San Francisco Bay Times - October 2, 2014

October 2-15, 2014 | www.sfbaytimes.com

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Castro: There’s No Place Like Home If You Can Afford It

The Changing Face of the Castro-See pages 11-13

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BAY TIMES OCTOBE R 2 , 2 0 1 4

Realtors Behaving Badly through the State Legislature? The Ellis Act, you may recall, is the State law that allows landlords who want to go out of the landlord business to evict their tenants. In San Francisco, the law is regularly and increasingly used by real estate speculators to clear out entire buildings to allow former rental units to be sold as tenancies in common.

A San Francisco Kind of Democrat Rafael Mandelman The Realtors are pissing me off. Not as individuals, mind you. After all, it’s an industry of professionally charming people. And beyond being charming, in my experience most realtors care a lot about the community, and many have very progressive politics. So I like realtors but, as an organized political force, the Realtors are not charming at all; in San Francisco, at least, they are a menace.

On the one hand, I suppose it isn’t surprising that the San Francisco Association of Realtors would pull out all the stops to prevent even the slightest cooling of our superhot real estate market.

And yet it seems to me that someone in the Association’s headquarters over at 301 Grove Street ought to figure out one of these days that not every legislative effort to protect tenants from displacement will necessarily result in the Association’s members going on the bread lines.

Remember back earlier this year when Mayor Lee and Senator Leno built a grand and unlikely coalition of business leaders and tenant organizations to try to get a modest reform of the Ellis Act

Leno quite modestly proposed that the Ellis Act be amended to provide that an investor buying a building would have to own it for at least five years before evicting the tenants under the Act. Unfortunately, the Leno legislation couldn’t make it out of the Legislature even with that grand coalition supporting it. The Realtors went to work, and they killed Leno’s bill, as they have every year he has introduced it; even with a Democratic supermajority, he couldn’t get the votes.

Meanwhile, back in San Francisco, the evictions continued. And, of course, we continued to read in the paper nearly every week just a few of the thousands of heartbreaking stories: an immigrant Chinese family with a disabled child loses their home in Chinatown; an elderly grandmother gets kicked out of her lifelong apartment in the Mission; an aging gay man in the Castro is evicted and finds himself banished from Oz. The effort to reform Ellis having failed in Sacramento, San Francisco housing advocates revived the old idea of an antispeculation tax, which could be enacted locally. Proposition G on the November ballot seeks to discourage real estate speculation by imposing a hefty 24% tax on the sale of rental property re-sold within a year of being purchased. The tax would gradually be reduced each year thereafter and would go away entirely five years after acquisition. The

100% Black

measure specifically exempts singlefamily homes and condominiums, as well as all owner-occupied homes, including tenancies-in-common.

CIIS: URW Clarendon T, Regular, 38.75/46.5pt (kern 10pt) PUBLIC PROGRAMS: URW Clarendon T, Regular,26.75/40pt (kern 10pt) URL: No url on logo, place on bottom of page

100% White CIIS: URW Clarendon T, Regular, 38.75/46.5pt (kern 10pt) PUBLIC PROGRAMS: URW Clarendon T, Regular,26.75/40pt (kern 10pt) URL: No url on logo, place on bottom of page

Now Prop G’s opponents (yup, the Realtors again) have been running around town conjuring up a parade of horribles, trying to convince the voters that, notwithstanding its fine intentions, the measure will somehow impoverish an imaginary group of struggling small property owners. But how many struggling small property owners are flipping multi-unit properties in the hottest real estate market around? And, more to the point, what about those thousands of tenants losing their homes to real estate speculation each year? Those aren’t hypothetical situations; those are entirely too real and too common everyday hardships.

One of my realtor friends recently confided in me that he would be voting for Prop G. I must have looked surprised, because he quickly explained: his business is good, and Prop G won’t affect it much one way or the other. But, as someone who has lived in San Francisco for decades and loves his city, he is sad to see so many tenants forced out of town. This guy sees no necessary conflict between his own financial success and a modest anti-speculation measure designed to keep vulnerable tenants in their homes. He’s a good and reasonable guy, and he knows there’s plenty of money to be made on real estate whether or not Prop G passes. One only wishes the San Francisco Association of Realtors was as wise as some of the fine realtors it claims to represent.

Rafael Mandelman was elected to the San Francisco Community College Board of Trustees in 2012. He is a partner at Burke, Williams & Sorensen, LLP.

Castro Improvements, Armistead, and Upcoming Elections One City, One Book Features Our Own Armistead Maupin

Do Ask, Do Tell Zoe Dunning Castro Street This issue of the Bay Times is focused on how our “gayborhood” is changing, and nothing is more visibly changing than Castro Street! Thanks in large part to the leadership of Supervisor Scott Wiener, the Castro Street Improvement Project will make a huge difference for our residents and the thousands of visitors to the Castro every year. If you are one of the 23 readers who has not been to the Castro in the past nine months, the project has involved the widening of sidewalks on the two blocks of Castro Street up to an additional 10 feet in width; pedestrian safety improvements at the intersections of Castro and Market, 18th, and 19th streets; streetscape enhancements including lighting, street trees, bike racks and street furniture; special sidewalk/crosswalk paving; and landscaping and pocket parks. It has been quite challenging for the local businesses and residents, as sidewalk and road access has been severely restricted at various points during the construction, but in the end it will be a beautiful shopping and dining district our community can be immensely proud of. As of this writing, the final palm trees are being planted and construction is estimated to end by November. I for one can’t wait!

On July 30, 2014, I was sworn in as a new San Francisco Library Commissioner. One of the San Francisco Public Library’s most popular programs is its annual “One City, One Book” event—you may have seen advertisements on bus shelters and throughout the city. It is an annual citywide literary event that encourages us to read the same book at the same time and then discuss it in book groups and at events throughout the city. The hope is that by building bridges between communities and generations through the reading and the discussion of one book, we can make reading a lifelong pursuit and build a more literate society. This year, our own Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City has been selected as that “one book.” It has always been one of my favorite books, and I’m excited that an LGBT author is being celebrated and featured. There will be a number of events throughout October, but the biggest one will be Armistead Maupin in conversation with K.M. Soehnlein on Thursday, October 23, at the Main Library, in the Koret Auditorium. I hope to see you there.

Vote The November 4th elections are coming up! If you are not yet registered to vote, your registration card must be received by the SF Department of Elections by October 20, 2014. To request a voter registration card, email or call the Department of Elections or register online with a California driver’s license or ID at the California Secretary of State’s website: http://registertovote. ca.gov Or, you can come to the Castro Street Fair on Sunday, October 6, and stop by the Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club’s booth—the club will have voter registration forms there. Fill one out

with your information and the club will submit it for you. Another handy tool to check your registration is http://sfelections.org/tools/reglookup/ There, you can check if you are registered, find your polling place, and see a sample ballot.

We take for granted our eligibility to vote, but over the past 200 years many have fought for, and even been jailed and killed, trying to remove unfair restrictions. Step by step, property ownership requirements, religious testing, and prohibitions on the eligibility of Native Americans, African-Americans, poor whites, women, and young people to vote have all been struck down. Yet, in off-Presidential election years, our turnout has been shameful.

In the past two elections ( June 2014 and November 2013), less than 30% of registered voters in the city and county of San Francisco cast ballots. In my humble opinion, if you are eligible, yet you fail to exercise your right and privilege to vote, you relinquish your right to complain about the decisions your elected officials make. As a democracy, we are only as strong as our civic involvement. Out of respect to those who fought before us to ensure we have a voice in our government, please use that voice.

Until next time, enjoy the Castro Street Fair, the Castro Street improvements, Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City, and vote!

Zoe Dunning is a retired Navy Commander and was a lead activist in the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. She currently serves as the 1st Vice Chair of the San Francisco Democratic Party, as a San Francisco Library Commissioner, and as Co-Chair of the Board of Directors for the Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club.

FINAL WEEKS! CLOSES OCTOBER 12

H E R B ST E X H I B I T I O N G A L L E R I E S

This exhibition is organized by the National Gallery of Art, Washington, and the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. Presenting Sponsors: Penny and James George Coulter. Director’s Circle: Estate of Dr. Charles L. Dibble. President’s Circle: Bernard Osher Foundation. Curator’s Circle: Lisa and Douglas Goldman Fund. Conservator’s Circle: National Endowment for the Arts and the S. Grace Williams Trust.

Benefactor’s Circle: Nion T. McEvoy. Patron’s Circle: Carol and Shelby Bonnie, Richard and Peggy Greenfield, the Ednah Root Foundation, Dorothy Saxe, and Sotheby’s. The exhibition is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.

Photo © FAMSF

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National News Briefs Compiled and with commentary by Dennis McMillan

Bath, MI - Michigan Dem Epically Smacks Down Homophobic, AntiGay Rights Group - 9.27

Keithville, LA - Church Boots Out AA Group over Same-sex Weddings - 9.25

You may not have heard of the Public Advocate of the United States. Public Advocate has been rightfully designated as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center and is run by Eugene Delgaudio, the Sterling District representative on the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors in Virginia.

A local Alcoholics Anonymous group will have to find another place to meet, after the church told them they are no longer welcome because they don’t want to be forced to accommodate homosexual weddings.

Public Advocate is a notorious anti-gay group and recently sent out questionnaires to candidates in Michigan. One of these hit the mailbox of Josh Derke, the 27-year-old Democrat running in Michigan’s 93rd House District. His response was epic.

First, here is a portion of the cover letter accompanying the questionnaire Derke received: “Every day, the radical Homosexual Lobby erodes the American family through legislation designed to incorporate the homosexual lifestyle. As a moral, pro-family organization, Public Advocate defends American citizens against such immoral legislation. The Homosexual Lobby is pushing to have pedophilia reclassified as a Sexual Orientation as soon as possible.”

In addition to same-sex marriage exclusion, PA wanted pledges: “I will oppose attempts to add ‘Homosexuality,’ ‘Transsexuality,’ or ‘Pedophilia’ as protected classes or statuses under Michigan’s Anti-Discrimination Law.” Derke’s fabulous response: “Alas, it seems your letter has reached me far too late. The Homosexual Lobby has already dug their fabulously manicured claws into me, and I am afraid to report that I have been brainwashed into mindless support of the Homosexual Agenda. Would that it were that your erudite survey had reached my desk earlier, ere I succumbed to their influence, my mind might yet be unshackled from the horrible idea that all people deserve equal treatment and dignity.”

Derke continued: “Pro-family is standing by your gay brother for merely being who he is. Pro-family is accepting your cousins, your friends, and homosexual parents across the globe for who they are. It is recognizing that all credible studies that have explored the issue of gay and lesbian parents have shown that they raise well-adjusted children who are just as successful as those raised by straight parents. Pro-family means that you’re not going to rip established families apart because you can’t see through the veil of your own self-defeating prejudices.”

All I can say is: “Derke for Michigan’s 93rd House District Forever!”

Source: eclectablog.com

In a letter signed by the pastor and minister of Westwood Baptist Church in Keithville, Louisiana, the AA group was informed that the church facility would no longer be available to their organization beginning October 1, 2014. The AA group had been holding their weekly meetings at the church for more than five years.

“As I am sure you are aware, God’s church, his written word, and its values and principles have come under a constant and aggressive attack from the homosexual and lesbian community,” the letter begins, before going on to say that “Churches and Christian businesses alike, across our nation, are being forced, by our legal system, to accommodate these groups in the use of their buildings/ facilities to perform marriage ceremonies, receptions, etc.” due to a court decision they say was based on the fact that churches and business were accepting and accommodating other public entities, and therefore must also accommodate the homosexual and lesbian community.

Westwood’s Pastor David Venable says in order to stay in line with God’s word, the church had to make a tough and carefully considered decision.

“They have every protection; gay people have no protection; so who is it that should be afraid of being victimized?” questioned People Acting for Change and Equality political director Adrienne Critcher. “They say they are not out to get anyone, but they singled out homosexuals as having some agenda that they are trying to force on the Baptist Church.”

“Even if we have legalized gay marriage throughout the country, no church will be forced to marry gay people if they don’t want to,” Critcher points out.

She says it startles her that a church would turn protection into discrimination.

“Unfortunately, Louisiana has no statewide protections for gay people, so in the state of Louisiana, you can discriminate if you want to,” said Critcher.

And no, that was not a misprint of the hateful homophobic “Westboro Baptist Church.” This is Westwood, also where God evidently discriminates.

Source: kpho.com

Salt Lake City, UT - Utahns Ready for Same-sex Marriage; Want Supreme Court to Rule - 9.29

Olive Branch, MS - Legally Married Mississippi Couple Faces AFA Backlash - 9.26

Austin, TX - Same-sex Couples Complain of Hurdles to Get Texas Driver’s Licenses - 9.25

A new statewide poll conducted by Benenson Strategy Group for Freedom to Marry finds a plurality of Utahns – 49% to 48% – agree that same-sex couples should be allowed to get a state-issued marriage license. Moreover, 61% believe legalizing marriage for same-sex couples in Utah is inevitable and will happen in the state within the next five years. And, by a large majority (67%), they want the U.S. Supreme Court to settle this question once and for all.

Jessica and Nick Fulgham of Olive Branch, MS, were married on September 18, 2014, in Madison County after over a year of dating. After becoming husband and wife, they shared their wedding video on Facebook so that their friends and family could share in their joy. Instead of being met with love and well wishes, they found that not all of their family was happy about this union, when Jessica’s cousin, Robby Rikard, Pastor of First Baptist Church of Lyman, expressed his outrage over this union claiming “biological fraud” had been committed.

Some Texas gays and lesbians have been denied driver’s licenses because they took a same-sex spouse’s last name and the Department of Public Safety won’t accept out-ofstate marriage licenses and other documents showing the change.

These numbers come as the Court begins its term and meets to consider Utah’s marriage case, Kitchen v. Herbert, along with four others, for the upcoming session.

The findings of the poll, conducted Sept. 21 to 23 of 500 adults over 18 across the state, also show that 94% believe the freedom to marry will not impact their marriage, with 84% saying it won’t impact their family, and 65% saying it won’t adversely impact the state.

Noting that Freedom to Marry has invested resources into Utah over the last several months in a public education campaign, founder and president Evan Wolfson said, “This poll shows that the people of Utah, like Americans all across the country, already support or are ready to live with the freedom to marry. Utahns, like Americans generally, believe the Supreme Court should act now and will rule in favor. Indeed, when the freedom to marry has come to states like Utah, there has been little or no real opposition or concern – even those who are less than keen know it’s coming and doesn’t affect their lives, their families, their marriages, or their community. The ‘dog that didn’t bark’ is further proof that America is ready for the freedom to marry and that it’s time for the Court to bring the country to national resolution.”

Utahns believe that the Court will ultimately rule in favor of marriage equality. And if they do rule in favor of the freedom to marry, most Utahns would be happy or not affected either way.

When the freedom to marry is supported by a plurality in Utah, one of our most conservative states, it means we are well on the way for nationwide marriage equality!

Source: freedomtomarry.org

Local News Briefs

Nick Fulgham, who is a transgender male, has spent the last four years of his life transitioning from female to male. He started his transition in 2010, before having met his wife, and was legally declared a man by the state of Mississippi on July 11, 2014. It was at this time when the couple began planning their wedding, as legally, the two now had the right to marry as one man and one woman under law.

The claims of outrage being displayed by Rikard stem from his clear misinterpretation of law, and (as is often the case when dealing with Mississippi ministers) a lack of basic common sense. He is claiming that the couple who were married last week are, in fact, lesbians who have found a loophole in the Constitution that has allowed them to violate the sanctity of marriage.

He has now brought his claim to the Mississippi-based hate group American Family Association that, of course, has taken this story to the height of logic and ethics. They broadcasted an interview with Rikard, sharing his outrage over “Big Gay’s attempt to undermine the Constitution.” AFA’s all-knowing Bryan Fischer expressed his concern over why organizations such as HRC are not celebrating this victory of finding a way to work around the law.

The Mississippi Gulf Coast Rainbow Center plans to host a protest of this church near Gulfport in order to show support to this family and with hopes of educating the public on marriage laws as well as transgender issues with the state of Mississippi.

Almost the only way same-sex couples can nudge the DPS to issue driver’s licenses in their newly chosen names is to obtain either a Texas court order approving a name change or a new U.S. passport with that name.

Both moves are costly and time-consuming, though, and several gay and lesbian Texans complained this week.

“How many hoops are they going to make me jump through?” said Connie Wilson, who recently moved from California to Houston with her wife and three children, recounting how a DPS supervisor noticed that her married name didn’t match the one on her birth certificate.

Dallas resident Amanda Barbour, who took partner Heather Rodenborg’s last name after they married in June in Massachusetts, said she did enough research to know she couldn’t get a replacement driver’s license from the DPS without first going to court.

DPS spokesman Tom Vinger said the law enforcement agency must adhere to a 2005 state constitutional amendment that bars recognition of same-sex marriage. When verifying applicants’ identities, the DPS can’t accept same-sex marriage certificates from other states, he said.

The agency’s approach underscores how Texas has resisted a growing acceptance of gay marriage elsewhere in the U.S. Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, the GOP nominee for governor, has moved aggressively to prevent same-sex couples in Dallas and Austin from obtaining divorces in Texas after marrying in Massachusetts. The couples’ appeal is pending before the Texas Supreme Court.

And last year, the Texas Military Forces initially resisted a Pentagon order that state National Guard members’ gay spouses be able to register at five state facilities for federal marriage benefits accorded to heterosexual spouses.

Thank gawd AFA is once again protecting the “family” - from basic human rights!

In February, U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia of San Antonio struck down Texas’ prohibitions on same-sex marriage as unconstitutional. He held his ruling in abeyance so higher-ranking jurists, possibly even the U.S. Supreme Court, could weigh in.

Source: dailykos.com

The old saying, “Don’t mess with Texas,” apparently rings true at the DPS too.

