic, Kaiser Permanente Santa Clara Medical Center: 408-5306900, mydoctor.kaiserpermanente.org/ncal/facilities/ region/santaclara/area_master/departments/memoryclinic/index.jsp ganization Openhouse. She is also a leading advocate and educator in LGBT affirming dementia care and a member of the Advisory Council to the Aging and Adult Services Commission.

GLBT Fortnight in Review

By Ann Rostow To Every Thing There Is a Season Before we start this week’s rundown of GLBT news and views, allow me to vent about a TV commercial for a GMC truck that has become ubiquitous on ESPN’s coverage of the U.S. Open.

The scene features several men, just short of middle age but no longer young, per se. A demanding narrator asks, “How do you want to live your life? … As a decent person? Good husband? Is that it? Good?”

“Of course not,” the voice continues, listing the sorts of ambitions that the rightful buyer of this truck would favor: being a “pro,” a high roller, living in a penthouse, being the boss, and so forth.

All I can say is that the writers of this advertisement can’t be much out of their thirties, otherwise they would realize that it’s about ten times harder to wind up as a decent person than it is to make it in the business world. It’s also about ten times more satisfying.

It’s as if small children wrote a TV spot that asked: “What do you want for dinner? Rack of lamb? Poached trout? A fine wine? Of course not! You want sour balls, chocolate kisses, ice cream, sodas and gum drops!” So, buy this truck!

I don’t think so, kids. Meanwhile, the last major tournament of the tennis/golf season comes to a close this week, along with the summer of 2017.

I know that Labor Day feels like the end of summer, and I also know that the end doesn’t really arrive until September 22, but I’ve always ended summer in my mind on the weekend after Labor Day. Labor Day seems to appear out of the blue. One day it’s the middle of August. The next day it’s September 5 or 6. Say what? It catches you by surprise, so you need an extra week to make sense of it. It’s September. Really? Yes. The weekend after Labor Day is when you can give summer a proper goodbye. Summer’s not coming back for nine months. Wait another week and you’ll start to see pumpkins in the grocery stores and ghosts in the Walmart aisles. Then it’s a slow roll through turkeys, reindeer, Valentines and, at long last, Easter bunnies—time for the Masters, and time for the earth to start to turn again.

The only solution to seasonal depression, I’ve discovered, is to force yourself to enjoy fall and winter. College football, March Madness. A chill in the air. A fire in the hearth. Hygge nights.

There’s also the return of anticipation. In February, you have the pleasurable knowledge that spring is just around the corner. Months of comfortable weather lie ahead. The days are lengthening. Birds will soon chirp.

Trees will soon blossom. Whereas in July, you’re carrying a small nugget of dread inside your heart. Summer is a goin’ out. Winter is coming. If you take this phenomenon a little further, you can start to anticipate February itself, because February is when you’ll be able to anticipate spring. Obviously, anticipating February is something that happens around December.

So—stay with me here—December won’t be so bad!

(Do any longtime readers remember my secret alter ego, the inane Bay Times “columnist” Nan Parks from back in the day? Nan particularly liked the fall and winter because her favorite season, summer, always lay ahead. Summer, on the other hand, made her sad, because by the time it arrived, it was soon to be over.)

Another Petition in The Offing I’m not sure how or why I devoted such a lengthy section to off-top-

ic meandering. It makes me wonder if it would be possible to write an entire 2000-word GLBT news column without once mentioning GLBT news.

Would my editors accept it? (Let me know in an editor’s note.)

I’m not flirting with the notion. Indeed, there’s interesting news out there, including a major transgender rights victory out of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in late May that I managed to gloss over in these pages during the distractions of my Scottish vacation. I believe I gave this significant development no more than a single sentence in July before announcing that I had to run off for afternoon cocktails on the High Street.

The Seventh Circuit case was an echo of the famed Gavin Grimm case at the Fourth Circuit, which, as you may recall, we have spent many, many months discussing. Gavin, a Virginia trans-teen, won the right to use the boys’ facilities at his school in a blockbuster appellate court ruling a year ago last spring. In an opinion announced just after North Carolina surprised everyone with their bizarre bathroom bill, the Fourth Circuit ruled that it was obliged to follow the Obama administration’s transfriendly interpretation of federal law in this case. Subsequently, the Justice Department and the Education Department released a statement clarifying their admirable legal stance and all the conservatives went ballistic.

Many suits were filed. I forget exactly how many, by whom and what happened to all of them, so let’s move along, shall we?

The Supreme Court agreed to hear the appeal, and we were all set for a dramatic showdown over transgender rights in the High Court; for all intents and purposes, the first major transgender legal battle of the modern era.

And then came Trump.

When the Trump administration retracted the trans-friendly legal views of the Obama camp, the High Court changed its mind and sent Grimm’s case back to the Fourth Circuit for another review, this time leaving aside the views of government agencies and just focusing on the merits. But, by the time the case returned to the appellate court, Gavin had graduated and his lawsuit was theoretically moot. Recently, in view of this snag, the American Civil Liberties Union revised the suit from the perspective of a student to that of an alumnus who might be obliged to use the bathroom during a reunion, I’m guessing.

Meanwhile, as the Grimm case tossed and turned, the Seventh Circuit leapfrogged the Fourth Circuit by taking on a case of its own, which pit transstudent Ash Whitaker against his Kenosha, Wisconsin, school district.

Three months ago, the panel ruled in favor of Whitaker, and the Kenosha district promptly asked the justices to review the case.

Considering that the justices were ready to consider Gavin Grimm’s appeal, you’d think the same crew might be happy to take on Ash Whitaker.

On the other hand, remember that Gavin Grimm’s case contained a separate legal issue, one that is not present in the Seventh Circuit. That separate issue is the question of whether or not courts must defer to the legal interpretation of a government agency when the scope of a federal law is ambiguous.

Scared Straights We’re not done with transgender school litigation, but this next story takes us through the Twilight Zone into an alternate universe. Here, it’s not the transgender student filing suit, it’s the straight kids who are suffer(continued on page 18) S AN F R ANC IS C O BAY T IM ES

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Keys to Having Successful Financial Conversations When You’re Engaged cial communication. Before wedding planning kicks into high gear, make conversations about your finances a priority. Taking the time today to talk through money matters can create a solid foundation for your collective future. Use the following five principles to guide your money conversations:

Money Matters Brandon Miller While money is a leading cause of marital strife, a recent Ameriprise study found that nearly seven in ten couples say they have good f inan-

1. Open-minded Take turns sharing your vision for money management as a married couple. Listen carefully to what your future spouse says is important to him or her. Acknowledge your differences and build on your strengths. If your expectations don’t match up, try to f ind a compromise. Some couples sidestep conversations about money to avoid feelings of hurt, fear, anger or remorse. Creating a habit of regular communication may help you to

avoid heated arguments, and can help to ensure you’re on the same page financially before you walk down the aisle.

2. Honesty Financial secrets can destroy trust.

Share the specifics of your financial history and current situation if you haven’t already done so. Your future spouse deserves to know if you’re paying off college debt, or if you’ve made any financial mistakes in the past (and how you’ve rectified them). Disclose the good news, too. Divulge details about savings you’ve tucked away or a family trust that helps to supplement your income so you both know the sum of where you stand.

3. Forward-thinking Once you’ve shared your current situation and history, discuss your goals for the future. Be open about what your dreams are, but be ready to compromise. While you don’t have to agree on everything, having shared goals (purchasing a home, saving for college if you choose to have children, retirement, etc.) allows you to combine forces on savings and gives you a road map for spending.

4. Cooperation To avoid any miscommunications as newlyweds, discuss and assign responsibility for financial roles. Is one of you better at monitoring online accounts and paying bills? Are you both enrolled in a retirement account and taking maximum advantage of employer contributions? Who will be the primary contact for your financial advisor, tax professional or estate planner? Two is better than one when you’re able to divide and conquer financial tasks, but make sure you’re both in the loop on key decisions and money matters.

Consider combining your bank accounts if it makes sense for your situation.

5. Diligence Once you’re married, make it a priority to update your financial documents. It takes discipline, but taking care of these housekeeping tasks right away protects you in case something unexpected happens. Several steps to consider:

Like most things worth achieving, preparing for a lifetime of financial compatibility takes work. If you and your future spouse can commit to the same money values, it may help you to create a solid financial foundation.

Update financial accounts, insurance policies and credit cards with any name changes, and if needed, add your spouse as an owner and beneficiary to those accounts.

Update or write your will and estate plan to reflect your collective wishes.

Amend your tax withholdings, to make sure the right amount is withheld from your paycheck now that you’re married. Consult your tax professional before making changes.

Choose your health insurance. If both of your employers offer health insurance, carefully evaluate your coverage options and premiums for the best fit.

Brandon Miller, CFP is a financial consultant at Brio Financial Group, A Private Wealth Advisory Practice of Ameriprise Financial Inc. in San Francisco, specializing in helping LGBT individuals and families plan and achieve their financial goals.

Free Your Mind and Invent Your Next Career tail grocery stores. Or this: Chris Bley fused his passion for rock climbing and environmental protection to invent a company that employs climbers to service wind turbines.

Career Wisdom Julie Gleeson “For the first time in human history, individuals can design a life around the pursuit of interesting work.”

-Richard Saul Wurman, TED Founder One of my hobbies is collecting stories about unique careers. Did you know there is a job called a Forager? In this case, the job entails going to farmer’s markets to discover the best-selling products, and then offering to scale up the production of those products so they can be sold in high-end re-

I, myself, bought a retail pet store when I was 18. I had no degrees, no transferable skills, and no experience in retail, yet I became nationally known and very successful, finally closing the store after a full 20 years.

How did that happen? I began with a deep love of animals, and the rest followed naturally.

Most career counselors recommend a skills assessment as the place to start when looking for interesting work.

In my view, that is completely backward. Education and skills are essential, of course, but only after you discover what you are deeply interested in, and how you want work to feel every day. When we do anything from passion and intuition, we learn effortlessly and study voraciously. We can’t help it. As we follow our hearts and noses, seeing new connections and new perspectives, we will suddenly see how to serve and get paid, doing what we love.

Technology has allowed us to be mobile to a degree that was never even considered when I was starting my career. I remember one very successful attorney who had figured out how to work on his sailboat, and he was the most revered man in the area.

That was with technology from the 1980s. In 2017, we can work almost anywhere and be connected to almost anyone and anything.

Why is this relevant? It is easier now than it has ever been to specialize and design a life that fits with your interests, passions and family. The only thing that will stop you is insecurity, and that comes from believing your own limiting thinking. Thought is as transient as the air we breathe, and always gives us an experience as it passes through.

I heard last week about a race horse that was the meanest, fastest, and most dangerous horse anyone knew of. (Stay with me, this is pertinent.) He was purchased and moved to a 2-acre field and became the kindest, winningest horse of his time. The differ(continued on page 18)

Big Appeal in Big Trucks end of a chain leash. The first thing these extroverted trucks do is get you noticed.

