August 24, 2023 edition of the Bay Area Reporter

Silicon Valley Pride is ready to shine

San Francisco Fire Department Rescue Captain Ronnie Jones has settled his discrimination case with the city.

One of 3 SFFD LGBTQ bias cases settles

by John Ferrannini

The Black transgender San Francisco Fire Department paramedic who filed a discrimination suit against the city alleging discrimination, harassment, and retaliation has settled the case. Two other discrimination cases filed against the city by out fire personnel remain pending.

The Board of Supervisors voted to approve a $149,000 settlement in the case of Ronnie Jones v. the City and County of San Francisco on May 9.  San Francisco City Attorney spokesperson Jen Kwart stated to the Bay Area Reporter August 16, “We believe the settlement approved by the Board of Supervisors is an appropriate resolution given the inherent costs of continued litigation.”

Angela Alioto, Jones’ attorney and a former Board of Supervisors president, told the B.A.R. she “can’t discuss” the Jones case because the terms of the settlement, other than the dollar amount, are confidential. Jones could not be reached for comment.

The B.A.R. first reported on the suit in February 2021. Jones has worked for the SFFD since 2006 and came out as transgender in 2015. After that things weren’t the same, Alioto previously said.

For example, according to the initial complaint, Jones was told to switch to using the men’s locker room and other facilities at the station –but without the other people who work there being informed of the transition, which created confusion and discomfort.

“Mr. Jones expressed his concerns with being put into a situation where he would just show up one day and walk into the men’s locker room after using the women’s locker room for the preceding 11 years,” the complaint states. “Mr. [John] Christy [of EMS leadership] agreed that the concerns were valid but was clear that [the department of human resources] refused to allow or sanction a communication to the members of Station 49.”

Jones faced critical comments from co-workers after moving his locker at the station, located near the city’s produce market in the Bayview. For example, one stated, “Oh, fuck this shit. Now she has a locker in here now.”

According to the complaint, another co-

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by Heather Cassell

Silicon Valley Pride is ready to shine in the South Bay this weekend.

Festivities culminate with the Pride parade marching down Market Street to the celebration at Plaza de Cesar Chavez Park in the heart of San Jose Sunday, August 27.

Silicon Valley Pride organizers anticipate about 15,000 Pridegoers will fill the heart of Silicon Valley throughout Pride weekend to “Live Out Proud,” which is this year’s theme.

Nicole Altamirano, chief executive officer of the Gay PRIDE Celebration Committee of San Jose, which produces Silicon Valley Pride, said the theme takes her “back to the root of what

Pride was and what Pride is.”

“Pride was started not out of a need to celebrate being LGBTQ+. Pride was started out of the need to live authentically, with freedom from persecution and judgment, and harassment and penalty,” Altamirano, a 41-year-old lesbian, said, pointing to the record number of anti-LGBTQ bills in state legislatures across the United States.

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Gay San Jose Councilmember Torres ready for South Bay Pride

by Matthew S. Bajko

Tuesday night gay San Jose City Councilmember Omar Torres raised the Progress Pride flag in the plaza in front of San Jose City Hall. Joining him were his fellow council members and Mayor Matt Mahan for the annual flag-raising ceremony ahead of Silicon Valley Pride.

The August 22 event was tinged with a bit of déjà vu, as the South Bay city’s leaders had also gathered in the plaza in front of the government building in June to also raise the inclusive pride flag in honor of it being Pride Month. The city also flies the transgender pride flag on the adjacent flagpole.

“Only in San Jose do we celebrate Pride twice,” quipped Torres during a recent video interview with the Bay Area Reporter.

He is now eying a third such ceremony this year.

“I also want to raise the flag for National Coming Out Day,” which is annually observed on October 11, Torres told the B.A.R.

There is a need for the multiple celebrations of the LGBTQ community, explained Torres, due to the oppressive tidal wave of anti-LGBTQ legislation and policies being passed across the country, whether by Republican-controlled legislatures or conservative majorities on school boards in Southern California. Amid the political assaults on LGBTQ rights has been an uptick in hate incidents against LGBTQ individuals, the

desecration or stealing of publicly displayed Pride flags and, most tragically, the murders of LGBTQ people and their allies, such as the killing last week of a Southern California storeowner over her Pride flag display.

“Please remember we have relived an era once again, where trans rights, gay rights, OUR rights are under attack. We can’t just celebrate every June or August! We must celebrate all year long because we are LOUD & PROUD,” wrote Torres in a Facebook post with video and photos from this week’s flag-raising ceremony.

Since his swearing in earlier this year as the first gay person of color to serve on the San Jose City Council, and only its second out councilmember, Torres has been making it a point to celebrate the LGBTQ community. Due to the passage of bans on drag performances in public spaces, Torres in March invited drag queen Woo Woo Monroe to be the first drag artist to perform during a San Jose City Council meeting.

He has also invited drag queens to join him at the Pride flag raisings and has promoted drag story time hours.

“I have told folks I want to be a councilperson for everyone but especially for our LGBTQ community,” said Torres, 41, who represents the council’s District 3 that covers downtown San Jose, including his alma mater San Jose State University, and the Japantown, WashingtonGuadalupe, and Spartan Keys neighborhoods. “It is one of my identities.”

While this won’t be his first time participating in Sunday’s Pride parade through the streets of downtown San Jose, Torres said his doing so will have special significance for him this year.

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San Jose City Councilmember Omar Torres, second from left, joined other officials in raising the Progress Pride flag August 22.

Courtesy Torres’ Facebook page

Courtesy Silicon Valley Pride

Pride marchers filled the streets of San Jose for Silicon Valley Pride.

Courtesy Law Offices Mayor Joseph L Alioto and Angela Alioto

Badlands could reopen within 2 months

by John Ferrannini

The Badlands nightclub in San Francisco’s Castro neighborhood is expected to open soon, the Bay Area Reporter has learned. It is one of three dance venues that are readying their doors within a block of each other in the heart of the iconic LGBTQ district.

TJ Bruce, the co-manager of Badlands, which closed permanently amid the COVID pandemic in 2020, told the B.A.R. the nightclub at 4121 18th Street could “be open within 60 days.” Under that timeline, it could welcome patrons back to its dance floor in time for the weekend prior to Halloween, expected to draw large crowds to the Castro this year.

Bruce, a gay man, owns a number of nightclubs on the West Coast, such as Splash San Jose and Badlands Sacramento. As the B.A.R. previously reported (https://www.ebar. com/story.php?ch=bartab&sc=bars &id=323093), he had been in discussions with Les Natali, a gay man who had owned Badlands since 1999 and also owns the building that housed it, to reopen a nightclub in the space.

While both men had indicated to the B.A.R. in early February that a

deal was imminent, nothing was ever finalized between them. Bruce had referred further questions about a deal to Natali, who never returned the B.A.R.’s inquiries after that point.

However, on August 21, Bruce said that the two had come to an agreement whereby he’d slowly take over for Natali, with the two of them working

together managing the nightclub in the interim.

“We’ve worked together 24 years, only now is the first time it’ll be formal,” Bruce said. “I will be managing the day-to-day business.”

Bruce also confirmed the nightclub will still be called Badlands. The 2020 Facebook post announcing Badlands’

closure had said, “The name of the new bar and other details will be announced later, closer to the opening date.”

Bruce also said that the nightclub will be hiring, including for the position of bar manager.

Badlands originally opened as a country western bar in 1974. After Natali acquired it 24 years ago, it became a video dance bar.

Badlands and Natali had been under renewed criticism in the months prior to the announcement of its closure due to allegations of racial discrimination that surfaced in the 2000s.

A 2004 report by the San Francisco Human Rights Commission found that Badlands was discriminating against African Americans, but the findings were never official because Virginia Harmon, the HRC executive director at the time, did not sign off on the staff report. Natali and the complainants eventually reached a confidential settlement. Natali has always denied the accusations.

Natali later opened Toad Hall on the site of what had been the Pendulum, a bar that catered to Black LGBTQs.

In an email to the B.A.R. after this was brought up at a June 2020 Black Lives Matter protest in Jane Warner Plaza, Natali wrote that the allegations “were found without merit and were dropped.”

“We welcome people of all races and all colors and we probably have the largest, most diverse clientele of any bar in the Castro,” he stated at the time.

Natali did not return multiple requests for comment for this report by press time.

Badlands’ possible reopening comes just as plans for another LGBTQ nightclub were in the news. The ownership group for a new club at the site of the old Harvey’s restaurant and bar at 500 Castro Street announced last week the venue would be called BRUT Bar, Bites, and Nightclub. But less than a week later, the new owners walked back the name, after realizing it was too similar to BRÜT, an LGBTQ circuit party that takes place in several cities, including San Francisco, as the B.A.R. reported.

Meanwhile, Q Bar at 456 Castro Street is eyeing a September reopening, as the B.A.R. reported last month. It has been closed since a fire damaged its building in 2019. t

New Castro nightclub will no longer be called BRUT

by John Ferrannini

That was quick.

Less than a week after announcing the new name for the nightclub succeeding Harvey’s in the heart of the LGBTQ Castro neighborhood, the ownership group has backtracked.

BRUT Bar, Bites, and Nightclub initially was going to be the name for the planned nightclub expected to open next year at 500 Castro Street and an adjoining commercial space. But that plan fizzled.

Joshua J. Cook, a gay man who speaks for the ownership group, told the Bay Area Reporter August 20 that the new club won’t be called BRUT Bar, Bites, and Nightclub after all. The name had been announced with fanfare August 15, but won’t be used now because it is similar to that of a house music party that also caters to LGBTQ people.

“We want to be as original as possible as we create this space,” Cook stated to the B.A.R. “We definitely do not want any confusion of being affiliated with anyone else. Thanks for your interest.”

BRÜT, with an umlaut, is the name

Silicon Valley Pride

From page 1

In May, the Human Rights Campaign reported that over 520 anti-LGBTQ+ bills have been introduced in state legislatures, a record. Over 220 bills specifically target transgender and nonbinary people, which is also a record.

So far this year, a record 70 bills have become law. They run the gamut from censoring books and school curricula to providing a license to discriminate to targeting drag performances. Others allow for misgendering transgender students and banning gender-affirming health care for transgender youth.

“We really are a notable festival, as we should be as the 10th largest city in America,” Altamirano said.

The Pride flag was raised outside San Jose City Hall August 22.

‘Living out proud’

“Living out proud is a radical act of defiance,” Altamirano said. It’s a “defiance of the system that was built to oppress us. Defiance of those that would see us going back into the closet. Defiance of those that would take away our right to marry and take away our right to be equal status of the white males that live in the United States of America.

“The LGBTQ+ community, it’s

of an LGBTQ house music dance party that occurs with regular frequency in a number of places, including Los Angeles, Provincetown, Fire Island, and

unique in that we don’t just encompass one skin color, one gender, one orientation, one ability, one attraction,” Altamirano said. “We encompass everyone.”

To that end, Pridegoers can expect events geared toward all.

“Silicon Valley Pride is very intentional about making sure our festival is diverse, making sure that everybody has a place in our festival,” she added.

The Silicon Valley Pride headliner is Grammy-nominated Broadway singer and 2003 “American Idol” season two contestant Frenchie Davis.

She said this year’s theme is “so important,” thinking about the queer youth who need to see LGBTQ people living openly with pride.

“Our young people are watching,” Davis, a 44-year-old bisexual woman, wrote in an email to the Bay Area Reporter. “There are young people who are thinking about ending their lives because they’re different. Seeing us, who are also different, living out proud and unapologetically can encourage and strengthen them.”

Emerging bisexual singer and songwriter Grant Knoche is also headlining the Pride celebration. Hailing from Texas and now based in Los Angeles, Knoche agreed with Davis, reflecting on the effects of his music on his audience.

“I had so many people coming and saying, ‘Oh my gosh, you just changed

San Francisco, where its next iteration is at The Great Northern on September 22, the Friday before the Folsom Street Fair.

my life,’” the 20-year-old musical artist said in a phone interview about meeting fans. They’ve told him how his songs influenced them to come out or just inspired them to love themselves even more regardless of sexuality. “It just helped so many people get the courage to be themselves 100%,” Knoche said.

He said that it gives him the chills thinking about it.

“I think that’s so important, especially today with social media and everybody feeling like they have to be perfect and be flawless,” he continued. “I think what’s amazing about human beings is that we can just be ourselves and not have to be perfect.”

For Davis, taking pride in who you are is what living out proud is about.

“Living out proud means to me the decision to be unapologetic about who you are and to take pride in who you are,” Davis wrote, adding that being kind to oneself and others “empowers us to exercise kindness toward others.”

“Self-acceptance and pride help us create a better world,” she added.

Transgender singer, songwriter, and actress Adore Delano (https://www. adoredelano.com/) will also headline on the main stage August 27. Delano appeared on two seasons of “American Idol” (sixth and seventh) and placed in the final three in the sixth season of “RuPaul’s Drag Race.”

When asked about BRÜT, Cook had told the B.A.R. on August 15 that he was “not aware of a party of that name.”

BRÜT’s Dan Darlington didn’t seem pleased when responding to the B.A.R.’s inquiry regarding the name.

“We have owned a federal trademark registration for BRÜT for more than seven years,” he stated. “The public has come to associate that mark with the high-quality services we provide. Our IP is valuable to us, and we are evaluating our options for protecting our mark and eliminating any likelihood of confusion.”

BRÜT did not return a request for comment on August 20 asking if it’d reached out to the BRUT ownership group.

The ownership group for the former Harvey’s space is mostly connected to Beaux, an LGBTQ bar in the Castro.

The ownership group – comprised of Cook, Beaux stalwarts Alexis Lucero, Matthew Mello, Garrett Beighton, and Realtor Marco Caravajal – signed a lease with the Paul Langley Company to take over

Bigger and better

Altamirano said she is “super excited” about this year’s Pride parade and celebration.