Source: dallasnews.com

“Castro Cares” Addresses Quality of Life in the Castro and Upper Market

Governor Brown Signs Several Pieces of Vital LGBTQ Civil Rights Legislation

Everyone says they want to do something about homelessness and its consequences; now neighbors in the Castro are turning their concerns into action. “Castro Cares” has launched.

Governor Jerry Brown has signed three pieces of legislation sponsored by Equality California, the largest statewide LGBTQ civil rights organization in California: AB 2501, authored by Assemblymember Susan Bonilla; AB 1577, authored by Speaker of the Assembly Toni Atkins; and AB 496, authored by Assemblymember Rich Gordon.

Each of these bills will reduce discrimination and advance equality for LGBTQ people in the nation’s largest state.

Under the leadership of the Castro/Upper Market Community Benefit District, a coalition of neighborhood groups will bring additional, dedicated resources to the Castro/Upper Market from the San Francisco Department of Public Health, the San Francisco Police Department, and the Patrol Special Police.

The initiative begins with the placement in the Castro of a Homeless Outreach Team case manager, funded by the health department, to connect those living on the streets with services. When the full initiative rolls out over the coming year, Castro Cares will fund additional dedicated overtime SFPD officers, plus Patrol Special Police Officers and homeless outreach services.

Castro Cares is the result of an effort by a coalition of neighborhood groups, organizations and businesses working with District 8 Supervisor Scott Wiener, who successfully championed for $100,000 per year in City start-up funds for two years. A private fundraising campaign began in October with the goal of raising an additional $235,000 per year.

Frustrated by the lack of progress in resolving quality of life issues in the Castro, the coalition has been meeting biweekly since October 2013. Supervisor Wiener facilitated meetings with the SFPD and the Police Commission.

The coalition also met with HOPE Director Bevan Dufty, SF Patrol Special Police, and the Department of Public Health’s Homeless Outreach Team.

“It soon became clear that at this time, given current staffing levels, the police do not have the resources to address the issues to our satisfaction and neither does the Homeless Outreach Team,” said Community Benefit District Executive Director Andrea Aiello. “We realized we can continue to complain or we can try to do something ourselves. We opted for the latter.”

“The overall goal of Castro Cares is to improve the quality of life for those living on the street and for those who live, work, and play in the Castro/Upper Market,” said Alan Beach-Nelson, president, Castro/Eureka Valley Neighborhood Association. “When fully funded, the program will provide 44 hours of outreach work to at-risk populations.”

Story by Dennis McMillan 4

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AB 2501, cosponsored by Attorney General Kamala D. Harris, is the first of its kind in the nation. It will prohibit the use of the “panic defense,” a tactic used by criminal defendants charged with murder to attempt to mitigate their crimes by claiming their violent acts were triggered by the victim’s sexual orientation or gender identity.

“The ‘panic defense’ is a homophobic and transphobic ploy that blames the victims of horrific acts of violence for the crimes committed against them,” said Rick Zbur, EQCA executive director. “It has no place in California’s legal system.”

“The gay panic defense was an unjust means of absolving violent criminal acts,” said Attorney General Harris.

“Eliminating this excuse vindicates victims and holds predators accountable.”

The “panic defense” is a disturbing legal tactic that has been used in various cases in California and nationwide, whereby criminal defendants claim that they have been the object of romantic advances by a person of the same sex or a transgender person that they found so offensive and frightening as to induce a violent reaction against the victim.

AB 1577, the Respect After Death Act, cosponsored by the Transgender Law Center, makes sure death certificates for transgender Californians accurately reflect their authentic, lived identity.

“This brings us a significant step closer to making sure that all transgender people are able to live - and die - authentically in accordance with who they really are,” said Transgender Law Center Executive Director Masen Davis.

AB 496 clarifies that existing cultural competency training for health care providers should include discussion of LGBTQ issues - increasing awareness of LGBTQ health issues among health care providers, leading to better care and better outcomes.

Earlier last month, Governor Brown signed AB 1951, modernizing California’s birth certificates to reflect accurately the gender of a child’s parent or parents.

Story by Dennis McMillan

PrEP Could Be a Game Changer In the Fight Against HIV/AIDS riers to accessing this treatment remain.

In fact, fewer than 1,000 San Franciscans have had access to PrEP. Many physicians remain hesitant to prescribe PrEP due to a lack of familiarity with this treatment. Additionally, although most insurance companies provide coverage, some require prior-authorization and, depending on an individual’s insurance coverage, individual costs vary significantly.

Supervisor David Campos HIV continues to impact our community. In the last five years, 2,066 people in San Francisco alone have been newly diagnosed with HIV. Infections among women, gay men, Latinos, African Americans and transgender people continue to rise.

We now have a new tool in our fight to protect ourselves from HIV: PrEP. Pre-exposure Prophylaxis, aka PrEP, is a prevention strategy in which HIVnegative people take the medication, Truvada, to reduce the risk of new infection. Medical tests and trials show that if a patient adheres to a daily pill regimen, similar to the birth control pill, PrEP can nearly eliminate the risk of contracting HIV. If widely implemented, PrEP could be the ‘game changer’ needed to fight HIV more effectively.

I am working with community members and stakeholders to develop a plan

in San Francisco to provide additional resources for PrEP, including developing additional provider implementation protocols, supporting ongoing educational programs for providers and patients, and providing funding for PrEP navigators to provide patient assistance and benefits counseling to ensure easy access to PrEP. Historically, San Francisco has been at the forefront of efforts to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS through innovative measures. We have a chance to continue that legacy now. I am committed to ensuring access to all individuals wanting PrEP regardless of income. Embracing PrEP now will stop new infections and save lives.

David Campos is a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors representing District 9. This column for the “SF Bay Times” was inspired by Harvey Milk’s efforts to build a coalition of what Milk termed “us’es,” meaning communities that value diversity and attempt to leave no one behind. For more information about Supervisor Campos and his work, please visit http://www.sf bos.org/index. aspx?page=2117

Gay Women’s Gathering

sm

An Evening about Lesbian Pregnancy

Wednesday, October 8th 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

Bananas 5232 Claremont Ave., Oakland, CA 94618

Reservations preferred.

Email corey@theafa.org or 718.853.1411 Generously sponsored by California Cryobank | www.cryobank.com THE AMERICAN FERTILITY ASSOCIATION WWW.THEAFA.ORG

PHOTO SOURCE: CDC.GOV

Building a Coalition of Us-es

Beyond the bureaucratic concerns, there are a handful of anti-PrEP zealots spreading fear and concern. The attack line of these groups is nothing new. Women experienced it when birth control pills became available and detractors feared sexual liberation. When condoms were promoted for safe sex following the tragedy of lives lost to HIV/ AIDS, it was argued that the proponents were condoning casual sex. The arguments were ludicrous then, and they shouldn’t be tolerated now. A vaccine or cure may one day end the HIV epidemic but, until we reach that milestone, PrEP is the answer.

The American Fertility Association and Our Family Coalition invite you to a FREE event

Despite approval by the FDA and studies showing PrEP’s effectiveness in preventing new HIV infection, many bar-

PrEP: The Good, The Bad and The Controversy scribed. For those taking it less frequently, sero-conversion occurred about half of the time, depending on whether the exposure was within a day of PrEP or four days later.

PrEP is not a ‘morning after pill’ solution. You cannot pick and choose which days to take it depending on sexual encounters. Taking it less often can lead to the development of resistant HIV if sero-conversion occurs.

Friends of Naomi Dr. Naomi Jay, RN, NP, PhD Based on research trials that showed lower infection rates for people considered at high-risk for HIV, Truvada, a combination pill of emtricitabine/ tenofovir disoproxil fumarate, was approved by the FDA on July 16, 2012, for Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis or PrEP. Since then, and especially in recent weeks, it’s been a news headliner.

PrEP is intended for people considered at substantial risk for HIV sero-conversion. It is not meant as a stand-alone drug. By this I mean that other methods for preventing HIV infection, such as safer sex practices, HIV testing, and counseling, should still be continued. It is not intended for people who need to prevent HIV after a single high-risk incident of possible exposure, such as a condom break or sexual assault. For that there is PEP, or Post-Exposure Prophylaxis, which is a 28-day course of therapy that should start within 3 days of the incident, and optimally even sooner.

Studies have shown that PrEP is 90–96% effective, but only if it is taken at least four times per week. A significant number of people—up to 52%— in these studies did not take it as pre-

It is also important to be tested before beginning PrEP, and if you stop taking it, to get retested.

PrEP is clearly not for everyone. It is a commitment to taking a daily medication, side effects can occur, and it is expensive. (Editor’s Note: Supervisor and SF Bay Times columnist David Campos introduced legislation a few weeks ago that could provide subsidies to San Franciscans who would not otherwise be able to afford the drug.) Even with insurance coverage, there may be costly co-payments and the cost per year is at least $13,000.

Whether or not you should use PrEP is a personal decision based on your lifestyle and partner(s). Reading through the online blogs of PrEP users, it can be a substantial relief for people worried about their personal risk for HIV, such as sex workers or those with partners with detectable HIV viral loads. There does not appear to be an increase in risky sex behavior in men using PrEP, despite the fears that there would be an epidemic of so-called “Truvada whores.”

Since adherence to the drug in studies was variable, there is still ongoing research into PrEP’s effectiveness to help determine which approach works best for using the drug. New agents, such as Maraviroc, are being tested. A rectal gel, MTN-017, is also undergoing testing. Several other pharmaceuti-

cals are in development through the HIV Prevention Trials Network, including a long-acting injectable drug.

Before the introduction of PrEP, approximately 50,000 new HIV infections were reported yearly in the United States. Between 2011 and 2013, only 1774 prescriptions for PrEP were documented. These figures do not, however, take into account all pharmacies and people receiving Truvada through ongoing studies. Therefore, it is still too soon to see if PrEP will have an appreciable impact on the epidemiology of HIV infection rates.

Below are just four of the many resources available for those who are interested in learning more about PrEP: • San Francisco City Clinic- The clinic provides testing associated with PrEP and can provide you with 2 days worth of pills to get you started until you can see your primary care provider to obtain a prescription. 415-487-5538, http://www.sfcityclinic.org/ • UCSF OPTIONS Project- If you think you have been exposed to HIV, call OPTIONS to receive the latest advice, testing and PEP drug therapy. 415 -502- 8100, http://labs.ucsf.edu/options/ where.html • See http://joinprep.org/studiesenrolling-now for currently enrolling PrEP studies that you may be eligible for.

• Finally, for answers to many questions about PrEP, I recommend checking out this Q&A page online: http://men.prepfacts.org/ the-questions/ Dr. Naomi Jay is a nurse practitioner in the department of Infectious Disease at UCSF. BAY T IM ES O C TO BER 2, 2014

5

Cars Are Mirroring Our Evolving Gayborhood small crossovers from Audi, Mercedes and BMW, and so it has more to justify.

That’s the dance many of us are doing these days in SF, as we also look to justify the pretty penny it costs to exist here. Even a quick spin in the Tiguan makes it feel impressive, with zippy takeoffs and slop-free handling. And the short Tiguan is very easy to park.

Auto

Sister Dana Sez: Words of Wisdumb from a Fun Nun

VW Tiguan

So just like SF, the Tiguan is bursting with appeal—at a price.

Philip Ruth As this week’s Bay Times examines our evolving gayborhood, two recent test cars come to mind as embodying some of the changes we’re seeing.

First, there’s the influx of tech money that drives up prices and limits the breadth of people, LGBT or otherwise, who can afford to live here. This conjures up the Volkswagen Tiguan, as it also has a high price—add all-wheel drive to the test car, and you’d be a Sausage Factory dinner away from $40K. As such, only a small fraction of buyers are able to choose a Tiguan.

The Tiguan’s rich interior is partly how VW justifies charging more, with low-sheen plastics and a clean control interface. Visibility is terrific, and the Tiguan’s seating is roomy and supportive.

On the other hand, the navigation screen is small, and VW’s refusal to equip its cars with USB ports has gone from curious to annoying. This VW aligns price-wise with base versions of

By Sister Dana Van Iquity

Then there’s concern that SF’s appeal will be watered down by the inf lux of nonLGBT folks to the gaybor- Subaru Legacy hood. This summer, I noticed and over the road, the car feels nimble the AirBNB effect, where the Castro and stable. The tested Premium 2.5i’s seemed to have many more straight “warm ivory cloth” interior was imtourists than in years past, particularly pressive to all. But 2015’s styling reviin the increased number of guys who didn’t want to be cruised. It’s not that sions make it indistinguishable from we’re all staring each other down, but the others; if you can tell a Legacy the natural flow of gay energy, which is from a Sonata at 20 paces at dusk, then so rare in our world anyway, seemed to I owe you a Coke. have dissipated a bit.

We hope that this is what the gayborThat reminded me of the tested 2015 hood won’t turn into, where you have Subaru Legacy. It is Subaru’s most to squint to see the specialness. The mainstream model, sent in to do battle Legacy should be on every sedan buywith Fusions and Accords and Altimas er’s list, just as I’d say SF is still worth and Sonatas and all the other midthe toil and adaptation that is required sized sedans. This is a market Subaru must be in, and the fierce competition to be happy here. there seems to be have shaved off just a tad of that trademark Subaru charm.

The standard all-wheel drive is reason alone for many to consider a Legacy,

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

Sister Dana sez, “National Coming Out Day is October 11th. I don’t know how to come out any further, but I’ll sure give it my best attempt!”

A CELEBRATION OF ARTURO GALSTER was held at the Castro Theatre, emceed by D’Arcy D r ol l i n g e r a nd at t ende d by hundreds upon hundreds of Arturo’s friends, family, and fans. In addition to an incredible archive of photos and video clips (many assembled by producer Marc Huestis) of the extremely talented actor/writer/director, fellow performers spoke and some performed, such as Jason Brock, Laurie Bushman, Connie Champagne, Leigh Crow, Marilyn Fowler, Veronica Klaus, Steven LeMay, Katya Smirnoff-Skyy, and Birdie-Bob Watt - to name just a few I can recall. Through the laughter and the tears, the evening was quite cathartic.

I will certainly miss you, dear friend!

I stuck a feather in my leather and proceeded to LEATHER & FEATH-

ERS at Temple nightclub for the AIDS EMERGENCY FUND’s inaugural 1st annual Fantasy Runway Show and Awards with Mistresses of Ceremonies Donna Sachet & Sister Roma. The two fashionistas excitedly narrated the fashions as volunteer models worked the Leather Runway: Beth Bicoastal, Michael Brandon, Andy Cross, Philippe Gossel in, Lance Hol man, Dalton Huckaby, Jr., Julian Marshburn, Honey Mahogany, Demetri Moshoyannis, Noodles and Beef, TitanMen exclusive Nick Prescott, Al Saadia, and Emperor JP Soto; and working the Feathe r s R u n w a y w e r e M a h l a e Balenciaga, Demencha, Karen E dw a r d s , L eo For t e, Holy McGrail, La Monistat, Juanita MORE, Mercedez Munro, Mr. Pam, Shokra, BeBe Sweetbriar, and Kenshi Westover. Senator Mark Leno and the SF Board of Supervisors presented certificates of recognition, and AEF honored Beach Blanket Babylon with the George Burgess Leadership Award (accepted by the gayest Gay Pareee BBB character King Louie), Joanie Juster with the Zach Long Hall of Fame Award, and Dana Van Gorder with the Darrell Yee Community Service Award.

A video featured Troy Brunet, past client and current star volunteer. Over thirty million dollars have gone directly to AIDS patients over the years

by AEF. Capping Leather Pride Week was the annual FOL SOM STR EET FAIR, where this jaded nun, having reported on every FSF since its inception, sought something different under the sun. And sun was severely missing, making for a lack of very many full (continued on page 22)

Truly

WONDERFUL People.

Meet remarkable people who know San Francisco Towers is the city’s most appealing senior living community.

People like Maylene Wong. It’s the life you and your partner want—right in the heart of The City.

To learn more, or for your personal visit, please call 415.447.5527.

Maylene Wong, joined in 2005 A not-for-profit community owned and operated by Episcopal Senior Communities.

License No. 380540292 COA #177 EPSF692-01JH 100214

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BAY TIMES OCTOBE R 2 , 2 0 1 4

1661 Pine Street San Francisco, CA 94109

sanfranciscotowers-esc.org

Transforming Lives by Building Aging and Disability Friendly Neighborhoods writes an aging resources column for her co-op’s newsletter.

Connections for Healthy Aging Workshops

Aging in Community Marie Jobling

Creating connections and ways for older and disabled adults to contribute to their communities strengthens both our neighborhoods and the participants themselves. Medical studies consistently show that remaining connected with others, learning new things, and having a sense of purpose can improve well-being and increase longevity.

The Community Living Campaign taps the skills and talents of older adults and people with disabilities to meet the unique needs of each San Francisco neighborhood. Our guiding principles: People support things that they help create themselves, and all of us have something to contribute. As a result, the Community Living Campaign’s many programs have grown from a grassroots effort led by energetic local seniors and people with disabilities—our Community Connectors.

Neighbors Helping Neighbors Two such individuals are Marcia Peterzell and her partner Linda Silver, Community Connectors who live in the St. Francis Square Co-op in the Western Addition. One of CLC’s first Connectors, Marcia decided to look for ways to strengthen support among her diverse group of aging neighbors.

With the approval of her co-op’s board of directors, Marcia and her neighbors set up a Community Living Campaign Committee to host social events, offer workshops, and provide practical support to individual residents and their families. Every week, Marcia also

Marcia and Linda now share their talents with others throughout San Francisco. Over time, this dynamic duo has created an engaging workshop series, Connections for Healthy Aging, where they share what they’ve learned from their own experiences and skillfully guide discussions around topics like: • What is healthy aging and how do we address barriers that get in the way • Myths and stereotypes about aging and disability • The hospital stay—crisis and opportunity • How to recognize and build your own personal support network • Completing an Advance Directive to make sure your choices and wishes are followed • Making sure your “to do” list includes thoughts about fun, contribution, and legacy Empowering LGBT Seniors and People with Disabilities Marcia and Linda have presented their workshop ten times in San Francisco, including twice at Openhouse.

