For Black History Month, Black LGBTQ Bay Area women who are leaders within their respective fields will be honored at Divas & Drinks @ The Academy on February 9. The event, co-presented by the San Francisco Bay Times and The Academy SF at 2166 Market Street, will take place from 6–10 pm and will include performances by Beach Blanket Babylon legendary star Renée Lubin and renowned musician Dr. Dee Spencer, who is featured in this issue. The event will be emceed by Donna Sachet, and DJ Rockaway presented by Olivia travel will also be in the house. In addition to Lubin and Spencer, honorees who have confirmed as of this writing include:
Nettie Bonds
Youth Drop-In Coordinator, SF LGBT Center
Former Operations Manager, East Oakland Boxing Association
Susan Christian, J.D.
SF Assistant District Attorney
Commissioner, San Francisco Human Rights Commission
Board Member and Former Co-Chair, Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club
Pamela Connie, L.C.S.W.
Program Manager, Human Services
Agency of the City and County of San Francisco
Former Child Welfare Supervisor, City and County of San Francisco
Dawn Edwards
Vice President, Oakland LGBTQ Community Center Board
Director of Programs, Lotus Bloom Family Resource Center
Jewelle Gomez
Award-winning Author and Playwright
Former Commissioner, San Francisco Library Commission
San Francisco Bay Times Columnist
Former Director of Grants & Community Initiatives, Horizons Foundation
Sandy Holmes American Civil Liberties Union Former Senior Development Associate Adasina Social Capital Former Chief Compliance Officer Frameline Screening Committee Member
Janelle Luster
Vice President, San Francisco Pride Board of Directors
Transgender Activist and Program Supervisor, Trans Vision Board Member, Oakland Pridefest
Di’ara Reid
Board Member, San Francisco Pride Transgender Activist
Former Owner, Reid’s Records (which, until its closing in 2019, was one of the oldest Black owned and operated businesses in the Bay Area)
Karen Roye
Executive Director, City and County of San Francisco Department of Child Support Services
Former Senior Budget Analyst, City and County of San Francisco
Imani Rupert-Gordon Executive Director, National Center for Lesbian Rights
Andrea Shorter
Former Commissioner and President, Commission on the Status of Women San Francisco Bay Times Columnist
Former Senior Consultant, Young Women’s Freedom Center Former Director of Community Relations, Out & Equal
Natalie Thompson Director of Programs, SF LGBT Center Director of Programs and Equity, Northwest Housing Alternatives
Darlene Underwood
Broker, Corcoran Realty Manager, Noble Fields School of Real Estate
Former City of Oakland Firefighter and EMT
Lisa Williams
Executive Director, Soul of Pride
Former President, San Francisco Pride
Board of Directors
Active Member: Bayard Rustin LGBT Coalition, Alice B. Toklas LGBTQ Democratic Club, Black Women
Organized for Political Action, Homeless Children’s Network, Rafiki Coalition for Health and Wellness, and the SF Mental Health Education Board.
Carolyn Wysinger
Councilmember, El Cerrito City Council Vice President of Programs, El Cerrito Democratic Club
Former President, San Francisco Pride Board of Directors San Francisco Bay Times Columnist
Judy Young, M.P.H.
Executive Director, UCSF National Center of Excellence in Women’s Health Co-Chair, UCSF Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences’ Diversity Committee
San Francisco has a long and rich jazz history, with destinations such as Harold Blackshear’s Café Society, the Havana Club, the Dragon Lady, The Blue Mirror, The Favor, and Jimbo’s Bop City packing in music fans back in the day. While stars like Dave Brubeck, John Handy, and Vince Guaraldi made a lasting mark on the city’s jazz legacy, women were often absent from marquees, save for a few breakthrough singing phenoms like Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday. Prominent leaders of the scene were nearly always men, and although there were sporadic niches of racial diversity and LGBT acceptance, the challenges for many artists were profound.
Dr. Dianthe “Dee” Spencer has, with quiet ease, helped to evolve this landscape for the better. In 1990, the accomplished musician founded the program in Jazz Studies at San Francisco State University (SFSU). In 2010, she was named Director of SFSU’s School of Music and Dance. Her students have included saxophonist Tia Fuller, who served as Beyoncé’s music director and remains influential in Queen Bee’s circle; Howard Wiley, who was Lauren Hill’s music director and has been called “the most prodigious Bay Area saxophonist of his generation”; and smooth jazz favorites the Braxton Brothers.
Spencer is a Queen in her own right, especially in the Bay Area’s LGBTQ community. She is a member of the San Francisco Lesbian/Gay Freedom Band, which she has also guest conducted, and she has performed at countless fundraisers benefiting the queer community over the decades. Often she can be found—either solo or as an accompanist— working her magic behind the keyboard, a skill that can make or break an event. Music provides a backdrop that, when silenced, can completely shift the mood within a venue.
An
Spencer grew up in Wilmington, Delaware. She told the San Francisco Bay Times: “I was a shut-in, house kid growing up and my parents shuttled me to piano lessons. My mom loved music and played piano and sang. All my sisters sang and I was the designated piano player for them. My dad was an opera lover. I heard jazz all my life and my mom loved it.”
“My uncle stayed with us for a while and introduced me to Miles Davis and Duke Ellington,” she added. “My other uncle was friends with the trumpet legend Clifford Brown and vibes player Lem Winchester, He took me to a few jazz clubs and I was sold!”
Spencer started classical lessons when she was about the age of seven, and then played viola in her middle school orchestra. “Later I switched to oboe and clarinet and was a woodwind major in college,” she said. “We didn’t have a lot of money and I got a scholarship to Florida A&M University, where I majored in music education. My parents convinced me to do the education degree, which I was teased about for years by all of my jazz buddies.”
Inspired by Melba Liston
A role model whom Spencer looked up to was Melba Liston (1926–1999), a jazz musician, arranger, and composer who was the first woman trombonist to play in big bands during the 1940s–1960s. Liston was a major force in the music business during her prime, working with artists such as Holiday, Dizzy Gillespie, John Coltrane, and Count Basie. Rarely did she receive a warm welcome in the male-dominated field. Linda Dahl, author of Stormy Weather: The Music and Lives of a Century of Jazz Women, shared that members of Gillespie’s band complained he had “sent all the way to California for a b---h.”
Undaunted, Liston eventually won them over with her talent.
When Spencer was in graduate school, she contacted Liston. “She allowed me to spend a summer as her apprentice in New York City.” Although that was just for a few months, the time allowed Spencer to learn, not only from Liston, but also from Liston’s extensive network of other successful musicians.
Move to San Francisco
Ready to take on new challenges, Spencer moved to the Bay Area and earned her Ed.D. degree from the University of San Francisco. As an active contributor to the San Francisco community, she founded the San Francisco Jazz Organization (SFJAZZ) education program and served as program director for the East Bay Center for the Performing Arts. She has served on multiple boards: the International Association of Jazz Educators, National Association of Recording Arts and Sciences, SFJAZZ, Stanford
Her musical director/ sound designer credits include lauded productions of Ain’t Misbehavin, Twelfth Night, Lysistrata, Chicago, Hair, Dreamgirls in Concert, and many others. She performed for Kamala Harris, then a U.S. Senator, for a fundraiser at the African American Cultural Center, formerly headed by Mayor London Breed. She has also been a featured performer at the Beijing, Cork, Tasmanian, Dresden, and other international jazz festivals.
As The San Francisco Chronicle once wrote of Spencer, she is a “fine pianist rooted in the blues-andgroove jazz tradition of Horace Silver and Bobby Timmons; she’s a busy performer and teacher who goes about her business with brio.”
From late May through June of this year, she will serve as Course Leader at the San Francisco International Arts Festival’s Women in Jazz & World Music. This is a month long, twice weekly course for high school students aged 15–18 who have an aptitude for singing and who want to develop better techniques and understanding to further their abilities as vocalists. Spencer enjoys such work, and she has taught and mentored countless aspiring musicians of all ages over the past three decades.
On February 5, 2023, Spencer attended the Grammy Awards. She is a screener for the annual event, and this year participated in a panel to pick the Grammy’s 2013 Educator of the Year Award. (The award went to Pamela Dawson, Director of Choral Music at DeSoto High School in DeSoto, Texas.
Spencer is now back in the Bay Area, where she shares a home in San Francisco with her wife, Cheryl Brown, and two dogs: Maddie and Sophia. “We take them everywhere,” Spencer said, adding that she remains busier than ever. In addition to her teaching and leadership at SFSU, she is conducting rehearsals for the university’s production of Rent, scheduled to run in May. Each Thursday she presents Dee’s Keys, a weekly event at the gay bar Beaux at 2344 Market Street, from 4–8 pm.
She will not be at Beaux on February 9, though, as she will be both a performer and an honoree at a celebration of Black LGBTQ Bay Area women leaders for Black History Month at Divas & Drinks @ The Academy, a monthly event co-presented by the San Francisco Bay Times and The Academy SF at 2166 Market Street. We hope that you can join us, to celebrate Spencer and the other exceptional honorees.
We also encourage you to learn more about Spencer by attending her performances, watching this video from 2010 that highlights just some of her many achievements ( https://tinyurl.com/mr37mb2t ), and by checking out her website: https://deespencer.com/
Jazz Workshop, Community Music Center, Women’s Audio Mission, People in Plazas, and The Amateur Musicians Network. For many years, Spencer has performed— either as a regular guest artist or as an occasional featured musician—at the Castro-based restaurant Catch and at Martuni’s, the popular piano bar where patrons belt out show tunes and down large specialty martinis. As one Yelp reviewer wrote of the bar, it is a place where visitors will find: “Aging queens, stiff drinks, and Karaoke torch songs.” It was therefore a treat also to find a world-class jazz musician there, holding court, perhaps just a day or two after she appeared on stage with Wynton Marsalis, with whom she has worked at Lincoln Center.
“She is amazing,” said Spencer.) Not just one, but three of Spencer’s former students were nominated for 2023 Grammy awards. She beamed from the audience when Beyoncé won four times and recognized the LGBTQ community. Beyoncé said, referring to House and Disco, “I’d like to thank the queer community for your love and for inventing the genre.” Beyoncé also thanked her gay uncle, who helped to raise her. Recalling these words, Spencer said, “It was a very proud moment for the gay community.”
Amendment protections, which they will with age inherit fully, are chipped away in the name of their protection.”
—Judge Lowell A. Reed, Jr., ACLU et al. v. Janet Reno (No. 98-5591)
“People are unlikely to become wellfunctioning, independent-minded adults and responsible citizens if they are raised in an intellectual bubble.”
Week after week I have written about the dangerous laws being introduced into state and local governments around the country: laws that attack LGBTQ+ people, that ban drag performances, that endanger trans kids, that ban books, that stifle freedom of speech, thought, and expression. There are simply too many to write about this week; our country is at a dangerous inflection point. Read and ponder the following, and consider what we stand to lose if we don’t fight for our freedoms. Speak out before it is too late.
“Restriction of free thought and free speech is the most dangerous of all subversions. It is the one un-American act that could most easily defeat us.”
—Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas, “The One Un-American Act”
“Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech.”
—Benjamin Franklin
“Censorship reflects a society’s lack of confidence in itself. It is a hallmark of an authoritarian regime ... .”
—Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart, dissenting, Ginzberg v. United States, 383 U.S. 463 (1966)
“Most librarians view these assaults on their First Amendment traditions with deep concern. Anything of consequence in the care of libraries offends someone somewhere, of course. The challenge for public libraries is to find ways to remind political, educational, and moral leaders that to remove or restrict access to controversial material is to invite the ultimate suppression of all material.”
—Paul McMasters, Libraries & First Amendment Overview
“Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive, and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.”
—U.N. Universal Declaration of Human Rights
“Libraries should challenge censorship in the fulfillment of their responsibility to provide information and enlightenment.”
—ALA Library Bill of Rights
“[I]t’s not just the books under fire now that worry me. It is the books that will never be written. The books that will never be read. And all due to the fear of censorship. As always, young readers will be the real losers.”
— Judy Blume
“We uphold the principles of intellectual freedom and resist all efforts to censor library resources.”
—ALA Code of Ethics
“If there is a bedrock principle underlying the First Amendment, it is that the government may not prohibit the expression of an idea simply because society finds the idea itself offensive or disagreeable.”
—Supreme Court Justice William
J. Brennan, Jr., Texas v. Johnson, 491 U.S. 397 (1989)
“Indeed, perhaps we do the minors of this country harm if First
—Seventh District Judge Richard Posner, American Amusement Machine Association, et al., Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. Teri Kendrick, et al., Defendants-Appellees (2001)
“What happened was the gradual habituation of the people, little by little, to be governed by surprise, to receiving decisions deliberated in secret; to believe that the situation was so complicated that the government had to act on information which the people could not understand, or so dangerous that, even if people could understand it, it could not be released because of national security. The crises and reforms (real reforms too) so occupied the people that they did not see the slow motion underneath, of the whole process of government growing remoter and remoter. To live in the process is absolutely not to notice it— please try to believe me—unless one has a much greater degree of political awareness, acuity, than most of us ever had occasion to develop. Each step was so small, so inconsequential, so well explained or, on occasion, ‘regretted.’ Believe me this is true. Each act, each occasion is worse than the last, but only a little worse. You wait for the next and the next. You wait for one shocking occasion, thinking that others, when such a shock comes, will join you in resisting somehow. Suddenly it all comes down, all at once. You see what you are, what you have done, or, more accurately, what you haven’t done (for that was all that was required of most of us: that we did nothing) ... . You remember everything now, and your heart breaks. Too late. You are compromised beyond repair.”
—A German professor describing the coming of fascism in They Thought They Were Free by Milton Mayer Be Prepared
On January 21, I took part in an Active Shooter Workshop at the SF Eagle. Created and presented by Ken Craig of Community Patrol Services and Greg Carey of Castro Community on Patrol, this training was designed for owners and managers of LGBTQ+ bars and clubs, as well as others who plan public events for the LGBTQ+ community. The training was sobering, enlightening, and informative, and we all walked
important for all of us to know what to look for, how to react, and how to protect ourselves and others.
Craig and Carey will be holding more safety workshops around the end of March, designed for the general public, as well as bringing back their popular self-defense classes. For updates:
https://www.castropatrol.org/
The Hilton Union Square will clearly be the place to be from February 17–21, as thousands of queer activists will be gathering there for Creating Change, the annual conference of the country’s oldest LGBTQ+ advocacy group, the National LGBTQ Task Force.
The Task Force is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2023, honoring 50 years of advancing freedom, justice, and equality for LGBTQ+ people. Their half century of work has brought about positive change, from lobbying the American Psychiatric Association to remove homosexuality as a mental illness, to advocating for AIDS funding, trans rights, and reproductive justice. They have run successful longstanding campaigns like Queer the Census and Queer the Vote, have brought an intersectional approach to the LGBTQ+ movement, and have trained and mobilized generations of queer organizers. For the past 35 years, Creating Change has made it possible for thousands of activists to develop and hone their skills, celebrate victories, build community, and be inspired by social justice visionaries. The primary goal of the conference is to build the LGBTQ+ movement’s political power to secure full freedom, justice, and equality for LGBTQ+ people in the U.S.
The Creating Change agenda is packed with day-long institutes, workshops and caucuses, inspiring speakers, and special events. Highlights include speakers like Angelica Ross, Dyllon Burnside, X Gonzalez, and Eric Marcus, while Jeopardy! champion Amy Schneider will be hosting Gayme Night.
Online registration is available through February 13. More info, or to register, or volunteer: https://tinyurl.com/TTFChange
Tamales for a Cause
This column is named “In Case You Missed It” because I like to shine a light on people, organizations, and events that sometimes get overlooked. With all the bad actors (and elected officials) out there who are hell-bent on not just curtailing intellectual freedom, but also erasing LGBTQ+ people from the earth, it is a pleasure to report on those people who are equally devoted to healing the world with kindness. Leandro Gonzales is one of those people.
In February
out thinking, “I hope I never have to use this information.”
Within hours, we learned of the Monterey Park rampage that left 11 people dead and 9 wounded. Just two days later, another mass shooting in Half Moon Bay left 7 dead and 1 wounded.
