San Francisco Bay Times - October 5, 2017

UPCOMING FALL SEASON BENEFITS See Pages 11–19

Positive Resource Center Mighty Real Gala

Horizons Gala Saturday, October 7

Friday, October 6

Our Town SF Nonprofit Expo

HRC San Francisco Bay Area Gala

Saturday, October 14

Saturday, October 14

October 5 - 18, 2017 | sfbaytimes.com

#TakeAKnee

Issues Underlying #TakeAKnee and mass murders in the U.S. may be connected.

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About Our Cover Over the past several days, stories about the Las Vegas Strip shootings on October 1 and the ongoing #TakeAKnee protest have rightfully dominated headlines and conversations across the nation. There is little doubt that at least two of the chronic problems underlying both—gun violence in the U.S. and racial injustice—go back far beyond these more recent events.

He later mentions, “White men are not systematically disenfranchised, and so they have not built up the requisite psychological and emotional mechanisms for dealing with loss.”

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There may even be a direct connection between racial injustice and the Las Vegas massacre, along with other mass shootings in America. Eric Madfis, a Professor in the Social Work department of the University of Washington, Tacoma, believes that white entitlement, middle-class instability and downward mobility in the post-industrial economy converge in mass murderers within the U.S. In a paper recently published in the journal Men and Masculinities, he writes, referring to mass murderers specifically, that “69.9 percent of American mass killers are non-Hispanic whites, while non-Hispanic whites make up only 63.7 percent of the U.S. population. This white disproportionately (albeit fairly close to proportionality) is exclusive to this type of killer.”

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Politicians, war veterans, NFL players and other sports professionals—including out lesbian soccer star Megan Rapinoe—have all heeded the call to #TakeAKnee in solidarity with now-free agent football quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who until March 3 of this year was under contract with the San Francisco 49ers. While President Trump and others have criticized these actions, we support the view of John Middlemas and his family. Underneath a photo of Middlemas kneeling, which went viral upon its release to the public in September, was the text, “My grandpa is a 97-year-old WWII vet & Missouri farmer who wanted to join (with) those who #TakeAKnee: ‘those kids have every right to protest.’” This was written by Brennan Gilmore.

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Bernice King, an American minister who is the youngest child of the late great civil rights leaders Martin Luther King, Jr., and Coretta Scott King, wrote the tweet that is featured in its entirety on our cover. She reminds that her father and his colleagues got down on one knee in response to racial injustice decades ago. Whether the individual doing so uses the time for prayer, contemplation, protest or all three, the visual image is a peaceful yet powerful one, and especially when large groups are participating simultaneously.

Madfis’ analysis concludes, in his words, that “among many mass killers, the triple privileges of white heterosexual masculinity, which make subsequent life course losses more unexpected and thus more painfully shameful, ultimately buckle under the failures of downward mobility, and result in a final cumulative act of violence to stave off subordinated masculinity.”

His paper remains controversial, and does not address other important factors previously associated by other researchers with mass murderers, not only in the U.S., but also globally. These may include biochemical factors (including (continued on page 20)

In the News Compiled by Dennis McMillan Las Vegas Shootings Provide Painful Reminder of Last Year’s Pulse Massacre While watching the details emerge concerning the mass shooting in Las Vegas this week, Orlando mayor Buddy Dyer commented that the October 1 event—which resulted in 50 victim fatalities and well over 500 injured victims—was “starkly similar” to the Pulse nightclub massacre last year, during which 49 individuals lost their lives.

Florida State Senator Linda Stewart renewed efforts to ban the sale of assault weapons in Florida. In fact, her bill SB196 was filed on Sunday morning, just hours before the mass shooting occurred on the Las Vegas Strip. Here in the Bay Area, politicians also called for renewed discussions over the sale of guns in the U.S. For example, Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), said, “Our prayers are with the Las Vegas victims and their loved ones. This act of extreme violence is yet anoth-

er tragic example of why this country needs to pull its head out of the sand regarding gun policy.” Additionally, he said that “now is absolutely the time to talk about guns and the real damage these killing machines are doing to our society. Our country is awash in guns, and every time we put off dealing with it, more people die.”

Gays Against Guns Responds to Las Vegas Shooting The inclusive direct-action group of LGBTQ people and their allies, Gays Against Guns, held a march and rally for the Las Vegas massacre on October 2 in New York City. Streamed live via social media, the event received tremendous support from members of our community here in the Bay Area and (continued on page 22) S AN F R ANC IS C O BAY T IM ES

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Standing Together to End Domestic Violence

• Women are much more likely than men to be victimized by a current or former intimate partner.

• Women are 84 percent of spouse abuse victims and 86 percent of victims of abuse at the hands of a boyfriend or girlfriend.

Cross Currents Andrea Shorter October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Started in the early 1980s, advocates sought to bring the stigmatized and largely dismissed matters of spousal abuse out from behind closed doors and into the public square.

Today, out of the shadows and out of the closet, the matter of domestic violence has evolved from being considered a private marital issue—in which it was no one’s business to intervene or report abuse to authorities—into a widely understood matter of public health concern and interest.

Domestic violence is no longer, and has never been, singularly a women’s issue. While we are all in one way or another affected by domestic violence, the facts reveal that intimate partner violence against women remains prevalent.

The following are key statistics according to national organizations, such as Futures Without Violence: • On average, more than three women a day are murdered by their husbands or boyfriends in the United States.

• About three-fourths of the persons who commit family violence are male.

• Women ages 20 to 24 are at the greatest risk of experiencing nonfatal intimate partner violence.

As a longtime member on San Francisco’s Commission on the Status of Women, I have the privilege to work alongside other dedicated advocates to address domestic violence. The Commission and its Department on the Status of Women allocate nearly $7 million of Violence Against Women grants to diverse local community-based agencies that work daily to provide resources, support services, shelter, and policy guidance that have developed into a national model of collaboration with city agencies, elected and appointed officials, and community leaders.

This intensive, dedicated collaborative effort to heighten public awareness about the signs of domestic violence, promote best practices for intervention, and unify critical response actually resulted in a record 40 consecutive months of zero domestic violence related homicides in the City. The message remains clear: San Francisco does not tolerate domestic or intimate partner violence.

Same-Sex Partners and Domestic Violence Domestic or intimate partner violence occurs in all racial and ethnic communities, in all socioeconomic strata, and among LGBTQ people.

For same sex couples, research from The Williams Institute, the Center for American Progress, and other sources indicate that domestic violence among same-sex couples occurs at similar rates to that among straight couples. One out of four to one out of three same-sex relationships has experienced domestic violence. Comparatively, one in every four heterosexual women experiences domestic violence in her lifetime.

Historically, prominent differences have existed between the ways in which domestic violence plays out in same sex relationships. These have largely been reflective of the isolation and marginalization of being LGBT, and because we have lacked legal recognition and social validation of our relationships. Problems have included abusers threatening to out partners to co-workers, family and friends; reluctance of victims to report to authorities; and threats to remove children from the victim. These are just some of the dangers and oppressions under which same sex intimate partner violence has occurred.

With same-sex marriage rights now the law of the land, we still continue to advocate and create policy solutions for cultural competency training for law enforcement and service providers, and government inclusion of same sex couples within defined domestic violence related parties, in order to address intimate partner violence.

Intimate Partner Violence Among Youth Last year, approximately 4 percent of those receiving domestic violence related services through the San Francisco Commission on the Status of Women’s Violence Against Women granted providers identified as LGBTQ. Among high school aged students, LGB-identified students experience higher rates of physical and sexual violence: 8 percent of heterosexual students experience physical violence in dating; while for LGB students, that amount rises to 21 percent.

The work of local organizations—such as local Bay Area LGBT Commun it y Centers (San Francisco, San Jose, Oak- District Attorney George Gascon spoke at the land), the Lavender Youth Rec- Domestic Violence Awareness Month rally at City Hall reation and Information Cen- on Tuesday, October 3. ter (LYRIC) and Communities away. A shooting might be just a few United Against Violence (CUAV)— blocks away or up the street. Domesis crucial to helping youth in crisis, tic violence, however, is more likely to and to supporting healthy intimate be next door, in the work cubicle next relationship development. For exam- to you, or in your own home. When it ple, CUAV works to address the root comes to seeking help for your neighcauses of all forms of violence visited bor, your friend, your sister or brothupon the LGBT community, and pro- er, or yourself, please know that no vides an array of programs, resourc- one is alone. es, and trainings available to all inTogether—whatever our gender, genterested LGBTQ identified persons der identity, sexual orientation, race, and allies. zip code or area code—we can end domestic violence.

No One is Alone If you, or someone you know, is exAndrea Shorter is President of the periencing domestic or intimate parthistoric San Francisco Commission ner violence, please help. Call your loon the Status of Women. She is a cal law enforcement or the National longtime advocate for criminal and Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800juvenile justice reform, voter rights, 799-7233 to be directed to local serand marriage equality. A co-foundvices, support and shelter. er of the Bayard Rustin LGBT CoaliThe work continues in the resistance tion, she was a 2009 David Bohnett against all forms of violence in soci- LGBT Leadership Fellow at the Harety and around the world. Consider vard Kennedy School of Governthat war might be thousands of miles ment.

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PHOTO BY RINK

• Nearly one in four women in the United States reports experiencing violence by a current or former spouse or boyfriend at some point in her life.

6/26 and Beyond Stuart Gaffney & John Lewis We realized that things would be a bit different on our recent trip to China—to talk about love, marriage, and LGBT equality—when organizers of our first event told us that they would not be publicizing it on the internet for fear the government would shut it down. People, however, came.

We talked honestly and openly about our lives and our hopes for the future, and the importance of our dignity as LGBT people.

Homosexuality was first documented in China over 2,600 years ago.

Yet today, coming out is very difficult, and homosexuality is something many Chinese do not know or talk about. An extraordinary group of LGBT activists is changing that and improving the lives of Chinese LGBT people in critical ways.

China decriminalized homosexuality 20 years ago, and in 2001, the country removed homosexuality from its list of mental illnesses.

There are gay bars and LGBT community organizations in larger cities, and Shanghai Pride held its 9th annual celebration this year. China, though, is currently undergoing a period of extensive repression in which those in power are attempting to exert more control over people’s lives and the internal workings of the government. One activist even termed it a “second Cultural Revolution,” referring to the period from 1966–1976 led by Mao Zedong, in which millions of people were persecuted for failing to conform to party ideology.

A number of activists explained to us that the crackdown is not aimed particularly at LGBT people—it’s a broader effort to exert social and political control—but it’s hurting the LGBT community, especially given the current importance of public education, outreach, and building community. The government in the past year has forbidden depictions of homosexuality among many other things in television, films, and online broadcast media.

New regulations severely hamper the work of foreign NGOs (non-governmental organizations) in China, including those who support local LGBT organizations. Government

PHOTO COURTESY OF JOHN LEWIS AND STUART G AFFNEY

LGBT Life in China: Obstacles and Inspiration (Part 1 of 2)

Stuart Gaffney & John Lewis on their visit to China in September 2017

security has interfered with public LGBT events. One activist told us that they had to “play Tai Chi” with the government, referring to the centuries-old Chinese art of movement that involves sensing what’s going on around you, and knowing how and when to assert and when to yield.

The Tai Chi metaphor may apply more generally to LGBT life in China, given how queer people articulated to us the particular challenges with respect to family expectations and social conformity they had to negotiate. Many people, in telling their personal stories, illuminated how difficult it was to come out because of the society’s lack of familiarity with what it means to be LGBT. They also tend to have limited means of getting information, and face strong cultural and familial (continued on page 22)

Let the Conversation Begin and a resource fair. At the end of the half-day session, participants will consider establishing an ongoing form of communication.

Aging in Community Dr. Marcy Adelman In collaboration with the San Francisco Department of Aging and Adult Services (DAAS), the San Francisco Interfaith Council will host a halfday workshop on October 16 at which faith communities will engage in a rich discussion with DAAS and its partner organizations on serving the needs of our older adults and adults with disabilities. Rev. Jay Williams, the new Pastor of Glide Memorial Church, will deliver the keynote address.

Congregations of all faiths aid and comfort their members, especially elders who are living with a chronic illness or disability. Faith communities therefore play an important lifeaffirming, and life-sustaining, role in the lives of frail elders.

Shireen McSpadden, Executive Director of DAAS, will discuss such challenges facing older adults and the services DAAS and its partners offer.

Michael Pappas, Executive Director of the San Francisco Interfaith Council, will discuss the perspective and resources the faith community brings in serving this population. There will be a panel discussion, breakout groups,

The dialogue is needed, in part, because the breadth of assistance offered by each church, synagogue or mosque is widely disparate, depending on the size and financial ability of the congregation. The range of services provided by each congregation may include education on aging issues and referral to services; direct assistance with in-home meals; spiritual and emotional support; transportation to doctor appointments; and home, hospital or nursing home visits by phone—and in person—by clergy, staff and fellow congregates.

Faith communities offer unique ways to experience the joy of caring for others as well as the gift of being cared for by another. For many frail elders, especially those without a spouse or other family members to support them, faith communities are the trusted lifeline they rely on.

It would seem obvious—just common sense, really—that clergy and their congregations, and the one City department charged with caring for the needs of San Francisco’s older adults and people living with disabilities, should develop a working relationship and an understanding of what assistance each provides, and how they can best collaborate. On the surface, this appears to be a simple idea, but it is much more than that.

It is groundbreaking.

It took McSpadden, herself the daughter of a minister, to connect the dots and to develop this aspirational, first of its kind meeting. I asked her about the impetus for this event and she re-

Faith Community & City: Coming Together to Support Older Adults and Persons with Disabilities Presented by the San Francisco Department of Aging and Adult Services and The San Francisco Interfaith Council Monday, October 16, 8:30 am–12:00 pm St. Mary’s Cathedral (St. Francis Room) 1111 Gough Street, San Francisco To register for the event, please go to: https://events.r20.constantcontact. com/register/eventReg?oeidk=a07eekmymdg86bfefdb&oseq=&c=&ch= 8

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Marcy Adelman Appointed to the California Commission on Aging All of us at the San Francisco Bay Times congratulate fellow columnist Marcy Adelman, Ph.D., on her recent appointment to the California Commission on Aging.

Her term date is set to extend through October 13, 2020. This commission serves as the principal advocate body for older persons. Its activities include advisory participation in the consideration of all legislation and regulations made by state and federal departments and agencies relating to programs and services that affect older individuals; coordination with the Department of Aging in training workshops; preparing publishing and disseminating information about findings and recommendations regarding the well-being of older individuals; actively participating in, and advising the department on, the development and preparation of the State Plan on Aging; and meeting and consulting with the Area Agency on Aging Advisory Councils. Adelman, with her extensive background on aging issues—particularly those related to the LGBTQ community—is more than up for the tasks, and will no doubt become an invaluable member of this prestigious and respected commission. plied, “My father was a United Methodist minister. As a teen, I found myself drawn to older adults in our congregation. I’ve always thought that there should be a stronger partnership between faith communities and social services. I’m hoping this convening will help us forge a bond.”

She will address the convening, and will present issues people experience as they age. She will also outline services provided by DAAS and community-based non-profits.

Michael Pappas, Executive Director of the Interfaith Council, has also been deeply involved in developing (continued on page 22)

There Is No Such Thing as a Straight Line in a Career parent, you come out as gay, you get fired, you get divorced—it feels like falling off this illusory timeline. You are left scrambling to get back on the line, thinking there is something wrong with you.

The truth is, there are few, if any, straight lines in nature, as the concept of “straight” is relative.

Career Wisdom Julie Gleeson Many clients come to me feeling distressed that their career has ended, taken a hard left or right turn, or is no longer satisfying. That is understandable, as all of us tend to feel uncomfortable and conflicted when things do not go as we had planned. We may think, “There must be something wrong with me,” or, “They (the company, your manager, your coworkers) really suck.” In my view, much of this struggle is due to a misunderstanding about the nature of time, and the stages of a career.

Most of us were raised with the understanding that time is linear. It begins when we are born, then goes through fairly standard stages until we die. Some of these stages might include learning to walk, going to school, learning to drive, working a full-time job, getting married, having kids, changing jobs and then retiring.

There are things on the list you may not have done yet, or did in a different order, or will never do. There are plenty of things that you did—or will do—that are not even on it.

Due to our linear time-conditioning, when something occurs that appears atypical—for example, your parents’ divorce, you or a family member experience serious illness, you lose a

Nearly everything has a slight curve to it, and time is actually cyclical in nature. Most of our efforts have an inception, building and completion phase, followed by a period of rest and reflection until the new point of inception emerges. The last part of the cycle—a call for rest and reflection—is not appreciated or practiced much in our culture, yet all artists know that this is where creativity and inspiration are incubated. If the last part of the cycle is never completed, you will never get to anywhere new, and you will continue to experience frustration.

Careers move in cycles as well. In our teens and twenties—maybe even into our early thirties—we are in exploring mode: trying things out, experiencing new things, learning how to be at work. We might try corporate life, non-profits, mentorships, or internships. We might become entrepreneurs. We cycle through each thing we try, and if we give ourselves permission, we enjoy the challenge of the hunt.

Our thirties and forties usually find us stabilized in an industry or category, learning about leadership, excellence, teamwork and accomplishment. We may move around within the category or industry, sometimes a lot, but we are usually focused in a specific direction.

Then we come to a period of transition. This is the rest and reflection phase, but most of us haven’t been taught that this is a natural phase to

go through. Physically, our hormones change—both in men and women— underlying, in part, our consideration of new things. Our children, if we had them, are usually well on their way to adulthood. We have had success in some areas, or all areas. Now we begin to consider our legacy years, or how to bring meaning into the rest of our lives.