Each workshop has the same core, but develops into something that reflects the perspectives of the participants.

In reflecting back on the workshops, Marcia shares: “LGBT seniors are anxious about the aging process and going through these workshops has empowered and inspired both the trainers and the participants. It’s about connecting with the heart and building new relationships, not just on a professional level but on a personal level.”

Linda found another valuable side to the workshop, having recently gone through a major medical event as a lesbian couple. “The work with the Community Living Campaign has emboldened me and supported me in telling our story. It has provided us with a place to work together and share lessons learned. It is important to

Round About – BAYMEC 30th Annual Dinner Gala Photos by Jo-Lynn Otto

Ca l i for n ia St ate A ssembly Speaker Toni G. Atkins was the featured guest for the BAYMEC (Bay Area Municipal Elections Committee) Gala Dinner held at the Fairmont Hotel, San Jose.

BAYMEC program coordinator Mitchel Nelson and Sunnyvale City Councilmember Tara Mart in-M ilius joined BAYMEC board members, political leaders and participants for the jazz cocktail hour and dinner.

be open and authentic because, in the long run, we are all in this together— facing health problems and the other challenges of getting older.”

Marcia adds, “We’ve seen these workshops create new friendships, insights and opportunities for LGBT seniors and people with disabilities.” In fact, many of the people who participate in the Connections for Healthy Aging workshops go on to participate in, and contribute to, other Community Living Campaign programs.

Programs and Activities to Support San Francisco’s Many Diverse Neighborhoods Marcia and Linda are part of Community Living Campaign’s inspiring group of leaders working throughout San Francisco. Our Community Connectors work with their neighbors and local organizations to identify their community’s unique needs and organize free and low-cost communitybuilding activities. In addition to the St. Francis Square Co-Op group, the Community Living Campaign supports neighborhood networks in the OMI, Parkmerced, Bayview, and Cayuga neighborhoods.

Over the past year, Community Living Campaign’s neighborhood volunteers delivered over 3,600 bags of fresh fruit, vegetables, and other wholesome foods to homebound seniors and people with disabilities. We coordinated over 380 hours of community-building activities such as walking and exercise groups, line dancing, breast cancer support, phone support networks, cooking classes, and forums on aging.

Our trainers offer free classes and oneon-one tutoring in English, Spanish, and Chinese at senior centers, adult day health centers, and other community sites. Class topics include connecting through social media, finding healthcare information online, digital photos, using smartphones and tablets, and many more.

Join In! None of us can solve the challenges facing an aging population alone. But working together, we can bring about the changes and increased funding needed to support people aging in their own homes and neighborhoods.

Want to join or learn more about us?

Call 415-821-1003 or go to our website at www.sfcommunityliving.org Marie Jobling is the Executive Director of the Community Living Campaign and is a longtime organizer on issues impacting seniors, people with disabilities, and caregivers in San Francisco.

Dr. Marcy Adelman oversees the Aging in Community column. For her summary of current LGBT senior challenges and opportunities, please go to: sf baytimes.com/ challenges-and-opportunties

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Using Technology to Overcome Isolation Many Connections for Healthy Aging graduates have gone on to participate in our computer and social media training, both as students and as volunteers. Computer skills and online access are essential both to find information and to remain connected with friends and family. The Community Living Campaign works together with the City of San Francisco and other community organizations to close the digital divide, ensuring that seniors and people with disabilities don’t get left behind.

My passions haven’t changed.

I just have more time for them.

Pottery artist and community volunteer, Richard Williams has more time now; time to create and enjoy his friends. Freed from life’s chores like cleaning and cooking which are provided by The Sequoias, he invests his time in his real love, throwing pottery. Call Candiece at (415) 351-7900 to learn more and how to manage future health care costs.

Be passionate!

A Life Care Community 415.922.9700 | sequoias-sf.org 1400 Geary Boulevard

This not-for-profit community is part of Northern California Presbyterian Homes and Services. License# 380500593 COA# 097.

BAY T IM ES O C TO BER 2, 2014 Job # / Name: NCPHS-377 SSF Williams BayTimes Oct2 ME01

Date: 09/24/14

Publication: Bay Times

Issue date: Oct2, 2014

Due at pub: 09/25/14

7

Transgender Pioneer Christine Jorgensen bomb tests] off the front pages of newspapers around the world.”

Rainbow Honor Walk Dr. Bill Lipsky Dwight Eisenhower had been president of the United States for less than a month when Christine Jorgensen arrived at Idlywild Airport on February 12, 1953, and immediately became the most talked about individual in America—and the most discussed transgender person in histor y. At what later would become known as a “media frenzy,” 300 reporters, then an unprecedented number, met her plane. She answered a few questions, before saying, “I thank you all for coming, but I think it’s too much.”

Her fame was extraordinary. By the end of the year, newspapers printed over a million and a half words about her, more than they printed about anyone else in the world, including the newly inau g u r a t e d A me r ic a n president and the newly crowned queen of England. As Jorgensen wrote many years later, “I found it a shocking commentary on the press of our times that I drove news [of hydrogen David Perry oversees the Rainbow Honor Walk series. He is co-founder and cochair of the nonprofit R a inbow Honor Walk, which has created a landmark memorial in the Castro to heroes and heroines of the LGBT community.

He is also the CEO and Founder of Dav id Perr y & A ssociates, http://www.davidperry.com/

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All of this attention arose because in 1950, Jorgensen traveled to Denmark, where she began a series of sex reassignment surgeries. First to her parents and friends, then to anyone interested, she explained that she simply was correcting “a birth defect.” Two years later, recuperating in a Copenhagen hospital from one of the procedures, the New York Daily News got hold of a letter she had sent home some months before. One sentence seemed a sensationalist’s treasure. “I am still the same old Brud,” she wrote, using a family endearment based upon the word “brother,” “but Nature made a mistake, which I have had corrected, and I am now your daughter.”

On December 1, 1952, the Daily News published its story, “Ex-GI Becomes Blonde Beauty,” which took up its

entire front page. The tabloid, with a circulation of more than 2 million, reported that Jorgensen had undergone what it mistakenly called the first “sex change” in history. There had been sex reassignment surgeries before, some well publicized, but this time it was different. This time it was a boy from the Bronx, home of the New York Yankees and the Bronx cheer, who was the son of a carpenter, an honorably discharged United States Army veteran, and a true blue, red-blooded American. Newspapers everywhere began running similar articles.

The coverage only intensified after Jorgensen returned to the United States on February 12, 1953. The public, which

Say “The Bay Times sent me!”

Margaret Galvin, Showroom Manager at Ergo Depot Design Studio at 245 Kansas Street, SF, demonstrates how thoughtful design and tech can improve our health and work. She’s in front of the ESI Edge-Combo monitor arm system. Galvin says, “It elevates both my laptop and my monitor. Having my monitor off the desk at eye level helps to relieve neck, shoulder and eye strain.”

could not learn enough about her, read in the newspapers—often on the front page—about her first cocktail in America, her shoe size, her donation to a volunteer fire department, her 1953 Easter bonnet, and even her test for a driver’s license. “She, then he,” Newsday reported, had once been employed as a chauffeur. But her license had expired and so, said one wag, “had the sex of the owner.” Her romances also were news, although, given the name George William Jorgensen, Jr., when she was born on May 30, 1926, the government denied her a marriage license in 1959 because her birth certificate listed her as “male.”

Jorgensen quickly discovered that because of all the attention, it was impossible for her to follow her former career as a photographer. Taking the advice of a theatrical agent, she then created a nightclub act. “I decided if they wanted to see me, they would have to pay for it,” she said later. Although she sang and danced a little on stage, mostly she appeared as herself. Her first patrons may have come to see her for her notoriety, but she quickly won them over, attracting large audiences for more than 15 years, long after curiosity about her sex reassignment surgery had faded.

As her nightclub career was coming to a close, Jorgensen began a new calling, speaking on university campuses all over the country. Invariably she attracted a capacity audience, which she captivated from the first appearance of her shoe tip until the last bit of flounce disappeared behind the proscenium arch.

Sitting center stage, elegantly gowned and jeweled, her presence, her dignity, and her ease commanded the stage and captivated attention as much as her fame.

In 1989, the year of her death—four weeks short of her 63rd birthday—Jorgensen said that her achievement was to have given the sexual revolution “a good swift kick in the pants.” That she did, and so much more. She used her celebrity for a national conversation about gender identity and the transgender community. In an era when people liked Ike and loved Lucy—before Playboy, before sex education and birth control pills—when sexuality simply was not discussed publicly, she began and continued a very open discussion of what it meant to be a man or a woman.

Not only did she advocate for transgender people during countless interviews and appearances, but she also did so for all people. Her story and her life reassured and heartened innumerable men and women who experienced the same feelings she had before her journey to Denmark. She was also was an inspiration to many who struggled with the social identities and expressions of gender presumed for them by others. She further was admired for her courage, elegance, and grace. She remains a role model, not only for transgendered people, but also for all of us who seek to become our true selves.

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

Spend or Invest? New Thoughts on an Age-old Dilemma reduce available funds to invest for your future. When is the expenditure worth it, and when is the cost too prohibitive relative to your financial future?

Judging the “Real” Cost There are a variety of ways to assess the financial value of a major purchase. The approach you choose can vary depending on the type of expenditure you make. Here are three ways to think about it:

Money Matters Brandon Miller and Joanne Jordan A familiar experience for many Americans is that as fast as money comes in, it goes out the door again in pursuit of the next “must have” purchase. Such spending habits can take a toll on plans to build up savings for the future. The key is finding a balance between immediate gratification and long-term financial security.

In many instances, we can all find ways to save on daily purchases to set more money aside to help meet goals like saving for retirement or a child’s education. The bigger challenge comes when it is time to make a major purchase—a home, a car, appliances or home improvements. These expenditures can require the immediate outlay of thousands of dollars. You may have to drain money from savings or, at the very least,

1. Opportunity cost Whenever you’re making a significant purchase on a product or service, you need to look at how it will impact your financial future. It is important to assess the opportunity cost of making a cash purchase today. For example, consider what could happen if instead of spending $5,000 on a home entertainment center, that money was invested for 20 years earning 7% per year. Over time, that $5,000 could grow to more than $19,000 (not accounting for taxes or investment fees). Assessing potential opportunity cost is one way to better evaluate the real cost of making a significant purchase.

2. A “return on investment” Another consideration is whether there is a payback on the purchase. For example, paying for a class or a college degree may provide a future return in the form of the potential for increased income. Anybody who has spent (or taken loans for) $100,000 or more for

a medical or law degree likely does so with a reasonable expectation that future income will more than make up the difference. A home improvement may be looked at in the same way—an investment that may be recouped in the future.

3. Borrowing the money to cover purchase costs While it may be tempting to pay for purchases with credit cards, home equity loans or other types of financing, you have to think about how much borrowing the money will cost in the long run. The key here is to limit interest charges as much as possible. It’s not that you necessarily need to avoid all debt. In some instances you can incur “good debt,” which is used to purchase an asset that has a long lifespan, increasing value and other potential benefits, such as tax deductibility of interest. Mortgages and student loans are typically considered good debt.

Major expenditures aren’t just about the immediate benefit. You should consider whether the current cost would become more significant over time because the money was not invested for your future.

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

The San Francisco Bay Times congratulates Joanne Jordan on her impressive career and years of dedication to her clients, friends and community.

Presents

Shanti’s Fortieth Anniversary Dinner Saturday, October 18th, 2014, 5:30PM The Fairmont Hotel, San Francisco

Event Co-Chairs Honorary Co-Chairs Ken Fulk | Bahya Oumlil-Murad The Honorable James C. Hormel, Auction Co-Chairs U.S. Ambassador & Michael P. Nguyen Christopher Wiseman Maureen Holt

The 2014 Nancy Pelosi Lifetime Achievement Award Presented to

Reverend Cecil Williams & Janice Mirikitani of GLIDE Memorial Church Award presented by

The Honorable Willie L. Brown, Jr.

Special Performance by

For TICKETS call Shannon 415.674.4713 or go to www.shanti.org/pages/tickets.html

The San Francisco Bay Times is proud to announce the arrival of our 2015 Media Kit! Want to see it?

Send a note to Publisher@sfbaytimes.com

BAY T IM ES O C TO BER 2, 2014

9

What a Difference a Quarter Century Makes With the issue of marriage equality now before the United States Supreme Court, it is important to look at how far the LGBT movement has come over the last quarter century at the Court as we continue to seek full equality nationwide.

that “as the Constitution endures, persons in every generation can invoke its principles in their own search for greater freedom.” That evening, we once again dashed to Castro and Market, this time to celebrate.

In 1986, the Supreme Court in Bowers v. Hardwick upheld the constitutionality of so-called “sodomy” laws that criminalized intimate sexual activity between persons of the same sex. In essence, a 5–4 majority of the Court said that it was fine for a state to put lesbian, gay, or bisexual people in jail if they physically expressed their sexuality, even in the privacy of their own homes.

And last year, Justice Kennedy wrote the majority opinion in United States v. Windsor, invalidating critical parts of DOMA and f inding that “DOMA instructs all federal off icials, and indeed all persons with whom same-sex couples interact, including their own children, that their marriage is less worthy than the marriages of others.”

John remembers dashing to Castro and Market the evening of the decision to protest. Soon after he arrived, the late, great LGBT rights attorney Mary Dunlap addressed the massive crowd gathered. She shouted to the justices over 3,000 miles away in Washington, D.C.: “Have you ever had oral sex? If you have…you’re hypocrites! If you haven’t…you’re ignorant!” Dunlap then ripped a copy of the opinion into pieces and threw it to the crowd. The next year, Stuart participated in the direct action protest of Bowers at the Supreme Court, which shut down the Court for the first and only time in its history.

In addition to Bowers motivating LGBT activists and advocates to work even harder for equality, the

Marriage Equality John Lewis and Stuart Gaffney, Marriage Equality USA personnel on the Court began to change over time. In 1996, Justice Anthony Kennedy, who joined the Court after Bowers, wrote the Supreme Court’s first decision in favor of LGBT rights, Romer v. Evans, invalidating Colorado’s Amendment 2 that prohibited the state and any localities within Colorado from protecting lesbian and gay people from discrimination. Justice Kennedy held that Amendment 2’s purpose was simply “to make” lesbian and gay people “unequal to everyone else,” something that the Constitution does not permit.

In 2003, Justice Kennedy went further and authored the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Lawrence v. Texas, overturning Bowers.

He observed that sexual expression was “one element in a personal bond that is more enduring,” and

Two weeks ago at an appearance at the University of Minnesota, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg credited the “remarkable” shift in Americans’ att itudes toward LGBT rights, to “[h]aving people close to us who say who they are…” Justice Ginsburg’s observation about the role that every out LGBT person has played in our movement means not only that we can all share in the celebration of our victories but that we also all must continue to speak up to succeed in our search for greater freedom.

John Lewis and Stuart Gaffney, together for nearly three decades, were plaintiffs in the California case for equal marriage rights decided by the California Supreme Court in 2008. They are leaders in the nationwide grassroots organization Marriage Equality USA.

Newlyweds Share What It Feels Like to be Legally Married This summer on July 25, I had the joy of marrying two young women from North Dakota. Amy White and Jessica Weisz got married at the Bodega Bay Lodge on a gorgeous sunny day with the bay and wispy fog off in the distance.

Their joy was palpable as they were finally able to marry one another after loving and living together in a state that still seems pretty far from marriage equality. They chose to come to California, where Amy had grown up in Healdsburg. They selected Bodega Bay, in particular, because Amy’s family used to come every summer to be cool by the Pacific Ocean. (Well, they were all probably “cool” anyway, but you know what I mean!)

Amy and Jess told me that North Dakota was the last state to receive, finally, a legal challenge to its antiquated and discriminatory laws against marriage equality. They hope for, and support, the coming of marriage equality in their home state soon, but are glad they didn’t wait around any longer.

I recently re-connected with them.

Rev Elizabeth River: You and Amy lived together before you got married, so how has your marriage changed things?

Jessica Weisz: Before marriage you are living as two separate people, and after marriage you become one. I say there is no difference because, as a couple, when you make the commitment to take those vows you are making that commitment for 10

BAY TIMES OCTO B E R 2 , 2 0 1 4

in North Dakota? Do you have friends who hope to marry in their home state?

Weddings

Jessica Weisz: Yes, we hope that North Dakota will change its laws.

I think that people should be left to do what they will in their personal lives as long as no harm is coming to anyone else. Love/marriage should not be in the hands of the courts to decide. People need to learn to mind their own business and allow everyone in this country the same rights they are afforded.

Reverend Elizabeth River

Rev Elizabeth River: Right on, Amy and Jess!

life from that moment on. So, for me, there is no difference between now and then. We were already “one.”

Jessica Weisz: We do know other gay couples who talk about marriage and, until recently, it was never a possibility to get married here. Now you can see that twinkle of happiness for them. Some have gone to other states as we chose too as well.

Rev Elizabeth River: But do you feel more committed than you did before?

Jessica Weisz: We both agree on this one. Our commitment to each other hasn’t changed; we are still as committed now as we were before.

What has changed is how real that commitment became. Marriage for us didn’t seem a possibility and now it is, so that aspect of it became more real.

Rev Elizabeth River: Do you still hope for legal marriage

Amy White: I was offered a chance for us to be the first (LGBT) marriage in North Dakota. I am from the Turtle Mountain tribe and a lady contacted my mother from there and asked if we’d be the first to get married in North Dakota and on a reservation. But, she stated that there is no legal precedence on the reservation. We didn’t know how that would have affected us, so we chose to go to California. Also, it was a dream of mine to go back to where I grew up.

Rev. Elizabeth River is an ordained Interfaith Minister based in the North Bay. For more information, please visit www. marincoastweddings.com

The Changing Face of the Castro

New and Improved Castro Street Helps to Preserve SF’s Gayborhood We’r e a l most t here.