“Year-over-year I get more excited,” she said. The parade and celebration gets “bigger and better each year.”

“We definitely are bringing in a lot of talents to our stages this year,” Altamirano said. “We try to highlight all of our community on all of our stages, so it’s always a great time.”

The parade and celebration is produced by an all-volunteer team of 10 pulling off the event with an annual budget of $175,309, according to the organization’s 2022 IRS 990 Form.

On Sunday, Pridegoers will enjoy headliners Davis, Knoche, and Delano on the main stage in Plaza de Cesar Chavez, August 27.

“I am so excited!” Davis wrote about performing. The California-raised self-described vocalist, thesbian, warrior, professor, and goddess wrote, “being able to come to my home state, and do what I love… Celebrating pride with my community… It’s very meaningful to me.”

Pridegoers can “expect me to sing my heart out, laugh out loud, and take them on a journey of songs that they love! We are going to have a great time!” she added.

Knoche’s hit TikTok song, “First

the old Harvey’s space after it was shuttered in January..

They also agreed to expand into the adjacent retail space at 504 Castro Street that had housed smoke shop Puff ‘n Stuff, which closed in 2020. Both commercial spaces are owned by the Paul Langley Co. Cook told the B.A.R. last month that the space will function as a bar with a “substantial bar menu” during the day. At night the space will be transformed to include a dance floor with a similar capacity of Beaux’s –around 200. It is expected to open next summer.

It is unclear when the group will announce the club’s name. Additionally, further details have yet to be released, including how the new club plans to prominently honor its predecessors in the space, the Harvey’s restaurant and the old Elephant Walk. Nods to the former gay bar and the restaurant’s namesake, the late gay San Francisco supervisor Harvey Milk, had been part of the former decor.  t

Hello,” went viral with more than 40 million views and 1.5 million streams within a single month in 2022. His debut album, “Color Me Blue,” has received accolades from New Music Friday to Today at Apple and more since its 2020 release.

“This year has been great with all the Prides and just feels really awesome,” he said, explaining that he came out last year and missed the Pride circuit.

“It’s gonna be a high energy, very fun performance,” Knoche told the B.A.R. “I can’t wait for everyone to come out and have a great time.”

Silicon Valley Pride isn’t the only South Bay LGBTQ organization celebrating this weekend. San Jose’s the Qmunity District (https://qmunitydistrict.org/), a collective of queer retail and nightlife businesses in the heart of the tech capital, is also offering a number of events. The activities are in line with this year’s Pride theme and recognizing the attack on the LGBTQ community while celebrating the community, officials said.

“We are very excited about this year’s Pride,” said Nathan Svoboda, president of Project MORE Foundation, ) which stewards the Qmunity District in downtown San Jose.

See page 12 >>

The Badlands LGBTQ nightclub in the Castro could reopen within two months, the new co-manager said.

Scott Wazlowski

The planned LGBTQ nightclub in the former Harvey’s space in the Castro won’t be called BRUT after all.

Scott Wazlowski

Member of the Stanford Health Care LGBTQ+ community

Seen with care.

At Stanford Health Care, we are pioneering care specifically for the LGBTQ+ community. From preventive wellness to gender-affirming care, including innovative specialized surgical techniques, our LGBTQ+ Health Program sets the standard. We are even home to the first large-scale, long-term national health research study of LGBTQ+ people in the U.S.

Learn more about our LGBTQ+ Health Program at stanfordhealthcare.org/lgbtq

Rainbow flag exhibit returning to the Bay Area

by John Ferrannini

A n exhibit showing the worldwide impact of the rainbow flag is returning to the Bay Area in October.

Flag in the Map is a visual exhibit showcasing 75 portraits of people in 40 nations who tell their stories and reaffirm the power of the global symbol of LGBTQ Pride. The project is a collaboration between the Gilbert Baker Foundation and ReportOUT. The two organizations put out a call in 2020 asking for photos of people flying the rainbow flag, according to the website. A book has also been completed as part of the project.

The website includes a video that shows images of some of the people who have participated. For example, Grace Edwards Akuma of Kenya wrote, “It shows how happy and proud I am of my identity as a lesbian, more so in a country that has not fully embraced LGBTQ persons.”

Gay artist Gilbert Baker’s flag came about when late gay supervisor Harvey Milk had urged Baker to design a symbol for the 1978 San Francisco Pride parade. With the help of co-creators and friends Lynn Segerblom, a straight ally who now lives in Southern California, and James McNamara, a gay man who died of AIDS-related complications in 1999, Baker came up with a rainbow flag design that had eight colored stripes, with one version also sporting a corner section of stars to mimic the design of the American flag, as the Bay Area Reporter reported back in 2018.

Baker would go on to eliminate the stars and reduce the number of colored stripes to six. Over the ensuing years, he turned the rainbow flag into an international symbol

of LGBTQ rights. Baker died unexpectedly in 2017 at the age of 65, and the foundation created in his name donated a segment from one of the first rainbow flags that flew in front of San Francisco City Hall during the 1978 Pride parade to the GLBT Historical Society Museum in the city’s LGBTQ Castro district, where it is now on public display.

Charley Beal, a gay man who is president of the Baker foundation, told the B.A.R. that the Flag in the Map project is a little over a year old.

“It debuted as a small exhibit at the GLBT Historical Society Museum in San Francisco and Stonewall park the same day,” Beal said, referring to Christopher Park that is part of the Stonewall National Monument in New York City and also includes the Stonewall Inn, the site of the famous riots in June 1969 that are considered the start of the modern LGBTQ rights movement.

Beal said that the exhibition has also been at the Old Street Gallery in London, the New York State Capitol building in Albany, the Provincetown Pride Center in Massachusetts, and the United States Embassy to the French Republic in Paris.

“We solicited submissions from around the world. We had over 100 submissions from 40 countries –Ukraine, China, Pakistan, Indonesia,” Beal said. “What we’ve found are harrowing stories of bravery: a story out of Iran, where there was a beheading; a man killed for coming out of the closet, and his friends running around Tehran wearing the rainbow flag – to just people: one, from Zambia, who is wearing the rainbow flag saying ‘I’m pansexual and people don’t understand me here’ and wearing the flag with a face full of bliss.”

Beal said the exhibit is meant to highlight the 73 countries where homosexuality is outlawed, as

well as attacks on the rainbow flag abroad and at home. Beal said there’ve been dozens of rainbow flag bans on government buildings around the country.

The foundation and the American Civil Liberties Union have joined forces on the Save The Rainbow Flag project to fight anti-flag moves throughout the U.S. In February in Southern California, for example, the Huntington Beach City Council voted to remove the Pride flag from the list of approved flags to be flown outside City Hall. And in the Bay Area in late May, Vacaville Mayor John Carli refused to recognize June as Pride Month and fly the rainbow flag, as the B.A.R. reported.

Vandalism of Pride flags has also occurred locally. In July, a Pride banner was slashed in two at the Congregational Church of Belmont on the Peninsula. In May, Palo Alto police opened an inves -

tigation into the vandalism of a Pride flag flown by the city’s First Lutheran Church.

Incidents have also turned deadly. On August 18 straight ally Laura Ann Carleton, 66, was fatally shot because she displayed a Pride flag outside her business in Cedar Glen, near Lake Arrowhead in Southern California. The shooter, Travis Ikeguchi, 27, was killed by police after fleeing the scene.

Beal said the foundation has seen some victories in other parts of the country.

“We’re learning how to fight back and how to win,” he said, pointing to Sussex, New Jersey, where the burning of a rainbow flag at a New Jersey church solicited support and donations of replacement rainbow flags, Out in Jersey reported earlier this year. Proposed legislation in Florida to ban the rainbow flag on government buildings was withdrawn.

“I’m proud to say we beat [Florida Governor Ron] DeSantis,” Beal said. “No, I don’t want to be cheerful. … Flag in the Map and Save The Rainbow Flag are two sides of the same coin. These stories, this exhibit, is how we save the flag.”

The ACLU did not return a request for comment.

Daniel Nicoletta, a gay photographer who in the late 1970s worked at the late Supervisor Harvey Milk’s Castro Street camera shop, has work featured in the exhibit – specifically, a picture of a rainbow flag flying at an Episcopal church in Grants Pass, Oregon.

“I’ve only seen the book and the online interface, as I live in Oregon now,” Nicoletta told the B.A.R. “I think it’s great. The book is amazing. I love it’s international in scope and I was so pleased to be involved.”

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Kudzai Kanyere of Zimbabwe dons a rainbow flag. They write in the Flag in the Map project that they

recognize their rights.

Drag icon Sarria joins CA Hall of Fame

by Matthew S. Bajko

The late drag queen José Julio Sarria, a gay Latino veteran who left a lasting impact on politics and the LGBTQ community, is now the second drag queen to be part of the California Hall of Fame. The former San Francisco resident was one of seven Golden State luminaries to be posthumously inducted into the hall Tuesday as part of its 16th class.

Governor Gavin Newsom and first partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom presided over the virtual ceremony. Sarria joins RuPaul, inducted in 2019, as the only drag performers among the honorees in the hall, which is overseen by the California Museum.

In introducing Sarria during the couple’s taped remarks, Siebel Newsom called him a “legendary drag queen who made an indelible mark on California’s LGBTQ community.”

Sarria’s induction is the culmination of an eight-year campaign to see that he be in the hall. A World War II servicemember, Sarria in 1961 became the first known gay person to seek public office when he unsuccessfully sought a San Francisco Board of Supervisors seat.

By then he was a well-known drag performer at the now defunct North Beach club the Black Cat Cafe. Throughout the 1950s Sarria famously would close his performances by singing “God Save Us Nelly Queens” to patrons.

In 1965, he founded the Imperial Court System in San Francisco and proclaimed himself Empress I of San Francisco, the Widow Norton. The philanthropic drag organization has since crowned scores of empresses, emperors, and other drag royalty while raising funds for charitable causes and now has 70 chapters in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.

Sarria died on August 19, 2013 at the reported age of 90. (His exact date of birth is a matter of some debate, with one online archive saying he was 89 at the time of his death.)

Newsom, a former San Francisco mayor, praised Sarria for “revolutionizing the modern LGBTQ-plus civil rights movement and paving the way for others like Harvey Milk.” He was referring to the late San Francisco supervisor who was the first gay person elected to public office both in the city and state, and is already a hall inductee.

No matter what role he played, noted Newsom, Sarria had “unshakeable pride in himself and his community.”

Attending an event in San Francisco’s LGBTQ Castro district last Saturday to mark the 10th anniversary of Sarria’s passing, drag queen Sister Roma told the Bay Area Reporter the timing of Sarria’s induction into the hall is fortuitous due to the attacks against drag venues and performers being waged by Republican lawmakers across the country. When the California Legislative LGBTQ Caucus recognized Roma at the Statehouse in June during Pride Month, GOP legislators walked out in protest.

“I am super happy that José has received this recognition. I feel it is very well deserved, but also extremely important for this time we are living in,” said Roma, a member of the drag nun philanthropic group the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. “Right now red states across the country are trying to ban drag and criminalize transgender people and queer people. It is very reassuring to see California make this bold statement. It brings me great joy and pride.”

Queer San Francisco resident John Brett, the Imperial Court’s reigning Mr. Cowboy 2022-2023, also told the B.A.R. he was pleased to learn about Sarria’s inclusion in the hall.

“It’s meaningful that an activist of the queer community of José’s stature is recognized,” said Brett, sporting a rainbow cowboy hat with his crown affixed to it. “The court is the oldest LGBTQ nonprofit in the world. It has been making itself visible and providing space and supports before many

were willing to come out of the closet.”

Brett, who grew up on a wheat farm in north-central Washington state, is also part of the city’s night ministry and has served as a chaplain since 2014. He noted that it has worked collaboratively with the Imperial Court since the 1960s and advocated for Sarria’s state funeral to be held at Grace Cathedral atop San Francisco’s Nob Hill.

“I spoke to some elected leaders in San Francisco over the years and asked them to support his induction,” said Brett, who told the B.A.R. he planned to sing a round of “God Save Us Nelly Queens” Tuesday night as he watched the induction ceremony.

Empress LVII Ehra Amaya, a Filipinx nurse, drag queen, and LGBTQA+ advocate, told the B.A.R. she draws inspiration from Sarria’s becoming a part of the hall.

“To be an empress like Mamma José, it gives us more inspiration to do more good for the community,” said Amaya, who was empress in 2022. “To be the first openly gay man to run for office, you can’t beat that.”

Also inducted into the hall along with Sarria were singer Etta James, who was

born in Los Angeles and died in 2012 at the age of 73; actress and screenwriter Carrie Fisher, most famous for her role as Princess Leia in the “Star Wars” movies, who was born in Burbank and died in 2016 at the age of 60; and actress Shirley Temple Black, who was living in the San Mateo County town of Woodside when she died at the age of 85 in 2014.

World War II pilot and physicist Maggie Gee, a Bay Area native who died at the age of 89 in 2013, was also inducted Tuesday night, as were Oakland native Archie Franklin Williams, a gold medal-winning Olympic runner who died at the age of 78 in 1993, and Los Angeles Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully, who died last year at the age of 94.

Calling the inductees “real change makers,” Newsom said this year’s class is a reminder that “no matter who you are, or where you come from, anything is possible in the Golden State.”

In 2006, Republican then-governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and his former wife, Maria Shriver, partnered with the California Museum to launch the hall.

To learn more about the inductees, visit the hall’s webpage at https://californiamuseum.org/california-hall-offame/ t

José Julio Sarria was posthumously inducted into the California Hall of Fame August 22.