Yes, it can happen here. Sadly, in the U.S. it happens nearly every day. It is
2017, on National Tamale Day, Leandro created a protest, “Tear Down the Wall,” to support those affected by the newly-enacted travel ban. The “Wall” that was torn down
(continued on page 18)
Before we start, may I just say that I object to advertisers who manufacture an imaginary dilemma for them to solve and then pat themselves on the back as if they’re special. The credit card that never makes you pay for unauthorized charges. The insurance company that lets you choose your level of coverage. And the latest, the vacation rental business that guarantees you won’t have the owner staying in the rental during your holiday.
Let’s be clear. All credit cards protect you against unauthorized use. Every insurance company lets you decide how much coverage you want subject to state minimums. And the owners of vacation rentals never join you while you’re renting their place.
What next? Grocery stores bragging that they let you select the items you want to buy? Banks that let you make withdrawals? Soft drink companies that feature easy-to-open cans and bottles? I’ve had it, I tell you! But I digress.
We have much to discuss this week, but let’s start with Matt Heinz, a gay councilman on the Pima County (Arizona) Board of Supervisors. Heinz was on a Zoom call the other day, and a friend appeared in the background wearing a teeny Speedo and awkwardly putting on a tank top. They were on a cruise.
After a bit of a flap about this in the press, our hero told The Advocate : “ ... Leave my friend alone. He was in a swimsuit. He accidentally walked into the frame for like not even three seconds, was not naked, is clearly an adult, and is not a sex worker— not that there’s anything wrong
with that—but it’s just been a really strange reaction.”
Hey, I saw the video. It was pretty funny. And yes, Matt, a straight councilman, would have gotten the exact same reaction if a woman appeared in a bikini “for three seconds” in the middle of a work Zoom call. It’s no big deal. But the hoopla would be expected for any public servant, gay or straight. And it still doesn’t hold a candle to the befuddled, tech-challenged senior citizen lawyer who appeared in court via Zoom looking like a kitty cat after his granddaughter reset the graphics on his laptop.
Over in Port Wentworth, Georgia, which I think is near Savanah, a 19-year-old police officer has resigned after he was scolded for condemning same-sex marriage on Facebook. Readers, I’ll tell you what I thought of this story. Quite aside from whatever he posted on Facebook, how the hell does a teenager get to carry a gun and a badge and swagger around town in uniform? I guess I don’t know that he swaggered, but come on! The kid is nineteen. Oh, and he’s been a cop for a year, so you do the math.
According to press reports, a few weeks ago Jacob Kersey told his Facebook friends: “Marriage refers to Christ and the church. That’s why there’s no such thing as homosexual marriage.” He was put on administrative leave, and told that his post suggested he might have problems dealing with the public in an unbiased manner. The guy quit and it sounds as if he’s considering a lawsuit.
By Ann RostowMeanwhile, the Chief of Police, Matthew Libby, retired after three decades of service in a two-sentence letter dated January 31, effective February 1. It’s not clear that his abrupt departure was related to the Kersey incident, which I read had drawn “national news coverage.” But a) it seems likely that there’s a connection, and b) I did see the story, but I didn’t notice massive press coverage, and after all, I was searching for stories just like this one. It’s a mystery!
Since we’re in Georgia, I stumbled over a horrifying piece in The New York Post about two gay Georgia “fathers” who used their young sons for sex and farmed them out to depraved friends. William Dale Zulock, 33, and Zachary Jacoby Zulock, 35, have been charged with molestation, and I include this news because my first instinct was to skip right on to the next article, where I would hopefully encounter brave gay teachers, hapless victims of discrimination, and valiant activists.
I’m not sure I have a duty to my readership to include the bad actors in our recap of community news, but it was such a grotesque example of the worst and most false stereotypes that the far right can imagine, and when such behavior actually occurs, it makes our lives that much harder to defend in the conservative arena. Never mind the fact that, for every gay pedophile, we can find a dozen straight ones; it still must be witnessed.
Adding insult to this profound and permanent injury, these guys had also paraded themselves in the gay press with photos of their adorable sons, all wearing pride gear and presenting themselves as paragons of
queer parenthood. Throw away the key.
It Was the Worst of Times, Period
I have a lot of state legislative news as usual these days. And you can guess the general direction of our coverage: Don’t Say Gay bills looming in Wyoming, Iowa, and Missouri, to name three; bans on drag shows in Arkansas and Oklahoma; no gender treatment in Utah under a bill that has just been signed by the governor. While similar laws have been passed in Florida and Oklahoma, the same bills are in pending court challenges in Alabama and Arkansas and 20 other states are considering their own attacks on transgender health care.
Gone are the days when I could overlook the vast number of anti-GLBT state legislative proposals on the grounds that these fringe bills never got out of committee, or if they did, they’d be killed or shelved. Gone are the days when it seemed states feared retaliation from corporations or voters for their harshest policies.
Remember Indiana? Mike Pence saw his star (temporarily) fade in 2015 after signing a controversial bill that would have allowed Christian businesses to reject GLBT clients. That bill was modified after a massive reaction by the press, the business community, and citizens.
Then there was the boycott of North Carolina after the Tobacco State passed a bill denying transgender citizens the right to use bathroom facilities. Other states took a hard look and shied away from similar measures, and indeed, North Carolina was eventually forced to revise its stance. But these days, it feels as if
both these bills would sail into law without controversy or boycotts.
In California, of course, lawmakers decided to ban state-sponsored travel to places where anti-GLBT discrimination was threatened or enshrined.
But now, after six years, the state has been forced to place almost half the states on its No-Go list. State funded colleges have raised other funds in order to participate in sports, while academics have looked for grants or private cash to finance their various conferences and meetings.
To be honest, I’m not sure that the law, AB 1887, doesn’t do more harm than good. In principle, unwelcoming states would think twice about trashing GLBT citizens thanks to the policy. But does anyone really care whether or not a bunch of water treatment experts from Sacramento attend the national conference of water treatment experts in New Orleans? I kind of doubt it. Meanwhile, it’s creating a headache for teams and others on the public payroll who need to travel.
Do you know what really made a difference in the aforementioned North Carolina boycott? It was the NCAA prohibiting the state from hosting championship games. After that, the legislature repealed the bathroom bill, and the college sports authorities dropped that ban. You can bet the NCAA’s move did not go unnoticed either by the legislature or the voters.
And, of course, here’s the main thing. Most voters do not care about drag shows, transgender kids, whether or not a teacher mentions a same-sex relationship, or even what bathrooms are used by which students. Some
(continued on page 18)
By Cathy Renna
We could not be more excited to bring the Creating Change conference to San Francisco—for the first time and as we celebrate 50 years of advocacy, activism, and organizing for the LGBTQ community.
Not familiar with the conference? Imagine a world that is the kind of space our movement would like to create for everyone, every day; you will be hard pressed to find a more diverse and powerful experience than Creating Change There will be thousands of activists, advocates, and allies from every walk of life, from cities and rural areas, teenagers to seniors, and from extraordinarily diverse backgrounds of all kinds. It can be a bit overwhelming, to be honest. But it is where you should be if you want to network and build your skills in a variety of areas, take a day-long deep dive into a topic you care about, and spend time in a caucus of individuals who may share your goals.
I know this from experience, as someone who has attended nearly all of the Creating Change conferences these past 30+ years. As a new activist, I attended my first media training workshops, met future mentors, friends, and chosen family. I found my people as I embarked on a life of activism. In later years, I would be a presenter at workshops and eventually worked as a consultant to support the Task Force staff at Creating Change I am now privileged to be on the staff now, but it is in many ways the culmination of being taken in as Task Force family for my entire adult life. And I cannot wait for this conference for a few reasons, with the main one being the fact that we will be launching our 50th anniversary and gathering in person for the first some since 2020. This will be an historic milestone anniversary that we will share with other groups, including Lambda Legal, PFLAG National, Whitman-Walker, and Congregation Beth Simchat Torah. It seems that 1973 was a big year for the gay rights movement, and as we look at 2023, there are many lessons we can learn from the past—and leverage for the future, especially in the current climate and attacks on the LGBTQ+ community, particularly trans people and young people.
I have been thinking that 2023 feels a lot like 1973. Our anniversary comes at a time when those in power threaten to undo our 50 years of progress. And we all need to be in the fight to meet these threats with strength, unity, and support, more than ever before. We must connect the dots, something the Task Force has been doing for its entire history. Reproductive justice, gun control, racial equity, immigration, climate change, disability rights, and so many other issues are queer issues. At Creating Change, you can learn more about how to advocate at the intersections in a way that is simply not found anywhere else.
The spirit of the conference reflects the soul of the Task Force. We have always taken an intersectional, proactive approach to our advocacy, underscoring our fundamental interconnectedness. The Task Force must be
everywhere because queer people are everywhere. As we look toward the next 50 years, we will evolve and expand our work to positively impact LGBTQ folks’ ability to thrive.
But back to the conference! The main goal of Creating Change is to build the LGBTQ movement’s political power from the ground up to secure our overarching goal of full freedom, justice, and equality for LGBTQ+ people. But we also celebrate queer joy— something we value as an important part of our work—so in addition to plenaries with powerful speakers like Angelica Ross, X Gonzalez, Dyllón Burnside, and so many others, as well as over 100 workshops and a dozen institutes, we have an Agents of Change House Ball, Gayme Night (this year hosted by the incredible Jeopardy! winner Amy Schneider), and an open mic variety show.
The bottom line is that, if you want to experience one of the most fabulous, moving, and life-changing gatherings the queer community has, join us.
Cathy Renna is the Communications Director of the National LGBTQ Task Force: https://www.thetaskforce.org/
which have been around for years to help give struggling families some financial breathing room. I hope that if you earned less than $30,000 last year, you’ll take advantage of these tax refunds. Depending on the size of your household, the checks can be sizable—up to $3,417.
when they were age 13 or up. Many of these young adults face challenges as they enter adulthood, and this financial assistance is designed to help them meet expenses.
With prices higher on almost everything we buy, global inflation has been taking a bite out of everyone’s budgets. It’s especially hard for lowwage workers, often forcing them to cut an expense in order to afford something else.
But there are programs called Earned Income Tax Credits (EITCs),
In California, CalEITC is considered one of the most effective tools to help lift people out of poverty, putting thousands of dollars into the pockets of folks who need it the most. And for families with young children, the Young Child Tax Credit (YCTC) can add another $1,083 on top of the CalEITC. Increasing the income of low wage earners not only raises their quality of life, but also stimulates the local economy when EITC tax refunds are spent.
New for the 2022 tax season is a Foster Youth Tax Credit, up to $1,083 for those aged 18–25 who were placed in the foster care system
As Chair of the Assembly Budget Committee, I know the value of EITCs and fought over the years to raise the income limit for CalEITC, and pushed for the inclusion of young adults, seniors aged 65+ with no dependents, and self-employed workers. More recently, the legislature allowed Individual Taxpayer Identification Number holders to also claim the state tax credit. For the 2021 tax year, more than 3.6 million Californians were able to claim CalEITC, YCTC, or both, putting more than $1 billion back in their wallets.
Unfortunately, not everyone eligible to claim the CaIETC does so,
(continued on page 18)
to African Americans in Oakland’s 171-year history.
AASEG is an African American founded, Oakland-based group focused on creating economic opportunity in East Oakland and using the Coliseum complex as a vehicle for economic equity and social justice.
Oakland City Councilmember At-Large, Rebecca Kaplan
On February 2, 2023, a press conference was held where I, along with Mayor Sheng Thao, Councilmembers Fife, Reid, Ramachandran, Jenkins, and Gallo, Ray Bobbitt and others in the African American Sports and Entertainment Group (AASEG) leadership, business and community leaders, appeared to announce an historic event. AASEG had entered into an Exclusive Negotiating Agreement (ENA) with the city of Oakland for the city’s 50% interest in the Coliseum complex—making this the largest transfer of public land
AASEG’s proposal includes bringing a WNBA team to the City of Oakland; it aligns with the city’s values to uphold and support women and to allow fans to root for a sport primarily led by Black women. The signing of the ENA only strengthens Oakland’s position in the very competitive process to get a WNBA expansion team. The group has received strong support from the Oakland community, Oakland City Council, and the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Authority (OACCA) in this effort.
I have worked continuously to revitalize the Oakland Coliseum. I believe the Oakland Coliseum property to be an excellent large site that has connectivity throughout the region, including with BART,
Amtrak, freeway, and airport access. By developing it in a way that provides jobs, housing at all income levels, and public revenue, we can achieve significant improvement for the Oakland community, especially in the East Oakland area where it is located.
Three years ago, in an op-ed for The Oakland Post, I wrote of the existing concerns about the loss of jobs, lack of affordable housing, and the further erosion of the Black community in East Oakland, and how community-oriented revitalization of the Coliseum site can help remedy these problems. See the op-ed at: https://tinyurl.com/mjzcwuex
As the author of the Oakland City Council and OACCA resolutions allowing for the ENA with AASEG, I am thrilled that we have the opportunity to bring jobs, housing at all income levels, sports, entertainment, and more to this vital Oakland site, in a way that strengthens equity and vibrancy for the community at this transit-accessible location.
Councilmember At-Large and Council President Rebecca Kaplan, who is the Vice Mayor of Oakland, was elected in 2008 to serve as Oakland’s citywide Councilmember; she was re-elected in 2016 and 2020. She also serves on the Alameda County Transportation Commission (ACTC). Follow Councilmember Kaplan on Twitter @Kaplan4Oakland ( https://twitter.com/Kaplan4Oakland ) and Facebook ( https://www.facebook.com/Kaplan4Oakland/ ).
Steve Gallagher
146 Lower Terrace Corona Heights 3 bedroom, 3 bathroom, 2 level condominium Castro Village, Victorian condo with open living, dining & kitchen space. 2 bdr, 2 ba main fl, one en-suite. 1 bdr (or den) lower level + bath.
Two car tandem parking, storage, laundry area. Two private gardens/patios. Easy access to Castro or Cole Valley, MUNI, tech shuttles, shops & restaurants.
$1,749,000
http://www.146LowerTerr.com
Listed by Steve Gallagher
DRD#01193002 Coldwell Banker
Lorraine Bannister
Coming soon to Fairway in Pacifica
Ranch style, coastal living 15 mins to SF. 3 bdr, 2 bath, 1540 sq ft. Living room, family room, small office, rear garden. Indoor/outdoor entertaining.
http://www.lorrainebrealestate.com
Lorraine Bannister
Realtor #01119097 Corcoran Icon Properties 650.455.1300
Laura Martell
64 Charles Hill Rd., Orinda 4 bdr, 3.5 ba, 1,960, 4 levels, sq ft, floor to ceiling views of Diablo Valley, two fireplaces, exposed beams, balcony, large lot with privacy, excellent schools
$1,499,000
https://lauradaniellesellhomes.com
Open Sunday, 1/29 from 1–3pm
Listed by Laura Martell and Danielle Clements DRE # R01401840
Roland Schembari and Bill Hartman, Co-Founders
Randy Alfred, Founding News Editor 1978
Kim Corsaro, Publisher 1981-2011
2261 Market Street, No. 309
SaN FraNciSco ca 94114
PhoNe: 415-601-2113
525 Bellevue aveNue oaklaNd ca 94610
e-Mail: editor@sfbaytimes.com www.sfbaytimes.com
The Bay Times was the first newspaper in California, and among the first in the world, to be jointly and equally produced by lesbians and gay men. We honor our history and the paper’s ability to build and strengthen unity in our community.