In about one month, we’ll have our neighborhood back.

We’ l l s ay goodbye to our fr iends on the construction crew. Some may be sad to not see sweaty men working hard all day long on Castro Street, but I’ll be glad to see them gone. No more jack hammering, back hoes and cement trucks. By early November, Castro Street will be transformed.

The new Castro Street will be one that ref lects the current best practices in urban design. With wider

sidewalks, a narrower street, 63 trees, bulb-outs, leaning posts, bike racks, and themed streetscape improvements it will be pedestrian centric, encouraging people to be out and about, to linger, meet friends at a sidewalk café and generally bring a positive vibe to the street.

This project has not only made Castro Street more pedestrian friendly, but also there has been an added benefit. The project will help the Castro to maintain its worldwide LGBT identity. Adding to the Rainbow Flag and Harvey Milk Plaza, the privately funded project improvements include rainbow crosswalks, the Castro History Walk, Rainbow Honor Walk, and the celebratory LED lights. They are all pieces of the urban landscape puzzle critical for the neighborhood

Before

to maintain a unique cultural identity over time.

Thirty years from now, the residents will be different. But the Rainbow Honor Walk will still be in the sidewalk, as will the Castro History Walk, the rainbow crosswalks and the celebratory LED lights.

These urban landscape installations are important pieces in keeping a gay identity in the Castro.

Peter Kane, author of the new book “There Goes the Gayborhood,” said in a recent interview that such “civic commemorations” are important to a neighborhood’s identity. “They preserve an area’s heritage or history in a way that is mindful of the fact that the residential portfolio is actively

changing, but which nonetheless anchors the cultural identity of a group in space and place.” Combined with vibrant local cultural “anchor” institutions, Kane argues that these commemorations can actually help preserve a gayborhood.

With the new SF AIDS Foundation center for gay and bi-men’s health at 474 Castro Street and the GLBT History Museum at 4127 18th Street, the Castro is well on its way to having both of these strategies—civic commemorations and anchor institutions.

I would add that in the Castro we have a third strategy, a strategy that is perhaps the most important: a committed community. A community

committed enough to volunteer and donate to support these anchor institutions in the Castro. And committed enough to comment on and create the rainbow crosswalks, the Castro History Walk and the Rainbow Honor Walk. The Castro’s committed community, the civic commemorations, and the anchor institutions are parts of the puzzle that will help carry an LGBT-identified Castro forward.

Come out and enjoy the new street. Be proud of what you’ve all accomplished and know that you have helped to keep the gayborhood in the Castro.

Andrea Aiello is the Executive Director of the Castro/Upper Market Community Benefit District.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE CASTRO/UPPER MARKET COMMUNITY BENEFIT DISTRICT

By Andrea Aiello

PHOTO COURTESY OF BRIAN JILLSON

After (artist’s rendering)

The Castro Development Project includes the area of Castro between Market and 19th Streets and extends on 18th Street for a section of the block in both directions beyond the Castro and 18th intersection.

There Goes the Gayborhood?

In this issue we’ve looked at the past and the present of the Castro, but what about its future? And how does the Castro now compare to other traditionally LGBT neighborhoods around the country? For the answer to these and other questions, we turned to sociologist A min Ghaziani. An associate professor at the University of Br it ish Columbia, Ghaziani is the author of the best-selling new book, “There Goes the Gayborhood” (Princeton University Press).

SF Bay Times: How does the Castro compare to other traditionally LGBT neighborhoods in the U.S., in terms of size, political influence, culture and other factors?

Amin Ghaziani: The Castro is a legendary gayborhood. It provided crucial mobilizing resources that Harvey Milk needed to win his election to public office in 1977, and it remains to this day a queer mecca, unlike any other, and one that resonates with LGBTQ people around the world.

SF Bay Times: How do you see the Castro changing over the

years, particularly in light of other “gayborhood” trends?

Amin Ghaziani: The Castro may be the most fabulous gayborhood today, but it was not the first one in the city—nor will it be the last. LGBTQ people moved from North Beach in the 1950s, to the Tenderloin (Polk Street/Van Ness) in the 1960s, to the Castro in the 1970s (it was a workingclass Irish neighborhood before we arrived), and now many of us are moving to the East Bay. SF Bay Times: Why do you think traditionally LGBT neighborhoods are changing so much now, and do you believe that those changes are ultimately beneficial (or not) to LGBT families and individuals?

Amin Ghaziani: Some LGBTQ people are being priced out, while others are evolving out.

Areas that have a sizable concentration of same-sex households experience greater increases in housing costs (at more than 1.5 times the national average), yet gays and lesbians, who comprise a small proportion of the population (1.6% identify as lesbian or gay and 0.7% identifies as bisexual), earn less than heterosexuals (same-sex families earn, on average,

$15K less annually than opposite-sex households). Gayborhoods, therefore, are not residentially sustainable unless LGBTQ people never move out—or if we own our own homes, or if we only sell to others within the community.

But there is more to this story than just economics. Our modern era—one that some people call “post-gay”—is characterized by unprecedented societal acceptance of samesex relationships. If gayborhoods once provided safe spaces for us, what will happen to them as the world itself becomes safer? The answer: our residential imagination is expanding from gay neighborhoods to gay cities. The phrase “San Francisco is our Castro” captures what I call this “gay city effect.”

SF Bay Times: Where do you think the best places are for LGBT people to live in the U.S. now?

Amin Ghaziani: There are now more places that have a distinct association with same-sex sexuality than we have ever seen before. The diversity of our communities is matched by a diversity of urban options. New Yorkers, for example, talk about Chelsea, on the one hand, and a Choco-

late Chelsea on the other to signify a place of particular appeal to AfricanAmericans. Similarly, they trade stories about Hell’s Kitchen, on the one hand, and a Hell’s Cocina for Latino LGBTQ people on the other. There are distinct clusters for lesbians (Northampton, Massachusetts, is “Lesbianville, USA,” and in recent years, many women have been flocking to St. Petersburg, Florida); samesex families (think about what’s happening in Oakland); and retirement communities for aging gays and lesbians. There are so many great places for us to live in the U.S. now.

SF Bay Times: What are some of your favorite things to do and see in the Castro?

Amin Ghaziani: I am thrilled about the Rainbow Honor Walk, which “seeks to honor the heroines and heroes of LGBT communities through a sidewalk tribute in San Francisco’s historic Castro district.” Other cities are organizing similar commemorative efforts. The Legacy Walk in Chicago, for example, was the world’s first outdoor LGBTQ museum.

SF Bay Times: Please mention anything else that you’d like our readers to know.

Amin Ghaziani: Some people say that we are living in a post-gay moment, one where you don’t have to define yourself primarily by your sexual orientation. Nate Silver’s memorable description as “ethnically straight” is a powerful example of this cultural shift in how we think about our sexuality. The following phrase provides another example: “We are your neighbors next door, not the gay or lesbian couple next door.”

I believe that a truly post-gay society is not one where straight people can pretend that we are not gay, any more than it is one where we feel compelled to define ourselves as ethnically straight. Instead, it is a society in which we recognize that LGBTQ culture is something to celebrate and preserve.

This is also why I think there is so much debate about the future of the gayborhood. American society has not yet articulated a compelling logic in which acts of queer cultural preservation make sense to us as fundamentally life-giving, life-affirming, and the pulse of community-building.

Special thanks to Michele Karlsberg, who encouraged us to reach out to Amin Ghaziani and who facilitated the connection.

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The Changing Face of the Castro

History of the Castro/Upper Market

By Pauline Scholten

in coffee cakes, cardamom buns, rye bread and other specialities.

The Hunters and Gatherers (500 through 1775) Arriving in the San Francisco area about 500 AD, the Indians lived nomadically within a peninsula abundant with food. On the bay, they harvested mussels, clams, abalone, ducks and other shorebirds. Moving inland, they foraged for edible roots and hunted rabbits and other game in areas, such as The Castro, with freshwater streams and springs.

The Ohlone (meaning “the abalone people”) lived lightly on the land. All they left behind were burial mounds and shell dumps along the bay, and trails between their encampments.

Two of these trails are said to have intersected at the present site of Castro and Market streets.

The Californios (1776 through 1845) In 1776, Spanish authorities sent to the Alta California province Mexican settlers. They founded the Mission San Francisco de Asís (also known as Mission Dolores after a nearby stream) on land just below The Castro (see http://www.missiondolores. org). “Californios,” as the Spanishspeaking settlers came to be known, also established the Presidio, a military post, near the Golden Gate at the mouth of the bay (see http://www. presidio.gov/history).

During the next fifty years, approximately 1400 Indians living in the area were, through a combination of forced conversion to Catholicism and brute force, compelled to give up their culture and work at the Mission as farmhands and servants, or for the Californios as laborers on the cattle ranches they built nearby. Painted Indian designs are still evident on the walls and ceiling of Mission Dolores, which they helped build. The Indians were particularly vulnerable to European diseases, and the mortality rate for those pressed into service at Mission Dolores was calculated later at almost 75 percent. The graveyard next to the Mission contains only one marker for the hundreds of Ohlone dead. The marker is topped with a statue of a Mohawk lass.

PHOTO SOURCE: FRIENDSOF1800.ORG

In its first 200 years of recorded history, the sheltered little valley now called The Castro has been variously known as Rancho San Miguel, Horner’s Addition, Eureka Valley, Little Scandinavia, and Most Holy Redeemer Parish. We don’t know its first name, the one given to it by the Ohlone Indians, who used it for hunting and foraging. areas known today as The Castro, Noe Valley, Glen Park, Diamond Heights, West Portal, and several other neighborhoods. Noe presided over his vast cattle spread, called Rancho San Miguel, from a large home located at what is now Eureka and 22nd Streets.

In 1847, the Americans changed the name of the pueblo to San Francisco and mapped out a broad boulevard named Market Street. On paper it ran from the center of the shoreline of Yerba Buena Cove (approximately at the intersection of present-day Battery and Market streets) toward Twin Peaks, with much of its route along the path to Mission Dolores. In reality, much of it was covered with sand dunes that blanketed much of the peninsula.

Everything changed in January 1848, when gold was discovered in the Sierra foothills. Most of San Francisco’s population of 700 departed for the diggings. The town was soon filled again by hordes of gold seekers from around the world: by 1850, it had grown to 20,000; by 1852, 36,000.

More than 90 percent of the new inhabitants were young men. About half were foreign born, turning San Francisco into a multicultural city overnight. They crowded into hastily built rooming houses and hotels, sharing rooms and beds. Some historians of gay culture have speculated that the city’s reputation as “gay friendly” began with the Gold Rush, when thousands of single males far from home were free to act as they pleased and lonely men took comfort where they found it.

Many of the second wave of “49ers” were middle-class men with cosmo-

The Victorians (1854 through 1900) As the gold rush of the 1850s went on, a more solid commercial city evolved, based on banking, manufacturing, the maritime industry, and the agricultural wealth of the Central Valley. The city’s core kept expanding, with one area of growth headed to the west, up Market Street. In 1854, businessman John M. Horner purchased from José de Jesús Noe most of the San Miguel Rancho for $70,000 and subdivided the land. Naming a large piece of it “Horner’s Addition,” he mapped out the streets in a grid bounded by Castro Street on the west, Valencia Street on the east, 18th Street on the north and 30th Street on the south. Horner named the main north-south streets after the Californio ranchers who had originally owned most of Yerba Buena: Noe, General José Castro, José Antonio Sánchez, Don Francisco Guerrero and José Manuel Valencia. (In 1895, Noe’s heirs filed suit against the city of San Francisco and about 7000 others who had purchased pieces of the rancho from Horner, claiming the land sale to Horner was illegal be-

Left, 1914 and right, 1948

cause half the ranch was their mother’s. They asked for the return of half the land or payment of its estimated value: $24 million. By then the land was filling with homes and businesses.

The Noes lost their case.)

In the 1850s, the still-rural valley at the base of Twin Peaks attracted vegetable farmers, and cattle and sheep ranchers. Development of housing was dependent on transportation and shifting sand dunes still shrouded Market Street from Third Street to the west. The Market Street Railroad tackled this problem, and in 1860 a steam powered railway line opened, running up Market to Valencia and from there to 16th Street. The smoky, noisy steam dummy cars, which scared horses, were replaced with quieter horse cars in the late 1860s.

However, the stretch of Market from Valencia to Castro remained without streetcars because the grade was too steep for horses. Housing development along Castro Street and Upper Market was slow. In the early 1880s, a steam-car system began servicing the area and, in 1889, the Market Street Cable Railway’s line to Castro Street was completed, sparking a burst of development. The cable car line was extended down Castro and over the steep hill to Noe Valley, prompting more homebuilding on the hill between the two neighborhoods.

Rows of Queen Ann, Eastlake Stick and Italianate houses sprang up in what was now called Eureka Valley (one of the adjacent Twin Peaks is named “Eureka” and the other peak “Noe”). Decorated with gingerbread millwork and painted a variety of colors, new houses crept up the valley’s sides, pushing out the vegetable and dairy farms. The Victorians were quickly filled with working class fami-

PHOTO BY RINK

In 1835, on the shore of Yerba Buena Cove, the civilian pueblo of Yerba Buena was established as a port for exporting California hides and tallow, importing goods from the United States and Europe, and provisioning ships, such as the whalers that stopped there. Located on land that became the heart of downtown San Francisco, Yerba Buena was a sleepy, pastoral village located at the center of a large cluster of cattle-raising ranchos.

politan tastes; it took considerable money and initiative to travel to remote California. Elaborate gambling halls and elegant brothels were soon flourishing. French restaurants served champagne, live Maine lobsters, and drinks chilled with New England ice packed in sawdust and brought round Cape Horn. A Paris mercantile family loaded an entire ship with wine, cognac, table silver, linens, silks, laces, stylish hats, gourmet items, and other French luxury goods, and sailed it to San Francisco. By the end of 1850, they had a thriving store called The City of Paris, named after the ship from which they first sold their expensive goods in San Francisco Bay.

lies, whose breadwinners commuted to their jobs “in town,” along the waterfront and South of Market. Irish, German, and Scandinavian immigrants came to the outskirts of the city in search of cheap housing: a fiveroom cottage for $1000 and a twostory row house for under $3,500.

In 1846, the U.S. Navy landed and seized Yerba Buena town and its 300 inhabitants as part of the Mexican War. That same year, José de Jesús Noe, one of the last Mexican alcaldes (mayors) of Yerba Buena, received from the Mexican governor of California a 4,443-acre land grant that encompassed a sixth of present-day San Francisco. The grant included

In the first decades of the 20th century, Eureka Valley’s popularity with Swedish, Norwegian and Finnish immigrants earned it the nickname “Little Scandanavia.” Businesses and amenities catered to the Scandinavian community, including the Norse Cove restaurant, Finnila’s Finnish Baths, the Scandanavian Seamen’s Union Hall, and bakeries specializing

12

PHOTO BY RINK

T h e Wo r k i n g C l a s s (19 0 0 through 1960s)

PHOTO BY RINK

The Americans (1846 through early 1850s)

Sponsors Armistead Maupin and Chris Turner with Philo and David Perry behind the Tennessee Williams plaque,Bevan Dufty with Sylvester, Castro Merchants President David Bergerac with Alan Turing.

BAY TIMES OCTO B E R 2 , 2 0 1 4

The 1906 fire and earthquake devastated most of the city but missed Eureka Valley’s redwood Victorians: the westward march of the Ham-andEggs branch of the conflagration was stopped at Dolores and 20th streets, just below Eureka Valley. Burned out of their old meeting hall, Swedes in 1907 celebrated the opening of a grand, new Swedish-American Hall (2174 Market Street (see http://swedishamericanhall.com). Designed with an old world, half-timbered exterior

by Swedish architect August Nordin, it was built by Swedish-American craftsmen and would host many Swedish celebrations for years to come.

Kathryn (Anderson) Forbes, who grew up in San Francisco, used Eureka Valley and Upper Market as the setting for her semi-autobiographical novel, Mama’s Bank Account, about a Norwegian-American working class family in the 1920s. “For as long as I could remember, the small cottage on Castro Street had been home,” read the first line of the 1943 novel.

The popular book was made into a hit play and movie, I Remember Mama, in the 1940s and a 1949–1956 television series.

From the 1930s through the 1960s, Eureka Valley was also known as a working class, Irish-American enclave. The Irish were a powerful presence in the city, involved in all levels of politics from precinct worker up, and the neighborhood was home to many laborers, firemen, policemen, and other city workers. The district produced a number of city’s IrishAmerican police chiefs.

Life revolved around Most Holy Redeemer Catholic Church (100 Diamond Street), which had been built two blocks off Castro Street in 1900 (http://mhr.org). The church’s daily masses were well attended and the Sunday services were packed. St. Patrick’s Day was celebrated with a big show in the parish hall featuring children in costumes performing step-dancing, reels and jigs to Irish music played on the accordion. Many local residents, when asked for their neighborhood, simply replied, “Holy Redeemer.”

Housewives walked to the stores along Castro and 18th streets. A good bakery sold Beehive Cakes next to the Castro Theatre, which had been built on Castro in 1922. Across the street was Safeway, where everyone did their grocery shopping. Cliff ’s Variety Store carried everything you couldn’t find elsewhere. And for the workingmen, there were lots of neighborhood bars.

Most of the Catholic kids went to the Holy Redeemer grammar school, taught by nuns who lived in the convent next door to it. The public school children walked to Douglass Elementary. All the kids, no matter what school they attended, loved Saturday movie matinees at the Castro Theatre, visiting the small wild animals at the Josephine Randall Junior Museum (http://www.randallmuseum. org) in nearby Corona Heights, and dressing up in costumes for Cliff’s annual Halloween parade.

But as Eureka Valley moved into the 1960s, the neighborhood started to change, look shabby. Victorian homes, the latest thing in 1890, now were outdated on the outside and flawed on the inside. They were hard to heat, didn’t have enough electrical outlets or closets, and their toilets were located on the back porch. Built

Castro Street Fair 2014 - Sunday, October 5

The Changing Face of the Castro

I would like to thank you for your support year after year with your time, donations and great attitude.

