April 21–May 4, 2022 http://sfbaytimes.com
Drag Activism
PHOTO COURTESY OF SISTER ROMA
See pages 3–5
San Francisco LGBT Center 20th Anniversary Soirée
Photos by Rink
To those of us who attended the Grand Opening of The Center twenty years ago, the 20th Anniversary Soirée brought back many memories. San Francisco Bay Times Publisher and “Betty’s List” founder Dr. Betty Sullivan, who is honored with a plaque in the Center for her help in its founding, said, “The multi-year effort to raise funds, develop the concept, and construct the facility culminated in what would become a lifechanging location—a landing place for visitors and new residents arriving from afar, a hub of services for queer youth, a safe space for trans and so many seeking a place to be. The Center has become so much more than a unique building that tour guides point out on big buses passing through.” On Saturday, April 9, 2022, Founder Mark Leno was among those who joined Executive Director Rebecca Rolfe in welcoming attendees to the first in-person Soirée since 2019 and in reflecting on The Center’s story, which is now filled with two decades of achievements and memories. Guided by co-hosts and entertainers Sister Roma, Honey Mahogany and Juanita MORE!, the event, held at The Metreon, included a cocktail reception, dinner, and lively after-party with DJ Lady Ryan. From the stage, Michael Tate conducted the live auction. The gala garnered more than $365,000 in contributions. It’s not too late now to make a gift to help ensure another 20-plus more years of the SF LGBT Center and all that Rolfe and her team do to support LGBT youth and others. https://tinyurl.com/bddbxe99
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LGBTQ News & Calendar for the Bay Area CELEBRATING FOUR DECADES (1978–2022)
By Sister Roma
In just two short years after the Sisters’ first manifestation on Easter weekend in 1979, a deadly plague started to ravage our community. The mystery surrounding the origins and transmission of the disease created fear, stigma, and shame in our community and the Sisters found our true calling. We were one of the first groups to hold a fundraiser for people in our community who were sick and needed money to cover rent and essentials. Realizing that education was key to prevention, the Sisters wrote and distributed Playfair, the world’s first-ever “safer sex” pamphlet to use real language and humor to educate the community on ways to avoid sexually transmitted infections. As the disease spread to epidemic proportions, seemingly overnight men become visibly ill, suffering dramatic weight loss, often covered in cancerous purple patches of Kaposi sarcoma. Many of them lost their jobs, their homes; even their friends and families were afraid to breathe the same air, drink from the same glass, or even touch them. Alone and dying, many of these men retreated to the most remote corners of a dark bar where the Sisters would seek them out and engage them in conversation. Often at the end of their visit, the men would ask if they could have a hug and the Sisters always said yes. It was this pragmatic yet compassionate response to a plague in a time of hysteria that most attracted me to the Sisters when I joined in 1987. Their fearlessness was intoxicating and inspiring. I think all drag is fearless, intoxicating, and inspiring. I think that all drag is activism. I didn’t always realize I felt that way. When I moved to San Francisco fresh out of college in 1985, drag was the last thing on my mind. In fact, I had never considered doing drag in my life—until I met the Sisters. I always find it interesting that, despite the fact that I went to a Catholic college, I was never spiritually motivated. I never volunteered to be of service, and I never got involved in anything political—until I met the Sisters. It’s still kind of crazy to me that this outrageous group of drag nun clowns would change my life, but they did. When I met the Sisters, my head and heart exploded. I realized that I sincerely cared about people. I learned that I didn’t have to ask for my civil rights; they’re mine, and I was ready and willing to fight for equality. I became determined to try, in some way, to make the world a better place for my having been here. One of my first major acts of Drag Activism was creating the Sisters’ “Stop The Violence” campaign in 1989. Hate crimes were on the rise. Gay men were being viciously attacked, robbed, and beaten in and around Dolores Park. I sat down at my little Mac SE/30 and designed a poster with a giant pink triangle in the center with the words STOP THE VIOLENCE. My idea was
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Sitting on a panel to talk about Drag Activism comes very naturally to me, so when The Academy SF reached out with this opportunity I jumped at the chance. As I am a 35-year member of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, my drag was born out of activism and has always been used as a platform to fight for social justice, equality, and to be of service to my community. That is who the Sisters are; at our core we are all activists.
SISTER ROMA, THE ACADEMY SF
(Editor’s Note: On Thursday, April 7, Sister Roma, along with Kochina Rude and Afrika America, were panelists at a forum entitled Drag Activism at The Academy SF in the Castro. It was moderated by Dr. Ish Ruiz. They discussed queer activism past, present, and future, and how drag is a form of activism. We asked Sister Roma to address this subject for the San Francisco Bay Times, and thank her for doing so during this very busy month for her and the other Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.)
that these posters would raise awareness to the hate crimes, but we would also hand them out to people and businesses to put in their windows to serve as a “safe place” for anyone who was being attacked or needed help. We soon added a whistle distribution and partnered with the Castro Community ln Patrol. Now, decades later, you’ll still see these posters on display in and around the Castro. One of the most sensational and unexpected examples of Drag Activism has to be the #MyNameIs campaign. Without going into too much detail, around 2014 drag queens and others on Facebook were being disproportionately reported for using a “fake” name and their accounts were suspended until they could provide a legal form of ID. When it finally happened to me, I grew frustrated at my inability to contact a living human at Facebook, so I went to Twitter and tweeted “Tell @Facebook that their ‘real’ name policy is unfair and discriminatory. #MyNameIsRoma.” Well, that tweet went viral. CBS Bay Area came to my office to hear my story, and Facebook called me! Before you knew it, Alex U. Inn, BeBe Sweetbriar, Dottie Lux, Heklina, Lil Miss Hot Mess, and a group of activists (drag and otherwise) formed and started a nearly three-year discourse with execs at Facebook to get them to realize how different communities identify. Over the years I’ve been a familiar face at almost every protest, rally, fundraiser, gala, street fair, and major LGBTQ event in San Francisco. I have been honored to host fundraisers supporting PRC, SFAF, REAF, Art for AIDS, Maitri, Tenderloin Tessie’s Holiday Dinners, San Francisco Pride, the SFLGBT Center, ORAM, TDOV, and TDOR, to name a few. One of the keys to being a drag activist is showing up. We all know the armchair warriors with a keyboard and a computer screen who talk the talk, but a drag activist walks the walk, in heels! I was so happy to share the panel with Afrika America and Kochina Rude. Afrika and I have been friends for many years. She has deep roots in the Bay Area queer community and I love the way she has embraced her inner queen to use her platform to encourage people to vote. Kochina and I are relatively new friends. I continue to be impressed and inspired by her commitment to harm reduction and fearless approach to providing Narcan to the audience during her party Princess at Oasis every weekend. When we were asked about our hope for the future, I thought of something Afrika said about the disgusting, vicious attacks made by a bunch of white men against a Black female appointee for the Supreme Court. It is clear to me that these white men were baring their teeth and puffing their chests out of fear. They are afraid of everything that Kentanji Brown Jackson represents. They are afraid of losing their centuries-long grip on the throats of the poor, on women, on people of color, on queer and trans people, on everyone who challenges their outdated, bigoted, and hypocritically sanctimonious reign of terror.
Sister Roma with panelists l-r) Dr. Ish Ruiz, Afrika America, and Kochina Rude at The Academy for the forum: Drag Activism with Sister Roma on Thursday, April 7
Be the Change You Wish to See By Kochina Rude It was a pleasure to have an easy conversation about tough subjects for the forum Drag Activism at The Academy SF on April 7 with Sister Roma, Afrika America, and moderator Dr. Ish Ruiz. I will always take an opportunity to talk about harm reduction, especially in the context of what we have been doing at Princess in the past year; further, I am grateful for any small effect it has had in the nightlife community here in San Francisco. My story about how I ended up here boils down to this: I am passionate about too many things, and I don’t like making compromises. My late drag mother inspired me to be the change I wanted to see—and at first, for me this meant using drag as a vehicle for creative expression (as one does). But beyond drag, and years before becoming Kochina, a college internship at a local AIDS network led me on a path toward harm reduction and public health. And now, I’m able to rediscover activism and grassroots community advocacy as the impetus for social change. At a house party during Folsom weekend 2021, my friends and I found ourselves very suddenly responding to an accidental overdose in the midst of a celebratory queer event. In that moment I realized that, despite the packed crowd of witnesses present, most of us were completely unprepared for this occurrence— including myself. Fortunately, after procuring two doses of nasal-administered naloxone (Narcan) via a game of shouting telephone, we were able to revive the individual experiencing overdose and they lived to party another day! After that, I realized what my community was missing, and since then, in partnership with the Drug Overdose Prevention and Education Project (D.O.P.E.) I have been distributing Narcan free of charge to partygoers at Oasis Nightclub every Saturday night. This Spring, a city program has launched with the purpose of paying queer and trans San Franciscans of color to educate and distribute this life-saving drug to their peers within the community—and it was developed in close tandem with my own activities involving a microphone, a box of nasal spray, and a crowd of drunk yet enthusiastic show attendees-turned-harm reductionists. With that I say, the guiding principle of “making the change you want to see” extends to social advocacy as much as it applies to coming up with a look that is unique to yourself. As a drag queen I don’t take the stage for granted, and even more than that, I want to utilize my platform to educate and protect the people in this city I love the most. Drag star and entertainer Kochina Rude hosts the weekly party “Princess” at Oasis: https://www.sfoasis.com/
Our country is divided because of fear. Some people are afraid of anything or anyone they don’t understand, who looks different, or who challenges them to consider a different point of view. Homophobia, transphobia, racism; it’s all fear. All hate is based in fear. Drag is the exact opposite of fear. It takes courage to present yourself in a way that challenges society’s preconceived ideas of gender. Being a drag nun takes it to the next level, adding religious iconography, which can make people uncomfortable or angry. I love doing drag for the joy it brings, but between you and me, sometimes the drag activist in me takes as much pleasure in shaking to the core those people with their misconceptions, prejudices, and phobias. Sometimes a good dose of drag is all it takes to get people talking, laughing, and thinking. My hope for the future is less fear and more curiosity, more acceptance, more respect, and more love. Sister Roma, ‘The Most Photographed Nun in the World,’ is an activist, fundraiser, and icon. Follow Roma on Facebook ( https://www.facebook.com/SisterRoma ), Twitter @SisterRoma, and Instagram @Sister_Roma. Learn more about the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence at https://www.thesisters.org/ S AN F R ANC IS C O BAY T IM ES
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Drag Activism San Francisco Ballet’s Myles Thatcher: Out and Proud I’ve been a fan of the San Francisco Ballet for years. Great dancers have come and gone, but one stands out, especially for our community: Myles Thatcher. At 31, he’s already a worldfamous choreographer and dancer—even better, he’s shattering the ceiling for LGBTQ ballet dancers in new and innovative ways. And proud of it. I had the privilege of interviewing Myles recently in advance of his upcoming Swan Lake performances with the Ballet. Here’s what he had to say. David Landis: Give us some background on your work with SF Ballet, your experience as a dancer, and how you got into dance. Myles Thatcher: This is my 13th season, which is insane to think about. Let’s see how I got into dance. I can give you the Twitter version. I was in musical theater as a kid. And I was doing an audition for one of the plays. Basically, the dance audition teacher saw something in me and told my mom to put me in dance. And I really didn’t want to because I thought it was, like, embarrassing. You know, no other boys did it. My mom told me that if I didn’t like it after three times, I didn’t have to go back, but I had to try it. Then I stayed and I’m still here. Doing this. I was about eight or nine years old. And that teacher is still like my dance mom. She’s kind of the one who ushered me into the dance world. Then I left home when I was 15 for the HARID Conservatory, a ballet boarding school. Afterwards, I trained with Edward Ellison in New York and then came out here at 17 for the San Francisco Ballet School Trainee program. That’s like the last year of finishing school. That’s how I got my foot in the door with the company and how I started choreographing. I’ve been choreographing for the organization as long as I’ve been dancing, which is pretty awesome. I feel fortunate to have been able to start young because it really has been foundational for me. David Landis: Obviously, there are many LGBTQ identifying dancers in ballet and the arts. Do you feel like you had to present and perform in a gender conforming way? Tell us about that personal journey. Myles Thatcher: The majority of my experiences have been performing in a gender conforming way in the ballet world. I think any of the roles that have felt explicitly queer have been kind of only at the butt of the joke of a queer character. As I’m playing those characters, I’m trying to navigate how to perform a queer coded space. It’s like a trope that just has been in media for a hundred years. I took my first voguing class a few years ago and it was all about expressing femininity. I think that was the very first time I’ve ever been in a dance setting, deliberately asked to be more femme. And there was something really groundbreaking for that—and for me, too. And of course, there are a lot of non-narrative dance ballets that will do that. I think I can bring more of myself into roles that also feel very heteronormative. As queer people, we were asked to kind of decode media in that way anyway. So, all of us have been watching the Disney movies and putting our own stories in there and having to reframe them in how they relate to us. But it’s just so rare that we get the opportunity to see ourselves expressed on stage. That’s something that I really try
By David Landis
to bring into my choreography, whether it’s explicit or not in the subtext of the work. I think it’s not only important for me but also for audiences and for dancers. I think there’s the front of the house in the back of the house value to it. I’ve slipped into that world because there’s a space and a need for it in the ballet world. I’m really proud to be doing some of that work and bringing people along with me there, whether the ballet world is ready for it or not. David Landis: Your ballet Otherness brought a large focus on gender expression and gender nonconformity. It sounds like this was on your mind when you when you were creating this ballet. Myles Thatcher: When I created Otherness, that was probably in 2017. I remember that was when our president was trying to ban trans people from serving in the military. This was the beginning of this attack on the LGBTQ community politically. Or the beginning of the pendulum swinging back specifically against trans and gender nonconforming people. We’re still seeing an influx today with state legislatures trying to ban conversations about gender in classrooms, which is ridiculous because we’re already talking about heteronormative and cisgender stories in classrooms. There’s no way to escape that and no one will recognize that. That’s also a conversation about sexuality and gender. Banning trans athletes who are kids from playing in sports. People using bathrooms. It was the beginning of that movement. I really wanted to speak about it on stage. There was a lot that I was able to discover and ask questions like, what is the point you mean and how does that represent womanhood? Does it present feminine? Does it not present? That we can apply that to our craft was really interesting for me—as well as to see and hear the audience reaction, the critical review, who was ready for the conversation, who related to it, and who didn’t. It definitely started a lot of conversations, which I’m really proud of. I realized that there was a lot of work that had to be done. David Landis: Tell us about Colorforms—a favorite of mine—a film ballet that you choreographed in partnership with SF Ballet and SFMOMA. I’ve heard that this is part of the SF Ballet’s April Arts and Education Month. Myles Thatcher: First of all, thank you, David. I also really like that that was the silver lining of my pandemic experience or my shelter in place experience. Because it was supposed to be just a regular stage performance for our next Rep’s season. But, of course, the pandemic happened. I had chosen music, but I didn’t really do much more work on it. Although I had this idea of kinetic mobile structure as an inspiration, which is kind of perfect. And then I got a call from Helgi (Tómasson, SF Ballet’s Artistic Director). He said we’re going to transition this into a film and reached out to our director and our costume designer. The first thing I asked was, does anybody know anybody at SFMOMA? Because I knew that they were closed. I thought it could be a really good opportunity for arts organizations to band together and make the best of a bad situation. And I really feel like we did that. The red tape was extreme, of course, with health protocols and our artists licenses and all of that compli-
Myles Thatcher in company class during a tour in London. (© Erik Tomasson)
cated stuff. But all of the art was so effortless. We had been out of the studios for months at that point and we were just getting back in. Everybody was hungry to create; we were getting back in the groove of things. So, it felt great. And I’m really happy that we were able to bring something joyous and bright and colorful and inspired to our audiences. Making a dance film with this company is something I’ve been wanting to do forever. David Landis: What is a typical day like as a dancer? Myles Thatcher: For rehearsal mode, we wake up and take company class, which is a ballet conditioning class in the morning and then we’ll have a regular rehearsal day. So, we’ll rehearse probably about 6 hours. We’ll go until 6:30 pm, so we’ll be working 10 am to 6:30 pm. When we’re performing, our programs are Tuesday to Sunday. Throughout the week, we rehearse the programs that are going next while in the evening we perform our running program. It can get brutal. But it’s also the best time of the season because we’re performing and that’s really what we’re all here to do. It’s this really intense, beautiful moment where everybody’s exhausted and in a pressure cooker, but everybody is with each other all the time. And that’s when we really bond and get close to each other. David Landis: Are you dancing in the upcoming Swan Lake? What roles are you dancing? Myles Thatcher: Yes. I dance the role of the aristocrats and some of the divertissement. I think Swan Lake is absolutely more focused on the Swans. Our core group of women are so amazing and they have to put in so much work and humility to all dance as a group. But honestly, it’s the best part of the ballet, in my
opinion. It’s super powerful. And the music is amazing. David Landis: What does it mean to be a soloist with the company? And is it challenging for you to switch between being a company member and a choreographer? Myles Thatcher: That’s been my whole experience. I’ve always been choreographing alongside of dancing. When I was younger, on my days off with the school I would be creating work for them. It’s a different life now. I’m more in a situation where I’ll leave for three weeks and go choreograph somewhere else and then come back and have to do my homework to make sure I’m still able to come in and know my stuff as a dancer or am taking time here to choreograph. It’s fully two different frames of mind that I have to be in. As a dancer, you have to be internalized and focusing on physicality. And when you’re a choreographer, you’re more focused on everybody else and you’re focused on making sure the energy in the room is right. It’s a cerebral and emotional thing that isn’t so physical, but you have to tap into creativity in a different way. I love them both. David Landis: Who are your some of your favorite choreographers with whom you’ve worked? Myles Thatcher: Well, Helgi, of course. And Yuri Possokhov, because he’s our inhouse guy. I love Anabelle Lopez Ochoa. Danny Roe, another Bay Area choreographer, is one of my favorites. I love William Forsythe, of course. It’s cool we have both Dwight Rhoden and Christopher Wheeldon here right now. Some of my more prominent roles I’ve danced were in Chris Wilson’s work, like Benjamin and Cinderella. There’s a lot of inspiration I get from him and how he also was dancing and choreographing at the same time. David Landis: You’ve choreographed for this company, for New York City Ballet, and Joffrey. What motivated you to accomplish so much so quickly in your three plus decades on this planet?