The Bay Times is proud to be the first and only LGBTQ newspaper in San Francisco to be named a Legacy Business, recognizing that it is a longstanding, community-serving business that is a valuable cultural asset to the city.
dr. Betty l. SullivaN
JeNNiFer l viegaS co-PuBliSherS & co-editorS
Beth greeNe, Michael delgado, JohN SigNer, aBBy ZiMBerg deSigN & ProductioN kate lawS BuSiNeSS MaNager
Blake dilloN caleNdar editor
kit keNNedy Poet-iN-reSideNce
J.h herreN techNology director
carla raMoS weB coordiNator
Mario ordoNeZ diStriButioN
JuaN r davila voluNteer coordiNator
WRITeRS
Rink, Sister Dana Van Iquity, Ann Rostow, Patrick Carney, Carolyn Wysinger, Leslie Sbrocco, Heather Freyer, Kate Kendell, Heidi Beeler, Gary M. Kramer, Joanie Juster, Julie Peri, Jennifer Kroot, Robert Holgate, Eduardo Morales, Dennis McMillan, Tim Seelig, John Chen, Rafael Mandelman, Tabitha Parent, Jewelle Gomez, Phil Ting, Rebecca Kaplan, Leslie Katz, Philip Ruth, Bill Lipsky, Elisa Quinzi, Liam Mayclem, Donna Sachet, Gary Virginia, Zoe Dunning, Derek Barnes, Marcy Adelman, Jan Wahl, Stuart Gaffney & John Lewis
Brandon Miller, Jamie Leno Zimron, Michele Karlsberg, Randy Coleman, Debra Walker, Howard Steiermann, Andrea Shorter, Lou Fischer, Brett Andrews, David Landis
PhOTOgRaPheRS
Rink, Phyllis Costa, Sparks, Paul Margolis, Chloe Jackman, Bill Wilson, Jo-Lynn Otto, Sandy Morris, Abby Zimberg, Joanie Juster
aDVeRTISINg
Display Advertising
Standard Rate Cards http://sfbaytimes.com/ or 415-503-1375
Custom ad sizes are available. Ads are reviewed by the publishers.
National Advertising: Contact Bay Times / San Francisco.
Represented by Rivendell Media: 908-232-2021
Circulation is verified by an independent agency Reprints by permission only.
CaLeNDaR
Submit events for consideration by e-mail to: calendar@sfbaytimes.com
© 2023 Bay Times Media Company
Co-owned by Betty L. Sullivan & Jennifer L. Viegas
Brazilian graphic and artistic designer Wilson Ferreira, M.F.A., was born in the historic and beautiful city of Muqui in the State of Espírito Santo, Brazil. Currently 39 years old, he is a very creative and curious person by nature. A multidisciplinary artist, Wilson earned a Master’s degree in the visual arts and a specialization in product design from the Marangoni Institute in Milan, Italy. His Bachelor’s degree was in communication studies with an emphasis in publicity and advertising. To create his works, he employs both digital and analog technologies.
His fascination with art started during his youth when he frequented folklore festivals in his home town and when he experimented in his mother’s sewing workshop. As a graphic designer, he developed brands, prints, and packaging and became an art director in photography. He created works such as fashions with a cultural visual identity and products for the creative economy sector.
In 2013, he launched his visual arts studio where he develops art projects for architectural firms, home furnishings stores, and for several exhibitions in numerous cities throughout Brazil and beyond. His approach
is to integrate art and culture in a democratic and accessible manner.
He continues to seek out opportunities that complement his interest and training.
His motivation for involvement in Latinx LGBTQ+ issues stems from his belief in equality and justice for all individuals, regardless of their sexual orientation, gender identity, or cultural background. He believes that it is crucial to raise awareness and to advocate for the rights and well-being of Latinx members of the LGBTQ+ community, who often face unique challenges and barriers due to their intersecting identities. Issues that he believes are important for Latinx LGBTQ+ individuals include:
• representation and visibility, which are crucial for those who are Latinx LGBTQ+ since they need to have their voices heard and their experiences represented in media, politics, and other forms of public discourse;
• health care for Latinx LGBTQ+ individuals—they often face barriers in accessing adequate health care, including language and cultural barriers, lack of insurance, and stigma related to their sexual orientation or gender identity;
• employment for Latinx LGBTQ+ people, who as a vulnerable group are often subjected to discrimination, violence, and poverty, and may face additional challenges related to immigration status or language barriers;
• marriage equality and family acceptance, since Latinx LGBTQ+ individuals face challenges in forming and sustaining loving and supportive relationships and families, including the legal recognition of same-sex relationships while often being rejected by their family members;
• employment discrimination, since Latinx LGBTQ+ individ-
uals often face discrimination in the workplace based on their sexual orientation, gender identity, and cultural background.
By working to address these challenges while promoting equality and justice for Latinx LGBTQ+ people, Wilson hopes to help create a world where all are free to live openly and authentically.
In response to a call for an artist to create the San Francisco Pulse Memorial, Wilson entered and was selected. He is the first Brazilian artist to create a memorial for the City and County of San Francisco. He was able to incorporate his over 20 years of experience to create the San Francisco Pulse Memorial that was funded by the S.F. Board of Supervisors. It is currently located on the second-floor lobby of the SF LGBT Center.
On the evening of Wednesday, December 7, 2022, there was a formal official unveiling of the memorial at the SF LGBT Center in recognition of the largest LGBTQ+ massacre in U.S. history. Besides having his independent business, Wilson is the website and social media coordinator for AGUILAS, an HIV prevention and workforce development program for Latinx LGBTQ+ individuals, located in the SF LGBT Center. At AGUILAS he manages the agency’s website and
social communications while creating the artistic presentations for its social events and programming. I invite you to view the historic SF Pulse Memorial at the SF LGBT Center, 1800 Market Street, during the Center’s regular operating hours. Eduardo Morales, Ph.D. is a Professor Emeritus, retired Distinguished Professor, and current adjunct professor at Alliant International University. He is also a licensed psychologist and a founder and current Executive Director of AGUILAS, an awardwinning program for Latinx LGBTQ+. Of Puerto Rican decent, he has received numerous distinguished awards and citations, including being named a Fellow of 12 divisions of the American Psychological Association.
Randy Coleman hails from New York, but has lived in San Francisco since 1975. Coleman shares that before moving to the Bay Area, he studied Art History and Architecture at Boston University while working as a resident artist for architectural rendering at a Massachusetts historical society. “All of my life I’ve been an artist,” Coleman says. “To know me is to know that I have a passion for art and architecture. I love this project for the San Francisco Bay Times, and hope that you enjoy my sketches.”
© Randy Coleman, 2023
spend every day working to support the people advancing the fundamental rights of the most marginalized living in Israel and under Israel’s control in the occupied West Bank.
By Daniel SokatchJust before the new year, the most hardline, ethno-nationalist government in Israel’s history took power. The list of new government officials is a rogues' gallery of extremists.
Until recently, Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who was once convicted of supporting a terrorist organization, hung a portrait in his living room of an Israeli who murdered 29 Palestinians as they prayed. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich was arrested in 2005 for allegedly plotting to blow up Tel Aviv’s main highway in protest of Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza. Smotrich alongside another highranking new official, Avi Maoz, have described themselves as “proud homophobe[s].”
These are the people leading Israel now—and they are working quickly to dismantle its democracy. They want an ethnonationalist theocracy where LGBTQ+ people, Palestinians, non-Orthodox Jews, and anyone else who doesn’t fit their mold is deprived of their fundamental rights. As the CEO of the New Israel Fund—the premier funder of civil society organizations and activists in Israel working for equality, justice, and democracy—I hold that this government is diametrically opposed to my values. I
The extremist vision these officials have for Israel would make the likes of Ron DeSantis and Hungary’s Victor Orban blush. Recently, Haaretz, Israel’s newspaper of record, published an in-depth report that cited recordings of Avi Maoz and other leaders in his extremist movement saying how they will “cleanse the education system” of all things “foreign.”
( https://tinyurl.com/ywnudmnc )
For Maoz and his cadre, that includes the very notion that people can be anything but straight and cis-gendered. It’s “Don’t Say Gay” on steroids.
Maoz’s political party is now putting these opponents of theocracy on “blacklists.” One list includes LGBTQ+ members of the media. Another consists of people associated with the New Israel Fund. They’re targeting anyone who believes that progress is good and that we should strive to give everyone—be they Palestinian, Israeli, gay, straight, cis, or trans—equal opportunity and equality before the law.
These extremist leaders have also adopted the offensive and patently untrue conspiracy theory popular among the far-right in the U.S. that purports a connection between members of the LGBTQ+ community and child trafficking. The promotion of such a narrative is dangerous and can lead directly to violence against LGBTQ+ people.
What these hardliners want is a theocracy. They want their myopic worldview to govern the lives of all,
regardless of whether they subscribe to that worldview. They think that there is one way to have a family. One way to love. One way to be with someone. They think that, in Israel, there should only be one language (Hebrew), one religion (Judaism), one permitted flag (Israel’s). They want to expel from the public sphere anyone who would dare to normalize LGBTQ+ people, Palestinians, or non-Orthodox Jews.
Until recently, these figures lurked on the extreme fringe of Israeli society. But now, they can exert a frightening amount of control over those who have the least power. Itamar BenGvir oversees Border Police in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. In other words, an ethnonationalist now runs a branch of the army in an area where some 700,000 Jewish Israeli settlers live amongst 2.3 million disenfranchised Palestinians. He has already used his powers to curb freedom of expression, including waving the Palestinian flag ( https://tinyurl.com/ywmy993z ).
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has new oversight powers over the Israeli military units in the occupied
territories. Avi Maoz has a new role as deputy minister in the prime minister’s office, and was handed responsibility for what this government termed “National-Jewish identity”; a kind of national inculcation project, where Maoz’s authority covers extracurricular programming in public schools.
But many Israelis are pushing back against these dangerous ideologies. They argue, correctly, that winning an election does not give a government a mandate to dismantle democracy. Hundreds of thousands have taken to the streets in weekly protests. After the government took power, hundreds of concerned parents held an emergency conference to discuss how to push back against Maoz’s plans.
Meanwhile, over 17,000 people signed a petition opposing Maoz’s dangerous policies ( https://tinyurl.com/2p9xbwvz ).
Over 600 participants recently attended the first-ever conference of the “religious left” in Israel, to say that this government does not speak for them. Leaders from Israel’s hitech industry, financial sector, and legal profession are writing letters, symbolically striking, and speaking out to voice their profound opposition to the government’s anti-democratic, anti-equality policies.
In this moment when so much that we care about is at stake, we must say loud and clear that we are with the activists pushing back for equality, justice, and democracy for all. There are Israelis standing up against ethnonationalist theocracy and we must stand with them. At NIF, we will continue doing what we always have done—supporting the people holding power to account.
Daniel Sokatch is the CEO of the New Israel Fund: https://www.nif.org/
Jennifer Kroot and Robert Holgate curate the “Out of Left Field” column for the San Francisco Bay Times. Kroot is a filmmaker, known for her award-winning LGBTQ themed documentaries, including The Untold Tales of Armistead Maupin and To Be Takei. She studied filmmaking at the San Francisco Art Institute, where she has also taught. She is a member of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Holgate, a humanitarian as well as a designer, is dedicated to critical social issues. With his hands-on approach to philanthropy and social justice, he supports the advancement of local and national social causes. For more information: https://www.rhdsf.com/
Following the abrupt closure of Harvey’s on January 22—announced by way of a handwritten note on the venue’s signboard—many were happy to hear days later that the historic location would open for a final evening.
Held one week after the initial closure, “Harvettes: One Last Night with Harvey’s” was on Saturday, January 29. Entertainers included Christina Ashton, Olivia Hart, Kipper Snacks, Sheena Rose, Tawdry Hepburnn, Lulu Ramirez, Adam Hale, Carly Ozard, Grand Duchess Kelly Rose, and more. (See Sister Dana Sez in this issue for additional information.)
The evening, which stretched into a ten-hour marathon, was produced by Gary Virginia and Krewe de Kinque. Harvey’s manager David Facer, who is a professional magician, welcomed guests sporting a dapper purple suit and Converse Allstars.
In keeping with our established reputation for willingness to cut ribbons wherever requested, we recently attended the grand opening of Gyros & Tzatziki on 24th Street at the invitation of owner Cem Bulutoglu and Gary Virginia who lent his considerable party skills to the business. It is already a bustling eatery with a tempting menu for both lunch and dinner in a brightly lit and welcoming environment. The opening featured a variety of original art by Kurt Stoekel displayed throughout and lively music from DJ Isaiah Bishop. Assisting with the ribbon-cutting were City Supervisor Hillary Ronen and Susana Rojas, Executive Director of Calle 24 Latino Cultural District. With so many businesses shuttering their stores these days, it was a joyful occasion to welcome this new restaurant to the Mission neighborhood. And that honey-soaked baklava was divine!
As the sad news of Harvey’s closing detailed in this publication’s last issue spread over the city, one person sprang to action, quickly organizing one final day of fundraising to support the suddenly unemployed staff. Jason Seneca (aka Christina Ashton) sounded the alert, immediately getting Manager David Facer on board for this event the following Saturday and securing entertainment from the Harvey Harvettes, Kelly Rose, Olivia Hart, and Kip Yanag, and invaluable organizational support from Gary Virginia. Anyone associated with community fundraisers knows the avalanche of preparations involved, but to organize such an event in a few days? This team did it! For over seven hours, bartenders poured cocktails, volunteers greeted and collected donations, DJ Sampson Utley spun music, friends applauded and tipped generously, and performers gave their all with gorgeous costuming and heartfelt numbers, including Grand Duke Gregg Star, Tawdry Hepburn, John Weber, Carly Ozard, Alexis
Miranda, Lulu Ramirez, Kipper Snacks, and many more. Nearly $15,000 was raised and will be split between the staff to assist with their transition. This was community at its very best!
On Sunday, January 29, we were honored to participate in Rich Armstrong’s Life Pageant, a beautiful musical celebration of the life of a friend and accomplished musician at SF Jazz. Performers included Carmen Milagro, Harrison Stafford, Cold Blood, Jazz Mafia, Choral Syndicate, Lugman Frank, Dan Parenti, and Tony Lindsay, closing with a rousing all-cast finale and brass band parade into the lobby. Rich was a part of Harry Denton’s Starlight Room when we started Sunday’s a Drag nearly 20 years ago, managing the sound technicalities and sometimes even sharing his talent on the trumpet during the show. At the SF Jazz event, we sang an arrangement of I Am Beautiful that Rich had given us to perform in our weekly show. Eight instrumentalists and three back-up singers joined us in the spectacular Robert N. Miner Auditorium and it was every singer’s dream. Huge thanks to Carmen Milagro, Adam Theis, and Katherine White for this rare opportunity and kudos to all involved for remembering Rich with this very special night.
Rounding out our calendar, we returned to an actual movie theatre for the first time since the COVID scare first surfaced to see 80 for Brady with the amazing cast of Lily Tomlin, Sally Fields, Jane Fonda, and Rita Moreno. Despite less than enthusiastic reviews, this movie gave us an afternoon of simple pleasure with hilarious dialogue, farcical situations, sly sports parodies, and gentle life lessons, especially about aging, all in the excellent company of five great friends. We relished every minute with this dynamic quartet of mature but by no means old actresses, obviously having a great time together. See it for yourself soon!
If it is not yet obvious, this is Imperial Coronation month, including campaigns for Emperor and Empress, public voting for the new Monarchs, and a host of events surrounding the formal Coronation on Saturday, February 25. Complete details can be found in our adjacent calendar of events and at the Imperial Court of San Francisco website. We will soon congratulate Reigning Emperor Brent Daddy Munro, Reigning Empress Ehra Amaya, and their Court of the Starlight Scepter and the Golden Heart on a successful year of fundraising, community engagement, and event productions at Coronation 58: Rise of the Golden Gods.
Yes, this will be the 58th such event, the signature moment for one the oldest continuously operating charitable organizations in San Francisco! We wish Emperor candidate Michael Anthony Chua and Empress candidate Cameron Stiehl-Munro
(continued on page 18)
Thursday, February 9
Divas & Drinks @ The Academy
Bay Times & The Academy sponsored monthly party
Celebrating Black LGBTQ+ Women Leaders & Valentine’s Day
Renée Lubin, Dr. Dee Spencer, DJ Rockaway, LaTonya Lawson
The Academy, 2166 Market Street 6–10 pm $15 www.academy-sf.com
Monday, February 13
REAF’s One Night Only with the cast of Mean Girls
Cabaret benefit emceed by D’Arcy Drollinger & Shawn Ryan
Benefiting the Richmond/Ermet Aid Foundation & Broadway Cares
Marine Memorial Theater, 609 Sutter Street 7:30 pm $45–100 www.reaf.org
Saturday, February 18
Imperial Voting Day
Public vote for Emperor & Empress
Open to San Francisco, Marin & San Mateo residents
The Cinch, 1723 Polk Street, 11 am–4 pm
The Powerhouse, 1347 Folsom Street, 1–5 pm
Castro Muni, Castro & Market Streets, Noon–6 pm Free!