This call for a new time of exploration is often ignored, yet it continues to nudge and prod most of us until we pay attention. This is a perfect time to invest in some mentoring or coaching to help you hear the theme of your life. I call this “design”—the thing that makes sense of your life and career—the foundation that will allow you to hear what’s next. For some, their design is obvious. More and more, however, I am finding that people between 40 and 65 who begin this transition are deeply helped by working with someone who knows this phase is a natural, and necessary, part of the career and life cycle.

Please call me if you would like to explore finding your unique career design. The f irst call is always no charge, and is almost always helpful.

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-LovingThriving/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.

Eco-Friendly Cars That Offer Quirky, Fun Rides in Challenging San Francisco

Auto Philip Ruth San Francisco is a demanding place to test drive new cars. The crazy hills get steeper at every turn, and the traffic’s rapid pace rewards agility and responsiveness. It’s a setting that susses out shortcomings that might not show up on flatter roads.

That’s particularly true with hybrids.

San Francisco’s hills amplify their uneven power delivery and goopy brake response. This can be endlessly frustrating if you’re an enthusiast who thinks of driving a car as a dance, with you in the lead. For many hybrids, conversely, the computer is in charge, and it has two left feet that tromp through its parsimonious path.

Thankfully, electrics changed the efficient-performance game, with blastoff acceleration and a creamy handling feel.

The Fiat 500e is on the far end of that fun. The gas-powered 500 is itself a nippy city runner, and the racy Ab10

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arth’s turbo thrust and bratty exhaust demand complete eng agement from the twist of the key.

The electric 500e is much more mellow overall, but its swift and endearingly scrabbly takeoffs from a stop continually provoke giggles. It’s like a joke at which you can’t stop chuckling, even though you’ve heard it a thousand times.

The 50 0e’s silent and assert ive power delivery begs for the Abarth’s starchier handling, but that would run counter to the electric car’s focus on squeezing maximum miles from a charge. So, the 500e’s tires are not so grippy, and its body can bobble as speeds climb. This somehow still manages to be appealing, partly because it feels like the 500e wants nothing more than to hang in there with you.

If the 500e is the most fun electric car, then the Ford C-Max Hybrid ranks as one of the few true driver’s hybrids.

The C-Max’s design comes to us from Europe, and it feels it, with a thoroughbred’s approach to all the bumpy curves, rutted construction zones and drastic elevation changes the city could throw at it. The C-Max Hybrid feels tailor-made for the challenges cars face here.

The C-Max Hybrid has other talents.

While crossovers increasingly have

Fiat 500e

Ford C-Max Hybrid

gun-slit outward visibility, the CMax Hybrid regales you with expansive views from big windows. Seats are chair-height, and entry and exit is easy on the knees. Couple these with a boxy cargo hold, and you have an ideal urban errand runner.

There is a caveat with the C-Max Hybrid, and that’s its widely-reported low fuel mileage. This was confirmed on the test car, which could manage MPG only in the mid- to highteens. There’s no question I’d choose to drive the C-Max Hybrid over its direct competitor, the less-powerful Toyota Prius V. But the last Prius V I had consistently returned more than (continued on page 23)

POSITIVE RESOURCE CENTER

Fall NON-PROFIT SPOTLIGHT Hummingbird Place Takes Flight

Photos by Brent Andrew/ Zuckerberg San Francisco General

(Editor’s Note: This issue of the San Francisco Bay Times dedicated to local non-profits marks the debut of a new monthly column by Brett Andrews.

One of our most accomplished and caring community leaders, he is the Chief Executive Director at Positive Resource Center (PRC), an organization that provides comprehensive benefits counseling, health and employment services to those affected by HIV/AIDS, substance use or mental health issues. PRC helps people to realize their potential by offering integrated legal, social and health-related services, all of which address the broad range of social risk factors that impact wellness and limit potential.

Before joining PRC, Andrews served as the Executive Director of Los Angeles Team Mentoring, Inc. (LATM), a nonprofit agency that matched deserving middle school youth to quality mentors. Prior to his work with LATM, he served as the Executive Director of Kids n’ U, Inc., a New York City-based nonprofit youth-serving organization sponsored by Michael Kors.

Andrews holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Pennsylvania State University and a Master of Arts in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from George Washington University. Currently, he is a member of the San Francisco HIV/AIDS Provider Network, the San Francisco Human Services Network and the Mayor’s CBO Taskforce. He serves on the Board of the National Working Positive Coalition.

Andrews additionally is a former San Francisco Ethics Commissioner and a former Rockwood Leadership Institute Fellow. He has received numerous awards and honors over the years, including, most recently, the 2016 Association of Fundraising Professionals Spirit of Philanthropy Award and the 2017 Imperial Court of San Francisco Bob Cramer Humanitarian Award. Please join us in welcoming Andrews to the Bay Times team!)

lar number of drop-in daytime slots for individuals.

At Hummingbird, we meet people where they are, allowing for the storage of personal belongings, for couples to stay together, and for companion animals to remain with their owners, if feasible. The homelike environment includes a large garden area, as well as recreat ional space. Healthy and wholesome meals are, of course, standard.

Moving People Forward Brett Andrews As Chief Executive Officer at PRC for the past 14 years, I have watched our clients and community struggle with the increasingly high cost of housing, barriers to accessing quality healthcare, and a growing epidemic of injection drug use both in San Francisco and across the country. Additionally, the stigma that comes from having HIV/AIDS, mental health or substance use issues often results in long-lasting trauma that is difficult, if not impossible, to overcome on one’s own. That is why I am so proud of PRC’s most recent collaboration with the City to manage the area’s newest Homeless Navigation Center onsite at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital.

Staffed by PRC’s experienced behavioral health specialists from our Baker Places residential treat(Left to Right) Brett Andrews, San Francisco ment center, all g uests Department of Public Health’s Barbara Garcia and will have access to intenMayor Ed Lee touring Hummingbird Place sive case management and linkages to other resources like healthcare, entitlement benefits, and drug-treatment programs.

All guests will receive continuing follow-up to make sure they had the right referrals.

Called Hummingbird Place, it is a safe, welcoming, and homelike environment for people who are homeless or marginally housed, experiencing a psychiatric episode or struggling with substance abuse. Designed as an alternative to returning to the streets after exiting the hospital’s psychiatric emergency center or other various homeless services, the program will offer 15 overnight beds and a simi-

The entire program is voluntary, and even though some guests may choose to stay at Hummingbird for a short time, we believe we can still have a significant impact. Success will be evaluated by various measures, including for some, simply providing a safe alternative to another night on the streets. Ultimately, however, it is our goal to assistant all individuals in accessing safe and stable housing.

The “Hummingbird Artwork” welcomes all near the entrance.

partment of Homelessness and Supportive Housing, “It is yet another example of San Francisco’s ongoing commitment to addressing the complex issue of homelessness.”

Ultimately, I believe that everyone—regardless of their situation—has value and potential. At PRC, we are committed to helping individuals overcome substance and mental health issues, secure income and healthcare benefits, stabilize their housing, develop the skills to find and keep a job, and, most importantly, to give them hope and a path to new opportunities. When people have the ability to realize their potential, to lead stronger and more productive lives, they add to—not take away from—the community.

For more information: Hummingbird Place http://sfmayor.org/article/san-francisco-expands-services-residents-dealing-homelessness-substance-use-and-mental Positive Resource Center www.positiveresource.org

The benefits to such a program are many, both to the guests and to the community as a whole. A stay at Hummingbird provides a safe, comfortable environment where people are given the time to be able to make more informed and better choices for themselves. It will also lessen the burden on our acute and most expensive services by bringing in folks who are too unwell and too sick to be on the street, but who aren’t necessarily in need of the high level of other services provided the City.

I am very proud of this new initiative, as all San Franciscans should be: Hummingbird Place is funded entirely by the City and County of San Francisco. The pioneering program is one of the first of its kind in the nation. According to Jeff Kositsky, Director of the De-

City officials visiting the courtyard at Hummingbird Place S AN F R ANC IS C O BAY T IM ES

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Fall NON-PROFIT SPOTLIGHT

HORIZONS

Stronger Together

By Roger Doughty It could hardly have been more ironic. When news broke only nine months ago — on I naug urat ion Day—that all mention of LGBTQ issues had vanished from the White House website, I stood in the middle of 3,000 LGBTQ activists at the annual Creating Change conference. Everyone knew it was “ just” a website. But no one missed the implications.

As we all know, it quickly went downhill from there.

Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, repeatedly sidestepped questions about LGBTQ rights. A tweet ordered a ban on transgender people serving in the military.

Then there was the ending of DACA, the pandering to white nationalists, the declaration about building “the wall” (which history will number among America’s great shames), the barely-disguised racist rants directed towards the NFL, the crack-

down on immigrants and refugees, and the Muslim travel ban.

The list could go on.

The ban on Muslims entering our country made me think immediately of Subi, the gay Syrian refugee whom Horizons had the privilege of honoring at our annual gala only a few short years ago. His story of persecution and courage was horrifying, but his resilience in the face of adversity was something that left everyone in that room speechless. For every Subi, I wonder how many others will now be left behind?

But hope also exists. That first day of this new Administration, I was surrounded by a spectacular array of LGBTQ activists bent on resistance. At the conference, we heard a riveting call to solidarity and action from the Reverend William Barber, a potent national voice against injustice.

Since then, our community has come together to join their voices in dissent, first at the magnificent Women’s March in Bay Area cities and around the country and, later, at other urgent marches like No Hate SF, Emergency Against DACA, and so many others. In response to seemingly unending attacks, we’ve produced, together, a tide of resistance. And the resistance is having impact, building solidarity across groups active in the fight for social justice and human rights.

Horizons Honors

The resistance has shown that there is power in numbers and that, by working together, we are stronger. Horizons Foundation has always worked at the intersection of racial, social, and gender justice. We know that no one group can achieve equality and the equity they are seeking if other people are falling behind and don’t have it. It is this “intersectionality” that is bringing about change in our society and will continue to give power to our resistance. Because discrimination against Muslims is the same as discrimination against our LGBTQ brothers and sisters. Because Black lives matter. Because Trans lives matter. Because a woman’s right to choose matters. Because what matters for one of us, matters for all of us.

As Dr. Barber so eloquently stated at the Creating Change conference, “America has a heart problem. There have always been forces that have wanted to harden—even stop—the heart of our democracy. But there have also always been people who stood together to stir what Dorothy Day said was a ‘revolution of the heart’ and what Dr. Martin Luther King called a ‘radical revolution of values.’”

Together, we can revive that heart of democracy—and our country.

Roger Doughty is the President of Horizons Foundation (https://www.horizonsfoundation.org/).

Photos courtesy of Transgender Law Center

Since 1980, Horizons Foundation has made more than $38 million in grants to the LGBTQ community. Historically, most of these grants have been to organizations in the 9-county Bay Area and to organizations that are on the frontlines of fighting for racial, gender, and economic equality.

Horizons’ commitment has always been to strengthen every level and every part of the LGBTQ community, whether that is a larger betterknown organization, smaller cutting-edge groups, or the ones almost no one has ever heard of—but that become the great strong organizations of the future.

Horizons Foundation has played an active role at the birth of many organizations that are now pillars of our community. At the foundation’s annual gala, taking place on October 7, Horizons will be honoring Cleve Jones and Transgender Law Center. Both have had a profound effect, not only on our community, but also on our entire movement.

Legendary activist Cleve Jones has been a leader for our movement since he was a young man doing a student internship in Harvey Milk’s office. Jones went on to be a founder of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and then conceived the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt, one of the world’s largest community arts projects. A documentary about the first display of the complete (to date) Quilt at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt, won the Academy Award for best documentary in 1989, and helped to bring national awareness to the AIDS epidemic.

In 2016, Jones published When We Rise: My Life in the Movement, a portion of which was turned into an ABC mini-series written by Dustin Lance Black, the Oscar-winning writer of Milk.

In 2002, Horizons also helped to launch Transgender Law Center, which initially was a fiscally sponsored project of the National Center for Lesbian Rights. At a time when transgender issues are being played out in the national political arena, the Transgender Law Center works to change law, policy, and attitudes so that all people can live safely, authentically, and free from discrimination, regardless of their gender identity or expression.

TLC utilizes direct legal services, public policy advocacy, and educational opportunities to advance the rights and safety of diverse transgender com- Horizons Foundation honoree Cleve Jones (right) with munities.

Academy Award-winning director (Milk) Dustin Lance Black (left)

PHOTO BY RINK

Jones continues to fight for equality. Most recently, he was the driving force behind No Hate SF, a rally and fundraiser created in response to white nationalist demonstrations planned for Crissy Field and Berkeley. Jones was inspired by a small German town, Wunsiedel, which transformed an annual neo-Nazi march into an opportunity to raise funds for anti-racist organizations. Partnering with Horizons, the fund raised more than $116,000 in a few short weeks for organizations on the front lines of justice.

attending the San Francisco Gay Men’s

For tickets and more information about the Horizons Foundation Annual Gala 2017 on October 7 at The Fairmont in San Francisco, please go to: http://www.horizonsfoundation.org/connect/annual-gala/

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Recently, TLC has been a national leader in combatting hate and igno- Chorus Harvey Milk 2013 concert rance across the country. To ensure passage of legislation establishing a non-binary gender marker option on state identity documents, TLC diligently worked toward making California bill SB179 a reality. TLC’s work in this area helped to streamline the oftencomplicated gender marker change process. TLC has also led the way in the battle to stop transphobic “bathroom bills” that have become a focus in parts of the U.S., in addition to helping transgender immigrants and Dreamer populations understand and secure their rights in this country.

Cleve Jones spoke during the annual Moscone and Milk Memorial event held at Harvey Milk Plaza in 2015.

Fall NON-PROFIT SPOTLIGHT

HORIZONS

Horizons Foundation’s Now and Forever Campaign Has an Ambitious, Yet Possible, Goal

Horizons Foundation Grantee Stories Horizons Foundation is often the first to provide grants to emerging nonprofits, and is a core funder for anchor organizations that advocate for LGBTQ rights, serve LGBTQ youth and elders, ensure community health, and promote arts and culture. Below are just three of the many organizations that have received Horizons Foundation grants:

By Audrey Koh, M.D. As a young adult, I barely even heard the word “lesbian.”

There was little representation of people like me in the media, beyond garish stereotypes. There were few meeting places, aside from lesbian bars or gay dance clubs.

There were no children known to have been conceived by lesbian couples or gay men couples.

Brown Boi Project Grantee Since 2011

We have come a long way. In this millennium, the struggle toward legalized marriage equality has finally been won. I sometimes have to pinch myself to believe it. I feel so fortunate to have been part of a civil rights process that is actually working!

Despite the many triumphs of our community, the march to equality is not yet over. Many in our LGBTQ community, even here in the Bay Area, continue to face discrimination, violence, poverty, and isolation. Since last year’s election, we’ve seen that the rights we’ve fought so hard to secure are, once again, under attack. Our future is hard to predict.

When the Brown Boi Project (BBP) was founded in 2010, it was something new: a community of masculine of center womyn, men, two-spirit people, transmen, and allies committed to changing the way that communities of color talk about gender and eradicating sexism, homophobia, and transphobia. BBP has since trained over 170 leaders around the country in signature twice-annual five-day leadership retreats.

That’s why I support the Horizons Foundation’s Now and Forever Campaign. The campaign seeks to identify more than $100 million in future legacy gifts by the foundation’s 40th Anniversary year in 2020. These gifts will help to ensure the future for generations of LGBTQ people to live a life of pride, dignity, justice and joy.

While $100 million seems like an ambitious goal, it is imminently possible. Research shows that property ownership in the LGBTQ community is on a parity with the straight community, and that the more secure in our community own more than $300 billion in Bay Area real estate alone. If even 0.5% of our community left their property to Horizons, our entire community would reap benefits for years to come.

Brown Boi created an educational model embedded in 7th and 8th grade classrooms in East Oakland, and completed a “Summer of Brown Boi” that connected 850 young people of color across California. The Obama Administration invited BBP to help host the first LGBT People of Color Summit in the country. http://www.brownboiproject.org/

Now and Forever will help Horizons to continue to strengthen hundreds of organizations that do the day-to-day work that secures the rights, meets the needs, and celebrates the lives of LGBTQ people. It will ensure that young people thrive in safe and supportive environments, that our elders can age with dignity, and that we can safeguard and expand the gains we’ve fought so hard to win. It will ensure that we have the funding to tackle unanticipated challenges to our community.

LYRIC Grantee Since 1991

No one can predict the future. But together, we can build a strong foundation that will secure our community now—and forever.

Audrey Koh, M.D., is a member of the Horizons Foundation Board of Directors. She is also an Associate Clinical Professor at the UC San Francisco School of Medicine, and is an Attending Physician at the California Pacific Medical Center.

LYRIC has supported and empowered thousands of LGBTQQ youth on their journey to becoming healthy, successful, and thriving adults. LYRIC’s mission is to build community and inspire positive social change through educational enhancement, career training, health promotion, and leadership development with not only LGBTQQ youth, but also with their families, and allies of all races, classes, genders, and abilities.

Horizons grants have supported LYRIC dances, rap groups, field trips, and much more over the years. In 2014, LYRIC received funding from a Horizons Young Professionals for Equality (HYPE) grant to support their undocumented youth program—critical now more than ever. http://lyric.org/

PHOTO BY TRISH TUNNEY

Somos Familia Grantee Since 2008 Somos Familia supports Latino families with lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer children. It started when two mothers of Latino LGBTQ youth who had experienced challenges in their own families could not find support resources. Recognizing a lack of support for Latina/o families with LGBTQ youth, they launched an effort to develop ways to support, not just themselves, but also other families.