Selections from Myles Thatcher’s drag calendar, Second Cast, which benefits Larkin St. Youth Services and LYRIC. © Alexander Reneff-Olson 4
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Myles Thatcher: I’ve just always been somebody who needed to be creating things. Whether that’s in the dance world or not. I find a lot of comfort in my Zen moments while creating, whether that’s ballet or sewing or knitting. I feel grateful and really fortunate
Drag Activism to be in a position as young as I was to start all of that work, because I know that’s rare. Of course, I’ve worked really hard to do it, but I also know that I was in front of the right eyes, the timing worked out, and I was seen by the right people. I also think, for me, it’s trying to make the most of the opportunities given to me. I do believe in trying to stay authentic and also push audiences to give them something that you really think that they’re going to enjoy. That’s like a constant form of discovery. David Landis: How do you approach the choreographic process? Myles Thatcher: I like to come in with a plan for the structure. I’ll know my music inside and out. I’ll have a general sense of what I want to say, even if it’s more of an emotional feeling that’s not yet articulated into words. The beauty about dance is it circumnavigates language. So, to articulate something into language and then put it back into dance doesn’t always work for me. I know a lot of people really enjoy working that way, but I am less successful when I do that. I think it’s more about living in the space of emotional intention and then seeing it, then articulating what it is, and then honing it from there. My biggest inspiration is always my dancers. If I know what dancers I have going in, I can kind of craft something around them. If I don’t know, then I’ll leave something a little bit more open so I can figure out what their strengths are and what they can contribute as well. The beauty of this art form is it is collaborative.
A selection from Myles Thatcher’s drag calendar, Second Cast, which benefits Larkin St. Youth Services and LYRIC. © Alexander Reneff-Olson
performing arts high school my first year of high school, which (was lucky) because I had a really bad sixth through eighth grade. That was the only thing that got me through. I was bullied a lot as a kid. I didn’t tell anybody I danced, because I knew I couldn’t. I feel like it came out. I knew I was gay when I was 12 and I didn’t come out until I was 15, but that was a great experience. Then, I never I never looked back. David Landis: As a gay person, who in the LGBTQ community has inspired you? Myles Thatcher: Oh, that’s a big question. I find a lot of inspiration through drag culture and drag queens. I think it’s delivered in a package that can be so many things. It can be beautiful, it can be stupid, it can be political, it can be fashionable. It also can be none of those things. And I think there’s something very nuanced about all of that work. Super inspirational are Marsha Johnson (one of the prominent figures in the Stonewall uprising) and, of course, Harvey Milk.
David Landis: What was it like growing up as a gay person for you and was it hard coming out? Did your family accept you?
David Landis: Tell me about your drag calendar, Second Cast, and what it raises money for. Is this an annual project and are you producing one this year?
Myles Thatcher: I am super fortunate to have a very accepting family. But I grew up in Pennsylvania in the nineties when it wasn’t a great experience—especially middle school was really tough for me. Ballet gave me a way to be with likeminded people and to escape. It was my ticket out of that world. I went to a
Myles Thatcher: Yes, we are. Second Cast is a project I started with my friend Christopher Ouellette, who is a former ballet dancer with the drag ballet company Ballet Trocadero. He’s now company manager for Access Dance Company in Oakland. The two of us got together and started transforming dancers in
the Bay Area into drag and working with Alex Olson to photograph them and putting a calendar together that raises money, in the past, for Larkin Street Youth Services and LYRIC, which both work with queer homeless youth. There’s nothing like putting on a wig and heels to have a different experience. Even if you’re a heterosexual cisgendered woman.
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David Landis: What are some your favorite restaurants in town or favorite bars or neighborhood joints? Myles Thatcher: I really love Takara, a small sushi place on 18th. It’s delicious. I make a lot of cocktails at home. I have people over and we’ll do cocktail parties. It’s been a while since I’ve been able to explore the food and drink scene, but it’s coming.
David Landis: Who’s your favorite this year on RuPaul’s Drag Race?
David Landis: What’s your favorite thing about San Francisco?
Myles Thatcher: Can we get a lady in the house? Lady Camden is amazing: the ballet world meets the Bay Area world. She’s been the dark horse throughout the competition. She’s really proving her worth showing what a star she is to everybody. I did a video love letter to ballet with her we called “I Don’t Need a Reason.” Luke Willis, a former SF Ballet dancer, directed it. It was our way to bring Drag Race fans into our dance world and just allow them to see our art in a different way.
Myles Thatcher: I like the energy of it. I think there’s something really kind of easygoing and neighborhoody for a big city. Part of that is the weather here and people being able to take advantage of everything. And then there’s the food and drink. And, of course, I very much like feeling safe to be who I am in the city. I think especially living in the Castro feels really important to me.
David Landis: Do you live in San Francisco? Are you single? Myles Thatcher: I live in the Castro. It’s so nice to be in the Castro because it’s sunny down there. I just feel like I’m like in my Gayborhood. And it changes so much depending on what day it is or what time of the day it is. It can be like neighborhoody and friendly, or rowdy, or quiet. Or sunny. It’s all of the things. So, I love it here. And yes, I’m single. David Landis: When you’re not dancing or choreographing, what do you like to do? Myles Thatcher: I’ve been getting into sewing lately, which is really fun. It’s fun because we have some amazing people in our wardrobe department who have also been role models for me. I also like camping and hiking. Nature is awesome.
David Landis: What’s next for you? Obviously, closing the SF Ballet season with Swan Lake. Myles Thatcher: Yes. Then, I’m going to go visit my new nephew in upstate New York. I have some career gigs that I’m excited for. We have our big summer break coming up, so I’m going to take some time away from ballet. And do something: I don’t know, Dolores Park shenanigans or something. San Francisco Ballet: www.sfballet.org Myles Thatcher’s Second Cast drag calendar: https://tinyurl.com/ycy25zr8 Myles Thatcher’s “I Don’t Need a Reason” with Lady Camden: https://tinyurl.com/5dcwvx8r David Landis is a longtime fan of the San Francisco Ballet, a member of the Honorary Board of ODC (San Francisco’s modern dance company), and in a former life produced The Joffrey Ballet in San Francisco.
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Focusing on Hope ing at the latest in transgender health care. A panel of doctors and experts in the field of trans and nonbinary healthcare explored the latest developments in the field.
and in the National AIDS Memorial Grove. An opening ceremony and traditional Quilt unfolding will start at 9:30 am on June 11, followed by the continuous reading aloud by volunteers, dignitaries, and the public on both days of names of lives lost to AIDS.
In Case You Missed It Joanie Juster Spring has definitely sprung in San Francisco. The Sisters have blessed San Francisco again with their onlyin-San Francisco Easter festivities in Dolores Park. A lucky few are now cherishing the fabulously wacky Easter bonnets they snagged at Joe Mac’s annual Easter Bonnet Sale at 440, and Alert Alley is graced with its new commemorative name, Sister Vish-Knew Way. There is hope in the air, and there are good people doing good work everywhere you look. Save the Date: The Quilt Returns to San Francisco I will be writing much more about this in future columns because it is extremely close to my heart, but in the meantime, save the dates June 11 and 12 for the largest outdoor San Francisco display in a decade of the AIDS Memorial Quilt, according to the National AIDS Memorial. The display in Golden Gate Park will mark the 35th anniversary of the AIDS Memorial Quilt and will feature nearly 3,000 panels of the Quilt. The free public event will take place on the aforementioned dates from 10 am–5 pm in Robin Williams Meadow
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The two-day 35th Anniversary event will be presented by Gilead Sciences. Stay tuned for my next column for details on how to attend, to volunteer, to submit a new panel, and to participate in the reading of names. Watch the press conference here: https://tinyurl.com/Quilt35PC A New Look for the Castro Country Club Have you walked down 18th Street recently? On April 14, Castro Country Club (CCC) hung their new sign, which is a rainbow-proud colorful addition to the street scene. CCC has been an integral part of the Castro community for 39 years. Created in 1983 as a social alternative to the gay bars, the club had an initial role that expanded during the 1980s as AIDS devastated the neighborhood. Throughout the years, CCC has grown and changed to meet the needs of the community, providing a safe haven for countless LGBTQ+ people in recovery to help each other achieve and stay grounded in sobriety. Governed by an Advisory Board, the volunteer-based CCC is now self-supporting. It hosts over 40 meetings a week as well as a wide range of events and activities, and even partners with PRC to provide job training. Their building at 18th and Hartford operates a Peet’s café with free Wi-Fi, a welcoming meeting room, and a spacious back patio open to the public from early morning until late at night, 365 days a year.
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I’ve known and admired CCC’s Executive Director Billy Lemon for a number of years, mostly through his extraordinary work in building CCC’s AIDS Walk team into a fundraising powerhouse to reckon with. When I saw him proudly displaying CCC’s new sign on social media on April 14, I asked him what prompted the change. He told me that many folks (myself included) had been “foggy” as to exactly what CCC is, and what services it provides. The colorful new branding created by the ABOARD Design team led by Mike Fung raises visibility by being more vibrant. Billy hopes it will help clarify CCC’s brand, and help the organization move forward at the same time. In addition to café revenue, merchandise sales (including a classy hoodie that features the new rainbow logo), space rental revenues, grants, and, of course, their awesome AIDS Walk team, Castro Country Club is largely supported by contributions from community donors. You could be one of them! Learn more here: https://tinyurl.com/CastroCC In Case You Missed It, Part 1: The Future of Trans Health Care On April 8 the Commonwealth Club presented the first in a series look-
This first program in the series, sponsored by Gilead Sciences, addressed the future of trans health care, current advancements in care and accessibility, and best practices in serving trans and nonbinary community members today and in the future. Panelists included Dr. Alexis Petra, MD and Founder/CEO of TransClinique; Dr. Allie Zarah Ley, a leading plastic surgeon providing comprehensive surgical expertise in the field of gender-affirming healthcare; Dr. Christi Butler, Assistant Professor and Urologic Surgeon at UCSF; Dr. Heidi Wittenberg, Director of MoZaic Care Inc. and a Gender Affirmation Surgeon. The program was moderated by Michelle Meow of the Michelle Meow Show. Future programs will cover a wide range of issues facing trans health care, including the ongoing attacks on trans children and families, policy advancements, mental health and wellness, and more. You can watch the April 8 program here: https://tinyurl.com/FTransHC In Case You Missed It, Part 2: Trans Visibility in STEM From a Gender Euphoria Wall where visitors were encouraged to “show the world what you love about yourself” to a custom pronoun button-making booth, on April 2, San Francisco’s Exploratorium went all-in on celebrating the Trans Day of Visibility. The day featured music, art, panels, interactive exhibits, and films, including a set of short films that shared the wide range of transgender, nonbinary, and Two Spirit Experiences,
from the collection and work of the Queer Women of Color Media Arts Project (QWOCMAP). One of the highlights of the day was a timely collaboration with The Transgender District: a panel on Trans Visibility in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) that highlighted the importance of transgender representation in the sciences, inclusion and accountability, and a discussion on how to build an equitable future in STEM academic scholarship. Moderated by Honey Mahogany, co-founder of The Transgender District, the panel included three individuals blazing trails in trans representation in STEM: Kenya Boudreaux, a Software Engineer at Apple; Orion Lam, a professor at Solano Community College with a Ph.D. in Chemistry; and Terra Field, a Systems Engineer, formerly at Netflix and the organizer behind the #NetflixWalkout. The conversation focused on the importance of trans inclusion in fields critical to social and technological advancement, what accountability and allyship looks like in such fields, and what trans visibility in STEM means for trans liberation. A recording of the event will be made available soon at https://tinyurl.com/TDOVSTEM (continued on page 22)
Three Complicated Concerns for April 2022
What Dubb Says Carolyn Wysinger In case you haven’t heard ... we are having a Pride Parade in June!!! And as you can imagine, I am pretty busy. So busy, in fact, that my thought process has been whittled down to lists. To do lists. How to lists. Everything but a Honey do list ;) So, I decided this month to go back to my blogger roots and do a good ole listicle. If you weren’t part of the Blogger-verse of the mid 2000s, this may not make any sense to you. But, if you ever read sites like Everyday Feminism, listicles were a whole thing. So here is Dubb’s List of 3 Complicated Concerns for April 2022: One: Watching the Confirmation Hearing of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was a roller coaster of emotions. Watching her torn down by deplorable Senators Lindsay Graham, Ted Cruz, and Marcia Blackburn was infuriating. The racist dog whistles of Graham and Cruz were already a special kinda of terrible. Then here comes Blackburn
asking Justice Jackson to “define what a woman is,” an obvious dig at our trans community members. As painful an ordeal as it was, it was not unusual for a Black woman to hear. It is also not unusual for a Black woman to have her aptitude, competence and morality questioned by those who clearly have none of those attributes. I’m grateful for Senator Cory Booker, who as one of the only Black men in the Senate stood up for Justice Jackson. I additionally am grateful for our own Senator Alex Padilla, who encouraged her from his seat and reminded her that this was just political theatre. I couldn’t help but think how terrible it would have been if one of the amazing Black lesbian judges from across the nation had been sitting in the hot seat. Asking her what a woman is and trying to position her as “propedophilia” would have been the tip of the iceberg. I encourage all of you to exercise the same amount of allyship to Black queer and trans people in our communities as Senators Booker and Padilla did during the hearings. Two: Brittney Griner is still being detained in Russia. Brittney is a Black lesbian woman who was basically forced to play basketball out of the country because sexism says that WNBA games should barely be supported or promoted, resulting in the players getting paid less than entry level tech workers and therefore going out of the country to make extra money. It’s like the gig-economy for basketball players. While there are many articles being written about her detention, she is being largely forgotten. You know what is important? Tom Brady has unretired. Of course, that’s important! What is there not to understand about this? That’s the way it works, right? Welcome to being a Black queer woman. Can we use emojis, Bay Times editors? Lmao. (Editors: Just for you, Carolyn!) Three: Have you watched Severed on Apple+?! You need to watch Severed! It is such a great commentary on the toxicity of traditional workplace culture that it made me want to cry. Watch it and report back, please. And (spoiler alert) watch out for the elderly queer couple. Carolyn Wysinger is an LGBTQ author, activist, and President of the SF Pride Board of Directors. She has written for Autostraddle, Everyday Feminism, and Black Girl Dangerous. She can be found starting trouble on Instagram & Twitter @CdubbTheHost
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We Need More Homekey to Get Californians Housed 161,500 individuals experiencing homelessness, which represents 20% of the total homeless population in the country. This statistic is even more stark given that California’s overall population only represents 12% of the country’s total population.
Out of the Closet and into City Hall Oakland City Councilmember At-Large, Rebecca Kaplan California is facing a housing affordability crisis with housing costs exceeding growth in wages, particularly for low-income households. In California, approximately 2.5 million low-income households are cost burdened, spending more than 30% of their incomes on housing. Of those 2.5 million low-income households, 1.5 million face severe cost pressures, spending more than half of their income on housing. Job loss or an unexpected expense could result in homelessness for this group of individuals. The high cost of housing is a significant contributing factor to California’s homelessness crisis. This causes many challenges, as homelessness has long-term and serious consequences to the health and safety of those who experience it, including life-long behavioral health challenges. As of the most recent point-in-time count from January 2020, California has approximately
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In response to the mounting challenges around homelessness, in July of 2020, California launched its Homekey initiative, allocating funding to local public agencies to buy underused properties, and develop a broad range of housing types for permanent or interim affordable housing. Lauded for allowing local jurisdictions to develop housing strategies that best fit the needs of their homeless populations, available resources, and market conditions, Homekey has been a core element of our state and local effort to provide housing to our most vulnerable residents. In order to build on the success of the Homekey program, I introduced a resolution that was heard by the Oakland City Council on April 19. It urges the state to fund all pending Homekey applications. The rising homeless crisis warrants a substantial and urgent response, commensurate with the magnitude of the crisis. Given that the state is anticipating a $45.7 billion surplus for the 2022–23 fiscal year, and $20.6 billion will be available for discretionary use, my resolution strongly urges the State of California to fund all pending Homekey Applications in order to promptly respond to our serious affordable housing needs. With multiple pending Homekey applications awaiting awards statewide, a substantial number of individuals could be helped off the streets and into better facilities for a cost that would be a tiny fraction of the State surplus. The state of California and the City of Oakland, and others, have declared that we are facing a homeless crisis, and lack adequate affordable housing. Oakland has sought to remedy this crisis by dedicating public lands and other resources to providing affordable housing. In that same vein, the City Council in December 2021 and January 2022 adopted resolutions that authorized the City Administrator to jointly apply for, accept, and (continued on page 22)
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Supervisor Matt Haney will be California’s next state assemblymember, as he won the April 19th special election by earning, as of this writing, over 63% of the vote versus rival candidate David Campos. The Assembly seat opened up last year after David Chiu resigned to become San Francisco’s city attorney. That role, in turn, had opened when Mayor London Breed appointed thencity attorney Dennis Herrera to head the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission following the 2020 resignation of Harlan Kelly. (San Francisco Bay Times columnist A field worker, Assemblymember Tasha Boerner Horvath, and Matt Haney outside his Lou Fischer has been astutely campaign headquarters in the Castro on April 16 tracking this game of political can bet that I’ll hit the ground running in the musical chairs these past sevState Legislature.” eral months.) Prior to Haney’s victory celebration held appropriately at Victory Hall & Parlor on the night of the election, he issued this statement: “From day one, this campaign was about building a San Francisco that was more inclusive, affordable, sustainable, and welcoming for all. We united a broad coalition of leaders, organizations, and individuals who shared our vision. We focused on the issues and we made promises to deliver real solutions to San Francisco’s challenges. Now I’m ready to go to Sacramento to deliver on those promises. I’d like to thank everyone who supported our campaign in some capacity, whether by volunteering their time, donating a few bucks, or even just making the effort to turn in their ballot. I’m on the ballot again in June and November, so the work continues. But I’m eager to prove to voters that they made the right choice and you
He referred to the two additional elections because he must run in the statewide June primary and again in the November general elections to keep his forthcoming seat for a two-year term. Residents of his district may therefore vote on this single race four individual times in 2022! Campos, when conceding, said: “We have to try different approaches and strategies and ... we have to rethink what it means to be progressive.” (Both he and Haney identify as progressives.) Campos added, “Big money has figured out how to win elections.” In terms of pay for state legislators, it can actually be lower than what is earned by politicians serving in San Francisco. Assemblymembers— who are in the lower house of the California State Legislature—often go on to still other significant roles, however, such as serving in California’s upper house, the State Senate.
