December 8, 2022 edition of the Bay Area Reporter

Queer detainee granted bond by immigration judge

by Cynthia Laird

Salesh Prasad, a queer and bi man in Im migration and Customs Enforce ment detention, was granted bond by an immigration judge December 5 after a 90-minute hearing at an immigration court in Van Nuys, California.

Judge Kevin Riley granted bond in the amount of $5,000 and said that he did not hear “clear and convincing evi dence” that Prasad was a flight risk or posed a risk to the commu nity, as Trent Fucci, an attorney for the U.S. De partment of Homeland Security, had argued.

Stewart becomes 1st lesbian presiding California appellate court justice

by Matthew S. Bajko

Justice Therese Stewart of San Francisco has broken through another pink judicial ceil ing with her confirmation as the first lesbian presiding justice on a California appellate court. She doubles the number of out justices presid ing over a division of one of the state’s six ap pellate courts.

A judicial review body confirmed Stewart as presiding justice of the 1st District Court of Appeal’s Division Two after hearing testimony from the justice and several witnesses Novem ber 30. Governor Gavin Newsom had nomi nated Stewart for the post in October.

A UC Berkeley School of Law graduate, Stewart succeeds retired presiding justice J. Anthony Kline, who sat by her during the hearing Wednesday and presided over her enrobing ceremony. Having noted he is often told he is problematic for speaking too fast, Kline joked that Stewart was “the problem this time” after she flubbed a line of her ju dicial oath, requiring Kline to repeat it again for her.

“I am the problem,” quipped Stewart, 65, a registered Democrat.

Once she had completed her oath of of

fice, Kline asked Stewart if he could “kiss the bride.” She joyfully replied to her mentor and good friend, “You may,” and he gave her a con gratulatory kiss.

“I am very honored to be appointed,” said Stewart, who thanked the review panel and her colleagues for their support. Of Kline, she added, “His shoes, his metaphorical

shoes anyway, will be very hard to fill. I will do my very best to do it.”

Stewart, whose father’s name is embroidered inside her robe, thanked her family for their sup port over the years, from her parents and step mother to her siblings, as well as her wife and partner of 30 years, Carole Scagnetti, and their daughter, Natasha, who “both enrich my life.” See page 12 >>

Padilla touts marriage act in SF visit; officiates vow renewal ceremony

by Cynthia Laird

iping away tears from her eyes, Tes sa Chavez recited a renewal of her wedding vows to spouse Cyn Wang during a ceremony at San Francisco City Hall December 2 that was officiated by U.S. Senator Alex Padilla.

Hearings on Castro Theatre

landmarking postponed

by Eric Burkett

Apush to postpone a hearing on pro posed landmark designation for the Castro Theatre has opponents on guard. Meanwhile, the planning commission has also moved up the date for its hearing on proposed renovations to the movie palace.

On Wednesday, December 7, the Historic Preservation Commission was expected to postpone hearings on the landmark designa tion of both the exterior and interior of the

Padilla, a California Democrat who was just elected to a six-year term in last month’s election, was in town to highlight the Senate’s final passage November 29 of the Respect for Marriage Act on a bipartisan 61-36 vote. The bill is expected to have a concurrence vote in the House of Rep resentatives December 6, Padilla said at a news conference following the vow renewal ceremony.

President Joe Biden has pledged to sign the bill when it reaches his desk.

Specifically, the Respect for Marriage Act will repeal the discriminatory Defense of Mar riage Act that was passed in 1996 but had key provisions struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2013 (Section 3, U.S. v. Windsor) and 2015 (Section 2, Obergefell v. Hodges). Not only does it require federal recognition of same-sex and interracial marriages nationwide but also mandates states must recognize such unions performed in other states.

Wang told the Bay Area Reporter that she and Chavez have been together for two years.

They have a 9-year-old daughter, Sloane. They were honored when asked by Padilla’s office if they would take part in the renewal ceremony, she said.

“It’s a historic moment for so many couples like us,” Wang said, referring to the importance of the Respect for Marriage Act.

Added Chavez, “I’m very excited for the coun try – and to respect everyone’s rights.”

During the ceremony, Wang, who serves on the city’s entertainment commission, promised to “love, honor, and cherish” Chavez, who also made the same commitment.

Padilla said that he was “honored” to be part of the couple’s day. He noted that the women, de spite growing up in different cultures, “had much in common.”

Tessa Chavez, left, and Cyn Wang smile after renewing their vows in a December 2 ceremony officiated by U.S. Senator Alex Padilla at San Francisco City Hall.

Christopher Robledo

Scott Wazlowski

San Francisco historic and planning commissions have postponed hearings on the Castro Theatre.

Former Presiding Justice Anthony Kline, left, administered the oath of office to Therese Stewart, the new presiding justice of the 1st District Court of Appeal’s Division Two, which is based in San Francisco.

Screengrab

Salesh “Sal” Prasad, a queer bi man who is in ICE detention and faces deportation to Fiji, was granted bond by an immigration judge December 5.

Courtesy Salesh Prasad

Sarria

compiled by Cynthia Laird

The California Hall of Fame may have snubbed him, but the city of Palm Springs will posthumously honor Latino drag icon and activist José Julio Sarria on its Walk of Stars Monday, December 12.

As the Bay Area Reporter previous ly reported, (https://www.ebar.com/ story.php?319294) Sarria’s star will be located near the Marilyn Monroe stat ue on Museum Way. A project of the José Sarria Foundation and the city’s chamber of commerce, the event will commemorate Sarria’s 100th birth day. Sarria, who died in 2013 at the age of 90, was born in San Francisco though there is some discrepancy on his actual birthdate. He used the date December 12, 1922 and that is what is inscribed on his headstone at his burial plot.

But some records indicate Sar ria was born on December 13, while several birth certificates that the foun dation has in its collection have him being born a year later. The Online Archive of California says Sarria was born December 12, 1923 at St. Francis Hospital in San Francisco.

Sarria became famous in the 1950s performing in drag at the North Beach gay hangout the Black Cat Cafe. A veteran and prominent La tino leader, he made history in 1961 with his unsuccessful bid for a San Francisco Board of Supervisors seat. It marked the first time an out gay person had sought elected office in the U.S.

In 1965, Sarria founded the Imperial Court System in San Francisco, having proclaimed himself Em press I of San Francisco. It has since crowned scores of empresses, emperors, and other drag royalty while raising funds for chari table causes.

The court continues to be a major LGBTQ philanthropic group with chapters throughout North America. For years LGBTQ leaders have called for Sarria to be inducted into the Cali fornia Hall of Fame and, several years ago, launched an effort to see him fea

tured on a U.S. postal stamp.

“I am so excited to see José en shrined in the Walk of Stars,” Gene Brake, founder and chair of the José Sarria Foundation, stated in a news release. “As the ‘mother’ of the gay community, he gave birth to a po litical movement as well as an entire community, while teaching us how to live our authentic lives as equal members of our society.”

Added Palm Springs Chamber of Commerce CEO Nona Watson, “The chamber is thrilled to host the star ceremony for José Julio Sarria, giving him the 453rd star.”

As the B.A.R. previ ously reported, the Cal ifornia Hall of Fame, which is a proj ect of Governor Gavin Newsom, first partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom, and the California Museum, recently an nounced its 2022 inductees. LGBTQ political and community leaders have been working for years to see Sar ria posthumously inducted, but this year’s class, to be inducted December 13, includes only one out member, lesbian soccer star Megan Rapinoe.

honored in Palm Springs

“The Artist and Artisan Fair fea tures 20 booths featuring a wide variety of handmade kink-related items by local artists and vendors,” according to a news release from the leather district. Participating busi nesses include San Francisco Fetish Flea, Mr S Leather, Leather Etc., Wicked Grounds, Azúcar Lounge, and SF Eagle.

Other activities include erotic performance art by Twisted Win dows, a naughty Santa, and the Leather District Gear Swap at SOMArts, 934 Brannan Street. To sell or donate items for the swap, they should be brought to the gear swap booth between 11:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m.

Hormel center to hold drag story hour

In the B.A.R.’s Political Notebook column last week, lesbian state Sena tor Susan Talamantes Eggman (DStockton), the incoming chair of the Legislative LGBTQ Caucus, pledged to see that Sarria is inducted into the California hall.

The Palm Springs ceremony takes place at 2 p.m. December 12 and is open to the public. Mayor Lisa Mid dleton, a transgender woman on the City Council whose mayoral rotation ends December 15, is expected to pre side over the ceremony.

Closer to home, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors will mark De cember 13 as “José Sarria Day” in the City and County of San Francisco, in recognition of his significant contri butions to the city and LGBTQ his tory, and in celebration of his 100th birthday.

Leather district to hold holiday market

Folks looking for that, well, unique holiday gift may find what they’re looking for at the Leather & LGBTQ Cultural District’s Second Saturday Holiday Market.

Hosted with the SOMA West Community Benefit District, the holiday market will take place at mul tiple locations in the South of Market neighborhood.

Featuring kinky gifts and toys by lo cal artists, craftspeople, and businesses, the event takes place Saturday, Decem ber 10, from noon to 5 p.m. A shuttle with hop-on, hop-off service will be available during those hours as well. (Look for the colorful “hippie bus.”)

Drag Queen Story Hours have been the subject of right-wing in timidation, including in the Bay Area back in June, but kids can en joy one through the San Francisco Public Library’s James C. Hormel LGBTQIA Center Saturday, De cember 17, at 11 a.m. at the Merced branch library, 155 Winston Drive in San Francisco.

People can join drag artist Persia as she takes kids on an enchanted tour that celebrates a rainbow of diversity, fun, and the unique value and worth of ev eryone, an email announcement stated. There is no cost to attend.

Film on Czech Republic marriage equality efforts

Movies that Matter, an interna tional film festival on human rights from the Netherlands, will have a lo cal screening of “The Law of Love,” a documentary by Barbora Chalupova about the long battle to open up mar riage to same-sex couples in the Czech Republic. The festival is in partner ship with Frameline, the LGBTQ film festival in San Francisco.

An email from Sietze Vermeulen, head of communications and public diplomacy for the Consulate Gen eral of the Kingdom of the Nether lands in San Francisco, stated that the screening will take place Wednesday, December 14, at 7 p.m. at the Castro Theatre, 429 Castro Street. Admission is free to thank the Castro neighbor hood for its warm welcome of Queen Máxima back in September, Vermeu len stated. People can get tickets via Eventbrite at https://bit.ly/3UCWAT4

During the queen’s visit, she visited the GLBT Historical Society Museum and met with LGBTQ leaders at the historic Twin Peaks Tavern in the LG BTQ neighborhood.

Well-being Fair in SF

Mukunda Studio and Trendwell Collective will hold its first seasonal Well-being Fair Sunday, December 18, from 1 to 5 p.m. at the studio, 1250 Folsom Street, second floor, in San Francisco.

A news release stated that the af ternoon would feature eight to 10 in-person presenters sharing infor mation and offering mini-sessions to attendees. From 1 to 2:15 p.m. will be the EmpowerHour community dis cussion both as a live and livestreamed event, talking about well-being from the perspective of the presenters. Plant-based snacks and beverages will be offered.

Mukunda Studio is a new gay Hapa-owned well-being studio that opened on March 20, 2020 by Mu kunda Marc Morozumi. Initially, all classes and private sessions were of fered online because of the COVID pandemic, the release stated. Since then, its doors have opened and it now offers both in-person and livestream classes simultaneously.

The studio offers yoga and wellbeing, community resources, studio rentals, and video/media services, the release stated.

Trendwell Collective is a San Fran cisco-based wellness platform that connects values-aligned studio part ners and facilitators with individuals and organizations overlooked by the mainstream wellness industry, the re lease stated.