PHOTO BY RINK

PHOTO BY RINK

Among other projects, Horizons sponsored Tres Gotas de Agua, a short film about three Latina immigrant mothers’ experiences with their children’s coming out processes, conveying powerful messages about unconditional love and acceptance of LGBTQ people as part of Latino families. http://somosfamiliabay.org/

Scenes from the Horizons Gala in 2013 S AN F R ANC IS C O BAY T IM ES

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Fall NON-PROFIT SPOTLIGHT

HRC SF

Linda Scaparotti, Esq., to Receive HRC’s Charles M. Holmes Community Service Award

Scaparotti grew up in Massachusetts, in a working-class immigrant family that was split, she says, between urban Roman Catholic and rural Yankee Protestant. The first to go to college, she was a full academic scholarship student at both college and law school. She graduated Cum Laude from Smith College before it was cool, and when lesbian/gay organizations were not even allowed. The college, however, did strongly support its women’s academic programs and related career choices.

UC Davis King Hall School of Law heavily recruited Scaparotti, who wrote a radical lesbian feminist application essay!

No one that she knew of was out when she attended law school (1977). She bravely decided to be the first, not knowing what kind of response she would get—standing ovation—which led to one of the first gay/straight alliances.

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Our paths have crossed numerous instances over the years, as she has donated an incredible amount of time toward service benefitting the LGBT community and more. With personal warmth, tremendous inherent style and a genuine concern for others, she lights up a room and lifts the spirits of all of those around her. She is a true Bay Area treasure, so we were delighted that this one woman dynamo was chosen for the prestigious award. It bears the name of the philanthropist who helped to make possible the San Francisco LGBT Community Center, and who funded The Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund, Amnesty International, Global Green, HIV/AIDS outreach programs and HRC itself.

Scaparott i cred its her strongest skills to growing up in the conservative church and in her highly dysfunctional family, although not in the way they intended. The skills include sticking up for what you believe in against total opposition, accepting who one is against complete rejection, convincing others of your cause (proselytizing), arguing intensely with those in authority, speaking about difficult subjects in front of hundreds of people, and fundraising for worthy causes.

PHOTO BY RINK

On October 14, Human Rights Campaign (HRC) will hold its annual fundraising Gala at the Westin St. Francis. On the day of the event, which will feature HRC President Chad Griffin and numerous special guests, Linda Scaparotti, Esq., will receive the Charles M. Holmes Community Service Award. We congratulate Scaparotti on this well-deserved honor.

She has been a devoted HRC leader for 15 years, most recently on the HRC National Board of Directors and Foundation Board, retiring in July of this year. Scaparotti co-chaired the highly-visible and coveted national Political Public Policy Committee, as well as the intensive Board Development Committee, responsible for recruiting and developing Board leaders. Locally, she was part of the team with her hero Frank Woo, who revitalized San Francisco HRC, increasing membership numbers from a low point of near extinction to today’s thriving community.

Rights Commissioner in the City of Oakland, creating one of the first municipal Domestic Partners’ Rights Ordinances. Prior to that, she was the youngest assistant director to the Massachusetts Commission on Sex Discrimination.

But Scaparotti’s lifelong and deep commitment to equality and social justice has not been just about HRC. She has donated her time and energy to countless revered LGBT organizations in the Bay Area, including National Center for Lesbian Rights, Equality California, Horizons Foundation, Bay Area Lawyers for Individual Freedom, Spectrum Center, Our Family Coalition, and Open House. She served as the first LGBT Human

Before developing her LGBT legal practice, she was a cuttingedge feminist litigator, who co-created an entirely new area of law, bringing sexual assault/rape cases under civil law instead

Linda Scaparotti with (left to right) HRC President Chad Griffin, philanthropist James Hormel and HRC Equality Circle member Frank Woo at the HRC 2015 VIP Reception & Dinner.

Scaparotti worked on her first political campaign at the age of ten, and devoted much of last year to Hillary Clinton’s campaign, doing field and caucus work in California, Iowa, Nevada, Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

(continued on page 23)

Fall NON-PROFIT SPOTLIGHT

SHANTI

Shanti’s Compassion Is Universal Dinner & Silent Auction Photos by Rink and Paul Margolis

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PHOTO BY JUAN DAVILA

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Shanti’s annual Compassion Is Universal Dinner, celebrating the organization’s 43 years of service, was held at The Palace Hotel on Thursday, September 21. A sold out crowd attended in support of the important work provided by Shanti’s programs. Honorees included Hon. Mark Leno, Nancy Pelosi Lifetime Achievement Award; Gerry Crowley, Margot Murphy Inspiration Award; and Chip Supanich, James C. Hormel Community Spirit Award.

Featured speakers included Shanti’s founder Dr. Charles Garfield and executive director Kaushik Roy. Congratulations to Shanti and the volunteers and supporters who contributed to the evening’s success.

Fall NON-PROFIT SPOTLIGHT SF’s Largest LGBTQ Nonprofit Expo Will Be Held on October 14 Photos by Paul Margolis

At least 125 local nonprofits serving the LGBTQ+ community will come together for a day of fun and community-building in the Castro on Saturday, October 14. The free afternoon event, to take place at the Eureka Valley Recreation Center, will be the largest LGBTQ+ nonprofit expo ever to be held in San Francisco. Categories of participating organizations include: arts, athletic, community, fundraiser, legal, political, recovery, well-being and spiritual.

OurTownSF will present the expo, along with the help of the Eureka Valley Recreation Center and the organization TurnOut. OurTownSF.org is a useful and extensive online reference guide to San Francisco’s LGBTQ+ nonprofit service agencies, arts and athletic organizations. It features over 300 local LGBTQ+ groups. In addition to serving as a valuable resource for net surfers, the site helps organizations to gain new volunteers, clients and donors.

The October 14 event will be the second annual OurTownSF Nonprofit Expo. This one promises to be even bigger and better than the first, which itself proved to be a great success. Paul Margolis and his team have really gone above and beyond the call of duty in putting the event for this year together.

Co-Emcees will be Mia Satya, 2016 SF Pride Grand Marshall; Khmera Rouge, Absolute Empress 50 of the Imperial Council of San Francisco; Gregg Cassin, a facilitator of the Shanti Life Program and Honoring Our Experience; and Patrick B. Smith, who is the Board Secretary of the Castro Country Club.

The event’s lineup of entertainment includes: award-winning drag kings Madd-Dogg 20/20 and Donny Mirassou, reigning San Francisco Faux Queen Miss Shugana, X-Factor finalist Jason Brock, violinist Kippy Marks, flamenco dancer Damien Alvarez, the Barbary Coast Cloggers, and the San Francisco Lesbian/Gay Marching Band.

The expo will also include crowd interactive performances by CHEER San Francisco, a queer video game exposition by GaymerX, a drag makeup tutorial by Queens of the Castro, a queer zine library and workshop by Bay Area Queer Zine Fest, readings by queer comic book artists from the Queer Comics Expo, pick-up kickball games by Varsity Gay League, and Pétanque lessons by Team SF and Manuel Picaud, who is a Co-chair of the Gay Games in Paris.

Food and beverages will be served from over a dozen Castro eateries. Do not, for example, miss the giant cake blessed by the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence!

Participants can adopt a pet from Family Dog Rescue, register to vote with the Alice B. Toklas Democratic Club, register for health insurance with API Wellness Center, receive a chair massage from Positive Being, and/or get tested for HIV with the AIDS Health Project. For the weekend athlete, there will be a climbing wall, skateboarding and BMX biking in the tennis courts.

Scenes from Our Town SF’s first ever Non-Profit Expo held in November, 2016

We hope to see you there!

OurTownSF Nonprofit Expo 2017 Time: Saturday, October 14, 12:30–4:30 pm Location: Eureka Valley Recreation Center, 100 Collingwood at 18th Street Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/893596604114024/ A sister site, OurTownLA, is having a similar event on the same day: OurTownLA Nonprofit Expo To learn more about that event in southern California, please visit: http://bit.ly/2hOGkS7

Paul Margolis of OurTownSF.org Helps to Keep SF’s LGBT Community Connected Storefront windows in the Castro have, for decades, functioned as billboards for the LGBT community. An iconic 1982 photograph taken by legendary San Francisco Bay Times photographer Rink, for example, shows concerned gay male pedestrians outside of a Star Pharmacy window reading information about what would later be known as HIV/AIDS. To keep this important tradition of community news sharing alive, Castro merchant Patrick Batt in 2001 recruited Walgreens on Castro Street at 18th to donate a window for San Francisco LGBTQ nonprofits. The goal was for the nonprofits to use the space, called the Nonprofit Window, to promote their mission, recruit volunteers and to advertise their upcoming events. A decade later, in 2011, he turned over reservations to Paul Margolis.

heard the most was that participants felt the love in the room. That struck a chord with me, and I knew then that the expo had to be expanded. This year, the footprint will be much larger and we expect a huge turnout.

San Francisco Bay Times: Is it true that this year’s expo will be the largest of its kind—anywhere, ever?!

Paul Margolis

Since the Nonprofit Window faces busy Castro Street, there were long waitlists for a reservation. Due to this, Margolis created OurTownSF.org in October 2013 to continuously promote groups that serve our community. Since that time, he now shares reservations for the window with Gary Poe. Margolis clearly has been busy, as in the past couple of years, he has additionally organized the OurTownSF Nonprofit Expo. He recently took time to speak with us about his life and work.

San Francisco Bay Times: First, please tell us a bit about yourself and your work over the years at OurTownSF.org Paul Margolis: I’ve lived in San Francisco since 1979, and volunteered for numerous nonprofits over the years, so I was pretty well-aware of many of them when I created OurTownSF.org in 2013. Most recently, prior to that, I was on the 2012 Bare Chest Calendar.

San Francisco Bay Times: What inspired you to organize the first OurTownSF Nonprofit Expo, and now this second one? What challenges have you faced, and overcome?

Paul Margolis: I began scheduling for the Nonprofit Window at Walgreens in 2011. The website grew out of that in order for San Franciscans to connect with all the nonprofits all of the time. A website has limitations that personal connections fulfill. Many nonprofits have the attitude that “everybody knows me,” when that’s so far from reality.

San Francisco Bay Times: This year’s expo seems to be so much bigger than the one last year. How much has it grown, and to what do you attribute the increasing interest in the event?

Paul Margolis: Last year was a test to gauge community interest. The feedback was terrific from many groups who recruited new members and created new relationships. The comment I 18

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Paul Margolis: There’s a larger LGBT expo in New York, but it includes both nonprofits and businesses. San Francisco’s expo is expected to include well over 100 and may include 125 nonprofits this year. (Editor’s note: Margolis’ estimate of 125 proved to be correct, per the information on page 19 of this issue.) Los Angeles is holding OurTownLA Nonprofit Expo the same day as ours, but it will be smaller.

San Francisco Bay Times: Please describe some of the highlights from this year’s expo in San Francisco.

Paul Margolis: We’re taking over the entire Eureka Valley Recreation Center, both inside and outside. This year, we’re promoting the Castro as well as the services that our San Francisco LGBTQ nonprofits provide us. What’s new? Lots, including food and beverages from a dozen Castro eateries, drag makeup tutorials and a pick-up kickball game.

San Francisco Bay Times: If a person doesn’t have much knowledge or experience with local LGBT non-profits, how might they still benefit from attending the event?

Paul Margolis: No matter a person’s interest, there will be participating nonprofits for them to discover. I hope they walk away with a sense of community, and a wish to get involved.

San Francisco Bay Times: Your event is one of the few that brings together our many great nonprofits. How might these organizations work together in future to achieve shared goals? What goals, for example, would you like to see them jointly work toward obtaining?

Paul Margolis: So many of our nonprofits serve the needs of the same individuals with overlapping services. In our current political climate, resources are scarce and getting scarcer. Sharing knowledge is more important than ever.

San Francisco Bay Times: Anything else to add about the upcoming expo?

Paul Margolis: This will be a huge event with food, beverages and a fantastic lineup of entertainers and workshops. It promises to be a day of great fun for all!

OUR TOWN SF

Organizations Scheduled to Be at the OurTown SF Nonprofit Expo 2017 The following organizations and other participants will be at OurTown SF’s LGBTQ Nonprofit Expo on October 14: Academy of Friends, Aguilas, AIDS Emergency Fund, AIDS Legal Referral Panel, AIDS LifeCycle, National AIDS Memorial Grove, Alice B. Toklas Democratic Club, UCSF Alliance Health Project, API Wellness, Archive Productions, Art for AIDS, AtmosQueer Barbary Coast Cloggers, Bare Chest Calendar, Bay Area Bisexual Network, Bay Area Open Minds, Bayard Rustin LGBT Coalition, Black Brothers Esteem, Bridgemen Castro Ambassadors, Castro Cares, Castro Community on Patrol, Castro Merchants, Castro Organ Devotees Association, Castro/Upper Market Community Benefit District, Center for Sex & Culture, CHEER San Francisco, Comedy Returns to El Rio, Community of Christ SF, Community United Against Violence, Companions of Dorothy the Worker, Creative Labor Dignity, Discovery Community, Diversity Foundation of SF, Donna SachetSongs of the Season, Donor Network West, DREAAM Elizabeth Taylor 50-Plus Network, Eureka Valley Neighborhood Association Family Builders by Adoption, Family Dog Rescue, Federation of Gay Games, Flesh and Spirit Community Gaylesta, Gay Men’s Sketch, Golden Gate Business Association, Golden Gate Men’s Chorus, Golden Gate Wrestling Club, Grand Ducal Council Happy Hour with Cameron Stiehl, Horizons Foundation, House of Pride Radio, Human Rights Campaign Action Center Store Imperial Council, Inscribe World AIDS Day Jeff Sheehy District 8 Supervisor Kung Pao Kosher Comedy Leather Walk, Left Coast Theatre, Lesbian/Gay Chorus, LGBT Asylum Project, LGBTQ Cultural Heritage Strategy, Liberation Institute Magnet, Maitri Compassionate Care, Man Dance Company, Marty’s Place, Metropolitan Community Church, Momma’s Boyz, Mr. Friendly SF, Mr. SF Leather, Ms. SF Leather, National Queer Arts Festival New Conservatory Theatre Ohlhoff Recovery Programs, Openhouse, Organized Chaos Event Management, Our Family Coalition, OurTownSF Parents, Familes and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG), Pets are Wonderful Support (PAWS), Pink Triangle Park & Memorial, Positive Being, Positive Force, Positive Pedalers, Positive Resource Center, Project Inform, Project Open Hand Queens of the Castro, Queer Comics Expo, Queer Cultural Center, Queer LifeSpace, Queer Rebels Productions Rainbow Honor Walk, Rainbow Toastmasters, Rainbow World Fund, Recycled AIDS Medicine Program, The Richmond/Ermet Aid Foundation (REAF) Sacred Space, San Francisco AIDS Foundation, San Francisco Bay Area Leather Alliance, San Francisco Bay Blades, SF Gay Flag Football Team, SF Gay Men’s Chorus, SF LGBT Center, SF Lesbian/Gay Freedom Band, SF Night Ministry, Sarah Bush Dance Project, Shanti Project, The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, Society of Janus, SQREAM, Strut Team San Francisco, Temenos Catholic Worker, Tenderloin Tessie Holiday Dinners, Theatre Rhinoceros, Trans Lifeline, Trans Thrive, Transgender Employment ServicesTEEI, TransLife, TurnOut Varsity Gay League Wagz Pack’s Service Pups, Western Star Dancers, Women Organized to Respond to Life-Threatening Disease, Wrestlers Without Borders

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

Examined Life 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

Beth Greene Abby Zimberg

Design & Production

Kate Laws Business Manager Blake Dillon Calendar Editor

Kit Kennedy

Poet-In-Residence

J.H. Herren

Technology Director

Carla Ramos Web Coordinator Mario Ordonez Juan Ordonez Distribution

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.

National Advertising: Contact Bay Times / San Francisco.

Represented by Rivendell Media: 908-232-2021 Circulation is verified by an independent agency Reprints by permission only.

CALENDAR Event listings for consideration to be included in the Bay Times online or print Calendar section should be sent by e-mail to: calendar@sfbaytimes.com. © 2017 Bay Times Media Company Co-owned by Betty L. Sullivan & Jennifer L. Viegas

Tom Moon, MFT Corey came to see me, consumed with hurt and rage. Two years ago, his partner Lyle, whom Corey said “was the love of my life,” abruptly moved out of their apartment and disappeared while Corey was at work. In the following days, Corey discovered that Lyle had been involved with Lyle’s “best friend” for more than a year, and that the two had left the state together. Corey subsequently spent most of his waking hours so preoccupied with angry and vengeful thoughts that his life came to a standstill. He wanted to let go, but he felt completely stuck.

Together, we tried a number of methods to get him unstuck, and what finally did it was a process of self-examination developed some years ago by a woman named Byron Katie. Beginning in her early thirties,

Katie was so depressed and stuck in self-loathing that she was often unable to get out of bed for days or weeks at a time. One morning, in a sudden moment of life-changing insight, she saw that her suffering came from her thoughts about her situation—such as “my life is horrible,” and “I don’t deserve happiness”—and not from the situation itself. She realized a simple truth: when she believed her thoughts, she suffered, and when she didn’t, she was happy.

get out of their mental ruts and to improve the quality of their lives.

Out of this insight, she developed a process of self-inquiry which she now calls “The Work.” It involves asking four simple questions about each belief that causes us pain:

Tom Moon: “Can you absolutely know that it’s true?”

1. Is it true?

2. Can you absolutely know that it’s true?

3. How do you react when you believe that thought?

4. Who would you be without the thought?

After answering these questions, respondents are asked to come up with a “turnaround,” a sentence expressing the opposite of what one believes.

So, for instance, “He doesn’t understand me,” could become, “I don’t understand him,” or, “I don’t understand myself.”

I see “The Work” as a form of selfdirected cognitive therapy. It has helped many thousands of people to

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Here is an abbreviated summary of our discussion: Tom Moon: “Is this idea true?”

Corey: “Yes!”

Corey: “Well, no, I can’t really know what would happen if he ever did actually come clean with me. Maybe I’d be happier, and maybe I wouldn’t feel any different than I do right now.

I’m not much of an expert on how to be happy.”

Tom Moon: “How do you react when you believe that thought?”