PHOTO BY RINK
Supervisor Matt Haney Wins Special Election for State Assembly
Nobody’s Stealing Our Joy
6/26 and Beyond Stuart Gaffney and John Lewis Alabama earlier this month enacted the most draconian state antitransgender law yet. The grossly misnamed “Vulnerable Child Compassion and Protection Act” makes it a felony for healthcare professionals to provide genderaffirming medical care, such as puberty blockers or hormone therapies, to transgender minors. When Governor Kay Ivey signed the legislation (which is anything but compassionate to vulnerable queer youth), she callously proclaimed: “I believe very strongly that if the Good Lord made you a boy, you are a boy, and if he made you a girl, you are a girl.” To add insult to injury, Ivey the same day also signed a bill prohibiting trans students from using bathrooms or locker rooms that correspond with their gender identity, and outlawing classroom instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity before the sixth grade. Medical providers and parents of trans kids immediately filed suit to block the trans health care law, and
These are just a few of a slew of bills conservative Republicans are enacting to attack LGBTIQ youth, women, and racial minorities to energize their conservative political base as the midterm elections approach. However, amidst this horrific cruelty and vengeance, our minds also turn to an extraordinary exchange between New Jersey Senator Cory Booker and Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson last month at her historic Judiciary Committee hearing for a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court. Jackson, who with her full Senate confirmation will become the Court’s first African American woman Justice, had endured hours of conservative Republicans’ spurious attacks on her credibility and smears with racist subtexts that no white male nominee had ever faced. When Booker’s turn to speak came, he proclaimed boldly: “Nobody’s stealing my joy. Nobody’s going to make me angry, especially not people that are called in a conservative magazine ‘demagogic’ for what they’re bringing up that just doesn’t hold water. I’m not gonna let my joy be stolen.” Booker described what made Jackson’s ascension to the high court so profound to him as a Black person and to many other African Americans, especially Black women. He explained: “You did not get there because of some left-wing agenda. You didn’t get here because of some dark money groups. You got here how every Black woman in America who has
gotten anywhere has done: by being like Ginger Rogers said, ‘I did everything Fred Astaire did but backwards in heels.’” Then Booker articulated a unique patriotism based in radical love that many African Americans as well as LGBTIQ people, women, and other minorities, possess. He said that “there’s a love in this country that is extraordinary” in which minorities, such as Jackson’s own parents, “didn’t stop loving this country, even though this country didn’t love them back.” They persevered as we do today, saying, “America, you may not love me yet, but I’m going to make this nation live up to its promise and hope.” Therein lies the challenge we as LGBTIQ people face today. How do we sustain our love and joy in the face of today’s vicious attacks on the humanity of queer youth, women, racial minorities, and other targets of conservative Republican politicians? How do we forcefully and effectively oppose tremendously harmful laws and undermine conservative Republicans’ divisive, self-serving tactics and rhetoric without feeding the “us and them” paradigm that is ultimately destructive to everyone? How do we not replicate “us and them” attitudes within our own movement?
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legal action against the education bill will soon ensue.
Affirming each other and cultivating community are essential. They are so important that Booker, himself a U.S. Senator, felt the need to assure Jackson, a sitting federal appellate judge with impeccable credentials, poised to join the U.S. Supreme Court: “You have earned this spot. You are worthy.” Undoubtedly, Booker intended his words for a broader audience, and we must provide that same assurance to queer youth and our entire community. In the face of the current onslaught, queer youth and their parents are finding their voices, organizing, and becoming involved as never before. Creating genuine community in and of itself advances our movement by strengthening ourselves and our connections to each other and providing the opportunity to experience joy, even as we struggle together against deeply deleterious laws.
A sense of love and community also unleashes creativity that provides pathways to change that we cannot yet envision. It offers the possibility of winning new supporters and furthering equality and dignity under law and in society without furthering polarization. When Senator Booker told Judge Jackson that “you are here because of that kind of love, and nobody’s taking this away from me,” he was truly speaking to all of us. John Lewis and Stuart Gaffney, together for over three decades, were plaintiffs in the California case for equal marriage rights decided by the California Supreme Court in 2008. Their leadership in the grassroots organization Marriage Equality USA contributed in 2015 to making same-sex marriage legal nationwide.
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If you’re looking to do something in the community, I invite you to join my team on Saturday, April 23, to volunteer with the Golden Gate Audubon Society. From 10 am to noon, we will work to restore the habitat at Golden Gate Park’s North Lake, removing invasive plants and maintaining the gardens for migrating birds.
And finally, with more and more clean vehicles on our streets, we must make sure drivers can easily access chargers. Many Californians are hesitant to replace their gas cars because of a fear they’ll be stranded somewhere with no place to plug in. My bill, AB 2061, requires reliability data for charging stations to be made publicly available. Drivers need confidence locations are properly working. As an EV driver, I know personally how frustrating it can be to get to a charger, only to find it broken. The information will also help ensure all communities have access to charging stations.
We are meeting at Chain of Lakes and JFK Drive. Be sure to dress warmly and wear closed-toe shoes. Gloves and equipment will be provided. Just RSVP and sign a volunteer waiver found on my website: https://a19.asmdc.org/events
I hope you participate in any number of Earth Day celebrations happening in our area. Now is the time to take even bigger steps to preserve our health, our planet, and our future. Don’t underestimate our power. When our voices and actions are united, we are inclusive, impactful, and impossible to ignore.
Beyond Earth Day, I continue to work on legislation that addresses our climate crisis. This year, I have several bills focused on our transporta-
Phil Ting represents the 19th Assembly District, which includes the Westside of San Francisco along with the communities of Broadmoor, Colma, and Daly City.
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Following this year’s ceremony at Lotta’s Fountain, celebrants per tradition traveled to the Golden Fire Hydrant at 3899 20th Street. The hydrant is credited with stopping the fire’s progression, and is repainted annually so that it retains its glistening, metallic hue. Fire Chief Nicholson was among those who did the honors this year.
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With Earth Day here, it’s time once again to reflect on the things we can do to save the Earth. Perhaps we can use a refillable water bottle instead of buying water in single-use plastic beverage containers, which are made with petroleum and often end up as litter. We could also use public transit or walk and bike to places to cut back on greenhouse gas emissions.
I am also focusing on the cars we drive every day. I’ve introduced AB 2816, which prioritizes lower income Californians who drive farther with less fuel-efficient cars. By incentivizing this group to make the switch with clean car rebates, fewer zero-emission vehicles (ZEV) are needed on the road to meet our near-term climate goals. ZEV rebates currently don’t take gas usage into account, and by doing so, we’ll see much a greater impact.
Since 1919, an annual commemoration has been held at the site of Lotta’s Fountain, a cast-iron fountain commissioned by actress Lotta Crabtree as a gift to the city in 1875. The fountain was used as a meeting point in the aftermath of the quake and fire. On Christmas Eve in 1910, marking a turning point of hope in the city’s history, tens of thousands of San Franciscans gathered at the fountain to hear a performance of “The Last Rose of Summer” by then opera superstar Luisa Tetrazzini. A recording of her singing the bittersweet song is at https://tinyurl.com/mr2jmbm9
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Assemblymember Phil Ting
LGBTQ community members, including Fire Chief Jeanine Nicholson and Bay Times columnist and entertainer Donna Sachet, joined Mayor London Breed and other City of San Francisco officials and historians on Monday, April 18, at 5:12 am for the 116th commemoration of the 1906 Great Earthquake and Fire. The 7.9 tremblor rocked San Francisco for 45 seconds, causing immense destruction including a fire that destroyed 80 percent of the city.
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tion sector, which accounts for roughly half of our state’s greenhouse gas emissions. My proposal, AB 2731, for instance, speeds up the transition of our children’s school buses from fossil fuels to electricity ten years—from 2045 to 2035. This will not only help our planet, but also our kids’ health. Even though they spend only a few hours a week on a school bus, their young lungs are particularly susceptible to the asthma-causing particles that get trapped inside these vehicles.
116th Anniversary of the 1906 Great Earthquake and Fire - Ceremony at Lotta’s Fountain
FACEBOOK/JOHN M. BRETT
Celebrating Earth Day
Springtime Is for Celebration and Renewal
Nuestra Voz Eduardo Morales, Ph.D. Many countries and cultural groups recognize the season of spring in a variety of ways. Generally, it is a time for renewal and rebirth to instill faith and hope. It is a time when we see flowers bloom, baby animals being born, and families gathering to celebrate their own traditions through food, festivals, and other activities. In the United States we are fortunate to have many types of cultures and individuals of diverse ancestry. While Americans are painting eggs and having egg roll events, Bali Hindus are decorating masks, Zoroastrians are planting seeds, and Japanese Buddhists are honoring their ancestors. Some of the more popular and common spring traditions include the celebration of St Patrick’s Day on March 17 commemorating the traditions of Ireland and its patron saint who brought Christian teachings to the everyday person. In Thailand there is the Songkran water festival marking the beginning of the Thai new year. Water is an important symbol and essential for life and during Songkran it represents washing away the old year and anticipating the coming rainfalls.
Hana Matsuri is a religious event celebrated through Buddhist Asia and incorporates the birthday of Buddha Shakaymuni. In Japan, Hana Matsuri is viewed as a flower festival and coincides with their celebration of Sakura (cherry blossoms) as well as Kanbutsue, which is the celebration of Buddha’s Birthday. In India they have the festival of colors called Holi celebrating the end of winter and the beginning of spring. People commemorate Holi by lighting bonfires, throwing colored powder called gulal, singing, dancing, and eating delicious sweets and treats. Ramadan is observed by the Muslims as a month of fasting, prayer, reflection, and community. A commemoration of Muhammad’s first revelation is part of the annual observance of Ramadan and is regarded as one of the Five Pillars of Islam. Eid al-Fitr is the feast of breaking the fast and marks the end of the monthlong fasting of Ramadan. In Mexico there is the celebration of the spring equinox Teotihuacán. People gather at the Teotihuacán Pyramid, the pyramid of the sun, by dressing in all white to absorb the good energy. Cinco de Mayo is more commonly celebrated in the United States to honor Mexico and their Battle of Puebla where they were triumphant in defeating the French army. In Holland, famous for its tulip-covered fields, there is the flower parade of the Bollenstreek. Millions of flowers are used to decorate floats for the parade and related celebrations. Sham el Nessim is the Egyptian spring festival acknowledging the coming harvest and change in the spring air. Decorating hardboiled eggs is a way to symbolize rebirth and families hang their baskets of eggs hoping their wishes get fulfilled. The Li Chun Festival celebrates the Spring Equinox in many Asian cultures. Their tradition suggests that by balancing an egg—making it “stand up”—the balancer will have good luck for the rest of the year. The Greek Island of Corfu celebrates by throwing clay pots full of water to ward off bad spirits. Residents then take home shards of pots as good luck charms.
Bulgarians celebrate the arrival of spring with red and white bracelets called Martenitsa (derived from the Bulgarian word for the month of March). This represents a bond uniting the strength, health, and happiness of their country. Of course, there is the celebration of Passover and Easter among Jews and Christians. The celebration of Passover is the commemoration of Jews being passed over by the angel of death, being freed from slavery, and beginning the start of their long journey to the promised land. Easter takes on two forms. One is the use of the Julian calendar by those celebrating Orthodox Easter that is observed near the time of the March Equinox. The Gregorian Calendar is used by most western countries and Christian denominations. In 325 A.D., the Council of Nicaea decided that Easter would be observed on the first Sunday of the full moon. The observance of Easter is the celebration of Christ’s resurrection from his crucifixion and death. Through the resurrection, Christ overcame death to a new life that marked the start of Christianity.
Songkran Festival
Hana Matsuri
Springtime inspires us with faith and hope through these customs from various countries, ethnicities, and religions. This is a time for renewal and rebirth and a time to share with our family and friends as we look forward to the rest of the year. During the current difficult and troubled times, social support and being inspired with hope through faith can benefit our well-being. After all, friends can be good medicine. Eduardo Morales, PhD, is one of the founders of AGUILAS, where he serves as Executive Director. He is also a retired Distinguished Professor at Alliant International University and is the current Past President of the National Latinx Psychological Association.
Ramadan
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Recology AIR Program Promotes Artists, Recycling, and Reuse The Recology San Francisco Artist in Residence (AIR) Program is an art and education initiative that awards Bay Area artists access to discarded materials, an unrestricted stipend, and an individual studio space. These resources, along with comprehensive support, are provided to artists while they create a body of work and host studio visits during their four-month residency.
1. Lauren DiCioccio Johnny Mathis I’ll Buy You a Star (Record and Album Cover), 2011 hand-embroidery on felt, cotton 12 x 12”
Since 1990, over 150 professional artists and 50 student artists from local colleges and universities have completed residencies. Selected by an advisory board of art professionals, these emerging, mid-career, and established artists have worked across disciplines— including new media, video, painting, photography, performance, sculpture, and installation—while experimenting with material use and approach.
2. Ramekon O’Arwisters Smooth the Edges, 2017 c-print of artist covered in ceramic shards
Artists explore a wide range of topics including current events, environmental and societal issues, personal histories, and identity. The work is powerful and sometimes humorous, it redefines spaces, and looks at materials and our society in a new light. Terry Berlier, who sits on the AIR advisory board, interweaves movement and sound to investigate the evolution of human connections with queerness and ecologies. In other work, including a shopping cart filled with concrete made at Recology, she contemplates the heaviness of our consumer society.
3. Erik Scollon If This World is a Poem, 2017 Fabric, air The windbreakers of a failed tech company are disassembled and reassembled into an interactive inflatable.
Jamil Hellu, also on the AIR Advisory Board, has a visual practice that weaves together photographic imagery, video, and installation to amplify queer histories and challenge the social construct of masculinity. While Ramekon O’Arwisters’s work acts as a metaphor for personal and societal rupture, it also serves as a strategy for repair. During his residency, he took great care to sand the sharp edges of broken ceramic shards, likening the process to other calming or healing acts such as meditation or hiking.
4. Dee Hibbert-Jones Pram, 2002 found baby buggy, books, paper, letters 54 x 30 x 23”
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5. Jamil Hellu Cart 4, Balls (Blue), 2014 digital pigment print 30 x 24”
The artist studios are located at the San Francisco Recycling and Transfer Center—a 47-acre facility that includes multiple recycling operations. Artists source materials for their artwork from the Public Reuse and Recycling Area, affectionately known as “the dump,” and paint from the Household Hazardous Waste Facility. At the conclusion of each residency, Recology hosts a public exhibition and artist talk that draws hundreds of guests to the studios.
6. Bonanza Aaliyah’s Peekaboo Pants, 2018 children’s play tent size 8 (photo: Graham Holoch)
LGBTQ News & Calendar for the Bay Area CELEBRATING FOUR DECADES (1978–2022)
Smart and Final, 2012 concrete, grocery cart, wood 41 x 41 1/2 x 24”
9. Leilah Talukder Patterning Privacy, 2022 Fabric Size 6
10. Rabbit Garcia Load 94108, 2018 Styrofoam, house paint, wood furniture legs 26 x 14 x 8”
11. Abel Rodriquez Green Compostura (Stability Shift), 2011 antique furniture parts, metal frame, plexi-glass, plastic, wire, wood box 24” x 32” x 78”
Recology AIR encourages the conservation of natural resources by providing artists with time, space, and reusable resources to create a new and impactful body of work. The program further aims to create a more diverse and inclusive residency that amplifies perspectives from local Bay Area communities and inspires children and adults who engage with the program to re-imagine their role in creating a just and sustainable world.
12. Bill Basquin Cara Cara Orange Peel #2, 2009 c-print in frame built from reclaimed wood 30 x 40”
13. Alise Anderson subject to change, 2022 Metal, paper clay, basket, enamel paint, plant 14 x 35 x 49” Photo: Robert Borsdorf
14. Ricki Dwyer Ghost 5.01, 2019 digital print 19 x 13”
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7. Kate Rhoades Karen, 2016 video, 21:03 mins., edition of 4
15. Robin Lasser Guarding the Garbage, 2002 c-print 31 1/2 x 39 1/2”
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Kate Rhoades uses humor and the absurd to talk about complex issues. At Recology, she envisioned an origin story for the Junk Lady in the Jim Henson film Labyrinth, creating a life history, as well as a name, “Karen,” for the character. Leilah Talukder utilizes textiles and sculpture to explore the role they play in shaping human interactions, desire, and cultural power dynamics. At Recology, she flipped wearable aspects of traditional American life, repurposing materials and forms to create protest wear for social justice activists.