To pre-register for the upcoming Well-being Fair, go to https://muku ndastudio.com/well-being-fair/. The cost is sliding scale, $5-$40. Masks are optional unless city guidance changes, according to the release.

Justice dept. launches new ADA website

The U.S. Department of Justice has announced that it has launched a new and improved version of its Americans with Disabilities website, at ada.gov.

A news release stated that the up dated version of the website is de signed to more effectively serve the public and help expand access for people with disabilities. The website works well with mobile devices, the release noted, includes easy-to-use navigation tools, and is written in plain language.

To find out more about the ADA, visit the website or call the Justice Department’s toll-free ADA informa tion line at 1-800-514-0301 (voice) or 1-833-610-1264 (TDD). t

Tree offers wishes for peace

Eric Burkett contributed reporting.

auricio Breton, left, and Julian Acevedo attach

crane to Rainbow World Fund’s World Tree of Hope during the lighting ceremony December 5 at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco. Their crane joined thousands of others that are each inscribed with wishes for the world. The tree is in

Grace Cathedral’s AIDS Interfaith Memorial Chapel. The ceremony included a blessing from the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence and remarks from local officials. Rainbow World Fund is an LGBTQ humanitarian organization based in San Francisco.

José Julio Sarria will be posthumously honored with a star on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars December 12.

Palm Springs Chamber of Commerce

Rick Gerharter

Jones honored at World AIDS Day event

by David-Elijah Nahmod

The rain didn’t stop a crowd of more than 200 people from at tending the National AIDS Memo rial Grove’s annual World AIDS Day observance in Golden Gate Park December 1, an event that saw AIDS Memorial Quilt co-founder Cleve Jones honored.

The observance took place in a large tent at the grove under the theme of “Changing the Pattern for a Future Without AIDS.”

Jones received the grove’s Life time Commitment Award. Three years ago, under an agreement brokered by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco), the late Congressmember John Lewis (DGeorgia), and others, the quilt was transferred to the stewardship of the AIDS grove. The NAMES Project, which had managed the quilt, dis solved and closed its Atlanta offices.

During the observance, Jones was interviewed by Reggie Aqui, a gay man and news anchor on KGO TV.

Jones talked about how much the Castro has changed, and how an noyed he gets when people don’t re alize what happened in the LGBTQ neighborhood. Jones noted that the Castro has no physical evidence of what happened during the peak years of the AIDS crisis. He recalled an incident from a year ago when someone told him, “We know you went through some bad times but you don’t really need to exaggerate.”

“It’s not an exaggeration to say that over 20,000 gay men lost their lives in this city alone,” Jones said. “And most of them lived in my neighborhood. That’s not an exag geration, that’s what happened.”

Aqui pointed out that the pan els from the quilt that were on dis play were new ones. Jones recalled when he first began the quilt with

his friend Joseph Durant, who died many years ago. Jones also recalled his friendship with Rosa Parks, the Black woman who refused to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama in 1955, resulting in the bus boycott that helped to launch the civil rights movement. Parks had made a panel for the AIDS quilt.

Jones went on to co-found the quilt with Mike Smith, a gay man, and Gert McMullin, a straight ally.

Jones and Aqui spoke for around 30 minutes.

Other speakers

The day began with a musical performance from transgender op era singer Breanna Sinclairé, who moved the crowd with her stun ning soprano rendition of the song “Somewhere” from “West Side Sto ry.” Her performance was followed by an opening invocation from Mi chael Pappas, executive director of the San Francisco Interfaith Coun cil. Pappas, who is gay, began by re ferring to the AIDS grove as sacred ground, where the lives of those lost

are remembered. He reminded the audience that in the early days of the AIDS epidemic, those in politi cal power, particularly at the federal level, stigmatized, persecuted, and scapegoated people with AIDS, refusing to do anything about the crisis. He acknowledged that there are still those in power who would deny LGBTQ people their right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of hap piness, and added that the commu nity was resilient and would remain vigilant.

John Cunningham, a gay man who lives with HIV and who serves as CEO of the AIDS grove, asked people living with HIV and AIDS to stand if they wished to be acknowl edged. A number of people stood to applause.

“San Francisco has stood at the forefront of the response to HIV and AIDS since the very begin ning,” Cunningham said. “Whether that was needle exchange programs, whether that’s PrEP, whether that’s continued safe injection sites, San Francisco has been the crystal from

which hope refracted out. Today, as we stand here, we are fortunate to live in a city and a community that understands civic leadership, and understands what it means to put the needs of society and human beings first. There are parts of this country where that is not the case.”

Cunningham added that panels from the AIDS Memorial Quilt were in Montgomery, Alabama, and that last month they were in Mississippi. The displays are part of the grove’s Change the Pattern (https://www. aidsmemorial.org/change-the-pat tern) initiative in partnership with the Southern AIDS Coalition and Gilead Sciences Inc.

“When I was in Mississippi I har kened back to the early days when I lived here in San Francisco, when people were afraid of losing their housing or their jobs because of the discrimination,” Cunningham said. “We’ve come a long way. In Missis sippi, it’s still criminalized. We must, as an organization and as a com munity, share our light with other communities, and that’s what we are doing today. Tomorrow, I fly to Montgomery. We will march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge with the quilt, a march to zero.”

San Francisco Mayor London Breed acknowledged the advocacy of Tyler TerMeer, Ph.D., a gay man who is CEO of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, gay State Sena tor Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), and Jones.

“We gather here today to remem ber those we lost and to remind the world on World AIDS Day that the fight is not over,” Breed said. “That we are not done.”

The mayor noted that LGBTQ people, Black people, Brown people, trans people, and unhoused people continue to be disproportionately impacted by HIV.

A video from Gilead Sciences was shown, followed by a 35th anniver sary commemorative video of the AIDS quilt.

There also was a short film called “The Black Community and AIDS.” The film is part of Surviving Voic es, a multi-year oral history of the AIDS epidemic produced by the AIDS grove. In the film, various Black people talk about their ex periences of living with AIDS, and their mistrust of the medical profes sion because of the way they’ve been treated. Also discussed is stigma, the lack of attention paid to the Black community, the prevalence of HIV among Black women, and telling family members about an HIV di agnosis.

Aqui returned to the podium to moderate a panel on the state of the epidemic today. Panelists were TerMeer; Wiener; Dr. Diane Havlir, chief of infectious diseases at UCSF; and LS Jones of the Prevention Ac cess Campaign in Mississippi.

LS Jones, a Black man who has been HIV-positive since 2014, spoke about how being diagnosed in Mis sissippi today was no different than being diagnosed in 1984.

“Isolation, rejection, stigma, these are words that became like a glove to me,” he said. “I had to get comfortable with that reality.”

TerMeer, a Black man who is also HIV-positive, talked about how being worried about what people think is still a reality for many peo ple, depending where they live. He paid homage to his mother, who supports him wholly.

Havlir pointed out that the HIV infection rate in San Francisco has decreased, but that the highest pro portion of people becoming infect ed were Latino and Black people.

Cleve Jones, left, one of the founders of the AIDS Memorial Quilt, is interviewed by KGO-TV’s Reggie Aqui during the December 1 Worlds AIDS Day observance at the National AIDS Memorial Grove in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park.

Rick Gerharter

Castro cultural district sees board resignations

by Eric Burkett

T he recent departure of a mem ber from the Castro LGBTQ Cultural District board is only the latest in what has been a slew of resignations since August.

Carnell Freeman, who joined the cultural district board in 2020, resigned after alleging “unequal treatment” by his fellow board members.

“It has been challenging for me to remain on this board as a Black gay man with the constant feeling of being treated with [a] different standard than others on this board,” he wrote in an email to the board around November 18, further alleging “a pattern of abuse and disrespect…” Freeman resigned November 28.

Freeman is not the only per son to have quit, however. Since August 18, three other members have resigned from the board, be ginning with Sabatini Fusco (who, while on the board, was known as Corey Fusco), Christopher Vasquez, and Mahsa Hakimi.

Neither Fusco nor Vasquez re sponded to requests for comment by press time.

Cultural district manager Tina Aguirre, a genderqueer Latinx person, told the Bay Area Report er that much of the conflict with Freeman stemmed from an inci dent that took place on November 13. As lead of MOCAA [https:// www.facebook.com/mocaasf], a social group “celebrating the QT POC experience,” according to its Facebook page, Freeman had held an event at Mission Dolores Park that day. However, wrote Aguirre in an email to the B.A.R., Free man had used his cultural district email in communications about the event.

“I advised him to consult with [American Indian Cultural Dis trict] leadership on if they had any requests, questions, or comments regarding the event,” Aguirre stated. “This is because the Castro LGBTQ Cultural District as a sib ling cultural district acknowledges that American Indians have a long history of being erased and not acknowledged. Carnell failed to reach out to AICD as I requested so on Nov 4 I sent an email to the [executive director] of AICD, Sha raya Souza and copied her staff person, Paloma Flores.”

Dolores Park sits within the boundaries of the AICD.

Flores responded, stating, “Given it is a BIPOC during Na tive American Heritage Month (NAHM) I hope there will be some good sharing from our al lies on the history of the area and acknowledge American Indian peoples.”

Aguirre said they advised Free man “that he should provide a land acknowledgement at the event and share a little about the significance of the site.”

At a later virtual meeting of the Castro LGBTQ Cultural District board, Freeman reported on the event, calling it “well attended” but, said Aguirre, when he was asked whether he provided a land acknowledgement, he declined to discuss it. Aguirre suggested they discuss the matter offline.

“So I let him know that we could discuss this offline though if the answer to my question was that he did not do what AICD requested, that I would be very disappointed because of the importance of our relationship with other cultural districts,” said Aguirre. “He, again, declined to answer my question.”

After that meeting, Freeman sent an email to the cultural dis trict’s advisory board, which “de flected away from answering my questions, instead focusing on completely outrageous accusa tions about anti-Blackness,” Agu irre stated.

Freeman disputes that, however, and told the B.A.R. that the inci dent over the land acknowledgment was merely “the last straw. I’ve been blindsided and disrespected by Tina on multiple occasions.”

Aguirre, he said, waited until the meeting to bring up the mat ter of the land acknowledgment, even after texting him before to inquire about how the event had gone. She didn’t bring the matter up then but, instead, forced him into an awkward position, Free man alleged.

Freeman told the B.A.R. he had planned to recite the acknowledge ment but, after thinking about it, decided against doing so. He did not explain why to the B.A.R.

“I was uncomfortable with the responsibility of reading some thing that I did not feel was my lived experience,” he said. “The way I looked at it was if I were to ask a white person to do a reading about something that was specific to Black people.”

Difficult relations on board

Despite the controversy sur rounding the event at Dolores Park, however, emails from vari ous members of the Castro cul tural district board suggest there’s been an ongoing pattern of diffi cult relations among them. A res ignation letter from Fusco, the first person to leave, suggested a hostile work environment, although they do not identify any one person as being behind that.

Citing “the continuation of their tactics of Trans erasure,” Fusco stated in an email dated August 18 that they “saw first hand that the well was already poisoned by a few members who have continually shown TERF [trans-exclusionary radical feminist], Transphobic, and classist behaviour (sic).”

Fusco said the ongoing conflicts had led to a “degradation” of their mental health. They declined to comment by press time.

The same day, Vasquez, who works as director of communica tions for the National Center for Lesbian Rights, tendered his resig nation, citing conflict among the board members.

“The egos – or rather the hubris – of certain members of the board made [redacted] intra-board [re dacted] relations unworkable at best and oftentimes toxic at worst,” Vasquez wrote in his res ignation email. “That these board members have been able to curtail the important work of an entire District is just sad at its core.”

The next month, on September 22, board member Jasmine Johnson let the board know that she would not be running for reelection.