Courtesy California Hall of Fame

Empress L Khmera Rouge, left, talked with Empress XXXIII Alexis Miranda; Nicole Murray Ramirez, who was elected an empress of the Imperial Court in 1973 and currently holds the title of Queen Mother 1 of the Americas, Canada, United States, and Mexico; Empress XL Tiger Lily; and Empress LVII Ehra Amaya, at the 10th anniversary of the passing of José Julio Sarria, who was inducted into the California Hall of Fame August 22.

Bill Wilson

An early photo of José Julio Sarria

Courtesy California Hall of Fame

by Gwendolyn Ann Smith

As we’ve all seen, the last few years have been chock full of attacks on transgender rights. State legislatures have attempted to block us from public restrooms, from affirming care from our medical professionals, and from any number of other accommodations afforded to non-transgender people worldwide.

Nowhere has this been more prominent than in sports, where a firestorm has raged over trans women and others participating in women’s sports.

This seemingly touched off several years ago with Caster Semenya, a long-distance runner hailing from Kenya. While not a transgender person, Semenya has naturally high levels of testosterone in her system, and her fight against being blocked from competing with other women, including at the Olympics, has long been conflated with transgender people’s right to compete in sports based on their gender identity.

Likewise, Mack Beggs, a transmasculine wrestler, was barred from competing against other men back in 2017, and had to compete against girls due to Texas state reg -

ulations. Somewhat ironically, it is a photo of Beggs wrestling against a girl that is often used by bigots decrying transgender women competing in sports.

Oh, and yes, I find myself once again having to mention Lia Thom -

as who, after starting her gender transition and switching to the women’s team at the University of Pennsylvania, has become the de facto face of those who claim allowing trans women to compete in women’s sports as being criminally

unfair to other, non-transgender women. Thomas became the first openly transgender athlete to win an NCAA Division I national championship with her victory in the 2022 500-yard freestyle event.

This week, yet another sport has felt it necessary to bar transgender women from competing against others of their gender. Joining competitive swimming, powerlifting, wrestling, boxing, rugby, and running, is chess.

Yes, chess. A game in which players are not known for their muscular frames, but their cerebral prowess, is barring trans women from competing against non-transgender women.

Chess competitions are managed by an organization called Fédération Internationale des Échecs, aka the Interna tional Chess Federation, or, simply, FIDE. It or ganizes the World Chess Championship, among other duties surrounding the sport of chess.

In a statement, FIDE has announced that it will bar transgender women from any

FIDE-sanctioned women’s tournaments, as well as strip transgender men of any titles they may have gained in a women’s competition prior to their transition. FIDE did leave the door open for this to “evolve” in the future due to unspecified “research evidence.”

Now, I am not very much for competitive sports. Long before my transition, I was the chubby kid who got picked last in nearly any sport, and usually was given a prime seat on the bench as soon as possible. So, I find myself baffled by a lot of this issue. Sports are a curiosity beyond my experience.

Also, having been an only child whose parents were busy building a business, I did not have a lot of opportunities to even try chess. It’s just not a thing I do. It wasn’t until high school and college before I got into other games, role playing and such, so chess is also an unfamiliar thing.

With that said, I feel there’s some obvious differences between a physical sport and a cerebral one, and I honestly find myself unable to figure out why one would block trans women from competing with other women in the grand sport of chess. Frankly, I don’t even understand why there is a separate category at all.

Unless, of course, chess itself is sexist.

Now, at first I just assumed that FIDE – or chess in general – felt that men simply were better tacticians than women. Or smarter in other ways, giving men a natural advantage in pushing pawns across a chessboard. Yes, there are certainly those who do feel that way, but it’s also a bit deeper than that.

That there is a gender division in chess is because of a general lack of participation from female chess players, in large part due to competitive chess being a much smaller portion of chess overall. FIDE itself claims that under 10% of its membership is from women and girls who play chess, with most being under 18.

It would seem, then, that there is a strong lack of support for any woman – trans or otherwise – being a part of chess. The sport is male dominated, and this has led it to being seen as a place that is unwelcoming, even hostile, to women.

So, I suppose to counter this view, FIDE has decided to bar some women from its women’s-only competitions, which are already marginalized from the general competitions, rather than focus on ways to actually make chess a more welcoming place for all women.

This should be viewed as an opportunity to FIDE and others involved in chess. Both France and Germany’s chess federations are pushing back, and FIDE should consider that it needs to speed up its evolution. Transgender people are not the issue, and it would seem the sport has deeper problems than a small number of trans players in its midst.

Additionally, perhaps barring transgender people from chess should be seen as an opportunity for all sports organizations to examine their own views on transgender participation in sport, as well as their policies that may separate their sport along gender lines. Perhaps there are better solutions, based on skill or ability, versus something as simple – and flawed –as gender divisions. t

Gwen Smith is between a rook and a hard piece. You’ll find her at www.gwensmith.com

Christine Smith

Toronto restaurant serves as a hub for Iranian activism

by Heather Cassell

In Toronto, family-owned restaurant

Banu has served as a place of resistance and refuge for Iranians – including LGBTQ Iranians – fleeing the country’s theocratic government that has been ruled by strict Sharia law for nearly 45 years.

They’ve been able to find comfort in their community, food, and causes at Banu, located on Queen Street West, in the West Village dubbed “Queer West,” Toronto’s second LGBTQ neighborhood.

Lesbian Iranian Canadian journalist Samira Mohyeddin and her gay younger brother, Amir Salar Mohyeddin, who is the chef, own the restaurant along with their older sister Salome Mohyeddin, who is the manager. Since opening the restaurant’s doors in 2005, the siblings have been serving up activism with Iranian dishes based on their mother’s recipes over the past 18 years.

“Social justice was something we talked about a lot around the table,” said Samira Mohyeddin.

Escape from Iran

Samira Mohyeddin, 48, immigrated to Canada when she was 4 years old. Her family – who has nearly a century of activist roots and government positions –fled the Iranian Revolution in 1979 that drew the curtain between Iran and the West nearly 45 years ago.

It wasn’t without hesitation and disbelief that the Mohyeddin family ended up in Canada. Their aunt, Parvin Mohyeddin, pushed for it, ignoring objections of her brother, Faraj Mohyeddin, and his wife, Zarrin Mohyeddin, who believed Iran’s political situation at the time would settle down. They didn’t want to leave their beloved Tehran, the capital. Parvin Mohyeddin wasn’t convinced. Instead, she started the immigration process for her brother’s family.

Samira Mohyeddin and her siblings

are descended from Iranian political families, she said. Her grandfather on her mother’s side was head of Iran’s Social Democrat Party and was a member of one of the country’s first parliament sessions in the 1930s. Her grandfather on her father’s side was a general in Iran’s former army.

He “escaped” to Canada, because “they were rounding up [the generals and] they were executing them all during the revolution,” she said.

On January 16, 1979, the day that the Iranian government fell to the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi went into exile and the family received a phone call from the Canadian embassy in Tehran. They were called in for an interview and granted permanent Canadian residency but had

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just six months to leave the country.

The family ended up on one of the last flights out of the country on May 4, 1979, before the Iranian government grounded all flights. They joined their aunt, Parvin Mohyeddin, on her farm in the small town of Drummondville. Her family quickly moved to North York, then a suburb of Toronto, which today is a neighborhood of the sprawling metropolis.

Samira Mohyeddin said it is her ancestry and family lore, along with her family’s political roots and belief in social justice and equality that guide their lives and the restaurant.

Nearly four and a half decades later, the Bay Area Reporter sat across from Samira Mohyeddin at Banu (https:// banu.ca/) on July 25 while her brother

flitted around the restaurant eavesdropping on the conversation. The discussion ranged from LGBTQ rights in Iran and returning to the country to helping queer Iranian refugees. Talk also included the uprising by Iranian women following the death of Masha Amini under suspicious circumstances, and the queer resistance among the women protesters who continue to bravely take to the streets nearly a year later.

A solemn anniversary September marks the one-year anniversary of Zahra Seddiqi Hamedani and Elham Chobdar’s sentencing to death by the Revolutionary Court of Urmia, the capital of West Azerbaijan Province of Iran, as the B.A.R. previously reported. At the time, a third woman, Soheila Ashrafi, 53, was also being held alongside them at Urmia Central Prison in Iran, awaiting her verdict.

Hamedani, 32, who identifies as queer and is better known online as Sareh, and Chobdar, 25, received their sentences September 1. The sentencing was allegedly based on the women’s links to the LGBTQ+ community on social media.

The Guardian reported that Hamedani appeared in a documentary for the BBC Persian service in May 2021 where she spoke out about the abuse LGBTQs faced in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region of Iraq, where she was living at the time.

Homosexuality is illegal in Iran and punishable by death under the Sharia penal code Hamedani was arrested attempting to cross the border into Turkey, where she was hoping to claim asylum in October 2021, reported The Guardian.

The women’s plight was overshadowed by the mass demonstrations by

women speaking out against the death of Amini, 22, in a hospital three days after being arrested by Iran’s morality police for allegedly not wearing her headscarf correctly. Amini died September 16, 2022.

“I myself don’t know what’s going on with their file right now, to be honest,” Samira Mohyeddin said. “I don’t know what’s gonna happen.” She pointed out that the Iranian government is “not very forgiving.”

Returning to Iran

Samira Mohyeddin experienced firsthand women’s limitations in Iran when she returned to her former homeland in 1999 when she was 25 years old. She was in the country for close to two months exploring a potential script for a show about girls who dress as boys to gain more access to do things like riding a bike.

“It’s illegal for women to ride bicycles,” Samira Mohyeddin said, because the “motion arouses men. I’m not joking.”

In writing about Iranian women’s issues, Samira Mohyeddin likens Iran’s laws to Canadian novelist Margaret Atwood’s futuristic dystopian novel “The Handmaid’s Tale.” Women’s testimony is only worth half of a man’s testimony in court. Women only inherit half the family’s wealth, and the closest male relative gets the rest. Women go to great lengths to legally divorce but lose custody of their children in the process. There’s no singing or dancing in public. Queer people are hanged.

“It is so absurd and comical. If it wasn’t so tragic, I would laugh,” she said.

During that trip, Samira Mohyeddin stayed with her grandmother, who still lived in Iran. She quickly learned that she needed permission from her father to travel and to

See page 12 >>

Iranian Canadian journalist and restaurateur Samira Mohyeddin, left, and her younger brother, Amir Salar Mohyeddin, who is the chef, stand outside their restaurant Banu in Toronto.

Heather Cassell

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Killed over a Pride flag

In a shocking and horrific incident, a Southern California woman was shot to death because she had a rainbow flag flying outside her shop in Cedar Glen, a small town near Lake Arrowhead in Southern California. Laura Ann Carleton, known as Lauri, had run her Mag.Pi clothing store for years and was loved by her community. A straight ally, Carleton, 66, was a wife and mother of nine. She was known as a strong supporter of the LGBTQ community.

“Today was a very sad day for Lake Arrowhead and for the LGBTQ community,” Lake Arrowhead LGBTQ posted on its Facebook page August 19.

“Our friend and supporter Lauri Carleton @magpi_shop was murdered defending her lgbtq+ Pride flags in front of her store in Cedar Glen California. Lauri did not identify as LGBTQ+, but spent her time helping & advocating for everyone in the community. She will be truly missed.”

Investigators said Travis Ikeguchi, 27, shot and killed Carleton because she displayed a Pride flag outside her business. ABC7 Eyewitness News reported that during a Monday afternoon news conference, San Bernardino County Sheriff Shannon Dicus said a 911 caller told dispatchers Ikeguchi cut down the flag while he argued with Carleton before shooting her. He also said the suspect yelled “many homophobic slurs” toward Carleton.

Dicus also discussed the national impact of the case, which is unsurprising given the senseless nature of the shooting and after authorities revealed that Ikeguchi had posted anti-LGBTQ content on social media. “This particular victim has had an impact really across the United States,” said Dicus. “We’ve been reached out by the vice president of the United States.

Our victim certainly had a major impact on the community and people that she’s come across with during her lifetime.” This wasn’t even the first time someone objected to Carleton’s Pride flags. ABC7 reported that others had been removed, and Carleton would replace them. This week, there were numerous Pride flags along with flowers as a memorial tribute outside Mag-Pi. Yet one gunman who was determined to silence her shattered Carleton’s family, the LGBTQ community, and deeply affected people across the nation.

Hate doesn’t occur in a vacuum. The rise in antiLGBTQ hate speech is dangerous and has accompanied the push to pass various anti-LGBTQ laws in conservative states. Even in blue states, however, anti-LGBTQ hate is rising. On July 29 in Brooklyn, New York, Black queer dancer O’Shea Sibley was stabbed to death while voguing at a gas station. Video footage from the gas station reportedly showed a group of men shouting homophobic slurs and insults. A 17-year-old male later turned himself in and is facing murder and hate crime charges.

In California, Carleton’s killing is the most recent example of violent anti-LGBTQ hate. Equality California, the statewide LGBTQ rights organization, condemned the attack and offered condolences to Carleton’s family.

“Over the past year, we have seen a sharp increase in anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric being expressed by far right extremists and hate groups – rhetoric which has resulted in physical intimidation, harassment, and acts of violence,” stated Tony Hoang, EQCA executive director. “From a Pride flag being burned in front of Saticoy Elementary School to fistfights breaking out at a Glendale Unified school board meeting to the windows of an open and affirming Lutheran church in Fresno being shattered, these extremists have shown up in greater and greater numbers with the intent of advancing their hateful agenda.