Our board of directors has been lucky to be able to produce this event, for and with our hard working beneficiaries, to raise funds for their causes. The Castro Street Fair is a true labor of love and it shows in the final product – a fun, safe, and colorful event.

Go to our website and find out more about who we are raising this money for. You may find that you have some extra time and heart to help these organizations with your expertise.

As most of you know, this is not a free party. We work all year long with a careful eye on our budget, to be sure that after the fair we can make the largest possible donation to the nonprofits in need. Every penny we raise goes either to the beneficiaries, permitting, clean-up or production. All of the entertainers, security, beer pourers, gate staff, the entire board of before automobiles existed, many didn’t have garages.

Younger residents left for modern homes with two-car garages and suburban life in the East Bay and in San Mateo and Marin Counties. Safeway, an anchor store for Castro Street, closed after the big new store at Market and Church opened in 1954. In 1964, San Francisco dropped its post1906 earthquake regulation requiring all police and firemen to live in the city, and more families joined the exodus to new homes in places like Novato. In 1963, a new tavern at 2348 Market Street joined the ranks of the shot-and-a-beer bars where local men drank. It was called The Missouri Mule, and it catered to gay men.

The New Im m ig rants (Late 1960’s through 1980) During the 50s and 60s, gay and lesbian bars, like their patrons, were scattered throughout the city. The artsy crowd favored North Beach, drinking at the Black Cat (which featured shows by drag entertainer Jose Sarria), Ann’s 440, and 12 Adler Place. Polk Street was home to a number of gay and lesbian bohemians; in the 1950s a large group of artists, poets, actors and musicians lived at The Wently residential hotel at Polk and Sutter. The residents and their friends, who included poet Allen Ginsberg, had long, philosophical discussions while nursing their coffee at Foster’s Cafeteria, located on the ground floor.

The Tenderloin area was a favorite haunt of drag queens, who gossiped over coffee at Compton’s Cafeteria and cheered drag artist Charles Pierce’s send-ups of Bette Davis and Mae West at the 181 Club. Those looking for rougher trade patronized waterfront gay bars, such as The Sea Cow and Jacks, and in the 1960s, the new leather bars that emerged in the industrial South of Market area, including The Tool Box, Febe’s and The Stud.

Many homosexuals, terrified of exposure, avoided gay bars because of police raids. “I can’t risk it,” said a gay man interviewed by the San Francisco Chronicle in June 1958. “I have a good job and I don’t want to lose it. So all week long, I’m straight. I talk baseball, and I take girls out for dinner, and maybe even dancing.”

When “the masquerade gets to be too much,” he would go to North Beach and “have dinner in one of the gay little restaurants and just look around and realize that I’m not alone.”

In the 1950s, gay activists began speaking up for homosexual rights and f iling court challenges. Harry Hay and a group of gay political ac-

directors, including myself, are all volunteers. Your donations at the gate are super important and help to keep this great event alive.

This year, the Castro has seen some big changes, and is now enhanced with wider sidewalks, coated in the vivid color. We celebrate this in our promotion, gate sticker and annual tee. Make sure to grab your shirt at the info Booth on Market and Castro as we always sell out. “Cute Froot” is the theme and we hope you arrive in your most colorful, cutest and fruitiest looks.

As always, we have some great music on all our stages. The Sundance Saloon area behind the Castro Theater is always wildly entertaining. The dance areas in the parking lot off of 18th Street and at 18th and Collingwood will feature our nightlife’s best djs, legendary and up and coming. Among other great musical acts, Pop Rocks returns to close out the main stage with your poppy favorites.

For a wackier, sexier time make your way

tivists founded the Mattachine Society in 1950 in Los Angeles to fight for gay rights. A San Francisco chapter opened in 1956. In 1955, Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon, two lesbians living in Eureka Valley, started a social group called Daughters of Bilitis (DOB). Lyon and Martin, realizing lesbians needed more than just a private place to talk and dance, soon broadened the DOB’s mission to include educational and political goals.

They began publishing a magazine called The Ladder.

In the late 1960s, gay men began moving into Eureka Valley, attracted as earlier immigrants had been by cheap housing. Renting or buying the old, faded Victorians, and prizing their architectural contrast to the mid-century boxes, the men were the first wave of a movement that would change the neighborhood into a gay village, and give it a new name. Some social historians cite as a driving force 1967’s “Summer of Love,” which brought to San Francisco an estimated 100,000 middle-class youths rebelling against all types of conformity, including sexual stereotypes. Other historians point to the Stonewall rebellion of June 1969, when a police raid on a private gay bar in New York was met with violent resistance and became the catalyst of the modern gay rights movement.

Whatever the catalyst, in the late ‘60s and early’70s both Polk Street and Eureka Valley experienced an upsurge in gay residents as well as businesses catering to them. Initially, Polk Street was considered “the gay downtown.” San Francisco’s first gay parade in 1970, commemorating Stonewall, was a march down Polk Street to City Hall.

Eureka Valley’s cheap Victorians, however, attracted a much higher proportion of gay homeowners. The first wave of gay hippies was followed by more affluent gay professionals, who devoted countless hours to restoring their Queen Annes and Sticks, gentrifying the neighborhood in the process. Gay business owners set up shop along Upper Market, 18th, and Castro Streets. Soon it was possible for a resident to have nearly all his needs met by dozens of gay merchants: jewelers, f lorists, accountants, barbers, dry cleaners, clothiers, and more.

One of those new merchants in 1972 was Harvey Milk, a camera store owner whose activism on behalf of his neighbors, gay and straight, soon made him a political force in the neighborhood. Advocating gay political representation, Milk began running for local office in 1973. It would take him four tries to become in 1977

the first openly gay elected official of any large city in the U.S.

Each weekday morning, they read their own serial, “Tales of The City,” in the San Francisco Chronicle. Created by writer Armistead Maupin, who moved to The Castro in 1981, Tales was a vivid, often hilarious, depiction of 1970s and early ‘80s San Francisco life as experienced by a variety of colorful straight, gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered characters.

The Gay Pride Parade, now on Market Street, was bigger and louder every year, led by the roaring motorcycles of hundreds of Dykes on Bikes. Still, the late ‘70s were marred by political threats and painful events: the battle in 1978 to defeat a “Save Our Children” state ballot measure to ban gay teachers from the public schools; the assassination of Harvey Milk and San Francisco’s mayor George Moscone

Your friend, Juan Garcia President of the Castro Street Fair

A s the 1980s began, the future seemed bright. The Castro’s gay residents had forged a vibrant community and would use all their political and economic clout to defend it. They did not know their most heartbreaking and costly battle lay just ahead.

They called their neighborhood “The Castro,” after its busiest street and the huge, red neon theater sign illuminating it at night. The handsome young men, showing off their gym-toned bodies in snug 501 jeans and tight Tshirts, many sporting close-cropped hair and moustaches, were dubbed “Castro Clones.” You could easily purchase the wardrobe on Castro Street at the aptly named All American Boy clothing store.

The ‘70s Castro wasn’t just about sex. The neighborhood seemed energized, a new frontier. Gays and lesbians formed political groups, churches and synagogues. They started newspapers, film festivals, theatre groups, marching bands, and softball leagues.

They registered to vote and elected Harvey Milk their city supervisor as soon as at-large elections changed to election by district.

So let’s have fun, donate, have some drinks with friends, dance with new pals and remember that we are doing this for great causes.

later that year; and the White Night gay riot and subsequent police brutality in The Castro following the light sentence given in 1979 to the murderer of Milk and Moscone.

Gays were making a transition from hiding in the shadows and the closet to living “out and proud” lives. In the process, Eureka Valley was becoming one of the first gay neighborhoods in the world. The new inhabitants, who came from throughout the United States and beyond, sought not just a place of refuge but somewhere to celebrate gay identity.

On sunny days, throngs of men cruised shirtless along the district’s sidewalks or basked in front of the Hibernia bank at 18th and Castro, earning it the nickname “Hibernia Beach.” At night they packed the bars and dance clubs, looking for action or dancing till dawn to the disco thump of Grace Jones’ “I Need A Man” and Sylvester’s “You Make Me Feel Mighty Real.” They reveled in their sexual freedom; 1975 saw the repeal of California’s anti-sodomy law but the party was already in full swing.

down to the new, Milky Way 18th Street between Noe and Sanchez This year the much-loved, adults only, art block will be curated by Uel, nightlife photographer and curator of the “Unicorn” bazaar and dance parties at Powerhouse. Many interactive installations and photo ops will be displayed in the “frooty” theme.

Please thank these artists for being generous with their time and talents, making this area so wild.

T he Un i nv ited Guest (19 81 through the mid-1990s)

in the country to disclose his illness to the media.

Doctors didn’t know what was causing the PCP and KS but theorized it was an immune deficiency brought on by sexual promiscuity. Concerned about the thousands of gay men partying-on in San Francisco without regard to the deadly, uninvited guest in their midst, Campbell began a health column in February 1982 in the Sentinel. Calling himself “The KS Poster Boy,” Campbell reported on his illness candidly, discussing the treatment options and resources available, and advising readers to: “Take care of yourself.”

It soon became evident this wasn’t just good advice, it was the Reagan administration’s attitude towards what was portrayed as a “gay disease.” Appeals for federal funds or action to stave off the i mpend i ng hea lt h cr isis fel l on deaf ears. Some Christian fundamentalists called the d isease God’s punishment of homosexuals. The Castro was awash in fear and anger as more young, healthy men began to sicken and die of the mysterious disease that had no known treatment.

PHOTO BY RINK

Message from Castro Street Fair President Juan Garcia:

In mid-1981, the federal Center for Disease Control and Prevention began reporting on mysterious disease clusters of Kaposi’s Sarcoma (KS) and pneumocistis carinii pneumonia (PCP) among gay males in San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York.

That summer, Castro resident Bobbi Campbell became San Francisco’s sixteenth off icial KS case. As the weeks went by and more men became ill, rumors of “gay cancer” and “gay pneumonia” raced through the community.

Campbell, a registered nurse, decided to raise The Castro’s awareness of the disease. In late 1981, he posted homemade flyers describing the “gay cancer,” including pictures of his lesions, in the window of Star pharmacy (now Walgreen’s) at 18th and Castro. In December, he went public about his KS in the San Francisco Sentinel, a local gay paper, becoming the first person

Spurred on by gay activists, San Franciscans refused to let their friends and loved ones die without a fight. They started community-based groups to provide political advocacy, support and services. First launched was the Kaposi’s Sarcoma Research & Education Foundation (renamed the SF AIDS Foundation in 1984), which opened a small office with an information hotline in the heart of the Castro in the spring of 1982. In the years to come, it would be followed by many other advocacy and service groups: People With AIDS San Francisco, the Stop AIDS Project, the S.F. Black Coalition on AIDS, ACT-UP/ Golden Gate, and more.

In July of ‘82, San Francisco doctors and gay activists lobbied city government to begin funding the health care and services needed to combat the disease, which now had a name: Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome or AIDS. The city approved (continued on page 23)

BAY T IM ES O C TO BER 2, 2014

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Addicted to “Love” Roland Schembari and Bill Hartman Co-Founders in 1978 Kim Corsaro Publisher 1981-2011

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Examined Life Tom Moon, MFT

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At 42, Stewart is single again. “I’ve fallen in love almost once every year since I was twelve,” he tells me, “and by now I’ve had at least twenty ‘soul mates.’ But I’ve never had a relationship last longer than six months. It always starts out so great, but in every relationship I’m the one who ends it.” At this point, he’s almost given up hope that he’ll ever find the “One” he’d always believed he would one day f ind. He still continues to fall head over heels in love, but increasingly with guys who are completely unattainable—straight men at work, men who are already in committed relationships, and so on.

In the Enneagram, a popular psychological system that describes nine

basic personality types, Stewart is a ‘Four,’ or a Tragic Romantic. Why tragic? Because, as his experience shows, the habit of idealizing romantic love can actually work against having real relationships. Tragic romantics focus on what isn’t here, on the future; the present is just a period of waiting for the grandness to come.

Typically, Fours live in a state of sad longing for a kind of magical transformation, an experience of connection that will heal their sense of incompleteness, their loneliness, their selfloathing and despair.

to protect their unrealistic standards.

Soon they’re focusing on a new love with a sweet longing that doesn’t yet run up against the inevitable ordinariness of daily life.

Helen Palmer, who wrote the classic text on the Enneagram types, believes that most Fours suffer from an intense sense of deprivation and loss due to abandonment in childhood, and that they compensate by living in the fantasy of the Great Love that will heal these early wounds. But when Fours do manage to get into relationships, they tend to sabotage them.

But the Lover who has the power to heal our deepest wounds will have to be a very extraordinary person— not full of shame and fear and doubt as the Four often experiences himself—but someone who never fears or doubts; someone who will love me perfectly and unconditionally no matter what. Most mere mortals aren’t really up to the task. Fours are tragic because their love is fundamentally narcissistic. They tend to think of love in terms of being loved rather than loving. Love is the alchemy that they believe will erase their wretched past and transform their inner lives.

But they suffer from the paradox inherent in all narcissistic defenses: they find no lover worthy enough to rescue them from their own unworthiness.

The image of the glorious future that was supposed to follow the happy ending collides with the reality of having to deal with his messiness, his relatives, his annoying habits. When intimacy means waking up on a rainy Tuesday morning with a partner who is cranky and needs a shower, Fours can feel bitterly disappointed, and drive the partner away in order

One of the psychological tasks for most Fours is to complete the mourning process for the pain and loneliness they suffered when young. As meditation teacher Jack Kornf ield puts it, they have “to give up all hope of ever having a better past.” There are some early wounds and deficits from which we never ‘recover.’ Fours move on with their lives, not when they

‘heal,’ not when they’re ‘transformed’ through the magic of romantic love, but when they form a deliberate intention to accept themselves as they are, including their wounds and their sorrows, and to love others as they are, in all their imperfection.

This means transferring their loyalty from the imagined future to the lived present. It also involves learning to focus as much on giving love as on receiving it. I sometimes suggest to romantics who lament the lack of love in their lives that they exercise this capacity by doing volunteer work or mentoring a young person. This isn’t always a welcome suggestion, but when followed it can, in an unexpected way, confirm the basic faith of tragic romantics that “Love is the answer.” That’s because nothing helps a damaged self-esteem more effectively than the discovery that the traumas of the past have not destroyed our capacity to care for others, independently of what they can or can’t do for us.

Tom Moon is a psychotherapist in San Francisco. For more information, please visit tommoon.net

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Jennifer Mullen Web Coordinator

Mario Ordonez Juan Ordonez Distribution

CONTRIBUTORS Writers Rink, Sister Dana Van Iquity, Ann Rostow, Kirsten Kruse, Kate Kendell, Pollo del Mar, Heidi Beeler, Gary M. Kramer, Dennis McMillan, Tom Moon, Paul E. Pratt, Terry Baum, Gypsy Love, Rafael Mandelman, Kit Kennedy, David Campos, Leslie Katz, Bill Lipsky, Karen Williams, Donna Sachet, Gary Virginia, Zoe Dunning, Jim Tibbs, Mark Penn, Marcy Adelman, Stuart Gaffney & John Lewis Brandon Miller & Joanne Jordan, Kippy Marks, Naomi Jay, Jamie Leno Zimron Thom Watson, America Foy, Philip Ruth, Courtney Lake, Michele Karlsberg Photographers Rink, Dennis McMillan, Steven Underhill, Phyllis Costa, Cathy Blackstone, Robert Fuggiti, Bill Wilson, Jo-Lynn Otto, Sandy Morris, Abby Zimberg

The Walk to End Alzheimer’s is the world’s largest event to raise awareness and funds for Alzheimer’s care, support and research. Many LGBT community members were at this year’s event in San Francisco on September 20. The inspiring event drew participants of all ages, including the talented Cal band, shown here. They and others did their part in helping to reclaim the future for millions.

Dear Joan

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14

Karen Williams Dear Joan, Thank you so much for all of the laughs, the put-downs, the effervescent self-deprecating excitement that you consistently exhibited! How fortunate I am to have witnessed you live and in great comedic form, and to have performed on the same bill as you.

Long long ago, when folks were scared of lesbian and gay people, you made fun onstage of the drag queens who made fun of you. How could I forget the time that you shared the stage with a guy who accented his bright red gown with a gigantic blonde beehive that made him appear to be seven feet tall.

As he walked out on stage, the top of his hairdo hit the huge silver disco

BAY TIMES OCTO B E R 2 , 2 0 1 4

ball that hung from the stage ceiling.

The drag diva gracefully stumbled in his five-inch pumps, restored his balance and proceeded to walk towards you as though nothing had happened.

At that point, you recreated the scene!

You pretended to hit the disco ball; then fell to the floor shouting for your lawyers to come immediately. You’d been injured on the job and you were pressing charges for a lawsuit so you would own the theater, unlike disco drag guy who recovered himself and proceeded on with his act. Riff after hilarious riff poured from your fast-talking lips and the crowd went mad for you. I watched in awe as you milked the crap out of that routine, live, in living color, with the improvisational magic of a comedy queen. Queen Joan. We loved you that night! And you loved us.

Thanks so much for everything you shared in your fifty years of outrageous contagious comedy and for the headstart you gave to so many women comics... like me.

You’ll be missed, Joan Rivers. Keep ‘em laughing and looking good.

In laughter and love, From a whole lot of us!

In the early nineties, Joan Rivers hosted AIDS benefit events at Town Hall in New York City in concert with the Gay and Lesbian Center as part of

“Joan & Her Funny Friends” revues.

I was honored to perform in a few of them. The first time I knew that I would be onstage with her, I called forth my high fashion modeling days and dressed to wow. I had full knowledge that Joan Rivers stayed on Best Dressed Lists, so I aimed to catch her attention.