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GLBT Fortnight in Review 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
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Juan R. Davila Volunteer Coordinator CONTRIBUTORS 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, Jewelle Gomez, Phil Ting, Rebecca Kaplan, Leslie Katz, Philip Ruth, Bill Lipsky, Elisa Quinzi, Liam Mayclem, Karen Williams, 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, Jane Higgins Paul Margolis, Chloe Jackman, Bill Wilson, Jo-Lynn Otto, Sandy Morris, Abby Zimberg, Joanie Juster, Darryl Pelletier, Vincent Marcel 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 © 2022 Bay Times Media Company Co-owned by Betty L. Sullivan & Jennifer L. Viegas
When Will It End? It’s another week of nonstop anti-GLBT state legislative news, as “Don’t Say Gay” bills begin to litter the country. They’re not all as bad as the one just signed by Governor Ron DeSantis in Florida. But they all echo the same theme, the idea that parents and/or lawmakers should be able to shut down any reading materials or class discussion that veers from the straight and narrow. Families have a mom and dad, with one or more cisgender children, and that’s that. Interestingly, some are starting to point out that this Father Knows Best type family inherently reflects the banned subject of “sexual orientation,” specifically heterosexuality. Perhaps some same-sex parents will use the new Florida law to sue their school district for violating the new statute in this manner. But this barrage of antigay and anti-trans lawmaking and rhetoric fits into a larger picture. At the same time, we have the attacks on any discussion of race in history class or civics. We have the new assertion that schools cannot make white children feel uncomfortable by examining our country’s racial past. I also noticed the headlines, as usual from Florida, where the Department of Education rejected 54 out of 132 math textbooks that “incorporate prohibited topics or unsolicited strategies.” Say what? The New York Times said the prohibited topics included “social-emotional learning and critical race theory,” although just how a grade school math text could reach these topics is not completely clear. The Times had one example, however, of a problem that was illustrated by cartoon animals helping each other cross a bridge, and another that showed a lonely animal movie star. That particular program aims to make math more accessible to children through stories that also “build self-awareness, self-management, responsible decision-making, and social awareness and relationship skills.” Too much for Florida, it seems. Let’s not forget the direct attack on women represented by the various anti-abortion bills, many with no exception for rape or incest. These too are not just a swing to the right on the charged issue of abortion, but they’re part and parcel of the larger attempt to push the clock back to the patriarchal world of the 1950s, before feminism, before the civil rights act, before “gay liberation,” before the full range of modern progressive thought. All of this fits into the disturbing mentality of QAnon, of “Dark MAGA,” of the men who dress up in combat gear and play with guns. You may or may not have seen the trailer for Tucker Carlson’s “documentary” The End of Men, which bemoans the (quite serious) decline in testosterone that has been dropping globally about one percent per year for two decades. While scientists point to several overlapping factors, (including plastics pollution, obesity, lower activity levels, and perversely fewer smokers), Carlson has his own odd viewpoint. I haven’t seen his movie, but just from the trailer and press reports, we know that the ills of today’s politically correct culture are to blame and that the problem can be addressed with some kind of infrared laser treatment for your genital area. Meanwhile, the trailer itself is a weird montage of homoerotic images, shirtless white guys with gleaming muscles climaxing in a scene where a naked man stands on a rock while his junk gets zapped by the aforementioned laser. When will reason and nuance return? Is there a silent majority of normal people shaking their heads at this insane cacophony? Or is everyone actually going crazy? It’s hard to tell. Captain Picard to the Bridge! Before we continue, I must return to one of my recent pet peeves. I know I’ve complained about this not too long ago, but the peeve has reemerged demanding to be stroked and fed. It’s the damned comets! Once again, the headlines tell us that a comet in on the way. But not just any comet. This one is the biggest ever seen. “Massive, record-breaking comet is hurtling toward Earth,” says The New York Post. “What happens if the largest known comet collides with Earth?” wonders BigThink. (Hint: it’s not good.) “NASA spots huge comet heading towards Earth,” says YouTube. The Daily Beast warns: “The Most Monstrous Comet Ever Known Is Headed Straight for Us!” This comet, however, is going to miss Earth by the same distance that separates Saturn from the Sun. I’m not an astronomer, but that sounds like a fairly large safety zone, does it not? Headed straight for us? Perhaps it is, in the same way that a giant speeding train en route from the East Coast is heading straight for us right now! What happens if we were to step in front of the train? We’d die! (Cue: crazed feminine scream.) The reason this annoys me so much is that it’s a slap in the face to journalism, even to tabloid journalism. The idea that this giant comet could possibly hit
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Earth is simply not true. It’s a bald-faced lie. And the actual truth is evident in the story itself, yet the headline writers deliberately choose to mess with us. To be sure, most serious papers were far more circumspect, but even National Geographic could not resist: “One of the largest comets ever seen is headed our way.” Freedom Is as Freedom Does I have an interesting lawsuit to tell you about now that I’ve wasted half my column complaining about the times in which we live and ridiculous scare tactics. On April 25, the High Court will hear oral arguments in the religious freedom battle between assistant football coach Joe Kennedy and the Bremerton (Washington) School District. To me, this is like the Mississippi abortion case in a way, since it seems impossible that the Court could rule in favor of Kennedy without trashing several clear-cut precedents. To make a long story short, Coach Kennedy is a devout Christian, intent on praying in public on the 50-yard line after football games. He does other things, but this is the issue under review at the moment. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has ruled that Kennedy, who works for a public school, is a state employee and not allowed to make a spectacle of himself blathering to Jesus in the middle of the field (or words to that effect). Not only is he violating the government’s religious neutrality, but his activities can also be considered coercive, since many of his players join him—some because they also are thankful to Christ, but others because they want to stay on the coach’s good side and feel pressured to tag along. No one suggested that Kennedy give up his First Amendment right to bow his own head in thanks or say a little prayer as a personal gesture of faith. The school district even offered to provide a private spot for him to pray by himself, but this was not enough for the man, who refused to modify his ritual and who chose not to renew his contract in 2016. Kennedy then sued the district, and his case reached the Supreme Court in 2019. The four conservatives found the case “troubling,” but agreed that the petition was premature as there was further fact finding needed. The case went back through the lower courts with the same result, but this time when presented with the petition for review, the justices decided to take it on. The case is fairly simple. Kennedy was not told to refrain from praying. He was told to refrain from praying on the 50-yard line after football games, at a time when the stadium was filled with students. Just the fact that he had the access and authority to position himself mid-field right after a game reflected his status as a school employee, and public-school employees work for the state government. Yet read what Sam Alito wrote back in 2019 when he first encountered the matter: “What is perhaps most troubling about the Ninth Circuit’s opinion is language that can be understood to mean that a coach’s duty to serve as a good role model requires the coach to refrain from any manifestation of religious faith—even when the coach is plainly not on duty. I hope that this is not the message that the Ninth Circuit meant to convey, but its opinion can certainly be read that way.” Again, no one said the coach had to refrain from any manifestation of religious faith. As usual, Alito creates his own frame of reference out of whole cloth and we can likely expect him to let his personal opinions run amok with little constraint from established constitutional law. Thomas will follow suit, and if 2019 is our guide, we can expect Gorsuch and Kavanaugh along for the ride. If one more justice agrees, what will stop public school teachers from holding Christian prayer sessions before class? What about a prayer group in the lunch room? Why would these sorts of situations be any different from Coach Kennedy’s performances? And what of the Jewish kids, the atheists, the Muslims? What of the gay or trans kids who will know, instinctively, that a fundamentalist teacher isn’t a friend? By the way, Justice Breyer doesn’t retire until this summer, so Justice Jackson will miss this one. I’m also reminded of the cartoon that shows a football player crossing the goal line, raising his finger to the skies in gratitude, calling, “Thank You Jesus!” Meanwhile, up in Heaven, there’s Jesus, staring intently at a soccer game on TV. Give Me Faith Let’s see ... what else. I vaguely remember the case of Nicholas Meriwether, a professor at Shawnee State University who refused to use respectful pronouns for a transwoman student. The man was disciplined by the college. He sued and after his case was dismissed by the lower court, he appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. There, a trio of Trump (continued on page 22)
SF Pride Announces 2022 Community Grand Marshals The Board of Directors of San Francisco Pride on April 19 announced the Community Grand Marshals to be honored during the 52nd annual San Francisco Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Pride Celebration and Parade (Pride 52) that will take place on Saturday and Sunday, June 25–26, 2022. This year’s honorees personify SF Pride’s mission to educate the world, commemorate heritage, celebrate culture, and liberate LGBTQ+ people. “As we return to an in-person celebration this June, SF Pride is thrilled to honor this exceptional group of individuals and organizations who have contributed greatly to the San Francisco Bay Area LGBTQ+ community and to society at large,” said Suzanne Ford, SF Pride Interim Executive Director. “Each of this year’s Grand Marshals are local heroes in their own right and leaders in the efforts towards inclusion, acceptance, and equality for all LGBTQ+ people.” This year’s list of individuals and organizations includes: African American Art & Culture Complex (Public Poll Choice) Organization Melanie DeMore (Members’ Choice) Grammy-nominated Singer/Composer, Choral Conductor, Music Director, and Vocal Activist Vinny Eng (Public Poll Choice) Director of Policy and Advocacy at Safer Together Amber Gray (Board Choice) Group Facilitator and Public Service Aide for the City and County of San Francisco’s Community Behavioral Health Services Andrea Horne (Board Choice) – Lifetime Achievement Grand Marshal Community Engagement/Program Assistant at Curry Senior Center Socorro “Cori” Moreland (Members’ Choice) Founder/CEO of Brotherhood510 Mellanique “Black” Robicheaux (Board Choice) DJ “With decades of advocacy and activism, these Grand Marshals embody what it means to be community leaders,” said San Francisco Pride Board President and San Francisco Bay Times columnist Carolyn Wysinger. “Despite the setbacks and challenges of the past year, these leaders have continued to rise above and serve the queer community.” https://sfpride.org/
Jacob Stensberg Named Artistic Director of San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus Following an extensive nationwide search, the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus (SFGMC) Executive Director Chris Verdugo and Board of Directors Chair Glenn DeSandre on April 19 announced the appointment of Jacob Stensberg as the new Artistic Director of San Francisco’s premier choral organization. Stensberg succeeds Dr. Timothy Seelig, who will retire at the conclusion of SFGMC’s Season 44 in July 2022. Dr. Seelig, a San Francisco Bay Times columnist, will continue to write for the paper, however, and plans to retire “Seelig style,” meaning with guest conductor roles and numerous other opportunities on the horizon.
“On behalf of the Board of Directors, I am delighted to welcome Jacob Stensberg as SFGMC’s next Artistic Director,” added DeSandre. “His passionate commitment to social justice, advocacy, and the amplification of marginalized voices coupled with his creative artistic vision and choral pedagogy make him the ideal candidate to lead SFGMC into the future.” Said Stensberg: “It’s easy to identify Dr. Seelig’s legacy through metrics, like increased GALA chorus visibility, organizational growth, and musical excellence, but it’s impossible to ignore what I see as the central tenet for all of his many accomplishments: love. When love is the foundation on which we build our gathering place, when it’s our ‘why’—there is no dream too big, no burden too heavy, no room too crowded, no story too small. While Tim is truly an inimitable man who can never be replaced, his legacy of love is one I look forward to continuing. The future of the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus is bright, and I am prepared to lead the organization in our next chapter together.”
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LGBTQ News & Calendar for the Bay Area CELEBRATING FOUR DECADES (1978–2022)
Photos courtesy of SFMGC/Gareth Gooch Photography
Added William Griffel, Director of Purdue Musical Organizations: “Jacob Stensberg made an immediate impact on our program at Purdue Musical Organizations when he arrived on campus with his visionary programming, innovative choral pedagogy, and his infectious zeal for positive interactions with everyone he meets. I am so proud to call him a friend and colleague and I look forward to seeing Jacob thrive in this new chapter of his career!” Originally from Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin, Stensberg received his Bachelor of Music Education in Vocal Music at Carroll University and went on to receive his Master of Music in Choral Conducting from Butler University. Since then, he has been recognized with numerous awards and grants for his leadership in conducting, program development, and intercultural competency and research.
Jacob Stensberg
CABURE BONUGLI
Stensberg joins the SFGMC from Purdue University’s vocal music department, where he served as Assistant Director of the Purduettes and University Choir, and Director of the Chamber Choir, All-Campus and Community Chorale, and the PMO Kids Choir. “We set out to find an artistic leader who could build on the monumental accomplishments and artistic excellence Dr. Tim Seelig has helped San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus achieve,” said Verdugo. “We are extremely fortunate to attract someone with Jacob’s deep knowledge of vocal arts and musical theater, and proven commitment to his community. His enthusiasm and exuberance are contagious. I look forward to introducing him to the San Francisco Bay Area.”
BAY TIMES
Prior to his role at Purdue University, Jacob served the Indianapolis community through his musical direction of professional theater productions, including The Rocky Horror Show, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, and Disney’s Hunchback of Notre Dame. At Purdue University, he has been instrumental in amplifying marginalized voices and has been a leader of Purdue’s diversity and inclusion initiatives. Most recently, Jacob conducted research on the way cultural music is shared and its direct impact on complex tasks like empathy, curiosity, and openness. He shared his findings at the American Choral Directors Association Conference in Chicago in February 2022. The Artistic Director Search Committee was designed to represent the diversity of SFGMC’s membership, Board of Directors, and community. Led by co-chairs Paul Saccone (Singing Member) and Maren Amdal (Community Member) the committee included in alphabetical order Ashtyn Avella (Singing Member), Miguel Bustos (Singing Member), Terrence Chan (Singing Member), Janet Cluff (Community Member), Glenn DeSandre, (SFGMC Board Chair), Steve Gallagher (Singing Member), Michelle Jacques (SFGMC Board of Directors Community Member), Thomas Kennard (Singing Member), Vinney Le (Singing Member), Tom Paulino (SFGMC Member President), Louis Rogers (Singing Member), Michael Tate (Singing Member), Steve Valdez (Singing Member), and Chris Verdugo (SFGMC Executive Director). https://tinyurl.com/29yuz6nc
Voices Rising - San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus Conducted by Dr. Tim Seelig, the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus presented the concert entitled Voices Rising on Sunday, April 10, at Davies Symphony Hall, featuring the world premiere of the song-cycle “Songs of the Phoenix.”
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Crescendo Speech
TLC: Tears, Laughs and Conversation Dr. Tim Seelig (Editor’s Note: On April 8 at the 16th Crescendo, an annual benefit for the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus (SFGMC), Dr. Tim Seelig received the Chorus’ prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award. Under Seelig’s leadership as Artistic Director, SFGMC has established a heightened level of performance standards bringing renewed audience and choral industry acclaim. Recent touring schedules, recordings, and outreach programs have broadened SFGMC’s impact and reputation in the community while maintaining the Chorus’ signature blend of humor, personality, and groundbreaking performances. In 2019, SFGMC acquired a historic facility that has become its permanent home for rehearsals and offices. The building also serves as the first-ever National LGBTQ Center for the Arts, a community space for LGBTQ artists and arts organizations. Crescendo, in person again after the pandemic shut downs, raised $750,000 for the Chorus’ future. Nearly all of Seelig’s biological family traveled to be present at the memorable event that offered a chance
to honor, in addition to Seelig, Tony Award winner BD Wong, Amazon, and the California Legislative LGBTQ Caucus. Note that the speech shared here refers to Seelig’s daughter. Corianna Seelig-Gustafson (1977–2018) was a light of his life. SFGMC’s recent Voices Rising concert at Davies Symphony Hall was underwritten, in part, by Steve Gallagher and Chris Thorne, in Corianna’s memory. Seelig’s importance to the Chorus, to gay men’s choruses worldwide, to Bay Area arts, and as a mentor to countless LGBTQ individuals is invaluable and without measure. Here at the Bay Times, he is a treasured friend and a consummate professional. No matter what—national television filming schedules, performances, funerals, and even a case of COVID-19—he never misses a deadline because he is so incredibly considerate of others. He is both a great leader and a thoughtful team player, and that is not even touching on his skills as a world class singer, musician, and conductor. We are honored to help preserve the words of his Lifetime Achievement Award acceptance speech for readers now and in future.) Lifetime achievement? What? Here’s wha’ had happened. Precocious. Self-assured. LOUD. That was 3-year-old Tim. When family and friends came to visit, he would be placed up on the piano bench to perform the most beautiful ABC song ever heard. Well, it was at least loud. There was a bit of a stumble on LMNOP, but no one cared. It was loud.
How many of you were encouraged to perform for visitors either singing, playing a little piano piece, or even reciting a poem? Well, I was. It got so bad that when I heard the doorbell, I starting getting ready and headed toward the piano bench. The problem was that when I finished with a dramatic WXYZ and it was time to get off the “stage,” I didn’t want to get down. I liked it! I then moved to “This Little Light of Mine,” for my first experience with choreography on “Hide it under a bushel? No!” It wasn’t actually choreography, just a dramatic hand motion removing the bushel from the finger representing the light. That was the sum total of my choreography, though. Baptists don’t dance. Then, I turned 6 or 7 and the question started: What do you want to be when you grow up? Growing up in a family of people who did religion as professions, I [wanted to choose] something that makes a difference and saves the world: Doctor, a Teacher, or a Preacher. I was not going to go for anything like superman or astronaut. Too secular. I’m pretty sure, though, that no child answers that question, “When I grow up, I want to wave my arms at gays.” That may change in the future! The piano bench “stage” had taught me to LOVE all stages! I have been incredibly lucky to perform on stages throughout Asia,
Europe, Canada and the U.S. Those included Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Castro Theater, and our new home, the Chan National Queer Arts Center at 170 Valencia! I even waved my arms at the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. I am beyond thrilled to end this part of my career waving my arms at the venerable San Francisco Symphony Orchestra at Davies Symphony Hall in July!
During these days, another old gospel song came to mind that my Mother had sung at Billy Graham crusades around the world. “I sing because I’m happy ... I sing because I’m free ... .” They just didn’t know how free! Free from the confines of the religion and indoctrination.
I’m comfortable on stage. Maybe too comfortable sometimes! I have this overwhelming desire to chat with all the nice people who came to hear the music!
Only yesterday, the news reported that life expectance had dropped to 76.3 years. I’m 71. But who’s counting? Tic Toc. When I began my career with LGBTQ+ choruses, the life average expectancy of my singers was 30! For my daughter, it was only 41.
As you may already know, every life experience I had amassed up to that point came together one fateful night in 1987. I walked into a room of gay men and waved my arms at them! It was more thrilling than I had ever imagined it would be. Actually, I had never imagined it at all. I barely knew any gays. At my first rehearsal, I came face to face with a singer covered in lesions on the front row. He was the first PWA, Person with AIDS, I had ever met or seen. My heart broke. It has never fully healed, but we got to work. Nothing was ever the same. I was finally in a room of men like me. Some hurting. Some broken. Many sick. It just didn’t matter. We sang. In addition to the hurt and pain and death, there was also unspeakable joy as we gathered together to experience first-hand the healing power of music, the bond it created and the hope Harvey Milk had talked about.
The lifetime part of the award is a little overwhelming. “Lifetime” is relative.
I’ve lived several lifetimes—as you know. I’m going to have to add a third section to my memoire: Big Old Baptist and Big Old Gay. Big Old Gay Retiree. Of course, there will be a chapter about surviving a 2nd pandemic! I feel like I’ve lived an entire lifetime in my 11 1/2 years here in San Francisco. We did some big stuff together. National AIDS Memorial Grove Artists Portal, Chan National Queer Arts Center, Lavender Pen Tour, Gay Chorus Deep South documentary, RHYTHM (Reaching Youth Through Music). We’ve raised money, changed lives, provided a safe space for countless people, entertained, and most importantly, moved the needle for our beautiful community Now life comes full circle. In only 3 months, I’m trading in the stage at Davies Symphony Hall for a piano bench. Yes, I’ll keep my liability (continued on page 22)
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“It always seemed to me a bit pointless to disapprove of homosexuality. It’s like disapproving of rain.”