Wednesday, February 22
In-Town Show & Awards
Entertainment by local stars The Lookout, 3600 16th Street 6–8:30 pm Free!
Thursday, February 23 Anniversary Monarchs’ Reception Honoring anniversary celebrants
The HaRa Club, 875 Geary Street 6:30–8:30 pm Free!
Friday, February 24 Out-of-Town Show
Entertainment by visiting courtiers Hyatt Regency SOMA, 50 Third Street 7 pm $25
Saturday, February 25 Imperial Coronation 58: Rise of the Golden Gods
Hyatt Regency SF Downtown SOMA, 50 Third Street Doors at 5 pm $70 www.sfimperialcouncil.org
Sunday, February 26
Annual Pilgrimage to Colma
Hosted by Brotherhood of Emperors, emceed by Donna Sachet Woodlawn Cemetery Bus departs Hyatt Regency at 8 am 9 am Free!
Sunday, February 26 Victory Brunch
Hyatt Regency SOMA, 50 Third Street 11:30 am $30
“People were living double lives and I didn’t understand it. It was persecution. Why be ashamed of who you are?”
–José Sarria
Photos courtesy of the San Francisco Lesbian/Gay Freedom Band
Led by Drum Major Mike Wong, the San Francisco Lesbian/Gay Freedom Band (SFLGFB) represented the Bay Area’s LGBTQ+ community, as it has for decades, marching proudly in the 2023 Chinese New Year Parade on Saturday, February 4. Periodic heavy rain downpours during the evening did not dampen spirits!
From the parade launch point at 2nd and Market Streets, SFLGFB marched around Union Square, ending at Kearny Street and Columbus Avenue, a distance of approximately 1.3 miles. With an especially large turnout of band members this year, the SFLGFB contingent was unit #56 in the parade celebrating the Year of the Rabbit.
Named one of the top ten parades in the world by the International Festivals & Events Association, the Chinese New Year Parade in San Francisco is one of the few remaining illuminated night parades in North America.
You can view an hour-long video of the parade here: https://tinyurl.com/2s6y2e6b
Over his past Martin Luther King (MLK) holiday weekend, I and nearly 10,000 gay athletes landed in Las Vegas to participate in the world’s largest annual LGBTQ+ sports event, the Sin City Classic. The Classic is a sports festival where multiple sports competitions converge onto the same city and on the same dates (MLK weekend in January) every year. This giant gathering of LGBTQ+ athletes enables great opportunity for intersport visibility, exchange, and socializing, providing an amazing way to introduce oneself to others via perhaps unfamiliar fun athletic endeavors.
It is hard to believe that I last attended this now mega sports festival 14 years ago in its infancy. Back in 2009, Sin City was called a Shootout and was primarily a major gay softball tournament that had its inaugural competition in 2008. Interestingly enough, the tournament host, the Greater Los Angeles Gay Softball Association (GLASA), originally wanted the event to be in Los Angeles, which made sense. But, due to numerous logistical obstacles, GLASA decided to host the tournament at a relatively close and much more intra-city travel friendly destination, Las Vegas. And the Sin City Shootout was born. In 2018, on the 10th anniversary of the Shootout, the festival name was officially changed to the Sin City Classic.
Paul McDaniel, a long-time volunteer leader both for GLASA and Sin City Classic, offered some background and statistics for their unique annual LGBTQ+ sports festival: “Around 2010, the founding tournament Board Members envisioned and entertained the idea of inviting other gay sports to be part of the Shootout, making Sin City a multi-sport festival. Gay basketball first joined in 2011, followed by tennis and wrestling in 2012. In the subsequent years, we added dodgeball, soccer, volleyball, and a host of other gay sports totaling 24 today!”
“Our success didn’t always come easy, and we are volunteer dependent,” McDaniel added. “This year, Jason Peplinski, Rick Maas, and Larry Ruiz, along with our 30 some untiring and unwavering core directors and coordinators, led hundreds of dedicated volunteers to make [Sin City Classic] the largest annual gay sports festival, not just happen, but better and better! Every year, our large troop of volunteers are our rock!”
“Since 2015, we’ve had award-winning pop stars such as Tiffany, Lance Bass, CeCe Peniston and Deborah Cox perform at our closing party,” McDaniel continued.
“We’ve also been fortunate enough to partner with major hotels such as Planet Hollywood in the past, and now the Flamingo and the LINQ. Finally, we have secured major sponsors from Toyota Financial Services to now Lexus.”
Rod Kratovil, a former GLASA volunteer and Sin City Classic advocate, chimed in: “We would like to pay tribute to our close friend Ken Scearce, the former Sin City Classic [Shootout] Volunteer Leader who unexpectedly passed away during the summer of 2021. Under [Scearce] and his fellow volunteers, the [Classic] grew exponentially and thrived over the years. We all miss him dearly. Although this is the second Sin City without him, we feel that he is here in Vegas with us, always.”
McDaniel concluded, “[Sin City Classic] welcomes any gay sport that isn’t already here to join our festival. We provide all necessary umbrella administration such as registration, social events, and accommodation. We can also help with locating venues, but the sport organizers are responsible for the logistics of and running their own tournament. Just contact us at Sin City Classic or GLASA and we’ll work closely with them to get their sport tournament up and running!”
Over the holiday weekend, I drove 170 miles and took 65,000 steps, going north and south, east and west, up and down, and forwards and backwards to catch a glimpse of as many San Francisco Bay Area teams as well as individual competitors doing what they love to do, play sports.
I followed my long-time friend Darryl Lee, a multi amateur golf tournament champion, as he played several rounds of golf at the picturesque Revere Golf Club. I nervously watched as my buddy James Knippen dodged high velocity attacks with his teammates at ultra-fast-paced dodgeball. My neck turned to the left, then right, then left, then right again (repeat) as I followed several new friends from Minnesota engaged in exciting and extensive volleys and
rallies at the Darling Tennis Center. Moreover, I cheered on San Francisco Spikes Soccer as one of my good friends who is a bit shy, so I won’t mention his name, feverishly defended his team’s final third of the field. I was politely shushed and observed silently a former volleyball pal, Rand DeCastro, as he strategically played his cards at bridge. I withstood the rain, the wind, and the cold just like the San Francisco kickball teams Baes and Fruitcakes did as they celebrated every hard-earned run scored. Finally, I nostalgically watched many of my old softball teammates, many of whom are now near and around my rising to senior citizen status with a bullet, compete hard together one more time for old time’s sake on team San Francisco Kobra Kai.
In between all the hectic driving and fast walking to get from sport to sport located all over the Las Vegas metropolitan area (can you imagine doing this in
Los Angeles traffic?!), I spent the most time learning about the newest Sin City Classic sport, pickleball and one of the oldest, wrestling. Pickleball, if you haven’t heard, is the newest and fastest growing sport in the world. On a very general scale, it is like mini tennis but using a paddle instead of a racquet, and a whifflelike ball instead of a hard, fuzzy tennis ball. The rules and approach to the game, however, are what distinguish pickleball from tennis. And it is far easier to learn how to play pickleball. In fact, many pickleball players at Sin City Classic only started playing recently. I followed several Bay Area players and would like to congratulate the team of Kevin Tam and Andrew Camisas for winning the 3.0 open division championship, and the team of Kevin Tam and Rachel Fightmaster for taking the mixed doubles 3.0 trophy.
First-time Sin City Classic Pickleball Tournament Co-Director, Elise Lindborg, a Seattle transplant to Las
Vegas, was uber excited about bringing pickleball to the annual LGBTQ+ sports festival: “My wife and I came into a huge pickleball world because there’s year-round sunshine in Vegas. [Pickleball] is so much fun. Anyone can learn how to play quickly! Our inaugural tournament has 112 entries with minimal advertising, which is amazing. We look forward to having a much larger turnout in 2024. One thing I would like to add is we would love to have lots and lots more lesbian players than the small turnout this year. If you are a lesbian pickleball player, please come on down to Sin City in 2024!”
One of my best friends from UCLA was an accomplished wrestler both in high school and at the college level. He often wanted me to wrestle against him because we were similar in size and stature. Of course, my answer was always a resounding “no,” mainly due to the obvious fact that he was practically a pro, and his biceps were significantly larger than mine! But he did pique my interest regarding wrestling.
At Sin City Classic, I found time to shadow Josh Watkins, a San Francisco wrestler at the tournament. Josh invited me to the wrestling clinic where I observed demonstrations on certain takedown moves, all of which were very athletic endeavors that require precision, power, endurance, and strength. Josh also gave me a crash course on how points are determined and how a winner is declared in a match. Then I got to watch him wrestle in an official tournament match against a brick powerhouse from Long Beach, Eric Ernst.
In addition, I had the opportunity to meet and chat with the Sin City Classic Wrestling Tournament Director since 2013, Christopher Lorefice. Lorefice, from Philadelphia, started wrestling 15 years ago and had wrestled with many LGBTQ+ friendly clubs on the West Coast since then. “Wrestling changed my life,” he said. “I wanted to wrestle in high school but never felt comfortable enough to try because I was gay and not out. As an adult, around 2008, I started wrestling with a club in Los Angeles, learned a lot, and was introduced to several gay friendly clubs around the country. The wrestling community welcomed and embraced me as a gay man and wrestling is where I’ve met my closest friends. For this reason, I wanted to give back to the sport that has given me so much as a coach and in welcoming and introducing our
(continued on page 18)
JUSTER (continued from pg 6) consisted of over 200 tamales that Leandro had made, with funds raised supporting La Raza Central Legal.
Since that time, Leandro’s tamales have raised funds and awareness for many human rights causes. His tamales—based on family recipes—are handmade, comforting, and absolutely delicious. They are a reminder of his humble roots, as his mother sold tamales in labor camps to keep a roof over her family’s heads during difficult times.
The most recent version of his Tamale Project was in January. I was lucky to be part of his team on a rainy Saturday afternoon, as a dozen of us assembled over 700 tamales, while also building community. We returned the next day to wrap and deliver the freshly-steamed tamales to the lucky buyers. And when the last tamale was gone, over $7,000 had been raised for the LGBTQ Asylum Project.
It just takes one person with an idea and heart to create a spark that changes the world. Leandro Gonzales is doing just that, one tamale at a time.
Volunteers Needed: National Health, Aging and Sexuality/Gender Study
The Aging with Pride: National Health, Aging, and Sexuality/Gender Study is launching a new survey, and they are looking to reach a new generation of study participants, adults turning 52–58 this year. They are hoping that by hearing a new generation voice their thoughts, they will further deepen their understanding of how various life experiences are related to changes in aging, health, and well-being. These kinds of studies are crucial to understanding the growing health disparities among LGBTQ+ midlife and older adults. To participate, click “Check Your Eligibility” here: https://tinyurl.com/ AgingWPride
Relief for Small Business Owners
The LEATHER & LGBTQ Cultural District has alerted us to two programs to help beleaguered SOMA business owners.
The first is a new Neighborhood Commercial Corridors Graffiti Abatement Opt-In Pilot Program, covering eligible businesses on Folsom, 9th, 10th, and 6th Streets. The city will focus on removing painted graffiti that is on the exterior of properties visible from the public right of way. This pilot program does not include the restoration or repair of tagged murals, etched windows, or windows defaced with acid. More info: https://tinyurl.com/GraffitiSF
The second is a Storefront Vandalism Relief Grant program, providing up to $2,000 for vandalism-related costs like broken windows, doors or locks, etching on windows, etc. This grant does not pertain to a specific neighborhood. More info: https://tinyurl.com/VandalGrant
By the way: The fun-loving folks at the LEATHER & LGBTQ Cultural District are planning ahead: they have posted a year’s worth of upcoming events on their website, and they have quite a busy year coming up. Check it out, and put some of these events on your calendar: https://www.sflcd.org/
Save the Dates
Here are just a few of the many upcoming events that are worth saving the date for.
February 25: Imperial Council of San Francisco Coronation - Polish your tiara and come to the most glamorous bash of the year, as the new Empress and Emperor are crowned. https://tinyurl.com/Coronation58
March 19: The Saints Come Marching In - The Saints of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence are hosting a benefit to help the Sisters produce their annual Easter Sunday extravaganza. Sunday, March 19, 4-7 pm at The Edge. https://tinyurl.com/SaintsSP
May 20: Drag for Democracy - The League of Women Voters of California and The League of Women Voters of San Francisco are cohosting a celebration of people exemplifying the values and strength of our democracy through their work in advocacy and activism for LGBTQ+ people, rights, and equality. https://www.dragfordemocracy.org/
Until next time, friends. Go forth and do good deeds. Joanie Juster is a long-time community volunteer, activist, and ally.
SACHET (continued from pg 15)
great success as they canvas for votes and we encourage you to attend as many of this month’s events as possible, perhaps finding your home among this philanthropic group. As always, we will be present as Absolute Empress XXX throughout and particularly joining the Brotherhood of Emperors to emcee the festivities for the Annual Pilgrimage to Colma on Sunday, February 26, to visit the gravesite of Our Beloved Founder José Sarria and her husband Joshua Norton. This event contains all the history, hilarity, and hair-raising irreverence that José represented and that help make San Francisco the unique place that it is. So, dust off that tuxedo, spruce up that gown, polish up that jewelry, and get ready for Imperial Coronation in San Francisco!
Donna Sachet is a celebrated performer, fundraiser, activist, and philanthropist who has dedicated over two decades to the LGBTQ Community in San Francisco. Contact her at empsachet@gmail.com
CHEN (continued from pg 17)
great sport and our supportive organization, Wrestlers Without Borders, to the [LGBTQ+] community.”
Having experienced this year’s Sin City Classic upfront and personal, I must say that I am very impressed. The amount of planning, preparation, organization, logistics, and direction needed and executed was staggering! I give major props to all the Sin City Classic leadership and volunteers.
Having written all of this, I hope I have your attention and that you’ll make it out to Sin City for next year’s Classic (2024) either as a competing athlete, an athletic supporter, or just a voyeur like me. After all, who doesn’t want to find a little “sin” after a hard day of athletic fun?
John Chen, a UCLA alumnus and an avid sports fan, has competed as well as coached tennis, volleyball, softball, and football teams.
do, and they are not only the most vocal, but also the ones most likely to participate and fund GOP primary elections. These political maneuvers are all for their benefit, and for the national press attention that rewards their champions.
But just as the majority doesn’t particularly want to punish our community, nor do they have the energy to go to bat for us. Yet we can no longer drum up the corporate will or the power of the NCAA to hammer a bad red state, because dozens of states are simultaneously on the attack. We must fight our own battles, in courts and in the press, until perhaps the far right goes too far and the nation’s indifference cracks.
I think I’ll stop there, because I could go on and on and I know you don’t want that.
You Go, Girl!
Here’s a thing. Psychologists at the University of Sydney have published a paper showing that both gay and straight men think straight-acting men are better suited to leadership roles. The boffins showed the group of 256 men a bunch of potential spokesmen for tourism in Sydney, and asked them to pick the most convincing candidates. Most of the guys picked the most masculine prospects, indicating to researcher Ben Gerard that feminine mannerisms are “considered too soft or not authoritative enough.”
The strongest preferences were shown by straight men with “homonegativity” and gay men with misogynistic tendencies.
Gerard was “disappointed” in the implications of his study. “Gay men are potentially blocking each other from positions of power and leadership due to this implicit bias,” he was quoted on some medical news website. “Men are still expected to conform to more traditional masculine styles of leadership, and if they fail to sufficiently project masculine traits, they are at risk of status penalties. This is an example of internalized homophobia among the gay community and it impacts opportunities for these gay men.”
Please spare us, Ben. There are some of us out here, we’re called “women,” who don’t need a study to recognize that feminine and female qualities are undervalued by those who would select future leaders. This is not a case of “internalized homophobia among the gay community.” It’s a pervasive social phenomenon, applied to effeminate men as well as women of all stripes.