Auto Philip Ruth September is Folsom Street Fair month, and it’s a high holiday of excess pleasure. People come from all over the world for a straight shot of San Francisco raunch, and it’s a chance to satisfy your more extreme desires. The big trucks we’re examining this week—the Cadillac Escalade and Ford F-150 Raptor—are similarly indulgent. They’re the automotive equivalent of entering the fair gates with a flank of abs and a slave at the 16

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That’s after you’ve paid a handsome sum. The 2018 Raptor starts at just over $50K, and the tested top-grade Escalade Plat- Cadillac inum begins at an eye-watering Escalade $94K. That kind of financial Ford F-150 commitment means that buyers Raptor keenly want what these giants have to offer. Which is what, exactly? Why not just get a tamer F-150 XLT, or the Escalade’s kissing cousin, the Chevy Tahoe? Both are fine choices, and these less-expensive versions are testers were met with sneers and sidealmost equally functional in day-to- eyes from other drivers. Since then, day use. these road-going leviathans have become normalized, and so onlookers None of those, however, look like the feel freer to note the Escalade’s visuEscalade. Its massive grille and meaty wheels give it a thundering presence al sparkle. That’s nice if you like peothat transcends practicality. If the Es- ple to share in your good feelings for calade were a person, it would light your ride. up a room from its first step in. This wasn’t always the case here in San Francisco. When I arrived here in 2000, luxury SUVs were emblematic of dot-com excess, and my Escalade

Inside, the Escalade is a visual and tactile feast, with a richly contoured instrument panel and throne-like (continued on page 18)

ROSTOW (continued from page 15) ing by being forced to (possibly) encounter one of the half dozen trans kids in their 1000-plus population high school!

Faced with bigoted crybabies—strike that: change to: concerned parents— the school district in Boyertown, Pennsylvania, constructed several single-use bathrooms and other private facilities over the last year in order to reassure the emotionally fragile com-plaintiffs. Taking this into account, and applying common sense, a federal judge denied the litigants request for an injunction a couple of weeks ago, recently issuing a 75-page opinion that I have yet to read.

According to New York Law School Professor Art Leonard, the opinion’s a doozy. Written by an Obama-appointee, Edward G. Smith, the opinion cites, among other sources, the aforementioned Seventh Circuit ruling in favor of Ash Whitaker. In the course of his account of this lawsuit, Professor Leonard expressed surprise that showers after gym class are apparently no longer mandatory as they were in his day. I remember being forced to shower as well, even after a lackadaisical 45 minutes of “physical” education spent gossiping or eating candy under the bleachers. It seems schools also have private shower and changing chambers that would have been a godsend to me in sixth or seventh grade.

Leonard and his classmates in swim class were required to swim naked, which sounds very strange indeed. Was that a Catholic school, per chance? The two takeaways here are that a) for all its difficulties, life in the school locker room has improved over the last three decades, and b) it was nice when a Democratic president was appointing federal judges.

Dream On Mel has retired from public school teaching, which is terrific. It also means that she is around when I’m trying to write.

First, I was shanghaied into (the ex-

GLEESON (continued from page 16) tremely time consuming and tedious task of ) pulling strands of her hair through little holes in a cap so that she can give herself highlights. And it had to be done during a deadline because?

Now she’s taken her iPad into the next room (so as not to disturb me) where she’s playing a White House press conference.

Could there be anything more annoying than the sound of Sarah Huckabee Sanders droning unintelligibly in the distance? I’ll just tell you. No. Oh, from time to time she’s also cursing. Mel, not Sarah. And to top it off, we’ve reached the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open and I’m stuck watching Carreno Busta beat Schwartzman in straight sets. I’m a big tennis fan, but I’ve barely heard of these players, and Carreno Busta is cruising through a yawner of a match. I don’t know. I need something cold, wet and frisky. A French 75. Or maybe a puppy.

Listen, I should be writing about the transgender military ban, and I would if I understood what was going on. Like the plans to put an end to legal status for Dreamers, the ban on transgender soldiers, articulated in a late August directive, comes with a six-month delay. In both cases, Trump has put the ball in another court, where stunned officials are required to react to cruel power plays without warning or clarity.

All of our GLBT lawyers have filed suits as thousands of transgender troops are suddenly faced with an uncertain future. As we watch this unfold, we have to assume that you cannot discharge active duty soldiers and sailors for no reason, right? Can you refuse to recruit new transgender volunteers? Can you refuse routine medical care? Can you claim that transgender service members drain the military budgets when that claim is patently untrue?

While we’re at it, can you really take a person who is American in all but name and dump them into some foreign land

where they don’t speak the language and have no friends or ties of any sort? After they’ve finished high school, maybe college, gone to work and started paying taxes? A man who came here as a threeyear-old? A woman who came here as an infant?

Surely not.

Happiness for Sale Finally, I was all set to make a joke about two lesbians who won $10,000 in emotional damages after a clerk in Gilmer County West Virginia called them an “abomination.” For that kind of money, I was about to announce, Mel and I would spend half an hour being yelled at by a lunatic so-called Christian at the clerk’s office.

But having read the article, I’d have to think twice about it. Amanda Abramovich and Samantha Brookover had been together for five or six years when they applied for a marriage license at the clerk’s desk. They expected a dirty look or two, maybe, but instead they were subjected to a “tirade of harassment and disparagement,” according to their complaint, from not one but two deputy clerks who reluctantly provided the marriage paperwork. When the women complained, the head clerk said they got what was coming to them, and later, when talking to the press, the most abusive clerk claimed to have been very polite and denied using the “a” word.

The couple sued for emotional distress and won an apology from the county, in addition to the cash. All in all, it sounds harrowing. I think I’d still take the ten grand, but it would be a close call. ( Just checked: Mel would take the money in a heartbeat. She says she’d raise a glass to the clerk from her lounge chair on the beach.) Okay then. I’m sold. arostow@aol.com

ence? He hated being in a stall and a barn. The more they tried to control him, the harder he fought. When he was allowed more space and freedom, he relaxed and found his real power. Our minds are just like that. The more we try to control them, the more we struggle with insecurity and frustration.

Turn your mind out into that pasture and try inventing your next career. If you need some help in letting go of all of that mind control thinking so you can begin to invent, call me! My first session is always free of charge.

Julie Gleeson is the Co-founder of the Career Wisdom Institute and the Founder of The Art of Living Inc. She brings over 25 years of experience as a consultant in the fields of career designing, resilience, stress and overwhelm elimination, and couples mentoring. Julie is also a Co-Author of the best-selling book, “Inside Job, 8 Secrets to Loving Your Work and Thriving” (https://www.amazon.com/Inside-Job-Secrets-Loving-Thriving/dp/0615875394).

She can be reached at Gleesonj@CareerWisdomInstitute.com or 925-408-8422. Check out her website www.careerwisdominstitute.com for more information, including about her career workshops.

RUTH (continued from page 16) bucket seats. It’s exactly what you’d want to fall into after a long work day, although you’d probably want to limit your use of Cadillac’s CUE infotainment system, which has maddeningly inconsistent touch recognition, as do the climate controls. If I were Cadillac, I’d strip out the center stack and replace it with a Tesla-like tablet screen.

But if I were Ford, I’d leave the Raptor alone. While the Escalade can be hesitant on San Francisco’s hills, the Raptor felt like it was here to conquer, and I came to think of it as the largest muscle car I’ve ever driven. The fact that the Baja-ready Raptor is obscenely overbuilt for city streets just heightens its appeal, giving it an actionfigure swagger that’s matched by finely-tuned steering and brakepedal responses that maintain firm control.

This emotional experience ends up being why many pay the premiums for these beasts. Reaching for the Escalade’s key fob, I could already feel myself relaxing into the driver’s comfy cove. When I unlocked the Raptor, I was eager for some fun. The sheer sizes of these two would make them persistently impractical for urban use, but just like a drool-worthy dom at the Folsom Street Fair, they got more than their share of admiration.

Philip Ruth is a Castro-based automotive photojournalist and consultant at www.gaycarguy.com. Check out his automotive staging service at www.carstaging.com

Celebrating the Release of Daniel Nicoletta’s “LGBT San Francisco”

Photos by Rink

PHOTO BY DAN NICOLETTA

San Francisco Bay Times photographer Rink was there to congratulate his friend and colleague Daniel Nicoletta at recent events where Dan’s new book, LGBT San Francisco, was introduced. Dan and Rink met at Harvey Milk’s Castro Camera store and were members of a photography group. (See black & white photo at far right.) To celebrate Dan’s achievement, on August 24, the San Francisco Public Library welcomed him for a book presentation and a party hosted by Juanita MORE!. It was held in Dan’s honor at the historic Green Room. On August 27, a signing and release party was enjoyed by a standing room only audience at Dog Eared Books in the Castro. Many longtime friends attended, including Beat poet Ruth Weiss, who performed in the Green Room.

Gay photographers group in 1978 (l to r) Sandy Graham, Rink, Glen Meisenheimer, Dan Nicoletta, Efren Ramirez

Daniel Nicoletta and Rink, 2017

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Come Together Rally and March - Saturday, August 26 Photos by Rink, Bill Wilson and Morgan Shidler

Harvey Milk Plaza and the intersection of Castro and Market Streets were filled to the brim on Saturday, August 26, as members of the LGBTQ community and their friends and supporters heeded the call to “Come Together.” Organized by drag entertainer Juanita MORE! with support from Cleve Jones, Andrea Shorter and other civic and community leaders, the event was also planned as a counter protest to the Patriot Prayer gathering that was scheduled (and later cancelled) to take place at Crissy Field on the same date.

PHOTO BY BILL WILSON

The mid-day rally brought together a large, diverse and peaceful crowd for the rally and subsequent March up Market Street to Civic Center. As the crowd moved forward, San Francisco Bay Times contributor Shorter joined Jones (see photo Page 12) marching in front of the Rise and Resist rainbow banner created by Gilbert Baker.

PHOTO BY BILL WILSON PHOTO BY BILL WILSON

PHOTO BY BILL WILSON

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PHOTO BY BILL WILSON

PHOTO BY BILL WILSON

PHOTO BY BILL WILSON PHOTO BY BILL WILSON

PHOTO BY BILL WILSON

PHOTO BY BILL WILSON

PHOTO BY BILL WILSON

PHOTO BY BILL WILSON

PHOTO BY RINK

PHOTO BY MORGAN SHIDLER

PHOTO BY BILL WILSON

PHOTO BY MORGAN SHIDLER

PHOTO BY BILL WILSON

PHOTO BY MORGAN SHIDLER

PHOTO BY BILL WILSON

In an interview with KQED’s reporter Kevin Jones, Cleve Jones shared his thoughts about the current political climate, saying: “I think everything that we’ve achieved is reversible. I have lived long enough to see extraordinary changes in the lives of LGBT people, but I know quite clearly that all of that progress can be undone in the blink of an eye.”

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Dolores Huerta’s Life and Activism Chronicled in Inspiring New Documentary Dolores features interviews with Huerta—still as feisty as ever at 87—and her children, as well as Gloria Steinem, Angela Davis, and LGBT activist Rick Rivas, among others.