See page 13 >>

In 1980, South Bay voters adopted anti-LGBTQ ballot measures

by Ken Yeager

When the gay rights movement was gaining steam across the country in 1977, Anita Bryant, a Miss America runner-up and Florida orange juice pitchwoman, entered the scene. Building on her friend Phyllis Schlafly’s anti-Equal Rights Amendment work, Bryant founded an anti-gay group, Save Our Children Inc., which led a highly publicized campaign to repeal a Miami-Dade law prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation.

The campaign was based on conservative Christian beliefs about the sinfulness of homosexuality and the perceived threat of homosexual recruitment of children and child molestation. Bryant stated, “What these people really want, hidden behind obscure legal phrases, is the legal right to propose to our children that theirs is an acceptable alternate way of life. I will lead such a crusade to stop it as this country has not seen before.”

As the number of jurisdictions that outlawed similar discrimination grew, Bryant began traveling across the country, spreading her anti-gay message.

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“As a mother, I know that homosexuals cannot biologically reproduce children; therefore, they must recruit our children,” she stated.

Indeed, the campaign she initiated resulted in a conservative backlash, setting the tone of LGBTQ+ rights battles for years to come and turning the tide against the advancement made to destigmatize homosexuality. It also launched the careers of evangelists Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, and Jim and Tammy Bakker, among others.

The Save the Children campaign arrived in San Jose and Santa Clara County two years later when county supervisors first discussed a proposed antidiscrimination ordinance. There would be six hearings and more than 25 hours of public testimony before final adoption.

The first meeting provided a good indication of what was to follow. According to official transcripts of the meeting, speakers who opposed the measure included Rick Harrington, a 28-year-old Mormon who led the group Concerned Citizens Against the Sexual Orientation Ordinance and Rev. Marvin Rickard of the Los Gatos Christian Church. Rickard is quoted at the hearing as saying he was “against the ordinance because it protects homosexuality, which is an immoral practice.” Another speaker said the ordinance denies his rights because, if it passes, he must hire gays, who may offend his customers.

Forty-five years later, these remain the dual arguments used by religious conservatives against granting LGBTQ+ people the same protections against discrimination as others. They were key arguments in the 2018 U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in the Masterpiece Cakeshop and the 2023 web designer rulings that allowed businesses not to serve customers based on claims of free speech and free exercise of religion.

The final hearing on August 6, 1979, is mainly remembered for the hundreds of religious protesters in attendance, the disruption of a 6.0 Richter scale earthquake, and the scores of opponents who broke out in song when the jolt occurred, singing “Onward Christian Soldiers” and “Amazing Grace.” As reported in the Mercury News, one ordinance opponent who addressed the board said, “That earthquake we had is just an example of what will happen in Santa Clara County if this ordinance is passed.”

On August 6, 1979, nearly two months after it was first considered, the supervisors adopted the ordinance. Following the 4-1 vote for passage, Rev. Rickard held an impromptu press conference and said an attempt would be made to place the issue on the ballot to overturn the decision.

With far less fanfare, the San Jose City Council approved the ordinance on a 6-1 vote on August 28 after only two hearings.

Anita Bryant’s aide and campaign manager in the Dade County campaign, Mike Thompson, arrived to help run the Santa Clara County campaigns. When asked by a Mercury News reporter why he was coming to San Jose, Thompson said, “It’s an important issue. The encouragement of homosexual activity is a detriment to society. They [homosexu-

als] should be treated humanely, but also should be made to realize their lifestyle is not desirable.”

The “No on A and B” campaign used the same playbook as in Miami: “Vote NO for the sake of our children.” Literature headlines read: “Enough is Enough,” “Don’t Let it Spread,” and “Keep it Private.” Their main mail piece, when fully opened, made their position very clear. Under a capitalized, enlarged headline of “WHAT’S AT STAKE” were pictures of partially clad men. Each section emphasized a particular stereotype of gay men as sexual deviants and child molesters who wanted their behavior legitimized.

In one section, the opponents claim that gays argue that “all they want is privacy.” But then they counter that by saying, “[Gays] have the compulsion to flaunt their sex in public. A public washroom is frequently their stage for sex in public. Bus stations, parks, and bowling alleys are haunted by gay guys. Random and reckless selection of partners is the trademark. The fact that the stranger is likely to be a policeman, sadomasochist, or syphilitic never seems to occur to them. This is the core of homosexuality.”

The election result was devastating. Fundamentalists defeated Measures A and B by a three-toone vote. With 70 percent opposing in San Jose and 65 percent in the county, this wasn’t just a loss – it was a slaughter.

The repercussions were immediate. The nascent LGBTQ+ rights movement vanished in San Jose. Gay activism came to a dead stop. Most local political leaders backed away from gay rights issues. It would be five years before members of the LGBTQ+ organization I co-founded would again appear before the Board of Supervisors.

A final note about the religious right’s entry into local politics came in June 1988 when the pastor of the Los Gatos Christian Church, Marvin Rickard, resigned after confessing to his congregation that he conducted a liaison with a woman who was not his wife. Rickard called the relationship “a friendship that became an infatuation that lasted about 11 months, and that shouldn’t have happened.”

I was quoted in the article as saying, “What a hypocrite; I’m glad to see him go. He has let loose so much bigotry in the past that the valley is well rid of him.” t

Ken Yeager, Ph.D., a gay man, is a former Santa Clara County supervisor and San Jose city councilmember. He is executive director of the BAYMEC Community Foundation, the nonprofit arm of the Bay Area Municipal Elections Committee. This excerpt is from “RUN! My Story of LGBTQ+ Political Power, Equality, and Acceptance in Silicon Valley,” published by Atmosphere Press and used with permission.

Ken Yeager’s “RUN! My Story of LGBTQ+ Political Power, Equality, and Acceptance in Silicon Valley”

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Laura Ann Carleton

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Housing, safe streets top of mind for Sunnyvale’s Mehlinger

by Matthew S. Bajko

Before he won his seat last November on the Sunnyvale City Council, Richard Mehlinger had been chair of the South Bay city’s advisory body for bicycle and pedestrian issues. Thus, when it was time for the council to approve this month a controversial plan regarding bike lanes on a main street in town that runs near several schools, it was no surprise to see Mehlinger cast a vote in favor of the item.

Talking to the Bay Area Reporter hours after he had done so, as the council meeting had gone until 1 a.m. due to the scores of people who spoke either in favor of the bike lanes or against the removal of 200 on-street parking spots for cars, Mehlinger said the matter was illustrative of how he has tried to approach his being on the council.

“I think it speaks to the importance of our job, which is to consider the public interest. And it is not narrowly construed,” said Mehlinger, explaining he took into account how the bike lanes would benefit students, residents, and employees biking to work from neighboring cities. “One of the tradeoffs I am having to consider on the City Council is everything has advantages and disadvantages when it comes to what is in the public interest.”

Mehlinger, 36, who identifies as queer and bisexual, represents District 5, which includes the Cannery Park neighborhood where he owns a townhouse. He serves alongside queer District 2 City Councilmember Alysa Cisneros, who will be up for reelection next year.

During her 2020 race, Mehlinger served as Cisneros’ assistant campaign manager. He had begun to become more involved in local politics and civic matters following the 2016 presidential race.

He joined his city’s grassroots group Livable Sunnyvale and became a board member of the Democratic Club of Sunnyvale. It provided him a base of support for his winning council bid and signaled he would be a progressive voice as a councilmember.

Housing

Another key issue for Mehlinger that led him to run last year is the need for more affordable housing in Sunnyvale. As a key bedroom community for Silicon Valley, the city has been one of the few in the area to embrace new home development.

Nonetheless, thousands of additional units are needed to meet the demand for housing within its borders. The council is still working to finalize its housing element as required by the state, which lays out how Sunnyvale will build its allocation of 11,966 new housing units by 2031.

“I think we, as a city, recognize that there is a growth in housing demand,” said Mehlinger. “We do need to be changing some things to make sure we can meet the needs of our population, of our economy, and meet the needs of the 21st century on climate change and sustainability.”

One of his more important votes on the council this year came in July, when the governing body approved the development plan (https://www. moffettparksp.com/) for Moffett Park, a large swath of land adjacent to the historic airfield bordering San Francisco Bay. Basically a rezoning of the area, it calls for the construction of 20,000 new homes in the city in addition to parks, trails, retail spaces, and offices.

“One of the things we put into there is that office developers have to provide maker spaces intended for small

businesses and startups,” noted Mehlinger, adding that “we are not just talking about big companies there. It is meant to be an eco-innovation district.”

Along with ensuring the planned housing doesn’t favor single-family homes, Mehlinger also worked to revise what its design requirements are for the new buildings. He penciled out such things as facade elements that he feared would end up downsizing the new construction.

“Those requirements make it more expensive to build and harder to get the kind of density we are going for,” said Mehlinger, who first moved to Sunnyvale in 2011 due to landing a job as an engineer at a networking company based in Moffett Park. “The reason it was in there is you don’t want it to feel like being in an undifferentiated canyon of buildings. But there are other ways you can prevent that from happening.”

As for the types of housing units city leaders want to see built, Mehlinger said, “We are not putting singlefamily homes in Moffett Park. That is something we absolutely don’t want there.”

With build out of the area expected to take several decades, it will be some time until the true impacts of the new development will be felt. The planned dwelling units alone represent a onethird increase to Sunnyvale’s current housing stock of roughly 58,600 homes.

“We are building a city inside a city. It will be a walkable, bikeable, public transit district,” noted Mehlinger. “It will be a very urban district. It is something very different than anything built in Sunnyvale before.”

Economic issues

As for the rounds of layoffs that hit various tech firms this year, Mehlinger told the B.A.R. that certainly many of his constituents and other city residents have been impacted, though there is no indication that the city itself is being negatively affected. According to data from NOVAworks, which assists job seekers in Silicon Valley and has an office in Sunnyvale, there was an uptick in unemployed Sunnyvale residents during the first half of 2023 but it is unclear in what industries they had worked in.

Among those laid off, as it happens, was Mehlinger, who disclosed in April that he had been let go by Dropbox, where he had worked as a software engineer. Due to “a good severance package,” said Mehlinger, he was able to focus over the next three months on his duties as a city councilmember plus take some time off for rest and relaxation.

It included a recent trip to Long Beach, where he grew up, to see friends and family. His sister is vice president of communications and

marketing for the Long Beach Convention & Visitors Bureau.

By November Mehlinger anticipates being back to working. He has been talking to several recruiters and has some promising leads, he told the B.A.R.

“I am staying as a software engineer. I have got a mortgage, so a career change isn’t in the cards right now,” said Mehlinger, who graduated from Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, California with degrees in computer science and history then earned a master’s degree in history from UC Riverside. “I actually really do enjoy it. It is very satisfying work for me. It scratches a completely different itch than the city work I am doing.”

This Sunday he plans to march for the first time as an out elected leader in the Silicon Valley Pride parade. Mehlinger told the B.A.R. he’ll be joining the contingent of Santa Clara County Supervisor Otto Lee, whose District 3 seat includes Sunnyvale.

It will be his second LGBTQ celebration he has participated in since joining the council, having attended and spoken at a Pride event held in June in downtown Sunnyvale.

“I am really looking forward to Silicon Valley Pride. I haven’t thought too much beyond hopefully walking in the parade,” said Mehlinger. “I haven’t thought too much about what to do there. I am not going to set up a booth there, but I will show up and mingle.”

Earlier this spring he spoke with gay former Santa Clara County supervisor Ken Yeager for a profile about him posted to the Queer Silicon Valley website. It is a virtual LGBTQ historical archive that Yeager launched in 2020 and, as the B.A.R. reported last week, is now hoping to turn into a brick-and-mortar museum in downtown San Jose.

“I love what he has been trying to do, capturing these queer oral histories. In another life I did a master’s in history,” said Mehlinger. “I have become more and more aware of how local politics and how much local history is just forgotten. It most often is never written down and lives in someone’s head somewhere. When they die, it is gone.”

Thus, what Yeager has been doing to preserve the South Bay’s LGBTQ history and share it with the public, said Mehlinger, is ensuring it doesn’t become lost.

“It is a cool project he has been doing,” said Mehlinger. “I am very proud to even be a part of that.”

Next up on his own agenda is further addressing Sunnyvale’s transportation needs and implementing a Vision Zero plan to eliminate pedestrian and bicyclist fatalities in the city. Having bought his own e-bike, Mehlinger has been biking more himself and getting a better sense of the various issues on his city’s streets.

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plan your life celebration and lasting remembrance in advance, you can design every detail of your own unique memorial and provide your loved ones with true peace of mind. Planning ahead protects your loved ones from unnecessary stress and financial burden, allowing them to focus on what will matter most at that time—you.

The benefits are immense.

When you plan your life celebration and lasting remembrance in advance, you can design every detail of your own unique memorial and provide your loved ones with true peace of mind. Planning ahead protects your loved ones from unnecessary stress and financial burden, allowing them to focus on what will matter most at that time—you.

“One of the biggest issues is traffic safety, actually. We had a six-week period last year in which four people were killed on our streets in traffic accidents involving pedestrians and cyclists,” said Mehlinger. “Some of my biggest issues in the campaign were housing and transportation.”

He acknowledged addressing the city’s street infrastructure won’t be easy.

“We are going to run into challenges inevitably. People don’t like losing their street parking, I get it,” Mehlinger said. “If we are going to meet our climate goals, and if we want it to be safe for kids to bike and walk to school, if that is going to be a reality in the city, things have to change.” t

When you plan your life celebration and lasting remembrance in advance, you can design every detail of your own unique memorial and provide your loved ones with true peace of mind. Planning ahead protects your loved ones from unnecessary stress and financial burden, allowing them to focus on what will matter most at that time—you.

Proudly

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Sunnyvale City Councilmember Richard Mehlinger

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SF to hold 3rd annual trans immigrant symposium

compiled by Cynthia Laird

Several organizations will co-host the third annual San Francisco Transgender Immigrant Symposium Friday, August 25, from 4 to 7 p.m. at Strut, the San Francisco AIDS Foundation’s health center in the heart of the LGBTQ neighborhood at 470 Castro Street.