As for the discovery that anti-gay straight men don’t like feminine gays ... really? Oh, now that’s interesting. What else have you deduced recently? Gay men
TING (continued from pg 8)
leaving millions of dollars on the table. There is also the federal EITC, which can boost tax refunds even higher. Together, the combined cash back from both programs can be life-changing—sometimes more than $10,000 for households with three or more children.
The key to getting this cash back is to file a tax return. Many miss out on EITCs because they don’t typically earn enough money to have to file one, or they don’t owe taxes. But the paperwork is necessary to receive a check. The money could be used to pay bills or meet everyday expenses. It can also be put into a saving account for emergencies, something that families living paycheck to paycheck struggle to do. The tax credit also has proven additional longterm benefits, with research showing children whose families receive an EITC refund perform better in school and have better health outcomes. Now, that’s a great investment!
who smoke are less likely to win the Tour de France?
Straight men are more likely to forget their wives’ birthdays? That Ph.D. won’t be long in coming.
Florida Man
I was going to tell you about the gay woman, Gigi Sohn, who has been long blocked by Republicans from being confirmed as the fifth member of the FCC commission. This is one of those commissions that is split between Republicans and Democrats with the deciding fifth vote nominated by whomever is in office. Trump enjoyed a 3–2 GOP majority, but Biden has been stuck at 2–2 as various people have complained about the well-qualified candidate, Sohn.
I say I was going to tell you about this struggle because I don’t feel like reviewing the pros and cons of internet censorship and regulation that underpin the Sohn debate. I often find myself short of a certain type of concentrated mental energy at the end of my column, and today is no exception.
But here’s a final tidbit that is about my speed.
Ron DeSanctimonious (thanks Trump!) has filed an administrative complaint against the Orlando Philharmonic Plaza Foundation for hosting a “Drag Queen Christmas” performance last December in violation of some law that prohibits allowing minors in the audience of a sexually explicit show. The raunchy musical revue served alcohol, although presumably not to kids, and did not have a minimum age limit, based on the notion that parents can decide what their kids can experience.
According to the complaint, the show displayed prosthetic breasts and genitalia, running afoul of regulations, which reminded me of the time my parents took me to a performance of Lysistrata, Aristophanes’ comedy about women who held a sex boycott to keep their men from war. All the men had ludicrous erections, or “prosthetic genitalia,” which I suppose would be against the law in Florida at present. I think I was 12 or 13 at the time, and although the hard-ons didn’t bother me, I recall being pretty annoyed at having to spend several hours watching a boring Greek play.
I don’t think it did me any harm, but you never know. Maybe I would have become an evangelical Christian homemaker had my parents not been so irresponsible.
arostow@aol.com
Are you or someone you know missing out?
Nonprofits operating Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) programs can connect people with free tax preparation services. Filing as soon as possible means you can get your money back faster. For more information, please visit: https://www.caleitc4me.org/
You can find out if you qualify, the locations for free tax assistance near you, or how to file a return yourself.
Phil Ting represents the 19th Assembly District, which includes the Westside of San Francisco and portions of South San Francisco along with the communities of Broadmoor, Colma, and Daly City.
of the crowd with an over-articulated and animated announcement:
“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Saturday night wrestling!” The crowd goes wild. “Please welcome to the ring, the one and only Pollo Del Mar!”
Drag queens have been at the forefront of our fight for equality for decades. It was drag queens at the center of the Compton Cafeteria riots here in San Francisco. Three years later, Stonewall became the major turning point in gay rights thanks to NYC queens. Recently, drag queens have again taken center stage in our country due to their subversive reading of books to children in libraries, Ron DeSantis’ probe into the horrors of a drag queen Christmas show, and the first former drag queen to be elected to Congress. Drag queens are a huge part of our lives. They are at the bars, at the riots, in the schools, and raising money for worthy causes. But wait, there’s more. Go with me here.
The arena is packed with fans ready to rumble. The energy is off the charts. The air is thick with sweat and anticipation. The lights begin to dim on the crowd. Almost blinding spotlights come up on the ring. Smoke is pouring out of the entrance. Suddenly, a deep, resonant voice grabs the attention
At this point, the 7-foot heal to wig goddess enters. Shockingly, the cheers turn immediately to jeers and boos. This is not in response to the fabulosity of Pollo or because they are repulsed by the sight of a drag queen in bubba land. No, it’s because she and her team have been hired as “heels” for the night, the antagonists, the bad “guys.”
As the crowd continues screaming, the “voice of god” introduces Pollo’s team, MONEY POWER RE$PECT. Pollo is joined by dark and handsome Marco Mayur and blonde and hunky Fabuloso Fabricio. You may remember Marco from a previous column ( https://tinyurl.com/mta54dkp ). He had lost 100 lbs. and appeared in Positive Resource Center’s Bare Chest Calendar in 2019. The three of them make up the hottest tag team trio in wrestling today. Sometimes it’s hard to keep up the “bad boy” role because the crowds adore them.
What? How did this happen? To understand it, we need to go all the way back to a very middle America home in the suburbs of Houston. As was the case in many homes, young Paul was introduced to all the things a little boy is supposed to love: football, baseball, karate, etc. None of it stuck. Finally, out of desperation, Paul’s dad sat him down to watch Saturday morning pro-wrestling. It was as if the heavens opened and angels sang a huge chord. Young Paul was smitten. Not with the wrestling, but the personalities. He remembers huge, dyed blonde hair, flashy outfits, and flamboyant moves. He was hooked. He and his dad had found something in common, kind of.
Fast forward to Paul’s move to San Francisco. He had still not done drag. Finally, he succumbed when asked to appear in drag for a sober community benefit. That was that. Earlier, he had laughed with friends while looking at the menu at a Mexican restaurant and saw Delicias del Mar. He quipped, “That would be a great drag name.” But he had friends named Delicia and it was too close. It was about the same time that Jessica Simpson asked the question questioning whether Chicken of the Sea was chicken or tuna—in front of millions of people. Pollo Del Mar was born.
What happened is a meteoric rise in the fields of drag, journalism, and acting. Pollo has won too many awards to begin listing them. Check out her Wikipedia page!
( https://tinyurl.com/543srwju )
As a journalist, she has covered sports for such publications as the Huffington Post, GLOSS Magazine, and the San Francisco Bay Times. Her favorite subject to write about
is wrestling, though. In 2017, she joined Wrestling for Charity and all her lives collided into the mindblowing pro-wrestling personality she enjoys today. And it is huge. Bigger than her hair!
She began hosting monthly wrestling at the El Toro bar in the Portola district where she met a young wrestling fan, Marco Rodriguez. She encouraged him to take his love for wrestling to the ring and give it a try. And he did! He began training and was a natural. They then met Fabricio, who rounded out the trio perfectly. A gay, a straight, and a drag queen. Sounds like the beginning of a joke. But it was far from that. Marco’s signature move is the “sexy time splash!” Fab is known for his big, broad sexy shoulders. Pollo is just famous. Seriously famous. They began appearing as a team and killing it. They’ve now appeared together all over the Bay Area, Las Vegas, Chicago, Los Angeles and Jacksonville, FL. More than that, they have become a family. At one point over dinner, Pollo declared to Fabricio, “You’ve obviously never had a drag mother.”
Well, as a 23-year-old straight boy, he had not. She took him under her wing, and it wasn’t long until he began calling her “Mama.”
The three of them are inseparable, although each of them appears individually in addition to the team.
MONEY POWER RE$PECT has broken new ground by bringing a wrestling ring to both the Folsom Street Fair and the Bearrison Street Fair. Their straight wrestling colleagues have all come over to the gay side to join in the fun.
They have made an impact on the wrestling world—and their fans. They have countless stories of the kids who attend matches with their parents. The kids are fascinated with the wrestlers and their outrageous outfits. Marco has been making his own outfits since the start and occasionally helps other contestants make theirs. But they are especially drawn to the giant woman as they stare up at her asking for an autograph. They have had numerous parents thank them for a positive representation of the LGBTQ+ community in a place they never imagined something like that would exist. In fact, they have been around long enough now to have heard stories of fans who have found the courage to come out thanks to their appearances.
None of the members of MPR (with a $) ever imagined the lives they are now living. They are making a difference in the world. They are representing in the best possible way. Their story provides huge lessons for all of us: be yourself, chase your dreams, and if someone irritates you, throw them up against the ropes. OK, two out of three. Pollo, Marco and Fabricio are heroes and sheroes. They continue to show the world there is nothing we can’t do, no barriers we can’t knock down. We have nothing but RE$PECT for all they are doing.
Dr. Tim Seelig is the Conductor Laureate of the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus. http://www.timseelig.com/
Cupid is in the air full throttle this time of year. For me, though, love should be showered upon your amore every single day of the year and not just on February 14, Valentine’s Day. San Francisco is regarded as one of the most romantic cities in the world, rivaling Paris or Rome. While San Francisco lacks the extensive romancerelated written history of these older cities, it does have a constant whiff of romance in the air with much to warm LGBTQ hearts.
Consider doing the following: Explore LGBTQ history with your love by strolling along Castro Street’s Rainbow Honor Walk and learn of the leaders and pioneers who came before us.
How about a picnic? Grab some baked goodies from Tartine Bakery on 18th Street and stroll on over to Dolores Park for a picnic. I also recommend a romantic walk across the Golden Gate Bridge followed by enjoying a picnic or some tasty Tartine goodies at the lookout at the north end of the bridge.
View a classic, romantic film at the historic Castro Theatre, when such
films are shown there again. For many of us, this was one of life’s most romantic and simple pleasures.
These are just a few of the local activities that won’t break the bank and will keep love hearts aglow.
The time-honored tradition of dining out is indeed a thing for many of us on Valentine’s Day, but as you know, getting a resy can be tough and the price point for a V-day dinner can be steep! Nevertheless, the splurge to do something special with your boo can certainly be worth it. Among my favorite spots for romance:
• savoring the Spanish love vibes at Canela on Market;
• enjoying a window seat and oysters at Billingsgate in Noe Valley;
• sitting under the Bay Bridge lights at Waterbar on the waterfront.
If your love potion is dinner and a film, Foreign Cinema in the Mission showcases classic films for you to feast on as you enjoy some very fine dining by Chefs John Clark and Gayle Pirie. For music aficionados, there are two hot spots I love where food and entertainment hit the high notes in equal measure.
Berber has live music many nights of the week. Enjoy dinner first followed by the show. Another fave where love
lives in the good company of music and cocktails is Feinstein’s at the Nikko. This Valentine’s Day, a Bay Area treasure and jazz siren, Ms. Golden Pipes Paula West, will be performing.
Happy Valentine’s Day, lovers. Get your love on!
Romantic Views + Fine Dining Waterbar
https://www.waterbarsf.com
Picnic in the Park Tartine Picnic at Dolores Park https://tinyurl.com/3a5d5hwv
Bridge and Bubbles
Golden Gate Bridge https://tinyurl.com/mr298ej2
Love Our LGBTQ History Rainbow Honor Walk http://rainbowhonorwalk.org/
Champagne & Oysters Billingsgate https://www.billingsgatesf.com
Michelin-Worthy Dinner and Show Berber
https://www.berbersf.com
More Michelin Stars
Atelier Crenn
https://www.ateliercrenn.com
Garden Dinner Under the Stars Fable https://www.fablesf.com
A Taste of Spain
Canela
https://canelasf.com
Movie and Dinner
Foreign Cinema
http://foreigncinema.com
Concert & Cocktails
Feinstein’s at the Nikko https://tinyurl.com/bdf6jhuu
Put on the Ritz Ritz Carlton, Half Moon Bay https://tinyurl.com/45stsfjk
Emmy Award-winning radio and television personality Liam Mayclem is regularly featured on KPIX as well as KCBS, where he is the popular Foodie Chap. Born in London, Mayclem is now at home in the Bay Area, where he lives with his husband, photographer Rick Camargo.
For more information: https://www.bookliam.com/
“But first let’s distinguish between a sin and a crime. It’s also a sin to lack charity with one another.” He further clarified, “When I said it is a sin, I was simply referring to Catholic moral teaching, which says that every sexual act outside of marriage is a sin.
By Sister Dana Van Iquity
Sister Dana sez, “May I be the first to wish you a Happy Valentine’s Day, although this is really just a Hallmark Cards way of exploiting a monk who was tortured, beheaded, martyred, and buried on February 14! But Happy V.D., everyone!”
We were awfully saddened that we loyal and long-standing patrons of HARVEY’S (500 Castro Street) were surprised by the sudden announcement of this LGBTQ historical landmark’s closure after 27 years in the gayborhood. But we troupers got one last chance to say goodbye. Harvey’s employee and drag performer extraordinaire Jason Sene ca (aka emcee Christina Ashton), community activist Gary Virginia, and others put together “ONE LAST NIGHT WITH FRIENDS,” a drag and talent marathon on Saturday, January 28, from 4 pm to 2 am. Sister Dana was happily present from 5 pm to 11 pm—especially for the big climax of the day’s entire cast assembled on stage performing to the oh so apropos “We Are Family,” as we in the audience gaily sang along. This was a special benefit for the staff of Harvey’s employees. To name just a few of the stellar performers: the CHERrific Christina Ashton, Olivia Hart, Kelly Rose, Kipper Snacks, Sheena Rose, Tawdry Hepburnn, Lulu Ramirez, Adam Hale, and chanteuse Carly Ozard It was really amusing during Drag Queen Roulette—making the performers try to awkwardly lip-sync to various songs they had not the advantage of practicing ahead of time. And on a serious note, Reverend John M. Brett said a prayer and got all of us stomping our feet in rhythm while chanting over and over, “This is a QUEER Space!” as a strong message to the future use of the sanctified building that was Harvey’s. But before the Harvey’s closing extravaganza was another event at a bar in the Castro, Moby Dick’s. It was us Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence’s monthly fundraiser, CLOWNF#-KERS, featuring all kinds of delicious drag performances flawlessly emceed by Empress Alexis Miranda & Sister Anni Coque l’Doo
In DIShonor of BLACK HISTORY
MONTH, at least 18 states enacted legislation to limit the teaching of “divisive concepts” or CRT (Critical Race Theory), because I’m guessing we’re just supposed to completely ignore that whole history of slavery thing. NOT!!!
Sister Dana sez,“Okay, yes, I’ll confess. I have hidden away many, many top secret, classified documents in my bathroom!”
Pope Francis has declared that laws criminalizing homosexuality are “unjust” and that “being homosexual is not a crime.” He noted that the church’s official teaching states that homosexual acts are sinful, or “intrinsically disordered.” He continued,
Sister Dana sez, “So Pope says it’s okay to be gay—but not sexual about it. And that doesn’t let unmarried humping homos off the hook either!”
Good news: Michigan Democrats are seeking to codify LGBTQ CIVIL RIGHTS protections and are confident of the bill passing, as Democrats have the majority in both chambers of Legislature for the first time in 40 years. Bad news: Meanwhile, Florida athletes may soon be required to submit their menstrual history and menstrual period cycles to schools. Sister Dana sez, “That would be a VIOLATION of civil rights, and that is wrong.
PERIOD!”
2358 MRKT held a festive reception on February 2, FROM CRUSTACEANS TO CRITTERS, where 13 Bay Artists are displaying their work. The theme of this new show is animals. Be it from the ocean to the sky, animals have inspired and captivated us. My personal faves are Elliott C Nathan’s pop-eyed octopus creatures (#9, #18, and #19).
I gave this artist rave reviews in the past for his 3-D glasses pieces (alas sans glasses this time). Other faves of mine are Clint Fredric Wiater with #11 depicting lizard people on segways, and #21 and #29 as well;
Amanda Peugnet’s yarn and fabric pieces (#10 with ants that crawl your wall and #23 with a fly on the wall; creepy yet creative); and Yan Jun
Dong’s strikingly gorgeous #26 Peacock King. Hurry to see these beautiful beasties, because the show changes on February 13. https://www.2358mrkt.com/ We should reinstate the ASSAULT WEAPONS BAN we passed in 1994. How many more American lives must be taken until we say ENOUGH?!