San Francisco native Peter Bratt’s inspiring documentary Dolores opens in the Bay Area this weekend. The film recounts the life and work of Dolores Huerta, who is described as “the most vocal activist you’ve never heard of.” She has largely been “written out of history.” Bratt’s compelling film is a necessary corrective.

Huerta was instrumental in organizing California farm workers with Cesar Chavez, fighting injustice and discrimination, as well as coordinating efforts to fight pesticide use on farms. She also organized the Delano grape strike and boycott of grape growers in California from 1965– 1970.

Huerta had 11 children (with 3 husbands). Her activism often took her away from her family, but she instilled her values of ethnic pride on her sons and daughters, and they rallied around her when she was horribly bashed by San Francisco police

Peter Bratt: I was born and raised in San Francisco by a single mom in the Mission district. My mom was involved with the farm workers union, so I was aware of Dolores as a child. I always had a great amount of respect for her, but it wasn’t until Carlos Santana called and put a stake in the ground to make the film. I knew about her, but I didn’t know the depths of her work until I did the research and made the film.

PHOTO COURTESY OF WALTER P.

Gary M. Kramer

Director, Peter Bratt Gary M. Kramer: Where did you first learn about Dolores Huerta, and what prompted you to make a film about her life and work?

Gary M. Kramer: Why do you think people don’t know more about her?

Dolores Huerta press conference (1975)

Peter Bratt: I feel that she was threatening because she challenged patriarchy, white supremacy, and capitalism. She fought for workers to share the fruits of their labor, for workers to be equal, and she confronts racial injustice. This is why she is seen as a threat.

Gary M. Kramer: In all of your films, you focus on inspirational stories about marginalized characters. Can you discuss your affinity for telling these stories?

Peter Bratt: I feel like it’s not a reach for me to train the lens on these issues. There are Latino families—fathers and mothers—struggling to accept their children’s sexuality, like in La Mission, and they intersect with race and class. In Dolores’ case, she’s fighting for labor justice, which is a racial issue, too. She’s a woman working in a male domain, and that has her running into other issues. She bumps into environmental issues, with pesticides. If you stay true to people’s authentic experiences, you can’t help but explore those issues, which people tend to silo. Those intersections and conflicts come up organically. I thought I was going to chronicle Dolores’ fight for labor justice, and then I found her political evolution, which crosspollinated with other issues.

PHOTO BY JON LEWIS

Film

Bratt spoke with the San Francisco Bay Times about his film and its subject.

PHOTO COURTESY TIM TIDBALL

officers at a peaceful demonstration outside the St. Francis hotel where George H.W. Bush was campaigning for president.

Dolores Huerta at the Delano Strike in 1966.

Gary M. Kramer: Can you talk about how you assembled the film clips, photographs, and archival footage to tell Dolores’ story?

Gary M. Kramer: What can you say about getting the interviews with Dolores and her children, as well as with Gloria Steinem, Angela Davis and others?

Peter Bratt: In activist and organizer circles, Dolores is well known and is a legend, so doing a film on Dolores opened doors to Angela Davis and Gloria Steinem. That speaks to the respect she has in many people’s eyes. Dolores told me the other day that she inspired Gloria and Angela, and vice versa.

KIT’N KITTY’S

QUEER POP QUIZ

PHOTO COURTESY OF WALTER P.

Peter Bratt: It was a deliberate choice not to use a narrator to tell the story. It was a challenge to let the archival footage and the interviewees tell the story. I needed images to bridge the gap between two points. We found seven decades of footage.

We had to show her doing the work in the fields, rather than telling it. Viewers had to witness her struggle.

Dolores Huerta speaks at the podium. c.1970s.

and her children had no filters. They were organic and authentic—this is how I am, take it for better or worse. The one challenge I had—and she resisted, and I found this in Gloria and Angela too—is that there’s an awkwardness about this film being about her. She wanted to talk about organizing and movement building. She couldn’t understand why I was digging for the personal and interviewing the entire family She thought I’d miss the bigger picture, but that’s the activist trained on moving the cause forward. I interviewed her off and on for nearly three years. After time, there was a well-established trust. The depth of her work is mind-boggling.

Gary M. Kramer: You tell Dolores’ story in an evenhanded fashion.

Dolores is not a hagiography. Can you talk about your approach?

Gary M. Kramer: Were there ever moments when she directed you?

Peter Bratt: For me, it was having this archival material and letting that speak for itself. Dolores doesn’t censor herself. She

Gary M. Kramer: How did Dolores inspire you?

Peter Bratt: No. I had to stand my ground and reassure her that people will see the bigger picture through her narrative and identifying through her.

(continued on page 38)

Though his homosexuality made many in the Civil Rights Movement uncomfortable, this man remained an integral adviser of Martin Luther King, Jr., and a champion of human rights worldwide: A) Philip Randolph B) Bayard Rustin C) Stokely Carmichael D) Stephen Whittle ANSWER ON PAGE 38

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!”

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Blame Sally

Smuin Ballet

Michael Tilson Thomas

Dee Dee Bridgewater

Taylor Mac’s A 24 Decade History of Popular Music

Giacomo Puccini’s Turandot

Freda Payne The Legend of Pink

Neil Sedaka

Fall has always been the favorite season of San Francisco Bay Times publisher and “Betty’s List” founder Dr. Betty Sullivan. She came from a family of educators, so this time of year marked the busy start of the school season … and a full calendar of events to look forward to attending. In that spirit, we bring you this Fall Arts Preview highlighting select shows from September–November. Unless noted, the events are in San Francisco.

Watch for our Holiday Season Preview coming out in mid-November!

SEPTEMBER Giacomo Puccini’s Turandot September 8–December 9 San Francisco Opera, War Memorial Opera House, 301 Van Ness Avenue Puccini’s true masterpiece from 1924 features a lush score, including the famous tenor aria, “Nessun Dorma.” The SF Opera production will be presented on a stage designed by celebrated LGBT painter David Hockney. Diva Martina Serafin will perform the title role and Nicola Luisotti will conduct the orchestra through September. In November, conductor Christopher Franklin and acclaimed Swedish soprano Nina Stemme will head up the cast and creative teams. If you are a real opera buff, consider seeing both versions of this classic work. https://sfopera.com/1718season/201718-season/turandot/ Dee Dee Bridgewater: The Music of Josephine Baker September 10 Miner Auditorium, SF Jazz Center, 201 Franklin Street As an African-American artist who found acceptance in France before her native U.S., Bridgewater has had a career that closely mirrors that of 1920s singer and dancer Josephine Baker. For this night, Bridgewater will perform music closely associated with Baker as well as the popular French chanson singers of the era including Edith Piaf, Mistinguett, and Charles Trenet—music she released as an homage to Baker and her adopted France on her 2005 album J’ai deux Amours, named for the song Baker made her own. https://www.sfjazz.org/tickets/productions/ dee-dee-bridgewater---the-music-of-josephine-baker/ Taylor Mac’s A 24 Decade History of Popular Music September 15,17, 22, 24 Curran Theater, 450 Geary Street The groundbreaking art concert is Mac’s subjective history of the United States told through 246 songs—everything from World War I ditties to The Mikado to a mash-up of

the Bee Gees’ “Stayin’ Alive” and Led Zeppelin’s “Kashmir”—told with the help of radical drag queens and other special guests. https://sfcurran.com/shows/taylor-mac/ Blame Sally September 16 Freight & Salvage Coffeehouse, 2020 Addison Street, Berkeley Indie pop meets Americana with this popular San Francisco group of four women solo artists who have performed together since 2000 and record currently on the Ninth Street Opus label. They have toured in Europe and across the U.S., but are beloved here in the Bay Area. thefreight.org or blamesally.com The Legend of Pink September 15–30 Theatre Rhinoceros, The Gateway Theatre (formerly Eureka), 215 Jackson Street Theatre Rhino’s 40th Anniversary Season begins with the world premiere of the story of a West Oakland transgender woman, Pink, and the changing landscapes of desire and real estate. Drug wars rage, yet Pink does her best to bring a bit of beauty to the harsh environment. But people are watching her as she tries to form a connection with a beautiful young man, and they don’t like it. Things turn dangerous and deadly. http://therhino.org/productions-pink/ Hamlet September 20–October 15 A.C.T.’s Geary Theater, 415 Geary Street Obie Award winner and 2017 Tony Award nominee (Best Featured Actor in a Play, Jitney) John Douglas Thompson returns to The Geary to take on one of theater’s most iconic roles: Hamlet. Two seasons ago, Thompson dazzled Geary audiences in the virtuoso one-man show Satchmo at the Waldorf. Now, to kick off the 2017–18 season, Thompson comes back to San Francisco to portray one of Shakespeare’s most complex and heartbreaking characters. In the story of a man who wakes up to find his world upended and his closest friends unworthy of trust, Shakespeare shows us how quickly change can happen—how an orderly kingdom ruled by a loving king can, in one stroke, become un-

recognizable. Featuring stage and screen star Carl Lumbly, Hamlet will mark A.C.T.’s first Shakespeare production since The Tempest reopened the Geary in 1996. www.act-sf.org

da Payne, Sony Holland and Amanda King with music director Larry Dunlap in an all-star evening honoring the woman who helped to make the Venetian Room famous. bayareacabaret.org

San Francisco Symphony Celebrating Bernstein with MTT September 22, 23 and 24 Davies Symphony Hall, 201 Van Ness Avenue

San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus September 30 Grace Cathedral, 1100 California Street

Michael Tilson Thomas will conduct the Symphony in a celebration of the 100th birthday of Leonard Bernstein. The program will include Bernstein favorites from Candide, West Side Story, The Age of Anxiety and more in a tribute to one of the great composers, conductors and educators of the 20th Century. sfsymphony.org Smuin Ballet - Dance Series 01 September 22–23, Walnut Creek - Lesher Center for the Arts, 1601 Civic Drive, Walnut Creek September 29–October 7, San Francisco Palace of Fine Arts, 3301 Lyon Street Smuin kicks off its 24th season with Dance Series 01, a program that includes the West Coast premiere of Annabelle Lopez Ochoa’s critically lauded and transcendent piece Requiem for a Rose, set to what many consider to be Schubert’s most romantic string adagio, from the Quintet in C. Also on the program is Michael Smuin’s joyful tribute to Ol’ Blue Eyes, Fly Me to the Moon. This blend of ballet and popular dance is the embodiment of the smooth and stylish melodies that have inspired generations, including Sinatra’s renditions of “I’ve Got You Under My Skin” and “The Lady is a Tramp.” Rounding out the bill will be the return of Garrett Ammon’s bold Serenade for Strings. Set to Tchaikovsky’s score of the same name, this work is a vibrant new interpretation of a piece inexorably tied to the iconic 1934 Balanchine ballet. smuinballet.org Ella Fitzgerald: A Centennial Celebration September 24 Venetian Room at the Fairmont San Francisco, 950 Mason Street Bay Area Cabaret’s season opening night presents Lillias White, Janis Siegel, Fre-