ParivarBayArea, the LGBT Asylum Project, and the Center for Immigrant Protection are leading the symposium. A news release noted that the inclusive event is dedicated to fostering transgender intersectional unity while providing resources for trans immigrants.

Nationally recognized trans leader Bamby Salcedo, founder and chief executive officer of the Los Angeles-based TransLatin@Coaliton, will deliver the keynote address. Salcedo was instrumental in pushing for the creation of a Transgender Wellness Fund in California three years ago. While the bill signed by Governor Gavin Newsom initially had its funding stripped, Salcedo and advocates secured $13 million in 2021, as the Bay Area Reporter previously reported.

ParivarBayArea’s release stated that Salcedo’s wide-ranging activism “has brought visibility and given a voice to not only the trans community, but to countless others whose efforts focus on critical topics that include immigration, HIV, at-risk youth, LGBTQIA+ issues, incarceration, and more.”

Additionally the guest speaker will be Funda Diana, a Muslim trans woman, who will share her story and urge the inter-faith community to come together.

A performance by Pari var co-founder and drag art ist SNJV will entertain and weave together dance, drag, and drama, the release noted.

There will be a resource fair featuring organizations that provide support and services to trans LGBTQ immigrants and refugees.

Remarks are expected from gay San Francisco political leaders state Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) and District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman.

Dinner will be served as attendees enjoy a screening of “Belonging,” a 45-minute film that tells the story of Parivar President and CEO Anjali Rimi, a Kinnar trans immigrant woman, and her mother, as they embark on a journey of self-discovery and acceptance.

“We are honored to create a safe space for trans immigrants from the Middle East, Latinx, and global South to share their courageous journeys of living their authentic lives,” Rimi stated.

The symposium is being produced by Jupiter Peraza and Amit Patel. It is free to attend but registration is required. Trans-

gender, gender-nonconforming, and intersex individuals will be given priority in case of capacity constraints. To sign up, go to https://tinyurl.com/43zk2c2x.

East Bay Stonewall Dems to hold Pride breakfast

Oakland Pride is just a couple of weeks away, and the East Bay Stonewall Democratic Club will hold its annual Pride breakfast Sunday, September 10, from 8:30 to 10 a.m. at Fluid 510, 1544 Broadway in downtown Oakland.

This year’s theme is “Protect Trans Kids.” In May, the Human Rights Campaign reported that over 520 anti-LGBTQ+ bills have been introduced in state legislatures. Over 220 bills specifically target transgender and nonbinary people, the national LGBTQ rights organization noted.

These bills attempt “to strip transgender people, particularly trans youth, of their safety, their dignity, and the freedom to be themselves,” Stonewall club officials noted in a flyer promoting the breakfast.

Local elected officials are expected to be on hand, along with community leaders. The club stated that proceeds from the breakfast will benefit its political action committee and funds raised will help support candidates who protect trans kids.

The club will also be marching in the Oakland Pride parade that starts that day at 11 a.m. at Broadway and 14th streets and continues to 21st Street. Breakfast attendees are welcome to march in the club’s contingent, the flyer noted. The parade is free to the public.

Tickets for the Pride breakfast are $50 or $25 for students and seniors. To purchase tickets, go to https://tinyurl. com/4kw2y7jx.

Join the Sisters for bingo to mark Women’s Equality Day Hotel Zeppelin near San Francisco’s Union Square will be the site of a celebration of Women’s Equality Day that will feature charity bingo hosted by the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. The event takes place Saturday, August 26, from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. at 545 Post Street.

Members of the philanthropic drag nun group will guide classic bingo games with a fun twist as they honor the anniversary of women’s suffrage in the U.S., celebrate equal rights, and promote inclusivity, a news release noted. Attendees can expect a night of camaraderie and friendly competition with the opportunity to win fabulous prizes.

Funds raised from the evening will support the Sisters, which is a nonprofit organization dedicated to “spreading joy and expiating stigmatic guild,” as they state on their website. Every contribution made during the event will directly aid the Sisters’ work, according to the release.

Tickets are $25 and can be purchased at https://tinyurl.com/ b922kt45

ArtWalk SF in the Castro

The Castro Merchants Association has announced that its next Castro Art Mart will partner with ArtWalk SF Saturday, September 2, from noon to 5 p.m. in the LGBTQ neighborhood.

The merchants have regularly held ArtMart events, while ArtWalkSF highlights and supports the city’s artists, musicians, performers, and small businesses in various neighborhoods. Next month, the two will combine for a special afternoon in the Castro.

Neighborhood businesses are being encouraged to participate in the event by hosting an art show, live music, or having a table on the street. Local artists will also be selling their art or artisanal goods.

Cliff’s Variety co-owner Terry Asten Bennett, president of the merchants group, said that a portion of Noe Street near Market Street will be closed – the same area used for the weekly farmers market.

Organizers, which include ArtWalkSF, Creative IQ, ArtyhoodSF, and Avenue Greenlight, expect about 2,000 attendees.

Yale researcher looking for friends of gay SF man

Samuel Ernest, a doctoral student at Yale University, is working on gay theological responses to the AIDS crisis. One of the men he’s researching was Kevin Gordon. He lived on Castro Street in the 1970s through 1985, working as a therapist and also doing some activism with the Catholic Archdiocese of San Francisco on gay/lesbian topics, Ernest wrote in an email to the B.A.R.

Ernest wrote that he’s working with historian Lynne Gerber. He’s trying to find people who may have known Gordon while he lived in San Francisco and/or his friend, Tom O’Leary, who was a business owner in the Castro.

People can reach Ernest at samuel. ernest@yale.edu or (616) 558-2662.

St. Helena chamber issues call for muralists

The St. Helena Chamber of Commerce and the St. Helena Beautification Foundation Committee have announced a call for artists for the first mural project for the historic downtown shopping district in the North Bay city.

According to a news release, the two groups began discussing the project last year as a way to invigorate the shopping area with art installations or murals utilizing untouched buildings and spaces as a way to bring added energy to St. Helena.

The chamber and beautification foundation formed a Downtown Art Committee to help implement a strategic plan for the project, the release noted. That plan calls for three art projects in five years around the shopping district.

The first mural is slated for summer 2024 and is being funded by the chamber and beautification foundation. “We wholeheartedly embrace creativity, celebrate diversity, and foster an artistic spirit in St. Helena,” stated Amy Carabba, chief executive officer of the chamber of commerce.

The mural will be located on the south facing exterior of Wydown Hotel, located at 1424 Main Street.

Experienced artists across the West Coast are encouraged to submit their qualifications and complete the application by Friday, September 29. After that, two to four semifinalists will be invited to create a proposal and design for the project. A jury will then select one finalist to paint their concept next summer, weather permitting, the release stated.

Interested artists can find the request for qualifications and application at www.sthelenachamber.com/ sthelenaartmural. t

The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence will host a charity bingo game.

Courtesy the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence

A Yale researcher is looking for people who knew Kevin Gordon when he lived in the Castro in the 1970s and early 1980s.

Courtesy Samuel Ernest

TransLatin@Coalition CEO Bamby Salcedo, left, and trans woman Funda Diana will deliver remarks at the third annual Transgender Immigrant Symposium.

Courtesy the summit

Family of gay man killed in SF frustrated by delays

by John Ferrannini

After the criminal trial of two San Franciscans accused of killing a gay photographer during a 2017 robbery ended in a mistrial, his partner and sister have been further exasperated by the repeated delays in the effort to retry the defendants on murder charges.

“It’s always about delays,” Lorrie French, the 83-year-old sister of Ed French, told the Bay Area Reporter. “We’ve had delays and it looks like that’s the way it’s going to be again.”

A jury voted 10-2 on May 22 in favor of convicting Lamonte Mims, 25, of Patterson (Stanislaus County), and Fantasy Decuir, 25, of San Francisco of the murder Ed French, 71, of San Francisco. A unanimous verdict, however, is required for a criminal conviction.

Mims was convicted on a second count of second-degree robbery of Ed French, but the jury hung on the charge for Decuir, 10-2.

The charges stemmed from July 16, 2017, when Ed French was approached in the early morning hours by Mims and Decuir, according to prosecutors, as he was photographing the sunrise from Twin Peaks.

According to video evidence, Decuir is seen shooting Ed French after Mims took his camera.

Decuir and Mims were arrested several weeks later after a man and woman were robbed of their camera, wallet, credit cards, and both United States and European Union currency at St. Mary’s Cathedral Square.

Decuir and Mims were found guilty on the counts relating to these allegations, which are separate from the charges of homicide and robbery against Ed French.

Decuir and Mims remain in custody awaiting sentencing on their robbery convictions, which Paul DeMeester, Mims’ attorney, said

Obituaries >>

Jon Bush

December 3, 1967 – July 3, 2023

Jon died shortly after attending a twoday rave at the Area 15 immersive entertainment district in Las Vegas, Nevada. A friend of Jon’s spoke with him on the phone circa 4 a.m. and reported that he seemed fine then, but later his travel companions discovered he died when they checked on him at his hotel after he didn’t appear at a scheduled breakfast date with them. It seems Jon died peacefully in his sleep, sometime in the early morning.

Jon was an electronic music composer, a 20-plus year veteran and cofounder of the dance music collective Moontribe. Dance music culture was one of the great loves of his life.

Jon is survived by his father, Dick Bush; siblings Dan, Joseph, and Tim Bush, sister Amy Becker Reilly; and many other kin. Jon’s birth mother, Nancy, passed when Jon was 16 years old, and Jon’s stepmom Janet preceded him in death 12 years ago.

Jon is also survived by former romantic partners Daved Baker (San Francisco Bay Area) and Jesse Inostros (Los Angeles) and countless friends from many cities. Jon was very loved by a diverse constellation of creative folks that would make his ancestors proud.

Jon began his film work in the heady days of Club Uranus in San Francisco. Jon worked on the award-winning documentary “Sex Is” and many other projects of note, some of which are still posted on his YouTube site.

In 1998, Jon moved from San Francisco to Los Angeles, where he was fulfilling his dream as a filmmaker, producing and directing his films and writing screenplays. He also had a 20plus year career as an art direction coordinator for television and film. Jon’s

should happen after the defendants are tried again on the homicide charges, and Decuir again on the robbery charge.

As the B.A.R. previously reported, a hearing was to have taken place on the homicide charges July 7. However, Mark Iverson, Decuir’s attorney, told the B.A.R. he successfully had the hearing pushed back.

“I requested a continuance for several reasons,” Iverson stated in an email. “Two of the reasons were cited in open court: We lost one of the attorneys and we are waiting on some transcripts of the trial testimony. The other grounds for the continuance were contained in a sealed declaration that I filed with the court. Because of the confidential information in this declaration, it is sealed by court order and reviewed by the judge who then determines whether there is good cause for a continuance.”

Lorrie French was flustered by this, asking, “Why do they have the opportunity to give a sealed document?”

manifest destiny was to make the 2015 award-winning film “Club King” about Mario Diaz and the L.A. club scene. “Club King” is an essential documentation of the times, the people, and the culture.

Jon also found family in the Radical Faerie community and had a stalwart connection to the great outdoors.

Parker Fydo Klee will host a potluck memorial for Jon at his home in Novato, California, on Saturday, October 14, at 2 p.m. For the address contact Parkerk@gmail.com

Jon Bush, May 31, 1992. Photo: Daniel Nicoletta

Stephen Merrell Jull-Patterson

January 2, 1958 – June 30, 2023

Stephen Merrell Jull-Patterson was born in Chicago on January 2, 1958. He died at age 65 on July 30, 2023 in Sacramento, California from complications of neck cancer and pneumonia. He moved to New York City in 1981, where he performed with the First Amendment Improvisation Troupe and wrote and performed in his own one-man shows. In 2001, Stephen moved to Oceanside, California with his partner James DeMaiolo and their son Brandon DeMaiolo Patterson. Two years later, Stephen and Brandon moved to Alameda, California, adding to their family Stephen’s nieces and nephew TC Smith, Brittany Reed, and Marcus Reed-Quinn.

It was in Alameda that David JullJohnson joined the family, and Stephen and David married in 2005 and changed their last names to Jull-Patterson. The six-member family settled into life with their grandmothers, gathering each week for a boisterous and humor-filled Sunday dinner.

DeMeester told the B.A.R. on August 17 that the next hearing, scheduled for September 8, may also see delays, as Iverson will be going out of the country.

“So September 8 is going to be a status date to shake things out for future dates,” DeMeester said. “I think the Decuir defense people are looking at experts – they need to expand the number of experts. It came down to an unconsciousness defense, so I’m sure the prosecution will reach out to some experts and the Decuir folks will want to bolster their experts. I know Mark said he’d had a trip scheduled for mid-to-late September into October.”

Lorrie French and Brian Higginbotham, Ed French’s partner, had told the B.A.R. in the spring that the defense brought in a medical expert who stated that Decuir’s sickle-cell disease led her to think that “she was dreaming and didn’t realize she killed someone,” in Higginbotham’s words.

Iverson told the B.A.R. at that time that “the legal defense of unconsciousness we presented on behalf of Ms. Decuir involved the interaction of the extreme pain Ms. Decuir experienced during that time from her sickle-cell disease and the large amounts of opiates prescribed and administered to her to relieve her pain. Her ability to manage this medical crisis and her withdrawal from opiates was severely compromised by her intellectual disability.”

Iverson said no expert “testified that Ms. Decuir was unconscious at the time of the shooting of Mr. French because such opinions are not legally permitted.”