Sister Dana sez, “It is appalling to realize that so far there have been more mass shootings than days in the Year 2023.”
STRUT’s monthly art gallery presents “RISE OF THE SUPERQUEERO!”—the art of Cheyne Gallarde, a queer artist who was born and raised in Hawaii. Cheyne’s art reimagines drag queens and LGBTQ icons as modern-day
superheroes and villains plucked from the pages of the vintage comics he grew up with. At the art reception on February 3, I was exhilarated to view 18 queer heroes ranging from the past (Sylvester, Divine, Phyllis Lyon & Del Martin, and Gilbert Baker) to the present (Peaches Christ, Miss Major, and Coco Peru). Come get inspired at 470 Castro Street! https://www.sfaf.org/
And just one night after that, STRUT was excited to have new art from THE QUEER ANCESTORS PROJECT on February 4 on the third floor, celebrating the work created by emerging queer and trans artists. This was an Artist Reception, Print Sale, and Button-Making activity (and yes, of course Sister Dana got his button made). Almost a dozen artists were present, along with their Creative Director Katie Gilmartin
My favorite linocuts are There’s No Hells on Wheels Like Dykes on Bikes by Karishma Johnson; Time Travelling Chinese Cowboys of Vis Valley by Jasmine Liang; and appealing to my fierce activist heart, The Great Work Begins by Mar Valle. I wish I had column space to quote each one’s fullpage bio and revealing, candid explanations—but you can do that when you check out these gems yourself.
SOMA SECOND SATURDAYS events resume on February 11 with a fun GAMES DAY indoors at the NEW Folsom Street Community Center, 1286 Folsom Street @ 9th, noon to 5 pm. Games may include: Kinky Pictionary, KINKO!, “South of the Slot” Trivia, UNO Dare!, and other favorites. Free snacks and soft drinks! This is a joint project of the LEATHER & LGBTQ CULTURAL DISTRICT, FOLSOM STREET, and SOMA WEST COMMUNITY BENEFIT DISTRICT. https://www.sflcd.org/ Sister Dana sez, “Since Trump has pleaded the Fifth Amendment over 400 times during his deposition, I think we deserve to plead the 14th Amendment (Section 3) and bar him from ever holding office again!”
RICHMOND/ERMET AID
FOUNDATION presents the Broadway touring cast of “MEAN GIRLS.” These mean girls are anything but mean, and this will be a show not to miss as they raise funds for REAF and BROADWAY
While you won’t hear the music from
(continued on page 32)
Polley for Women Talking and Baz Luhrmann for Elvis. Ron Howard, who captured the true story of Thirteen Lives, and the two journalists who fought to tell the Harvey Weinstein story, She Said, seem to have been forgotten.
Jan
WahlLast year at this time I was in cinematic heaven. Coda was one of the finest films that I had seen in a long time, and the movie was up for Oscar gold. It is so rare that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and I agree on anything, but this time last year they got it right. Coda is a powerful musical drama concerning a deaf family and their hearing daughter. Troy Kotsur took home the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, Sian Heder also won in the Best Adapted Screenplay category. The film additionally received the coveted Best Picture honor. Very few remember all of this, however, since it was also the year Will Smith used violence onstage, punching Chris Rock. All is not lost this go around. There were some fine movies I was seriously rooting for and hope you will check out on your own. Strong, charismatic women fronted Good Luck to You, Leo Grande and Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris. Two remarkable directors somehow are out of the Oscar running: Sarah
This bypassing of my favorites goes back a long time with the Academy. I am still trying to get over Judy Garland not taking home the gold for A Star Is Born, Gloria Swanson not winning for Sunset Boulevard, and Ruth Chatterton similarly not being honored for Dodsworth. These were films that were released before I was born, but they and their key performances still knock me out today. We all have our favorites that have been overlooked, but composer Johnny Mercer—who received 18 nominations and four wins—tells us, “You’ve got to accentuate the positive.”
The Fabelmans, Steven Spielberg’s semiautobiographical tale of a young filmmaker, is up for awards in many categories. The film, which Spielberg cowrote and produced with the great Tony Kushner, fills the screen with hope and humor.
White Lotus star Jennifer Coolidge said during an acceptance speech
that it’s not over till you’re dead, and Spielberg’s terrific movie made possible composer John Williams being the oldest Oscars nominee at 90 and actor Judd Hirsch, 87, as the second oldest in his category. Hirsch is back in awards contention 42 years after his first Oscar recognition for his per-
formance in Ordinary People, surpassing Henry Fonda, who experienced a lag of 41 years between his nominations. Michelle Williams snagged a nomination for playing a loving, eccentric mother in The Fabelmans, but the award will probably go to Cate Blanchett for the overrated Tar or the fabulous Michelle Yeoh in Everything Everywhere All at Once. Yeoh is a frontrunner and I’m hoping it will be her year.
Everything Everywhere All at Once, with its time travel and fantasy themes, is not in my favorite genre, but it does offer a rare chance to celebrate the Asian immigrant family experience and has a strong, feisty mother at its core. Supporting Actor nominee Ke Huy Quan could easily win, reminding us of his childhood roles in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and Goonies
Fierce Angela Bassett—one of the most beautiful women I have ever interviewed—will most likely win as well, receiving the
Supporting Actress Oscar for Black
Panther:
Wakanda
Forever. Hers is the first acting nomination for a Marvel picture, and that is one popular franchise.
It was a stretch for usually hunky Colin Farrell to play a dumped friend who can’t let go in The Banshees of
Melbourne, Kol (Elias Anton) gets a frantic call from his bestie, Ebony (Hattie Hook), who awoke on a beach and now has no idea where she is. Ebony asks Kol to contact her older brother Adam—whom Kol has never met—to come get her. While on the drive, Kol and Adam chat about films and books, and at one point, Adam reveals he is gay. Kol struggles initially to process this information because he is immensely attracted to Adam.
The crux of Of an Age is how Stolevski chronicles the relationship between these two young men through their furtive glances and unspoken desires. When Adam takes off his shirt, Kol cannot help but stare. When Adam loans Kol one of his shirts, Kol practically feels like he is being hugged by
Adam. The film builds the sexual tension between the guys.
Stolevski effectively films much of Of an Age in closeup to convey the intimacy of Kol and Adam’s relationship as it develops over time. The filmmaker chatted with me for the San Francisco Bay Times about his emotionally powerful new film.
Gary M. Kramer: What I most responded to in your film is this feeling of disorientation the characters have. Your film’s style and structure convey this disorientation as well. Can you talk about creating this feeling that has viewers constantly recalibrating?
Goran Stolevski: I think that’s one of the things that drives me. The characters are present in a certain feeling. You get a sense of electricity that something is going on, and you gradually pick up what is going on and what the context is. I love getting that feeling when I am watching a film or reading. So, I’m always trying to create that. It’s funny you framed it in this context. That feeling of disorientation is very key to being a teenager. You are so lost in the moment; everything is overwhelming all the time—as everything was for me at that age.
Gary M. Kramer: Can you talk about creating the characters? Ebony is gloriously shrill. Adam is confident, knowledgeable,
Inisherin. All five men in the Lead Actor group are first-time nominees, though it seems as if Brendan Fraser and Bill Nighy have been around forever. It is young Austin Butler who made the role of Elvis his own. He blew me away with his dramatic transitions as well as his musical moves and singing. I’m hoping for Austin or Nighy, though Nighy keeps telling us he never watches himself or his films. He’s missing a lot!
The eligibility period for Academy Awards consideration—2022’s full calendar year—was a bit of a weird one, filmwise. We went from cosmic family fantasy (Everything Everywhere) to dark character study (Tar), to big scale military (Top Gun: Maverick). There is a certain popularism represented by Top Gun, All Quiet on the Western Front, Elvis, the intimate drama Women Talking, and Avatar: The Way of Water. This makes me miss movies that woke up the world, such as Brokeback Mountain, Carol, The Imitation Game, The Man with the Golden Arm, and Coda, to name a few. The good news is that there will be a celebration of cinema soon—the 95th Academy Awards will be on March 12—and I’m on board for that!
Jan Wahl is a Hollywood historian, film critic on various broadcast outlets, and has her own YouTube channel series, “Jan Wahl Showbiz.” She has two Emmys and many awards for her longtime work on behalf of film buffs and the LGBTQ community. Contact her at www.janwahl.com
worldly, and seductive. Kol is innocent and angsty, curious and fragile, but he becomes empowered.
Goran Stolevski: I never grew up wanting to be seen on screen myself, but the feelings of that time are more important to me. The characters start with a feeling. When I work with actors, I fall in love with them, and want to preserve what I see is beautiful about them. There is also an essence to the person playing that I want to capture in the film as well. There is a magic to them that I don’t want to dominate.
Gary M. Kramer: I’m curious about how you filmed faces and bodies here. Can you talk about filming the actors in this way to create longing?
Goran Stolevski: It comes from what this person feels in this moment. How do I connect with them? I want the viewer to feel that they are the characters in this moment; nothing is present except this sliver of his face and the person in front of him in this moment. That is going to be a massive closeup. Every frame and edit are shaped around what the characters
are feeling, and how I make the viewer feel [based on this]. The stories I write are more about looking for connection and intimacy, even more than words. What are the eyes saying? Even in the edit, it is about what the eyes are doing at all times. To me, the closeup is the master shot. It’s the most important one. I want to capture feelings when they are at their rawest.
Gary M. Kramer: There are discussions of masculinity and gay characters’ stereotypes throughout the film. Can you discuss this and how you want to represent these gay men, and the men around them? I was
Michele Karlsberg: In Western countries, 15% of female-female relationships and 25% of male-male unions are age-gap romances. Agegap romances took the spotlight in the book world more than usual last year and are still riding high in 2023. In
author Felice Cohen’s candid comingof-age memoir—as compelling as a novel—Cohen chronicles the happiness and heartbreak of an age-gap love affair while struggling to figure out the direction of her future. Ultimately, this is a story about navigating life’s unpredictable path while following one’s heart, and finding acceptance. In a recent conversation with me, she spoke about how much readers love age-gap romances and why. I thought it would be perfect to share her thoughts as a Valentine’s gift for you.
Felice Cohen: I’m a sucker for a juicy, sapphic, age-gap romance book. You know the ones. The professor and her student, the CEO and her employee. If you crave them too, you’re not alone. Age-gap romances are one of the most popular forbidden love tropes in Sapphic Land. Just
My Government Means to Kill Me (fiction - hardbound) by Rasheed Newsom
This is a fierce and riveting queer comingof-age story following the personal and political awakening of a young gay Black man in 1980s New York City, from the television drama writer and producer of The Chi, Narcos, and Bel-Air. It is vibrant, humorous, and fraught with entanglements.
You Don’t Know Us Negroes and Other Essays (nonfiction/essays - paperback) by
Zora Neale Hurston
This collection is the quintessential gathering of provocative essays from one of the world’s most celebrated writers, Zora Neale Hurston. Spanning more than three decades and penned during the birth of the Harlem Renaissance through the early days of the civil rights movement, Hurston’s writing articulates the beauty and authenticity of Black life. Collectively, these essays showcase the roles enslavement and Jim Crow have played in intensifying Black culture rather than destroying it.
The Black Period: On Personhood, Race, and Origin (nonfiction - hardbound)
by Hafizah Augustus Geter
Recalling her parents’ lessons on the art of Black revision, and mixing history, political analysis, and cultural criticism, alongside stunning original artworks created by her father, renowned artist Tyrone Geter, Hafizah maps out her own narrative, weaving between a childhood populated with Southern and Nigerian relatives. All throughout, she forms a new personal and collective history, addressing the systems of inequity that make life difficult for non-able-bodied persons, queer people, and communities of color while capturing a world brimming with potential, art, music, hope, and love.
how much do we love these books? Let me count the ways:
1. Exploring this societal “forbidden love” between two women with a significant age difference is a tantalizing and compelling theme.
2. Age-gap books add an element of power dynamics or mentorship with one character being more experienced and mature and the other being more naïve and vulnerable.
3. Mainstream media rarely features
older female characters. These books allow for a wider, more diverse range of experiences and viewpoints in love and relationships.
4. Age-gap relationships are often stigmatized. These books challenge those societal expectations, showing that love knows no bounds.
5. Offering a different perspective on love can be refreshing and thoughtprovoking.
6. Reading about characters who share similar identities or experiences can affirm and empower readers.
7. They’re just plain romantic. Before sapphic, age-gap romance books were all the rage, I was knee deep in a real-life age-gap relationship. At 23, shortly after graduating college, I fell in love with
my boss, Sarah, a 57-year-old woman. This was the early 90s. Before “love is love” it was, “Don’t ask, don’t tell,” a motto we took to heart. The only book reflecting anything close to our situation was The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith, the first of its kind to give two women a happy ending. However, their age difference was a fraction of our 34 years. Not seeing our story reflected in the media instilled in me that what we were doing was wrong and made me feel ashamed, a weight I carried for three decades. In my quest to get over the shame, I wrote the age-gap book I wish I had had then. Half In: A Coming-of-Age Memoir of Forbidden Love details our love story and reads like a novel. Despite the love we felt for each other, it was our fear of what others would think that drove us apart.
(continued on page 32)
Black on Both Sides: A Racial History of Trans Identity by C. Riley Snorton
This is a rigorously researched and beautifully written history of the intersection between Blackness and Trans identity.
The Price of The Ticket: Collected Nonfiction 1948–1985 by James Baldwin
This work is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the African American experience or America itself, written by one of the greatest prose stylists the English language has ever produced.
A Burst of Light and Other Essays by Audre Lorde
A Black lesbian poet’s essays on feminism, motherhood, cancer, and antiracism, A Burst of Light and Other Essays was intersectional before the term came into common use. Lorde’s deeply moving voice inspires profound reflection and, one hopes, a commitment to progressive action.
https://www.fabulosabooks.com/
Upcoming Events
Wednesday, February 15 @ 5 pm (free, SF Ferry Building) Malcolm Harris, author of Palo Alto: A History of California, Capitalism and the World In Palo Alto, the first comprehensive, global history of Silicon Valley, Malcolm Harris examines how and why Northern California evolved in the particular, consequential way it did, tracing the ideologies, technologies, and policies that have been engineered there over the course of 150 years of Anglo settler colonialism, from IQ tests to the “tragedy of the commons,” racial genetics, and “broken windows” theory; the internet and computers, too.
Wednesday, February 15 @ 5:30 pm (free, live online) Roberto Lavato, author of Unforgetting, and Raina Leon, author of black god mother this body
In honor of Black History Month and recognizing the importance of uplifting diverse voices and stories now and throughout the year, we are presenting our Annual Race in America event.
Unforgetting is an urgent, no-holds-barred tale of gang life, guerrilla warfare, intergenerational trauma, and interconnected violence between the United States and El Salvador. Roberto Lovato’s memoir excavates family history and reveals the intimate stories beneath headlines about gang violence and mass Central American migration, one of the most important, yet least-understood humanitarian crises of our time—and one in which the perspectives of Central Americans in the U.S. have been silenced and forgotten.
In black god mother this body, Raina Leon offers what a godmother should offer: a portal to infinite divine possibility, a safe space to learn something new, and multi-faceted generosity. These are poems that mother, mentor, and mend, and that you want to break open again. L
Saturday, February 18 @ 4 pm (free, Corte Madera) Sonora Jha, author of The Laughter
A white male college professor develops a dangerous obsession with his new Pakistani colleague in this modern, iconoclastic novel. An explosive, tense, and illuminating work of fiction, The Laughter is a fascinating portrait of privilege, radicalization, class, and modern academia that forces us to confront the assumptions we make, as both readers and as citizens.
https://www.bookpassage.com/
I have wanted to write about Queer comedians for a while, especially since, early in my career, I made the mistake of saying in print that white feminists didn’t have a sense of humor. I am still paying for that!
In 1979, I was on a chartered bus to the first LGBT March on
Washington. I was shy because I didn’t know anyone. A woman at the front started playing a cassette of comedian Robyn Tyler that made us all roar together like we’d known each other all our lives; and made me eat my words. Even the male, African American bus driver, who looked stereotypically “not-gay,” was laughing along and able to make eye contact at the next rest stops. The title of Tyler’s show was Always a Bridesmaid Never a Groom, which held true until 1998 when she was among the early couples to marry in California.