By Donna Sachet
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onsider the Castro Farmers’ Market officially open, 4–7 pm every Wednesday, after we led the ribbon-cutting on April 6, accompanied by Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, Castro Merchants Association President Masood Samerie, Sister Jezabelle of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, and Reigning Emperor Brent Daddy Munro. We love this campy ceremony welcoming fresh produce back to the corner of Market and Noe Streets and we are honored to have participated in the ribbon-cutting for 12 years.
– Francis Maude
Afterwards, the Emperor escorted us down the block to The Academy for an evening with Jim Obergefell, lead litigant in the landmark Supreme Court case legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide, who is now running for a seat in the Ohio legislature. Since winning that case, Jim co-founded Equality Vine, a collaborative project with various wineries, dedicating part of their proceeds to LGBTQ+ civil rights causes. A small, but enthusiastic crowd, led by Michael Volpatt of Big Bottom Market in Guerneville, showed support for Jim’s campaign for public office with applause and financial contributions. If you are noticing this column covers multiple events in a single day, you are right! Not only are we witnessing an increasing number of events returning to live and in-person settings, but we find ourselves stretched to cover several in a single day, reminiscent of pre-COVID days. Last Saturday was an example, starting with the retirement party at Don Ramon’s for SF Police Lieutenant Lisa Frazer. She packed the place with fellow police officers, family and friends, and community representatives, certainly a tribute to her decades of service and personal commitment making the city a better place for all. As the cake was cut, camera flashes lit the room and tears fell all around. From there, we dashed over to City View at The Metreon for the SF LGBT Community Center’s Soirée, co-hosted by Honey Mahogany and Sister Roma, which started with a seated dinner, live auction, and speeches, followed by a free-flowing cocktail party with entertainment curated by Juanita MORE! Having served on their Board of Directors years ago, we have a special place in our heart for The Center and the evening was a reunion with many friends. For many, dancing lasted into the night. The next day was Imperial Investiture, Genesis: Dawn of the Ethereal Empire, of the new Emperor Brent Daddy Munro & Empress Ehra Amaya at The Midway. It was a well-produced event with great entertainment, comfortable ambiance, tempting silent auction, and all the familiar traditions of this event. At the risk of sounding like Lady Whistledown from a certain television series, we must wonder at the conspicuous absence of so many San Francisco Emperors and Empresses. While they are the first to expect regal recognition after their own reigns, why don’t they support the ongoing events of the Imperial Court that gave them so many opportunities? Come now! The same night, we enjoyed with Lawrence Helman the SF Gay Men’s Chorus concert Voicing Rising at Davies Symphony Hall. To hear this accomplished chorus of hundreds of talented voices present the music of Andrew Lippa, Stephen Schwartz, Stephen Sondheim, and so many others in this gorgeous setting was an extraordinary experience. Only one concert remains under the helm of retiring Artistic Director Tim Seelig; get your tickets now for Final Words at Davies Symphony Hall, July 13. As a definitive proof of the resurgence of multiple events, we awoke last Saturday to four commitments! From Joe Mac’s whimsical Easter Bonnet sale at 440 (forty sold in 30 minutes), to John Newmeyer’s birthday party at his lovely Gough Street home (guests from the many facets of his well-lived life), to Krewe de Kinque’s benefit at Midnight Sun (the first in a series of monthly events there), to a casual gathering of Adam Sandel’s friends to celebrate his birthday at Toad Hall, we successfully appeared as scheduled. It seems this two-year hiatus has not ravaged this columnist’s stamina entirely.
Thursday, April 28 Divas & Drinks Celebrating the birthdays of Betty Sullivan & Donna Sachet Guest emcees Gary Virginia and Carolyn Wysinger With Mayor London Breed, the SF Lesbian/Gay Freedom Band, and many other special guests Bacardí drinks, Extreme Pizza, Name That Tune The Academy, 2166 Market Street $10 www.academy-sf.com
Department of Emergency Management Executive Director Mary Ellen Carroll. Although no survivors of the original event are around to attend as in the past, nearly 75 people joined in the remembrance, some in period costumes, including E. Clampus Vitus’ omnipresent Emperor Joshua Norton, and all joining in the singing of the iconic song “San Francisco.” We caught up with Lee Housekeeper, Scott Seligman, Steve Adams, Debra Walker, Khmera Rouge, and Karen Clopton, Chair of the SF Human Rights Commission. Indeed, we consider the annual commemorative gathering to be a rite of passage for any true San Franciscan. We encourage you to experience this tradition at least once in your life. If we can set the alarm and rise at that unbelievable hour and be presentable, anyone can do so. 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
The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence triumphantly returned to Dolores Park for Easter Sunday and their devotees arrived in throngs. The skies were clear, even if the temperature was less than ideal, and the antics on stage, including the legendary Foxy Mary and Hunky Jesus contests, combined with the energy of friends separated for too long, made for a stupendous celebration.
Speakers included Mayor Willie Brown (who has attended every one of these events since becoming Mayor of the city), Mayor London Breed (showing her lighter side, dressed in period costume and hat and looking fabulous), SF Fire Chief Jeanine Nicholson, SF Police Chief Bill Scott, and SF
PHOTO BY SHAWN NORTHCUTT
PHOTO BY KHMERA ROUGE
Loyal readers know how much we relish those “only in San Francisco” events, e.g. the Imperial Court’s annual Pilgrimage to Colma, the SF Gay Men’s Chorus Christmas Eve concerts at the Castro Theatre, rainbow flag raising at City Hall, etc. With that in mind, we roused ourselves before dawn on Monday, donned a warm, but fashionable ensemble, and headed to the corner of Kearny and Market Streets for the annual commemoration at Lotta’s Fountain of the April 18, 1906, Earthquake and Fire at 5:18 am. 116 years after this historic tragedy took place, a band of San Franciscans assembled at this spot to remember the lives of those lost and the catastrophic upheaval of our beloved city. This year’s ceremony was dedicated to the late SF Chief of Protocol Charlotte Shultz and Ron Ross, Founder of the San Francisco History Association and Mr. Gay SF 1974 and Imperial Czar of the Golden Gate Empire, awarded in 1976. A beautiful photographic display at Lotta’s Fountain this year acknowledged Ron’s long support of the event. Donna with Mayor London Breed at the 116th Anniversary of the 1906 Earthquake ceremony held at Lotta’s Fountain on April 16th. See page 10 for more about the annual ceremony.
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The Importance of ‘Patch Holder’ Status By Kate Brown, Ph.D.
PHOTOS BY MEMBERS AND PARTICIPANTS WITH SAN FRANCISCO DYKES ON BIKES®
winding. And while “long and winding” are features we look for on rides, they weren’t ones we anticipated when we embarked on what ended up being a 13-year legal battle to register the name and logo Dykes on Bikes with the United States Patent Trademark Office. Nor did we foresee that our stops on the journey would include the Supreme Court of the United States where we argued, in part, that we have a heightened protection for political speech, including the self-referential use of the term “Dyke,” under the First Amendment.
Dykes on Bikes® Tales From Two Wheels Over the course of the last nine months, the San Francisco Bay Times has invited us to introduce members of the San Francisco Dykes on Bikes® (SFDOB) Women’s Motorcycle Contingent (WMC). SFDOB is organized into Officers, a Board of Directors, Emeritus Patch Holders, Active Patch Holders, nonActive Patch Holders, Prospects, and Participants. Each designation is indicative of a different level of engagement. And while we have hundreds of motorcyclists who join us at the end of June as we ride down Market Street to kick off the SF LGBTQ+ Pride Parade, very few are full Active Patch-holding members of SFDOB. The road to protecting “Dykes on Bikes” for nonprofit use in the LGBTQ+ community was long and
Thus, to earn and be awarded Active Patch Holder status with the San Francisco Dykes on Bikes WMC is an honor. By earning and disDykes on Bikes® welcomed new playing the Dykes on Bikes patch, a rider is Patch Holders Melissa (left) and connected with 45 years of history, a legacy of Michelle (right) before leaving San reclaimed speech, the people who fought to proFrancisco for an overnight ride to Paso Robles including a stop along tect its use in the LGTBQ+ community, and a the Pacific Coast Highway to take community of fellow patch-holders in Dykes on in the coastline and see sea lions. Bikes chapters around the world. With that, I would like to welcome our newest Active Patch Holders, Melissa C. and Michelle R. Melissa and Michelle separately declared their interest in joining SFDOB as Prospects last Fall after joining us for some of our rides and activities. Each has contributed to our organization by planning rides, attending meetings, rides and events, helping with fundraisers, and last weekend signed up to be Co-Chairs for our Line-Up and Road Captain committees as we begin preparing for Pride. What better time to welcome our newest Patch Holders than during our pre-ride check-in on a ride that took us South to the Pinnacles National Park Area, San Antonio Reservoir and Lake Nacimiento, an overnight (continued on page 22)
Two Big SUVs With Upscale Flavor
Chevrolet Suburban
Auto Philip Ruth Over time, U.S. car buyers have proven their collective desire to buy the biggest vehicles their budgets will allow. While San Francisco residents go for reduced dimensions for easier city driving and parking, a quick ride over the Golden Gate Bridge to Marin County shows how Range Rovers and their ilk have conquered the upscale suburbs. Chevrolet and Jeep are star players on this field, with the Uberubiquitous Suburban and the recently reintroduced Grand Cherokee. Chevy’s brand may not be equated with luxury, but the $79,370 sticker price on the tested Surburban 4WD Premier begs to differ. The $73,085 tab for the Grand Cherokee Summit Reserve 4x4 wasn’t far behind. Both SUVs are in the “large” segment, and the Suburban’s 227-inch length makes it a class giant. The tested Grand Cherokee was the tworow model, which clocks in at a tidy 194 inches, and the three-row L trim stretches that to 205 inches. One benefit of the Suburban’s extra 22 inches is a six-inch advantage in third-row legroom. Short and tall passengers have space in a Suburban, while the Grand Cherokee’s third row leans toward the petite. 20
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Jeep Grand Cherokee
Ample widths for these SUVs create expansive interior environments, although the Suburban’s 81-inch measurement demands planning in city driving, because holes in traffic can close up just enough to leave you out of luck. The Grand Cherokee’s 77 inches had a lesser but similar effect, and it is in those situations where you question if you need this much vehicle. Hit the freeway, and the answer might quickly switch to the affirmative. This is the Suburban’s time to shine, with its compliant ride and train-like solidity. The $2,495 “EcoTec3” V8 engine displaces 6.2 liters and felt like a mellow bodybuilder under the hood—unstressed in normal tasks and firmly forceful when called upon. Chevy’s “Dynamic Fuel Management” shuts down some of the eight cylinders when it’s loping along, and this action is undetectable by the driver. The Grand Cherokee has similar stats but feels very different from the Suburban, much more truck-like. It’s not a higher-effort steed or anything like that; the Jeep is as genteel as its price would suggest. It’s more
about its occasional vibrations and characterful responses the Chevy studiously irons out. Its familiar 5.7-liter V8 “Hemi” engine cranks out 357 horsepower and sounds great doing it, with a hearty grumble from idle up to top gear. This engine also features cylinder deactivation (“Fuel Saver Technology”), and buyers wanting more efficiency could explore the Grand Cherokee 4xe four-cylinder hybrid, which the Suburban counters with its six-cylinder turbo diesel option. Inside, the Suburban is aptly named, with a driver’s environment that successfully mimics that of a luxury sedan. You don’t feel bulked up in a truck until you look down over the windowsill. The Grand Cherokee shares some design elements, including the long flowing horizontal lines to define the styling. Both were done in tan-and-black treatments that effectively epitomized these plussized exercises in modern opulence. Philip Ruth is a Castro-based automotive photojournalist and consultant with an automotive staging service.
GGBA’s ‘Make Contact’ Returns
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The monthly Make Contact networking events, produced regularly for decades, are among the most popular ongoing services of the Golden Gate Business Association (GGBA). On Tuesday, April 12, the first of GGBA’s Make Contact networking events held in-person since early 2020 was hosted by New Conservatory Theater Center (NCTC). Featured guest Suzanne Ford, interim Executive Director of SF Pride, discussed the growing excitement for the return of the San Francisco Pride Parade scheduled to be held on Sunday, June 26. GGBA’s Executive Director Terry Beswick spoke on behalf of the organization and joined current and former officers and Board members, including Aaron Lander, Gina Grahame, Krystal Drwencke, Tony Archuleta, and others, in welcoming members and guests. Juan Torres of Torres Wine Tours & Events served as wine sponsor. Welcoming guests on behalf of NCTC were Executive Director Barbara Hodgen, along with Kate Butler Jones, Nora Segura-Barpal, and more. Among the new members attending were Another Planet Entertainment’s Margaret Casey and Casey Lowdermilk. The annual Mega Make Contact, held in conjunction with San Francisco Small Business Week, will be held on Tuesday, May 3, 6–9pm. To register: https://tinyurl.com/mtv4xbzy
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enter into standard agreements as a local agency partner for funds from the state’s Homekey Program with several projects.
These kinds of creative collaborations are a major step toward opening up opportunities for those who have been excluded from such opportunities for too long. And speaking of opportunities ...
The State Homekey Program is currently in the process of awarding approximately $1.45 billion in grant funding to local public entities to sustain and rapidly expand housing for persons experiencing homelessness or who are atrisk of homelessness. Although the State of California has issued multiple Homekey awards to other jurisdictions, there are many excellent projects, both in Oakland and elsewhere, which have not yet been approved for funding. California needs to fully fund all Homekey projects in Oakland and throughout the state so we can bolster the fight to take people off the streets and give them the security of a home with a key. 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/ ). ROSTOW (continued from page 14) and Bush judges determined that there was nothing wrong with Professor Meriwether’s behavior, and indeed, no harm came of it and it was not discriminatory. Really? This despite the fact that transgender students are protected against bias under Title IX of the Education Amendments of whatever year that was. (1978? 1973? I always have to look it up but I’m not doing it today.) Even though Title IX protects on the basis of “sex,” and not “gender identity,” the High Court ruled two years ago, in Bostock v Clayton County, that sex discrimination inherently includes gay and gender bias. This decision has not stopped conservatives from, um, simply ignoring the Supreme Court and shrugging off the opinion because it was issued in the context of Title VII’s ban on workplace sex discrimination rather than Title IX’s identical ban in public schools and colleges. Now, since the case has been sitting on the lower court’s docket for a while, the college has decided to settle the case by handing over $400,000 smackers to Meriwether, who doesn’t deserve a penny, in my view. Once again, Christian faith is the dominant factor as Meriwether claimed his religion required him to use masculine pronouns and call his student “Mr.” X. I went to Episcopalian schools from kindergarten to senior year and I must have forgotten the obligation to insult and demean people you work with out of self-absorption and pique. That said, I skipped chapel on many occasions so I may have missed those particular lessons. For several years, I attended the famed National Cathedral School for Girls, where we were required to go, not just to chapel, but to full on Cathedral services where I would slither down onto the floor of the tall pews and lounge on my classmates’ feet eating candy. Alternatively, a few of us would escape to the “Bishops Garden,” a maze of boxwood with big bushes to hide in and several wishing ponds where we would wade in to collect loose change. Periodically, when we collected enough, we would traipse into the “Herb Cottage” and buy Callard and Bowser licorice with handfuls of wet coins, much to the disapproval of the women behind the counter. In eighth grade, I was expelled for smoking marijuana in the Cathedral basement and it was off to the next Episcopalian school. Ah, youth. arostow@aol.com
Opportunities Ahead Looking for a career change? On April 23, the City and County of San Francisco will host a large citywide Career Resource Fair for job seekers from all backgrounds who are interested in exploring a career with the city. The city has job opportunities in a wide range of areas, in health care, public safety, technology, construction, human services, and more. Date/Time: April 23 from 10 am–2 pm Location: Civic Center Plaza, 355 McAllister, San Francisco, CA., 94102 Register here: https://tinyurl.com/SFJobFair National Poetry Month As someone who is lucky enough to be married to a world-class poet, poetry is part of everyday life in our household. So, this is a reminder that April is National Poetry Month. Poetry is good for you. It opens our eyes and hearts, and feeds our souls. It is a refreshing form of self-care. Take a few minutes to read a poem each day. You’ll be glad you did. Focusing on Hope These past few months have been filled with a barrage of bad news. From the war crimes and devastation in Ukraine to an increasing number of state legislatures that seem hellbent on destroying the live of trans people and those who love them, the
examples of hatred, fear, and inhumanity are rampant. It is tempting to give in to despair, and all too easy to feel overwhelmed, helpless, depressed. And yet, while there are too many out there sowing chaos and discord, there are also many, many more working to heal our world. One of my favorite writers (and human beings), Rebecca Denison, is an HIV+ writer, educator, and mother who lives in Berkeley. She posts Super Short Stories (exactly 100 words each!) on social media and her website that give me hope for the world. I leave you today with this one: Braving the Thicket Sometimes, when the world feels too heavy—prickly, erratic, unsafe, and infinitely inhumane—I retreat and hunker down in my cave, reading, writing, doomscrolling, and wishing things were different. Other times, I heed the call to venture out, to participate in the flow of life. That’s when I follow Mr. Rogers’ advice: “Look for the helpers.” Often, I discover that people I don’t even know have already scratched a passage through the thicket, so others can keep moving forward along their own, messy paths. I stop. Look. Breathe. Listen. There’s light up ahead, and all around are signs of spring.” https://www.rebeccadenison.net/ Look for the helpers, friends. Better yet: be a helper. And open your eyes and heart to the signs of spring. Joanie Juster is a long-time community volunteer, activist, and ally.
SEELIG (continued from page 17) insurance paid up and be extremely careful when climbing up on it. Precocious, Self-assured. Loud. That’s 71-year-old Tim. What did I want to be? Someone who made a difference and helped people. A Doctor. Check. (with a baton instead of a stethoscope) A Teacher. Check. A Preacher. Hello? Tonight, I am so incredibly blessed to have my family here. My son, Judson, his wife Juliana, and Eden Mae (the two little ones are not at the dinner). My son-in-law Clay, his fiancé Vikki, and my granddaughter, Clara Skye. My best friend Dan England and long-time friend Karen Modlin. It’s hard to imagine the number of songs we have sung together over these 35 years. Our friend Mr. Andrew Lippa penned these words in the musical Unbreakable, composed for SFGMC ... San Francisco, I am broken but you welcome the broken to come and to heal. I am lonely and tired and frightened but you surround me. I am hoping you’ll hold me and I’m hoping you’ll help me…San Francisco And it did. This award is really all about you. You gave me this chance. You “loaned” me your chorus. You took a risk on this irreverent southerner from crazy town Texas. You encouraged me to be courageously open about my HIV status. You opened your hearts. And your checkbooks. You believed in the dreams—that we could stretch and grow.