“Rather, the jury heard from a variety of doctors and nurses about what it is like to suffer from sicklecell disease generally and specifically the course the disease took with Ms. Decuir during the month

Stephen and David moved to Woodland, California in 2017 to take care of David’s mother. Stephen’s greatest joys remained, making his Ma laugh and spending time with David sharing their lives and their deep abiding love for each other.

Stephen is survived by his mother Katheryn L. Patterson; sister Tiffany Reed, husband David; brother-inlaw Michael Johnson; daughters TC (Valentina) and Brittany, son Marcus; daughter-of-the-heart Jazmin NeVille (Garrett); and grandchildren Josiah and Zariah Anderson. He was predeceased by his grandparents, father, parents-in-law, two brothers, a sister, and his beloved son Brandon. Information about the memorial service is available through W. F. Gormley & Sons Funeral Chapel in Sacramento.

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Obituaries should be emailed to obituaries@ebar.com. They must be no longer than 200 words. Please follow normal rules of capitalization and no poetry. We reserve the right to edit for style, clarity, grammar, and taste.

Please provide the name and contact information for the funeral home, crematory, or organ donation agency that handled final disposition of the body. This is for verification.

Please submit a photo of the deceased. Email a recent color jpg. Deadline for obituaries is Monday at 9 a.m., with the exception of special paid display ad obituaries, which must be submitted by Friday at 3 p.m. For information on paid obituaries, call (415) 861-5019.

Obituaries can be mailed to Bay Area Reporter, 44 Gough Street, Suite 302, San Francisco, CA 94103. All obituaries must include a contact name and daytime phone number. They must be submitted within a year of the death. There is no charge for these obituaries.

of July 2017 and how medically opiates were the only viable way to alleviate her severe pain throughout the month of July 2017,” he continued.

DeMeester called the court delays a “balancing act.” Higginbotham called it “outrageous,” as they have waited for justice for over six years.

“We waited five and a half years to get the first one [trial] going,” he said. “It’s mind-blowing. Use as

many adjectives as you’d like. His sister is 84 and she’s hoping she can see the end of this before she’s gone. All the emphasis is on the killers, not the victims, and his family and friends.”

The San Francisco District Attorney’s office did not immediately return a request for comment for this report. t

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Photographer Ed French was fatally shot in 2017.

Courtesy Stop Crime SF

<< Silicon Valley Pride

From page 2

Svoboda noted the anti-drag bills and other legislation proposed across the country, which inspired the Qmunity District’s Pride opening party, Cocktails & Queens, presented by the LGBTQ+ Council The Royals. Taking place Saturday, August 26, at 4:30 p.m., it honors and supports the South Bay’s drag queens with performances by The Only Tala, Diamond Dior, and Vendetta at the Silicon Valley Capital Club, a membersonly club that is opening to the public for the event, at 50 West San Fernando Street, Suite 1700 in San Jose. Tickets are $45.

“We really want to support our local performers,” he said. “We want to make sure that our drag queens this year are really supported and highlighted after various legislation … across the country.

“It’s something that can really rally community around,” Svoboda said.

The Qmunity District is also having a Pride parade viewing celebration at “Poppin’ with Pride,” Sunday, August 27, from 10 a.m. to noon on Post Street at First and Market streets. The event is for adults 21 years of age and over. Tickets are $30.

The Qmunity District hosts LGBTQ community events throughout the year. Project MORE Foundation is an organization that strives to improve the quality of life of the LGBTQ community by empowering inclusion within a

SFFD

From page 1

worker, identified as Jonathan Halverson, loomed over Jones and referred to him with female honorifics in what a news release from Alioto claimed was an attempt to “demean and humiliate” Jones.

“Mr. Halverson re-engaged with Mr. Jones and attempted to physically assault Mr. Jones by trying to grab his collar,” the complaint states.

Later on, Halverson would glare at Jones in the communal kitchen or stare at him, the complaint states. Jones believed that Halverson was stalking him.

Out in the World

From page 7

book a hotel room. Being out as a lesbian was definitely not happening. It was an eye-opening experience, she said.

Maintaining hope

The situation in Iran is light years from what it was when she was 3 years old in Tehran, she said talking about how the country celebrated its first unofficial same-sex wedding in 1978, according to Iran Wire (https:// iranwire.com/en/society/104840-thestory-of-bijan-saffari-and-irans-firstgay-marriage/). The wedding between Iranian gay architect and intellectual Bijan Saffari and his partner, Sohrab Mahvi, a designer for the Niavaran Palace, at Tehran’s famed Commodore Hotel, signals to Samira Mohyeddin how progressive the Middle Eastern country was before the revolution. It gives her hope for Iran’s future, and the future of Iranian women and LGBTQ people.

<< Rainbow flag

From page 4

Nicoletta told the B.A.R. that the flag has been stolen from the church several times, which he said could be a story in its own right.

“It’s a tribute to the endurance of the pastors, who keep on replacing the flag,” he said.

Beal said he solicited North Bay resident Cleve Jones, a longtime gay rights and AIDS activist who was a personal friend of Baker’s, to speak at the upcoming event. Jones agreed – on the condition the exhibit can also be displayed as part

compassionate and safe environment through cultural activities, outreach, education, and advocacy, according to the organization’s website.

Other Pride events

This is the fifth year that the South Bay’s Pride is hosting a variety of events (https://www.svpride.com/events) leading up to the weekend celebrations and parade.

There will be a Pride Movie Night

The complaint goes on to state that “despite being the target of harassment, Mr. Jones still sought out opportunities for advancement in the department because he is very passionate about the work.” Jones applied for the position of permanent Rescue Captain. Jones was not hired for the position, but an individual of lower rank on a list of eligible employees was.

In 2020, Jones reluctantly gave a presentation on how the fire department should treat trans patients.

“During his presentation, the topic of pronouns was addressed and a participant in the training (an individual seeking a Rescue Captain position) stated

“I have a lot of hope, otherwise, I can’t really carry on,” she said. “I really think that this generation will be the last of this government because if you want to find a more secular people in the Middle East, it’s in Iran.

“This generation is unlike any other,” Samira Mohyeddin continued, noting roughly 60% of Iran’s population is under the age of 30, educated, and they like America. “One of the chants they always do during the protests is, ‘They’re lying! They say our enemy is the U.S., our enemy is right here.’

“These kinds of chants rock this government to its core because it shows that all of the propaganda, none of it worked,” Samira Mohyeddin said.

The women aren’t standing down even after being arrested and sent to “reeducation centers,” forced to see psychologists, lashed, fined, or having their freedoms – such as cars – taken away, Samira Mohyeddin said. The Iranian government, she noted, is “doing everything they can” to subjugate the young women, but they are still

of the Russian River Pride festivities he is helping to plan the following weekend in Guerneville.

“This Flag in the Map project is so cool on a couple of levels,” Jones told the B.A.R. “First of all –as someone who was a dear, close friend of Gilbert Baker – it’s moving to see how his flag has inspired people, not just in North America and Europe, but all over, especially where LGBTQ+ people are under state attack, and in conflict zones. It’s really inspiring to see how his vision has inspired people across the globe.”

Added Jones: “When you look at attacks against the flag itself in our

Thursday, August 24, from 6:30 to 10 p.m. at the Pruneyard Cinemas in Campbell. Tickets are $60.

The LGBTQ+ Council hosts the sixth annual “Pride in the Penthouse,” a cocktail mix and mingle for community members to learn more about the council’s plans for the rest of the year. The free event August 24 is open to the public from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Silicon Valley Capital Club, 50 West San Fernando Street, Suite 1700 in San Jose. Club

openly that he would not refer to transgender people with their preferred pronoun because it was ‘bad grammar,’” the complaint states. “This comment was left to stand by the management team in the room and not challenged by anyone else. As a result of this unchallenged statement, Mr. Jones felt that there was open hostility to treating transgender individuals with dignity and respect.”

Jones worked for the SFFD as recently as March 2023, with the department posting on X (formerly Twitter) that it “is proud of Rescue Captain Ronnie Jones for being the winner of the Trans Artist Award.”

filling the streets protesting nearly a year after Amini’s death.

Samira Mohyeddin wouldn’t speculate when the B.A.R. asked how many of the women leading the protests she thought might be queer. Instead, she said, “I can tell you that during this movement, there have been unprecedented showings of queer people in the streets,” noting the rainbow flags and photos of people kissing others of the same sex in the streets.

“Every couple of years there are protests in Iran. Nothing like this,” Samira Mohyeddin said, stating that demonstrating as the young people are doing is a life-or-death situation.

“These are things that you would never see,” she said, pointing to the graffiti and explaining the writing on the wall calling for “queer trans liberation.”

Safe haven

“We’re very lucky,” Samira Mohyeddin said about her parent’s acceptance of their queer children, friends, and

own country – local jurisdictions trying to ban the display of the flag – it’s so cool the Gilbert foundation has teamed up with the ACLU to fight that.”

The Flag in the Map exhibit will be displayed Friday, October 6, from noon to 7:30 p.m. at the Napa Valley College Performing Arts Center, 2277 Napa Vallejo Highway. The exhibit will close with a special speaker event at 7:30 p.m. featuring Beal and Jones. Admission is free.

People can submit a photo for consideration at the exhibit’s website (https://gilbertbaker.com/flagin-the-map-submissions/).  t

members can RSVP via the club’s app, non-members can RSVP at https://tinyurl.com/48p6yn5r.

Silicon Valley Pride’s official prefestival kickoff event with disc jockeys Moscone and Lexapeel is Friday, August 25, from 7 p.m. to midnight at the Corinthian Grand Ballroom, 196 N. Third Street in San Jose. The party is free and open to the public.

California State Assemblymember Ash Kalra (D-San Jose) will hold an Assembly District 25 Pride celebration cohosted by Project MORE Foundation and the Qmunity District August 25 from 5:30 to 7 p.m. For more information, contact Tuan.Nguyen@asm.ca.gov.

A Night Festival takes place Saturday, August 26, from 6 to 11 p.m. at Plaza de Cesar Chavez Park. Entertainer Robin S. (“Show Me Love”) will headline the main stage, along with performances by Tryn on the Liberation stage.

Cocktails & Queens takes place the same evening, hosted by Diamond Dior and The Only Tala with a performance by Vendetta. It’s from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. at the Century Club. Tickets $45 per person. Club members can RSVP via the club’s app, non-members can RSVP at https://tinyurl.com/bdfpp6u8

People can continue celebrating Pride Sunday at the Qmunity After Party, an outdoor block party with disc jockeys, go-go dancers, and more happening after the Pride celebrations. The party is free to the public to attend.

Other cases

Alioto is also representing Keith Baraka, a gay Black San Francisco firefighter who is suing the city on allegations of discrimination, as the B.A.R. previously reported. Alioto told the B.A.R. that the case is headed to trial “in March or April 2024.”

In that complaint, Baraka said he was subject to anti-LGBTQ slurs, among other actions, and was adversely affected by racism and homophobia in the department.

The third case involves Nicol Juratovac, a lesbian who is an assistant chief in the department and alleged discrimination.

partners. “At the end of the day, my mom just wanted us to be happy. The door was always open to whoever we were going out with to come home.”

Although, it took time for her and her mother to accept that she wasn’t the only gay person in the family.

Samira Mohyeddin laughs about her brother, Amir Mohyeddin, coming out to the family. No one believed him at first. However, a gay friend of her sister, Salome Mohyeddin, knew when the brother was only 10. “You know, your brother’s gay,” she said he told them.

The family brushed it off because Amir Mohyeddin, now 42, didn’t fit the stereotype and they thought how could there be two queer siblings in the same house. Years later the friend was proved right.

Samira Mohyeddin started taking Amir Mohyeddin out with her to gay events. After her younger brother graduated from culinary school, the siblings plotted to open a restaurant.

Banu has served as a safe space for queer Iranians to be themselves from

A family affair

The Pride festival also features an expanded Family Garden with family-friendly events this year.

“Silicon Valley Pride has always been unique in that we are a familyfriendly event on mainly Sunday,” Altamirano  said. “We’ve always prided ourselves in really being able to welcome families and kind of expand that to a Pride for everyone, including those that have young children.”

Partnering with Cosplay with Pride and the San Jose Public Library, the Pride festival has been able to create an array of activities for kids and their queer parents.

“I don’t want to give away all our secrets, but we’re definitely going to have stuff for the family this year,” Altamirano said.

Additionally, there will be live visual art exhibitions, a cocktail lounge, food trucks, and many vendors for Pridegoers to peruse.

The parade starts Sunday, August 27, at 10 a.m. at Julian and Market streets. The parade will march down Market Street into the festival at Plaza de Cesar Chavez. The festival runs from noon to 6 p.m. Tickets are $5 a day and are available at the gate. t

For more information, go to svpride.com.

In her complaint, Juratovac claimed she wanted to change the culture at the SFFD. Instead, she was retaliated against after exposing cheating on promotion exams, safety violations, and racism in the department — as well as for blowing the whistle on what her attorney described as a “drunken” party at a fire station in Noe Valley in 2017.

A spokesperson for Cannata O’Toole Fickes and Olson, the law firm representing her, told the B.A.R. August 16 that Juratovac’s case is in a pre-trial mandatory settlement conference as it moves forward to a potential trial. t

day one. They can bring first dates, hold hands and kiss, hang out with friends, and bring their family to meet their partners for the first time.

Over the years, they’ve helped five LGBTQ Iranians out of the many Iranian refugees who have worked at the restaurant, Samira Mohyeddin said. Her family has also worked on fundraising efforts with Rainbow Railroad and the Metropolitan Community Church , which sponsor refugees, she added.

“This city specifically, Toronto, is really thought of as a haven for queer Iranians,” she said, many of whom have been stuck as refugees for years in Turkey.