“I will most definitely not be running for another term and will most definitely not be recom mending anyone I know to run for a position either,” Johnson wrote in an email to Aguirre, and Co-Ex ecutive Chair Stephen Torres. “As evident by the now 3 resignations in as many weeks, the board is a toxic environment due to the bul lying of members and staff by two board members and I have abso lutely no desire to keep myself in it or subject anyone I know to it.”

A Freedom of Information Act request for emails detailing the resignations only revealed two up to that point. Other board mem bers, in addition to Johnson, had declared their intent not to run for reelection, however.

Johnson was not able to be reached for comment.

On September 27, the board received another resignation, this time from Hakimi who, in addi tion to being one of the original board members and – being an attorney – helping to draft the dis trict’s bylaws, served as treasurer.

Hakimi, a lesbian, told the B.A.R. in a telephone interview that the issues surrounding the board now date back much ear lier, and are rooted in the board’s refusal to address issues of equity and representation. Notably, she pointed out, the board has become increasingly dominated by men who socialize together and who refused to take seriously her, and other board members’, concerns about the lack of diversity and transparency on the board.

In a letter to the board dated May 9, Hakimi laid out her issues with the then-co-executive chairs,

Torres and Fusco, and outlined a number of serious allegations.

“It should not come as a sur prise to any of you that the cochairs and I have not been seeing eye to eye about the direction of the leadership and lack of trans parency in their decision making in [the] last few months,” Ha kimi wrote. ”I have been a vocal adversary on our executive team, rejecting the behind closed door decision making that has not fol lowed any of our past protocols, processes and good faith practices under the convenient guise that this organization lacks good writ ten policies.”

She goes on to accuse Torres and Fusco of “bending the rules and making skewed interpreta tions of our policies and practices to accommodate their personal objectives,” and, because of her own efforts, she has “been scold ed, vilified, manhandled, harassed, insulted, blocked and my profes sional integrity questioned…”

Freeman, who was the most re cent to resign, makes similar ac cusations in his resignation letter.

“I can no longer stay on this board as long as the current lead ership remains,” Freeman wrote. “I also believe significant challenges will continue on this board until people speak up and send a clear message to leadership and staff that bullying, attempts at intimi dation, and disrespect will not be allowed within this organization.”

Hakimi said, too, that requests she made to the board to do “the hard work to move us forward” with three actions have also been unmet. First was a request to in vestigate an incident in April be tween Hakimi and Aguirre, fol lowed by a request for a diversity, equity, and inclusion training ses sion. Finally, Hakimi requested immediate “approval of funds for Governance Committee to hire consultants under supervi sion of Governance co-chairs to complete our internal protocols and process including a grievance policy and written partnership protocol with the district fiscal sponsor, including an HR policy for staff that are in line with the fiscal sponsors guidelines – to be completed within 90 days.”

None of these requests were an swered, she said.

Carnell Freeman has resigned from the Castro LGBTQ Cultural District board.

Courtesy Castro LGBTQ Cultural District

Castro LGBTQ Cultural District manager Tina Aguirre.

Fabian Echevarria

South Bay LGBTQ office issues employment study

by Heather Cassell

Sera Fernando, manager at Santa Clara County’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs, is alarmed by the findings in a new study released by her office about transgender and nonbinary employ ment in the county.

The 79-page report, “Transgender, Nonbinary, and Gender Expansive Employment Study,” is the first of its kind for the county. The study was completed in June and publicly re leased in October.

The study explores the range of barriers, problems, and suc cesses transgender and nonbinary people face in their jobs and career paths. The LGBTQ affairs office is housed in the county’s Division of Equity and Social Justice.

“Although Santa Clara County looks to be affirming and accepting of a trans and gender-nonconforming workforce, especially being part of the Bay Area in proximity to San Fran cisco and Oakland, data shows that there’s still much more work to do,”

Fernando wrote in an email interview with the Bay Area Reporter about the study’s findings.

A total of 234 trans and nonbinary people living or working in Santa Clara County participated in the re search, according to the report.

Fernando wrote that she was not surprised by the number of Black, Indigenous, and people of color –Asian/Pacific Islander (25%), Latinx (24%), Black (11%) – that made up 62% of participants and reported ex periencing racial and ethnic discrimi nation in addition to bias against their gender identity or expression.

“The study points to the elevated levels of discrimination from BIPOC participants,” Fernando wrote. That “resonated with me as a queer Filipina transwoman.”

White participants represented 38% of the study respondents.

Fernando was surprised that de spite inclusive policies at some com panies “amongst co-workers and colleagues, some participants, espe cially those in customer-facing envi ronments, are not offered the same protections when interacting with customers,” she wrote.

“Although some of the findings in this study might be alarming to read,” she continued, “the importance of knowing how trans and gender-non conforming community members are experiencing the workplace will serve

as a strong baseline as to what em ployers need to do to be more accept ing and affirming of an increasingly diverse workforce.”

Key findings

Fernando noted the top three key findings in the study were financial hardship; gender identity and expres sion discrimination; and transgenderaffirming workplaces in the county.

“Most participants are financially struggling,” she wrote about one of the study’s top three findings. The study found that 70% of participants reported struggling or barely making enough money to get by. Only 44% of participants were employed fulltime, while 12% were unemployed.

Despite about half (46%) of partici pants holding a bachelor’s degree or higher, participants’ level of education compared to their income was low: 42% of participants had an income under $25,000 and 35% were between $25,000 and $75,000.

“A quarter of participants that ex perienced discrimination were told that they would not be hired due to their gender identity/expression,” she wrote, adding “that participants will likely leave an employer to work for an entity that is more trans-affirming.”

In a tight labor market, Fer nando pointed to the importance and benefits of diversity, equity, and inclusion training programs, and policies for local governments, small businesses, and corporations in attracting top talent.

LGBT community, and everyone who appreciates this iconic film venue.”

Zeroing in on the South Bay

The purpose of the study is to get a pulse on the county’s transgender and nonbinary workforce’s experi ences, and provide insights and rec ommendations that will improve employment prospects for them to reach their full employment potential. It is also to help local governments, small businesses, and corporations that hire and employ transgender and nonbinary people to create affirming workplaces.

Santa Clara County is the sixth most populous county in California with 1.9 million people, according to the 2020 census. The study noted the San Francisco Bay Area’s accep tance of LGBTQ people is high, es pecially in San Francisco and Oak land, but in the South Bay, which has tended to be more conservative, factors of acceptance “have been lower.”

Researchers noted in the study’s introduction that little information is known about the status of trans gender and nonbinary employment opportunities and jobs. What sparse data is available is mostly on the na tional level. The data doesn’t delve into the specific details of regions, counties, or cities.

To better understand transgender and nonbinary people’s employ ment opportunities and realities in the workplace in the county, the office commissioned San Franciscobased LGBTQ research firm Com munity Marketing and Insights to conduct the study.

The researchers sought to understand the participants’ perceptions of real-life barriers (career development, goal-setting, seeking and securing employment, and employment and being in the workplace), increased job opportunities and income, and how employment discrimination affects their mental and physical health. Participants expressed their five- and 10-year financial goals and how to reach them while balancing other life objectives. The researchers explored what accommodations, policies, and practices in the hiring process and in the workplace could help transgender and nonbinary community members thrive in the workplace. The researchers sought community-based narratives and tips to overcome obstacles to seeking employment and advancing in the workplace.

Between November 2021 and April 2022, CMI conducted 20-minute on line surveys of 234 self-identifying transgender and nonbinary par ticipants aged 18 to 70 living and/or working in Santa Clara County. The survey was available in English, Span ish, Vietnamese, Tagalog, and Chinese. Participants who opted to assist with further research participated in one of six virtual focus groups. There were 30 in-depth 45-minute virtual interviews.

Of the participants in the in-depth in terviews, 25 represented transgender and nonbinary people who discussed their personal employment experi ences, and five were transgender and nonbinary leaders and/or professionals working with the county’s transgender and nonbinary communities.

Participants – 86% who live in the county and 14% who live in neigh boring counties but work in Santa Clara County – were found through more than 100 local agencies and or ganizations working with the LGBTQ community; paid ads on social media, Craigslist, and the B.A.R.; and partici pants’ personal networks.

Just under half (47%) of the par ticipants lived in San Jose, with repre sentation across the county in urban and rural areas.

Participants were given a $20 ecard incentive for completing the sur vey and a $75 e-card for completing an in-depth interview or focus group.

Researchers noted liming factors in the data collection such as internet access; computer literacy; connec tion to the county’s LGBTQ commu nity and social service agencies and organizations serving the county’s queer community; and the financial incentive. The financial incentive might have been a motivating factor for more lower-income participants than higher-income participants, the report stated. These factors may have resulted in underrepresentation of unhoused individuals, older people (there were fewer respondents over the age of 50), those with low com puter literacy skills, and those who are less connected to the county’s LGBTQ community and agencies and organi zations serving its queer population, the report noted.

Recommendations

The study’s insights and recom mendations focus on the hiring pro cess, workplace experiences, combat ting discrimination, and potential policies and programs.

Recommendations included transgender- and nonbinary-specific employment programs from en try-level to the professional level to self-employment and audits to hold programs accountable. Sexual orien tation, gender identity, and gender expression, or SOGIE, training is rec ommended for employers to create transgender and nonbinary-affirm ing workplaces. Support services for transgender and nonbinary residents and employees are recommended to help meet basic needs, along with and affirming medical care, and educa tional financial aid and legal aid.

The survey included checklists for community members and businesses to help meet the recommendations.

Fernando expressed hope that community members, leaders, and organizations; local government and government agencies; and busi nesses recognize the study’s recom mendations come from the county’s transgender and gender nonbinary residents and employees’ “lived ex perience.”

“Participants took the time out to share their experiences and thought fully craft recommendations on how we all could improve the workplace,” Fernando wrote. “It’s up to all of us to strategically implement relevant recommendations to create a work environment inclusive of everyone.”

Resources

To learn more about transgender and gender nonbinary people work ing and living in Santa Clara County, you can read the report at https://bit. ly/3BgmfKx and watch the special video produced by county’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs and CMI in conjunc tion with the report at https://youtu. be/WOl99upAOss

The county’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs hosted a virtual town hall dis cussing the report’s findings Decem ber 1 that can be viewed at https:// bit.ly/3VWsxXD.

To receive updates about Trans gender Economic Empowerment in Santa Clara County, or to be con sidered to join a task force to help develop the next steps, complete a survey at https://bit.ly/3VTJiCF.

To learn more about what the Office of LGBTQ Affairs is doing, subscribe to its YouTube Channel at https://bit.ly/3Hdrz5a or sign up for its newsletter at the office’s website at https://lgbtq.sccgov.org/home. t

century-old movie palace to Febru ary 1, with a subsequent hearing for a conditional use authorization on March 15. The Planning Commission is scheduled to take it up the following day, on March 16. The hearings have already been postponed once before.

The request to continue the historic preservation commission hearing, ac cording to Jackie Thornhill, an aide to gay District 8 Supervisor Rafael Man delman, came from the Nasser family which built the historic theater and has owned the it for the past 100 years.

The Nasser family was not available to comment.

David Perry, spokesperson for An other Planet Entertainment, which manages the cinema, told the Bay Area Reporter he was confident the rescheduled hearings would go on as planned.

“We have every confidence that the new schedule of hearings will take place and have every hope and con fidence that people will understand that the group most committed to saving the Castro is Another Planet,” Perry said, “and hope that people will understand that our plan is the best way to sustain the Castro Theatre for this generation, and the next gen eration of filmgoers, members of the

The landmarking proposal before the historic preservation commis sion would extend the theater’s cur rent landmark status to the interior of the structure as, at the moment, it only addresses the facade. In 1976, the exterior of the building designed by prominent San Francisco architect Timothy Pflueger was designated San Francisco Historic Landmark #100.