Artistic Director/Conductor Dr. Tim Seelig will lead the Chorus to launch their 40th season in a “Send Off” performance marking the start of their Lavender Pen Tour to five southern states in the South. The program will present a preview of music to be performed in nine cities over seven days in Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, South Carolina and North Carolina. Performing with the Chorus will be the award-winning Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir. sfgmc.org Pictures at an Exhibition San Francisco Lesbian Gay Freedom Band September 30 Everett Middle School, 450 Church Street Artistic Director, Pete Nowlen, and the San Francisco Lesbian/Gay Freedom Band are proud to present a rich mosaic of concert band music, including Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, McBeth’s Of Sailors and Whales, Giroux’s Riften Wed, and Ehitacre’s Noisy Wheels of Joy. http://sflgfb.townalive.com/4919/pictures-atan-exhibition-fall-2017-community-concert/ Neil Sedaka at Sunset September 30 Sunset Center, San Carlos Street at Ninth Avenue, Carmel-by-the-Sea Sunset Center’s Fifth Annual Gala brings the remarkable Neil Sedaka to Carmel for a performance followed by a Meet and Greet with VIP treatment. Sedaka’s sixty-year career includes his role as an early teen pop sensation in the 50s, a successful songwriter in the 60s and superstardom in the 70s followed by his continuing artistry through the 90s and to the present. (LGBT Trivia: Sedaka’s song “Should I Begin the Dance” is said to be a steamy tango about gay seduction.) sunsetcenter.org

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arts

(continued)

Well Strung

Barbara Higbie

Armistead Maupin

OCTOBER MisterWives October 4 Fox Theatre, 1807 Telegraph Avenue, Oakland MisterWives is the latest in a long line of genre-defying bands to break out of New York City and gain recognition on a global stage. Every pair of tickets purchased online comes with a digital download of the group’s new album Connect the Dots. http://thefoxoakland.com/events/misterwives/ Janet Jackson: State of the World Tour October 5 Concord Pavilion, 2000 Kirker Pass Road, Concord The State of the World Tour will be the eighth concert tour by recording superstar Janet Jackson. The tour is in support of her eleventh studio album, Unbreakable (2015), and is a renamed continuation of the Unbreakable World tour that was postponed in 2016 due to Jackson’s pregnancy.

Her son Eissa is super cute and doing well, so Jackson is back! livenation.com Well-Strung at Feinstein’s at the Nikko October 5,6,7 Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason Street Well-Strung—the all-male string, quartet—will return to Feinstein’s at the Nikko for San Francisco Fleet Week for three performances. Hailed as “the hottest thing with a bow since Jennifer Lawrence in The Hunger Games” by the New York Daily News, the classically trained foursome will perform pop/classical mashups featuring hits by Stevie Nicks, Rihanna, The Outfield, Queen, The Beatles, Lady Gaga, Jules Massenet, Henry Mancini and Pasek & Paul. http://www.feinsteinsatthenikko.com/calendar/ Barbara Higbie and Friends October 7 Freight & Salvage Coffeehouse, 2020 Addison Street, Berkeley Windham Hill recording artist and legendary Women’s Music star Barbara Higbie is a master of piano and violin who combines technical brilliance with the pure joy of playing. Her unique compositions weave together elements of jazz, folk, and classical with the music of Ghana and Brazil. She will be joined at The Freight by a group of guest performers for a night that you won’t want to miss. thefreight.org boulders and bones - ODC Dance October 11 Cal Performances, Zellerbach Hall, 2425 Bancroft Avenue, Berkeley “A colossal triumph of the imagination,” (The Huffington Post) boulders and bones traces the shifting light, changing landscape, and raw natural materials of an Andy Goldsworthy installation and transforms these images into an exploration of the process of creation. Co-choreographed

by ODC artistic directors Brenda Way and KT Nelson, the performance will be set to a driving electro-acoustic score composed and performed live by cellist Zoë Keating. calperformances.org An Evening with Armistead Maupin October 11 Jewish Community Center of San Francisco ( JCCSF), 3200 California Each year on October 11, the LGBTQ community celebrates National Coming Out Day, a holiday grounded in the philosophy that coming out 26

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Margaret Cho

Dracula

of the closet and living openly as an LGBTQ person is a form of activism. In honor of the 29th anniversary of this holiday, the JCCSF is honored to present the incomparable Armistead Maupin (Tales of the City) for a conversation about his long-awaited memoir Logical Family, which chronicles his odyssey from the Old South to freewheeling San Francisco, and his evolution from curious youth to groundbreaking writer and gay rights pioneer. Appearing in conversation with Armistead Maupin will be Peter Stein, a Senior Programmer at Frameline and a renowned arts and media producer. jccsf.org Margaret Cho: Fresh off the Bloat October 12 The Castro Theatre, 429 Castro Street Local favorite Margaret Cho says, “It’s my sickest show to date.” She also quotes her grandmother who said, “You look bloated, as if you’ve been found dead in a lake after several days of searching.” Cho says she will be talking about being fresh off drugs and drinking, and being on the brink of suicide after having come back to life following being fished out of the river Styx. http://www.ticketmaster.com/margaret-cho-castro-theater-san-francisco-ca/venueartist/229558/784761 The Eva Trilogy October 19–November 12 Magic Theatre, Fort Mason Center, 2 Marina Blvd, Bldg D Magic Theatre will present Barbara Hammond’s The Eva Trilog y, a three-play cycle presented for the first time in a single production at the Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture. Each play in the trilogy will have its own perspective, landscape, and atmosphere. The three plays— Eden, Enter the Roar and No Coast Road—form a lyrical Irish epic spanning 30 years in the life of a rebellious Irish expatriate named Eva. The plot centers on Eva’s return to Ireland from Paris when her ailing mother begins to falter. She makes a fateful decision about her mother that cannot be undone. The choice Eva makes achieves legendary status in her community, and haunts her for the rest of her life. matictheatre.org Walter Isaacson, Leonardo da Vinci October 24 Jewish Community Center of San Francisco, 3200 California Walter Isaacson—author of the acclaimed bestsellers on Steve Jobs, Albert Einstein and Benjamin Franklin—offers a fresh look at Leonardo da Vinci. Based on thousands of pages from Leonardo’s notebooks and new discoveries about his unconventional life, Isaacson tells the story of how Leonardo’s wide-ranging passions, combined with his ability to stand at the crossroads of art and science, make him history’s most creative genius. Most historians believe that he was LGBT too! jccsf.org Magic, Mysteries & Music: Costume Party Saturday, October 28 Osher Marin JCC, Kanbar Center for the Performing Arts, 200 N. San Pedro Road, San Rafael This third annual costume dance party at the Kanbar Center will offer the chance for guests to create mystery, add magic to their attire and dance the night away with a costume contest, cocktails and more. marinjcc.org Dracula: Philip Glass & Kronos Quartet October 31 Paramount Theatre, 2025 Broadway, Oakland S AN F R ANC IS C O BAY T IM ES

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Larry Kramer

The Joffrey Ballet

Community Women’s Orchestra

Oakland Ballet

The Spinners

Sunset Cruise on the San Francisco Bay for women who love to dance!

Views of the Bay Bridge, Alcatraz, the San Francisco Skyline, and the Golden Gate Bridge SATURDAY, SEPT 30th PRICE: $40

Called “one of Glass’ most lyrical, moving works”

by Billboard, this Dracula score will be performed

by Glass himself and the Grammy Award-winning Kronos Quartet during a live screening of the 1931 classic film at Oakland’s Art Deco palace: the Paramount Theatre. The event will be part of Philip Glass’ 80th birthday celebration, matching him with Tod Browning’s iconic 1931 horror classic, Dracula, starring Bela Lugosi. Easily one of the most prolific and influential artists of 20th Century, Glass rose to prominence as one of the so-called “minimalist” composers in the late 1960s. His seminal long-form composition Music in 12 Parts, electric chamber opera Einstein on the Beach, and score to Godfrey Reggio’s groundbreaking 1983 film Koyaanisqatsi brought his singular approach to the mainstream. Glass’ current work encompasses solo piano, chamber music, opera, and increasingly, soundtracks. paramounttheatre.com

BOARD 5:30 pm DEPART 6 pm RETURN 9 pm Broadway Pier, Jack London Square, Oakland Eventbrite Tickets: PLAY ON THE BAY

NOVEMBER The Normal Heart by Larry Kramer November 3–25 Eureka Theatre, 215 Jackson Street The Normal Heart is a largely autobiographical play by AIDS activist Larry Kramer. It focuses on the rise of the HIV/AIDS crisis in New York City between 1981 and 1984, as seen through the eyes of writer and activist Ned Weeks, the gay founder of a prominent HIV advocacy group. Ned prefers loud public confrontations to the calmer, more private strategies favored by his associates, friends, and closeted lover Felix Turner. Their differences of opinion lead to frequent arguments that threaten to undermine their mutual goal. therhino.org Oakland Ballet - Luna Mexicana November 3 Paramount Theatre, Paramount Theatre, 2025 Broadway, Oakland Luna Mexicana is a dance and music celebration of the iconic Mexican holiday, Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead). In Luna Mexicana, a young woman’s dreams revive her relatives and friends, who all dance back to life in the forms of teetering skeletons, skirt-swishing girls, a high flying “deer dancer,” and a deathly Bride and Groom. This family-friendly performance will be filled with festive dancing, colorful costumes, and vibrant music including traditional Mexican folk tunes and witty electronic fu28

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sions. Audience members are encouraged to attend in Day of the Dead attire and to arrive early to participate in the Dia de los Muertos festivities in the theater lobby prior to the performance. paramounttheatre.com The Joffrey Ballet November 17–19 Cal Performances, Zellerbach Hall, 2425 Bancroft Avenue, Berkeley With this program of new and recent works by some of the most exciting choreographers working today, The Joffrey Ballet stays true to its 60-year reputation for innovation and eclecticism. Performed to a live Philip Glass score, Justin Peck’s In Creases showcases his keen eye for manipulating bodies to form complex geometric structures. Annabelle Lopez Ochoa creates a spellbinding depiction of a turbulent cloud formation in Mammatus, and Swedish choreographer Alexander Ekman’s Joy, a Cal Performances co-commission, will receive its West Coast premiere. calperformances.org Community Women’s Orchestra Concert November 19 Lake Merritt United Methodist Church, 1333 Lakeshore Avenue, Oakland The Community Women’s Orchestra’s 33rd season opens with its Fall Family Concert Sunday on November 19 @ 4 pm. Featured works will include CWO resident composer June Bonacich’s Rumpelstiltskin, with award-winning young adult fiction author and CWO violinist Anne Nesbet narrating.

Nesbet’s Cloud and Wallfish recently won a California Book Award. http://communitywomensorchestra.org/ The Spinners November 24–26 Yoshi’s, 510 Embarcadero West, Oakland One of the biggest soul groups since the 1970s, The Spinners are known for a hit list including “Then Came You,” “I’ll Be Around,” “Mighty Love,” “Games People Play,” “Working My Way Back to You Babe” and much more. The classic sound of this legendary group, which has sold millions of records, will come to Yoshi’s in Oakland for six shows over three days during Thanksgiving Weekend. The run at this great venue—with delish food and drinks in both the performance space and adjoining restaurant—is sure to sell out. yoshis.com

Writing from Within I try to stay awake to this idea, and to see the possibility of every new moment as a chance to reinvent, and to rediscover how I can make a contribution to a life that is uniquely mine.