Corey: “I feel heavy, bitter, weighed down. I feel vengeful. And I feel helpless because he has to do something in order for me to be happy, and he isn’t doing it.”

Tom Moon: “Who would you be without the thought?”

Corey: “I’d feel a lot lighter and happier, that’s for sure. Lyle would finally really be gone from my life. When I think about him all the time, it’s like he’s still with me every day.”

As we talk further, another turnaround occurs to him. “I need to admit that I’m hurting myself every time I ruminate about him, and instead of waiting for him to apologize, maybe I need to apologize to myself for what I’m doing to me,” Corey said.

In the weeks that followed, Corey asked these four questions every time he found himself ruminating about Lyle, and was gratified that his destructive preoccupation gradually melted away. Corey’s experience is not unusual. In my work, I’ve found Byron Katie’s process to be a simple, but highly effective, tool for opening the mind and expanding perspective.

An important advantage of this process is that it is easy to learn. Most of the people I work with are able to use it effectively on their own after just a little guidance and coaching. One easy way to begin learning how to do it is to access Katie’s website (http:// thework.com/en), where you’ll find a step-by-step description of how to do it.

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

We’ve Come a Long Way … or Have We? to see it at the theatre—especially the theatres with the reclining seats.

Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History Louise “Lou” Fischer I recently saw the new movie Battle of the Sexes, an upbeat and engaging story about the 1973 exhibition tennis match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs. I love sports movies, movies with lesbian backstories, and movies set in the 1970s—my formative years—so this was a win-winwin.

Women playing tennis in retro 70s outfits! Love scenes with sporty women! Hooray! About half-way through the movie, I realized, “We’ve been duped; this is a movie about politics.”

My quick review: it’s entertaining, Oscar-winning actress Emma Stone as Billie Jean King is fantastic, and the movie has flaws, such as trite dialogue, but was blessedly shot on 35mm film instead of digital to give it a 1970s visual effect. It is worth the $16

The “Battle of the Sexes” tennis match was my seminal moment of women’s consciousness-raising; the point at which I realized that, even though I was only 10 years old, I was a “Women’s Libber.” (If I’d worn a bra, I would have burned it.) I vividly remember the media hype and circus-like atmosphere of the ABC production; the baby pig given to “male chauvinist” Riggs (I didn’t get the joke and my sister, Karen, was put off because pigs aren’t kosher) and the giant Sugar Daddy™ caramel pop gifted to King (I wanted one just like it, but I had braces on my teeth so Sugar Daddy™ & his children, Sugar Babies™, were off limits). ABC heavily promoted the “TV extravaganza,” which gave the boys and girls in my 6th grade class a few weeks to stage our own battles of the sexes, in this case with words and some pushing and shoving on the playground during recess.

The stakes for women were huge.

Margaret Court had lost to Bobby Riggs in the “Mother’s Day Massacre” a few months earlier. This is covered in the film, but they ignore that she was a loathsome homophobe and documented racist, because that would ruin a good story. Court’s loss to Riggs threatened to derail the advances made by the 1972 passage of Title IX and to shred the credibility of feminists who were working so hard for gender equality and equal pay. If King had lost, it would have damaged the women’s cause for

years. This wasn’t just a tennis match, but a possible referendum on women’s rights, and vivid proof for misogynists that women are physically weaker than men and emotionally unequipped to handle pressure.

Spoiler alert—as if you didn’t already know—King won the match and the movie has a happy ending. The screenwriters don’t give much screen time to King’s inner struggle with her sexual orientation, and the fallout from the relationship with Marilyn Barnett that ended badly. Her husband, Larry King, is portrayed as a good guy, and from all accounts that seems to be true in real life. It’s too bad we can’t also say that women were vindicated, ERA was ratified by enough states, and magic unicorns flew down on rainbows and brought women the full equality we so richly deserve.

After the movie, I couldn’t shake the feeling that this was not just a movie about a tennis icon and an historic event, but rather a parable of our current political climate, especially the disastrous presidential campaign of 2016. In the movie, a competent, highly qualified champion has to prove herself by competing against a blatantly sexist male buffoon. Riggs’ male chauvinist persona gave tacit permission to men, and some women, to say out loud the very things that they were thinking, but were afraid to say. He was an overbearing, bullying media personality with a big ego and a bigger mouth to match. Forty or so years before Donald Trump belittled and disparaged Mika Brzezins-

ki, Katy Tur and Megyn Kelly, Riggs firmly planted his “sexist troll” flag smack in the center of the burgeoning women’s equality movement. Sound familiar?

Riggs was an immature, arrogant and egocentric showman out for his own self-enrichment, who initially didn’t seem to care if he won or not.

It was all about the “brand” and it was good for “business.” Billie Jean King was a pioneering feminist who risked her career and livelihood by breaking off from the sexist, male-run tennis establishment. Together with “the Original Nine,” she founded the Women’s Tennis Association to ensure equal pay and equal rights for female tennis players. With the weight of the world on her shoulders and the fate of women’s equality hanging in the balance, King had to rise above the entrenched hierarchy and fight for a righteous cause against a group of people who were battling to preserve their own perceived superiority.

Still sounding familiar, isn’t it?

I only wish the November 2016 battle of the sexes had the same outcome as the 1973 “Battle of the Sexes.”

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.

ABOUT OUR COVER (continued from page 3) those affected by long or short-term mind-altering drug abuse), family and social environment, as well as male-enacted violence in the entire primate lineage—not solely Homo sapiens. Regarding the latter, keep in mind that in most primate species, males for a variety of reasons disproportionately commit acts of violence such as mass killings, infanticide and rape. Parallels have been drawn with humans, suggesting genetic inf luences on behavior that should be possible for all to overcome. Nevertheless, Madfis’ theory is a thoughtprovoking one that is sure to generate additional research and debate.

For now, we can only speculate what was going on in the mind of Stephen Paddock as he brutally took the lives of so many innocent victims who were just

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Corey and I applied this process to his belief that: “In order for me to be happy, I need Lyle to admit he hurt and betrayed me, and I need him to offer apologies and restitution.”

Tom Moon: “Okay, now turn the thought around into its opposite: The first thing that occurs to me is that I don’t need anything from Lyle in order to be happy. It’s believing that I do that is keeping me unhappy.”

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trying to enjoy themselves at a concert. The massacre in Las Vegas was not necessarily a racially-charged one; many of the victims were Caucasian, the suspect’s own race. As Madfis explains in his paper, however, issues tied to race may have played a role in Paddock’s mental state.

If only Paddock and others before him—often consumed by self-hate, a hatred of others and obsessions with deadly weapons—had considered and taken to heart the timeless words of Martin Luther King, Jr.: “Hate begets hate; violence begets violence; toughness begets a greater toughness. We must meet the forces of hate with the power of love … Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.”

GLBT Fortnight in Review

By Ann Rostow

Deplorable Being a good Democrat, and being human, I usually get some satisfaction out of setbacks for the Republican party, and for conservatives in particular. Most of all, I derive pleasure from seeing Trump have a bad week.

But I’m not feeling good right now.

It’s several things, not counting this mad man in Vegas.

First, Trump’s bad week is coming at the expense of thousands of my compatriots (I am part of the 54 percent of U.S. citizens who recognize that Puerto Ricans are indeed fellow Americans) and I don’t find anything to celebrate in watching them suffer.

Second, Trump is downcast because Roy Moore won the Alabama senate primary, and is likely to win a senate seat in December. Roy Moore?

This guy makes Trump himself look sane and reasonable. I won’t rehash Moore’s history, but suffice it to say that every Alabama Moore voter should hang his or her head in shame.

Moore is one of the cruelest, most narrow minded, anti-American public figures of our time, and he doesn’t deserve to be elected dog catcher, let alone senator.

But mainly, because I feel demoralized by everything. Trump is so despicable that I feel beaten down by him, by his complete dismissal of Puerto Rico, by his lack of humanity, by his obvious mental illness, and by our political system’s inability to get rid of him. Honestly, it should not be easy to get rid of an elected President, so I don’t even know what I want to see happen. I suppose I want him to have a mental breakdown and quit and just go off and play golf.

I used to think that the horror of Trump would give way after 2018 and 2020 to better times, more thoughtful leadership, a demand for pragmatism and progress from the center of American politics. Surely all of this is unsustainable.

Instead, we’re seeing venom, hatred, fringe conservatism, fanaticism, greed and open racism. We’re seeing a nasty core of America that shocks me. Yes, I know that we are all flawed and that Nazi Germany could theoretically have sprung up in any part of the world, but really, I’ve only thought that I know that.

I never really believed it could have happened in the United States. I thought our revolution, our constitution, our frontier history, our diversity, and our sustained democracy made us special. I thought that, despite our problems, we were good at heart, and that the arc of our history always bent towards justice. That was my version of American exceptionalism. Now Trump, his base, Bannon, Tom Price, Jeff Sessions, Steve Mnuchin’s wife, Roy Moore and the ignoramus internet trolls on the far right have made me doubt my deepest convictions. I hate them for that.

Dead Man Suing I didn’t mean to rant, but it’s done now. I intended to write about the oral arguments held last week before the full bench of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. The case on appeal to the 13 judges concerned a sky diving instructor who was fired for being gay. The man is dead now, but his estate is pursuing his lawsuit, arguing that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the federal law against race and sex discrimination, should be interpreted to cover sexual orientation discrimination as well.

The case pits the dead man, Donald Zarda, against his former employers who fired him after he announced he was gay and a client complained.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) the federal agency in charge of enforcing Ti-

tle VII, has weighed in, arguing with Lambda Legal that sex discrimination case law supports Zarda’s claim.

Indeed, although most federal appellate courts have historically ruled against gay and lesbian plaintiffs, Title VII law has evolved in our favor over the last decade or so.

Recently, the full Seventh Circuit ruled that sexual orientation discrimination in the workplace is illegal under Title VII, and Lambda has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review a similar case that we lost before an Eleventh Circuit panel last summer. The point is that we’re all hoping this big full court appellate case out of Manhattan adds legal weight to our position.

In view of this situation, it was discouraging, to say the least, that the Justice Department, which had zero stake in the civil litigation between Zarda’s estate and some sky diving company, jumped into the fray by submitting a brief and insisting on being heard at oral arguments. I read the ridiculous legal argument produced by Mr. Sessions’ underlings, although it was like being forced to eat a plate of last week’s haggis, and I admit that I fed some of it to the dog.

In other words, I skimmed parts of it, but I assure you, I got the drift. Two of the government’s main observations were that almost no appellate courts in the past had interpreted Title VII in this fashion, and that Congress had not gone out of its way to add “sexual orientation” to the law in all of these years.

The first point is circular logic; the second is sophistry. Congress wouldn’t appropriate a bucket of warm spit for the gay community unless forced by some oddball scenario that I can’t think of at present. So no, we have not seen Congress take the initiative and pass a gay rights bill. And your point?

The Second Circuit judges were unimpressed with the government lawyer, asking why the Justice Department elected to intervene in a civil case that doesn’t concern government action, and to do so in opposition to the views of a federal agency that technically is part of the Justice Department! When asked essentially if one part of the government consulted with the other, the Justice Department lawyer claimed mysteriously that it would be “inappropriate” to reply, as if the inquiry trespassed on a matter of national security. He was, in short, a buffoon.

The EEOC, by the way, consists of five commissioners, split 3–2 between the parties, and appointed for fiveyear terms, so part of the Obama EEOC is bleeding over into the Trump administration. Not for long.

Trump has just nominated a conservative, Janet Dhillon, to the vacant post of Commission Chair.

Let’s Go to the Videotape Meanwhile, speaking of the law, there was a strange little lawsuit handled up in Minnesota the other day, where a couple of nutty videographers asked a federal court whether or not they could refuse to take gay wedding clients. Keep in mind, they didn’t actually have any prospective clients; they just wanted to be able to snub them with the court’s blessing in the future.

Normally, these hypothetical legal maneuvers are unconstitutional, but in this case, the court ruled that Minnesota’s recent legal guidance, emphasizing that businesses may not discriminate against gay and lesbian wedding parties, meant that the would-be wedding purveyors had enough of a stake in something constitutional to justify a lawsuit. The court went on to rule against them, instructing them that if they choose to start offering wedding videos, they will be obligated to offer them across the board, to both gay and straight couples.

This is particularly interesting, because all of the other wedding cases are state cases, brought by unhappy bakers and florists who have been fined or citied for violating state civil rights law. They have not been federal matters, until these videographers contrived their First Amendment case. It’s also interesting, of course, because Court is now in session and we are awaiting action in the Masterpiece Cakeshop cake, where our friendly Denver baker will insist that he has a First Amendment right to refuse to “speak,” i.e. to bake a cake, in support of a gay marriage.

Do Nothing, Congress. (Please.)

What else is new? Have you seen that BDO commercial where the father and daughter are walking through the vast vineyards conniving about how to rip off the government by avoiding estate taxes?

“Dad, we can sell the stake to a limited 56x-9 pass through entity and pay your salary through the Pakistani subsidiary—they run their accounts in the Caymans. I’ll buy it back using Mom’s exempt municipal bonds in a direct exchange. We’ll pay nothing for the whole transaction, and we’ll get the farm enhancement tax incentives.”

“Sounds interesting. Let’s run it through BDO.” “It was their idea!”

I wouldn’t have noticed, were it not for the recent talk of tax reform, and the various charts that indicated rich people are about to get a whole lot richer yet again. For no reason. No, rich people are not going to “create jobs” with extra cash. They’re going to invest it, and pay BDO to help them avoid estate taxes. That’s what I would do. And yes, it will increase the deficit. I don’t mind increasing the deficit for infrastructure, which must be repaired and modernized, or for education or preventive health, which pay for themselves. But for tax cuts?

Last, and in many ways least: Steve Mnuchin. Is he not the personification of a pompous ass? Don’t you enjoy watching some of these sanctimonious, smarm balls reach their levels of incompetence and fall by the wayside?

May they continue to tumble off the White House payrolls.

Fear Factor Okay then. I could talk about a halfdozen cases that might make it onto the Supreme Court’s docket this session, including a new transgender high school bathroom suit and a lesbian discrimination case out of Georgia. Nah, we have plenty of time for that. The session just started.

Oh, one of those cases might involve the status of the antigay Mississippi law that somehow got a green light from the Fifth Circuit. Will the High Court agree? Will the law be put on hold until its legal fate is determined? Maybe. This is the law— in case you’ve forgotten—that more or less lets businesses pick and choose which people and groups they feel like serving today.

I guess about 50 or 60 gay men got rounded up, tossed in prison, and many were tortured by authorities in Azerbaijan. What the hell? What is going on and why? Is there anything that can be done about this? My only knowledge of the place comes from one of Rachel Maddow’s lengthy discussions of some suspicious Trump business dealing, which in that case was a strange hotel built in the middle of nowhere in the north of Baku.

The hotel had no access driveway and seemed far away from completion.

There were many fishy business partners involved, yet my memory is quite fuzzy, so I will stop. Let’s just agree

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(continued on page 23) S AN F R ANC IS C O BAY T IM ES

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NEWS (continued from page 3) across the nation. Gays Against Guns also issued statements that read, in part, “Gun violence is killing us. Gun violence is an epidemic. Gun violence is a public health crisis. Gun violence is curable.” Gays Against Guns claims to be “the only gun violence organization to have gone to (gun shows) to speak with people who are strong supporters of the Second Amendment.

We’re not confrontational, but we engage with people and ask them to consider the facts. It can be uncomfortable at times, but this is what must happen if we want to change minds and save lives.” http://www.gaysagainstguns.net/ ‘Harvey’s Halo’ Light Installation to Mark 40th Anniversary of Milk’s Historic Election On November 8, to commemorate Harvey Milk’s historic election as California’s first openly gay elected official, the nonprofit Illuminate will unveil “Harvey’s Halo,” described by the organization as “a colorful beacon of equality into the sky above Harvey Milk Plaza.” The rainbow light display, which will shoot colorful hues directly up into the sky above the busy plaza, will last for seven nights over two weekends. A neon sign reading, “Hope Will Never Be Silent,” will also be placed in the plaza, serving, according to Illuminate, “as a permanent greeting to all those who call Castro home, be they San Francisco residents or not.” For more information, including visuals showing what the sign and display will look like, go to: http://illuminatethearts. org/projects/honoring-harvey-milkoverview/ California Department of Education Approves LGBTQ Inclusion in K–8 Textbooks The California Department of Education’s Instructional Quality Commission voted on September 29 to approve only the K–8 textbooks that included sufficient LGBT content— as mandated by the History-Social Science Framework that Our Family

Coalition worked to put in place last year. Ten textbooks were approved on the condition that they include edits provided by the FAIR Education Act Implementation Coalition, a group of eight LGBT and educational organizations convened and led by OFC, and including Equality California, GSA Network, The Committee on LGBT History, Los Angeles LGBT Center, ACLU, National Center for Lesbian Rights, Transgender Law Center, and the Safe Schools Project of Santa Cruz County. ourfamily.org CDC Officially Admits People Who Are Positive but Undetectable Cannot Transmit HIV The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has officially stated that those living with HIV who are undetectable cannot transmit the virus to others. September 27 was National Gay Men’s HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, and in a memo that day for the first time ever, the CDC said what organizations and experts in the field have been saying for years. “When antiretroviral treatment results in viral suppression, defined as less than 200 copies/ml or undetectable levels, it prevents sexual HIV transmission,” the memo stated. That is the scientific way of saying that an HIV positive person who seeks treatment, and eventually controls the virus to the point of not being detectable in tests, cannot pass on the virus, even if no protection is used. lgbtqnation.com City Grant Helps Fund Pink Triangle Park’s $250,000 Renovation Plan Dedicated in 2001, Pink Triangle Park is a memorial in the Castro to the estimated 15,000 LGBTQ persons who were killed during the Holocaust. During that era, Nazis made gay men wear pink triangles stitched onto their garments as a way to identify them. Even though it was the first such memorial in the United States, the park has since fallen into disrepair.