If approved by the historic pres ervation commission, the landmark ordinance would go to the Board of Supervisors for final approval. The Board of Supervisors voted unani mously in May to start the process to enhance the landmark status, as the B.A.R. previously reported.

Mandelman “initiated the expan sion of the theater’s landmark desig nation because it is just good historic preservation practice given that the existing landmark designation and analysis is dated and doesn’t address the interior of the building to the same extent such a designation likely would if initiated today,” Thornhill wrote in an email to the B.A.R.

Mandelman told the B.A.R., in a December 5 text from Sacramento, that he understands “there may be some productive conversations be tween the property owner and other parties, and I am open to an addition

al brief delay to allow the parties to try and reach a mutually agreeable path forward that will respect and honor the past and future of the theater.”

Not everyone is as optimistic as the supervisor seems to be, however. Sus picion about proposed renovations for the theater have run high since An other Planet, a Berkeley-based con cert promotion company, assumed management of the cinema back in January. The company submitted its proposed renovations to the San Francisco Planning Department less than two months later, raising both concerns and opposition to its desire to remove the movie house’s banked seating in favor of level platforms that could hold both removable seats for movie viewing and standing audi ences for live music performances.

Critics, such as Peter Pastreich, ex ecutive director of the Castro Theatre Conservancy, have called the historic orchestra seating “essential to preserv ing the film-going experience.”

Mandelman’s support of the con tinuance has raised even further con cerns for those opposed to the reno vations.

“I wrote to the supervisors asking them not to delay the determination – as did the Castro LGBTQ Cultural District and the Castro Theatre Stake holders Coalition,” wrote queer histo rian Gerard Koskovich in an email to

the B.A.R. “We received no response or acknowledgment.”

Cultural district weighs in Another letter from Jen Reck and Jesse Oliver Sanford, co-chairs of the Castro LGBTQ Cultural Dis trict’s Land Use Committee and dated November 29, asked Diane Matsuda, president of the Historic Preservation Commission, for a meeting to discuss “the landmark designation update process for the Castro Theatre.”

Saying they disagreed with the proposal to delay the hearings, Reck and Sanford wrote, “We are concerned that the extension could foreshadow an attempt to under mine support for the landmark up date and would demonstrate favor to the owners and/or management of the business at the expense of consideration for the building’s his toric integrity.”

The letter continued: “The public has already expressed clear support of extending landmark designation to include the theatre’s interior, in cluding the raked floor and fixed seating.”

Replying a couple of days later, Matsuda wrote that she’d happily meet with Reck and Sanford but added, “please be informed that we will be supporting Supervisor

Mandelman’s request to continue the matter. As a courtesy, the HPC honors the request of Supervisors, particularly when they are the ini tiator of an enhanced landmark designation.”

Stephen Torres, a queer man and executive co-chair of the Castro LGBTQ Cultural District, noted in a phone interview with the B.A.R. that “continuing the process is no less anxiety driving.”

The delays in the hearings have already had an impact on pro gramming at the theater, he said, and the December line-up, while still including favorites such as the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus’ Christmas show, is lighter than it has been in the past.

“Traditionally the theater is work ing at full tilt in December,” Torres ob served. That the theater has been kept closed longer and more often than in previous years has had an effect on the community both culturally and eco nomically. He had encouraged people to speak during public comment at the meeting even though the matter would be postponed.

“I would like community mem bers to know they should absolutely show up to the hearing or call in,” Torres said before the meeting took place. t

Santa Clara County Office of LGBTQ Affairs manager Sera Fernando oversaw a study that examined transgender and nonbinary people’s workplace experiences.

Courtesy Office of LGBTQ Affairs

Holiday gift buying off Castro’s beaten paths

by Matthew S. Bajko

Oftentimes veering off the beaten path bears fruit. So is the case for holiday shoppers who venture to San Francisco’s LGBTQ Castro district for their gift buying needs this yuletide.

Stores like Stag & Manor on the 2300 block of Market Street and Cliff’s Variety on the 400 block of Castro Street are both a draw this time of year and are easily located on the neighborhood’s two main commer cial corridors. Another destination is the cluster of shops on the block of 18th Street between Castro and Collingwood streets.

There present purchasers can pop into the GLBT Historical Society Museum (4127 18th Street) to pe ruse its small but stocked gift shop for unique LGBTQ-themed items. (Shoppers, as well as museum visitors, just need to show proof of vaccination to the attendant on hand.)

Stocking stuffers on sale include a variety of postcards and enamel pins, such as ones that indicate a person’s pronouns ($11.95), with 10% of the proceeds going to LGBTQ nonprof its. There are also stainless steel water bottles ($24) with the tagline “Come Find Your Story.”

Among the various books on sale are unique coloring books with a queer twist ($15) from Stacked Deck Press Featured in “The Queer Heroes Coloring Book,” edited by Jon Marcy and Tara Madison Avery, are such LGBTQ luminaries as actor Ian McKellen, the late artist Keith Haring, and the late science fiction writer Joanna Russ. “The Butch Lesbians of the 20s, 30s, and 40s Color ing Book,” edited by Macy and Avery Cassell, includes blues sing er Gladys Bentley, and writers Willa Cather and Gertrude Stein.

Also for sale are several T-shirts ($26), such as a red one sporting “No Apologies” and depicting a scene from the May 21, 1979 White Night riots that followed the lenient verdict for the killer of the late gay San Francisco supervisor Harvey Milk and progres sive mayor George Moscone. There is also a tee with Milk’s campaign slogan “Harvey Milk for Supervisor.”

On the museum’s website –glbthistory.org/memberships – can be purchased gift memberships allowing yearlong access to the cultural institu tion. A sustaining membership level ($250) will provide the person with free admission to more than 1,000 partner museums throughout North and South America.

A few doors away at the adult gift store Does Your Mother Know (4141 18th Street), various gifts can be found of both a sexual nature and more traditional in tone. It carries a wide array of Pride flags, from the rainbow design to ones for various communities such as the transgender and bisexual versions, that range in

price by size ($8.99 to $46.99).

The shop also has a large collection of bandanas in different colors ($3.99 or two for $6.99). A chart on the wall next to them explains the meaning behind each color based on the hanky code, used by queer men in the 1970s and 1980s to signal their sexual proclivi ties. Also for sale are an entirely differ ent set of bandanas, Doggie Dannas, that come in various designs to provide some colorful neckwear for canines.

It also carries the “Castro Boy” Tshirt ($25) designed by local gay artist Dimas Jose Arellano, who was pro filed in last month’s Business Brief ing column. The black tees feature the word “Castro” written out in big pink bubble letters with “Boy!” in smaller type under neath the letter “o.” A rain bow arcs above from the letter “a” to the letter “o.”

Another gay neigh borhood artist’s work is featured on the walls throughout the store, that of Smiley and his Poppy, the Popper character. Smiley, whose given name is Allan Avila, decided to put his used poppers bottles to use and turned them into a character, for which he secured a trademark several years ago.

“I wanted to invent a character based on the Castro,” explained Avila, whose boyfriend happens to be a manager at the store.

In early 2020 the shop began fea turing his artworks, with four to five being sold each month. The pieces range in price based on the size of the canvas and how much time it took to create them ($70 to as much as $450).

A special piece created for the season is now for sale, Poppy the Popper Christmas clock ($69).

“It is not a painting. It used to be a clock, and I put Poppy there,” said Avila.

Across the street neighborhood gift shop Local Take relocated from its for mer storefront off Jane Warner Plaza on 17th Street to a more spacious loca tion at 4122 18th Street. Years ago the retail space was the first location for the men’s health clinic Magnet.

It carries everything from artwork and dishware to soaps and tees. Also on its shelves are various gift items

Thus, it has several items featuring its character take on Karl the Fog, such as a plush pillow ($20) of the weather pattern hugging one of the Golden Gate Bridge’s towers. The same de sign can be found on tees ($30) and a trucker hat ($22).

Christmas decorations such as throw pillows with either a reindeer ($34) or gingerbread character design ($36) are for sale. They can also be bought as plush tree ornaments ($20).

The store also carries a large selec tion of baby onesies ($26) with myriad motifs, most of which inspired by an iconic Bay Area structure. Thus, dino saurs and unicorns can be found on the span of the Golden Gate Bridge.

With the closure this year of gift store Kenneth Wingard on the 2300 block of Market Street, those who loved its broad adult tee collection will be glad to know Local Take is filling that void. It carries a wide assortment of adult T-shirts with different designs. Also stocked are various handmade

crafts from Oakland-based Bernal Bur row. DIY moss artwork kits ($38) pro vide a fun project to do at home, while premade moss ornaments ($35) feature Sutro Tower on Twin Peaks against a multi-colored moss background.

Fun stocking stuffers for sale are small batches of soaps ($12) made by Roman Ruby Botanicals based in Portland, Oregon. It created a special Castro soap that is a hot pink glycerin bar made with organic pink grape fruit and poppy seeds.

A few doors away at Bottle Bac chanal (4126 18th Street), wines made by LGBTQ+ people and mem bers of other marginalized groups are featured for sale by the bottle. The shop also creates special curated gift boxes ($130) that can be ordered via its website at bottlebacchanal.com/.

Even further afield from the heart of the Castro is Kokak Chocolates (3901 18th Street), where special holiday con coctions are on sale this holiday sea son. It’s Merry Holiday Tree Tradition ($57.95) stands six inches and provides an edible chocolate table centerpiece that comes with its own mallet for din ner guests to use to smash into it for a tasty post (or pre-) meal treat.

Or there is the five-piece

the shop’s artisanal truffles and dark chocolates in various flavors.

Kokak owner Carol Gancia has canceled her planned second store in the city’s Japantown due to zoning is sues. But her treats can be ordered on line for nationwide shipping at www. kokakchocolates.com.

A fun day to set aside for Castro gift shopping this year will be Sunday, December 18, when the Castro Mer chants Association hosts its “Winter Wonderland” block party on Noe Street between Market and Beaver streets. From 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. attend ees will find kids activities, a petting zoo and holiday art mart, drag queen performances and storytime, plus free photos with Santa.

At 4 p.m. will be the Sexy Elf con test for kids of all ages. The winner takes home a $500 cash prize. t

Got a tip on LGBTQ business news? Call Matthew S. Bajko at (415) 829-8836 or e-mail m.bajko@ebar.com

Tom was raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, earned a Ph.D. from Harvard, and taught economics at the Univer sity of Virginia and Drury University in Springfield, Missouri. He was a suc cessful business consultant when he moved to San Francisco in the 1970s. Tom was a member of many LG

BTQ organizations, including the Sons of Harvard and FrontRunners.

In the mid-1980s Tom helped found Mobilization Against AIDS, an early San Francisco AIDS activist organiza tion, and served on its board of direc tors for many years. He gave gener ously to the organization and offered his Ashbury Terrace home for events, including the group’s first fundraiser and an informal question and answer session with Dr. Anthony Fauci.

Tom loved nature, fishing, garden ing, and reading. He especially loved watching birds in their natural habitat.

Tom was an avid learner his whole life and had a wonderful sense of humor.

He moved to Placerville, Califor nia in the mid-2000s. He is survived by his sister Nancy; brother Jim; and many nieces, nephews, and friends.

created by SF Mercantile, which works with local artists to come up with unique products inspired by the city and Bay Area.

Cosmic Dark Chocolate Robots ($22.95) made from a mold inspired by the classic childhood toy. Always for sale are

Obituaries >>

Tom Lloyd December 5, 1942 – November 14, 2022

Tom Lloyd, who lived in San Francisco for de cades and was a co-founder of Mo bilization Against AIDS, died Novem ber 14, 2022 after a long illness. He was 79.

The gift shop at the GLBT Historical Society Museum has many items for sale that would make great holiday presents.