Words Michele Karlsberg For this issue of the San Francisco Bay Times, I present a guest article written

by Christie Hardwick, the talented founder of Provincetown Inspiration Weekend (http://inspirationgatherings.org): Fifteen years ago, I left my executive role at a Silicon Valley Tech company and haven’t looked back.

As I left, folks asked me what I planned to do, and some followed me as their leadership coach. Over the years, I’ve had the opportunity to provide guidance and support to leaders in industry, government and the nonprof it world. As I set out on this new journey, I wrote myself a road map in the form of a book. It is a simple book full of vibrant pictures of Paris and The ABC’s of An Extraordinary Life.

One reminder in the “O” section is that “Ordinary doesn’t exist. It’s only when we are not paying attention that we think we’ve stumbled on something ordinary. In truth, there is not one repetitive thing; in every breath, it is all new.”

A few years back, when marriage equality was on the horizon but not yet in view, I wrote a book with a colleague called The Progressive Wedding Book, a guide for same gender, transgender and progressive couples. I wanted to contribute to the conversation and celebrate the choice that was becoming more and more available to nontraditional couples. In the book, we explore marriage and its history, and provide a practical howto for when it comes to making the wedding day your own.

Both books came from promptings from within. First there was a faint idea, and then a fullyformed vision. Taking action was a joy. Not everything flows so easily from me or for me, though. When I first had a feeling that I needed to make myself available to more than one person at a time in my coaching practice, I resisted. I didn’t have time, I didn’t know how, it would be too much work, blah, blah, blah. The taps on the shoulder eventually became a shakeup that would wake me at night to write down ideas. The wakeup call became Provincetown Inspiration Weekend, now in its fourth year.

This weekend reminds us of what is extraordinary in each of us and celebrates our progress as spiritual and human beings. Over 100 people join my wife and me in Cape Cod to be

immersed in music, song, poetr y, spoken word, movement, art and meditation. It is a gift for us and for all of those who attend.

From the “D” section of The ABC’s of an Extraordinary Life: “Develop your g ifts. You know what they are; those things that call you in the quiet of the night, the things you love to do … be at least as much as what is calling you and dare to be more.”

Join us for the weekend starting September 29th. Find your inspiration, tap into the Fierce Love within, and see what happens next!

As a mother, grandmother, leadership coach, spiritual activist, singer and writer, Christie Hardwick is black lesbian proud.

Michele Karlsberg Marketing and Management specializes in publicity for the LGBT community. This year, Karlsberg celebrates twentyeight years of successful book campaigns.

On Accepting Others’ Truths

By Lyndsey Schlax (Editor’s Note: Teacher Lyndsey Schlax of the Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of the Arts launched the nation’s first on-site high school LGBT course in 2015. She has just resumed teaching that groundbreaking class. In this column, her students share their thoughts about LGBT-related matters, including their concerns, what they have learned in class and more. All of the following pieces were written by 12th graders.)

On Accepting Others’ Truths The foundation of social justice has to be understanding and accepting others’ experiences as true. Without that, we have nothing. A couple of years ago, a friend of mine came out as genderqueer. This means they don’t identify as either a man or a woman, and use gender neutral pronouns (they/ them/their).

When this friend first came out as gender non-conforming, I struggled with understanding their point of view. How could they possibly feel the way they did? I spent more time wondering why they felt this way, rather than just accepting them for who they were. However, once I came around, I found myself not only accepting my friend, but also advocating for other non-binary individuals.

This story is not only true for my friend and me, but also for many allies who have similar stories. We need to move on from solely individual acceptance, and move to a place where society accepts people for who they are, regardless of whether or not they conform. This is what starts with accepting others’ truths as just that … true.

As ideas of “fake news” circulate in the media, I’m finding that increasing numbers of people are unlikely to believe what others are saying. If we have any intention of promoting 30

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equality and acceptance, we need to move away from these ideas, and return to a place where someone’s word means something.

Leaving San Francisco San Francisco is a bubble full of optimism and acceptance. This city is one of the greatest in the world, in my opinion, but I’m just a teenager born and raised in this city. Often times I think about what will happen when I go to college and if the place I end up at is not as liberal and accepting. How will I say how I feel without looking completely out of place? How will I be accepted if everyone else is conservative and not as open minded as someone from San Francisco is? I know it will be challenging to find myself and how to express myself if I’m not in San Francisco, or even the Bay Area.

Although thoughts about the feature scare me, I have to face them. I’ve come to the conclusion that I can’t be scared of what people think and I how I will fit in. Growing up here has made me who I am: I have been to school walkouts, the pride parade and more. Through all of this, I found that I should be proud of who I am and what I believe in, and not let anyone tell me different. So, wherever I am in the future—whether a liberal city or not, an accepting, largely optimistic city or a small conservative city—I should always stay true to myself. If no one understands that, that’s fine, as long as I know where I stand and I don’t alter my beliefs to fit into a society.

LGBT and Me My queer is purple lipstick and skinny jeans.

Button downs and charm bracelets, smoky eyes and stilettos.

Self-expression and self-acceptance

STUDENT VOICES Finding the joy in every moment, finding the good in every person.

Following my heart, but not forgetting my mind.

Falling in love, but not forgetting to love myself.

Shiny gold jewelry and combat boots.

And, of course, way too many scarves.

My queer is who I am.

This is my queer, and I encourage you to explore yours as you follow our class’s column this year.

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

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE DE YOUNG AND LEGION OF HONOR

The Māori Portraits: Gottfried Lindauer’s New Zealand September 9, 2017–April 1, 2018 at the de Young Come face to face with the leading Māori protagonists of nineteenth-century New Zealand in a series of arresting images by the country’s most prolific portrait painter, Gottfried Lindauer. These paintings, revered embodiments of Māori ancestors, capture the fascinating personal stories of his subjects as well as the complex intercultural exchanges occurring at a time of great political, cultural and social change.

Thirty-one compelling historic portraits of Māori rangatira (men and women of esteem and rank) are on view in The Māori Portraits: Gottfried Lindauer’s New Zealand. Painted by a Bohemianborn immigrant artist who created the largest number of Māori portraits in existence, these finely detailed and powerful images pay tribute to the individuals who served their communities and the emerging country of New Zealand when colonial settlement was forging cross-cultural interactions between Māori— the indigenous people of New Zealand—and Pākehā, European settlers and their descendants.

They document peacemakers and warriors, politicians and diplomats, tour guides and landholders, entrepreneurs and global traders painted between 1874 and 1903.

For more information, including a related calendar of events, please visi t : h t t ps://d e yo u n g.fa m s f.o r g/ exhibitions/maori-portraits-gottfriedlindauers-new-zealand

Gottfried Lindauer, “Pare Watene,” 1878. Oil on canvas. Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, Gift of Mr H E Partridge, 1915

Gottfried Lindauer, “Major Waata Kukutai,” Undated. Oil on canvas, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, gift of Mr H E Partridge, 1915

Gottfried Lindauer, “Tamati Waka Nene,” 1890. Oil on canvas.

Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, Gift of Mr H E Partridge, 1915

Gottfried Lindauer, “Eruera Maihi Patuone,” 1874. Oil on canvas. Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, Gift of Mr H E Partridge, 1915

Gottfried Lindauer, “Tamati Pirimona Marino,” undated. Oil on canvas. Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, Gift of Mr H E Partridge, 1915 S AN F R ANC IS C O BAY T IM ES

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Nice Day for a White Wedding Dress

By The Team at Janene’s Bridal Boutique Janene’s Bridal Boutique was in the works even before it opened! Janene started sewing when she was 8 years old. By age 14, she was creating gowns for weddings, and has now been in the wedding industry for over 40 years, having worked at some of San Francisco’s finest bridal boutiques.

To make her dream of opening her own bridal boutique a reality, her daughter Stephani quit her full-time job and helped her mother open the boutique of her dreams! After 8 years, this mother-daughter duo continues to help countless brides find their dream wedding gowns.

We believe that finding your wedding gown shouldn’t be a ‘task’ and instead should be a memorable time. With so much experience in the wedding industry, we’ve gathered our top 5 tips for finding your dream dress and making the most out of your dress shopping: Have an open mind. However, bring pictures of dresses you like.

Bring the right group. There is nothing worse than too many opinions.

Know your budget and stick to it. Keep alterations in mind.

Start dress shopping at least 8 months beforehand, although there are options for shorter time periods.

Bring the right undergarments: a pair of nude undies and a strapless bra.

By keeping these tips in mind while shopping for your wedding gown, you are sure to make the most out of this memorable experience. So, get out there and say “Yes to the Dress” with ease!

At Janene’s Bridal Boutique we are dedicated to helping you make your dream wedding a beautiful and memorable reality. We have a stunning collection of bridal gowns and also offer a full range of alterations, which are performed in house

by Janene and our alterations team! You can contact us at 510-217-8076 or Info@ JanenesBridal.com

J O H N S T O N, K I N N E Y & Z U L A I C A LLP

With nine attorneys in two locations, we serve the LGBT community with expertise, experience and sensitivity.

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Frederick Sullivan and Jaime Botello, who oversee the Weddings & Occasions page for the San Francisco Bay Times, are the talented wizards behind Sullivan-Botello Events (http://sullivanbotelloevents.com) and SnB Party Rentals (650-877-0840, www.snbpartyrentals.com). Both are Certified Wedding Planners with extensive experience in creating memorable, personalized events for special occasions. Their rental service is incredible, offering everything from beautiful gold Chiavari chairs to LED dance floors, and all at competitive prices. They are the creators of the Gay Vanity Wedding Show and are longstanding members of the Golden Gate Business Association, which is the nation’s first LGBT Chamber of Commerce.

Sister Dana Sez: Words of Wisdumb from a Fun Nun and Ehra Amaya, the GAPA Foundation Board has decided to award both candidates the title of Miss GAPA 2017. As a result, please join us in congratulating our new royals: Miss GAPA 2017, Mimi Osa; Miss GAPA 2017, Ehra Amaya; and Mr. GAPA 2017, Danny Chung. GAPA Foundation looks forward to working with our winners this coming year!” gapafoundation.org

Sister Dana sez, “T-rump’s tweet proposing a ban on transgenders serving in the military is set to become policy.

The necessary memo, outlining guidelines and directing the Department of Defense to implement the policy, are being delivered to Defense Secretary James Mattis. However, this policy is unconstitutional and is a direct violation of Title VII, which protects individuals from sexbased harassment in the workplace, and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, which guarantees that all persons will be treated equally. Period! So there!!!”