Andrea Aiello, the executive director of the Castro/Upper Market Com-

munity Benefit District noted this, but was powerless in that the park falls outside the CBD boundaries. But the Castro/Upper Market CBD acted as the fiscal sponsor for the Pink Triangle Park’s bid to get grant money, and neighborhood groups like the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, the Castro Merchants, the Eureka Valley Neighborhood Association, the GLBT Historical Society and others lent their support. The project has been granted $91,400, which will help with the entire renovation, which is expected to cost roughly $250,000. Everyone is hoping to break ground on the memorial in January of 2018, and if all goes to plan, a refurbished Pink Triangle Park Memorial will be open to the public in March. hoodline.com Nearly a Quarter of Americans Think Homosexuality Should Still Be Illegal A recent Gallup poll found that nearly a quarter of Americans still think gay sex should be illegal, two years after the legalization of same-sex marriage.

The poll shows 23 percent of respondents believe “gay or lesbian relations between consenting adults” should not be legal. Gallup began asking the question back in 1978, when 43 percent of people said gay sex should be illegal, with the same number saying it should be legal. At least the majority of people now believe gay sex should be legal. Also, 64 percent say same-sex marriages “should be recognized under the law as valid, with the same rights as traditional marriages.”

That is up from just 27 percent back in 1997. lgbtqnation.com STDs in U.S. Surge to Record High; Gonorrhea and Syphilis See Steep Increases Among Gay Men Sexually transmitted diseases surged to a record high in the United States last year, with more than two million cases of chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis nationwide, according to the annual “Sexually Transmitted Disease Surveillance Report” released on September 26 by the CDC.

ADELMAN (continued from page 8) this event. He will be presenting the perspective and information about the resources that the faith community provides. Pappas informed me: “Faith leaders are on the front lines of caring for aging adults and those living with disabilities.” It is his hope that “this important workshop will open a conversation with service providers in the City, enabling faith leaders to convey the basic challenges and resources needed to meet the demands of more

The report said this was “the highest number ever.” Gonorrhea increased among men and women last year, but the steepest rise was among men (22 percent), said the report. Nationwide, gonorrhea cases reached 470,000, with a large share of new gonorrhea cases among men who have sex with men. These trends are “particularly alarming” because of the growing threat of gonorrhea becoming resistant to the last recommended treatment, according to the CDC report.

Syphilis cases numbered 28,000, a rate that increased nearly 18 percent from 2015 to 2016. Most cases of syphilis occur among men—mainly gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men. towleroad.com LGBTQ Community Responds to Puerto Rico, Mexico and U.S. Natural Disasters The recent wave of hurricanes and earthquakes that have hit the Caribbean, Mexico, and the United States has left a trail of destruction taking hundreds of lives and leaving millions homeless and destitute. In Oaxaca, Mexico, Rainbow World Fund— a queer humanitarian organization based in San Francisco—is working directly with local aid workers to distribute emergency relief supplies such as tarps, food, soaps and items to care for the basic necessities. RWF is also funding a traveling medical van with a doctor in the San Mateo del Sur area. RWF volunteers live in Oaxaca and will be assessing needs and administering the funds. In Texas, RWF is raising funds to provide food assistance through a network of local food banks. In Puerto Rico, where communication links remain down, RWF is reaching out to the LGBTQ communities in Mayaguez and Rio Piedras to assess their needs. Caring people can donate online at donatenow.networkforgood.org and specify "Disaster Aid" rainbowfund.org Disarm Hate Act Passed and Awaits Governor’s Signature AB 785, The Disarm Hate Act introduced by Assemblyman Jones-Saw-

yer, was passed unanimously on September 11 on a bipartisan basis by the California Legislature. The bill is now on the Governor’s desk to be signed or vetoed. This bill is designed to keep guns out of the hands of convicted criminals motivated by hate.

Studies show these individuals are at greater risk for escalating violence and need to be disarmed. “We know hate and guns are a deadly combination that is increasingly putting individuals, their communities, and the public at risk. Under existing California law, those convicted of violent misdemeanors are prohibited from possessing or acquiring firearms for ten years,” said Peggy McCrum, President, California Chapters of Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.

“Unbelievably, those convicted of a hate crime misdemeanor still get to keep their guns. Indeed, some plead guilty to a hate crime in exchange for other charges being dropped just to avoid the prohibition. AB 785 will close this gap.” bradymail.org LGBTQ People and Friends Encouraged to Go Purple on Spirit Day Spirit Day 2017 is on October 19, and GLAAD has put together a handy guide to take a stand against anti-LGBTQ bullying. Spirit Day is an opportunity for people all over the world to speak out against anti-LGBTQ bullying and show their support for LGBTQ youth, who face disproportionate bullying and violence simply because of who they are. One way to show support is to take the Spirit Day Pledge online at glaad.org/spiritday Also, on October 19, people can wear purple and talk to friends and neighbors—both in person and on social media—about why it matters to support LGBTQ youth. GLAAD organizers say, “With all the anti-LGBTQ bullying happening in our schools, our statehouses, and even our White House, all of us at GLAAD are committed to making sure all LGBTQ kids know that their community and allies are fighting for them.” glaad.org

GAFFNEY & LEWIS (continued from page 8) effectively ministering to this critical sector.”

on our journey together on behalf of those we serve.”

pressures to marry a person of the opposite sex and to have children.

Tom Nolan, Chair of the DAAS/Interfaith event committee, expressed the excitement that many of us feel about this groundbreaking event when he said, “This will be an important, stimulating conversation centering on new and deepened collaborations among the faith community, DAAS, and community-based organizations. This is an exciting first step

Let the conversation begin.

After all, as America in the 1960s and 70s was undergoing the sexual revolution, and the Stonewall riots marked the symbolic beginning of the modern American LGBT movement, the repressive Cultural Revolution was taking place in China.

Chinese people have not had fully open access to media and information in the years since.

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

One person put it starkly, saying that he believed the majority of Chinese people simply fulfill expected roles in their lives— father, mother, son, daughter—and lack the ability to exercise agency over their lives. In one discussion group, a gay man who had once found love with a high school classmate until his parents cut off the relationship, seemed saddened and resigned as he talked about possibly giving up on coming out and instead entering into a heterosexual marriage to please his parents.

Many in the group seemed to understand exactly why he would do that. Coming out to parents seemed particularly formidable, even for some leaders of LGBT organizations. More than one person told us that if they came out to their parents, their parents might have a heart attack and die. In this environment, coming out in the workplace in the face of possible stigma and discrimination can be very challenging as well.

One leader likened internalized homophobia to the severe air pollution for which many big Chinese cities are infamous.

He exhorted the group: “We must cleanse ourselves of the pollution of homophobia, just as we need to clean the air we breathe.” The facilitator of that meeting asked us to lead a simple call and response, repeating, “It’s great to be gay. It’s great to be just the way you are.” The amazing Beijing LGBT Center and other organizations are working tirelessly to train counselors, therapists, and other health care professionals so that they can help LGBT clients, rather than shun them.

There will be more about LGBT life in China in the next issue of the San Francisco Bay Times.

John Lewis and Stuart Gaffney, together for over three decades, were plaintiffs in the California case for equal marriage rights decided by the California Supreme Court in 2008. Their leadership in the grassroots organization Marriage Equality USA contributed in 2015 to making same-sex marriage legal nationwide.

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As Heard on the Street . . . If you could start a non-profit, what services would it provide? compiled by Rink

Patrice Mustaafaa

Phoebe Belsky

Sister Loganberry Frost

Natalie Conte

Veronica Lopez

“I have concerns about the lack of music education in public schools. I would start a non-profit music education center.”

“San Francisco needs more group homes.”

“A new non-profit for peace generating force through more consciousness.”

“A needle exchange non-profit agency”

“More mental health facilities”

RUTH (continued from page 10)

LINDA SCAPAROTTI (continued from page 14)

30 mpg, no matter how hard I hammered it.

of under the mainly ineffective criminal law. With Attorney Scaparotti’s strong advocacy, victims became empowered survivors, taking on the perpetrators and the institutions that protected them. She won hundreds of boundary-violation, sexual harassment and gender discrimination cases.

The Fiat’s proviso is its low resale value, which means they are absolute steals on the used-car market, with oodles of 500es currently showing up in Craigslist’s $7,000–8,000 range. Fiat’s bottom-rung customer satisfaction ratings indicate that ownership could be an imperfect experience, but as long your 500e is running, you’ll be smiling.

Philip Ruth is a Castro-based automotive photojournalist and consultant at www.gaycarguy.com.

Check out his automotive staging service at www.carstaging.com

ROSTOW (continued from page 21) that a few nights at Trump Baku is a trip to avoid.

Also, I just read that an unpleasant gay man named Ric Grenell is set to become Ambassador to Germany. Really? Ric Grenell is a Republican operative, who made rude comments about various liberal women, including the aforementioned Rachel, Hillary Clinton and others.

Keeping it bipartisan, he also said Calista Gingrich had snap-on hair.

In other words, the man is one of those gay guys who doesn’t particularly like women. Plus, he also lacks the kind of résumé you’d expect someone to assemble by the time he or she is named Ambassador to Germany.

Seriously, I know you get plum posts like this if you give a zillion dollars to the presidential campaign. And maybe you’ll be tapped if you’re a celebrity; or if you’ve lived somewhere, or married someone, from a major country; or speak the language or something. But Grenell has no claim to fame, other than some years as U.S. spokesperson at the U.N., and a couple of weeks of work for Mitt Romney back in the day.

Anyway, Grenell was questioned by the Senate September 30, so we’ll see how it all works out for him.

Finally, I don’t know how to react to the Vegas shooter. Obviously, it’s horrible. It also seems to transcend the kind of analysis that makes us feel better in the aftermath of tragedy. When we pinpoint motives, we feel safe around those of our friends and neighbors who are not religious, insane, racist or whatever it is we’ve identified as a clear and present danger. So now do we have to watch out for sixty-something real estate investors?

In 2010, Scaparotti broke barriers by becoming the first out LGBT president of the San Francisco Trial Lawyers Association, the second largest professional association of litigation attorneys in the State of California. She was the lead Board member in moving the organization toward diversity and inclusion.

She established, and continues to lead, one of the most enduring and highlyrespected LGBT law practices in the Bay Area, specializing in estate planning and family law. Scaparotti was the first provider of self-help legal workshops for women and LGBTQ people 37 years ago. She has worked with over 3200 LGBT individuals and couples, helping to build and protect our diverse relationships and families, as well as writing and lecturing extensively on these legal issues.

We should also add that Scaparotti has a great, dry sense of humor that makes working with her a pleasure. She indicated that most biographies tend to offer the same basic information, such as the aforementioned school, work and volunteer achievements, which do not always get to the heart of an individual’s character. In that spirit, we offer the following little-known facts about her: She was raised to be a farm wife: pickling, jamming, baking, gardening, canning, and wild flower arranging. Life clearly took a turn.

She swears that she and her collie, Lady, looked exactly alike.

She was a Russian Studies scholar because of her interest in both utilitarian socialism and the expressive arts.

A starter (forward/center) on both her college field hockey and lacrosse teams, she beat out all of the girls from expensive boarding schools who expected to be chosen.

She started out in a rural law practice in Mendocino County, conducting her first trial fresh out of law school, because her boss told her, “You have 10 really strange things about yourself that will reach a lot of jurors.” Let that be a lesson to anyone who feels like an outsider!

Linda studied theater professionally; did street activist theater; wrote, acted and directed many plays/performance pieces; and loved playing against type (Laura in The Glass Menagerie, for example).

Even though she’s keeping the body together with safety pins and tape, she’s a better competitive tennis player than ever before.

The Martin 2051 Third St. l San Francisco, CA 94107 http://www.themartinsf.com 415-713-5608 TheMartinSFBMR@Greystar.com 4 Studios at $1063 a month; 3 One Bedrooms at $1214 per month; 5 Two Bedrooms at $1353 per month. Ten parking spaces available to BMR renters for an additional $100 a month and will be offered to households in lottery rank order. Must be income eligible and must not own a home. Households must earn no more than a maximum income levels below: 55% of Area Median Income 1 Person

2 Persons

3 Persons 4 Persons

5 Persons

$44,400 $50,750 $57,050 $63,400 $68,500

Below Market Rate (BMR) Rental Units Available Applications available Sept. 18, 2017 - Oct. 16, 2017 Applications must be received by 5pm on October 16. Postmarks will not be considered. Apply online through DAHLIA, the SF Housing Postal at https://housing.sfgov.org or mail in a paper application with a self-addressed stamped envelope to The Martin, P.O. Box 420847, San Francisco, CA 94142. Paper applications can be downloaded from https://housing.sfgov.org or picked up from one of the housing counseling agencies listed at http:// housing.sfgov.org/housing.counselors. Please contact the VENMOA leasing team for more information at (415) 713-5608 or TheMartinSFBMR@greystar.com.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

Units available through the San Francisco Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development and are subject to monitoring and other restrictions. visit www.sfmohcd.org for program information.

She regrets not having children, but made up for it by being a terrific aunt.

She is a terrific person in all respects, in our opinion. We will be cheering her on when she is presented with the Charles M. Holmes Community Service Award at HRC’s upcoming Gala. The event sold out in a flash, but the organization has created a waiting list, should more tickets become available. Information is at: http://www.sfhrcgala.org/content/buy-tickets

“Like” us on Facebook at facebook.com/SanFranciscoBayTimes & Read our content in full at issuu.com/sfbt

I lived in New York during the summer of Son of Sam, when we all made sure we didn’t have long brown hair, the murderer’s preference! It doesn’t help when the serial killer likes everyone: young, old, male, female, blond, brunette. arostow@aol.com S AN F R ANC IS C O BAY T IM ES

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From the Coming Up Events Calendar See page 36 Sunday, October 15 - The Pomegranate Witch Book Event @ Laurel Bookstore, 1423 Broadway, Oakland. Author Denise Doyen presents her book about a scary old tree that blooms with beautiful pomegranates. 2:30-5:30pm. laurelbookstore.com

Wednesday, October 18 - Queer Gourd Night @ Comix Experience, 305 Divisadero Street. Gourds, paint, cider and snacks will be provided; bring your own beer. 8-10pm. comixexperience.com

Pekka Strang Talks About Playing Tom of Finland in New Biopic Pekka Strang: I knew very little.

Twenty years ago, it wasn’t that big in Finland, but it was bigger globally. I knew the brand, but I didn’t know much about the artist behind the work, so that is why it was so interesting to see who this guy was.

Gary M. Kramer: Did you dream of one day playing a gay pornographer?

Film Gary M. Kramer Finnish actor Pekka Strang gives a fantastic, nuanced performance as Touko Laaksonen, the title character in Tom of Finland, director Dome Karukosi’s shrewd biopic of the famous gay artist. The film opens October 20 in the Bay Area.

In the opening scene, Touko is fighting in the war and enjoying some camaraderie with his fellow soldiers.

He also experiences a life-changing encounter when he has an exchange with an enemy soldier. Returning home to a repressive life in 1950s Finland, Touko works at an ad agency and lives with his sister, Kaija ( Jessica Grabowsky). They soon take in a boarder, Veli (Lauri Tikanen), with whom Touko quickly falls in love.

Touko is also seen spending his free time drawing secret and erotic illustrations of fetishistic and hyper-sexualized men—a likely response to homosexuality being illegal in Finland at the time. Soon, Touko’s drawings are attracting international attention on the underground market. As his success and reputation grow, he travels to America, where he connects with the queer community in ways he has not imagined, becoming a superstar of sorts.

Tom of Finland is smart in how it depicts the story of a shy man who found a way to f ind acceptance within the larger gay community.

The film also emphasizes how Tom of Finland gave considerable pleasure to millions of gay and closeted men around the world. But the film is more sensitive than prurient, a strength that might disappoint fans expecting a salacious biopic.

Strang met with me for the San Francisco Bay Times to talk about playing the icon that is Tom of Finland.

Gary M. Kramer: What did you know about Tom of Finland and his work before you made the film?

Pekka Strang: That’s one way to put it. It’s a great role. I’m an actor from Finland, and it was the role of a lifetime. He was a great man, and did so many great things, I think, so after reading the script, I had no doubt I wanted to do it.

Gary M. Kramer: Did you have concerns about having sex on screen?

Pekka Strang: It’s not a problem. I like having sex.

Gary M. Kramer: You do? Can we talk about your fantasies?

Pekka Strang: Yeah, we can do that—off the record.

Gary M. Kramer: So, what turns you on? Are you into leather, uniforms, or roleplaying … ?

Pekka Strang: Skateboarding.

I’m trying to show my kids how to do it, but I fell, so I can’t raise my left arm very high.

Gary M. Kramer: Touko is a very shy and introverted character. Even when he is surrounded by admirers, he feels uncomfortable in his own skin. Can you talk about that aspect of his character?

Pekka Strang: That’s typical Finland. When you look at his drawings and photographs, he’s always observing things. When you’re an observer, you don’t want the attention. You don’t show yourself. I think he was kind of an illusionist of sexuality. He was observing life. He was twenty-something when the war started. He was a young man who saw his mates dying, so that shaped his life.

That’s my interpretation. I never went to war, but we have a lot of stories of young men going there, and that may be a reason why he was like that. We don’t have much material of the younger Tom. Gary M. Kramer: Why do you think Veli (aka Nipo) and Touko fall in love?

Pekka Strang: I was about to quote Haddaway: “What is Love?”

[Laughs]. Nipo is the one challenging Touko. He’s much braver than Touko, in a sense. The artist is scared of the world, and here’s this young rebel. They lead a secret life. They had a really deep relationship. It was love.

KIT’N KITTY’S

QUEER POP QUIZ

Gary M. Kramer: How do you read the way Touko went from being an artist to an activist?