I stepped out on stage as she was exiting stage left. She looked back, saw me and came up to me to tell me how fabulous I looked. As the host for the evening, I asked the crowd to give her a hand as an “Honorary Lesbian” as she was departing the stage. Joan quickly ran back out on stage, grabbed my microphone, and shouted to the gay and lesbian audience of about 2,000 people, “ You’l l never know!” while she fake humped me and chased me around the stage. The crowd went crazy with laughter, I got to be fondled by a comic icon, and I relished the feeling that Joan totally enjoyed herself.

Though modern day female comics may accuse Joan Rivers of putting herself down and even being meanspirited in her comedy, I admired her story because it took a great deal of courage and raw guts to achieve her success in what was considered a man’s game. And just in case you’re not familiar with her work, here are a

few quotes of Joan Rivers taken from Variety magazine that might strike your funny bone!

“I’ve had so much plastic surgery, when I die they will donate my body to Tupperware.”

“I blame my mother for my poor sex life. All she told me was, ‘The man goes on top and the woman underneath.’ For three years my husband and I slept in bunk beds.”

“I don’t exercise. If God had wanted me to bend over, he would have put diamonds on the floor.”

“I knew I was an unwanted baby when I saw that my bath toys were a toaster and a radio.”

“My husband wanted to be cremated.

I told him I’d scatter his ashes at Neiman Marcus—that way, I’d visit him every day.”

“People say that money is not the key to happiness, but I always f igured if you have enough money, you can have a key made.”

“I hate housework! You make the beds, you do the dishes and six months later you have to start all over again.”

Thanks, Joan Rivers! May you rest in peace and not raise too much hell where you are!

Karen Williams is a lover of words. Share yours with her and learn more about her at http://www.hahainstitute.com/

Fortnight in Review

By Ann Rostow Conference Call Welcome to the waiting game, dear readers. On Monday, September 29, the U.S. Supreme Court considered whether or not to accept up to seven marriage equality cases; three related cases out of Virginia, and one each from Utah, Oklahoma, Indiana and Wisconsin. No one knows exactly when the Court will announce the results of their deliberations, but it should be soon. It’s also possible that the justices will simply reschedule the cases for another conference, as they did a couple of years back when several challenges to the Defense of Marriage Act were pending.

A number of analysts continue to suggest that the justices might duck these cases and perhaps wait for one of the other federal appellate courts to rule against same-sex couples in order to crystalize the debate. But it’s worth repeating that such a dodge is unlikely.

First, the High Court specif ically asked these petitioners to step on the gas and send their applications for review in time for the first conference of the 2014/2015 term. Why bother to expedite these cases if not to take them on? Second, the Court has put a hold on marriage rights throughout the Tenth, Fourth and Seventh Circuits. Again, why put a pin in these rulings only to pull it out a few months later? Also, note that the Court did not wait for a “conflict in the circuits” before taking on the challenge to DOMA. The question of whether marriage discrimination is constitutional is not an arcane twist in federal procedure. It’s a profound dilemma that has divided the country and requires an immediate national resolution.

Finally, a split in the circuits is useful because it allows the Court to evaluate the pros and cons of a particular issue as articulated in high-level federal court opinions. In our case, the justices have plenty of access to the arguments on the losing side of these petitions, and it’s not as if another appellate court will produce a novel interpretation of constitutional boundaries that no one else has produced to date.

And so we wait. We’re also waiting for an opinion out of the Sixth Circuit, where marriage was argued in early August, as well as a decision out of the Ninth, where the oral arguments were held early September.

We’re likely to lose the first and win the second, so there’s your circuit split. Meanwhile, a number of marriage cases are languishing in the lower courts, where they’ve been put on hold pending a High Court decision next year.

Taking the Cake I feel as if I repeat the same summaries every fortnight, but the situation evolves each week and the subject demands sustained coverage, don’t you think? If you are becoming tired of marriage equality, you have a like mind in Michele Bachmann, who told Sirius Radio’s Michelangelo Signorile that the whole subject was no longer an issue, and was in fact, “becoming boring.” Bachmann later explained that she was not implying that her support for tradition was waning, only that she was bored by the media continuing to attack Republicans.

Bachmann was interviewed during the annual Values Voters Convention, normally an occasion marked by full-throated condemnation of everything gay, lesbian, transgender and

Professional Services

bi. This year, observers noted that few speakers even mentioned marriage equality and, if they did, it was only in passing.

Indeed, many major gay organizations have already done so. Let’s fight instead to put GLBT workers under the wide umbrella of Title VII.

I did catch a clip of the panel that included Melissa Klein, an Oregon baker who refused to make a cake for a lesbian wedding and who now faces huge fines for violating the state’s anti-discrimination code. Klein wept as she described the attention to detail that characterized her wedding cake process. She explained that she interviewed each bride to find out what she was like, what color dress she was wearing, where the honeymooners were headed, etc. Only then could she produce the perfect cake, tailored to each couple with care.

Panic Attack

I suppose that she was trying to say that her misdeed was not a simple matter of refusing to sell a cake. Indeed, in order to accept the lesbian clients, she would have been obliged to immerse herself in the same-sex celebration in conflict with her faith.

But you know what? The woman (and her husband) were nailed for refusing to sell a wedding cake, period. There’s a state law against discrimination, yes. But Klein, at the very least, could have asked, “Chocolate or vanilla?” and made the damned cake. By the way, in addition to the fines, Klein’s bakery went bankrupt since many of the lovely heterosexual brides had no interest in doing business with a bigot.

Cry me a river.

EEOC Sues On Behalf of MTF Workers So, a couple of years ago, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protected individuals against workplace bias based on gender stereotypes. Everyone was amazed and pleased by this development, because although courts had increasingly interpreted Title VII this way, here we had the enforcement arm of the federal government agreeing with that interpretation.

Now, the EEOC has put some teeth into its policy decision, suing two businesses for trans discrimination.

One is a medical clinic in Florida.

The other is a funeral home in Detroit. Both employers f ired MTF women who transitioned during their employment.

The irony is that Title VII, the law that protects minorities from workplace discrimination, does not cover discrimination against gay men and lesbians unless that discrimination is tied to gender stereotyping. On the other hand, since trans bias is inherently based on gender stereotypes, Title VII is now seen as a strong legal weapon against transgender bias on the job.

How did this happen? It happened because Title VII is not just a few words in some law book. Title VII is the culmination of five decades of case law as court after court has added nuance and weight to this powerful statute. Sexual harassment, for example, is only illegal because courts have interpreted Title VII’s ban on “discrimination because of sex” to encompass such harassment. As for gender stereotypes, they were embraced by the Supreme Court itself in the late 1980s, ruling under Title VII that an accounting f irm could not deny a partnership to a woman just because she did not conform to their standards of femininity.

Why am I harping on this? Because even though it’s nice that trans bias is somewhat covered under Title VII, we need to explicitly add sexual orientation and gender identity to Title VII’s list of protected workers. Forget the archaic half measures of ENDA.

I’m not sure what to think of California’s recently signed “gay panic defense” law, a statute that purports to outlaw the infamous strategy of blaming a gay victim for inciting violence by making an unwanted pass. Take out the charged reference to “gay panic,” and the law prohibits a person accused of assault from claiming that the attack was a response to a “nonforcible” gay or trans solicitation.

I haven’t encountered the gay panic defense recently, but if memory serves, the tactic generally involved an assertion that the gay person did more than just suggest a sexual act.

Usually, if not always, the victim allegedly put a hand on the basher’s leg, or tried to kiss him, or something like that. In other words, the attention was claimed to be forced, which would not be covered by this new law. Even the despicable gay panic defense was never enough to absolve an attacker who launched an assault because another person announced that he was interested in a little something something, but made no physical move.

Hey, it’s not a bad thing, I guess. But I just wonder how lawyers and courts are going to define “nonforcible” in future cases.

And here’s an interesting development. Sure, it has nothing to do with GLBT news. In fact, it has nothing to do with news of any sort. It’s just that my wife Mel spent three hours trimming the hedge out front, and she asked me to sweep up all the leaves.

Having done this before, I know that it’s really tedious. Plus, I informed her that I had to write this column, but she didn’t care. Somehow, she expected me to clean up the hedge trimmings and write a column, both in the same day. For those of you who are counting, that’s two things in one day.

So just this minute, a guy knocked on my door and asked if I needed yard work. Answer, yes!

When we first bought this house, I volunteered to trim the hedges. I figured we’d get an electric trimmer, which we did, and that it would be both easy and satisfying. It turns out that I was wrong. It’s hard. It hurts your arm after three minutes. And it’s not satisfying. It’s messy and tiresome and then, of course, you’re supposed to get rid of the leaves. Naturally, I relinquished the cumbersome duty and now I am reminded of my fecklessness every time Mel trims the hedges.

In my defense, this house is my first hedge house and, even though we’re in the middle of the city, I had images of suburban home owners trimming their hedges while drinking a beer and talking to their neighbors.

Unfortunately, our hedges are nowhere near our neighbors, and you can’t trim and drink beer at the same time. All in all, the entire hedge scenario has been a lesson in erroneous assumptions. A life lesson, if you will.

The main lesson, of course, is to marry an understanding woman with a sense of humor and stamina.

• • • • • • • •

Is the Pope Catholic?

So, back to the news. The Catholics are going crazy, kicking people out of churches and schools for the heretical sin of getting married while gay.

The oddest thing is that the Catholics don’t seem to mind if you’re gay, it’s just the marriage part that bugs them. (continued on page 22)

Read more @www.sfbaytimes.com and check us out on Twitter and Facebook.

BAY T IM ES O C TO BER 2, 2014

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Fuel Your Soul with Uplifting Thoughts ARIES (March 21 – April 19) Take a risk, Aries! Grasping to rote routines could rob you of exhilarating adventures now.

Unpredictable opportunities will pop into your lap if you dare to deviate. Be ever-present.

Astrology Gypsy Love In the Native American legend Two Wolves, a Cherokee chief teaches his grandson that inside everyone is an ongoing battle between two wolves. One embodies love and harmony. The other thrives on fear and anger. When his grandson asked, “Which wolf will win?” the wise man answered, “The one you feed.” The planets implore us now to purge thought patterns that pollute our sense of purpose. Fatten the belly of your inner beast with fodder that fuels your soul.

TAURUS (April 20 – May 20) What tickles you, Taurus? Now’s a fine time to get more familiar with your fantasies. Pop the lid off hidden desires, and tune into what turns you on.

GEMINI (May 21 – June 20) Rev your mental motors, Gemini.

Your exposure to new knowledge is expanding now. Mentors and muses come in many forms.

Opening your mind will help maximize your purest potential..

CANCER (June 21 – July 22) Climb to new heights, Cancer.

Currently, the Universe fosters a fortunate synchronicity between your career and financial sectors.

Cultivate unconventional talents to make the most of this fertile phase.

LEO ( July 23 – August 22) Think big, Leo! You’ve entered a celestial growth spurt. Romance, travel, and higher education all receive a bountiful boost now. Smile!

Your state of being is blossoming.

VIRGO (August 23 – September 22) Your spirit seeks a revival, Virgo.

Subconscious sensibilities are heightened now. Surrendering to your psychic instincts will help you ditch deep-seated doubts and release destructive habits. Take the plunge.

LIBRA (September 23 – October 22) Get to lobbying, Libra! Your astral forecast favors fresh ideas and friends in high places. Influential partners and supportive social circles can help actualize your dreams now. Ask for assistance.

SCORPIO (October 23 – November 21) Hunker down and hustle, Scorpio.

The cosmos cautions you to cut back on frivolous spending and focus more on fostering valuable skills. Your earning potential is potent now. “Werq!.

SAGITTARIUS (November 22 – December 21) Let off some steam, Sagittarius.

Planetary pulses are zooming in on your pleasure zone. Rebel against rules that obstruct your creative outlets. Respect the rights of your inner child.

CAPRICORN (December 22 – January 19) Though you’re the zodiac’s consular of consistency, you’ll reap much greater rewards by cruising the mutable currents of your intuition now. Imaginative insights inspire your every move. Dream on, Capricorn.

AQUARIUS ( January 20 – February 18) Mix and mingle, Aquarius. You’re motivated to broaden your network now. Before you finalize the next course of action, be sure to bounce concepts off trusted comrades in your community.

PISCES (February 19 – March 20) Put your money where your mission is, Pisces. Astro-vibes encourage you to invest only in projects that generate intrinsic joy. Value your vision. Profits could come from unusual places.

Gypsy Love Productions is dedicated to inspiring love and unity with music, dance, and astrology. www.GypsyLoveProductions.com

As Heard on the Street . . .

compiled by Rink

What do you like about the Castro and dislike about it?

Connie Champagne “I do love the rich history, the Victorians and Edwardians, cool places that nod to the past like Anchor Oyster Bar, the Castro Theatre,

Harvey’s, and my friends at Last Call.

And I like the tourists!

I do not like the tearing down of Victorians and replacing them with flat front modern homes and apartment houses that look like aquariums.

I don’t like so many Walgreen’s. I really don’t like entitled millenials waiting in line for $13 sandwiches and throwing the trash on the ground.”

nesses of bars, and by making efforts to fill the empty storefronts. Having plaques to commemorate LGBT figures cements the Castro’s reputation as a hub of LGBT culture. Keeping the Castro vibrant Ron Williams Michael Costa and relevant will continue as long “I like that the Castro is “I love the recent remodeling, gradually improving the “look as enough people well most of it. It saddens care.” and feel” of Castro Street. me that more of the LGBT It should continue that with culture wasn’t preserved. The upgrading facades of busi-

Walk of Fame plaques were badly designed; visually the likenesses of our LGBT heroes weren’t executed very well.”

Mike Zonta “I like the Castro cause that’s where my boyfriend works and hangs out. I do not like the empty ‘Patio’ space.”

Steven Underhill

PHOTOGRAPHY

415 370 7152

WEDDINGS, HEADSHOTS, PORTRAITS

stevenunderhill.com · stevenunderhillphotos@gmail.com 16

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#KateClinton2014 “Leapin’ Caliphate! Gods don’t kill people.

People with gods kill people.”

Arts & Entertainment You’ll Laugh, Cry and Hate to See Inspirational Pride End

Film Gary Kramer A feel-good film, Pride chronicles the efforts of an LBGT group in 1984 to raise money to support striking Welsh miners. This rousing period drama, based on a true story, shows the power of activism and how the LGBT community found solidarity with—and rallied to support—another oppressed group in Thatcher’s England.

The film, directed by Matthew Warchus and written by Stephen Beresford, introduces its queer characters first. Joe (George MacKay) is a closeted 20 year-old student who lives at home. At a gay pride march on June 30, 1984, he is unexpectedly asked

by Mike ( Joseph Gilgun) to help hold a banner. He soon finds a makeshift family in Mark (Ben Schnetzer) the group’s leader and Steph (Faye Marsay), the lesbian member, as well as Jonathan (Dominic West) and his lover Gethin (Andrew Scott), a Welsh man who owns the “Gay’s the Word” bookstore, where the group meets.

On Mark’s direction, this ragtag group of queer activists creates “Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners” (LGSM).

Name Game

Words Michele Karlsberg Michele Karlsberg: How did you come up with the title of your book?

Gary Levinson: My novel is a gay love story based on “The Books of Samuel,” a portion of the Old Testament in which the story of Jonathan and David is told. In creating a fictional narrative based on it, I adapted the title, The Books of Jonathan, from its biblical source.

They eventually donate the funds they raise to the Dulais Valley miners, in South Wales. This prompts Dai (Paddy Considine) to pay the LGSM group a visit. His thank you in a gay club goes over well. However, when the LGSM pay a visit to the Dulais miner’s welfare club, Mark’s speech falls on deaf ears. While there are members of the community, including Hefina (Imelda Staunton), Cliff (Bill Nighy) and Sian ( Jessica Gunning), who appreciate the efforts of the LGSM, Maureen (Lisa Palfrey in a one-note role), is a union leader who strongly objects to the queer group’s support. A battle of wills quickly escalates.

Pride shows, in slick, inspirationalmovie fashion, how the LGSM educated the miners and their wives, bonding with the very different community. Sian helps the striking miners get released from prison based on the LGSM’s knowledge of the law. On the social front, Jonathan’s dance moves in the welfare club, prompt more than one straight miner for a lesson. Meanwhile, the queer contingent finds a sense of self-worth in return. Joe becomes emboldened, and Gethin is sparked to make amends with his mother, whom he has not seen in 16 years.

If many of the exchanges in the film play on stereotypes, what is important is that the different groups find common ground against a shared enemy.

The lessons of unity are heartfelt.

When Mark inspires a woman at a meeting to perform a stirring rendition of “Bread and Roses,” it emphasizes how morale is as important as money.

Such messages may be preachy, but they go down smoothly.

When I first read the Samuel books, I was str uck by the connection between two central characters: Jonat han, t he eldest son of Saul, f irst king of the united monarchy of Judah and Israel; and David, the future great king of Israel.

They meet after the slaying of the giant Goliath and in becoming bound to one another, to my mind, there is an unstated love between the two. I became intrigued by how that relationship might have existed in that period.

In the bible, as Saul descends into madness, David’s rise to power is foretold and his destiny to be king is fulfilled. I wanted to explore Jonathan’s

Pride also strives for easy laughs when Hefina stays at Gethin and Jonathan’s and finds a dildo and dirty magazines, or when several of the elderly Welsh ladies visit a gay London S&M bar.

What makes these pandering scenes work is that the characters are all accepting—even curious about each other—and want the same thing: respect.

They are all tired for feeling shame, or being betrayed by their community.

Herein lies the strength of their bond, which never feels false or forced.

In fact, one of the most important scenes in the film has members of the queer community chastising the LGSM for raising money for a cause other than AIDS. The disease, it is revealed over the course of the story, affects more than one member of the LGSM. When a queer character encounters his HIV+ ex (Russell Tovey from Looking in an

un-credited cameo) it is a powerful and even profound moment.