The queer Iranian population has grown so large in Toronto that there were an estimated 300 people in Toronto Pride’s Iranian contingent this year, she added. t

Got international LGBTQ news tips? Call or send them to Heather Cassell at WhatsApp/Signal: 415517-7239, or oitwnews@gmail.com

Singer, songwriter, and performer Frenchie Davis will headline Silicon Valley Pride.

Courtesy Frenchie Davis

Gilbert Baker Foundation President Charley Beal, left, stands with trans flag creator Monica Helms at the High Line Nine Gallery in New York City.

Courtesy Charley Beal

by Brian Bromberger

After almost universal critical acclaim and a staggeringly successful global audience, “Heartstopper” was guaranteed a second season on Netflix. With testimonies on how the series helped young people come out or their parents how to support their queer child, “Heartstopper” became a TV cultural moment.

In light of such incredible reception, the pressure to follow up must have been intense, especially since TV history is littered with series that had stunning debuts and then hit a slump in their sophomore season.

However, creator/writer Alice Oseman has defied the odds and season 2 is a winner. It’s a bit different from last year, less whimsical yet still effervescent, but it feels like an evolution with the beloved characters changing and growing, older and wiser. There’s a willingness to tackle new

ideas and themes, while somehow retaining the winsome qualities that made “Heartstopper” perhaps TV’s best gay teen romance ever.

Catching up

Briefly, season 1, based on Oseman’s graphic novel, saw two students at the all-boys Truham Grammar School in England, Charlie Spring (Joe Locke), harassed and bullied, forced to come out and Nick Nelson (Kit O’Connor), presumably straight rugby player, who meet and are attracted to each other.

A dark shadow was cast by Charlie’s first clandestine relationship with closeted Ben (Sebastian Croft), who had refused to acknowledge him at school, fearful of being outed and resented Nick taking his place. Charlie and Nick had a close support system with Charlie’s best friend film buff Tao (William Gao), his close confidante artist transgender Elle (Yasmin Finney), as well as lesbian musical couple Tara (Corinna Brown) and Darcy (Kizzy Edgell), and quiet, bookish Isaac (Tobie Donovan).

Season 1 resonated with so many viewers because while it dealt realistically with issues teens faced, it did so through an optimistic hopeful lens. Previous gay teen stories were usually conflict-based and melodramatic, willing to shock and titillate. Being gay has its challenges but there’s joy to be found, so even if there are difficulties, in the end everything will be okay.

The relationship between Charlie and Nick is still central, beginning with the day after Nick came out to his mother (the incomparable Olivia Coleman) when he shares the news with Charlie and we have a montage of the couple kissing each other throughout the summer enjoying the bliss of their blossoming romance.

While last year focused on Charlie becoming comfortable with his gay identity and whether or not to pursue romance with seemingly unattainable Nick, this season centers on Nick, who isn’t sure he’s ready or comfortable to reveal his new identity to the rest of the school, especially his rugby teammates.

Coming out

In the hiatus, actor Kit O’Connor, due to fan pressure on social media, was forced to come out as bisexual after holding hands with a co-starring actress from an indie film in which he was starring. Joe Locke had already come out as gay last year. So cleverly Oseman has Charlie –after his trauma of being outed– exhibiting great patience with Nick that he come out on his own terms in his own time, despite Charlie’s desire to be open about their relationship.

Nick’s journey will be circuitous with some setbacks, including having to deal with his straight, jerky older university brother David who teases him mercilessly and his absent divorced estranged father. The running joke of the season, a sly commentary on real life events, is when someone will say to him.

“You’re gay?,” Nick will reply, “I’m bi, actually.” The series subtly relays how distressing it can be for queer people forced to name themselves before they understand who they are themselves.

Oakland-based drag king Papi Churro regularly performs in The Edge’s The Monster Show, has taken the stage many times at Oasis and was a contestant in San Francisco’s annual Drag King Contest. But it will be his first time performing at Riot Party, and he’s excited about the opportunity.

“I’m just a regular hottie that dresses up like a boy and is sexy, but at the same time very aware of political issues that affect our community,” he said about his drag in a phone interview.

Papi Churro, who is Two-Spirit, infuses cultural references in his drag performances to educate, inspire and connect with others. He appreciates living in an area that celebrates his Indigenous heritage and identity.

He shared, “The Bay Area has been really good to me in regards to that, featuring a lot of my work, asking me to come and perform, understanding that Two-Spirit people are a presence here. We’re celebrated, which I really appreciate.”

by J.L. Odom

It’s Transgender History Month in San Francisco, 31 days of trans remembrance, joy and pride in a city home to the first nationally recognized Transgender District and the location of the 1966 Compton’s Cafeteria riot.

San Francisco is also the birthplace of the transcentering Riot Party, which returns for its third year on August 27 in celebration of the 57th anniversary of the riot. Created by Transgender District founder and former executive director Aria Sa’id, the festival gives center stage to trans, gender nonconforming and queer performers.

“She [Sa’id] thought that this event would be a great way for us to showcase trans artists and talent, and we’re just trying to continue that,” explained the Transgender District’s executive associate Aubrey Davis in a phone interview with the Bay Area Reporter.

But while Riot Party 2022 brought in performers from throughout the U.S., the 2023 lineup draws strictly from the Bay Area.

Said Davis, a trans woman, “This year, since we have new management and new executive directors, we’re trying to aim it more toward the local community.”

She added, “Of course, we care about all of our organizations outside of San Francisco, and we want to make sure that they are also getting noticed and have more opportunities like we are getting here.

We’re doing things outside of the festival to create that with them.”

Sa’id had announced her departure as ED in April 2023; she exited in August 2023. In an August 1 media release, the Transgender District’s Board of Directors announced Breonna McCree and Carlo Gomez Arteaga as the nonprofit’s new co-executive directors. With new leadership comes a different approach to the Riot Party as well as a different venue, moving from The Hibernia on Jones Street to Kapwa Gardens on Mission Street.

“We’re trying to focus more on community, so that’s why we have all the local drag queen and king performances,” Davis shared. “We want to make sure that they’re showcased out here and getting noticed, making it more like a kind of backyard barbecue moment for the community.”

On Aug. 27, Papi Churro will take the same stage as Peaches Christ and other standout drag royals including SF Drag King of the Year 2022 Helixir; self-described Brazilian Bombshell Barbie Melanie Sparks; trans designer Kipper Snacks; Latinx and nonbinary drag queen Per Sia of “Drag Story Hour” and Mia Munro, with a steady stream of music courtesy of DJ Kkingboo.

These performers, representative of the diversity within the Bay Area LGBTQ community, have what it takes to get a crowd cheering, dancing and celebrating trans history in the trans-supportive present. t

Riot Party, August 27, 12pm–5pm at Kapwa Gardens, 967 Mission St. www. riotpartysf.com

Joe Locke and Kit O’Connor in ‘Heartstopper’

The Transgender District’s executive associate Aubrey Davis

Castro Art Walk

by J.L. Odom

Astrong indication of the Castro district’s turnaround and resurgence is the Castro Art Walk. Held the first Friday of every month, the self-guided walking tour steers attendees to neighborhood art galleries, art-focused spaces and other small businesses on Market, Castro and Noe Streets and at adjacent locations.

“The pandemic really kind of gutted the Castro, and a lot of businesses closed,” said Steffan Schlarb, gallery owner of the Castro’s Schlomer Haus. “By no means has it completely reversed, but it’s trending in the right direction, which I think is important and a response to the fact that more people are deciding to open up businesses here.”

Thanks in large part to the Castro LGBTQ Cultural District’s awarding of over $100,000 worth of grant money to small businesses, vacant and boarded storefronts were brought back to life, with name signs, fresh coats of paint and window displays, their insides renovated and stylized. Several of these revitalized and newly opened establishments, such as Schlomer Haus and fellow Market Street gallery Art House SF, are now actively participating in the art walk.

“Art is appreciated a lot more in person, so I decided to open this spot,” said Art House SF owner Max Khusid, who opened his gallery door to the public in April 2021. The gallery showcases diverse, original art from around the world.

TIME TO DRAW THE LINE?

Both Khusid and Schlarb are on the current Castro Art Walk team of organizers along with three other Castro gallery owners: Kalie Capadona of 2358 MRKT; Mike Gonzalez of MAG Galleries; and Joseph Titi of The Artist’s Gallery. All five galleries routinely show exhibits for each of the monthly art walks.

“We try to make sure that there is that core group of galleries so that it’s very much gallery-forward,” said Schlarb. Schlarb, who identifies as a queer man, has been involved in the Castro Art Walk committee for about four months. Schlomer Haus, a contemporary gallery he co-owns with husband Brandon Romero, showcases queer, underrepresented and emerging artists.

“I think the idea behind the art walk is really to draw attention to the Castro as a kind of cultural destination and, specifically, as an arts district,” Schlarb shared.

Attendance-wise, the Castro Art Walk numbers have been promising, indicating an uptick in visitors per art walk. Khusid shared that the April walk brought out 30-40 people, with that total increasing each month.

“We’ve been really pleased,” Schlarb shared. “People are coming from other neighborhoods and kind of cluing in that it’s happening and that this is a destination. That’s also important for all of us that are involved. We want to show that this is a vibrant, active neighborhood.”

Since May 2023, the art walk has consistently drawn a three-digit crowd. Notably, around 600 people attended the most recent one, which took place on August 4. These numbers serve as proof of growth but also as reassurance.

Said Khusid, “We’ve had quite a good boost. It tells me people wanted that kind of event. I think everyone wants to get back to real life after the pandemic.”

The art walk gets people outdoors and gives small businesses the opportunity to sell artwork, merchandise and other services in-person, connecting with local buyers face-to-face. At the same time, it exists in defiance of the unfavorable San Francisco narratives that have infiltrated the media.

As Schlarb noted, “There’s a feeling in a lot of national news media that maybe San Francisco got too big for its britches during the tech boom and that there was

Heartstopper

From page 15

Nick and Charlie face a stumbling block when Charlie’s parents forbid the couple from spending time together until the failing Charlie passes his school exams. Because Nick isn’t out at school they have to maintain a low profile there. They must also decide if they are ready to have sex together, especially after Charlie gets a very public hickey on his neck from Nick.

Always have Paris

Several narrative arcs come to a head in the high point of the season with three episodes situated in Paris during a school trip. We’re treated to stunning views of the kids racing up the Eiffel Tower stairs and touring The Louvre, being chaperoned by two teachers, the lovable gay Mr. Ajayi and stern new science teacher Mr. Farouk, who may or may not have their own dalliance.

Nick will reunite with his father, who only seems interested in his rugbyplaying. Nick debates how to introduce Charlie to him. Paris has never looked more shimmering or romantic, so beautifully shot, you know why it’s called the City of Light. All the issues facing the characters will culminate in the final episode occurring at the Prom where whatever hiccups arisen are mostly resolved, or not!

Like season 1, Nick and Charlie’s romance is largely a chaste one, though there are teasing intimate scenes of intense kissing leading audiences to think this might be the moment, but… I won’t spoil it for you, though their chemistry remains sweet and wholesome. What the series executes so well is the com-

a reckoning that needed to happen to kind of put us back in our place.”

He specifically referred to The New York Times’ “San Francisco’s Art Market Struggles in the Shadow of Los Angeles” story, published in August 2022, which described the city’s art scene as struggling and suffering.

“What a lot of those kinds of articles and pieces miss is that for an art scene to be vibrant, the community needs to be involved in it and support it. In a lot of the galleries –the smaller galleries– the work reflects the community,” he added.

The galleries participating in Castro Art Walk show the work of a diverse array of artists, changing out exhibits each month or every two months.

As Khusid noted, “One thing I love about our Castro Art Walk event is how

plexity of that transition to young adulthood and how to sort out contradictory feelings, yet the characters are allowed to be teens with both its fun and awkwardness.

Intense emotions

Season 2 retains the graphic designs conveying the character’s intense emotions, such as whenever Tao touches Elle electric sparks fly or lots of hearts and stars flutter whenever Nick and Charlie are kissing. Fortunately, this cutesy, at times hokey, gimmick is not as prevalent this season, perhaps a sign of the character’s maturity. Another highlight is the series message that while romantic love is important, so is friendship.

What is also clear is that storms lie ahead for some of the characters, especially Nick and Charlie, with hints of an eating disorder, self-harm, and the PTSD of being bullied, but one suspects even with darker themes on the horizon, whatever happens will be dealt with compassionately and with an appropriate level of levity, retaining the series’ heartwarming qualities but not at the

we came together. I think it’s rare when five art galleries cooperate. We’re all businesses, but we put our competitive side aside and we meet every month to discuss what we can do better about this event.”

The Castro Art Walk team is on a mission to support and give a platform to not only local businesses but to local artists as well, with the shared aim for the art walk to continue to expand its reach, for the Castro neighborhood and community to thrive—and for people to be inspired.

Said Schlarb, “There’s a lot more here culturally, and I think people are becoming more aware of that.” t

(Read the full article on www.ebar.com.)

www.castroartwalk.com

expense of wearing rose-colored glasses.

“Heartstopper” still remains the dreamy love story we all wish we had encountered as queer teens, but which we can vicariously experience through these characters. All the actors are firstrate, but special commendation goes to O’Connor, who artfully displays the tension of knowing who you are, but not yet having the courage to make that announcement to the rest of the world.

I have only one minor quibble. While she has a bit more screen time this season, the fantastic Olivia Coleman has little to do, which seems like the waste of a brilliant resource.

It’s the ordinariness, the quiet moments –not the sensationalism characteristic of so many other queer teen tales– that makes the series so revolutionary. With all the hate facing the LGBTQ community, “Heartstopper’s” uplift and buoyancy, even euphoria, is a welcome and healing antidote. We need its sense of wonder and cheerfulness. t www.netflix.com

Olivia Coleman and Kit O’Connor in ‘Heartstopper’

Jason Mecier’s Lil Naz X portrait and Nat Saia’s rainbow flag fabric quilt “Cinched Margins” at Schlomer Haus Gallery.