You said “yes”—almost all of the time! You gave me this one last chance to be on the Crescendo stage! Together, we have soared to heights unimagined. Thank you for this beautiful award on this beautiful evening. In the gift of a song so generously composed for us by Stephen Schwartz, “Testimony,” are these words: If I could reach my past I’d tell him what I’ve learned, I was more loved than I dared to know There were open arms I could see And when I die and when it’s my time to go, I want to come back as me. It is difficult to say that every single day of our lives. But if we can say them with conviction more days than not, our lives are pretty full indeed. Finally, I’d like to sing the chorus of a song that means the world to me and appropriate for this time: This day is fragile, soon it will end. Once it has vanished, it will not come again. So let us love with a love pure and strong. Before this day is gone ... . The days are fleeting. The memories will live on and on. The only measure of your words and your deeds will be the love you leave behind when you’re gone. Thank you, San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus, for the gifts you have so generously given me. Dr. Tim Seelig is the Artistic Director of the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus.
DYKES ON BIKES (continued from page 20) stay in Paso Robles, then back up to San Francisco on the scenic Pacific Coast Highway. On behalf of the San Francisco Dykes on Bikes, we look forward to many rides with you both. We know that you will wear your patch in Pride, declaring that you are a Dyke on a Bike with as much enthusiasm as your pipes are loud. Kate Brown, Ph.D., is the President of San Francisco Dykes on Bikes® Women’s Motorcycle Contingent. 22
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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.”
SF Sketch Randy Coleman
© Randy Coleman, 2022
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LGBTQ News & Calendar for the Bay Area CELEBRATING FOUR DECADES (1978–2022)
Smuin Champions Female Choreographers
Photos by Chris Hardy
Smuin Contemporary Ballet has become an incubator for rising choreographic voices from within the company—female dancemakers, in particular. When Smuin dancer Brennan Wall joined the company in 2019, she was unaware that one of her very own pieces would premiere on Smuin’s mainstage just three years later. Wall’s Untwine, a striking contemporary piece for eight dancers, will be unveiled in the company’s upcoming Dance Series 2, performing in San Francisco April 29–May 7, 2022. Wall arrived at Smuin with a solid dance résumé, but Smuin Artistic Director Celia Fushille thought she saw something special in this new dancer that might lead her to become a dancemaker, and invited Wall to create a piece for Smuin’s 2021 Choreography Showcase. The contemporary pas de deux impressed her so much she asked Wall to expand the piece for a premiere, which audiences will see on Smuin’s mainstage in its 2021–22 season finale. “I can’t believe one of my works will be up there, alongside works by such acclaimed choreographers as Val Caniparoli and Amy Seiwert!” Wall told the San Francisco Bay Times. In addition to Wall’s Untwine, her fellow Smuin artist Tessa Barbour will also debut a classical piece set to Tchaikovsky in Dance Series 2. Fushille has long fostered choreographic voices from within the company, following the trailblazing lead set by the company’s founder, Michael Smuin. His first protégé, Amy Seiwert, a company dancer and burgeoning dancemaker, was selected by Fushille as Smuin’s first Choreographer-inResidence. Seiwert has gone on to create highly acclaimed pieces for Smuin and on other companies across the country. To continue to allow dancers to develop their choreographic voices, Fushille launched Smuin’s Choreography Showcase in 2008, a program that allowed the dancers to spread their choreographic wings in a safe and supportive environment, creating works for their fellow dancers. The pieces are then premiered in a low pressure setting full of fun, enjoyed by Smuin followers, deliberately set apart by Fushille from mainstage commercial concerns or the onus of critical reviews. This warm approach has generated several beautiful works that have eventually premiered on Smuin’s mainstage to great acclaim. While it is not unusual for leading choreographers to begin their careers as dancers, it can be difficult to find time to develop that skill between regular rehearsals and performances. Smuin has now become a beacon for evolving dancers into dancemakers with Fushille cultivating the next generation of strong choreographers—especially women, who are surprisingly under-represented as dancemakers on ballet’s main stages. “If only Michael could see these two dancers,” said Fushille. “They are quintessential Smuin performers, excellent technicians, versatile, sharp, and full of passion about creating their own work. I can’t wait to share their thrilling and unique voices with audiences this spring!” Dance Series 2 will also feature Amy Seiwert’s timeless Renaissance, a flowing ballet inspired by the 2019 “Women’s Wall” protest in India, and Val Caniparoli’s playful Confessions, a nine-part dance set to contemporary classical baroque. Smuin’s Dance Series 2 April 29–May 7 The Blue Shield of California Theater at YBCA 700 Howard St, San Francisco For tickets and information phone 415-912-1899 or visit https://www.smuinballet.org/
QUEER POP QUIZ
A DONNA SACHET AND NANCY PELOSI MOMENT Donna Sachet, whose birthday will be celebrated along with that of Dr. Betty Sullivan on April 28 at The Academy in the Castro ( https://tinyurl.com/2ks6z8mt ), welcomed now Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi to an early Pride Brunch and this happened: A) Pelosi shared her family’s favorite quiche with Sachet and guests. B) Pelosi and Sachet sang a duet of classic San Francisco songs. C) They both realized that they were wearing the exact same red Chanel suit. D) They gave Pride Brunch co-host Gary Virginia an award for dedicated service to the LGBTQ community.
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LGBTQ News & Calendar for the Bay Area CELEBRATING FOUR DECADES (1978–2022)
Stories That Matter
Off the Wahl Jan Wahl You know that feeling when you don’t want to put a book down or stop watching a great streaming series? It’s kind of wonderful, a reminder of the connection we have to words, characters, and story. Harvey Fierstein’s new memoir I Was Better Last Night is a perfect example of a book I couldn’t wait to return to every day. For those few who don’t know, Harvey is a cultural icon, gay activist, four-time Tony Award winning playwright, and actor. He has a story worth telling, a journey from Brooklyn to New York to Hollywood, with stops in between for drugs, sex, and rock and roll. His oeuvre (a snooty way of saying his work) is beyond amazing. My own favorites of his are Hairspray, La Cage Aux Folles, and Kinky Boots. His acting as Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof, his own tale of Torch Song Trilogy, and his poignant role in Mrs. Doubtfire are just a few of his other many accomplishments.
He tries to get shows off the ground, revealing to us the heartbreak of loving a work, writing it with care, and losing it to no audiences or worse. It’s refreshing to hear what homophobes Ginger Rogers (also my experience with the great dancer) and Kelsey Grammer were. I write the term “refreshing” because it is all so honest, as is the memoir itself. And he is never cruel, agreeing with me that Kelsey was terrific as the colead in La Cage on Broadway. But Harvey’s personal recollections are there for all to read, as are the stories about amazing people like Hermione Gingold, Jerry Herman, and Sondheim. There is an educational portion of this memoir: how one writes the book of a musical. I read that over a few times, hoping to be inspired and to understand the passion and work that goes into this challenge. Always an outspoken rebel, Harvey entered the bizarre worlds of Andy
writes about my favorite Big Night and Julie and Julia, but the subtext is always food, cocktails, and when the next one will be. This gastronomic journey goes through good times and bad, from the irritation of someone cutting their spaghetti (don’t do it in front of him!) or falling in love over a glass of perfect wine.
Warhol and edgy theatre. Then he went on to find himself in the Gay Rights Movement of the 70s, the AIDS crises, and through his own addiction and despair. He allows us into his fear of intimacy and his longing for it. All throughout is that famous Fierstein humor. What a delight. Thank you, Harvey.
Like with Harvey’s memoir, I fell in love myself with this author. He’s so authentic as he raves about some greasy spoon and then goes on in an operatic flourish about the perfect latke. There are tales of restaurants that no longer exist and what they meant to the community, and the food found from China to the Amalfi Coast. From fish stew to frittatas to simple pasta, the recipes are intertwined with storytelling. It is a fun ride and so tasty! Both of the above are new books. This one is from 2002, but I highly recommend finding it on Google, a library that will order it for you, or
Here’s something different and delicious. Stanley Tucci, whom we all know from his many successful films and food visits to Italy on CNN, has a new memoir called Taste: My Life Through Food. I don’t cook but I love to watch cheesy TV shows where people do. I follow my darling Liam Mayclem on his foody adventures and talk to my friends about their fabulous feasts, but I leave cooking at take out and reservations.
at a used bookstore. It’s Hollywood Divas: The Good, the Bad and the Fabulous by James Robert Parish. This is a blast of wild private lives and cutthroat careers—sounds like my life! As joyful as it always is to read about Davis, Taylor, and Bankhead, this illustrated book also has ones we don’t expect: Betty Hutton, Drew Barrymore (love her!), Madonna, and Sharon Stone. Take a ride through Tinseltown and be glad any of them survived! I binged through Bridgerton season two in two and a half days. I could not stop. Heaven help me, what a sexy, fun show. Hunky guys, 1850 period clothes, fabulously smart women trying to break out of the corsets and restrictions of the time. This time we get two sisters from India: one sweet and the other kick butt. The man between them, so to speak, has one scene in a seethrough, wet ruffled shirt, so sexy as to be harmful to your health. For my lesbian girlfriends, there is the joy of watching really interesting women and their own fantasies. Thank you, Shonda Rhimes, for creating this. 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
Yet, this book was so much fun. I’ve never read about someone who lives to eat. Tucci’s acting career really comes second to food. We go from peanut butter to lobster to the very serious world of pasta. Of course, he
More LGBTQ-Themed Picks for the 2022 SF International Film Festival
Film Gary M. Kramer The 65th San Francisco International Film Festival (SFIFF) opens today, April 21, and runs through May 1 at venues around the Bay Area. There are a handful of features, documentaries, and short films by LGBTQ filmmakers or featuring LGBTQ themes. Here are a few to catch at the fest.
Having its World Premiere at the SFIFF is Jeannette, director Maris Curran’s inspiring observational documentary profile of Jeannette Feliciano, a queer Puerto Rican woman who was one of the survivors of the Pulse nightclub massacre. The aftermath of the tragedy lingers as Jeannette has survivor’s guilt and experiences social anxiety. She gets emotional during her boot camp workouts at the gym where she works as a trainer and trains for bodybuilding competitions that she herself enters. Her mental health issues are compounded when her sister, Leila, and her wife are impacted by Hurricane Maria destroying Puerto Rico, where Leila lives. ( Jeannette makes a trip to help out the couple.) However, even at her most self-pitying, Jeannette always comes across as an appealing, resilient woman, one who is surrounded by friends and family who love her—her relationship with her son is espe-
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The compelling Brazilian import, Private Desert, is a romantic dra-
ma that keeps its lovers apart for most of the film. Director/cowriter Aly Muritiba develops his story slowly, following Daniel (Antonio Saboia in a phenomenal performance), for a good half hour before the opening credits appear. Daniel is a policeman who is in trouble for assaulting a recruit during training. He is caring for this ailing father with some help from his younger sister, Debora (Cynthia Senek), who to Daniel’s surprise, is dating a woman. Frustrat-
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cially warm. Jeannette finds that motivating others is easier than motivating herself, but Jeannette makes viewers root for its subject the entire time.
ed with his situations at work and home, and because his internet girlfriend, Sara, has been ghosting him ever since he sent her a nude photo of himself, Daniel drives across the country to find her. In his search, Daniel meets Fernando (Thomas Aquino), who says he has information on Sara. As Daniel uncover the truth about his love, his view of the world changes. Private Desert is sure to recall an Oscar-winning film from thirty years ago, but Muritiba forges his own way, crafting a gritty and powerful queer drama that is full of raw emotion as it unfolds. Wet Sand, by director/cowriter Elene Naveria, is a melancholic drama about difference in a small village on the Georgian Black Sea. After Eliko (Tengo Javakhadze) takes his own life, his granddaughter, Moe (Bebe Sesitashvili), arrives to put his affairs in order. She meets Amnon (Gia Agumava) and unexpectedly discovers that he was
Eliko’s lover—a fact hidden from the villagers. Meanwhile, Fleshka (Megi Kobaladze), who works at Amnon’s bar, named Wet Sand, is mocked by the male villagers; even the local cop, Alex (Giorgi Tsereteli from And Then We Danced), tells Moe that Fleshka “is in the wrong body.” But Moe sees a kindred spirit in this outsider, and when Fleshka kisses Moe impulsively one day, it oddly deepens their connection. Other secrets soon emerge that shift the thinking of Amnon and Fleshka as well as the villagers, and a letter Eliko wrote before his death is heartbreaking. Naveria captures the gentle rhythms of the lives of these characters who live in a remote area where prejudice is commonplace. The performances come across as very natural, and the beachfront setting provides an interesting crucible for a sensitive story about homophobia. The various Shorts Programs include five LGBTQ films. The two best are (continued on page 36)
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CELEBRATING FOUR DECADES (1978–2022)
I and other San Francisco Bay Times team members were at John McLaren Park on Sunday, April 10, for the historic return of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art’s Soapbox Derby. The Derby was first held in 1975, and after a more than 40-year absence, an estimated crowd of 9,000 showed up to see the 57 motor-less art cars, designed by local artists and community members. The large crowd gathered to watch the colorful creations roll down McLaren Park’s steep Mansell Street. Speeds varied as the cars proceeded, one by one, down the road to the cheers and delight of onlookers. Some vehicles did not survive intact, after hitting the bumpy potholed landing at the base of the hill, referred to as “the cheese grater” by race announcers KGO news anchor Kumasi Aaron and KQED’s Pendarvis Harshaw, who provided fun facts about the cars and entertaining narration over loudspeakers along the race route. PHOTO BY ABBY ZIMBERG
The judges included local drag queen Per Sia, multi-hyphen activist La Doña, documentarian Amanda Pope (who made a documentary about the 1975 Soapbox Derby), and artist Dorcas Moulton, who rode in the original race with a soapbox car made of bread. After much deliberation by the judges, over 30 artist-made trophies were given out at the Jerry Garcia Amphitheater. They included “Most Flamboyant,” “Slowest,” “Best of the Worst,” “Most Graceful Wipeout,” and the coveted “Fastest Soapbox Racer,” which was awarded to John Casey and his “Hairy Eyeball” car.
PHOTO BY BETH GREENE PHOTO BY KELLY GREENE
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Beth Greene is the lead Designer for the “San Francisco Bay Times.”
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PHOTO BY ABBY ZIMBERG
https://tinyurl.com/5sav9sus
PHOTO BY BETH GREENE
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ILLUSTRATION: MIN HEO
Historic Return of SFMOMA’s Soapbox Derby at McLaren Park
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LGBTQ News & Calendar for the Bay Area CELEBRATING FOUR DECADES (1978–2022)
Water Lessons
Lit Snax Words Michele Karlsberg Each year the month of April is set aside as National Poetry Month, a time to celebrate poets and their craft. In celebration of National Poetry Month, let me introduce you to Lisa Dordal, who is celebrating the release of her passionate and engaging poetry collection Water Lessons. Through deeply personal and culturally grounded narratives, Water Lessons explores the relationship between reality and imagination, faith and doubt, presence and absence, as the speaker grapples with multiple dimensions of grief arising from her mother’s alcoholism and eventual death; her father’s deepening dementia; and her own childlessness. Against the backdrop of these personal griefs, the speaker scrutinizes the patriarchal underpinnings of the world she grew up in as well as her complicity in systemic racism as a white girl growing up in the 70s and 80s. Woven throughout the book are the speaker’s meditations on a divine presence that, for her, is both keenly felt and necessarily elusive, mirroring the speaker’s ultimate celebration of her unborn daughter as a “lovely fiction” who is both here and not here. Michele Karlsberg: Who has been important to your work, and what have you learned from them?
Lisa Dordal: Jane Kenyon was a huge influence on me early on—i.e., when I really started working on my poetry in 2005. Much of her poetry focuses on completely mundane human-relational experiences and has helped me to see that, in many ways, there is nothing more sacred, nothing more extraordinary, than paying close attention to the ordinary moments of our daily lives. I love the simplicity, the plainness of her voice. There is a sparseness and succinctness in her voice that is consonant with my own; a kind of containment that I resonant with deeply.
Time Is a Mother by Ocean Vuong Ocean Vuong is back with searingly spare, gorgeous, poems. Written in the aftermath of his mother’s death, Time Is a Mother is a memoir of sorts about clawing your way to emotional survival.
Please enjoy the following poem by Lisa Dordal: I Love I love how my wife says operators are standing by, whenever I’m out of town and she wants to chat.
Corregidora by Gayl Jones Ursa is a Kentucky blues singer living (and trying to love) after a personal tragedy makes her confront her generational trauma in the form of Brazil slavemaster, Corregidora. Brutal and heart-wrenching in equal measure, this 1975 classic of Black literature deserves a new generation of readers.
I love that birds can see stars and that even fruit flies need sleep. I love that an African grey parrot learned how to use 100 words and that his last words were: Be good and I love you.
https://www.fabulosabooks.com/
I love how Jesus stopped a crowd of men from stoning a woman just by writing in the sand. I love that an octopus has three hearts. I love that Mother Theresa only heard from God one time, and it was enough. I love that some birds mate for life—and that after one dies, the survivor sings both parts of their song. I love that our brains are mostly water. I love that some people believe in heaven. And some don’t. I love that an owl visited my wife in a dream and that my wife said hello and asked: Are you the kind of owl that people refer to as a barred owl?