Pekka Strang: Touko says, “I’m not a political activist,” but then in 1985, ’86, he says, “Maybe I was.” He started to draw for his own good. There wasn’t an agenda with his drawings in the beginning. It was just something to jerk off to and to make others feel aroused. Going to L.A., he saw people who appreciated his work. So maybe he had an agenda and didn’t want to say what it was. It’s a bit of an allegory to our movie. We didn’t make a political agenda, but when you watch it today, there might be. © 2017 Gary M. Kramer 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

FORBIDDEN FRUITS Chinese culture often calls homosexuality “the pleasure of the bitten _____”?

A) pear B) plum C) peach D) banana 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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Toxicity Kills Creativity People are yelling at each other, and no one is dialoging. If they are, it’s an echo chamber of the same opinions, because to have a difference of opinion is an egregious mistake today. So, holding in your thoughts, your opinions and ideas leads to toxic build-up, and guess what? Yep, it kills creativity.

Words Michele Karlsberg Michele Karlsberg: For this issue of the San Francisco Bay Times, I present a guest article written by Isabella, who is a trailblazing publisher and author of lesbian fiction.

Sometimes it’s hard enough to write when the muse is on your shoulder, but when things get toxic, it’s damn near impossible to coax her out. The world is a cauldron of toxicity right now. For me, it’s tough to write when my world is scrambled. Some people have a schedule, sit down at the same time, pound on the keys and push 2,000 words daily. They ignore the world around them. It works for them.

For me, though, something like a conflict with my wife can wipe away my creativity with one swipe. Therefore, what’s happening in the world today is killing my creativity in a huge way.

If my world is off-kilter, I’m screwed.

It is hard not be affected by what’s happening in the world right now. A president … well, that’s a completely different blog. Hell, just turn on the TV and you can’t escape it. Bootup your computer and it’s splashed across the internet. Log onto Facebook, Twitter or Instagram and you can’t avoid the toxicity that snuffs out your creativity. With technology has come instant everything. Instant feedback, instant opinions, instant art, instant hate, but not instant forgiveness, nor instant compromise, or instant dialogue.

My other problem is I have a “fixer” type personality. I’m a union president, I work with LGBT students and I work with people who are fighting the system. I advocate for people, and right now, with the world the way it is, I want to fix it and I can’t. Feeling like my hands are tied also kills my muse.

I find myself analyzing everything, wondering what to do next, “ just in case.”

Another energy zapper.

So, how do I keep my muse playing nice with me?

Disengage.

Yep, it’s harder than it looks. I’ve finally realized that if I want to keep writing, I have to disengage. I learned the skill when my sons were little. Those times when you could turn them “off” and still hear them. Well, I pulled that old skill out of the back of the closet where it had sat for a decade and I dusted it off.

Why? First, I realized I went two years without releasing a book. I couldn’t believe how long it had been. I was so caught up in other people’s drama—my wife’s health scare, building a publishing company and working with authors—I lost track of time.

It happens.

Then, I had to walk away, in some part from technology, at least for parts of my day. I put my phone away, I turned off the TV and I went to my cabin where I don’t have easy access to news or the outside world, and I worked. Did I mention I’m a news junkie? Yep, another muse killer.

I also went back to what works for me: writing at night. I reestablished my nighttime routine of turning everything off, everything. I don’t surf the internet. I don’t have my phone. I instead establish “business hours” for myself. I’m treating my writing like my third job.

Isabella

By doing that, I was able to write three books this year and am finishing a fourth.

I also breeze through social media. It is hard to do, but must be done, especially with all of the toxic stuff happening. As an author, it’s hard to do, because we make friends on social media. We want to talk to people about books and writing, and we want to engage.

I also found that some groups on Facebook were too much for me, too toxic. It feels almost like high school where you want everyone to like you, and when they don’t, well … I’m over high school. I have to pull back, or I take that energy and internalize it and carry it inside, for days.

So, what works for me is to disengage when I’m writing. This is especially true when the muse is out in left field and completely gone. I also read. I love to be inspired by a well-written book. That too is another editorial.

Award-winning author Isabella lives on the central coast of California with her wife and sons. She works as a union advocate by day, when she’s not teaching college, and writes lesbian fiction at night.

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

Sister Dana Sez: Words of Wisdumb from a Fun Nun

Sister Dana sez, “I would never have thought to ever be in agreement with the horrible dictator of North Korea, but I have to agree with Kim that Donald Trump is a dotard. In fact, why not start calling him ‘Dotard Trump’”?!

The 33rd annual FOLSOM STREET FAIR brought more than 400,000 of us leatherfolk, fetish enthusiasts, and friends to the streets of SoMa, for an event called the largest celebration of its kind in the world.

The fair, which mainly celebrates BDSM and leather culture, featured about 200 exhibitor booths and play spaces spread out over 13 blocks with live stage acts and DJs, dancing, performance art, and fairgoers from all walks of life. Known as California’s third-largest single-day, outdoor spectator event, Folsom Street Fair supports a number of nonprofits, including Bayview Hunt-

PHOTO COURTESY OF JUAN DAVILA

By Sister Dana Van Iquity

ers Point Legal, GLBT Historical Society, and San Francisco Gay Men›s Chorus. The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence from around the world staffed the gates with their volunteer friends and said almost everyone was very cooperative in giving generous donations. Even though the venue was bigger than ever, it still was body-tobody everywhere, making it difficult to move around. My favorite area was “The Playground” that offered a dance space, a hopscotch game, and colored chalk for drawing on the ground. Especially fun was playing with the bubbles in several pools with different wands. It was so refreshing on that very hot day to get doused with cooling bubbles! A sign distinguished the Playground for: “women, friends, in a gender-inclusive space; all individuals who identify as women, female, gender-queer, gender-fluid, trans-masculine, trans-feminine,

Dennis McMillan (aka Sister Dana) enjoyed participating in the elegant Shanti Gala at The Palace Hotel on Thursday, September 28.

transgender, and others with identities beyond the binary or gender spectrum are welcome—including all sexualities, sexual orientations, and sexual expressions.”

Having attended every single Folsom Fair since its inception (that’s 33 times, y’all), this leather nun has seen it all and has therefore become rather jaded. Trying to find something new under the sun was a bit of a chore. But there was some new stuff.

For instance, there was a booth with The Liberal Scouts, “a troop for ageplayers of all kinds.” They had uniforms and badges kinda like the Girl Scouts. And there were all the old returning faves, including the Naked Twister game from Steamworks. Tshirts spied: “But first, cocktails;” “RESIST [and a rainbow striped clenched fist]”; and “We the People ... means everyone [with a rainbow flag and stars].” All three messages are very close to my heart!

ART SAVES LIVES CASTRO STUDIO & PERFORMANCE SPACE presented another fabulous reception for local artists and their works—now on display at 518 Castro Street. These monthly receptions/parties by gallery owner/artist Thomasina DeMaio are always free and include beverages and catered food plus live entertainment.

Artists for ASL›s September show include Gregory Conover, Liam (continued on page 38) S AN F R ANC IS C O BAY T IM ES

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HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE DE YOUNG AND LEGION OF HONOR

Teotihuacan: City of Water, City of Fire

At the de Young through February 11, 2018

The Fine A rts Museums of San Francisco (FAMSF) are pleased to premiere Teotihuacan: City of Water, City of Fire, the first major U.S. exhibition on Teotihuacan in over twenty years. The ancient metropolis of Teotihuacan is one of the largest and most important archaeological sites in the world, and the most-visited archaeological site in Mexico.

At its peak in 400 CE, Teotihuacan was the cultural, political, economic, and religious center of Mesoamerica and was inhabited by a multiethnic population of more than 100,000 people. This historic exhibition features more than 200 artifacts and artworks from the site and is a rare opportunity to view objects drawn from major collections in Mexico, some recently excavated—many on view in the U.S. for the first time—together in one spectacular exhibition.

“We are proud to have been working in collaboration with our cultural partners in Mexico for over 30 years,” said Max Hollein, Director and CEO of FAMSF. “In this groundbreaking exhibition, an abundance of recent archaeological discoveries will offer visitors to the de Young insight into the life of the ancient city and give greater context and significance to the Teotihuacan murals in our own collection.”

Located approximately 30 miles outside of modern-day Mexico City, Teotihuacan was founded in the first century BCE near a set of natural springs in an otherwise arid corner of the Valley of Mexico. At its height a few centuries later, the city covered nearly eight square miles and featured enormous pyramids, long avenues, and residential compounds. Highlights of the exhibition will include artifacts recently excavated from the site of the Feathered Serpent Pyramid, as well as objects from both recent and historic excavations of the Moon Pyramid, and the Sun Pyramid—the three largest pyramids at Teotihuacan.

The exhibition, which will travel to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), will also reunite exquisite mural fragments in FAMSF’s collection with others originating from the same residential compound at Teotihuacan. In 1986, FAMSF repatriated a number of murals as part of an unprecedented joint agreement with Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH). Together, they established a program of collaborative conservation and exhibition. Alongside these murals will be monumental and ritual objects from the three pyramids, as well as ceramics and stone sculptures from the city’s apartment compounds, which were inhabited by diverse peoples from many parts of Mexico.

“The past ten years have seen major revelations in Teotihuacan archaeology. With these discoveries comes a new sense of Teotihuacan that will have an impact for generations to come,” said Diego Prieto Hernández, INAH General Director.

“We are grateful for the enthusiastic and abiding partnerships we have developed with the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Such exchanges are crucial to create a shared understanding and vision across countries and cultures, a common basis for our human experience.”

The national and international teams working at the main pyramids have made significant discoveries since the last major Teotihuacan exhibition in 1993, when the de Young hosted Teotihuacan: Art from the City of the Gods. By bringing objects from various excavations together and encouraging visitors to understand the context of specific sites within the city, the new exhibition provides a rare opportunity for Bay Area audiences and visitors to experience a significant place in Mexico’s historical and cultural landscape.

“This exhibition will give visitors the chance to be immersed in the history of Teotihuacan and its urbanism through encounters with 200 objects,” said exhibition curator Matthew H. Robb. “It is an opportunity to anchor these objects on the map of the site to understand how art held communities together in a large, complex, cosmopolitan city—offering valuable lessons for contemporary audiences.”

In the sixth century, a devastating fire in the city center led to Teotihuacan’s rapid decline, but the city was never completely abandoned or forgotten; the Aztecs revered the city and its monuments, giving many of them the names we still use today.

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Mexico, Anahuac, Teotihuacan, Moon Pyramid. (Photo by: Eye Ubiquitous/UIG via Getty Images) Image courtesy of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco

Feathered Serpents and Flowering Trees mural (Feathered Serpent 1), 500–550. Earthen aggregate, stucco, and mineral pigments, 22 1/4 x 160 1/4 in (56.5 x 407 cm). Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Bequest of Harald J. Wagner, 1985.104a Image courtesy of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco

Teotihuacan is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site and attracts upwards of four million visitors annually.

Teotihuacan: City of Water, City of Fire is curated by Matthew H. Robb, chief curator of the Fowler Museum at UCLA and former curator of the arts of the Americas at FAMSF. The exhibition is on view at the de Young Museum through February 11, 2018. It will travel to LACMA from March 25 through July 15, 2018.

This exhibition could not have been possible without a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the human endeavor.

In Detail Teotihuacan: City of Water, City of Fire brings together art and artifacts from recent excavations with objects found as long as a century ago. These finely crafted works demonstrate how the city’s dominant ideology permeated everyday spaces, united a diverse population, and provided a guide for citizens as they navigated Teotihuacan’s streets. The Aztecs revered Teotihuacan and gave the city and its major monuments their names. This exhibition is organized geographically around these places.

The exhibition begins with recent discoveries from a tunnel found underneath the Feathered Serpent Pyramid by Mexican archaeologists in 2003. Over a decade of explorations yielded an astonishing array of objects: enigmatic sculptures that may represent Teotihuacan’s founding ancestors and large quantities of vessels depicting one of Teotihuacan’s most important deities, the Storm God. Shells likely originating from the Gulf of Mexico were also found, some incised with designs from other parts of Mesoamerica, indicating that, even early in its history, Teotihuacan was already a major regional hub.

Teotihuacan was a highly organized city, built in a grid-like plan over roughly eight square miles, situated along the north-south axis formed by the Street of the Dead, and made up largely of architecturally similar single-story residential buildings varying in size and level of luxury. These apartment compounds housed many of Teotihuacan’s residents. The first gallery introduces the art forms for which Teotihuacan is best known and highlights important deities, including the Storm God, with his goggle eyes and distinctive nose plaque; the Old Fire God, an elderly figure who sits cross-legged and bears a brazier atop his head; the Water Goddess, known from large monuments; and the Maize God, who symbolized the life-sustaining power of this crop and may be the subject of Teotihuacan’s famous stone masks.

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Circular relief, 300–450. Stone, 49 1/4 x 40 1/2 x 9 7/8 in. (125 x 103 x 25 cm). Museo Nacional de Antropología / INAH, 1081807. Archivo Digital de las Colecciones del Museo Nacional de Antropología / INAH-CANON Image courtesy of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco

The next gallery showcases objects from a range of residential compounds, demonstrating aspects of daily and ceremonial life for Teotihuacan’s citizens. Immigrant groups from across Mesoamerica frequently occupied distinct neighborhoods, or barrios. Here they maintained traditions from their places of origin and simultaneously integrated themselves into the fabric of the city and its dominant ideology. In a compound on the city’s western edge, for example, people from Oaxaca carried out Zapotec lifeways, including the use of Zapotec calendrical signs. An offering on the city’s eastern edge included delicately painted ceramic figurines of women and infants. And on the city’s southern periphery, the working-class residents of Tlajinga specialized in the mass production of utilitarian obsidian blades and played a crucial role in Teotihuacan’s economy.

La Ventilla, to the southwest of Teotihuacan’s ceremonial core, is presented as an archetypal Teotihuacan residential area. Artisans from La Ventilla created spectacular artworks to satisfy local and regional markets. These included iconic ceramic tripod vessels and elaborate incense burners—or incensarios. More incensarios have been found at La Ventilla than anywhere else in the city. They were often decorated with mass-produced, mold-made clay decorations that were applied to their surfaces.

The Feathered Serpent Pyramid and the surrounding Ciudadela are next explored. Though smaller in comparison to the Sun and Moon Pyramids, the Feathered Serpent Pyramid was covered in elaborate, mon(continued on page 38)

Round About - All Over Town - Late Summer & Early Fall Photos by Rink Rink continues to photograph activities and events throughout our community at a remarkable pace.

Who do you recognize among the faces in this issue’s collection of images?

Singer Melina Silverston and the Parlor Tricks presented a program of ragtime tunes during the Castro Live show at Jane Warner Plaza on August 27.

Recording artist MC Hammer spoke and sang with friends at Mayor Ed Lee’s Unite Against Hate Rally at City Hall on August 25.

Songstress Paula West performed an outdoor concert during the Yerba Buena Gardens Festival on August 26.

An Asian drumming troupe performed at the Unite Against Hate Rally on August 25.

Yerba Buena Gardens Festival’s Linda Lucero and Afro Solo’s Thomas Simpson were among those enjoying the performance by Paula West on August 26.

Playwright Jewelle Gomez and artistic director Ed Decker shared a hug during a party celebrating Decker’s thirty years at New Conservatory Theater on August 26.

Maurice Kelly as Marie Antoinette, Jorge Cino and Eric Jansen celebrated during the party at New Conservatory Theater on August 26.

David Schiller of Iacopi Farms in Half Moon Bay displayed the fresh green beans on sale at the Castro Farmers Market.

Alice Allard and Wendi Stern representing Allard Farms of Westley, California, offered figs, peaches, cherry jam and other sauces at the Castro Farmers Market.

Singer Lisa Gonick and the Damifino Players performed at Jane Warner Plaza during the Castro Live event on September 9.

Delicious peach slices were offered for sampling by Steven Sepulveda of Robin Farmers in Modesto at the Castro Farmers Market.

Mimi Osa was introduced as the new Miss GAPA at the organization’s annual Runway Pageant.

Mitsu Ramos and Andy Nguyen enjoyed the GAPA Runway Pageant on August 26.

9/11 hero Mark Bingham was remembered by members of his SF Fog Rugby team during their beer bust at 440 Bar in the Castro.

Miss GAPA (Gay Asian Pacific Alliance) Ehra Amaya welcomed guests to the GAPA Runway Pageant at Herbst Theatre on August 26.

A colorful sign welcomed guests to the Art Saves Lives ARC show held at the AIDS Health Foundation gallery space on September 9.

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The ARC of San Francisco’s Lance Scott was on hand at the ARC show held at AHF gallery space on September 9.

The American flag flew at half staff on September 11 at San Francisco Fire Station #11 on lower Nob Hill in honor of the fire fighters and others who perished in the 9/11 attacks in New York City in 2001.

Art Saves Lives coordinator Thomasina DeMaio displayed her drawing of model Jose Cital during the Castro Artwalk on September 7.

Breast Cancer Emergency Fund founder Juliana Cochnar (center) with friends Megan Murphy and Ashley Core during the Beats for Boobs benefit at the Clift Hotel.

Jenn Meyer of the Bay Area Take store at Jane Warner Plaza paused in front of displays of local arts and crafts during Castro Artwalk.

Michael Benner of Michael’s Chocolates offered samples of wine and chocolate during Castro Artwalk.

Volunteers offered raffle tickets at the Clift Hotel on September 7 during the Beats for Boobs benefit supporting Breast Cancer Emergency Fund, Bay Area Young Survivors and Breast Cancer Prevention Partners.

Event host Ross Matthews greeted guests during the reception at the GLAAD Gala held at the Metreon on September 9.

Guests enjoyed the Beats for Boobs breast cancer benefit at The Clift Hotel where more than $30,000 was raised.

Guests enjoyed the reception at The View at Metreon during the GLAAD Gala.

Castro Ambassador Lance Bartel distributed neighborhood maps and guidebooks at Jane Warner Plaza.