The RICHMOND/ERMET AID FOUNDATION (REAF) presented HELP IS ON THE WAY 23 – Puttin’ On The Glitz, celebrating music, legends & icons, their 23rd Annual Gala as a benefit for Meals on Wheels of San Francisco, & Positive Resource Center at Herbst Theatre. There was a glorious VIP Gala Reception in the Green Room, prior to the Performance at 7:30 pm; then the lovely Club REAF After Party with the cast and music by DJ’s GoBANG!. Some of the performers included Levi Kress, Trent Harmon, Jessica Sanchez, Maureen McGovern, David Burnham, Lisa Vroman, Carole Cook, Garrett Clayton, Maddie Baillio, Paula West, Jason Brock, Lisa Viggiano, and Eileen & Leah Bourgade. “Help is on the Way” is Northern California’s largest annual benefit concert benefiting HIV/AIDS and hunger programs. It’s always an elegant evening of wonderful music, delicious food and beverages tastings and, most of all, fun. reaf-sf.org GAPA (Gay Asian Pacific Alliance) presented Runway 29: SLAYYY-vatar” The Legend of GAPA at Herbst Theatre. Long ago, there was harmony throughout the Gay Asian Pacific Alliance community. Then, everything was Trumped! Only the Slayyyvatar could restore the unity within GAPA and save the world. We joined GAPA for San Francisco’s most popular annual pageant that celebrates the gaysian community—where candidates vied to be crowned Mister and Miss GAPA 2017, and where the new Slayyyvatar fabulously reemerged. But there was a slight controversy; so now for a word from GAPA organizers to explain: “GAPA Foundation would like to, first and foremost, thank all the attendees and candidates for making GAPA Runway 29 a success. Without your support, this production for the community by the community would not be possible. With that said, GAPA Foundation would like to apologize for a tabulation error that was identified following the completion of the show. After further investigation and recalculation, we have determined that the highest scoring candidate for Miss GAPA 2017 is Ehra Amaya.

GAPA Foundation sincerely apologizes for this mistake, but we believe that this is an opportunity for us to break the norm that in order for one person to win, another must lose. After speaking with both Mimi Osa

Some of us Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence and our friends and a gay priest decided to do some chalk art on Jane Warner Plaza to demonstrate love not hate and acceptance not discrimination during these terrible T-rump times of terror. We welcomed interested passersby to join us and pick up some chalk and sprinkle some glitter around. Even though most of our art disappeared the next day, we made a tiny difference for a moment in the world—well, at least in the Castro anyway.

San Francisco came together to resist hate and bigotry. Protests, non-profit events, dance parties and marches were planned across the City to express our collective disgust with white supremacy, Fascism, and Nazism. At noon on August 26, Juanita MORE! hosted the OFFICIAL RALLY AND MARCH FOR EQUALITY from Harvey Milk Plaza to Civic Center along with community leaders: Cleve Jones, Honey Mahogany, Sister Roma, Ani Rivera, Mercedez Munro , Alex U. Inn, Roberto Ordenana, Don Romesburg, Cecilia Chung, and Lito Sandoval. The event was open to everyone who believes in diversity, inclusivity, and the power of a free and equal democracy. There were speeches by leaders from the community. Unlike some other demonstrations, this was peaceful and loving with no damage and zero arrests.

Each year, a panel of diverse judges awards absolutely fabulous Parade participants in numerous categories.

Award ribbons are distributed to the winners on Parade Day. The judges also nominate up to five (5) nominees for the Best of the Best Overall Parade Award for a public vote.

Best Overall nominees for 2017: Cal Aggie Marching Band-Uh!, California Bluegrass Association, El/La Para TransLatinas, Glide Memorial Church, and Planned Parenthood of Northern CA. Cast a vote for your favorite before 6 pm on Friday, September 8. The winner of the Best of the Best Overall Parade Contingent award will be announced at the September 9 Community Partners Check Granting and Parade Awards Party. Only one vote per person. Duplicates or multiples will be disqualified. sfpride.org With 10 Tony nominations including Best Musical, “SOMETHING ROTTEN!” is a not rotten but very fresh and fabulous hit! Set in the ‘90s—the 1590s—this hilarious smash musical tells the story of Nick and Nigel Bottom (Tony nom-

SISTER DANA SEZ, “SOMETHINGS THAT ARE NOT ROTTEN ARE COMING UP SOON. CHECK ‘EM OUT! Sculptures, vibrant colors, and textiles will be celebrated on September 9 at Thomasina DeMaio’s ART SAVES LIVES GALLERY, at 518 Castro Street in the Castro. The gallery has fostered an ongoing partnership with THE ARC SAN FRANCISCO, a nonprofit that aims to aid adults with developmental disabilities in living independent and enriched lives. The resulting collaboration is an art show showcasing the work of dozens of developmentally disabled clients of The Arc. To help them to learn a sense of entrepreneurship, half of the proceeds from the sale of each work will go directly to the artist, while the other half will be returned to The Arc’s art programs.

The Art Saves Lives Gallery is open Tuesdays and Thursdays from 12–9 pm, and Saturdays and Sundays from 12–4 pm. thearcsf.org On Friday, September 8, 8–10 pm, STRUT at 470 Castro Street is having a wine & nibblies reception for the work of Karl Fjelstrom entitled “SCATTERED.” He is a San Francisco based artist, using the traditional medium of oil paint on canvas and rendering subjects in a photo-realistic style so the focus is taken off the technique and placed solely on the image. ARTIST STATEMENT: “Scrambled or ‘Scattered’ porn is something you may have stumbled across during adolescence: late at night. You couldn’t always see a clear picture, but you knew what was happening. As a painter, I have always enjoyed making images where the subject matter isn’t so specific that everything is spelled out for the viewer.” He continues, “My goal with this collection is to showcase the male physique by taking the normally objectified perspective of gay pornographic culture and elevating it to the point of fine art. The images are ‘creatively censored’ by dissecting, cropping, or blurring out various parts of the composition, much like that of watching scattered channels on a television. Since there are technically no depictions of full-on genitalia, it is not overtly obscene. It blurs the line of erotica and pornography, a theme prominent in gay culture. strutsf.org (continued on page 38)

DENNIS MCMILLAN ON FACEBOOK.COM

By Sister Dana Van Iquity

inee Rob McClure and Broadway’s Josh Grisetti), two brothers who are desperate to write their own hit play while the “rock star” Shakespeare (Tony nominee Adam Pascal) keeps getting all the hits. When a local soothsayer foretells that the future of theatre involves singing, dancing and acting at the same time (heretofore an unheard of combination) Nick and Nigel set out to write the world’s very first MUSICAL! My friend took me to see this Something Rotten show, and I cannot stop raving about it. It’s at SHN Orpheum Theatre.

Sister Dana (left) enjoyed attending Burning Man with Sister Kitty Catalyst, Sister Jane D’oh, and Sister Ann R Key at Black Rock City in 1996.

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Speaking to Your Soul ARIES (March 21–April 19) What from the past six months is worth keeping? What would you do better without? It’s time to let go of what keeps you from true spiritual evolution. Tap resources like meditation and dreamwork to receive guidance from divinity. It’s best to listen for a bit before acting impulsively.

Astrology Elisa Quinzi If it feels as if we’re being shot through a birth canal of sorts, and there’s no turning around to go back, it’s because we are.

And how we respond is everything. The most pertinent question for ourselves now is: “How can we embrace reality, rather than escape it?” We are being asked what we have faith in.

And it is likely time for an upgrade.

TAURUS (April 20–May 20) You have the capacity to see the interconnectedness of all beings. You might feel compassion at a more visceral level now. You could successfully drop some of your attachments and pacifiers, so long as you don’t instead sink further into them. Choose wisely as your future depends on it.

GEMINI (May 21–June 20) If striving toward spiritual growth is of interest to you, you might make it a goal now and go public with it. Or you might come to align your goals with a more altruistic, helping direction.

CANCER ( June 21–July 22) You could catch a higher perception of the meaning of your quest now. Your intuition is amped up. Take care not to jump into something on blind faith. Rather, ask for guidance and then pause to listen.

LEO ( July 23–August 22) Sign up for that tantric yoga class. A portal opens and mystical union is highlighted. There is potential for a soulful intimate experience. Keep a clear head so you can maintain perspective as feelings wash over.

VIRGO (August 23–Sept. 22) You’re vulnerable to your own needs being subsumed by another’s. Boundaries can blur. To best resolve, tune your heart to a higher octave and aim for the highest good for all involved. Close relationships could reach new depths.

LIBRA (Sept. 23–Oct. 22) It is said, “God is in the details.” This couldn’t be truer for you than now. The order and routines you keep daily directly connect you to the big picture. Honor and utilize the mind-bodyspirit connection.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23–Nov. 21) Follow creative urges as your imagination opens to new vistas.

You’re more likely to be inspired now. Latent talents in the arts, or healing, could spring forth. If dating, take care not to fall too fast. Time will tell what is real versus fantasy.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22–Dec. 21) You could be feeling more sensitive now. Material might surface related to family, the need for boundaries, and underlying motives. Take the private time you need to sort through what’s arising. Trust your intuition. Practice self-care.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22–Jan.19) Your communications with others take on an uncharacteristic mystical bent. You could find yourself receiving psychic impressions or information that seems to come out of the blue.

Follow synchronicities while still holding up your trademark scrutiny.

AQUARIUS ( Jan. 20–Feb. 18) The planets urge you to believe in yourself. To the degree that you deem yourself worthy will you find that worth reflected by the world. There is nothing inherently wrong with money and material goods, but your own value as a spiritual being is what ultimately brings the greatest security.

PISCES (Feb. 19–March 20) You, Pisces, have reached a critical point in your evolutionary journey. The theme of ‘embrace or escape’ is more personal for you. You are being called to lean in absolutely to the truth at the center of your being. You could be flung toward new spiritual heights, or you could spiral downward and get caught in the undertow. The choice is yours for a limited time.

Elisa has been enjoying the art of astrological counseling since earning professional certification many years ago. In addition to astrological knowledge, she brings a high degree of conscious presence to her work, and creates a safe, comfortable atmosphere for sessions to unfold organically. Contact her at futureselfnow@gmail.com or 818-530-3366 or visit www.ElisaQuinzi.com

“Like” us on Facebook (SF Bay Times) and Check Out the Coming UP! Calendar for LGBT Events (sfbaytimes.com)

Posture Perfect

Take Me Home with You!

natural and right for our shoulders to round forward and our chests to cave in. We were made to accomplish exactly that.

Timone

Easy Fitness Cinder Ernst

“I love life, and it shows—the smile never leaves my face! My name is Timone, and I’m looking for a quiet home and adopters who will help me to learn about life. I’m an active, inquisitive little guy who’s curious about the world around me.

I want to go on long walks, meet new people, and get lots of snuggles … and I’m searching for the perfect adventure buddy!”

Timone 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 Timone.

To meet Timone and other pets seeking their forever homes, please visit: San Francisco SPCA Mission Campus 250 Florida Street San Francisco 94103 415-522-3500 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 34

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Dr. Jennifer Scarlett and Pup

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Your best-bet posture depends upon the alignment of your spine, from your tail bone to the base of your head. When mom used to say, “Sit up straight (and eat your vegetables),” she was on the right track. Today we’re going to look at some of the mechanics of your best-bet posture. Once you have a picture of how things work together, it’s often easier to make and keep postural improvements.