Matthew S. Bajko

Doggie bandanas are featured at Does Your Mother Know.

Matthew S. Bajko

SF’s unhoused addicted people need help

It’s distressing that Mayor London Breed and San Francisco officials closed the Tenderloin Center just as the cold weather is setting in and people who are already unhoused and strug gling with substance and/or mental health is sues have nowhere else to turn. While it did cost the city about $12 million, according to the mayor’s office, we would argue that it did help by providing basic needs like food and laundry, and connec tions to social service agencies.

Lauded as a key part of Mayor London Breed’s Tenderloin emer gency declaration less than a year ago, the center near United Na tions Plaza shuttered December 5, creating a void in the city’s response to homelessness, addic tion, and mental illness. The San Francisco Chronicle (https://www.sfchronicle. com/sf/article/Mayor-Breed-Tenderloin-Cen ter-17631151.php) reported that the mayor’s office previously said that the center didn’t help as many people as the city had hoped. But not reaching its service goals is no reason to close it without some sort of alternative in place. So far, the mayor has been mum on what she plans to do to replace a center that saw more than 100,000 visits and provided thou sands of meals and showers.

District 5 Supervisor Dean Preston, who now represents the Tenderloin following re districting, issued a scathing news release No vember 3 stating that neither the mayor nor health department officials have a plan in place to ensure the continuity of services that the center provided. And that was before the cen ter closed. Preston did note that the mayor and health officials have committed to opening new wellness hubs in the city, including one in the Tenderloin, but few details have been provided. A mayoral spokesperson did not re

spond to a message we sent this week asking about the future plans. We all know it takes a lot of time in this city to get programs up and running, so delays will compound without a transition plan in place.

The Chronicle reported Wednesday, citing the health department, that some of those hubs likely would allow peo ple to use drugs, like a supervised consumption site. But those plans are apparently on hold due to le gal issues.

The whole point of the Tender loin Center was to help prevent drug overdoses, and in that regard it saw some success, with staff re versing more than 300 overdoses, according to the Chronicle. But fewer than 1% of the visits result ed in linkages to mental health or drug treatment, the paper noted. There were 711 overdose deaths in the city in 2020, and 640 in 2021. The city’s number of fatal drug overdoses this year is down just slightly from last year, according to reports. We would argue that the center needed more time to make a difference, and now it’s gone. We disagree with city officials who closed the center without an other program up and running. That just sets up for failure people with substance use and/ or mental health issues, and the gap in services likely will put a strain on emergency medical services that ends up costing the city more than a center would.

“There are lives at stake,” Vitka Eisen, a les bian and CEO of HealthRIGHT 360, stated in Preston’s release. “And all I have to say is that from December 5 on, City Hall owns every single overdose in this city. Every single death lies right here.”

Eisen should know. She’s a former heroin ad dict who turned her life around and today leads one of the city’s larger health service providers.

Meanwhile, as noted above, there’s been little movement on the part of city officials to open an actual supervised consumption cen ter. (That was one of the knocks against the Tenderloin Center, as it allowed drug use as sort of an informal supervised site.) The city has purchased property that could be used for one, and these programs have been found to save lives. After Governor Gavin New som vetoed a bill earlier this year that would have allowed for pilot programs in San Fran cisco, Oakland, and Los Angeles, many of ficials expressed support for moving forward with a plan in San Francisco, likely utilizing a nonprofit. But, to date, nothing has come of it. That’s what the city really needs: a formal supervised consumption site that provides re ferrals to treatment. There are two New York facilities, located in East Harlem and Wash ington Heights, that were already operating as needle exchange sites and began allowing onsite consumption just over a year ago, in No vember 2021, according to an announcement from New York Harm Reduction Educators, one of two nonprofits that merged to form a new organization dubbed OnPoint NYC.

We know there are lots of unanswered ques tions regarding supervised consumption sites, including whether they could even be located in a city-owned building. But local officials need to start studying and addressing those is sues instead of promising that some wellness hubs would be open by the end of the year and later backtracking.

We simply can’t wait for Newsom to have his health secretary convene officials to discuss minimum standards and best practices, as he wrote in his veto message this summer.

In the meantime, some of the city’s most vulnerable residents are left out in the cold, as leaders ponder next steps that they should have begun considering a year ago. t

SF trans immigrant summit a great first step

by Anjali Rimi

Last month, San Francisco Mayor London Breed issued a proclamation recognizing November 18 as Transgender Immigrants Day. Coming from a city long associated with LGBTQ and immigrant rights, some will undoubtedly as sume the proclamation was just another routine, unremarkable, and ultimately empty reaffirma tion of the city’s progressive credentials. How ever, they would be sorely mistaken.

San Francisco has indeed, over many decades, built a well-earned reputation as a sanctuary for countless immigrants, including members of the LGBTQ community. Nevertheless, the unique challenges of people living at the intersection of immigrant and transgender, gender-nonconfor mity, nonbinary, or intersex remain less under stood. According to a study from the Williams Institute, an LGBTQ think tank at UCLA School of Law, LGBTQI migrants are particularly vul nerable to discrimination, persecution, and vio lence during migration.

As a result, transgender immigrants face even greater challenges in navigating the immigration process, accessing social services, or finding com munity – even in California.

I am painfully aware of these obstacles, not only from my journey as a South Asian transgender immigrant but also as co-founder and president of ParivarBayArea, North America’s sole trans-led and trans-centering organization by South Asian transgender leaders. Our families and commu nities scorn us. Many of us are effectively cut off from the support of the broader trans com munity, government agencies, and so cial services through differences in language and culture. We often don’t even know what’s available.

Dealing with the immigration system is even more treacherous. Immigration and Customs En forcement detains us more than twice as long on average, while also subjecting us to harassment, assault, denial of healthcare, and other indignities. The Human Rights Campaign noted in a news release that trans immigrants are often mistreated in the U.S. immigration system.

Human Rights Watch has issued a report stat ing that the U.S., at any given time, holds scores of trans women in immigration detention.

Considering that many of us came here as refugees and asylum seekers, such mistreatment is even more egregious.

To address these vast inequities, ParivarBayAr ea, along with El/La Para Trans Latinas and the LGBT Asylum Project, joined hands to launch the California Coalition of Transgender Immi grants. We also found enthusiastic partners at multiple local and state government bodies, in cluding the San Francisco Office of Transgender Initiatives, the San Francisco Office of Civic En gagement and Immigrant Affairs, the California Office of the Small Business Advocate, and the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.

Together, we launched the inaugural Transgen der Immigrant Symposium, which was held November 18 at the State Building. It was the first of a series of gatherings uniting members of transgender im migrant communities and connect ing them to public officials, nongovernmental organization, and other allies committed to building a truly equitable support network. Such dialogues go beyond being simply informative; they empower our community to directly work with policymakers and advocates to integrate transgender equity at the systemic level.

Speakers included gay state Senator Scott Wie ner (D-San Francisco); Nicole Santamaria, exec utive director of El/La Para TransLatinas; Okan Sengun, co-founder and executive director of

Of course, we still have a long way to go – especially amid the growing transphobia throughout the country. However, as Mayor Breed stated in her proclamation, ending the violence and disparities the trans community endures “requires intersectional awareness and centering of Black, Brown, Indigenous, immi grant, and Global South lived experiences.” The close collaboration between the city and our coalition shows these aren’t just empty words. It’s an unambiguous demonstration of com mitment to achieving true transgender equity. And that is a great first step. t

Anjali Rimi is an award-winning South Asian transgender Kinnar Immigrant who leads communities to advocate for transgen der justice, inclusion, and equity globally, centering her efforts in the San Francisco Bay Area. She is president of ParivarBayAr ea (https://www.parivarbayarea.org/), Amer ica’s only transgender-led, transgendercentering organization led by South Asian transgender Hijrah Kinnar leaders.

the LGBT Asylum Project; District 11 Supervisor Ahsha Safaí; Pau Crego, executive director of the city’s Office of Transgender Initiatives; Tara Lynn Gray, director of the California Office of the Small Business Advocate; and Richard Whipple, deputy director of the city’s Office of Civic En gagement and Immigrant Affairs. There was also a resource fair and an opportunity for attendees to network with organizers.

Leaders met on stage for the proclamation ceremony at the inaugural Transgender Immigrant Symposium November 18.

Courtesy Anjali Rimi

Final results come in for out CA candidates

by Matthew S. Bajko

Amonth after the November 8 elec tion and the final results are now in for two of the three last remaining California races that featured out can didates. Two gay men won their races for Bay Area city council seats, while a Southern California bisexual Assembly candidate continues to trail in second place with more votes yet to be counted in their contest.

In the oddest of electoral twists, Ce sar Zepeda is now set to become the first out gay man to serve on the Rich mond City Council due to his name being drawn out of a red holiday shop ping bag Tuesday morning. He ended up in a dead heat against his opponent, Andrew Butt, with 1,921 votes each in their contest for the East Bay city’s Dis trict 2 council seat.

Because neither candidate asked for a recount, it was up to City Clerk Pamela Christian to break the tie in a process detailed under Richmond’s election rules. Butt’s father, current Richmond Mayor Tom Butt, earlier this year had voted to adopt it along with current councilmembers.

As the Bay Area Reporter first re ported online December 6, it took Christian two tries to select the winner. Shortly after 9 a.m. she had the two candidates come to a table and write their names down on a white piece of paper then seal them in separate green envelopes. Butt and Zepeda then placed their envelopes in the bag and each shook it for several seconds.

Christian also shook the bag, but when she went to pull out one of the envelopes, she mistakenly grabbed both. Thus, the trio repeated the pro cess of putting the envelopes in the bag, shaking it, and having Christian draw out one of them.

By pure chance – or luck – it was Zepeda’s name that was chosen. When he takes his oath of office in January, Zepeda will be the only LGBTQ mem ber on his council and only the second out councilmember in his city’s history.

“What I said to her was, ‘Oh, an other tie! I tried to make light of it,” Zepeda, who lost his first council race in 2016, told the Bay Area Reporter.

“At the end of the day, we both ran a campaign that was different in per spective on how we want to serve our community and what we believe is a good way to move our community forward. We both had our different messages that at times were very simi lar because, at the end of the day, we are both moderate Democrats and both pragmatic individuals.”

A health benefits adviser and con sultant for a private firm, Zepeda had to rush to an in-person meeting that had been scheduled for months as soon as the City Hall event concluded and he gave brief remarks to a bank of reporters outside.

“Of course, today, I had a big meet ing I had to be at in-person,” quipped Zepeda, who is single and lives with his two German shorthaired pointers Zulu and Zeke.

Richmond’s first LGBTQ council member, Jovanka Beckles, a lesbian, now serves on the board for the re gional AC Transit system. Jamin Pur sell, who is nonbinary and queer, had sought Richmond’s District 4 council seat last month but lost their race.

Peninsula race

On the Peninsula, gay Redwood City Planning Commissioner Chris Sturken won election to his city’s District 2 council seat, which in cludes the downtown area, by a 50vote margin. Initially in second place for days after the November 8 elec tion, Sturken in mid-November then vaulted into first place.

With all votes now counted, he won with 40.74% of the vote for a total of 1,091 votes. When he takes his oath of office next Monday, December 12, the 28-year-old Sturken will be the youngest man on his City Council in recent memory and its third out mem ber. Two years ago saw the elections of Michael Smith, a gay Black business entrepreneur, and Lissette EspinozaGarnica, who is a queer, nonbinary Chicanx.

“On that day when no more ballots were left to count, I realized I had it in the bag. It was exhilarating; it was a relief,” Sturken told the B.A.R. “I am just so grateful to everyone who made it possible.”