Recently, my spouse was listening on her device to Sandy Toksvig, a Danish/British comedian and activist. The talk show host asked Toksvig why she had received her OBE honor from the Queen. Toksvig said: “I can’t remember now. I think it was for services to women. And that’s fair: I’ve serviced a lot of women!” Who could resist that?
Coming from several different groups that have used humor to assuage the oppression by the dominant culture, I think it is valuable to think out loud about laughing; how it educates us about
ourselves and how we need to seek it out for our health.
Since my ill-fated comment, I keep meeting funny lesbians of all colors: Marga Gomez (no relation), who tours the country and her shows have the best titles—Spanking Machine, for example.
Even when lesbians were not out back in the day, they were funny. Moms Mabley (1894–1975), who appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show dressed like a granny with no teeth, was, in fact, a dapper butch. Her comedy routines were built around her famous line, “There’s nothing an old man can do for me but introduce me to a young man.” This was especially funny to the many in the audience who knew her as a lesbian.
Marsha Warfield is a comic actor, now on 911. She came to fame on the original Night Court TV show in 1984. She played the court bailiff, looking hot in her uniform. My gaydar was clicking and blinking but the confirmation didn’t come until I saw her do a standup comedy show after Night Court went off the air.
Danitra Vance (1954–1994)
blazed across our sky for such a brief, starry time. She appeared on Saturday Night Live in 1985, where she wasn’t used nearly as much as she should have been. But she came out before she passed away and had a hysterical routine for lesbians about a vibrator made by Black and Decker!
Most oppressed groups have found humor to be a “way through no way.”
Once I moved to California, I developed a deeper love for comedians especially after I met Karen Williams, who is African American. She has been a standup comic for more than 30 years as well as an educator
and founder of the Ha Ha Institute, ( https://hahainstitute.com/ ) which teaches how humor can be used for healing.
Now there are even more lesbian comedians out there—from Hannah Gadsby to Wanda Sykes—and here is a site where you can find one to tickle your laugh-o-meter: https://tinyurl.com/32b4sayw
Even though lesbians are still barely visible in the culture, we have come a long way since those old days. But blessings on YouTube because we can see any of these lesbian comedians who can still make us laugh, show us the roots of our contemporary talent, and keep us moving toward liberation.
Jewelle Gomez is a lesbian/feminist activist, novelist, poet, and playwright. She’s written for “The Advocate,” “Ms. Magazine,” “Black Scholar,” “The San Francisco Chronicle,” “The New York Times,” and “The Village Voice.” Follow her on Instagram and Twitter @VampyreVamp
Tales From Two Wheels
The first time I rode a motorcycle, I peed my pants. Probably. I mean, I was 2 years old, and if my mom’s countless retelling of the number of diapers I went through is accurate, riding with a soiled diaper is not out of the realm of possibility.
My dad owned a 1976 Honda CB750 that I don’t remember him riding much. According to his own
recollection, one day he took it out for a spin and a 2-year-old me climbed on the gas tank. We rode it around the block while my mom frantically ran in the house to get her camera. For years, any time I had to bring a baby photo to school for craft projects, I used the photo she took that day.
My name is Clara. I was born and raised in Los Angeles. I have been openly queer since I was 12 years old—a privilege I had growing up in a queer-friendly city and having queer people around me during my upbringing.
In 2018, my girlfriend and I attended our first San Francisco Pride Parade. We stood on the corner of Market Street and 5th Street. As soon as the parade started, and we heard the sound of the engines roar to life in the distance, we knew the SF Dykes on Bikes® WMC (Women’s Motorcycle Contingent) were getting ready. Shortly after they passed by, my girlfriend and I looked at each other and decided it would be one of our life goals to ride with them some day.
My girlfriend became a patch-holder first. She was the experienced rider and it just made sense. I didn’t realize that they welcomed non-riders. In early 2022, I declared my intent to prospect. In April, I got my motorcycle license. By June, I was able to ride my own 2015 Honda Shadow in the San Francisco Pride Parade.
The San Francisco Dykes on Bikes® WMC is a very special organization. It is such a privilege and honor to be allowed to carry the Dykes on Bikes® WMC patch on my vest. I’ve loved every moment of my time with this group. The long overnight rides, the single-day rides, the short trips around the city, the dinners, and even the virtual Zoom meetings warm my heart and make me feel so good about being a part of the group.
I am also happy to report that I no longer pee my pants when I ride. https://www.dykesonbikes.org/
Grand Duke XVI Bruce Harrelson (deceased)
Colors: gold and blue
Symbol: golden falcon
Favorite quote: “We need to amend the constitution.”
Grand Duchess XVII Collette
LeGrande Ashton
Colors: silver and purple
When a candidate campaigns to become a Grand Duke or Grand Duchess, there is always a representation of colors that allows voters to know who they are voting for. In most cases, candidates will also have a “catchphrase” and a coronation theme for their step-down. Here is a look back at what those were from 1989–1993.
1989–1990
The 17th Royal House of The Golden Falcon and The Platinum Brick
Symbol: platinum brick
Always saying: “Don’t go there.”
Coronation theme: “Karnival in Kiev
- A Russian Mardi Gras”
The 17th Royal House ushered in Grand Duchess Collette LeGrandAshton. LeGrand has made a longlasting impact on the Grand Ducal Council. Her dedication is as strong as her chosen title of “Platinum Brick,” as she chose this title in cheeky reference to the overinflated titles monarchs usually bestow upon themselves as they step-up. Her dedication would eventually lead to serving on the Board, as Prime Minister, Heir Apparent, and on the Executive Board. She would also serve a second time as Grand Duchess in the 33rd Royal House, and was part of the unforgettable trio of Donna
Persona, Mark Nassar, and LeGrande. They were the writers of the immersive play Compton’s Cafeteria Riot, which dramatized the August 1966 riot of transgender women that began in Gene Compton’s Cafeteria three years prior to Stonewall. Grand Duchess XVII is a legend within the LGBTQ community and beyond, and you will learn more about her here in the months to come.
1990–1991
The 18th Royal House of The Leather Teddy Bear and The Chiffon
Swan
Grand Duke XVII Mr. Eddie (deceased)
Colors: blue and silver
Symbol: teddy bear
Grand Duchess XVIII Davida
Colors: red, gold, purple
Symbol: chiffon swan
Coronation theme: “From Renaissance to Glasnost: A Russian Fantasy”
Grand Duchess XVIII Davida touts that her reign’s court was the first and only one to have held its coronation at
the world-famous Bimbo’s 365 Club. The coronation sold out, so standingroom-only tickets were offered and they sold out too!
1991–1992
The 19th Royal House of Lighting and Fire
Grand Duke XVIII Michael Vaticano
Colors: black and blue
Symbol: black stallion
Grand Duchess XIX Hel’n Back (deceased)
Colors: red and black
Symbol: pitchfork Always saying: “I don’t do anything traditional.”
Coronation theme: “An Afternoon in New York, An Evening in Moscow”
1992–1993
The 20th Royal House of The Mallard Quill and The Golden Bell
Grand Duke XIX Joe Shore
Symbol: leather duck
Grand Duchess XX Barbie Q Hayes
Symbol: petticoat tourist
Coronation Theme: “Moscow is Burning- A 20 Year Extravaganza”
Many of the Ducal Court’s former monarchs have been well-known public figures outside of drag. This was the case with the reign of XX Barbie Q Hayes. She was a recipient of two Emmy Awards for the work she did on PBS. The Grand Ducal Council is so very proud of all of its past and current monarchs!
On September 22, 2023, the Grand Ducal Council of San Francisco will celebrate 50 years of Camp and Fundraising. The celebration will take place at the Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. Please consider becoming a sponsor.
Inquiries: 50thanniversary@sfducal.org
Tickets ($80) will go on sale from March 1, 2023–August 25, 2023, with a hard stop on that final date. Save the dates then both for your ticket purchases and for this once-in-a-lifetime historic event!
https://www.sfducal.org/
Kippy Marks is Grand Duke XL of The Grand Ducal Council of San Francisco. He is the first ever elected African-American Grand Duke.
These sensual glamor shots, taken in the 1980s, show the deep love between partners Frederick Schoonmaker and Alfred Parkinson (wearing the hat). The couple met in San Francisco and lived fascinating lives, but are most remembered for their attempt to start an intentional queer utopian community in the Nevada desert.
Called Stonewall Park, the town would have been a “safe and peaceful place” where they and other gay and interracial couples could live without interference. Their first two attempted land purchases were thwarted by significant local homophobia and racism, and their final attempt was the successful purchase of land near Thunder Mountain in rural Pershing County, Nevada. Work on the town quickly halted, however, after continued opposition and threats. The venture left Schoonmaker and Parkinson destitute. Schoonmaker was diagnosed with AIDS in 1987, and he died the same year, after which Parkinson returned to San Francisco.
This photo is part of the Frederick Schoonmaker Papers (collection no. 199015) held by the GLBT Historical Society, and is one of more than 1,000 individual archival collections that reveal a vast array of LGBTQ life, history, and culture. From drag outfits and massive flags, to deeply personal diaries and correspondence, to organizational records, historic bar signs, ephemera, and more, our archival holdings make up one of the largest collections of LGBTQ historical materials ever assembled.
We share our collection highlights at our museum, located at 4127 18th Street in the Castro district. Our archives, located downtown at 989 Market Street, are open by appointment to anyone interested in diving deeper into queer history. To book your visit to the GLBT Historical Society’s archives or museum, or to make a contribution to support the organization’s work, visit https://www.glbthistory.org/
The GLBT Historical Society maintains a strong commitment to documenting the diverse lives of LGBTQ communities and is especially interested in receiving and preserving archival collections that focus on the intersectional experiences of women, people of color, transgender and nonbinary people. If you have materials such as these and are interested in donating them, please consider contacting our archives staff at reference@glbthistory.org
Crystal at Fitness SF Mid-Market
“There are so many great reasons to Foam Roll before exercising. This activity increases your range of motion, improves mobility, promotes better comfort, and can help release muscle knots.”
“My name is Arturo! I am a oneyear-old, male, Labrador Retriever mix looking for my forever family! I love to go for walks, ziggzagging my way from one sniff to another. Sniff, sniff, sniff! I believe I am a lap dog and will fold myself into origami shapes to fit any sized lap. With positive, consistent training and encouragement, I will zoom to the head of the class. Or at least zigzag there. Do you think I might be your one and only, but need to make sure it’s a good fit first? You can foster me to find out! If you’d like to do a week-long foster trial period with me, with the end goal of adopting me, please come check me out at the Mission Adoption Center. Let’s meet!”
Arturo
If you wish to meet Arturo, you can also do so virtually before choosing to adopt. For more information, please email adoptions@sfspca.org
Arturo is presented to San Francisco Bay Times readers by Dr. Jennifer Scarlett, the SF SPCA’s CEO. Our thanks also go to Paradise Osorio for helping to get the word out about lovable pets like Arturo.
To meet Arturo in person, visit the SF SPCA Mission Campus @ 201 Alabama Street. It is open for appointments from 10 am–6 pm (Monday–Wednesday, Friday–Sunday) and 1 pm–6 pm on Thursdays.
For more information: https://www.sfspca.org/adoptions/
Tore Kelly, Director of Creative & Social Media for Fitness SF, provides monthly tips that he has learned from professional trainers. For more information: https://fitnesssf.com/
dominate the wine list with unusual choices: on one visit, we selected a white Vermentino from Dunnigan Hills that was crisp, light, and a perfect complement to our meal.
For our second visit, the Scribe Rosé delivered a Provence-style wine, both clean and dry.
Amidst warehouses, new residential and office buildings, and showrooms south of Market in San Francisco’s design district sits an unlikely culinary find: namely, Rosemary & Pine, at the site of the old Skool restaurant.
Visiting is a bit of an enchanting urban adventure: on a less-populated corner, you enter through a gate to a lush and verdant garden that dispels the concrete jungle behind. The outdoor courtyard and its black and white bistro chairs beckon, as if dining in a quiet magical garden. But the chic, modern interior tempts, as it’s all abuzz with fun and laughter. Both options are equally worthy.
The name itself? A bit of an insider’s joke. Colleagues of then-newbie
Chef Dustin Falcon, who used to work at Thomas Keller’s Ad Hoc restaurant in Yountville, asked him to get some rosemary from the garden. He came back with a bunch of pine branches amidst a smattering of rosemary—a mistake that he humorously embraced, and now proudly wears as the name of this California cuisine restaurant.
Chef Falcon’s credits are noteworthy: he’s helped Niku Steakhouse earn a Michelin star, and still remains at the helm there. Rosemary & Pine is a departure for the Omakase Group that owns both restaurants, as well as Dumpling Time, Okane, and the signature Omakase restaurant. It’s the group’s first foray beyond Asian cuisine, one that embraces the regional roots of the Golden State.
What an embrace it is! This is truly one of the best new restaurants to open in San Francisco in a long time. I like to call it “appetizing alchemy,” because of the creative way Chef Falcon reinvents California cuisine. It’ not just invigorating—it’s mouthwatering and delicious.
Beverage director Michael Hart (of Lusk fame) gets the alchemy going with mixology that tends towards gin and tequila. On one visit with just my husband, we sampled the “Pear Necessity,” a sweet/sour concoction consisting of vodka, lemongrass, sherry, pear, ginger, lemon, and elderflower tonic. The hubby declared it “divine.”
On our second visit, we came with a gay gaggle. Besides ordering more traditional martinis and negronis, we tried the “Walk The Pine.” That drink creatively combines gin, mezcal, pine eau de vie, brucato chaparral, vermouth, and strega (an Italian herbal liquor). Our fussy group declared it a winner as well. California varietals
Moving on to the meals, the menu changes constantly. That makes for a welcome and different experience each time. When we visited, these were some of the standouts: the persimmon, chicory salad fused sweet, sour, salty, and tangy flavors in an umami start to the meal, dotted with pickled red onion, and candied hazelnuts. The Kusshi oysters had an unusual but bright blood orange mignonette with serrano chili that packed a punch (although one member of our group commented they could have been colder). The crispy burrata with pistachio pesto and basil oil could have been straight from Puglia, it was that good. Sweet and crunchy notes amplified a seasonal kabocha squash soup (enhanced with pickled apple and candied walnut).
The pastas—all made in house— are a highlight of the menu. On the first visit, we chose the delicata squash agnolotti with pepitas, pomegranate, and pear—an imaginative and unexpected combination, which we declared “fall/winter pillows of deliciousness.” On our follow-up visit, our party sampled the delectable squid ink tonnarelli. The dish imaginatively blends Maine lobster, Calabrian chili, ginger, garlic, tomatoes, and gremolata. That even pleased our two guests who live part-time in Orvieto!
Great entrée choices include: a moist, perfectly-cooked pork chop with mustard sauce; and the freshfrom-the-sea black cod with artichoke, Tokyo turnip, small binjte potatoes (originally bred in the Netherlands), and Meyer lemon (yum). Don’t forget the sides; they’re as distinctive as the entrées. On the first visit, we tried the binjte potatoes with cheese; and on the second, the distinctive Iacopi Farms Brussels sprouts with persimmon jam (almost like balsamic).
Finally, desserts are a must. The sunchoke crème br û lée might be my new favorite dessert of the year: the creaminess of the custard combines well with the savory quality of sunchoke. But the brioche bread pudding with olallieberries, white chocolate, blackberries, and blueberries shined prominently as well.
By the way, I’d like to give a special shout-out to server Angelina, who served our enthusiastic but discerning group with aplomb. The service is professional, timely, and friendly.
All in all, add Rosemary & Pine to your “go-to” dining list. It’s appetizing alchemy at its best.