If you believe in evolution, then get a picture of early man in your mind.

In the beginning we were forward leaning, almost on “all fours.” Much of our muscular make-up was determined then. As we began to evolve and become more upright, some of that muscular make-up had to adapt.

To remain upright and pain-free, it’s good to consider our forward leaning roots and how to support the present upright posture.

There are a couple of key places where our historical posture really has an effect. Today we’ll look at the upper back/chest area. When we were forward leaning humans, it was

As an upright human, gravity is always pulling us forward. Also, many activities including reading, driving, device-using and computing contribute to pulling us forward. Young folks today have more trouble because they look down at their phones from a very early age. Looking down at your phone makes your muscles want to bring you forward. That postural position creates problems, such as: “hump back,” neck pain, back pain, headaches, and shoulder injuries. You also look kind of lousy when you have that hump posture going on.

Look around as you move through the world and notice other people’s postures. You might notice that people with their shoulders back, chest lifted and head held high look confident.

Folks with hump posture make a completely different impression.

Noticing other people’s posture is a good and fun way to remember to adjust your own posture position.

Awareness and a small self-adjustment are all it takes. Press your shoulder blades back then down. Lift your ribcage. Imagine your head as a natural extension of your spine. Then smile. Try it now, if you’re willing. Be sure to adjust gently. Do what feels good and right for your body.

You have to start where you are. If you have not been paying attention to posture then you might feel stiff and stuck. That’s okay; just go easy.

Shoulder rolls are a great way to loosen up the area so you can make the posture adjustments. Gently roll your shoulders up, back and around. Repeat a few times and then reverse.

Try the adjustment again, shoulder blades back and down, chest lifted, neck long and your head being a natural extension of your spine. Take a deep breath, and smile.

Next time we will begin the Easy Fitness Look Good Feel Better Posture Training!

Cinder Ernst, Medical Exercise Specialist and Life Coach Extraordinaire, helps reluctant exercisers get moving with safe, effective and fun programs. Find out more at http:// cinderernst.com

Professional Services

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Calendar of Upcoming Events sfbaytimes.com Compiled by Blake Dillon

7 : Thursday Oakland LGBTQ Community Center Grand Opening @ Oakland LGBTQ Community Center, 3207 Lakeshore Avenue. The Founders and Board of Directors invite all to enjoy complimentary food, guest speakers and entertainment. 6-9pm. oaklandlgbtqcenter.org How-To: Fermentation NightLife @ California Academy of Sciences, Golden Gate Park, 55 Music Concourse Drive. The weekly CAS NightLife event invites you to break down the science of fermentation from beer to cheese and everything in between. 6-10pm. calacademy.org Gay San Francisco Screening @ Tenderloin Museum, 398 Eddy Street. Filmmaker Jonathan Raymond’s historic documentary has been restored and will be screened for the first time ever presenting a striking look into queer life in SF decades ago. 7-9pm. tenderloinmuseum.org

8 : Friday EBabes Social & Ruby’s in Town Band @ Terrace Room, Lake Merritt Hotel, 1800 Madison Street. The longstanding social mixer welcomes Charlotte Maxwell Clinic staff and the band Ruby’s in Town for dancing to oldies, funk, R&B, Motown and more. 6pm Social/7:30pm Dancing. Ebabes TGIF on meetup.com San Mateo Pride Screening of Out Run @ The San Mateo County Pride Center, 1021 South El

Camino Real, San Mateo. Directors S. Leo Chiang and Johnny Symons will discuss their documentary film about the work of transgender woman Benrz Benedito’s life in the Philippines. 6:15pm. sanmateopride.org Indigo Girls @ Mountain Winery, 14831 Pierce Road, Saratoga. Twenty years after they began releasing records as the Indigo Girls, Amy Ray and Emily Saliers have sold over 14 mission records and they’re still going strong. Amythyst Kiah opens.

7:30pm. mountainwinery.com

9 : Saturday 20th Annual Tag Sale in Duboce Park @ Duboce Park, corner of Duboce, Steiner and Scott Streets. Friends of Duboce Park accepts donations and organizes this popular event where neighbors walk away with bargains and proceeds are earmarked for new lighting in the ally on the north side of the Harvey Milk Photography Center. 9am-2pm. friendsofdobucepark.org Golden Gate Gaymes and Picnic 2017 @ Collingwood Park, 149 Diamond Street. An annual day of food, fun and gaymes celebrating the Mr and Miss Golden Gate selection with an after party at Animal House at Beaux. 11am-3pm. imperialcouncilsf.org Celebrating Where We Come From, Envisioning Where We Are Going @ Community Hall St. Columba Catholic Church, 6401 San Pablo Avenue, Oakland. Join Father Aidan

McAleenan and featured guests for an event hosted by Bay Area Queer Men Mixers. 12:30-3:30pm. Bay Area Queer Men Mixers on Facebook GLAAD San Francisco Gala 2017 @ City View at Metreon, 135 4th Street #4000. Including a silent auction, dinner and program, the annual Gala’s honorees and special guests include TV host Ross Matthews, activist Blair Imani, singer/songwriter Julia Michaels and more. 5:30pm. glaad.org Cris Williamson: New Songs Salon in San Francisco @ MCC San Francisico, 1300 Polk Street. Williamson presents songs from her newest CD plus old faves in an intimate setting at an event designed to provide space for feeling safe and sharing time and music in community. 7pm. criswilliamson.com GAPA Men’s Chorus @ First Unitarian Church of Oakland, 685 14th Street, Oakland. Gay Asian Pacific Alliance (GAPA) presents Rise Up! Songs of Resistance & Love, featuring a multilingual selection of songs in defiant response to intolerance and oppression, while embracing an inclusive vision of love. 8pm. gapamc.org

10 : Sunday MAX’s Sunday in the Museum with Edgar (Degas) @ Legion of Honor Museum, 100 34th Avenue. Join other gay men and their friends at a fun-filled day at the museum. 10am-3pm. maxsf.org Opera in the Park Concert @ Sharon Meadow, Golden Gate Park - The 44th year of this annual preview of the Opera’s upcoming Fall Season, concluding with the audience joining singers for a rousing rendition of the brindisi drinking song from Verdi’s La Traviata. 1:30pm. sfopera.org Finale & Crowning of Mr and Miss Golden Gate @ TechShop San Francisco Gallery, 910 Howard Street. SF Imperial Court’s Emperor Nic Hunter and Empress Mercedez Munro host the annual event benefitting the Monarch’s Admin Fund and the Monarch’s Charity Fund.

4-7pm. imperialcouncilsf.org Azucar con Ache Farewell Concert @ Freight & Salvage Coffeehouse, 2020 Addison Street, Berkeley. The final show by the Bay Area’s popular women’s jazz/salsa band featuring vocals by Maria Cora.

7-10pm. freightandsalvage.org Pussy Power: Judy Chicago in Conversation with Sarah Thornton @ Jewish Community Center San Francisco, 3200 California Street. A conversation with artist Judy Chicago on her life and career coinciding with the opening of Judy Chicago’s exhibit at the Jessica Silverman Gallery, her first solo show in the Bay Area since The Dinner Party debuted at SFMOMA in 1979. 7pm. jccsf.org

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11 : Monday Perfectly Queer: Teachers on Parade @ Dog Eared Books Castro, 489 Castro Street. Two of San Francisco’s favorite English professors will read from their works: Daniel Curzon, author of Sweet, Sweet Stories; and Margo Perin, author of The Opposite of Hollywood.

7pm. dogearedbooks.com What Makes A Man: Learning & Unlearning Perceptions of Masculinity @ Strut, 3rd Floor, 470 Castro Street.

An evening co-hosted with the Mankind Project provides a social mixer with reflections on learning and unlearning perceptions around masculinity. 7-9pm. strutsf.org Grand Duke 42, Aja MonetAshton’s Monthly Bar Crawl @ The Cinch, 1723 Polk Street.

Meet the candidates running for the office of Grand Duke and Grand Duchess at this month’s event hosted by Grand Duchess Colette LeGrande-Ashton and Grand Duke Carlos Medal Romanoff. 7-10pm. sfducal.org

12 : Tuesday State of the GGBA @ Hibernia Bank Building, 1 Jones Street. Enjoy a docent-led tour of the historic venue, participate in GGBA’s Board of Directors election, network during the Mini-Expo and learn about plans for the upcoming WBA LGBT Economic Summit. 6-8pm. ggba.com Lessons from the Summer of Love: Building a Culture of Hope and Resistance @ Roosevelt Middle School, 460 Arguello Blvd. A discussion with David Talbot, Season of the Witch author, on what can be learned form the cultural revolution of the past as we try to build a culture of resistance today. 7:30-9pm. sfhistory.org

13 : Wednesday

Artist Talk with Julie Mehretu @ San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr Atrium, Floor 1, 151 Third Street. Mehretu will discuss her site-specific diptych’s two vast canvasses commissioned through a new program of SFMOMA. 6:30pm. exhibitsfmoma.org Gay Women’s Gathering: An Evening About Lesbian Pregnancy @ The Women’s Building, Audre Lorde Room, 3543 18th Street #8. Path2Parenthood presents an event with medical and legal experts to answer questions about working with sperm donors, safeguards for LGBT families, medical procedures and more. 6:307:30pm. corey@path2parenthood.org Cole Valley Book Group @ Crepes, 100 Carl Street. The group discusses Colson Whitehead’s The Underground Railroad. 6:30pm.

Beautiful by Night + Queens At Heart Screening @ Tenderloin Museum, 398 Eddy Street. The documentary film Beautiful by Night about three older drag entertainers at the famed gay bar Aunt Charlie’s will be shown alongside the 1967 short documentary Queens At Heart, a rare and provocative look at pre-Stonewall queer life now in its 50th year.

6:30-9pm. tenderloinmuseum.org

15 : Friday Pride & Joy Book Reading @ Laurel Bookstore, 1423 Broadway, Oakland. Author Kathleen Archambeau will discuss her new work Pride & Joy: LGBTQ Artists, Icons and Everyday Heroes. 7-8:30pm. laurelbookstore.com Richmond’s Rainbow @ Kaleidoscope Coffee, 109 Park Place, Richmond. Richmond Rainbow Pride’s monthly LGBTQI event every third Friday to hangout, chat and meet others from Richmond and all over West County. 7-8:30pm. richmondrainbowpride.org

Castro Farmers Market @ Noe & Market Streets. Ongoing outdoor market in the Castro featuring fresh and organic foods from local vendors. 4pm-8pm, every Wednesday through Nov. 4-8pm. pcfma.org

Lumina Light Shows @ San Mateo County Pride Center, 1021 South El Camino Real, San Mateo. A laser light show will be presented with live music by artist Mariah Larkin. 8-9:30pm. sanmateopride.org

Women’s Jazz & Blues Jam! @ Octopus Literary Salon, 2101 Webster Street #170, Oakland.