JL Odom

Art House SF owner Max Khusid with works by Tsholo Montong JL Odom

Happy ends & beginnings

by Victoria A. Brownworth

If you need a chaser to Amazon Prime’s hot little gay rom-com movie, “Red, White & Royal Blue” with Taylor Zakhar Perez as Alex, son of the U.S. president and Nicholas Galitzine as Prince Henry, there’s more to come, that was, thankfully, in the works before the writer’s strike that has dragged on since May 4, leaving us largely in a world of game shows and reality series.

Let’s catch up with a few new gay romance shows.

“Notes of Autumn,” starring Ashley Williams, Luke Macfarlane, Marcus Rosner, and Peter Porte, will premiere as part of Hallmark Channel’s annual Fall into Love programming event on Saturday, September 16. Singer-songwriter and actress Debbie Gibson serves as an executive producer. Troy Scott directed from a script by Rick Garman.

Ellie (Williams) is a fun-loving, classically trained pianist living in the city who gave up on her passion long ago and now works for a hotel. Her best friend Leo (Macfarlane) lives in the rustic outskirts of British Columbia. Leo’s a famous author with writer’s block who can’t seem to finish another installment in his highly popular book series. (We can relate!)

Realizing they both need a change of scenery as the chilly days of autumn settle in, they decide to swap places, only to find themselves completely lost in new surroundings.

Ellie gets tangled up in helping Sam (Rosner), Leo’s neighbor, put together a musical performance for a local fundraiser and comes to terms with why she quit music years ago. Leo strikes up a friendship with Ellie’s good friend Matt (Porte) and opens himself up to writing something different that really inspires him.

If you guessed romance is in the wings for both Ellie and Leo, you guessed right.

Out gay actor Macfarlane starred in “Bros” on the big screen and in the Hallmark Channel movie “A Magical Christmas Village.” He also played Charlie on the Apple TV+ series “Platonic.” Porte has guest starred on “Uncoupled’’ and “NCIS,” and also played Dimitri Von Leuschner on “Days of Our Lives” and Ricky Williams on “The Young and the Restless.”

On June 4, 2023, Macfarlane and his partner, alpine skier Hig Roberts, welcomed their first child together.

“Tess Eleanor Macfarlane, born June 4th 2023,” Macfarlane wrote in his Instagram post, sharing the name of his daughter to his friends and followers.

“We started life with some hectic days and received world-class care. On Father’s Day we got to take her home. Her Dads can’t wait to introduce her to all the remarkable people and the beautiful world we live in.”

Fellow Travelers

The trailer for Showtime’s upcoming historical miniseries “Fellow Travelers” is amazingly hot and will have you anx-

Provocative MovingUnpredictable

Among the characters in this new collection of stories, we meet a men‘s sexual abuse therapy group; one of its members and his aging father; a 96-year old gay writer confronting a young queer interviewer; a little boy terrified of his Barbies at night; a retired man at a Las Vegas roulette table with a drunken college student; a teenager in 1971 introduced to gay life by watching The Boys in the Band. Some find peace within the warring elements of themselves, some do not. But all are embraced with insight and compassion.

AVAILABLE AT

Rufus Byrd, Performance Artist

& rattlinggoodyarns.com

1:33 PM

iously awaiting the drop, which is still weeks away, but we wanted to get you pumped for it.

Based on the 2007 novel by Thomas Mallon, the series stars perennial out gay hottie Matt Bomer and out gay actor Jonathan Bailey. The focal point is the decades-long romance between two men who first meet during the height of McCarthyism in the 1950s.

Showtime says: “After a chance encounter in Washington D.C. in the 1950s, Hawkins Fuller (Bomer) and Timothy Laughlin (Bailey) start a volatile romance that spans the Vietnam War protests of the 1960s, the drug-fueled disco hedonism of the 1970s and the AIDS crisis of the 1980s, while facing obstacles in the world and in themselves.”

Save up to buy Showtime, kids. You do not want to miss this one.

GMA goes gayer

“Good Morning America” co-anchor Robin Roberts is the most visible Black lesbian on TV and one of the most beloved. After 18 years of a half-closeted love affair with her partner Amber Laign, Roberts is finally tying the knot in September.

Yes, wedding bells are ringing for the couple who met on a blind date in 2005 and fell in love. They have not only been through the vicissitudes of the closet and coming out very publicly, but both women have gone through life-altering and nearly life-ending cancer experi-

ences.

Roberts’ experience with first breast cancer and then a harrowing bone marrow transplant she documented on “GMA” led to her acknowledging Laign publicly and coming out in 2013. Now it seems Laign’s recent very tough battle with breast cancer has propelled the couple into “What on earth are we wait ing for?” nuptials.

We wrote over and over in this col umn in the aughts that Roberts should come out. The trajectory of Roberts’ and Laign’s relationship from hidden secret to wedding shower on the show is in many respects the history of marriage equality in the U.S. It’s also a story of how much more national acceptance of same-sex couples there is than there was two decades ago.

Now it’s “Road to the Ring” on “GMA” which kicked off with a big wedding shower with the women’s friends and family on the August 16 show. Niecy Nash Betts, who herself came out re cently and married her beautiful butch partner Jessica, was cheerleading the party.

The next day Roberts shared a photo of the couple from the party on Insta gram, writing, “Sweet Amber & I had so much fun yesterday! We appreciated @goodmorningamerica fam throwing us a wonderful party and all the well wishes we received truly touched us… we thank you! It was good to be by each other’s side because this morn we’re both headed in different directions to our respective bachelorette parties close friends are hosting for us. Happy Place here I come!”t

Let’s

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8/21/23

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Jonathan Bailey and Matt Bomer in ‘Fellow Travelers’ Showtime

Robin Roberts and Amber Laign on GMA

ABC/Michael LeBrecht II

‘San Francisco Cowboy’ indie film by local director to

by David-Elijah Nahmod

Hassan Zee is a busy guy. The Pakistani native, who has lived in SOMA for twenty-two years, is both a medical doctor and a film director. So far he has made a half-dozen feature films, most of which can be viewed for free at Tubi TV. On August 26 his new film “San Francisco Cowboy” will have an old-fashioned red carpet premiere at the Balboa Theater in which Zee and the film’s stars will be in attendance. Though the premiere is already sold out there will be two other opportunities for the public to see it. Tickets are still available to see the film on August 27 and 28, with Zee present for those screenings as well.

“San Francisco Cowboy” tells a simple tale. It follows the adventures of Josh (Jimmy Darling), a 21-yearold cowboy from Nevada who comes to San Francisco in search of his long estranged mother, who until recently he had thought was dead. In the city he meets Murphy (Dano Jason), who gives Josh a place to stay and offers to help him find his mom. Murphy has a bit of an addictive personality. Unable to accept the fact that he is gay, Murphy appears to be falling in love with Josh. Josh also meets Paris (Bunny Stewart), a friendly prostitute who is harboring a secret that will turn Josh’s world upside down.

Local looks

“By living in downtown San Francisco for so long, I have met so many characters,” Zee said in an interview with the Bay Area Reporter. “There are so many broken people in this city. I can see pain in their eyes. So many people have lost their homes, their jobs and their loved ones. There are so many stories everywhere. People used to come from all over the world because San Francisco became the hub

of a multicultural community full of LGBT people who are promoters and lovers of art with a distinct voice.”

The film was shot in and around the city and features many highly recognizable and iconic neighborhoods, such as North Beach and Chinatown.

“I wanted to show the audience that San Francisco is not just the Golden Gate Bridge and Fisherman’s Wharf but there is so much more to see in this town,” said Zee. “There are so many historical bars and pubs like Edinburgh Castle on Geary Street and The Powerhouse on Folsom Street. These places are cultural hubs for people of different sexual orientations to meet and get to know other people. I love living here in San Francisco and the characters which I met here shaped up this story in my mind and wanted me to tell this story.”

Zee seems to have been destined to be a filmmaker. He recalls his childhood in Pakistan growing up with a strict disciplinarian of a father who would not allow him to watch television. Whenever he was able to catch a movie on TV at a friend’s or neighbor’s house he would go home, shut his bedroom door and mimic all the characters. While he was in college studying to be a doctor he would go to a local radio station where he would participate in children’s programming and tell stories.

“There I learned how to write scripts and produce them,” he said. He became a doctor when he was 26 years old, working in a burn unit where women who showed interest in men before marriage were burned by their fathers or brothers.

“These women were dying in my hands and I promised to do something about these voiceless women,” Zee said. “I was very sensitive to the transgenders who had no jobs in my country and had to beg all their life to

premiere at Balboa Theater

make a living. They are human beings just like anybody else. I thought a lot while going to bed at night. I wanted to go to the USA to become a filmmaker and put all these human stories, sufferings, imaginations and dreams on the big screen for the world to see.” And now, six films later, he is ready for his close-up at the Balboa. Darling, Stewart and Jason will all be there on the 26th, along with Zee himself. Everyone will be dressed up, there will be a Q & A with the cast, crew and director, and wine will be served.

“This will be a memorable evening,” said Zee. “We are lining up screenings at the Great Star Theater, the Savoy Tivoli in North Beach, and other theaters. It will be available online at some point next year.” t

‘San Francisco Cowboy,’ Aug. 26 (sold out) & 27, 5pm; Aug. 28, 7pm. $18. Balboa Theater, 3630 Balboa St. www.balboamovies.com

Director Hassan Zee

Bunny Stewart and Jimmy Darling in a scene from ‘San Francisco Cowboy’ -

Leon Acord’s ‘Expletives Not Deleted’

by Laura Moreno

The creator and star of the hit series “Old Dogs & New Tricks,” and author of the very entertaining book “Sub-lebrity: The Queer Life of a Show-Biz Footnote,” Leon Acord is now wowing fans with his new book, “Expletives Not Deleted.”

For readers who could use a fresh new perspective on some of today’s most important topics, this book delivers. It’s an easy, relaxing read despite the serious subject matter. The book, infused with humor, showcases Leon Acord’s razor-sharp wit.

“Expletives Not Deleted” is filled with good old-fashioned horse sense. Acord, who grew up on a farm in Indiana and moved to San Francisco and then Los Angeles, has the instincts of a natural philosopher in that he knows the right questions to ask to understand complex and multi-faceted issues.

With chapters like “Unsolicited Parenting from a Childless Know It All,” “Fuck Facebook” and “Am I a ‘They’?” Acord effortlessly cuts through the chatter to give the reader lines of real wisdom. A good example is his pronouncements on Facebook, a company whose business model actually requires pushing our buttons and knowingly turning Americans against one another to keep us addicted to Facebook. Studies show that people who use social media are demonstrably more depressed than those who don’t.

But how to avoid sounding like a “grumpy old queen” when he’s old enough to remember when life in the USA functioned more smoothly, back before we digitized our lives?

Yes, there have always been problems. Harriet Beecher Stowe’s “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” was the first book to be banned in the US (in the South before the Civil War), Acord writes. And people are again becoming afraid of the ideas contained in books, unfortunately. Of the 10 most banned books in 2019, eight are LGBTQ books, and the other two are also by women, “The Handmaid’s Tale” and “Harry Potter.”

On bullying, Acord offers insight from his own personal experience. In retrospect, it gave him a thick skin and a talent for recognizing that it was more about them than him.

He writes, “I didn’t have to follow all the rules society imposes on straight guys... I wondered whether it was possible these bullies were actually in a subconscious way envious that I could so easily opt out of the gender games in which they were stuck.”

Gays are free to “dress imaginatively” and live as they want to live, while straight men are expected to pretty much continue to live out the curse of Adam, laboring to support a wife and have kids, whether he wants them or not, a prospect that seems less and less desirable, all things considered, so “save your pity for straight men.”

Wryly, Acord adds, but things are getting better for straight men. How does he know? Because his “gaydar no longer works” and “many straight dudes seem totally gay to me now”!

Useful bonus gifts to the reader

“Expletives Not Deleted” also includes useful sections such as “An Essential Film-Viewing Guide for Today’s Young Gay Male,” a list of 20 seminal films made before the year 2000. Listed chronologically, he begins with Hitchcock’s “Rope” (1948) and “All About Eve” (1950), culminating in “Serial Mom” (1994) and “First Wives Club” (1996), with “The Celluloid Closet” (1995) thrown in to boot.

He also offers practical advice for aspiring actors hoping to break into the constantly changing game

in Hollywood, “an industry I barely recognize after the pandemic,” Acord writes.

For one, TV is now at long last more respected than the feature film industry. It has far greater possibilities and better suits the 24/7 pace of media today. Therefore, narrowcasting to “small, loyal audiences” is now just as “impressive to advertisers as casual large audiences.”

Oddly, the vibrant independent film scene of the 1990s has vanished, or been disappeared, by economics. You might be able to sell your film, but don’t expect to recoup production costs.

But it is harder than ever to break in as new talent. It’s no longer enough to be an actor; now they want “influencers” who can bring in viewers.

Actors are now expected to have their own fully equipped in-house studios to record their own auditions and submit them electronically. As with many other areas of life that have been similarly digitized, no doubt “it does a disservice to casting directors as well.”

Regarding acing auditions (in this case, in-person auditions, before they faded into extinction), Bryan Cranston before he was famous, gave Leon Acord the best advice ever.

“He said he never saw them as job interviews. Instead of handwringing... he focused on the actual work... and appreciated and relished the opportunity to perform. That’s it.” t

“Expletives Not Deleted” by Leon Acord. paperback, $11.99 www.leonacord.com

Author Leon Acord