Top of your stack
I love that what saves one person is not the same as what saves someone else. I love how the word cranium sounds like the name of a flower. I love that my mother keeps wanting to show me her garden. I love that the owl answered back. Lisa Dordal holds a Master of Divinity and a Master of Fine Arts, both from Vanderbilt University, and teaches in the English Department at Vanderbilt. Her first full-length collection of poetry, “Mosaic of the Dark” (Black Lawrence Press, 2018), was a finalist for the 2019 Audre Lorde Award for Lesbian
Poetry. She is a Pushcart Prize and Best-of-theNet nominee and the recipient of an Academy of American Poets University Prize, the Robert Watson Poetry Prize from the Greensboro Review, and the Betty Gabehart Prize from the Kentucky Women Writers Conference. Her poetry has appeared in a variety of journals and anthologies. For more information: https://www.lisadordal.com Michele Karlsberg Marketing and Management specializes in publicity for the LGBTQ+ community. This year, Karlsberg celebrates 33 years of successful marketing campaigns. For more information: https://www.michelekarlsberg.com
RECOMMENDATIONS FROM BOOK PASSAGE
Olga Dies Dreaming (fiction - hardbound) by Xochitl Gonzalez Pulling from her own personal experience in the high-pressure venues of New York City, author Xochitl Gonzalez tackles elitism, racism, and the pitfalls of ambition with a startingly personal brushstroke. Family drama, politics, long-buried secrets, and romance are all present and accounted for in this must-read debut. It’s 2017, just prior to hurricane Maria, and Olga and her brother, Pedro “Prieto” Acevedo, are boldfaced names in their hometown of New York. Prieto is a popular congressman who is closeted and being blackmailed regarding his true sexual identity, while Olga is the tony wedding planner for Manhattan’s power brokers.
The Day the World Stops Shopping: How Ending Consumerism Saves the Environment and Oursleves (nonfiction- paperback) by J.B. MacKinnon A truly fascinating and important thought experiment about the tension between consumerism and climate change gets played out in the real world when Covid strikes in 2020. It’s widely known that the biggest factor affecting climate is consumerism. And it’s received wisdom that the engine that fuels the economic ecosystem is also consumerism. So, how do we solve that paradox? Can Earth be saved without economic collapse? Mackinnon started his investigation before Covid, looking for answers everywhere from big box retailers to huntergatherer cultures in Africa.
The Days of Afrekete (fiction- hardbound) by Asali Solomon Liselle Belmont is having a dinner party. It seems a strange occasion—her husband, Winn, has lost his bid for the state legislature. Across town, Selena Octave is making her way through the same day, the same way she always does—one foot in front of the other, keeping quiet and focused, trying not to see the terrors all around her. Homelessness, starving children, the very living horrors of history that made America possible: these and other thoughts have made it difficult for her to live an easy life. The only time she was ever really happy was with Liselle, back in college. But they’ve lost touch.
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Inspired by Mrs. Dalloway and Sula, as well as Audre Lorde’s Zami, Asali Solomon’s The Days of Afrekete is a deft, expertly layered, naturally funny, and deeply human examination of two women coming back to themselves at midlife. It is a watchful celebration of our choices and where they take us, the people who change us, and how we can reimagine ourselves even when our lives seem set.
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The Faggots & Their Friends Between Revolutions by Larry Mitchell This book of fable-like prose poems about the struggle between “The Men” and people we now call “Queer” has become an inspirational text within the Radical Faerie movement. Even if one doesn’t subscribe to its provocative ethos, it’s both thought-provoking and a fascinating time capsule of ideas and ideals from the 1970s gay communal movement.
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This book will make you think twice about how you shop, for what and how often, as well as how retailers can make a big dent for the environment, with an easy flip of a light switch. Friday, April 22 @ 7:30 pm (ticketed - SF Palace of Fine Arts) Randy Rainbow, author of Playing with Myself Viral sensation and three-time nominated musical comedian Randy Rainbow will discuss his intimate and light-hearted memoir that takes readers through his life— the highs, the lows, the lipstick, the pink glasses, and the show tunes. Monday, May 2 @ 6 pm (ticketed - online) Mieko Kawakami, author of All the Lovers in the Night Bestselling author of Breasts and Eggs, Mieko Kawakami invites readers back into her immediately recognizable fictional world with a new, extraordinary novel and demonstrates yet again why she is one of today’s most uncategorizable, insightful, and talented novelists. Tuesday, May 3 @ 5 pm (free/in-store - SF Ferry Building) Danica Roem, author of Burn the Page Danica Roem, the nation’s first openly trans person elected to U.S. state legislature, will be at Book Passage’s Ferry Building location to discuss her inspirational memoir-meets-manifesto. https://www.bookpassage.com/
Jewelle Gomez A Proper Victorian Lesbian
Leave Signs Jewelle Gomez I’ve long been a fan of Victoriana including the writing of George Eliot and Charles Dickens. They had things in common with Anne Lister Portrait by James BaldJoshua Horner win that I (1830) loved—erudite use of language and searing social observations. After public television adopted one of her novels, Cranford starring Dame Judi Dench, I fell in love with Mrs. Gaskell (Elizabeth Gaskell). Her depictions of the interior lives
I know a subtext of Victorian England was the slave trade and antiSemitism and other exploitations, but I deal with that in my non-fiction. I want my bedtime reading to be relaxing and not make me leap from my bed to take up arms. Television is catching up with endless heteronormative romances of Edwardian and Victorian England. So now there’s Gentleman Jack, a series about the outrageously open lesbian life and loves of Anne Lister, a contemporary of the infamous Ladies of Llangollen. Lister (1791–1840)
has already been the subject of a documentary and a dramatic film based on her lengthy diaries—more than five million words covering two decades. To explicitly describe her sexual romps with gentlewomen and other private thoughts (like digestion), Lister cleverly developed a code only broken years after her death. The prodigious diaries are historically one of the longest social commentaries ever written and have been added to the registry of the UNESCO Memory of the World Program. Anne Lister (Suranne Jones) and Ann Walker (Sophie Rundle) At a time when women were rarely allowed to leave the house alone, Anne Lister—one of our first known gender nonconforming women—traveled the world dressed primarily in men’s clothes, in relentless pursuit of new adventures and new lesbian lovers. Her interests, in addition to sex, were renovating her family estate, mining, canals, and the emergence of railways. the road. She can take a punch in the Now we can return to those internose as well as she gives one. ests (especially the sex) in the show’s The Economist called Gentleman Jack second season. Gentleman Jack stars an “unlikeable protagonist,” which Suranne Jones, one of British televiis perhaps true especially from the sion’s sly treasures; she embodies the male perspective. She’s sharpurgency of seduction at the tongued, arrogant, and same time, with a wink, unrelenting in her purmaintaining the cover suit of what she wants. of a prim Victorian. But from the perspective of a contempoOf course, the real rary lesbian feminist, Anne Lister did what Lister’s contradicmany queer people tions are sexy as well have done: lead a decas frustrating. The time adent and privileged has long past when women private life and contradicare one-dimensional charactorily express quite conservaters around which others build their tive political opinions. The TV series fantasies. hasn’t gotten to these complexities
yet. We’re still being treated to Gentleman Jack clomping through the countryside trying to save her family’s meager estate in Yorkshire ... maybe by marrying the delicate heiress? As well as her triumph over a violent bully when he waylays her on
Suranne Jones in Gentleman Jack on BBC One
In Lister’s inimitable style, refusing to be bound by men’s conventions, she maneuvered a secret, marital commitment with Ann Walker at a church in York on Easter Sunday. Her insistence on solidifying the bond with her lesbian lover, even if
PHOTO BY JAY BROOKS
of both society and poor women are still engaging after more than 100 years. What some would dismiss as gossip, Mrs. Gaskell (like Jane Austen earlier) mined for clues to what was really on women’s minds. I’ve lately added Victorian mysteries to my bedside stack.
not legal, created an enduring lesbian pilgrimage stop. https://tinyurl.com/yudw8ray Stream the first season to see again just how, behind an unlocked parlor door, Jack seduces the young, modest Ann Walker. Walker later becomes her lover and remains at Jack’s side until her death on a trip to Russia. When I watch Captain Jack stride through her small town in waistcoat, top hat and tails in the 1820s, her head held high, it’s a reminder that lesbians can—and always could—do anything. 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
Two Poems for National Poetry Month Most Nights You’re on My Case
Neither desire nor greed
a golden bridge
My body is the texture
brings a bee to the tulip.
with the top rung peeking
Simply, survival. Yet, even
through cloud like a Spring
tulips have a shadow-side:
bulb bursting with bloom.
of your desire from feather
Poet in Residence Kit Kennedy Kit Kennedy is the Poetin-Residence of the “San Francisco Bay Times” and at herchurch Ebenezer Lutheran ( http://www.herchurch.org/ ). She has published 5 poetry collections, and for several years hosted the poetry series at Gallery Café. For more information, please visit her blog: http://poetrybites.blogspot.com
to rock. I know you intimately mostly through your head. You,
Dear Wildflower,
stark, still, resolute. Flowers
holy fool, trust me with your dreams.
have a polar opposite, too.
Should you, on your journey,
Calla lilies, in particular,
meet a single butterfly outlined
I’m practical. I’m decorative.
weave sorrow & joy.
against a sun-splashed door,
Keep in my place; take me traveling. Throw me around. Toss me on the couch. Ah! yes, my clothes slip off easily.
be heartened. Against all odds, The journey homeward
that heavy door will spring open
is rarely easy or direct.
to home & again, to hope.
Often circuitous. May each of us find
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Bay Times Dines
Cocktails With Heather Heather Freyer
With the NBA playoffs underway, the Jump Shot comes to mind. It’s half Bacardí Spiced Rum, and half your favorite chilled local IPA. What’s not to love? The Jump Shot is the wingman you’ve been waiting for.
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JUMP SHOT 3/4 ounce Bacardí Spiced Rum 3/4 ounce your favorite chilled local IPA Pour Bacardí Spiced Rum into a chilled shot glass and top with the IPA.
https://www.bacardi.com/us/en/where-to-buy/
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Heather Freyer is a beverage expert who is the Vice President and General Manager for Open West States at Bacardí USA. Previously she was with Trinchero Wine Estates, Castle Rock Winery, Cost Plus World Market, and more.
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Scoma’s San Francisco: A Fisherman’s Wharf Destination for Locals
The Gay Gourmet David Landis If I’ve heard from San Franciscans once, I’ve heard it a thousand times: avoid Fisherman’s Wharf; it’s a tourist trap, especially for the food. Well, yours truly is here to tell you there’s an old-school Wharf restaurant that lays that assumption to rest: Scoma’s San Francisco. The Scoma’s story is a true San Francisco tale. In 1965, brothers Al and Joe Scoma bought a sixstool coffee shop on Pier 47 at Fisherman’s Wharf in an effort to allow local fisherman to sell to their family instead of to the big wholesalers. As the family says, “We started as a coffee shop for fishermen and soon became a restaurant that served their daily catch.” Now, Scoma’s is one of the country’s highest-grossing independent restaurants. From start to finish, this dining adventure is first-class. Start with the fact that they have free (yes, free) valet parking in San Francisco, right on their own pier. The longtime valet, Manny, couldn’t be friendlier and parks your car just steps from the restaurant (don’t forget to tip him!). Once you enter this tried-and-true establishment, it oozes classy retro: a mid-century bar overlooking San Francisco Bay, leather booths, and waiters in proper attire who know the score. You can almost sense that this was a place that Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Sammy Davis, Jr., might have frequented. Add to that the culinary talents of chef Gordon Drysdale, who serves as Culinary Director, overseeing the kitchen. Those of us who have been around may remember him for the acclaimed, hip, and happening Gordon’s House of Fine Eats in SOMA back in the 90s. In addition, Scoma’s SF owns its own dock and fish receiving station. That assures diners they’ll be eating the freshest fish possible—and in season, our luscious local Dungeness crab as well.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF DAVID LANDIS
My loyal readers know we often dine with our rescue dogs, Gaston and Alphonse. So, instead of indoors, we’ve opted of late to dine outdoors. Scoma’s offers two brilliant options: one by the Bay, with a panoramic vista overlooking the harbor, the water, and the Golden Gate Bridge. But equally compelling and attractive is the canal-side seating with proper heat lamps and views of the crab boats and the city skyline. Our waiter, Chris, couldn’t be more knowledgeable, experienced, attentive—and fun. He’s straight out of central casting but is well versed on the menu, preparations, and what’s fresh. (I always trust a waiter who tells you the truth.) The menu, dubbed appropriately “pier to plate,” of course focuses on delicacies from the sea. So, what’s good at Scoma’s? On several recent lunch visits, we started with a white Pinot Bianco from Alsace (Domaine Zind Humbrecht) and another white wine, Scarpone, a Pecorino from Italy. Both are dry and mineral-driven, which accompanies Scoma’s seafood exquisitely. Besides the requisite California wines, Scoma’s also features wines from around the world (especially Italy). But Scoma’s is also great for classic cocktails. Our pal Tommy swears by their extra dry Tito’s vodka martini up with a twist. Myself, I love Scoma’s house-made Negroni, made with SipSmith Gin, strawberry-infused Campari, and red vermouth. Lucky for diners, Scoma’s even sells their Negroni mix to go. One thing I like about established restaurants like Scoma’s is that before you even ask, they bring freshly-baked Boudin sourdough rolls and butter—and they don’t charge for it! You can’t get more San Francisco than Boudin; it’s a great way to start the meal. One of the must-haves at Scoma’s is their house-made New England style clam chowder—brimming with clams, potatoes, and flavor. Instead of a tiny cup, the small version comes in a miniature bowl. For another starter, we sampled the
fried calamari. Scoma’s gets their calamari from the East Coast and it’s dusted with rice flour and cornmeal, then fried in rice oil to make sure it’s crispy, non-greasy, and light. It’s served with both a traditional housemade tartar sauce and cocktail sauce as well. We’ve also had the “Oysters alla Scoma’s,” which is their delicious take on Oysters Rockefeller—baked with spinach, brandy-garlic oil, and Asiago cheese. Scoma’s also often offers an asparagus soup (in season) and it’s always rich and tasty, served with a spot of cream. For entrées, I’d always recommend asking the waiter what’s fresh that day. When we went, it was still crab season, although Scoma’s was getting their crab from up north in Oregon. We ordered the Dungeness crab cocktail with horseradish and cocktail sauce—and it’s enough to either split or have as an entrée. The crab was plump and fresh and tastes as if the fisherman just caught it that day. For our entrée, we split the Dungeness crab cakes with celery and remoulade (when
it comes to good crab, too much is a good thing). Other must-haves include Scoma’s “Lazy Man’s Cioppino,” with Dungeness crabmeat, scallops, shrimp, clams, mussels, calamari, and whatever fish is fresh—all served in “Mama” Scoma’s” tomato broth. I’d also recommend Scoma’s Petrale Dore, a lightly egg-battered local sole with garlic lemon butter and the housemade tartar sauce. Because Scoma’s is an Italian family, their pastas are also tempting. For dessert, I’m always a sucker for the homemade tiramisu, but Scoma’s also features an irresistible seven-layer cake and cannoli alla Siciliana. Scoma’s has another outpost on the Sausalito waterfront that I haven’t yet tried. But for a true San Francisco seafood treat, Scoma’s at the Wharf can’t be beat. Bits and Bites Izo Spirits is a new brand of mezcal and I asked one of my spirits taste testers, Ann, for her opinion: “The rich smoky flavor and the smooth taste makes this a drink to sip and savor. I especially enjoyed it after a meal where its distinct flavors shone without the distraction of other foods. I like that it is made using the original standards of pro-
duction, no shortcuts, no chemicals. This is truly a drink that I will keep on my ‘go to’ list.” A Gay Gourmet favorite, Villon at San Francisco’s Proper Hotel, with chef Jason Fox at the helm, reopens April 7. Every Wednesday, Canela in the Castro is offering special bottles at 30% off the list price, pouring rare bottles by the glass and featuring staff favorites. Plus, you can get a discount and even take it home. With Mother’s Day around the corner, you can send Mom a classic 1950s crumb cake delivered to your door from Clarkson Avenue Crumb Cake Company. Scoma’s San Francisco: https://scomas.com/ Clarkson Avenue Crumb Cake Company: https://tinyurl.com/2wwuu2u7 Izo Spirits: https://www.izospirits.com/ Villon: https://tinyurl.com/ms5aswvw Canela: https://canelasf.com/ 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
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Bay Times Dines Castro Farmers’ Market Reopens
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The 2022 Castro Farmers’ Market season will end on November 16. Like your favorite fruits and veggies, it is an ephemeral treasure, so be sure to visit and support local farmers while also treating yourself to nutritious and tasty seasonal produce and other delicious offerings.
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San Francisco Bay Times columnist Donna Sachet returned, as she does every year, to cut the ribbon signifying the official reopening of the Castro Farmers’ Market for a new season. This year’s ceremony took place on Wednesday, April 6, at the market that is held each Wednesday afternoon, 3–7 pm, on Noe Street at the intersection of Market and Noe. Manager Mia Simmans and the entire Pacific Coast Farmers’ Market Association team welcomed customers, guests, and vendors. Musician Essie Thomas provided entertainment.
https://www.pcfma.org/castro
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Speaking to Your Soul ARIES (March 21–April 19)
LIBRA (September 23–October 22)
Sever attachments, particularly to your ego. By letting go of trinkets, you receive the Universe. Set the table for the best, and it will pay you a visit.
At the risk of sounding politically incorrect, consider where you are choosing to suffer, and how this part of your identity doesn’t serve you anymore. Thank the suffering and walk through its archway to your greater destiny. To the degree you are willing to grow, will you experience the joy of spiritual freedom.
TAURUS (April 20–May 20) Break free from the gravity of your comfort zone. A great power surges through you, drawing you out of your cave to disrupt karmic patterns. Contribute your ideas to the collective conversation to move yourself and the whole thing forward.
Astrology Elisa Quinzi A visitation from the Spirit is upon us. We must grab hold of the vision of the eternal timeless reality we are immersed within, and generally shielded from in “Truman Show” fashion. Like going from 2D to 3D, we can, and are invited to evolve from our present paradigm to a multidimensional one. As water to steam, we must change into a new state. And we likely need to be pushed. Right now, sudden insights are available, and knocking. Our molecules stand ready to be reordered to better serve our journey going forward. Rather than keep thinking linearly, held in the vice of time, we can open up this moment to reveal its true limitless nature. This world needs great thinking spirits and artists who are no longer just commenting on culture, but showing us what’s beyond it.
GEMINI (May 21–June 20) Great awakenings lead to a great resonance between you and your life mission. Following it leads to falling in deeper love with life. CANCER ( June 21–July 22) You underserve yourself and others when you are constantly operating in survival mode. A portal is open, pouring down beams of joy and love. These are essential experiences of a full life, and easily accessible to the Cancer temperament. LEO ( July 23–August 22) It’s your responsibility to free eternity from time. What you do with the creative potentiality of the moment is what you do with your life. Significance emerges from realization of eternity in the here and now. You fulfill your creative potential, not over time, but outside of it. VIRGO (August 23–September 22) Your borders have become too rigid. Growth occurs as you let yourself be opened and impacted by others. The bliss of love already exists; it’s up to you to take it, and to give it. Right now, your offerings come back ten-fold.