Viewers may find themselves fighting back tears during some of Pride, which gets increasingly more emotional as it marches to its climactic gay pride parade. When a Welsh man comes out to one of his colleagues (who suspected he was queer all along), or an LGSM member stands up to prejudice, it is extremely moving. Although the film is quite sentimental, and there are few dramatic surprises—Maureen will fight unfairly to exclude the LGSM and its supporters; a queer character will be gay bashed—there is still something undeniably endearing about this story and these people becoming empowered.

Pride may offer familiar messages of tolerance and dignity, but they ring out loud and clear, and never hurt to be heard. © 2014 Gary M. Kramer

Viewers will be hard pressed not to be roused by a Welsh woman unexpectedly planting a kiss on Steph, embracing her womanhood, or when Sian is

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

how one accepts the mysterious complexity of God’s will.

on the court proves too much for the hotheaded Pepper Pitmani.

Gary Levinson, a composer whose musical works include the off-Broadway productions of “Modigliani” and “Dorian Gray,” lived in San Francisco and Palm Springs. “The Books of Jonathan” is his first novel.

Jealousy compels Pepper to dig into Alyx’s past, and set up her brother, Peter, a gentle camera-toting artistic type with a crush on Alyx, to expose Alyx’s former male identity. Pepper’s jealousy, Peter’s camera obsession, and their father’s security technology that can track “face prints” serve as metaphorical mirrors for how the world sees Alyx and how she sees herself in the world. Just as any person is more than their gender or genitalia, sometimes we need to see things from more than one angle, through more than one lens, to get the full picture.

Bridget Birdsall: Double Exposure is a young adult novel about an intersex teen athlete. The title conveys the confining complexity of one teen’s struggle to define herself and stand in the truth of her personhood in a world that wants to put people in clearly defined gender boxes.

struggle of how he could reconcile his love of David, his loyalty to family and his devotion to God amid the turbulent times of Israel’s battle for nationhood. Ultimately, it is about searching to understand the nature of God and

inspired to go back to school and get an education—to use her mind and not waste it. Likewise, after a newspaper report, spearheaded by the (boohiss) homophobic Maureen, tags the LGSM as “Pits and Perverts,” Mark takes the epithet and owns it. He creates a fundraiser headlined by the queer band Bronski Beat, which raises thousands. The film’s soundtrack, as one might expect, features a fabulous collection of 80’s New Wave pop hits.

Alyx Atlas was born with ambiguous genitalia and raised as a boy, but at age fifteen, to honor herself and curb the bullying she’s been subjected to, she changes gender identification. Like many actual intersex people, Alyx would prefer to keep her condition and personal struggles private. So she and her mom move across the country, where Alyx gets a fresh start, makes the girls’ basketball team, and for the first time in her life actually feels like she fits in. That is until Alyx’s prowess

Bridget Birdsall is a multidisciplinary artist who overcame dyslexic challenges and made a mid-life decision to pursue her dream of writing. Her young adult novel “Double Exposure” is being released by Sky Pony Press this month.

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

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What Your Interior Designer Should Be Asking You

Style Courtney Lake

As an interior decorator, I have the honor and privilege of being invited into the most intimate arena of a person’s life—their home. I am allowed access to all their dirty secrets, bad habits and quirks that we all have, but can keep hidden behind the confines of our homes.

I dissect, inspect and analyze aspects of my client’s lives that seem trivial.

But, without such probing questions and work, I would never know that the client is allergic to wool and has a tendency to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. Ancillary perhaps, but important when trying to create a space that feels organic, natural and uniquely like the client.

A skilled design professional should be asking you a myriad of questions to ensure that their concept fits with how you live. I tend to break these questions into three general segments; investment/timeline, lifestyle and design. Below are examples of questions interior designers should be asking to ensure you get a space you will love!

Investment & Timeline Questions What is your total investment/budget for this project?

What is the time frame for the completion of this project?

Note that when considering your budget, you should be factoring not just the expense of the items to be purchased, but also the designer’s fee. As a general rule of thumb, assume a design fee of 15-20% of the total budget.

Lifestyle Questions How long have you lived in the residence? How long do you plan on living in the residence?

Do you have children or pets?

Do you have family with special needs or space requirements?

Do you have any hobbies, collections or extra-curricular activities that need to be taken into consideration when designing the space?

Rather than asking clients how they use a space, I ask them to walk me through their day as it relates to the activities they do in the room. It often provides insight into the real activities that occur, rather than the things clients envision they do. Confirming that we are designing for the actual use cases for a space ensures that a space will be utilized to the fullest and, most importantly, loved to the max.

Design Questions What works/does not work in your current space?

What existing pieces of furniture would you like for us to incorporate into your new design?

What are your favorite/least favorite colors?

How do you want to feel in the space?

Describe the feeling/emotion you want the space to elicit when you walk through the door.

Be specific when you are answering the designer’s questions. If you have examples of rooms you love or hate, share them with the designer. The more information you can provide, the more detailed the designer can be when pitching their concept.

Courtney Lake is the interior designer and lifestyle expert behind Monogram Décor (www.monogramdecor.com) and his celebrated blog, Courtney Out Loud. He and his work have been featured both in print and on television, including coverage by “The Wall Street Journal,” “The Nate Berkus Show,” the “San Francisco Chronicle,” “Life & Style Magazine,” “RUE Magazine” and “7x7 Magazine.”

Round About - Art for AIDS Annual Benefit Photos by Rink The 18th Annual Art for AIDS Gala, benefitting the UCSF Alliance Health Project, was held on September 19 at The Metreon in San Francisco. Delicious food, fine wines, cocktails and excellent art marked this year’s soiree. Among the featured chefs were Citabria and Andrea Ozzuna who served their famous alfajores cookies; and Precita Park Cafe’s Sonny who served an offering of burrata cheese and figs. Among the popular items of art was Liz 1 by Greg Gossel and Kenneth Probst’s photograph Darren’s Back, which was featured in the live auction.

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Round About - Horizons Foundation’s Gala Dinner & Casino Party The San Francisco Bay Times and “Betty’s List” extend a special congratulations to longtime friend and supporter Empress Donna Sachet who received the Horizons Leadership Award.

Presented by State Senator Mark Leno, the award recognized Donna Sachet for community service, fundraising and cultural arts contributions in the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond.

Receiving the Horizons Visionary Award was AT&T for its contributions to the LGBT community with California AT&T president Ken McNeely accepting.

TRISH TUNNEY PHOTOGRAPHY

PHOTO BY RINK

TRISH TUNNEY PHOTOGRAPHY

PHOTO BY RINK

TRISH TUNNEY PHOTOGRAPHY

TRISH TUNNEY PHOTOGRAPHY

TRISH TUNNEY PHOTOGRAPHY

TRISH TUNNEY PHOTOGRAPHY

TRISH TUNNEY PHOTOGRAPHY

Themed “A Perfectly Suited Evening,” the event was held at the historic SF Fairmont Hotel and Tonga Room, and included a reception, silent auction, banquet and program, dancing, and a lively casino and dessert party.

BAY T IM ES O C TO BER 2, 2014

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See many more Calendar items @ www.sfbaytimes.com

compiled by Robert Fuggiti

Naked Girls Reading – Shelton Theater. $20. 8 pm. (533 Sutter St.) www.sheltontheater.org The San Francisco hit returns for another performance honoring Banned Books Weeks.

4Bidden – The Cellar. $10. 10 pm to 2 am. (685 Sutter St.) www.cellarsf.com A fun lesbian dance night playing your favorite throwback songs.

The Monster Show – The Edge SF. Free. 10 pm. (4149 18th St.) www.qbarsf.com/edge Cookie Dough hosts an unpredictable cast and unforgettable evening of drag performances.

Wonderboy & 29 Effeminate Gestures – Z Space. $15-$100. 8 pm. (450 Florida St.) www.zspace. org A unique blend of storytelling through text, song, and dance, Wonderboy tells an unexpected tale of a peculiar superhero puppet isolated by his gift of sensitivity.

Reaching Out LGBT MBA Conference – Hyatt Regency. $150-$425. 2 pm. (5 Embarcadero Center) www.regonline.com An annual conference of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) graduate business school students.

Also October 4.

I am the Gentry – Exit Theatre. $10. 8 pm. (156 Eddy St.) www.theexit.org A solo performance following the life of an unapologetically honest woman as she recounts her part in the gentrification of her Washington D.C. neighborhood.

“Vertigo” will be shown twice at the Castro Theatre on October 13.

Non Sequitur – A Woman’s Eye Gallery. Free. 12 pm to 5 pm. (678 Portola Dr.) www.awegallery.com A playful, collaborative women’s collective featuring unique paintings, photography and poetry.

Hella Gay – The Uptown. $5.

9:30 pm. (1928 Telegraph Ave.) www.facebook.com/hellagaydanceparty. Oakland’s largest gay dance party with something for everyone.

Go BANG! – The Stud. $7. 9 pm.

(399 9th St.) www.studsf.com A monthly disco party with fierce dancers and flashy dressers.

Visit Us Online at sfbaytimes.com

Castro Street Fair – The Castro. Free. 11 am to 6 pm.

(Castro St. at Market St.) www.castrostreetfair.org Founded in 1974, The Castro Street Fair celebrates the enduring legacy of Harvey Milk with live performances, street food and booths.

Queerly Berkeley – Brazil Café Rose Garden. $20. 3 pm to 6 pm.

(1960 University Ave.) www.pacificcenter.org An afternoon benefitting the Pacific Center.

Cabaret Showcase Showdown – Martuni’s. $7. 7 pm.

(4 Valencia St.) 415-241-0205. A cash prize cabaret contest open to the public and hosted by Katya Smirnoff-Skyy and Joe Wich.

Q&A with Chip Conley – Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman.

Free for members. 6 pm. (4 Embarcadero Center #22) www. startout.org Chip Conley speaks on his wide-ranging history and interests in a Q+A format that is guaranteed to inspire entrepreneurs at every stage of their career.

A Candidate Forum for State Assembly District 17 – Rainbow Room. Free. 7 pm. (1800 Market St.) www.cuesa.org Join a food focused forum with 2 candidates for State Assembly District 17.

Wanted – Q Bar. Free. 10 pm to 2 am. (456 Castro St.) www.sfwanted.com Enjoy a night of dance and electronic music along with $2 drink specials.

Dark Universe – California Academy of Sciences. $35. 9:30 am to 5 pm. (55 Musical Concourse Dr.) www.calacademy.org Explore two of today’s greatest cosmic mysteries—dark matter and dark energy—in a vast, data-fueled starscape of beauty and wonder.

Singing Class for LGBT – First Congressional Church of Oakland.

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BAY TIMES OCTO B E R 2 , 2 0 1 4

$300. 7 pm to 9 pm. (2501 Harrison St., Oakland) www.circlesing.org A nine week course to explore singing in harmony and learn how to hear and sing major triad chords, in a fun group setting.

Through October 28.

Beach Blanket Babylon – Club Fugazi. $25-$130. 8 pm. (678 Green St.) www.beachblanketbabylon.com Steve Silver’s famous musical revue packed with hilarious pop culture and political antics.

Do I Hear A Waltz – Eureka Theatre. $25-$75. 7 pm. (215 Jackson St.) www.42ndstmoon.org 42nd Street Moon kicks off its 22nd season with the rarely seen Richard Rodgers-Stephen Sondheim-Arthur Laurents collaboration Do I Hear A Waltz?, starring Broadway’s Tony nominee Emily Skinner.

Celebrity Pool Toss – Phoenix Hotel. $125. 6 pm. (601 Eddy St.) www.tndc.org Local celebrities take the plunge at one of San Francisco’s wackiest fundraisers benefiting the Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation.

Queer Salsa Dancing – Beatbox. Free. 8 pm. (314 11th St.) www.beatboxsf.com Latin City Nights presents a queer salsa dance happening every Wednesday night.

Mom Femme-Morial – Montclair Women’s Cultural Arts Club. Free. 8 pm. (1650 Mountain Blvd., Oakland) www.homobiles.org A party to celebrate the non-profit status of Homobiles, the safe and free car service for the LGBT community.

Go Deep – El Rio. Free. 8 pm to 2 am. (3158 Mission St.) www.elriosf. com Cruisy guys, drag queens and man-on-man lube wrestling make this a night to remember.

Gym Class – Hi Tops. Free.

10 pm. (2247 Market St.) www. hitopssf.com Enjoy a night of fun at Castro’s only gay sports bar.

18th Annual Arab Film Festival – The Castro Theatre. $25. 7 pm. (429 Castro St.) www. arabfilmfestival.org Enjoy the opening night and San Francisco premiere of May in the Summer.

Friday Nights at the De Young – De Young Museum. $11.

6 pm to 8:45 pm. (50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Dr.) www.deyoung.famsf. org Enjoy the museum in a fun, festive and dynamic atmosphere with live music and cocktails.

Book Study - Point Reyes Presbyterian Church. Donation. 1 pm. (11445 California 1, Point Reyes) www.ptreyesbooks.com A 5 session book study of Tao Te Ching. Happening October 3, 24, 31 & November 7.

Semi-Famous – The Marsh. $20$35. 8:30 pm. (1062 Valencia St.) www.themarsh.org With stories from the famous to the infamous, Don Reed returns with his all-new show, one-man show.

Bella Gaia – Marin Veterans’ Memorial Auditorium. $24-$75. 8 pm. (10 Avenue of the Flags, Marin) An unprecedented audiovisual experience that combines satellite imagery of Earth, time-lapse nature photography, and stirring live performances.

Cleve Jones’ 60th Birthday Celebration - The Cafe. $30. 9 pm. (2369 Market St.) www.actnow. tofighthiv.org A celebration of Cleve Jones hosted by Juanita MORE!

Modernism from the National Gallery of Art – de Young. S21-$24. 9:30 pm to 5:15.

(50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Dr.) www. deyoung.famsf.org A remarkable selection of modernist art from the end of World War II through the end of the century.

Ne-Yo – The Warfield. $35. 8 pm.

(982 Market St.) www.thewarfield-

theatre.com The Motown and R&B singer delivers a soulful performance that’s not to be missed.

Green Porno: Isabella Rossellini – The Regency Ballroom. $39. 8 pm. (1300 Van Ness) www.theregencyballroom. com Filmmaker Isabella Rosselini’s fascinating film uncovers nature’s most fascinating and unusual mating habits.

Salsa Sunday – El Rio. $10. 3 pm to 8 pm. (3158 Mission St.) www. elriosf.com Enjoy live music and dancing every second and fourth Sunday.

Vertigo – The Castro Theatre. $11.

5:15 pm & 8 pm. (429 Castro St.) www.castrotheatre.com Back by popular demand, Hitchcock’s haunting tale of erotic obsession starring James Stewart and Kim Novak returns to the Castro Theatre.

Motown Monday – Madrone Art Bar. Free. 6 pm. (500 Divisadero St.) www.madroneartbar.com Dance the night away with favorite Motown songs and remixes.

“Semi-Famous” will be at the Marsh on October 11.

Smack Dab Open Mic Night – Magnet. Free. 8 pm. (4122 18th St.) www.magnetsf.org An open mic night for all with host Larrybob Roberts.

Castro Farmers Market – Noe St. at Market. Free. 4 pm to 8 pm. (Noe St. at Market) www. pcfma.com Enjoy fresh produce and local made foods and delicacies.

Happening every Wednesday.

San Francisco Bay Times says “THANK YOU!” to our Readers, Advertisers, Friends and Supporters!

CHLOE JACKMAN PHOTOGRAPHY

Karaoke Night – Toad Hall.

Free. 8 pm. (4146 18th St.) www. toadhallbar.com Sing your heart out on stage at Toad Hall’s weekly karaoke night.

Trivia Night – Hi Tops. Free. 10 pm. (2247 Market St.) www. hitopssf.com Test your trivia knowledge at this popular sports bar.

LGBT Roller Disco – Church 8. $10. 7 pm to 10 pm. (554 Fillmore St.) 415-752-1967. An LGBT roller skating disco happening every Tuesday.

Queer Youth Meal Night – SF LGBT Community Center. Free. 5 pm. (1800 Market St.) www.sfcenter.org Queer Youth Meal Night is a safe space for trans/queer/ally friends every Tuesday.

Last Drag – SF LGBT Community Center. Free. 7 pm to 9 pm. (1800 Market St.) www.lastdrag.com A free quit smoking class for LGBT and HIV positive people.

Happening Wednesdays through November 19.

Absol utely Fabulous Tours

B ook a W in e T our N ow!

LGBT Owned 100% customizable Group/Private Tours

707-320-8043 Serving the LGBT community and their allies sue@absolutelyfabuloustours.com www.absolutelyfabuloustours.com

CASTRO

uits r f m o “Fr s” FARMERS’ MARKET to nut

WEDNESDAYS

4PM - 8PM

This October at the market: 10/1: To celebrate the Castro Street Fair, we are giving away a surprise gift certificate & produce from the market!

10/29: Kids dressed in halloween costumes will receive a free pumpkin! (while supplies last) Urban Bread: Based just 2 blocks away from the market, they have a great selection of breads and sweets. Try the amazing savory bread pudding!

NOE ST. BETWEEN

MARKET ST. & BEAVER ST. 1.800.949.FARM • pcfma.com/castro

BAY T IM ES O C TO BER 2, 2014

21

(SISTER DANA continued from page 6) moons: nudity was scarcity. Dog masks with Ms. Christ for a tribute to one of were big this year. New this time (in the biggest cult favorites of the ‘90s, addition to the usual f logging and and arguably the gayest Halloween whipping) were Japanese Shibari rope movie in history, Disney’s Hocus Pocus! tying exhibitions. The fair had a much The flick stars Bette Midler, Sarah bigger footprint this year - Folsom Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy Street between 8th and 13th Streets as the Sanderson Sisters, a trio of - allowing attendees to check out the Salem witches brought back from the Eagle tavern without leaving the fair- dead. The drag reproduction (written, grounds. There was an abundance of directed by, and starring Peaches) was the usual booths (over 200) featuring about the Manderson Sisters, three organization information (including drag queen witches. Sheer insanity general LGBTQ info and HIV/AIDS ran “amok, amok, amok” at the Casinfo), as well as booths with games and tro Theatre. It was “ just a bunch of booths with leather/fetish/SMBD/ hocus pocus.” The live show, Coven: gear to purchase.