Volunteers distributed Wells Fargo toy horses at the GLAAD Gala.

Volunteers dressed for the Roaring Twenties theme and displayed items offered in the Silent Auction during the benefit at the Clift Hotel.

SF Pride’s George Ridgely and Empress Mercedez Munro displayed the check presented to the Imperial Court during the SF Pride Committee’s check-granting party at Eagle Tavern on September 8.

Hearth servers Conner and Spencer offered samples at the California Independent Film Festival’s VIP Party honoring actor Zachery Quinto (Star Trek) held on September 16.

The Castro Theatre’s marquee announced the appearance of Lainie Kazan and Tab Hunter at the California Independent Film Festival’s 20th Anniversary.

Producer Allan Glaser and movie and stage stars Lanie Kazan and Tab Hunter paused for photographers on the runway at the California Independent Film Festival’s opening at the Castro Theatre.

California Independent Film Festival founder and director Derek Zemrak welcomed honoree Zachery Quinto during the VIP Party held at Hearth.

Cheerleaders performed during the annual Golden Gate Gaymes held in Collingwood Park on September 9.

Emperor Nic Hunter and Empress Mercedez Munro enjoyed the Golden Gate Gaymes at Collingwood Park.

Mr. Golden Gate Michael Timineri and former Empresses Galilea and Misty Blue were on hand for the Golden Gate Gaymes held in Collingwood Park as an annual benefit for the Imperial Council of San Francisco.

Actor Zachery Quinto (Star Trek) greeted fans at the VIP Party held at Hearth during the California Independent Film Festival.

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Speaking to Your Soul ARIES (March 21–April 19) You’ve processed enough and can go ahead and express your truth now. There is a fundamental rebirth that’s happening; a need to more fully individuate and come into clearer form now.

LIBRA (September 23–October 22) Your courage to be bold and forthcoming is tested with those you care about. Doing so gets you closer to what you deeply desire. Both your deep love and your anger are forms of creative energy. Make space for it all—it has a message.

TAURUS (April 20–May 20) Your inner hero is being called. Fears that you currently hold are mostly inner dragons. Go in there and slay.

Astrology Elisa Quinzi We each have a right to be here, and to be ourselves within certain agreed-upon limits that are for the greater good, such as not being free to kill. There are moments, however, when we realize we have been imposing limits on our own behavior and thinking that hold us back.

This is one of those moments.

In some area of life, we are each called to be brave.

To go for it. To risk for love.

SCORPIO (October 23–November 21) Take actions toward improving your self-care. Face the day with courage, knowing you are continually renewing yourself. Take care of loose ends and tidy up to harness your focus.

GEMINI (May 21–June 20) Dare to envision your ideal future. Have the courage to add your heat to the societal fires of evolution and transformation. You have skills of communication and a story to tell.

SAGITTARIUS (November 22–December 21) Your vitality is quickened. Follow urges, as there is a pulsation of creative energy seeking expression through you.

Speak it, say it, love it.

CANCER ( June 21–July 22) Your mission is guided by great feelings of love. If that doesn’t resonate, you might have lost touch with your mission. Allow space for love to arise within you and integrate that being-ness into a cleaner, clearer purpose.

CAPRICORN (December 22–January 19) Claim some necessary solitude. There is a spark under your surface that wants your attention. It’s the holy grail that will set you on your horse again.

LEO ( July 23–August 22) If your mind is a mountain, forge a new path now.

Challenge your comfort zone. Go in new directions and try new lookout points.

AQUARIUS ( January 20–February 18) As much as you like your space and privacy, people are necessary for many reasons. So is a sense of humor, which thankfully you have. The atmosphere begs you to be bolder with strangers, with neighbors, and with faces crossing your path.

VIRGO (August 23–September 22) Possibly messy, but necessary, emotions are triggered in you, especially in the context of intimacy. The planets back your need to express something passionately.

PISCES (February 19–March 20) Your desires and values are coming into sharper focus.

Have the courage to boldly go toward what you want, trusting in the purity of the impulse. Your only filters need be love and service.

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)

Pain in the Neck

Take Me Home with You!

tant to make sure those muscles are warmed up before you proceed with any stretching or adjusting of the area. The best and safest way to loosen and warm up the area is to do shoulder rolls. Simply move your shoulders up, back and around a few times, then reverse. Try a few right now, because next, you might want to try the posture adjustment.

Zelda

Easy Fitness Cinder Ernst

“My name is Zelda, and I’m on a mission to romp and play! I just celebrated my first birthday and I still have lots of puppy energ y. Do you want to get out and enjoy our beautiful San Francisco fall weather? Me too! I love meeting new people and going on adventures.”

Zelda 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 Zelda.

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

SA N FRANCISCO BAY T I ME S

Dr. Jennifer Scarlett and Pup

O C TO B E R 5 , 2 0 1 7

In the last several columns, we have looked at upper body posture and how to improve yours. As always, the exercises and coaching we offer at Easy Fitness are simple, clear and easy to fit in. Check the archives for some great posture fixes and hacks.

It’s important to be in your best posture possible, not only as you move through your life, but also as you work out.

Today we will talk about how posture affects head position and neck pain.

When you have a forward slump going on (shoulders rounded forward, creating a hump in your back) your head often follows suit. Try it now: round forward and notice that your head falls forward, too. That head position creates tension in your upper back and neck. So, if you correct your upper back and chest posture, but not your head position, then you are still left with a painful upper back, neck and shoulders.

Neck pain is tricky, because there are so many muscles involved with holding your head up. It’s always impor-

The positional adjustment for your head is first to lift your ribcage by bringing your shoulder blades back and down. Then think of your head as a natural extension of your spine. When you do this, you feel taller. I often think of my mom, who was a dancer. She had that graceful, long neck with her head held high. Try it now … shoulder blades back and down, with your head being a natural extension of your spine.

Your head may now be in better alignment, but what’s your chin doing? With a forward head position, your chin often juts forward. This chin position shortens the muscles in the back of your neck, creating more pain and tension. The opposing neck muscles in front become weak and unable to support your head properly. So, a chin adjustment is in order.

Make sure you’ve done a few shoulder rolls before you proceed. In physical therapy, this adjustment is called a neck or chin glide. Without moving your chin up or down, try to move it straight back. Sometimes this movement is taught with two fingers pressing gently on your chin. Hold for a second or two, then relax. What you should feel is stretch in the back of

your neck, and slight tension in the front of your neck. My clients have named this “ye old double chin move,” because if you do it right, you create a double chin look.

Next time, we will look at neck mobility moves with some stretching and strengthening. Be sure to listen to your body. Stop if something hurts, and don’t forget to have fun!

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

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S AN F R ANC IS C O BAY   T IM ES

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COMING UP

Compiled by Blake Dillon

CALENDAR OF UPCOMING EVENTS sfbaytimes.com

5 : Thursday LGBT Alumni Mixer @ Infusion, 124 Ellis Street. Hosted by Berkeley and Princeton BTGALA, the monthly mixer welcomes all alumni and friends. 6:30–9pm. btgala.tigernet.princeton.edu The Art and Science of Pinball Exhibition @ Chabot Space & Science Center, 10000 Skyline Blvd., Oakland. A unique exhibit featuring 35 interactive elements and programs celebrating the 200 years of pinball evolution. 10am-5pm. Extended through October 22, Wednesday–Sunday. chabotspace.org Cabaret @ Marin Art and Garden Center, 30 Sir Francis Drake Blvd, Ross. The Ross Valley Players present the classic play through October 15. rossvalleyplayers.com How I Learned to Drive @ Custom Made Theatre, 533 Sutter Street. Paula Vogel’s Pulitzer PrizeWinning play opens the 2017-18 season with this poignant and funny tale of survival for a young girl faced with the advances of an older man. Performances through October 7. custommade.org HMPC Annual Exhibit @ Harvey Milk Photo Center, 50 Scott Street. The annual exhibit of works by members, staff and volunteers curated by Dave Christensen and HMPC staff and members. TuesdaySunday through October 7. harveymilkphotocenter.org Rescheduled to January 18-20, 2018 Well-Strung @ Feinstein’s at the Nikko Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason Street. The classically trained foursome will perform pop/classical mashups featuring hits by Stevie Nicks, Rihanna, The Outfield, Queen, The Beatles, Lady Gaga, and more. feinsteinsatthenikko.com

6 : Friday E-Babes @ The Terrace Room, 1800, Oakland. The longstanding mixer for women welcomes the staff of Olivia Travel. 6pm. E-Babes on facebook.com Positive Resource Center’s 30th Anniversary Mighty Real Gala @ Four Seasons Hotel, 757 Market Street. Celebrating 30 years of services and the recent merger with AIDS Emergency Fund and Baker Places, the event features a hosted reception and silent auction followed by dinner and dancing. 6pm. positiveresource.org Kah-meel-E-Yun Exhibit @ Pro Arts, 150 Frank H. Ogawa Plaza, Oakland. The opening reception for curator-in-residence Yarrow Slaps’ presentation of the work of 8 Bay Area artists in a show that emphasizes color and celebrates creative production.

6-9pm. proartsgallery.org 36

SA N FRANCISCO BAY T I ME S

6th Annual StartOut Awards @ St. Regis San Francisco, 125 3rd Street. With featured guest Lea Delaria, the event celebrates excellence and leadership in the LGBTQ entrepreneurial community. 6:30-11:30pm. startout.org Country Nights Women’s Partner Dancing @ Lake Merritt Dance Center, 1st Floor Lounge, 200 Grand Avenue, Oakland. Women’s partner dancing and lessons. 7pm Lesson; 8pm Dancing. countrynightsdance@sbcglobal.net Gillian Welch @ The Fillmore, 1805 Geary Blvd. Performing with guitarist David Rawlings, the Grammy Award-winning singer/ songwriter presents her memorable show combining elements of Americana, country, bluegrass and Appalachian music. 8pm. fillmoresanfrancisco.com

7 : Saturday Horizons Foundation Annual Gala @ San Francisco Fairmont atop Nob Hill. An elegant evening including a reception, silent auction, dinner, program, dessert buffet and after party. 5:30pm. horizonsfoundation.org

Rosenblum Cellars Fleet Week Cruise @ San Francisco Bay. Join Rosenblum aboard the Cabernet Sauvignon Commodore yacht for the viewing party of the year to watch the Blue Angels Air Show. 1-5pm. rosenblumcellars.com ABBA The Concert @ The Regency Ballroom, 1300 Van Ness Avenue. An ABBA tribute event that’s been a hit all over the U.S. for more than a decade. 8:30pm. theregencyballroom.com

9 : Monday Perfectly Queer Children’s Books by Queer Authors @ Dog Eared Books Castro, 489 Castro Street. 7pm. The popular reading series will welcome authors Marcus Ewert, Maya Gonzalez, Gayle Pitman and Beth Reichmuth.

7pm. dogearedbooks.com Stonewall Project: Abstinence Skills Enhancement @ Strut, Room 1, 470 Castro Street. A support group helping participants remain abstinent from drugs and alcohol with a non-judgmental approach to relapse or slips. 7:30-9pm. strutsf.org

Barbara Higbie and Friends @ Freight & Salvage Coffeehouse, 2020 Addison Street, Berkeley.

Windham Hill recording artist Barbara Higbie and friends present a mix of jazz, folk, classical and international music. 8pm. thefreight.org

BriefCaKe @ 43 6th Street. A mingle and dance party for guys of all sizes, ages and colors where no tie is required. 8pm-2am. Stealth SF on facebook.com

Not A Genuine Black Man @ The Marsh San Francisco, 1062 Valencia Street. Extended through October 21 on Saturdays, the show is written and performed by Brian Copeland about his struggles growing up in one of the most racist suburbs in America. 8:30pm. themarsh.org

“Judy Chicago’s Pussies” Exhibit @ Jessica Silverman Gallery, 488 Ellis Street. A solo exhibit of paintings, drawings and ceramic plates made between 1968 and 2004 exploring women’s agency, sexuality and feline companions, which also features Morning Fan (1971), a monumental painting considered an icon of feminist minimalism. Tuesdays-Saturdays, 11am6pm through October 28. jessicasilvermangallery.com

Tribute to Sean Penn @ Mill Valley Film Festival, Smith Rafael Film Center, 1118 4th Street San Rafael. The event includes an onstage conversation with Sean Penn, screening of a reel of clips from his work and the presentation of the MVFF Award. 3pm.

Festival continues through October 15. mvff.com

8 : Sunday 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 Live! in the Castro: ArtSpan Open Studios @ Jane Warner Plaza, 17th and Castro Streets.

Artists will share their work at Jane Warner Plaza. 11am-2pm. castrocbd.org O C TO B E R 5 , 2 0 1 7

10 : Tuesday

graphed 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. 8pm. calperformances.org An Evening with Armistead Maupin @ Jewish Community Center of San Francisco (JCCSF), 3200 California. In honor of the 29th anniversary of National Coming Out Day, JCCSF presents Armistead Maupin (Tales of the City) for a conversation about his memoir Logical Family with Peter Stein.

7pm. jccsf.org Ain’t Misbehavin’ @ Gateway Theatre, 215 Jackson Street.

42 Street Moon presents the Tony Award-winning musical in opening its 25th Anniversary Season. 7pm through October 29.

42ndstmoon.org Castro Farmers’ Market @ Noe & Market Streets. On-going outdoor market in the Castro featuring fresh and organic foods from local vendors. Every Wednesday through November. 4-8pm. pcfma.org An Evening with Art Garfunkel @ Castro Theatre, 429 Castro Street. The Commonwealth Club of California’s Good Lit series presents Garfunkel in an intimate conversation about his new memoir What Is It All but Luminous. 6pm. commonwealthclub.org Nightly Illuminated Scenes in Golden Gate Park Inspired

by Rare Tropical Flowers @ Conservatory of Flowers, 100 JF Kennedy Drive. A public display of a light art installation every night through October at approximately 9:15pm. conservatoryofflowers.org

12 : Thursday

Vicki Randle & Friends @ Ivy Room, 860 San Pablo Avenue. Renowned performer Vicki Randle and featured guests perform at the popular East Bay club. 6:30pm. ivyroom.com

Perfectly Queer Rainbow Reading From Their Experience @ Dog Eared Books Castro, 489 Castro Street. The Perfectly Queer Reading Series welcomes Lynne Barnes, Kate Carroll de Gutes and Kate Raphael reading their poetry, essays and novels.

7pm. dogearedbooks.com

To Immigrants with Love @ Corner of Bryant Street at 24th Street. A digital mural project by Jess X. Snow and Roger Peet highlighting the unbreakable love and bravery that holds migrant families together. Continues through October 31 on Wednesdays-Saturdays from 12-5pm. galeriadelaraza.org

Q-Public: Out/Look for the 21st Century @ GLBT History Museum, 4127 18th Street. Author Jeffrey Escoffier, performer Brian Freeman, artist Maya Manvi curator Dorothy Santos and Out/Look founder E.G. Crichton will present a discussion on the new exhibit Out/Look and The Birth of the Queer.

7-9pm. glbthistory.org

11 : Wednesday boulders and bones with ODC Dance @ Cal Performances, Zellerbach Hall, 2425 Bancroft Avenue, Berkeley. Co-choreo-

Bad Habits at Brunos @ Bruno’s, 2389 Mission Street. A party with a “wear all black” theme, the evening is a mixer for LGBTQ queers, ladies, queens and unicorns where it’s never just a party—it’s a lifestyle. 9:30pm-2am.

13 : Friday HRC SF Bay Area & Pride Portraits/Share Your Story! @ Human Rights Campaign Shop, 575 Castro Street. A free photo shoot opportunity with photographer Eric Edward Schell as Pride Portraits gathers stories and images from throughout the LGBTQIA community. 11am-7pm. hrc.org/sanfrancisco LitQuake @ Strut, 2nd Floor, 470 Castro. A segment of the city-wide LitQuake Festival will be held at Strut with a team of contributors from the Foglifter Queer Literacy Journal presenting a celebration featuring performances of works from a new anthology. 7:30pm-9pm. strutsf.org

14 : Saturday Fall Open Studios @ Hunters Point Shipyard & Islais Creek Studios, 1 Rankin Street. Join artist Irene Hendrick and many other LGBT community artists for this annual weekend show. 11am-6pm. shipyardartists.com OurTownSF Nonprofit Expo 2017 @ Eureka Valley Recreation Center, 100 Collingwood Street.

More than 100 LGBT non-profits—from the arts, philanthropy, legal, political, recover, well-being and spiritual fields—will participate in this free event featuring refreshments, live entertainment and more. 12:30-4:30pm. ourtownsf.org 33rd Annual San Francisco Bay Area HRC Gala Dinner & Auction @ Westin St. Francis, 335 Powell Street. Honorees for the annual HRC event include Lyft, HRC Corporate Equality Award; and Linda Scaparotti, Charles M. Holmes Community Service Award. 6pm. sfhrcgala.org Castro Art Walk @ Castro District Locations. A neighborhood art walk held monthly on the first Thursday of each month at multiple hosting locations. 6-9pm.

Castro Art Walk on facebook.com Living Colors: 2017 Gala of the GLBT Historical Society @ Green Room at the War Memorial, 401 Van Ness Avenue. The GLBT Historical Society’s biggest annual gala ever celebrates the history and diversity of the LGBTQ community and recent acquisitions from rainbow flag creator Gilbert Baker. glbthistory.org Works In Progress Open Mic for Women @ Fireside Room, Plymouth United Church of Christ, 424 Monte Vista, Oakland. 6:30-10:15pm. Hosted by author Linda Zeiser, the event includes a pot luck and performance this month featuring Beth Elliott. zeiserpoetmc@aol.com

Against Hate Documentary Screening @ Courtyard Marriott Hotel, 3150 Garrity Way, Richmond.