Bits and Bites
Usually, I’m pretty supportive of restaurant policies. Yet, there’s one that recently has gotten, in my humble opinion, out of hand: that of cancellation policies. I understand that restaurant patrons flake on their reservations, so restaurants have instituted a penalty fee—generally $25 per person—for cancellations within 24 hours. Mostly, I agree with that policy. However, during the torrential rainstorms a few weeks ago, I had reserved
at Madera at the Rosewood in Menlo Park for a friend’s birthday. The weather prediction was for a severe storm that Saturday. I called on Thursday to say, would they make an exception, given the unusual weather, and let me decide to go Saturday during the day, depending on the weather? They initially said no, but then the manager called back (because I suspect they found out I write for this newspaper) and said they would eliminate the charge “this time.” I cancelled the reservation. I would hope that a luxury property—or any restaurant, in fact—would use good judgment in exceptional situations with these policies in the future.
The Wine Spectator Best Wine Values list is out, with the #1 entry hailing from Napa Valley: Beaulieu Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 2019.
Anomaly SF has just opened on the ground floor of an Edwardian building in San Francisco’s Lower Pacific Heights neighborhood. According to the establishment, it will offer “a whimsical tasting menu built upon seasonal ingredients, precise technique, and an element of surprise.” Chefowner Mike Lanham hailed previously from Spruce, Commis, and
time there, either watching drag shows or sipping cocktails outside on the corner of 18th and Castro with our dogs in tow.
You will be missed. Maybe someone will bring back the original Elephant Walk?
There were eighteen local semi-finalists nominated for 2023 James Beard Foundation Awards this year.
Bird Dog. The 11-course prix-fixe menu will change seasonally and is priced at $121/person.
Cavaña , San Francisco’s newest rooftop cocktail bar, recently opened atop Mission Bay’s newest hotel, LUMA Hotel San Francisco. The new destination describes itself as “a mosaic of flavors from Central and South America and the Caribbean, offering elevated, shareable plates. They are served alongside a one-of-akind beverage program consisting of modern and innovative cocktails. Those concoctions feature an expansive collection of sugarcane and agave distillates, and unique Latin ingredients.”
A fond adieu to personal favorite Harvey’s, which closed recently in the Castro. I’ve had many a fun
Congratulations go to: Cassava, Che Fico, Mourad, Café Ohlone, Birch & Rye, Yasukochi’s Sweet Stop, Viridian, House of Prime Rib, Lazy Bear, Trick Dog, Californios, Single Thread, Ettan, Jo’s Modern Thai, Commis, Kin Khao, Le Fantastique, and Sushi Yoshizumi
America’s LGBTQ+-owned restaurants and bars serving food can take advantage of a vital lifeline from the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce ( NGLCC ) and Grubhub, the food-ordering and delivery marketplace. The NGLCC Community Impact
Grant Program is a program made possible by a grant from the Grubhub Community Fund The grants will range from $10,000 to $25,000, and funds can be used for such purposes as updating security and security protocols, updating/purchasing new equipment, community involvement, marketing
It’s hard to believe, but Chef/ Owner Mark Dommen’s veteran eatery One Market turns 30 years old on February 16. To celebrate, the restaurant brought back a group of six prominent chefs from the restaurant’s past: Bradley Ogden, Stephen Simmons, Patti Dellamonica-Bauler, George Morrone, Joseph Humphry, and Adrian Hoffman. Each chef contributed a favorite dish inspired by their time at One Market. The six dishes will replace items on One Market’s a la carte menu through the end of February.
Through March, Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey is partnering with bars, restaurants & stores across the country to raise up to $1 million for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). The brand has pledged $1 for every Old Fashioned cocktail sold nationally through Black History Month (February) and Women’s History Month (March).
Participating local bars and restaurants include: 1 Hotel San Francisco, AU Lounge, Sequoia Diner, Alkali Rye, Social 303 Smokehouse, Local Kitchen, and The Pearl.
In partnership with Fung Collaboratives, the Redwood City Improvement Association has debuted its newest public art installation at the Art Kiosk titled Ordinary People by LGBTQIA+ artist Peter Moen The installation features more than fifty portrait paintings of LGBTQIA+ community members. This installation is on display day and night on the exterior walls of Art Kiosk (2208 Broadway Street, Redwood City) through March 12. While there, you can dine at some tempting places, like Japanese restaurant Sakura.
Rosemary & Pine: https://tinyurl.com/5euymbeh
Beaulieu Vineyard: https://tinyurl.com/enh98j43
Anomaly SF: https://tinyurl.com/mpkcvt8t
Cavana: https://tinyurl.com/2vknjccz
James Beard Foundation: https://tinyurl.com/wrmn3mwm
NGLCC Community Impact Program: https://tinyurl.com/mr4xn4wc
One Market: https://tinyurl.com/bvjheu4j
Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey: https://tinyurl.com/2p92zsch
Peter Moen exhibit in Redwood City: https://tinyurl.com/3pw8z8yr
Sakura: https://tinyurl.com/ynv3yxvx
David Landis, aka “The Gay Gourmet,” is a foodie, a freelance writer, and a retired PR maven. Follow him on Instagram @GayGourmetSF or email him at: davidlandissf@ gmail.com Or visit him online at: www.gaygourmetsf.com
Cauliflower has recently become the trendy, go-to vegetable since keto and other lowcarb diets have taken over the diet-crazed world. Its low-carb versatility is what sets it apart from other cruciferous veggies because it can be turned into any number of dishes and prepared much as a potato or other starchy vegetable would. The reason cauliflower works so well is that, even though it is very low in calories and high in fiber, it also contains its own starch, which is why it holds up well as a replacement for other carbs. You can roast, steam, fry, sauté, or grill this versatile vegetable.
Cauliflower is a cruciferous vegetable, part of the mustard family of plants. Included in this family are broccoli, Brussels sprouts, and kale. They are available in a variety of gorgeous colors, from pale orange and offwhite, to purple and green. Romanesco is a stunning pale green cauliflower with a spikelike growth pattern. Even though cauliflower grows in different colors, the flavor remains basically the same, with minor nutty sweet differentiations. All varieties have a mild neutral flavor that blends with almost everything. You’ll find almost every color of cauliflower at your local farmers’ market, even those that are not usually available at the grocery store.
This amazing vegetable is best when harvested during the winter months, bringing out its subtle but sweet flavor. Cauliflower can get bitter when the weather warms up.
Here are some great ideas for using cauliflower:
1. Cauliflower steaks: Cut one-inch-thick slabs of cauliflower, drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper, and a bit of heat like cayenne pepper, if you like, and grill or broil for about 5 to 7
minutes on each side; cook longer if you like it a bit softer.
2. Cauliflower rice: Grab a ricer, grater, or process cauliflower florets in a blender or food processor until broken into small pieces about the size of rice. Microwave it to heat it up, or add any number of veggies to make fried “rice,” Mexican “rice,” etc.
1 large head purple cauliflower, quartered
3 tablespoons olive oil, butter, or bacon drippings
1 medium onion, leek, or 2 shallots, chopped
2 tablespoons fresh parsley
Juice of 1/4 to 1/2 lemon, to taste
Salt and pepper, to taste
Trim the cauliflower by quartering it, laying a flat side on your cutting board, and making a diagonal cut to separate the florets from the core. In 4 batches, break up the florets into a food processor and pulse until the mixture resembles pebbles.
Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions, shallots, or leek, and stir to coat. Continue cooking, stirring frequently, until the onions are golden brown at the edges and have softened for about 8 minutes. If using a leek, cook 5 minutes. If using shallots, cook 2 minutes. Add cauliflower and stir to combine. Add 1 teaspoon salt, and continue to cook, stirring frequently, until the cauliflower has softened, 3 to 5 minutes. Remove from the heat. Spoon the cauliflower into a large serving bowl, garnish with parsley, sprinkle with the lemon juice, and season to taste with salt. Serve warm.
3. Cauliflower “potato” salad: Cook cauliflower gently until al dente and use the same way you would potatoes.
4. Cauliflower bites: Batter cauliflower florets, bake. Season.
5. Roasted mashed cauliflower: Toss cauliflower florets with
olive oil, salt, and pepper. Roast at 450 for 20 minutes. Then mash with a potato masher or blender. Add butter, and voila! You have mashed “potatoes!”
Purchase cauliflower at the farmers’ market to ensure justpicked freshness. Look for white or cream-colored heads that
(continued on page 32)
SISTER DANA (continued from pg 22)
their show, you can expect to hear some other fabulous songs sprinkled with a dash of comedy by other performers such as America’s Got Talent star Shawn Ryan and drag queen extraordinaire D’Arcy Drollinger at the Marines’ Memorial Theater on February 13, 7:30 pm. https://www.reaf-sf.org/ Lockdown Comedy on Zoom, now in its 3rd year, is on Thursday, February 16, 7 pm featuring nationally known comedians Jason Stuart (Palm Springs), Kate Willett (NY), Myq Kaplan (NY), along with “The Geduldig Sisters”—Kung Pao Kosher Comedy producer Lisa Geduldig and her 91-year-young mother, Arline Geduldig (Florida). https://www.koshercomedy.com/
THEATRE RHINOCEROS
presents A GUIDE FOR THE HOMESICK. Queer, alone, together: Ken Urban’s heart-wrenching 2017 play gets its SF premiere. In this electrifyingly personal, two-actor drama,
Kramer (continued from pg 23)
very aware of the codes being dropped in the conversations.
Goran Stolevski: That’s why it is set in 1999. We had a different relationship to queerness at the time. It wasn’t even called queerness. There was a lot of danger associated with it. With the LGBTQ thing, I am sick of being told to play the victim. I think there is a bubble and there is a strength that comes from being queer. Microaggressions to me are minor compared to macroaggressions that I grew up around. But it was interesting that when we were shooting, once we left the inner city, there was homophobia from bystanders. This is what it was like! It was 2021, but it might as well have been 1999. This was the feeling of being called a fag-
a young aid worker goes back to a shabby Amsterdam hotel room with a fellow American, after spending a year in East Africa. Over beers, and with increasing tensions of every kind, the two strangers confess their shared fear that they betrayed the friends who needed them most. Both actors are each tasked with portraying two fully developed characters, occupying separate realities of time, space, and memory—adding layers of turmoil, disorientation, and tragedy to a story that is sure to keep audiences holding their breath and also gasping. This is appropriately held in a tiny, intimate Castro studio, 4229 18th Street, February 23–March 19. https://www.therhino.org/
Cole Porter’s award-winning musical, ANYTHING GOES, launches 42ND STREET MOON’s 2023 Mainstage Season. Farcical high-jinks abound in this theatrical romp across the Atlantic, in which a young oceanliner stowaway sets out to win the
got from a distance because you’re wearing funny clothes.
Gary M. Kramer: I think every gay man has that one awakening experience that defines them that they carry with them throughout their entire life. Can you discuss why you chose this topic for the film and how you grappled with your first pangs of gay desire?
Goran Stolevski: I didn’t have that guy I could be obsessed with. They were always fictional. There wasn’t an Adam in my life in high school. It’s all an invention. I was writing from a place of one of the key lines, “I don’t have any friends.” It was that sense of being able to connect with someone
FARMER’S MARKET (continued from pg 30)
feel heavy for their size. The deeply ribbed green leaves that envelop a head of cauliflower should look fresh, not wilted or yellowing or dry. Keep the cauliflower loosely wrapped in the refrigerator and it can last up to 2 weeks. Be sure not to wash your cauliflower until you’re ready to prepare and cook it.
You’ll find cauliflower at almost all of your farmers’ market vegetable growers like J&M Farms, Happy Boy Farms, Fifth Crow Farms, Blue House Farms, and many others. They offer the freshest products, straight from the farm to your table.
While the Castro Farmers’ Market is closed for the season, please visit the Pacific Coast Farmers’ Market Association website (link at the end) for other markets in your area until we return in the spring.
Debra Morris is a spokesperson for the Pacific Coast Farmers’ Market Association (PCFMA). Check out the PCFMA website for recipes, information about farmers’ markets throughout the region and for much more: https://www.pcfma.org/
affections of a particular woman— with plenty of elaborate disguises, tap-dancing sailors, gangsters, pranksters, and good old-fashioned blackmail along the way. This hilarious, heart-warming romantic comedy features such classics as “I Get a Kick Out of You,” “You’re the Top,” and “It’s De-Lovely”—not to mention the title song! February 23–March 12 at the Gateway Theatre, 215 Jackson Street. https://42ndstmoon.org/
BAY AREA REGISTRY offers dozens upon dozens of events centering around BLACK HISTORY MONTH. Contact them at https://bayarearegistry.com/ Big queer congratulations to Kim Petras, the first openly transgender woman to win a Grammy, and to proudly gay Sam Smith for their “Unholy” Grammy win!
Sister Dana sez, “Happy Black History Month! Cogitate! Liberate! Celebrate!”
deeply, and in this case, there is a romantic and sexual context, so it was much more intense. At that age, it was craving a really deep connection— even putting aside sexuality and romance. I was looking for a friend to talk about books and movies and feelings and the world. The loneliness and sense of connection are what drive Adam as well.
© 2023 Gary M. Kramer
Gary M. Kramer is the author of “Independent Queer Cinema: Reviews and Interviews,” and the co-editor of “Directory of World Cinema: Argentina.” Follow him on Twitter @garymkramer
KARLSBERG (continued from pg 24)
Today there appear to be more real-life, lesbian, age-gap couples, but I think they’ve always been there. My guess is they were hiding (like we were) in the shadows because we considered them forbidden. Is it our evolution as a culture that makes these couples feel safer to be out? Or could it be the glut of books reflecting age-gap couples that make them feel less alone and less ashamed? Hard to tell. All I know is that, if I’d had these books back then, it might not have taken me thirty years to tell my story.
For more information on Felice Cohen: https://www.felicecohen.com
Michele Karlsberg Marketing and Management specializes in publicity for the LGBTQ+ community. This year, Karlsberg celebrates 34 years of successful marketing campaigns. For more information: https://www michelekarlsberg com
The annual Two-Spirit PowWow, hosted by the Bay Area American Indians Two-Spirits (BAAITS), was held on Saturday, February 4, at Fort Mason’s Festival Pavilion. Coordinators of the event were BAAITS leaders Derek Smith and Landa Lakes. Among the VIP guests was Randy Burns, co-founder of the Gay American Indians organization in 1975. Hundreds of participants, vendors, supporters, friends, and organizers attended, filling the Festival Pavilion’s ample interior. Tribes represented included Chickasaw, Choctaw, Osage, Laguna Pueblo, Diné, Southern Ute, Kiowa, Tongva, Acjachemen, Oglala Lakota, Cheyenne River Lakota, and more.
The focal point of the full day of programming was the noontime Grand Entry, a parade of tribal representatives dressed in colorful traditional attire. The Gourd Dance featured dancers Matthew Reed, Faithlyn Seawright, and Sean Snyder. Volunteers assisting at the event included representatives of the Ducal Court. http://www.baaits.org
“My Blackfoot tribe from Montana”
Opening night of the 25th San Francisco Independent Film Festival (IndieFest) at the Roxie Theatre featured the documentary Circus of the Scars. Director Cory Wees participated in a Q&A with three circus Marvels and the festival’s programmer, Chris Metzler.
Bobbee
Hung
“I love and appreciate [my Valentine’s] creativity. They make me laugh and they are my favorite person to have adventures with!”
“As someone who is very happily single, my special someone is me.”
“After 20 years, it’s still Landa Lakes”
“Every Valentine’s Day, I have my queer community–the best Valentine I know. This year is special since I am moving in with my boyfriend.”
Members of the American Legion Post 448 and the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence led the annual Holocaust Remembrance Day memorial held in the Castro on January 27. Flag bearers, along with ceremony leaders, marched together from Jane Warner Plaza across Market and Castro Streets to the Pink Triangle Park. Post Commander Jimmy McConnell and Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence members Brother Sinthetic Sal and Sister Dharma Gettin’ spoke about LGBT individuals who were incarcerated and murdered during the Holocaust in World War II. Father Dan Scheid of the All Saints Episcopal Church led a prayer.
Halo Bolt Air + DC
Portable jump starter, digital air compressor, and LED floodlight, with two USB charging ports. Safely jump start your vehicle, inflate your tires, and charge your electronic devices anywhere! $179.99
Nebo Emergency Kit Light + Power
Solar-charged 10,000mAh power bank, 2000lumen flashlight, collapsible 1000lumen lantern with power bank, and a headlamp/cap-light in a convenient carry case. $139.99
https://cliffsvariety.com/