Return of the Manderson Sisters, starred Ms. DeLaCreme, Ms. Monsoon, and A PER FECTLY SUITED EVE - Ms. Christ as the resurrected wenchNING was the annual gala dinner es, as well as Thomas Dekker (All & casino party held at the Fairmont About Evil) as Max, Timmy Spence Hotel to help support HORIZONS as the cat, and New Orleans macabre FOUNDATION and the LGBTQ snob Vinsantos as Girdle Snow. And community. For thirty years, Horizons many more talented actors. ChoreogFoundation has fueled the LGBTQ raphy by Rory Davis was stunning! movement by increasing support One point I must stress: ALWAYS rent for diverse San Francisco Bay Area the films before you see the brilliant nonprof its t hat help t housands live shows, or you will miss all the witof people each day. Their work ty, sometimes not terribly subtle, takestrengthens organizations and their offs and send-ups! Peaches is a genius leaders, mobilizes donors and funders lampooning parodist playwright! to inspire giving, and actively secures our queer community’s future for THE SISTERS OF PERPETUAL generations to come. Gala Co-chairs INDULGENCE, INC. presented Rosío Alvarez, Richard Davis, their PINK SATURDAY GRANTS Randolph Quebec, and Irene GIVEAWAY at Café Flore. In this White welcomed everyone. Enter- cycle of the Sisters’ 25th year of tainment was provided by effervescent providing grants for our City’s needy singer Terry Bradford. Donna Sa- charitable organizations, $8,000 chet received the Leadership Award, from gate donations was granted presented by Senator Mark Leno, to 10 recipients that were chosen. and AT&T received the Corporate The benef iciaries were Bay Area Champion Award. Executive Director BA A ITS (American Indian Two Roger Doughty elaborated on the Spirits), Instituto Familiar De La good works of Horizons and screened Rosa, Zenyu Healing, Ministry of an inspirational video.

Presence Institute, S4W (Solutions for Women), Trans March San Francisco, ART FOR AIDS, the 18th annual fun- Monet A llard (SF Motherhouse draiser held at City View at Metreon, documentarian), TALL (Tenderloin grossed $290,000 to benefit the AL- Art Lending Library), PFLAG Napa, LIANCE HEALTH PROJECT’s and Youth Pride Coalition. mental health and wellness services for the LGBTQ and HIV-affected CUMMING UP! communities. They had so much gallery quality art this year for both their SPA R K! is a 12th A nniversar y live and silent auctions - that a small, Celebration fundraiser for TRANSoutstanding selection of pieces is still GE N DE R L AW CE N T E R on available to Art for AIDS attendees Thursday, October 2nd at Sir Franand supporters: ucsf-ahp.org This op- cis Drake Hotel, 450 Powell Street, portunity will end October 6th. I was 6pm - VIP Reception, 7 pm - Gala & most impressed with the wire sculp- Awards Ceremony with Claire Skiffture of a gown by Kristine Mays, ington Vanguard Awardee: Willy who told me the piece was formed from Wilkinson; Authentic Life Awardee: hundreds of individual pieces of wire CeCe McDonald; and Community to “create the outer shell, the exterior Partner Awardee: ACLU of Northern of a human being, but provoke you to California. Entertainment will be by Josh Klipp & the Klipptones with see what’s within.”

Breanna Sinclairé, plus Go Bang!

PEACHES CHRIST PRODUC- DJs Steve Fabus & Sergio Fedasz.

TIONS inaug urated this year’s Mistress of Ceremonies is Veronica Halloween season with a fabulous Klaus & Master Of Ceremonies is movie, HOCUS POCUS, and a thrill- Dr. Kortney Ryan Ziegler. transing live stage production starring the genderlawcenter.org leading siblings of the drag world: Seattle sisters BenDeLaCreme, fresh 41ST ANNUAL CASTRO STREET from being crowned Miss Congeni- FAIR (entitled CUTE FROOT ) is ality on RuPaul’s Drag Race season Sunday, October 5th, 11am– 6pm.

6, and season 5 champ Jinkx Mon- Originated in 1974 by Supervisor soon, who previously collaborated Harvey Milk, this outdoor celebrawith Peaches Christ on a sold-out tour- tion features crafts, art, live entertaining production of Grey Gardens. Those ment, and information booths, plus the two nellies of the northwest teamed up best people-watching in the City. This (ROSTOW continued from page 15) In Montana, two elderly men who have been together for over 30 years were informed that they could no longer take communion, thanks to their Seattle wedding. The men married in 2013, but a new priest arrived at their home parish and took them to task. The men were told that they could restore their privileges if they divorced, moved into separate housing, and apologized. Say again? There’s also a music director who has been fired from a Catholic church outside of Minneapolis after marrying his husband and a teacher kicked out of a Catholic girls school for getting pregnant with a same-sex partner.

Oh, I think there are more. But, really? What about the great new Pope with all his kind words about toler22

BAY TIMES OCTO B E R 2 , 2 0 1 4

ance and not judging people? Aren’t these priests and school principals supposed to be following his lead?

Saucy Sisters In unrelated news, have any of you read about Miss America, who was expelled from her sorority at Hofstra University last year for violating hazing rules? Kira Kazantsev told the people at Good Morning America that the whole thing was overblown, but that she regrets her role in subjecting her sorority sisters to scary pranks and forcing them to do menial tasks.

So far, so good. But elsewhere in the coverage of Miss Kazantsev’s bad behavior, an unnamed Hofstra grad said that the hazing was even worse at another unnamed sorority. According to the mystery woman, new

year promises to be the biggest and best ever, since long planned improvements to the neighborhood streets have hopefully been completed - including wider sidewalks on Castro Street, historical messages, and the Rainbow Honor Walk, refreshed greenery and spiffedup crosswalks with rainbow stripes.

Donations at the gates into the fair will benefit local charitable organizations. castrostreetfair.org MAGNET, the Castro hub of health and wellbeing for gay/bi men, presents PETER BERLIN: PHOTOGRAPHER/PORN STAR/GAY ICON, solo exhibition of photographs curated

by Eric Smith and Mark Garrett, October 1st - 31st, Magnet, 4122 18th Street at Castro Street. Opening Reception: Friday, October 3rd, 8–10pm.

Peter Berlin was decades ahead of his time - the master of the SELFIE! Before the advent of the digital selfie phenomena, Peter created thousands of self-portraits in film, when the whole process of film photography required time and skill that we take for granted with instant digital photography. Peter spent hours preparing for each shoot - setting up the camera, creating the outfits, developing the negatives, and printing the photos himself. This level of self-portraiture has unlikely ever been matched in the pre-digital era of photography.

SHANTI’s 40th Anniversary Dinner, COMPASSION IS UNIVERSAL, is Saturday, October 18th, 5:30pm at The Fairmont Hotel. The Nancy Pelosi Lifetime Achievement Award will be presented to Reverend Cecil Williams & Janice Mirikitani of GLIDE Memorial Church. shanti.org HBO’s LOOKING in San Francisco: Back for a second season, Looking, about a group of gay men looking for love and fulfillment, will be filming in EssEff throughout October and November. Watch for film crews and actors Jonathan Groff and Russell Tovey as they sample the City’s unique gay vibe and pour television filming revenue into the City by the Bay. Looking returns in early 2015.

The 30th Annual HRC SAN FRANCISCO GAL A DINNER will be Saturday, October 11th (National Coming Out Day) 6pm at the Westin St Francis Hotel. Nearly 1,000 of the Bay Area’s most inf luential citizens will gather at this event to celebrate the strides HRC has made toward achieving equality for our community this past year, while preparing for the work ahead in the year to come. Special Awardee, among others: House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi. sfhrcgala.org Sister Dana sez, “We are practically in World War III, and cowardly Congress is on vacation?! What are we paying them for, anyway?” pledges were forced to take off their underwear, sit on newspapers and watch lesbian porn. Anyone who betrayed an unnatural interest in the activities on screen was ridiculed and thrown out. The other girls were then obliged to perform oral sex on the senior members of the sorority.

Is it true? Who knows? But sometimes a good reporter has to risk her journalistic reputation in order to cover significant stories, even when a source is anonymous. And this is a story that I believe is important for Bay Times readers to consider. Yes, I’m breaking all the rules of ethical reporting. But some rules are made to be broken. arostow@aol.com

Round About - All Over Town - Photos by Rink

Magnet executive director Steve Gibson (right) , who served as curator, introduced photographer Damon McLay at his exhibit now showing at Magnet.

Miss Shugawa (right), accompanied by her supporters, performed in the Faux Queen 2014 finals at the SOMARTS Cultural Center.

Faux queens are women in drag presenting themselves as diverse images of glamour.

Crowned as Miss Faux Queen 2014 was Linty who performed, for a wildly enthusiastic crowd, scenes from The Hunger Games. The huge Faux Queen trophy is visible in the background.

Judges for the Faux Queen competition included Heklina (left) and Holy McGrail (right) surrounding contestant Hazard Strange at the SOMARTS Cultural Center where the event was held.

Far left, Entertainer Katya SmirnoffSkyy and publicists Lawrence Helman and Karen Larsen at the Celebration of Life for entertainer Arturo Galster held at the Castro Theatre. Left, Arturo Galster’s co-star Birdiie-Bob Watt and Drag King Contest’s Lu Reed

Among the Radar Reading Series writers who presented Napantla: A Journal of Queer Poets of Color at the Main Library were Celeste Chan, Brontez Purnell, Cam Awkward Rich and emcee Virgie Tovar.

Newly crowned Grand Duchess Roxy-Cotten Candy and Grand Duke T.J. Wilkinson receive congratulations from former Emperor John Weber (center)

Also attending the GLAAD Kickoff Party held at Saks Men’s store were GLAAD Dinner co-chair Christopher Vasquez and actor Wilson Cruz.

Left, Allie, Tina and Christian, dressed for the Simpsonsthemed occasion, celebrated the long-awaited opening of MAC Pro Powell cosmetics on lower Powell Street.

Attendees at the GLAAD Kickoff Party, held at Saks Men’s Store, included David Tsai; GLAAD Dinner co-chair Christopher Vasquez, and Jeff Jacobi.

(continued from page 13) $40,000 to turn a cancer clinic at S.F. General Hospital into an AIDS outpatient clinic that would open at the beginning of 1983. It was the first outlay of municipal funds anywhere in the world to fight AIDS. In September, the city’s Board of Supervisors approved spending $450,000 to fund the clinic as well as provide support services for AIDS patients though the Shanti caregivers group, and educational outreach by the Kaposi’s Sarcoma Foundation.

The communit y began organizing volunteer-based AIDS support groups to feed, care for, and assist the sick and dying.

The AIDS Emergency Fund began in 1982 to help pay basic living costs for those who had been fired by panicked employers or evicted by landlords. A food bank helped people who couldn’t afford groceries. Shanti began training volunteer caregivers to assist the sick with cleaning, running errands, emotional support, and other basic services. Dozens of groups and thousands of San Franciscans, young and old, gay and straight, would step up to help as the crisis developed and AIDS emerged in the Tenderloin, Mission, Potrero Hill, and Hunters Point neighborhoods.

Just as The Castro served as a prototype for similar gay enclaves in other cities during the 1970s, the neighborhood’s and San Francisco’s grassroots

response to AIDS in the 1980s would become a model elsewhere the world.

By mobilizing community members and local government, and organizing advocacy and volunteer support groups, a safety net was created to help people with AIDS survive.

Years of pain, loss and devastation lay ahead. In 1983, it felt like a sniper was at work in the Castro, randomly eliminating people and generating terror. If you didn’t see someone for a few weeks, you began to fear the worst: they could be gone that quickly. The retrovirus causing AIDS was discovered that year but researchers said a cure was a long way off. In May, Bobbi Campbell and two friends organized an AIDS Candlelight March, “to honor the dead and support the living.” Starting in the Castro, San Francisco’s firstever public demonstration by people with AIDS marched down Market Street to Civic Center behind a banner proclaiming “Fighting for Our Lives.”

Later that year Campbell would appear with his lover on the cover of Newsweek, again putting a human face on the AIDS epidemic.

By 1984, The Castro felt like a war zone. Everyone could identify the walking wounded by their gaunt faces, thinning hair, and emaciated bodies swimming in clothes that had fit a few months ago. People kept track of how many friends and ex-lovers they had lost. The city shut down the gay bathhouses: the party was over. San Francisco’s Gay Freedom Day Parade

was dedicated, for the first time, to people with AIDS. The People With AIDS contingent marched with their “Fighting for Our Lives” banner, Bobbi Campbell among them wearing a lavender “AIDS Poster Boy” tshirt. It was his last gay parade. As San Francisco’s epidemic raged on into the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, its epicenter, became more subdued.

People were focused on their T-cell count, the latest antiretroviral AIDS medications, staying healthy, and taking care of the sick and dying.

In 1987, Cleve Jones and other activists started sewing the AIDS Memorial Quilt in a Market Street storefront.

At one name per panel, the quilt quickly grew to thousands of panels, becoming the largest public art project in the world. Similarly, in 1988, a group of San Franciscans began developing the National AIDS Memorial Grove in Golden Gate Park, f inding solace in building a living tribute. By the time protease inhibitor drugs were introduced in 1995 and the AIDS death rate finally began to decline in the developed world, over 300,000 Americans were dead. In San Francisco, over 16,000 died, the majority of them gay males.

T he Next Generat ion (1995 through Today) There was no big announcement or celebration in the Castro marking the turning point in the epidemic. It happened quietly. Month by month, there

were fewer obituaries. The volunteer groups began to notice there were less people to visit in the hospital or who needed homecare services. There were empty beds at Coming Home Hospice, which had opened in the old Holy Redeemer convent in 1987 to serve as the city’s primary AIDS hospice. People were living.

The dot-com boom of the late 1990s was on, and thousands of young software professionals were crowding into the city, looking for housing and pouring money into the economy.

Life in The Castro began to rebound.

Rents and housing prices rose, making the neighborhood less affordable to the kind of young gays who had come there to express themselves in the 1970s and ‘80s. Many of the young gays instead moved to less-expensive neighborhoods in the city or outside of it. Some gay youth didn’t bother to come at all: from 2000 to 2005, the 10 states with the biggest increases in the percentage of gay couples were all in the Midwest.

In 2002, after nine years of fundraising and planning, the LGBT community celebrated the opening of The SF LGBT Community Center (1800 Market Street), a 40,000-square-foot building that would be used to provide space and programs for the community. Two years later, just in time for Valentines, there was another reason for The Castro to break out the champagne: San Francisco became the first city in the U.S. to grant mar-

riage licenses to same sex couples.

Among the f irst were Del Martin, 83, and Phyllis Lyon, 80, the lesbian pioneers and Eureka Valley residents who started the Daughters of Bilitis almost 50 years before. In one month, before the licenses were invalidated by the California State Supreme Court, San Francisco married 4000 jubilant same sex couples.

In recent years, The Castro has become one of San Francisco’s most popular tourist destinations. The F-Line extension, opened in 2000, brings streetcar-loads of camera-toting sightseers straight from Fisherman’s Wharf.

Some residents find the tourists annoying, but feel downright threatened by several major condominium developments that are planned for the adjacent Market Street corridor: they say the condos’ high price tags are sure to change the area’s demographics, making it less gay.

Will The Castro remain gay or take on another new name and new set of immigrants? Currently, one-third of The Castro’s residents identify themselves as gay or lesbian, compared with 13 percent citywide. Gay activists say it is important to maintain communities that gay people feel safe in and consider their home.

“You got to give ‘em hope,” as Harvey Milk used to say.

Reprinted by permission of the Castro/Upper Market Community Benefit District, http://www.castrocbd.org/

BAY T IM ES O C TO BER 2, 2014

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rodrigo SantoS CiTy CoLLeGe

thea SelBy

CiTy CoLLeGe

USe the FUll alice endorSementS below when yoU vote San FranciSco candidateS Assessor-Recorder: Carmen Chu

board oF edUcation

Supervisor, District 2: Mark Farrell

city college board oF trUSteeS Amy Bacharach, 2-year seat Rodrigo Santos, 4-year seat

Supervisor, District 4: Katy Tang Supervisor, District 8: Scott Wiener▼ Supervisor, District 10: Malia Cohen Superior Court Judge, Office 20: Carol Kingsley BART Board, District 8: Nick Josefowitz

Mark Murphy▼

Thea Selby, 4-year seat

State candidateS Governor: Jerry Brown

local ballot meaSUreS

State ballot meaSUreS

YES

PROP A: Transportation Bond

YES

PROP 1: Water Bond

YES

PROP B: Muni Funding

YES

PROP 2: Rainy Day Fund

YES

PROP C: Children’s Programs

YES

YES

PROP D: Retirement Benefits

PROP 45: Make Health Insurers Justify Rates

Treasurer: John Chiang

YES

PROP E: Creating a Healthy SF!

NO POSITION

PROP 46: No Position

Attorney General: Kamala Harris

YES

PROP F: Pier 70 Redevelopment

YES

PROP 47: Reform Sentencing

NO POSITION

PROP G: No Position

YES

NO

PROP H: Against Playgrounds

PROP 48: Approve Tribal Gaming Compromise

YES

PROP I: For Playgrounds

YES

PROP J: Raise Minimum Wage

YES

PROP K: Affordable Housing

NO

PROP L: Outdated Transit Policies

Lieutenant Governor: Gavin Newsom Secretary of State: Alex Padilla Controller: Betty Yee

aSSembly candidateS State Assembly, District 17:

Insurance Commissioner: Dave Jones

David Chiu

Board of Equalization, District 2: Fiona Ma

State Assembly, District 19: Phil Ting

Superintendent of Public Instruction: Tom Torlakson

▼ indicates that the candidate is LGBT

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