His winning truly sank in, added Sturken, when outgoing Redwood City Mayor Giselle Hale, who had been elected citywide to the City Council four years ago, retweeted his November 16 tweet about taking the lead in his race that day for the first time. She lives in Dis trict 2 but opted not to seek reelection this year and ended her bid for a state Assembly seat this summer due to the hostility she and her family were sub jected to during the campaign.

“When she tweeted it then I was like, ‘OK, it must be official!’” Sturken recalled.

Sturken is one of four new LGBTQ council members elected in the Silicon Valley region. In the most high-profile race gay Democratic Party official Omar Torres is set to return out lead ership to the San Jose City Council for the first time in 16 years.

The San Jose native won election to the District 3 council seat in the Bay Area’s largest city. Torres will be the first out person of color on the council and only its second out LGBTQ member.

Richard Mehlinger, who is queer and bisexual, will serve alongside queer Sunnyvale City Councilmember Alysa Cisneros, elected in 2020. He won election to the District 5 council seat.

In Cupertino J.R. Fruen, a gay man, won his second bid for a city coun cil seat after losing his race two years ago. He was one of seven candidates running against an incumbent coun cilmember for three citywide council seats on last month’s ballot.

With 15.90% of the vote, Fruen took third place in the race to win. The attorney will be the first LGBTQ person to serve on the Cupertino City Council when he takes his oath of of fice at 6 p.m. this Friday, December 9, at Cupertino Community Hall.

The four men’s elections bring the number of out LGBTQ city council members on the Peninsula and in the South Bay to 10. James Coleman, who is bisexual, serves on the South San Francisco City Council.

Although he lost his bid to be his city’s mayor last month, gay Santa Clara City Councilmember Anthony Becker has two more years left to his current council term. Gay

Morgan Hill City Coun cilmember Rene Spring will also be up for reelec tion in 2024.

Lesbian San Carlos City Councilmember Laura Parmer-Lohan is departing, as rather than run for reelection this year she sought a San Mateo County supervisor seat. But she lost her race.

Palm Springs Assembly race

With San Bernardino County elec tions officials posting another vote update Tuesday night, bisexual Palm Springs City Councilmember Christy Holstege continues to trail in her bid to be the first out state legislator elected from the LGBTQ retirement and tour ist mecca. It has been a roller coaster of a race that’s seen Holstege fall in and out of first place over the last month as new vote tallies were announced.

As of the B.A.R.’s print deadline Wednesday, Holstege remained stuck in second place in the race for the open Assembly District 47 seat span ning Riverside and San Bernardino counties. Her Republican opponent, Greg Wallis, was leading by 34 votes, with several thousand ballots still to be counted by San Bernardino elec tion officials.

Happy about Engardio’s D4 win

I was very happy with Joel Engardio’s victory over Gordon Mar in San Francisco’s District 4 supervisor race, reported by the Bay Area Reporter (“On 4th try, gay SF supe candidate Engardio wins,” November 24). However, I was surprised and disappointed that the B.A.R. decided not to endorse Engardio, a highly qualified candidate from

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our community with many positions that matched those of your newspaper (e.g., yes on Prop D, no on Prop E). I look forward to great things from our new supervisor, and hope that the B.A.R. will reconsider in any future reelection campaign.

Mike

Cesar Zepeda, left, was declared the winner in his race, Chris Stur ken won his election, and Christy Holstege remains stuck in second place in Southern California.

Courtesy the candidates

In 2014, former governor Jerry Brown had nominated Stewart as an associate justice of the appeal court’s Division Two. She became the first out female appellate court justice in the state and the second LGBTQ appeals court jurist after gay Justice James M. Humes of San Francisco, whom Brown had named to the ap pellate bench in 2012.

Two years later Brown elevated Humes to be the presiding justice of the 1st District Court of Appeal’s Di vision One. Since 2018, Humes has been the administrative presiding jus tice of the First Appellate District.

During the hearing, Humes took part in voting to confirm Stewart as a member of the Commission on Ju dicial Appointments. Joining him in the unanimous vote were outgoing California Supreme Court Chief Jus tice Tani Cantil-Sakauye and Attorney General Rob Bonta.

“What impresses me the most about you is the way you have lived your entire professional career as an open and proud lesbian,” said Humes. “You started your career 40 years ago when it was not a career builder to be out, far from it.”

He had brought with him a copy of California Lawyer magazine from 30 years ago that included a profile of Stewart as one of the few out at torneys then working in the state. It prompted a slew of negative letters the publication published two months later, he noted.

“The reason I mention this is be cause being an openly honest lesbian in the legal profession was not easy and that was 30 years ago. Yet you were out 40 years ago,” said Humes, who told Stewart that her “career has been marked by your leadership, hon esty, courage, and authenticity. You have proven yourself many times over as a leader; I think you are going to be an exceptional PJ.”

Stewart thanked Humes for his own trailblazing legal career as an out gay man.

“Thank you for all you have done,” she told him. “A major part of my job will be to support you going forward.”

Cantil-Sakauye praised Stewart for her “stellar work” in the judicial pro fession and as someone “wonderfully qualified” to lead a judicial court.

“I have watched you mentor and watched you inspire and bring along so many folks in the legal community or who aspire to be a part of the legal community,” she said.

To Cantil-Sakauye, who will step down from the bench in early January, Stewart said she was “going to miss you,” and praised her for her leader ship particularly during the COVID pandemic, which disrupted the way the state courts operated over the past two and half years.

“You will go down as the best chief justice we have ever had,” said Stewart.

Speaking on Stewart’s behalf was her former colleague at the San Francisco City Attorney’s office Jesse Smith, currently the chief assistant city attorney. He noted how she put her faith in the hundreds of attorneys

that worked under her leadership at the office.

“She did so with a soft touch,” said Smith, adding that she put her “con fidence” in the office’s “many skilled deputies to do their jobs.”

It is just one of the many traits Stewart possesses that will allow her to be an “excellent presiding justice,” Smith told the review panel.

“Terry has a keen sense of the hu man impact from her decisions,” he said. “This trait is critically important and demonstrates who Terry is.”

Calling Stewart “a civil rights icon of the first order,” Presiding Justice Al ison Tucher of the 1st District Court of Appeal’s Division Three hailed her colleague as an “empathetic listener” who is “fair even to those with whom she disagrees.”

Foremost, said Tucher, Stewart is “always mindful of the big picture that we are here to work together in serv ing the people of California by justly and promptly resolving their legal disputes.”

The State Bar Commission on Ju dicial Nominees Evaluation found Stewart to be exceptionally well quali fied, chair Adam Hofmann disclosed at the hearing.

“She will easily transfer,” said Hof mann, to her new role on the appellate court.

Led legal efforts on marriage equality

As a former deputy city attorney in San Francisco, Stewart had defended Newsom when he served as mayor of the city. Most famously, she was part

of the legal team that defended New som in state court after he ordered city officials to marry same-sex couples against California law in the winter of 2014 shortly after he became mayor.

She went on to successfully argue for the right of same-sex couples to wed before the California Supreme Court, which overturned the state’s anti-gay marriage statutes in 2008. The court’s ruling led to the ballot fight over the issue and eventual voter passage that November of Proposi tion 8, a constitutional amendment that banned same-sex marriage in the Golden State.

She lost a second case before the state court seeking to overturn Prop 8 but did successfully argue it should not annul the some 18,000 marriages that had taken place prior to Elec tion Day. After two same-sex couples filed a federal lawsuit against the ho mophobic proposition, the office of then-city attorney Dennis Herrera joined the case as an intervener, and Stewart was part of the legal team that worked on it.

In June 2013 the U.S. Supreme Court dismissed the case on a tech nicality, allowing lower court rulings striking down Prop 8 to stand. The re sumption of same-sex nuptials began shortly thereafter in California.

Bonta, who worked for a decade with Stewart at the city attorney’s of fice, praised her for the “trust and sup port” that she had provided the young er attorneys in the public law office.

“I have long admired and respected Justice Stewart,” said Bonta, since they first worked together in San Fran

cisco. “And that has only grown in the time since. I am very grateful to you Justice Stewart and to your commit ment to serve.”

In a Facebook post, current San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu praised Stewart’s being confirmed.

“She brought leadership and cour age to countless consequential cases in our Office, including the landmark marriage equality case. Congratula tions, Justice Stewart!” he wrote.

Referencing the concerns of late over the health of American democ racy, Stewart said she looks to Califor nia’s judiciary for hope and inspira tion when she holds her own doubts about the health of the country’s en during union.

“Sometimes I worry our democ racy is straining at the seams, and we may lose our statute as a constitution al democracy in this nation. In those moments I look for hope and inspira tion from California’s judiciary,” said Stewart. “Not only are we the largest but best justice system in the world, we are not ideological and we don’t come with agendas. We are a very col legial bunch in most regards.”

There are now five LGBTQ appeal court justices in the state. Gay Associ ate Justice Luis A. Lavin serves in the 2nd District, while lesbian Associate Justices Laurie M. Earl and Marsha G. Slough serve in the 3rd District and 4th District, respectively. Newsom appointed Earl to the appellate bench last year, while Brown had named Lavin and Slough as appellate justices.

As presiding justice, Stewart will earn $262,198. t

Seth Brenzel and his husband, Mal colm Gaines, attended the ceremony, as they are friends with Wang and Chavez.

“My husband and I got married here in 2004,” Brenzel told the B.A.R., referring to the monthlong “Winter of Love” that took place after thenmayor Gavin Newsom, now the state’s governor, ordered city officials to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

“Every time I step in City Hall I re member that,” Gaines said.

Those marriages were eventu ally voided by the California Supreme Court, and Brenzel and Gaines said they were married twice more, once in the Green Room at the War Memorial Veterans Building, and then once in a backyard in 2008 just before Proposi tion 8, the state’s same-sex marriage ban, was approved by voters.

News conference

At the news conference held on the steps of City Hall, speakers talked about the importance of marriage equality and California’s long road to same-sex marriage that started with the “Winter of Love” in 2004.

After those marriages were voided by the state Supreme Court, lawsuits continued over the matter and, in 2008, the court ruled that Proposition

22, the California Defense of Marriage Act passed by voters in 2000, was un constitutional. That opened the door for same-sex couples to wed for about five months, until the passage of Prop 8.

More lawsuits followed, culminat ing in a federal trial in 2010. In Au gust 2010, following the trial, Judge Vaughan Walker, who was appointed by former President George H.W. Bush, ruled that Prop 8 was indeed unconstitutional. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2013 that Walker’s ruling could go into effect, two years before the nation’s highest court legal

ized same-sex marriage in all 50 states in the case of Obergefell v. Hodges. Walker came out as gay after his ruling and retired from the bench in 2012.

Jennifer Pizer, chief legal officer for Lambda Legal Defense and Edu cation Fund, said at Friday’s news conference that her organization represented three couples in Hawaii in 1996. There were favorable court rulings but then Congress passed the Defense of Marriage Act, preventing same-sex marriages from being legal. Pizer condemned the arguments used by opponents that same-sex marriage was dangerous to children.

“It is just untrue,” she said. Ultimately, the legal road to mar riage equality led to the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2015 decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, which legalized same-sex marriage nationwide.

“Every victory has been a hard one,” Pizer said. “But the Respect for Marriage Act at long last removes the Defense of Marriage Act.”

There is concern, due to the U.S. Supreme Court overturning the right to abortion in its Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling in June, that federal rights like samesex marriage could also face reversal at the high court. That’s because Jus tice Clarence Thomas, one of court’s six conservative members, suggested as much in a concurring opinion he wrote in the Dobbs case.

“If the Supreme Court erases the right to marry,” the Respect for Mar riage Act will help, Pizer said.

Kris Perry also spoke. She and her spouse, Sandra Stier, were the lead plaintiffs in the 2009 federal Prop 8 lawsuit. She said that she was “incred ibly moved” by how much public support has grown for same-sex mar riage. It was 20% back in 1996, Pizer noted; now it’s 71%.