With drums, keyboard and amps available, this gathering sponsored

by Jazzwomen & Girls Advocates, provides a supportive space for musicians to meet, greet and make some music. 7-9pm. oaklandoctopus.org

16 : Saturday

14 : Thursday

Barbary Coast Trail Walk: North Beach, Washington Square and Telegraph Hill @ Meeting Point TBA. “Hipsters, Paesani and Semaphone Hill” is the theme of this exploration of the artistic and cultural traditions of the heart of North Beach and Coit Tower. 11am-12pm. sfhistory.org

September Queer Reading in Collaboration with Foglifter @ SF Public Library, 100 Larkin.

Hosted by Juliana Delgado Lopera, the event brings together RADAR Productions and Foglifter for an epic reading. 6pm. sfpl.org

Summer of Resistance Oakland: Non-violent Direct Action Training @ 955 7th Street, Oakland. Greenpeace hosts a full-day workshop on creative, nonviolent resistance including basic concepts of non-violent direct action as a tool for change. 9:30am5:30pm. summerofresistance.org

Castro Community on Patrol Volunteer Training Class @ Castro Training Location. The training introduces volunteers to the Patrol Training Model where they learn to act as community leaders in safety and security. Registration required.

1-4pm. castropatrol.org

VISIT OUR BOOTH! San Francisco Bay Times will be at Oakland Pride on Sunday, September 10!

17 : Sunday Live in the Castro: The Castro Flaggers @ Jane Warner Plaza, 17th and Castro. The Castro Business District’s ongoing series of live events continues. 1-2pm.

Muir Beach Live Presents Bad Ass Boots! @ Muir Beach Community Center, 19 Seascape Drive, Muir Beach. An open-to-thepublic event at Muir Beach that’s sure to have the dancers up and on the dance floor. 3-5pm. badassbootsband.com Sunday’s A Drag @ The Starlight Room, Powell Street. Hosted by Donna Sachet, the event features a brunch and a troupe of entertainers described as “The Greatest Drag Show in San Francisco.” Two shows every Sunday at 11am and 2pm. starlightroomsf.com

18 : Monday Panel Discussion: LGBT Immigration @ Strut, 470 Castro Street. Strut and The LGBT Asylum Project present an international music performance and panel discussion, hosted by Donna Sachet and moderated by Adam Sandel, talking about LGBT survival, resilience and the diversity that immigration brings to our community. 7pm. strut.org

19 : Tuesday Heather Gold @ Octopus Literary Salon, 2101 Webster Street, Oakland. Ace storyteller Heather Gold’s Everything Is Subject to Change is an exploration of her experience of loss in a time when the pace of loss is accelerating, structures are falling apart and something new is being born, as she puts it. 7:30pm. heathergold.com Degas, Impressionism, and the Paris Millinery Trade @ Legion of Honor, Lincoln Park, 100 34th Avenue. Featuring more than forty Impressionist paintings and pastels, including key works by Degas, as well as Renoir, Manet, Cassatt and Loulouse-Lautrec, in addition to a display of forty examples of period hats. Continues through September 24. 9:30am-5:15pm. legionofhonor.famsf.org

20 : Wednesday In Town Show @ Aunt Charlie’s Lounge, 133 Turk Street. An annual show marking the start of the SF Ducal Council’s Coronation celebration. 6-10pm. sfducal.org Smack Dab Open Mic @ Dog Eared Books Castro, 489 Castro Street. Poet, playwright and author Brenda Usher-Carpino brings her unique perspective as a Black lesbian who was married to a straight white man and much more to her featured presentation with co-hosts Dana Hopkins and Larry-bob Roberts.

7:30pm. dogearedbooks.com Wednesdays at Feinstein’s @ Feinstein’s at the Nikko, 222 Mason. A rotating series of events presented each month on Wednesdays, including Broadway Bingo at the Nikko with host Katya Smirnoff-Skyy and musical director Joe Wicht. 7pm. feinsteinsatthenikko.com

Read More Online: sfbaytimes.com S AN F R ANC IS C O BAY T IM ES

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KRAMER (continued from page 21)

SISTER DANA (continued from page 33)

Peter Bratt: For me, what I took away—discouraged as I am by the current political climate, and thinking, “What’s the use?”—was after interviewing the people around her, and seeing her still organizing, she convinces them they still have power, and that helps create change. She speaks truth to power no matter who you are and where she is. That frustrates people or pisses them off. I don’t think she apologizes. I like that. We need more of that. She gave me emotional fortitude that re-invigorated me. I hope others get that from the film, especially now.

THE GOLDEN GATE GAYMES AND PICNIC is a tradition for the finale of the Mr. and Miss Golden Gate titleholders, William Bulkley & Mimi Osa. Saturday, September 9, 11 am–3 pm, 100 Collingwood Street. Join them for food, fun and “gaymes” in Collingwood Park. They are asking for a small donation for food and beverages. Register your four-person team for a chance to win some lovely commemorative medallions! The Gaymes conclude and the party carries on at Animal House at Beaux at 4 pm.

© 2017 Gary M. Kramer

Get ready to hear Driver Doug recite chapters from his latest book, “THE DAO OF DOUG 2: THE ART OF DRIVING A BUS KEEPING ZEN IN SAN FRANCISCO TRANSIT: A LINE TRAINER’S GUIDE,” at Art

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

Saves Lives Castro Studio and Performance Space, 518 Castro Street on Tuesday, September 12. Hosted

by Uel Renteria. Reception 6:30 pm, Reading 7 pm, book signing 7:30 pm. daoofdoug.com Co-Chairs Peter Borkon, Sean Livingston, and Megan Minkiewicz invite you to TRIBUTE 35, an inspiring evening at City Hall marking 35 years of SAN FRANCISCO AIDS FOUNDATION honoring leaders in the response to HIV and uniting to face the challenges ahead. Saturday, September 16, 6 pm VIP reception, dinner at 8 pm, at San Francisco City Hall, 1 Dr Carlton B Goodlett Place. Be inspired as they present the 2017 Cleve Jones Award and Community Excellence Award. Tribute Celebration is an annual gala in support of education, advocacy, and direct services

in communities most vulnerable to HIV. sfaf.org FOLSOM STREET EVENTS presents LeatherWalk as the official kick-off for San Francisco’s Leather Week, which culminates one week later at the Folsom Street Fair.

We walk together to celebrate leather, kink, family and community— all while raising funds for Folsom Street Events and Positive Resource Center. Each year, hundreds of LeatherWalkers take over Market Street and march from the Castro to SoMa. The 26th annual LeatherWalk takes place on Sunday, September 17. On-site registration and check-in begins at 10 am at 440 Castro. Please check in at the bar, drop off your last-minute donations, and get your collectible LeatherWalk pin. Entertainment starts at 11:30 am at Jane Warner Plaza. The

walk itself plans to start moving at 12 pm from the front of Castro Theatre. The walk features Master of Ceremonies Sister Roma with performances by some of San Francisco’s most amazing vocal and drag talent. Watering Hole Stops include Oasis (Stop #1), Powerhouse (Stop #2), Mr. S Leather (Stop #3), Lone Star (NEW) (Stop #4), The Stud (NEW) (Stop #6) and the SF Eagle (final stop, closing beer bust). classy. org/san-francisco/events/leatherwalk-2017/e131804 Sister Dana sez, “Greetings to all who have returned from Burning Man in the Black Rock desert! We here in the Bay Area had our own version— what with record-breaking triple digit degree heat. Man, that Burns!”

“ Bet ty’s List ” and Blue Water Ventures presents…

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.”

Kayaking & Picnic for Women with Kim Powell Sunday, October 22 • Sausalito 10am Launch 1:30pm Return for Picnic at Dumphy Park Enjoy a “paddle” with one of the most experienced and renown guides in the Bay Area who is known internationally for her skills and informative outings. Kayaks are provided. For cost and more details, e-mail: bluewaterventuressc@gmail.com

KIT’N KITTY’S

QUEER POP QUIZ ANSWER (Question on pg 21)

B) Bayard Rustin (1912–1987) was a leading strategist of the American Civil Rights Movement and helped to organize the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to strengthen the leadership of Martin Luther King, Jr. Rustin helped to teach MLK about nonviolence, which Rustin had learned from working with Mahatma Gandhi’s movement in India. At the time of his death in 1987, he was on a humanitarian mission in Haiti. On November 20, 2013, President Barack Obama posthumously awarded Rustin the Presidential Medal of Freedom. © Randy Coleman, 2017 38

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Round About - All Over Town

Photos by Rink

Rink continues to make his way around town at a pace we can hardly keep up with. Who do you recognize in this issue’s photo collections?

Marie Rodin and Jesus Parbol with Rodin Farms of Modesto presented their prize-winning peaches at the Castro Farmer’s Market on August 16.

Troubador Suzanna Holland, with flowers in her hair, entertained by performing songs with the Summer of Love theme at the Castro Farmer’s Market on August 16.

Pacific Coast Farmers Market Association coordinators Ike and Melisa Hansen distributed brochures and welcomed attendees at the Castro Farmers Market on August 16.

The popularity of brunch in the Castro on Sundays was evident in the line outside Orphan Andy’s on August 13.

Event organizer Jim Strano DJed and entertainer Miss Shugana performed with “House of Glitter” at the the August 13 Live in the Castro! event at Jane Warner Plaza.

Coordinators Dana Hopkins and Larry-Bob Roberts welcomed featured guest author Kira Khan (center) who discussed her forthcoming book on immigration entitled Bludgeon at the Smack Dab open mic at Dog Eared Books on August 16.

Greeters Davin Coffey and Breanna Elyce welcomed guests arriving for the Trans Voices show at Strut on August 16.

The group known as Polythene Pam, who declared their performance style to be “acoustic transgender nonsense,” was on hand at Strut’s Trans Voices show on August 16.

The sign at the Off the Grid Markets third Thursdays event welcomed attendees to the Commons area at Civic Center on August 17. which featured live bands, DJs, booths, food trucks and a happy crowd.

On August 16, Volunteer Leandro Gonzalez offered Jello-O shots at the Lookout bar during a benefit for Rainbow World Fund hosted by the Golden Gate Gaymes and welcoming the ASHEI SF Middle Eastern/Northern African support group.

The Hot Flash Wave band performed at Off the Grid Markets on August 17.

Friends of the San Francisco Public Library presented an information table at the Off the Grid Markets event on August 17.

Happy City of San Francisco staffers enjoyed wearing masks and mustaches during the Off the Grid Markets event at Civic Center.

Food truck vendors served up a variety of cuisines enjoyed by attendees at the Off the Grid Markets event held on August 17.

Billy the bartender offered an array of choices at Off the Grid Markets on August 17.

Guys strolling hand in hand made their way through the Off the Grid Markets event at Civic Center Commons.

The Indian Soulfood food truck was among those offering their menu items at Off the Grid Markets on August 17.

Dog Eared Books Valencia manager Ryan and owner Katie Rosengerger were on hand with books at the Off the Grid Markets event on August 17.

Friendly DJs provided music at the Off the Grid Markets event at Civic Center.

The Kokio Republic food truck was on hand at the Off the Grid Markets event on August 17.

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