The organization’s first film and cultural event includes the documentary film, live music, lite bites, art and a panelist discussion. 7:30pm. richmondrainbowpride.org

15 : Sunday

competition mixed with music and live improv at the popular Bernal Heights location. 7-9pm. tapatatwins.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 Queer Gourd Night @ Comix Experience, 305 Divisadero Street.

Painting gourds or other seasonal vegetables and drinking cider and beer (bring your own) with gourds, paint, cider and snacks provided.

8-10pm. comixexpeirence.com

Book Event: The Pomegranate Witch @ Laurel Bookstore, 1423 Broadway, Oakland. A Halloween reading for youngsters with author Denise Doyen and her book about a scary old tree that blooms with beautiful pomegranates. 2:305:30pm. laurelbookstore.com Mr and Miss Gay San Francisco Pageant @ The Arc San Francisco, 1500 Howard Street.

The Imperial Council of San Francisco presents the annual pageant and competition plus a celebration of the successful year of Mr. Gay San Francisco Jethro Patalinghug and Miss Gay San Francisco Piper Angelique McGroin.

16 : Monday SF LGBTQ Career Fair Preparation @ SF LGBT Community Center, 1800 Market Street. Saints of Steel partners with The Center and the Trans Employment Program to help prepare job seekers with free haircuts and career fair preparation services. 4-8pm. sfcenter.org Alice Fall Awards @ West of Pecos, 550 Valencia Street. The Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club’s free event honoring exceptional leadership in the LGBT community. 6:30-8pm. alicebtoklas.org The Seen: What You Would Have Seen on Haight Street in 1967 @ SF Public Library Park Branch, 1833 Page Street. An exhibit of then and now photos providing a walk down memory lane of the Haight-Ashbury scene from 1967.

Through December 7. sfpl.org

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

17 : Tuesday Velvet Rage Book Club @ Strut, 470 Castro Street. The weekly Tuesday book club of the SF AIDS Foundation’s Stonewall Project, with facilitators Wade Smith and Christopher Zepeda, explores the complexity of gay identify and culture, HIV, substance use, healing relationship and more. 4-5:30pm. strutsf.org Racism Under The Rainbow @ Oakland LGBTQ Center, 3207 Lakeshore Avenue. The Oakland LGBTQ Center in conjunction with Spectrum Queer Media present a forum and workshop series event addressing racism within the LGBTQ community. 6:30pm. oaklandlgbtqcenter.org Book Event with Author Kate Carroll de Gutes @ Laurel Book Store, 1423 Broadway, Oakland. The author will read from her new book The Authenticity Experiment: Lessons From the Best & Worst of My Life. 7pm. laurenbookstore.com Ex Libris - The New York Public Library Screening @ Roxie Theater, 3117 16th Street.

Documentarian Frederick Wiseman’s film going behind the scenes of one of the greatest knowledge institutions in the world. 7:30pm and also October 18 and 19. roxie.com

18 : Wednesday Tapata Trivia Round UP! @ Wild Side West, 424 Courtland Avenue. Kit Tapata hosts this weekly event on Wednesdays. It is a trivia

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

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SISTER DANA (continued from page 29) Peters, Kevin Harding-Toy, Suzanne Mailloux, Michael Staley, Ole Johnson II, Wanda Whitaker, Gareth Gooch, Francesco Cerminara, Bill Haught, Christine Costello, Jon Hearn, Jack Mattingly, Billy Douglas, David Loyd Wright, Scarlet Astrid, Jack Stelnicki, and Bob Burnside. But special mention must be given to my faves. One cannot possibly miss the largest piece in the gallery, “Rochow, Goddess of the Deep,” by David Wayne Floyd.

It is three dimensional, bigger than life, and more colorful. Floyd’s next show and reception is called Transcendence. It will be held on November 3, 6 to 9 pm at Cafe du Soleil, 200 Fillmore Street. Another fave is interactive art where one can press various buttons to change the colors and frequency of flashing of different round shapes by Ole. Fascinating!

Another large piece is “Kamet Buddha” by Wanda Whitaker—along with three smaller versions and interpretations. Gareth Gooch has an unusual photograph, displayed in the front window, an archival photo on metal of Harvey Milk as a sort of drag queen clown. Delightful! A frequent contributor is Michael Staley with his toaster and waffle maker—both bejeweled in colorful glass bugle beads, as well as his deer horns decorated in shining Swarovski crystals. Gregory Conover has a selection of found objects recycled into archetypal easily recognized images.

Francesco Cerminara features a series, “A Walk on the Wild Side,” which includes beautiful color photos of nature on metal with high gloss finish. Gary Virginia shows off his talent with different floral designs.

That night, two were entitled “September Song” and “Autumn Glory.”

Christine Costello (also known as Sister Chola DeDa of The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence) has two striking oils sort of addressing women’s issues, “Divorcing the Devil” and “Girl Games.”

Entertainment that night was, as always, a joy to behold. Working the sound and also performing was Element Eclipse (Northern California Leatherboy 2013) singing “A Fool for Love.” Performance artist/ dancer Angela gave a moving ballet piece with grace and strength that seemed to defy gravity. The adorable Kobi sang live “You Don’t Know Me” wearing a mask, silver claws, and a trench coat—the latter thrown open to reveal a sexy super hero costume beneath, which he later told me was what he imagined Wolverine would sing if the movie X-men was made into a musical. Tommi Avi-

colli Mecca took up a guitar to sing an original anti-Trump composition, “He Ain’t My President”—urging the audience to sing along that refrain. Kim Lembo continued the protest theme singing “Give Peace a Chance” and getting us to sing along that very phrase over and over and louder and louder! It was a glorious evening where once again art triumphed over Trump and company!

SHANTI PROJECT presented its 43rd annual anniversary dinner, COMPASSION IS UNIVERSAL, at the Palace Hotel. The show opened with an impressive dance/acrobatic act from Cheer San Francisco—eventually leading the audience into a rousing cheer for Shanti. Co-Chairs were Monica and Adam Mosseri, and Honorary Co-Chairs were The Honorable James C. Hormel and Mr. Michael P. Nguyen. Presenting the Nancy Pelosi Lifetime Achievement Award was The Honorable Hillary Ronen, Supervisor for District 9, to The Honorable Mark Leno, who lauded Shanti as the perfect San Francisco model for the rest of the world; Presenting the Margot Murphy Inspiration Award was The Honorable Aaron Peskin, Supervisor for District 3, to Gerry Crowley; and presenting the James C. Hormel Community Spirit Award was Shanti founder Dr. Charles Garfield to Chip Supanich. Garfield was kind enough to give each audience member a copy of his latest book, Life’s Last Gift: Giving and Receiving Peace When a Loved One Is Dying.

Shanti Executive Director Kaushik Roy said one of the highlights of the year has been the growth of their LGBT Aging and Abilities Support Network (LAASN) in partnership with the City of San Francisco’s Department of Aging and Adult Services. Currently serving nearly 150 clients in the pilot year, the program builds on Shanti’s core principles of reducing isolation in the community through peer-support volunteers and care navigation. “Many clients consider Shanti to be their sole source of compassionate care,” said Roy. “For staff, it is an honor and a humbling experience to touch the lives of individuals who might otherwise be alone and without adequate care and support.”

BLACK BROTHERS ESTEEM and GOOD VBZ PRESENTS gave us two floors of REBELS IN RED-HIV AWARENESS FASHION SHOW at Strut in the Castro. It was an awesome event commemorating National Gay Men’s HIV Awareness Day. “Reb-

els in Red” (although I saw very few folks in red) was an extravagant and free Fashion Show and Drag Show gala MC’d by Saiyohni Gray (lip synching and dancing to “I›m Your Baby Tonight” and introducing amazing comedic, singing, dance, and poetic performances along with fashions (which she called “sickening” and meaning “fabulous” by some of us) by Amora Teese, (mostly strapless and crotch-crossed designs except for the one male model in a cape) and energetic live music by local talent, DJ Lamont. We also got to hear from community leaders and groups who are on the front-lines of local issues. Some attendees took advantage of free on-site HIV and STI testing services.

The 44th annual CASTRO STREET FAIR was in my gayborhood on Sunday, October 1. The Castro Street Fair was founded by Supervisor Harvey Milk, and the group he led, the Castro Valley Association, in 1974.

It attracted over 5,000 people. The event›s popularity grew quickly and by 1977, the attendance reached 70,000. The influx of visitors helped promote the Castro district›s growing tourist industry. This year›s fair featured live performers, music, dancing, food, and beverages, and thousands of our best friends, in the most fabulous neighborhood of the City! Performers on the Main Stage included Boyfriend, Josette Melchor, Saturn Rising, Femme Deadly Venom, SirJoQ, Bitch Please, The San Francisco Lesbian/Gay Freedom Band, The Monster Show, and Cheer SF—with emcee Carnie Asada, and featuring DJ MC2.

Donations helped out local neighborhood nonprofit organizations, as well as helped to fund the world-famous Rainbow Flag that flies proudly over Harvey Milk Plaza. Of note, queerloving Rev Mother Diana Wheeler and the Companions of Dorothy the Worker were at the Fair in front of the Castro Theater doing pet blessings. So, take THAT, Pope! My black and grey tabby, Panther, got a blessing. She is now holier than thou.

RAINBOW WORLD FUND, the LGBTQ humanitarian aid organization, parked their famous Rainbow Bus at 18th and Castro to collect donations and distribute their Pride bracelets for hurricane relief. The Bus’ lounge was open for visitors.

HARVEY MILK LGBT DEMOCRATIC CLUB provided a pietoss booth where one could purchase a pie and throw it at their favorite (or least favorite) politician. There were

all the old anticipated booths such as PFLAG (Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays San Francisco chapter); UCSF ALLIANCE PROJECT and their ART FOR AIDS fundraiser on October 20; OPENHOUSE reminding us that 20,000 LGBT seniors live in EssEff and need housing; the HIV CLINIC AT WARD 86 “where we care for anyone who needs us, and we treat them all with respect;” OUR TOWN SF free nonprofit expo on October 14, 12:30– 4:30 pm; and the SAN FRANCISCO BAY TIMES booth giving out free copies of our stellar newspaper and other goodies. T-shirts spied regarding our Sanctuary City: “I’m local, so don’t hassle me!” and an old favorite, “Dump Trump!” It was a fabulous fair on a glorious day!

Sister Dana sez, “October promises many fine events to attend, before it’s time for our International Queer High Holy Day, HALLOWEEN! Check ‘em out!”

POSITIVE RESOURCE CENTER (PRC) invites you to join them for the MIGHTY REAL GALA taking place on Friday, October 6, 6 pm to midnight at San Francisco’s Four Seasons Hotel, 757 Market Street. This year marks PRC’s 30th anniversary—a major milestone in their history. They commemorate this achievement as they merge with two other nonprofits, AIDS EMERGENCY FUND and BAKER PLACES, to form a new $20 million integrated service agency. With your support at the gala, they hope to raise over $100,000 for critical HIV/ AIDS, mental health, and substance use services and programs. Prior to dinner, they will host a hosted bar by Stoli. positiveresource.org Saturday, October 7, 5:30 pm is HORIZONS FOUNDATION’s ANNUAL GALA DINNER & AFTER PARTY as an evening of celebrating our fabulous community and honoring those whose significant contributions have helped us achieve so much progress in the LGBTQ movement. They›re returning to the historic Fairmont San Francisco, high atop Nob Hill. After an elegant seated dinner and inspiring program, honoring Cleve Jones and The Transgender Law Center, you can dance the night away at the After Party. horizonsfoundation.org Wednesday, October 11, is NATIONAL COMING OUT DAY (NCOD) and is coincidentally the birthday of our beloved veteran activist Cleve Jones. So, some of us Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence

are hosting a bar crawl fundraiser for hurricane relief. It kicks off at 5 pm on Wednesday at the MIX in the Castro and travels to other bars. Join the fun as we shake down the crowd for donations. Please give generously!

Note: Tickets for the 2017 HRC SF Bay Area Gala and Auction at the Westin St. Francis on October 14 are sold out! But you can always sign up at the wait list. sfhrcgala.org/ content/buy-tickets IMPERIAL COUNCIL OF SAN FRANCISCO, INC. proudly presents THE MR. & MISS GAY SAN FRANCISCO PAGEANT, “We Put a Spell on You, A Night of Imperial Magic,” on Sunday, October 15, doors at 4 pm, Pageant at 5 pm at 180 Eleventh at Howard Street. Tickets available at Eventbrite or at the door on the night of the Pageant. Net Proceeds Benefit the Monarch’s Administration & Charity Funds. imperialcouncilsf.org TRANSGENDER LAW CENTER’s 15th Anniversary Celebration event, SPARK!, is October 19, 6 pm at The Bently Reserve, 301 Battery Street. Join them as they gather for this extraordinary event to celebrate their progress and victories over the last 15 years, igniting change to law, policy, and attitudes so that people of all gender identities and expressions can live safely, authentically and free from discrimination. This year’s Emcee is actress and star of ABC’s When We Rise, Ivory Aquino. transgenderlawcenter.org It’s time to dust off your wooden stake, get your garlic and holy water because it’s vampire season! “Into every generation a slayer is born: one drag queen in all the world, a chosen one. She alone will wield the strength and skill and the perfect shade of lip gloss to fight the vampires, demons, and the shady queens of darkness.

She is the Slayer.” In other words, last year’s amazing cast is back at the Oasis with a mash-up of season 2 of BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER-LIVE! Now through October 31, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, 298 11th Street. sfoasis.com Sister Dana sez, “As you are reading this, I am humming the National Anthem while kneeling. It’s what any other patriotic activist nun would do. Suckit, Dotard Trump!”

CURATED (continued from page 30) umental carvings of undulating serpents. At the time of its construction, around 250 CE, a series of large-scale sacrificial offerings were made, including the burial of more than 200 individuals. Many of the victims wore necklaces of shell carved to look like

human teeth—a few included actual human jawbones—and were discovered in positions that imply they were tied and bound at the time of death. These sacrifices suggest an era of significant military might at Teotihuacan.

KIT’N KITTY’S

QUEER POP QUIZ ANSWER (Question on page 25) C) peach

Duke Ling’s favored male courtier, Mizi Xia, once shared an especially delicious peach with the Duke. As a result, the phrase “bitten peach” became a byword for homosexuality. “Mizi Xia” became a byword for a young man desired as a sexual partner.

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The Sun Pyramid is Teotihuacan’s largest structure and one of the largest ever built in the ancient world.

It rises about 206 feet high and was built in one single, massive construction effort around 200 CE. Recent excavations have uncovered offerings of greenstone objects and evidence for programs of exterior sculpture depicting motifs related to fire and jaguars.

Large pieces have also been discovered at the pyramid’s summit, including a statue of the Old Fire God—a deity with deep roots in central Mexico; early Teotihuacan leaders sought to bind the different ethnic groups inhabiting the city together by creating a single, modified version of the Old Fire God. After its monumental architecture, Teotihuacan is perhaps best known for its complex fresco murals, which decorated the city’s apartments and administrative centers. Stunning murals from high-status compounds in the Techinantitla section just east of the Moon Pyramid are on view in the next gallery, featuring exceptional mural fragments from FAMSF’s col-

lection reunited with others from the same compound.

The Moon Pyramid, Teotihuacan’s second-largest structure, at a height of approximately 141 feet, is explored next. Excavations there have revealed a seven-phase construction sequence beginning sometime between 50 and 150 CE, with the monument achieving its largest size between 300 and 400 CE. During the fourth phase of construction, the pyramid was greatly enlarged, indicating a period of increasing wealth and political centralization. The completion of the construction was marked by a dedication event that involved the sacrifice of many humans and predatory animals. The sacrificial offering also included objects made of exceptionally precious materials such as greenstone, obsidian, slate, and pyrite. Many of these offerings, which were carefully arranged, seem to have connections to rituals relating to the origin of the cosmos.

of the Moon Pyramid plaza and just north of the Sun Pyramid. The compound was likely a site for the city’s powerful ruling elite, indicated by its architectural complexity and the large quantity of ornamental sculpture found there. Many objects from Xalla bear evidence of a violently destructive event that marked the beginning of Teotihuacan’s collapse. At around 550 CE, the ceremonial center of the city was burned; ritual objects, such as the large marble sculpture shown in the final gallery, were intentionally smashed and scattered.

After the great fire, the systems of urban and religious maintenance that had been successful for more than 400 years fell apart. Much of the population left the city, and Teotihuacan’s regional dominance ended. But the site itself was never forgotten, and its legacy lives on as a powerful model of ancient Mesoamerican urbanism.

The exhibition concludes at the compound of Xalla, located to the east

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

Folsom Street Fair 2017

Photos by Rink and Paul Margolis

PHOTO BY PAUL MARGOLIS

PHOTO BY RINK

PHOTO BY PAUL MARGOLIS

PHOTO BY RINK

PHOTO BY PAUL MARGOLIS

PHOTO BY RINK

PHOTO BY RINK

PHOTO BY RINK

PHOTO BY PAUL MARGOLIS

PHOTO BY PAUL MARGOLIS

PHOTO BY PAUL MARGOLIS

PHOTO BY PAUL MARGOLIS

PHOTO BY PAUL MARGOLIS

PHOTO BY RINK

PHOTO BY PAUL MARGOLIS

PHOTO BY PAUL MARGOLIS

PHOTO BY RINK

PHOTO BY RINK

PHOTO BY RINK

PHOTO BY PAUL MARGOLIS

PHOTO BY RINK

PHOTO BY RINK

PHOTO BY RINK

The 2017 Folsom Street Fair welcomed tens of thousands of participants on Sunday, September 24, to San Francisco’s SoMa district. Beneficiaries this year include the AIDS Legal Referral Panel, Frameline, Project Inform, Positive Resource Center and more non-profit groups. Volunteers and non-profit representatives were out in force, filling many important roles from organizers, greeters and donation collectors to security and information both staffers. San Francisco Bay Times congratulates all of those who helped out in so many ways to make this popular annual event a large success once more.

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