SCORPIO (October 23–November 21) Tap into the power of the universe rushing through your creative consciousness. You stamp your truth into the substance of pure energy. Making love, making art, making life ... you contribute best to the whole by being your most authentic self, and performing your part with all your heart. SAGITTARIUS (November 22–December 21) You are made of the earth and cosmos and belong right where you are. As such, you like to celebrate. Why else would we be here with the night blooming jasmine, sunsets, and starry skies but to make the best of it and drink it all in? Be sure to stay clear. Your intuition is fierce. Feelings arise that deepen your connection to yourself and your capacity to connect with others. CAPRICORN (December 22–January 19) Magic is the spark of connection between souls and events. Open yourself up to connecting with strangers and siblings. Helpers show up to offer clues to your destiny. Pay attention with your inner senses. AQUARIUS ( January 20–February 18) Self-worth gets a major boost contingent upon you acting as if. Insight into earning power is connected to self-love. You look and feel better than ever. Trust what you have and use it. PISCES (February 19–March 20) You are worth more than you know. Fall in love with yourself. Lead with your wisdom, and present the most spiritual part of you. Life will present back opportunities and experiences that enrich and enlarge your life. It’s truly Pisces time.
Elisa Quinzi is a certified professional astrologer who brings a strong spiritual perspective, as well as over 20 years of experience, to her work with clients. Contact her at futureselfnow@gmail.com or at 818-530-3366 with your exact birth time to schedule or to ask questions.
And we are those artists.
Take Me Home with You! “My name is Kygo! I’m 3 years old and full of energy! Sometimes I get so excited and enthusiastic that I just can’t help myself and will jump up to greet you! What can I say, I love everyone and want to express myself. Playing and going for long walks are my favorite activities, so I’m looking for an active adopter. Is that you?! Come by and meet me!”
Fitness SF Trainer Tip of the Month Steven Luibrand at Fitness SF Mid-Market “Journaling your food in a food journal app is more powerful than adopting any fad diet.”
All adult dogs 5+ months old, like Kygo, are just $100 to adopt through April 24! Kygo is presented to San Francisco Bay Times readers by Dr. Jennifer Scarlett, the Dr. Jennifer Scarlett and Pup SF SPCA’s Co-President. Our thanks also go to Krista Maloney for helping to get the word out about lovable pets like Kygo. To meet Kygo, visit the SF SPCA Mission Campus @ 201 Alabama Street. It is open for appointments from 8 am–6 pm daily. For more information: https://www.sfspca.org/adoptions/ 34
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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/
Sister Dana Sez: Words of Wisdumb from a Fun Nun calling them “propedophile.”
Sister Dana sez, “May I be the first to wish everyone a very Merry MAY DAY—and may many, many dance around your Maypole!” President Joe Biden recently met with the Congressional LGBTQ EQUALITY CAUCUS, making him the first president in history to do so. “I am grateful to President Biden for inviting Equality Caucus leadership to meet with him at the White House today,” said Caucus Chair, out Rep. David Cicilline (D-RI). “President Biden has been the most vocal ally to the LGBTQ+ community we have ever had in the White House, and I thanked him for his unwavering support,” he continued. “We had a productive conversation about the pressing need for the Equality Act and other legislative and administrative actions to protect vulnerable members of the LGBTQ+ community in the face of the onslaught of antiLGBTQ+ attacks happening in state legislatures across the country.” Out Representatives Mondaire Jones (D-NY), Sean Patrick Maloney (D-NY), Mark Pocan (D-WI), and Ritchie Torres (D-NY) also attended the meeting, The Washington Blade reported. Sister Dana sez, “Congratulations to newly crowned Emperor Brent Marek & Empress Ehra Amaya, who are both nurses and wonderful folx! May your Imperial Court flourish flawlessly and fabulously!” FUN HOME comes to The Gateway Theatre April 21–May 8. A groundbreaking musical based on Alison Bechdel’s best-selling graphic novel, FUN HOME explores Alison’s life at three different ages, delving into her journey of discovering her sexuality, as well as her relationship with a hot-tempered father, with hidden secrets and desires all his own. 42ND STREET MOON is proud to present the Bay Area regional premiere of this five-time Tony Award winning triumph—a refreshingly honest, wholly original story about seeing your parents through grown-up eyes. https://42ndstmoon.org/fun-home/
Sister Dana sez, “Nun the less, Ketanji Brown Jackson was confirmed in a historic AND bipartisan 53–47 Senate vote! Justice Brown Jackson is now the first Black woman to EVER serve on the Supreme Court and Sister Dana, dressed up for Easter, paused from judging duties during the only the secSisters of Perpetual Indulgence activities at Dolores Park on Sunday, April 16, for a selfie with SF Bay Times volunteer coordinator Juan Davila. ond woman of color and fourth ticisms. What fun! We heard about woman ever confirmed!” a new mural for the Center painted Season 14 of TV’s RUPAUL’S DRAG RACE has been full of many surprises. Such as: two loud and proud transgender contestants and a hetero one. In the monetary category, the winner’s cash prize has increased from $100,000 to $150,000; and the runner-up queen will take home 50 grand! Rather than eliminating down to three or four, there are FIVE remaining queens competing for the crown: Angeria Paris VanMicheals, Bosco, Willow Pill, Lady Camden, and Daya Betty. The grand finale is April 22, 8 pm on VH1, followed by a season 14 (no doubt quite catty) reunion at the same time the next day. By now you know my extreme affection for Randy Rainbow and his hilarious parodies, so I really have to go GAY GAY GAY along with Randy against “Don’t Say Gay” Florida’s DeSantis in this one: https://tinyurl.com/4ndbuxms
KEN & JOE’S ANNIVERSARY/ GOING AWAY PARTY is at Martuni’s Piano Bar, 4 Valencia Street on April 24, 4–7 pm. Ken Henderson and Joe Seiler—directors of the RICHMOND-ERMET AID FOUNDATION—will be commemorating their 40th anniversary together and celebrating their move to the Palm Springs/Cathedral City area. They hope to see as many of us as possible before they leave in early May, although I’m happy that they’ll be back for REAF events here. It’s $40 for 40 years, so they’re suggesting donations of $40 to support REAF’s continued awesome, amazing events in both San Francisco and Palm Springs. Donations: https://www.reaf-sf.org/
Come to the Academy to celebrate LGBTQ community leaders Dr. Betty Sullivan and Donna Sachet during the week of their BIRTHDAYS! The evening will provide a rare opportunity to turn the lens on them and to thank them for their decades of service. Whether you know Betty from “Betty’s List” and the SF BAY TIMES (event co-presenter), or Donna from her co-hosting the annual PRIDE BRUNCH and PARADE broadcasts, her column, or from any number of other things—chances are, these two have touched your life in some way. I cannot imagine the Bay Area LGBTQ community without them. Numerous special guests will be at the event, joining the regular “Divas & Drinks” team that includes Bacardi VP Heather Freyer and her crew of talented mixologists. Special guest co-emcees will be SF Pride President Carolyn Wysinger and former SF Pride President Gary Virginia. I know I wouldn’t want to miss this party! So please come toast to Betty and Donna, to living out and proud lives, and to many more celebrations to come! The fun happens at The Academy, 2166 Market Street on April 28, 6–10 pm. Registration is required for this limited-capacity, general admission, indoor/outdoor event. https://tinyurl.com/3kbb9hbh
When three Republicans, Sens. Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, and Mitt Romney, announced they would support Judge Kentanji Brown Jackson’s confirmation and voted with Democrats to bring her nomination to the floor, the inevitable happened. The vilest QAnon House member, Georgia’s Marjie Q Greene, smeared them on Twitter,
SF LGBT CENTER held its 20TH ANNUAL SOIREE on April 9 at City View Metreon for a night of celebration—beginning with a lovely reception with a raffle, dinner, and show hosted by the delicious duo of Sister Roma and Honey Mahogany. And I got to sit next to SF Pride Board Vice President Nguyen Pham, exchanging wit-
PHOTO BY JUAN R. DAVILA
By Sister Dana Van Iquity
Sister Dana sez, “47 Senate Republicans joined team QAnon, rejecting the most QUALIFIED Supreme Court nominee in decades!”
by artist Juan Manuel Carmona. Former Senator Mark Leno gave us a helpful history lesson on the early days of founding and funding what became the very first queer community center in San Francisco. Executive Director Rebecca Rolfe inspired us with her speech about the Center as it operates today. Entertainment was by the fabulous Juanita MORE!, including afterparty dancing with DJ Lady Ryan. As it ushered in 20 years of service to our LGBTQ community, we helped the Center raise $365,000 to ensure continued services for LGBTQ folks most in need. Check out what they offer our community at https://www.sfcenter.org/
SAN FRANCISCO COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTER held their glorious SHOW OF HOPE GALA on April 16 at the Hyatt SF. We rightfully honored both Brett Andrews, CEO of PRC and founder of SF BLACK/AFRICAN AMERICAN LEADERSHIP COUNCIL and also Claudine Cheng, President of APA HERITAGE FOUNDATION and founder of SAN FRANCISCO ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICAN MONTH CELEBRATION. The evening featured lively dancing to Grammy award winner Jody Watley. The Emcee was proudly queer ABC7-TV’s Reggie Aqui. Check out the Community Health Center site: https://sfcommunityhealth.org/ THE GOLDEN GATE MEN’S CHORUS will present its annual Spring Concert, “LOVE AND WAR.” Under the direction of music director, Joseph Piazza, the men of the GGMC will bring their awardwinning artistry to powerful anthems and tender poems of love and loss, featuring music by Sibelius, Janáček, Dvořak, Monteverdi, and a new commissioned work from Bay Area composer, Stephen Main, “New Fire.” Joining them are the SAN FRANCISCO GIRLS CHORUS and JUBILATE BAROQUE ORCHESTRA in a performance of Händel’s “Psalm 109 Dixit Dominus.” Mission Dolores Basilica, 3321-16th Street (at Dolores), Saturday, April 30, 8 pm or Sunday, May 1, 4 pm. https://ggmc.org/ THE CASTRO MERCHANTS ASSOCIATION board of directors just had a change in leadership, and the new co-chairs are Dave Karraker co-owner of MX3 Fitness on Market Street, and Terrance Alan, owner of The Flore Store and (continued on page 36) S AN F R ANC IS C O BAY T IM ES
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POP QUIZ
ANSWER (Question on pg 25)
C) They both realized that they were wearing the exact same red Chanel suit. Then California Assemblyman Mark Leno was at the event and immediately noticed that Pelosi and Sachet were nearidentically attired. He later told the San Francisco Chronicle, “Donna could manage that situation as easily as she could navigate a leather bar South of Market.” Everyone enjoyed that Pride Brunch, an event that has continued annually through the years and will take place in-person again on Saturday, June 25. As for answers B and D: Pelosi is a fan of many types of music and probably would enjoy such a singalong. Gary Virginia is one of the hardest working and talented members of our LGBTQ community and has earned honors over the years; hopefully many more to come.
SISTER DANA (continued from page 35)
KRAMER (continued from page 26)
Café Flore. The previous president, the president through the pandemic, was Masood Samereie, a real estate agent with Aria Properties.
in Shorts Program 1: Nasir, a documentary codirected by and about Nasir Bailey, about his transition from female to male. As Nasir calls relatives to tell them about his plans, he also talks about getting an empowering haircut, or, as a young girl, creating a potion to prevent her breasts from growing. This intimate documentary about self-acceptance and the acceptance of others is quite moving. Similarly, My Parent, Neal is director Hannah Saidiner’s poignant animated documentary that chronicles the experiences of the filmmaker’s transgender parent. As Neal talks candidly about sexuality and gender identity, top surgery and being misnamed, the short becomes quite life-affirming.
Sister Dana sez, “The House has passed a bill to erect a statue of Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the grounds of the U.S. Capitol. Now we must convince the stubborn Senate to pass it!” THE CASTRO FARMER’S MARKET will be open every Wednesday from 3–7pm until November 16th on 290 Noe Street North of Market. https://www.pcfma.org/castro The Castro LGBTQ Cultural District, in partnership with the Department of Public Health, Virus Geeks, South of Market Health Center, and Castro Merchants is offering free COVID-19 testing and vaccines without any appointments at the Collingwood parking lot on 18th Street between Collingwood and Castro Street. The hub offers testing every Saturday from 11 am–5 pm, and will offer vaccinations on May 21. Experience the raucous, subversive camp that only THE COCKETTES could achieve in a rare, not-to-miss screening of three short films: Palace, Tricia’s Wedding, and Elevator Girls in Bondage. Special guest, Fayette Hauser, author, artist, actress and original Cockette, offers fabulous insight into the time and production of these films. Doors open at 4:45 pm, Koret Auditorium, Main Library, 100 Larkin Street. https://sfpl.org/events/2022 HARVEY MILK DAY is May 22, so SAVE THE DATE! Harvey Milk’s birthday is May 22, and there will be celebration in the Castro, especially in Jane Warner Plaza! May 22nd 11 - 5 Jane Warner Plaza. Sister Dana sez, “It is good news that Trump endorses Oz in the Pennsylvania U.S. Senate Race, because now the ‘curtain’ can be pulled back and revealed that the ‘Wizard’ is a fraud!”
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Shorts Program 2 offers Isn’t It a Beautiful World, an experimental queer film that uses lip-synching and archival sound as well as striking images that cut together to create a narrative on shared trauma. Shorts Program 3 features Holding Moses, a Bay Area Voices film, about the queer non-binary parent Randy whose son, Moses, has a genetic condition. Moses forces Randi to reconsider notions of love and family, as he teaches Randi how to love him. Short Program 6, which showcases Family Films, includes Mama Has a Mustache, a lively animated short about kids and their gender non-confirming, non-binary, and trans parents. For tickets and more information, visit https://sffilm.org/ © 2022 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
Hunky Jesus & Foxy Mary Return to Dolores Park
Photos by Rink
An impressive crowd of spectators numbering in the thousands joined the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence for the return of the annual celebration of Easter at Dolores Park. Included in the program were the ever-popular Hunky Jesus and Foxy Mary competitions featuring volunteer contestants vying for the titles. History was made this year when a gender-bending winner was named Hunky Jesus 2022: “Black Woman Is God.” Sitting atop a chaise lounge/throne, she was spontaneously carried through the crowd by sandal-wearing male contestants, some dressed in themed outfits including Peeps Jesus, Neptune Jesus, Gay Jesus, Pogo Jesus, and more. This year’s Foxy Mary, in turn, was Transgender Maria de Guadalupe sporting a bright red heart and an angelic halo-looking headdress. Sister Roma—also striking in a black and lavender bejeweled ensemble—returned this year to emcee the popular event. The peaceful crowd included viewers of all ages, many dressed in colorful Easter bonnets and other festive attire.
San Francisco Bay Times Bunny Makes News
Photos courtesy of Juan R. Davila
The San Francisco Bay Times Bunny, brought to life by volunteer coordinator Juan Davila, made the news this Easter when featured on the KPIX evening news program and multiple reruns. The Bunny welcomed friends and customers to the Mail Access and Healing Cuts barber locations in addition to the Castro Merchants’ Easter Eggstravaganza Block Party and the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence’s Easter in Dolores Park events.
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35th Anniversary Show of Hope Gala The San Francisco Community Health Center commemorated its 35th Anniversary on Saturday, April 16, at its annual gala held at the Hyatt Regency San Francisco. The organization’s mission is to transform lives by advancing health, wellness, and equality. Co-chaired by Cecilia Chung and Alex Rivera, the evening featured a headline performance by Grammy Award-winner Jody Watley and was emceed by ABC7 News anchor Reggie Aqui. Honored at the event was Brett Andrews, CEO of PRC and founder of the SF Black/African American Leadership Council. Also honored was Claudine Cheng, president of the APA Heritage Foundation, and founder of the San Francisco Asian Pacific American Heritage Month Celebration. Respected LGBTQ community leader Lance Toma serves as executive director of the SF Community Health Center that specializes in serving people of color, LGBTQ and homeless/ marginally housed people. Services include primary health care, HIV & STI testing and treatment, transgender health, dental care, and behavioral health care. https://sfcommunityhealth.org/
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Photos by Rink
Round About - All Over Town
Photos by Rink
CASTRO STREETCAM presented by
Artist Oscar Gallegos Zamora with his entry in the Easter Bonnet Contest at the Art Mart during the Castro Merchants Association Eggstravaganza held at Noe and Market on Saturday, April 16
Artist Paul Gallo at his Getta Grip Sewing Clips booth
http://sfbaytimes.com/
A baby goat was a star attraction at the Animal Petting Zone at the Eggstravaganza where goats, chickens and a donkey were featured.
Guests enjoyed the Animal Petting Zone at the Eggstravaganza
Designer Sewiopath at his custom couture booth at the Art Mart during the Eggstravaganza.
Photographer JB Higgins and a friend shared a toast at JB’s booth during the Art Mart.
Vibrant. Inspired. Empowered. Infinite She is the new ultra-lush skin care line from Margot Elena and we have it in stock and ready for Mother’s Day gifting. Body Lotion $32 Shower Gel $16. Visit the Cliff’s Annex to explore the entire lineup!
The Cardboard People Band performed at the Eggstravaganza.
We are now carrying the new Stasher Bowls! With a flat bottom and a seal that stays open on its own, you can lunch prep in one step.
C Easter Bonnet Candidate Queen Bee with her “Oh Honey” fan at the Eggstravaganza
Gary Virginia (center) with Candi Mint, Christina Ashton, Darryl Pelletier and Vicdoma at the Midnight Sun on April 16 for the Krewe de Kinque Bonnets & Baskets Benefit for the South of Market Community Health Center.
ome check out the amazing Bargello quilt by Martha Asten that we are raffling off to raise money for the AIDS/Lifecycle. The quilt will be on display in our window until the drawing on May 30th. Tickets are $5 each or 5 for $20.
https://cliffsvariety.com/
As Heard on the Street . . . Where do you like to go to be in nature in or near San Francisco?? compiled by Rink
Domina Atua
Michael Zanoni
Annie
Brent Munro
Sister Jezebel
“Ocean Beach”
“Marshall’s Beach is where I like to go.”
“The Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park”
“Land’s End and the gardens of the de Young Museum”
“Surfing at Ft. Cronkhite, and visiting the Marin Headlands and the East Bay hills”
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