“It was just 18 years ago that mayor Newsom” ordered city officials to issue the marriage licenses,” Perry recalled.

“In fact, Sandy and I and our four boys sped across the Bay Bridge,”

to take advantage of the “Winter of Love,” she said.

After the U.S. Supreme Court up held Walker’s ruling, Perry and Stier were the first couple married that day at City Hall, in a ceremony officiated by then-state attorney general and now Vice President Kamala Harris.

Tony Hoang, a gay man who’s ex ecutive director of Equality California, the statewide LGBTQ rights organiza tion, said the Respect for Marriage Act “is a big victory to be celebrated but it won’t end discrimination of LGBTQ+ people.” He and others called for pas sage of the federal Equality Act, which was passed by the House and has lan guished in the Senate. It would need to be reintroduced in the next Congress.

San Francisco Mayor London Breed said that lawmakers like Padilla and U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-California), who also voted for the Respect for Marriage Act, “represent San Francisco values at their absolute best.”

She noted that it wasn’t that long ago when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down laws banning interracial marriage in the 1967 Loving v. Vir ginia case.

“This legislation,” Breed said, refer ring to the Respect for Marriage Act, “gives any person the right to marry. We’re proud here in San Francisco to support this legislation, and I hope that one day it is not needed.” t

The court hearing was broadcast virtu ally though there were no images.

Prasad, 51, has been in ICE custody for 473 days, his attorney, San Fran cisco Deputy Public Defender Maddie Boyd, told the court.

As the Bay Area Reporter has previ ously reported, Prasad, who told the court that he identifies as a queer bi man, came to the U.S. from Fiji as a lawful permanent resident when he was 6 years old. But, at 22, he “made a horrible mistake in the heat of an argument and unfortunately took an other person’s life,” as Prasad wrote in a Guest Opinion in the B.A.R. in July.

He was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 20 years to life, he told the court.

Prasad was found eligible for re lease from prison due to his rehabili

tation and remorse, he told the judge. However, in August 2021, after being found eligible for parole, instead of being released to the community, he was directly transferred from prison to ICE custody at Golden State An nex. Shortly after he was detained by ICE, his mother died from COVID, and ICE denied him the opportunity to be released, even temporarily, to say goodbye or to attend her funeral.

During the hearing, Prasad talked about his life in state prison and in ICE detention. He repeatedly expressed his remorse for his ac tions back in 1994 and said he has changed by educating himself and getting into treatment for his drug and alcohol problems. He said that he was sexually abused by a man when he was about 11, which led him to join a gang for protection, and to use drugs and alcohol.

“I didn’t want him to take me and

rape me again,” Prasad said.

In a phone interview December 6, Prasad told the B.A.R. that it “was an awesome feeling” to be able to leave ICE detention.

“When he started talking I just closed my eyes,” Prasad said, referring to the judge. “I got really emotional, thinking about my mom and grateful to God.”

Prasad also offered thanks to his many supporters.

“Thank you so much with all my heart and soul,” he said. “I really ap preciate the love and support.”

In the same call, Boyd said that she expected Prasad to be released Tuesday. He would first go to Ba kersfield and then hopefully be transported to the Bay Area. Boyd said that Prasad is under the San Francisco parole unit now.

During the hearing, Prasad and Boyd both told Riley about an exten sive plan he has once bond has been

raised. It was unclear immediately fol lowing the hearing if the government would require Prasad to wear an ankle monitor or have regular check-ins with parole officers.

Hien Nguyen, a program manager for the Asian Prisoner Support Com mittee in Oakland, testified that her or ganization will work with Prasad help ing him find housing, go to Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anony mous meetings, court hearings, and other matters as required. She described the services that would be offered as a “high touch approach,” meaning that throughout the reentry process, Prasad would not be left behind.

Fucci, the attorney for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, raised objections that mainly revolved around Prasad being a flight risk and that he had not demonstrated rehabili tation outside of a correctional facility. But the judge countered that, stating

the Board of Parole Hearings con ducted extensive work on Prasad’s case before it recommended him for parole.

“The state parole evidence, I think, is evidence in your favor,” Riley said to Prasad. “They went through a thor ough risk assessment.”

Boyd outlined that process, which included a forensic psychological exam and risk assessment.

She also pointed to the extensive community support Prasad has. There were 81 people on the Zoom call listening to the hearing and five of his supporters in the courtroom, she said. Family members submitted let ters, she added, and she pointed out that the mission of the California De partment of Corrections and Rehabil itation is to “facilitate rehabilitation.”

Prasad received commendations from prison staff and was an AA chairman in state prison, she said.

Senator Alex Padilla spoke during a news conference December 2 on the steps of San Francisco City Hall.

Christopher robledo

In his B.A.R. op-ed, Prasad wrote about his life. Since he left Fiji decades ago, he said that he was afraid he would not survive the homophobia there.

“My story starts with my fam

ily, which is Indo-Fijian,” Prasad wrote. “My parents left Fiji because they wanted a better life for their children. I arrived in Modesto, California as a lawful permanent resident at just 6 years old.”

In response to a question from Boyd, Prasad told the court that he

The San Francisco Department of Public Health’s HIV epidemiology report for 2021, released in Septem ber, had 160 HIV cases reported in the city last year. That was up from the 138 cases in 2020, but below the 173 new cases reported in 2019.

“We have to ask ourselves, ‘Why is that?’” she said, referring to the racial disparities. “We can’t be blam ing clients, it’s us. It is the medical health system. I always tell people that it takes a community to end a pandemic.”

Aqui responded to Havlir.

“If I may say on your behalf, dur ing the COVID pandemic, during the height of it, Dr. Havlir was one of the people who was largely re sponsible for coming into my neigh borhood, which is the Mission, and shared expertise, not just scientifi cally but also to discover how do we communicate with people who are unable to get this message,” he said. “How do we get the testing, how do we get the treatment? You did so by listening.”

Wiener recalled receiving death threats when he introduced legisla tion to decriminalize the spread of HIV back in 2017. His Senate Bill 239 bill, co-authored by gay former Assemblymember and current San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria (D), was signed by former governor Jerry Brown. It went into effect in 2018 and modernized the state’s HIV criminalization laws adopted dur

<< Cultural district

From page 4

April 6 incident

One of the dates that pop up with some frequency in the vari ous emails is April 6. A couple of emails from Hakimi refer to “the incident” on April 6 as being sig nificant in the continued degra dation of relations among board members.

While Aguirre and Torres de clined to discuss the matter with the B.A.R., saying they regard it as a personnel issue and, therefore, it

ing the height of the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s.

Before SB 239, HIV-positive people could be prosecuted for engaging in unprotected sexual in tercourse with the specific intent to transmit HIV even if no actual transmission of the virus occurred. If convicted, they could be sen tenced to up to eight years in prison.

The new law requires proof that transmission of HIV did occur in order for a person to be prosecuted for intentionally transmitting the virus to a sex partner.

Wiener, who has successfully passed legislation aimed at help ing trans people and others in the

falls under employee confidential ity, Hakimi had no such hesitation.

Torres and Aguirre wanted to release $90,000 to a list of organi zations without what Hakimi felt was proper authorization from anyone on the board. More nota bly, they wanted to release it with out Hakimi’s approval as treasurer. As it turned out, those funds were part of the ones that the cultural district didn’t actually have due to an error by its fiscal sponsor the San Francisco LGBT Community Center, as the B.A.R. previously reported.

does have an application in to Gov ernor Gavin Newsom for a pardon.

As the B.A.R. has reported, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and the San Francisco Democratic Party have both passed resolutions urging Newsom to pardon Prasad. A coalition of human rights and

faith-based groups has also put out a call to action urging the governor to issue a pardon.

While in prison, Prasad earned his GED and took vocational classes in welding, electronics, and roof ing. “I was able to partake in mental health services for my childhood

cab and get them to SF General and put them on the meds, we would wipe out new infections like that,” Wiener said. “In most parts of this country it’s not happening. In a large majority of California, it’s not happening, let alone other parts of the world.”

trauma and other forms of coping skills therapy,” he told the court.

The judge did note that both sides have until January 4 to file an appeal. It was not known if the gov ernment would do so. t

From page 11

Holstege, a Democrat, is vying to become the 13th member of the Leg islative LGBTQ Caucus in Sacramento and its first bi female member. Assem blyman Alex Lee (D-San Jose), who two years ago became the first bisexual

elected to the Legislature, took his oath of office for a second time December 5. He is now one the 12 Democratic members of the affinity group for LG BTQ lawmakers.

It marks the caucus’ biggest ros ter of members since its founding in 2002. Accounting for 10% of the Leg islature’s 120 members, the California

LGBTQ community, continues to receive threats, including a bomb threat this week, reported the San Francisco Standard. (https://sfstan dard.com/politics/sen-scott-wie ner-blames-charlie-kirk-tweets-forbomb-threat/)

Wiener also addressed the fact that the United States does not have a public health system that is de signed to stop the spread of infec tious diseases.

“If everyone who’s at risk is on PrEP, if everyone knows how to get PEP (post-exposure prophylaxis), if everyone gets regular easy testing, and then like we do in San Francisco if you’re positive you put them in a

Neither the money nor the re cipients were approved by the district’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee or the board “and it was rushed without any over sight,” Hakimi told the B.A.R.

“We didn’t have an objection to the list, necessarily,” she said, “but the approval process, which was my ongoing concern with the leadership by that point. The di rector overrode our concerns and moved to approve the payments with support of the co-chairs [Torres and Fusco].”

“The checks,” Hakimi said,

LGBTQ caucus is the first of its kind to reach such proportional representa tion in a U.S. legislature.

In other caucus news, gay Assembly member Chris Ward (D-San Diego) was appointed speaker pro tempore of the California Assembly on Monday. It is the second-highest leadership posi tion in the Legislature’s lower chamber.

The final panel, Young Leaders Making an Impact, was moder ated by Michelle Meow of the Com monwealth Club. Panelists were Bo Hwang, a positive care coordinator at a Bay Area health clinic; Adrian Vargas, health educator and case manager at Instituto de la Raza; and Antoine Matthews, a young Black man who works at Code Ten derloin, a nonprofit that works to secure long-term employment for underserved communities in San Francisco. The young people talked about changes that need to be made in order to get to zero new HIV in fections.

“We need to keep working to gether and to be united,” said Var gas. “And to advocate for the com munity that is being overlooked, and also trying to learn from the past, use our young ideas mixing with experiences and also thinking globally, not just local.”

Hwang talked about intersection ality, such as working with the older generation.

“When we talk about HIV we cannot leave out housing,” he said.

Also discussed was how to ad dress the slow response from the government to get people the care that they need.

“were signed off without my re view or signature.”

That August, it was discovered the district had overspent its bud get. Aguirre and the co-chairs “told us that this money paid out was a main cause of the financial crisis for the organization,” said Hakimi.

In an April 6 Zoom call with Haki mi, Aguirre, and another district staff member, the matter came up. The district employee was asked to leave and then Aguirre scolded Hakimi, saying she was making their job diffi cult and “that I had too much power,” Hakimi told the B.A.R.

“Presiding over the California As sembly is a great opportunity and an extreme honor,” stated Ward. “I look forward to working with my col leagues to ensure full robust partici pation working toward the common good for all Californians. Thank you for the privilege to serve as Speaker pro Tempore.”

“It’s leadership that needs to be pushed into those positions,” said Matthews. “The governors, the lieu tenant governors, whoever, when you think about who we’re putting in those positions, those are critical roles, and I think this past two years with elections, really have been re shaping and showing us where we might be going in the next five to 10 years.”

By the time the discussions end ed, the rain had stopped. Attendees filed outside to the Circle of Friends memorial in the grove to read the names of people who were lost to AIDS.

“To have watched this event over the years grow from a small knot of people in the drizzle to a national audience online and the hundreds in the tent locally gives me hope,” said Carlin Holden, a 79-year-old straight ally.

Another attendee said he was in spired by the involvement of young people.

“It’s really inspiring to see the youth showing up with a lot of hope for the future of HIV in our coun try,” Brandon Stanton, 46, an HIVpositive gay man, told the Bay Area Reporter.

The day’s event was sponsored by Gilead Sciences, Quest Diagnostics, and Chevron.

The two panel discussions, the interview with Cleve Jones, and the film on the Black community and AIDS can be viewed at the AIDS grove’s website at https://www.aids memorial.org/wad2022 t

Aguirre told the B.A.R. they feel that “Ultimately, this comes down to misunderstanding of roles and responsibilities, and attempts to subvert well defined roles and re sponsibilities.”

Aguirre said they worked closely with their human resources repre sentative who, because the cultural district is sponsored financially by the LGBT center, is an employee of the center. Everything was care fully documented, she said.

Hakimi said her requested in vestigation of the incident never came to fruition. t

And lesbian Assemblymember Sabrina Cervantes (D-Corona) is now chair of the Latino Legislative Caucus. She noted in a December 6 tweet that its 35 members are a record, and the 21 women in it, ac cording to its online roster, are “the highest number of Latinas in the state’s history!” t

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT

NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-22557558

In the matter of the application of LUIS SPECIALE, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appears from said application that petitioner LUIS SPECIALE is requesting that the name LUIS SPECIALE be changed to LOUIE SPECIALE. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 103N, Rm. 103N on the 19th of JANUARY 2023 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

NOV 17, 24, DEC 01, 08, 2022

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF

NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-22557560

In the matter of the application of KENNY A. JEN TONS, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appears from said application that petitioner KENNY A. JENTONS is requesting that the name KENNY A. JENTONS AKA KENNY ANGELICA JENTONS AKA KENNY JENTONS AKA KENNY ANGELICA be changed to KENNY ANGELICA MILLER. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 9, Rm. 103 on the 3rd of JANUARY 2023 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

NOV 17, 24, DEC 01, 08, 2022

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT

FILE A-0398524

The following person(s) is/are doing business as THAI CURRY RESTAURANT, AUTHENTIC THAI CUISINE; THAI CURRY RESTAURANT & BAR, AUTHENTIC THAI CUISINE, 96 MCALLISTER ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed KATHLEEN KAEWPRASERT. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/19/22. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/19/22. NOV 17, 24, DEC 01, 08, 2022

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT

FILE A-0398726

The following person(s) is/are doing business as CH CLEANING SERVICES, 248 FARALLONES ST, SAN FRANCIS CO, CA 94112. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed JAIRO LOPEZ. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/09/22. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/09/22.

NOV 17, 24, DEC 01, 08, 2022

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT

FILE A-0398725

The following person(s) is/are doing business as ESTRELLA TAQUERIA, 533 HAIGHT ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94117. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed JOSE CALDERON. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/13/22. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/09/22.

NOV 17, 24, DEC 01, 08, 2022

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT

FILE A-0398738

The following person(s) is/are doing business as PEACHTREE PILATES, 2108 N ST #N, SACRAMENTO, CA 95816. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed LINDSAY DILWORTH. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 07/01/22. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/10/22. NOV 17, 24, DEC 01, 08, 2022

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT

FILE A-0398541

The following person(s) is/are doing business as LAUNDROMAT AND MORE, 2408 BAYSHORE BLVD, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94134. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed MARWAN ZEIDAN. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/20/22. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/21/22.

NOV 17, 24, DEC 01, 08, 2022

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT

FILE A-0398697

The following person(s) is/are doing business as HAPPY BOOKS CONSULTING, 105 PALM AVE #1, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94118. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed HAPPY TOOTHBUDS INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/05/22. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/07/22.

NOV 17, 24, DEC 01, 08, 2022

FILE A-0398692

The following person(s) is/are doing business as LITTLE CROWN MASSAGE, 3150 18TH ST #519, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed WANARATT LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N/A. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/07/22. NOV 17, 24, DEC 01, 08, 2022

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT

FILE A-0398737

The following person(s) is/are doing business as FLANAHAN’S; FLANAHAN’S PUB, 3805 NORIEGA ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94122. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed 687 MCAL LISTER, LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/03/13. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/10/22.

NOV 17, 24, DEC 01, 08, 2022

STATEMENT OF ABANDONMENT OF USE OF FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME FILE A-0379042

The following persons have abandoned the use of the fictitious business name known as BAR CAR, 3805 NORIEGA ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94122. This business was conducted by a liability company and signed by 687 MCALLISTER, LLC (CA). The fictitious name was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/19/17.

NOV 17, 24, DEC 01, 08, 2022

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT

FILE FBN690150

The following person(s) is/are doing business as A BEACON COACHING, 5315 SIERRA RD, SAN JOSE, CA 95132. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed CAROLINA WILLIAMS. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N/A. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/09/22.

NOV 17, 24, DEC 01, 08, 2022

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-22557570

In the matter of the application of MARGARITA BRICHKOVA, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appears from said application that petitioner MARGARITA BRICHKOVA is requesting that the name MARGARITA BRICHKOVA AKA MARGARITA BRICH KOV be changed to MARGO KONYK. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 103N, Rm. 103N on the 29th of DECEMBER 2022 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

NOV 24, DEC 01, 08, 15, 2022

Participants in the December 1 World AIDS Day observance at the National AIDS Memorial Grove carry panels of the AIDS Memo rial Quilt to the Circle of Friends, where names of persons recently inscribed in the grove were read.

Rick Gerharter

‘Spoiler Alert’

by Brian Bromberger

“S

poiler Alert,” based on gay TV jour nalist Michael Ausiello’s 2017 memoir, concerns his 14-year love affair with his photographer partner, Kit Cowan, who died of a rare cancer in 2015. While the memoir is highly recommended, the bland, conventional, and formulaic adaptation is a missed opportunity to create an edgier, more daring grief drama to show how people use fictional stories to sort out pain or conflict.

Jim Parsons stars as Ausiello. Obsessed with television at an early age, he finds it a defense mechanism to deal with the trauma of being gay

and the grief of his mother’s death. Gay script writers David Marshall Grant and Dan Savage make the gimmicky choice of portraying Ausi ello’s childhood as a fantasy 1980s family sitcom complete with a phony living-room set and canned laugh track as a means of downplaying the pathos/depressing elements of the plot.

While this stylistic daydream approach works as Ausiello grows up, it winds up distancing us from the later emotional tragedy, and almost sabotages the heartbreaking climax in the deathbed scene. Director Michael Showalter, who skillfully mixed comedy and drama in the hospital soap opera “The Big Sick” falters here, so we are left with a gay tear-jerker imitation of the 1970 “Love Story.”

Sally Field and Bill Irwin play Cowan’s (Ben Aldridge) parents, who (stretching believability) are immediately accepting. At age 30 he finally tells them he’s gay. They scold him for not trust ing them sooner with the good news. Field is the mother every gay man wishes he had and invests the role with exuberance. Irwin is fine, but con sidering he’s a great comic clown, he’s criminally underused here.

Parsons in simpering, snarky but eventually heroic mode meets the challenge. Ausiello as a former fat kid (FFK) has issues about his sexu ality. He’s scared to take off his shirt in front of Cowan, which inhibits their sex life.

Cowan is a commitment-phobe, ambiva lent about monogamy. The chemistry between

Parsons and Aldridge at first comes across as awkward and reluctant, but improves as the ro mance blossoms, thanks largely to Aldridge. He invests charisma and a winsome energy into an underwritten role. It’s a potentially star-making performance for him.

Gay shorthand

In an interview with Parsons and Aldridge three weeks ago at the Ritz Carlton Hotel when they visited San Francisco for the film’s promo tional screening at the Castro Theatre, both men were asked if being out gay actors was an advan tage in telling this story.

There are chocolatiers and then there are hot chocolatiers. Standing tall in the latter camp is Wade Stembridge, recently named one of the Colorado LGBTQ Chamber of Commerce’s in augural “40 Under 40” business leaders. When life gave him lemons, Stembridge made choco late. After losing his financial services job over the holidays in 2018, Stembridge turned his con fectionary hobby into a full-time business. Coco Gusto, his line of shimmering hand-painted chocolates is almost too beautiful to eat. With their unexpected shapes and vibrant jewel tones, Stembridge’s bars and bonbons are like edible or naments. Our favorite is the blueberry chocolate crunch bar which, in addition to being delicious, looks like a collab between Willy Wonka and M.C. Escher. www.coco-gusto.com

Toasting the Season

Gay gift ideas for the holidays

by

Whether you’re looking for tunes, booze, wearables, edibles or even in sertables, remember to support queer and LGBTQ-friendly makers and vendors in your quest for the perfect holiday gifts this year. Here are a few suggestions to help make your holidays gay.

Stocking stuff

For a San Francisco stocking stuffer that’s un forgettably meta, I’m giving my friends novelty socks with a unique local angle. The Jimmy Lion brand has released a licensed limited edition range inspired by Alfred Hitchcock movies, the most stylish drawing on Saul Bass’ classic poster art for San Francisco-set “Vertigo.” Given the film’s recent ouster from the #1 position in Sight and Sound’s all-time greatest movie rankings, there’s all the more reason to slip on these socks and put your foot down on behalf of a local gem.

Meanwhile, to keep your tootsies toasty north of the city, the same line of cinematic socks offers

a pair of designs that pay tribute to Bodega Baylensed “The Birds.” They give a whole new mean ing to Tippi toes. www.jimmylion.com

L.A. singer-songwriter and bearfficionado Tom Goss’ latest hum job is the holiday-themed EP “Big Fat Gay Ass Christmas,” featuring beatcentric dance floor carols “Santa Slay” and “Ho Ho Homo.” You’ll find it, along with more heart

felt demonstrations of Goss’ musical gifts, from T-shirts and ski caps to sexy calendars, magnets and prints (His tender 2019 “Territories” album is a real keeper), at his website. And if you want to surprise your own huggy bear with an early cel ebration, grab tickets for Goss’ live show this Fri day night December 9. He’s headlining CubCake at the Lone Star Saloon. www.tomgossmusic.com

At their Treecraft Distillery on Treasure Is land, entrepreneurial gay couple Nate Byerly and Gordon Remple are crafting some of the West Coast’s most innovative small batch tipples. One of only two certified LGBTQ-owned and oper ated distilleries in the country, Treecraft supports many local queer causes while producing nation ally acclaimed elixirs. My favorite TreeCraft bot tle for holiday giving is their Lavender-Hibiscus Gin, which tempers the bite of juniper with floral notes and is distilled from honey produced in Byerly and Remple’s own beehives.

Also gift-worthy is their Earl Grey Gin, in corporating botanicals to please tea lovers if not teetotalers, and their Chocolate Bourbon, which

Jim Parsons and Ben Aldridge on their gay ‘Love Story’

Jim Gladstone

Tom Goss and Santa wish you a humpy holiday season

Hitchcock socks from Jimmy Lion

Santa’s Favorite Chocolate Gift Set from Coco Gusto

Chocolate Bourbon from Treecraft Distillery

“I feel my being gay wasn’t the most important connection because the film is so much about loving another person and the risks that involves,” Parsons commented. “However, mak ing the film with another gay actor and lots of queer people on our creative team definitely added something… I wish I had words to describe what it brought more fully.”

For Aldridge, the relationship built with Parsons as an actor helped him define his character.

“We had an email relationship, as we had never met before, me be ing in London and Jim in New York,” said Aldridge. “We discussed our act ing and shared moments about our sexuality and what they meant to us. The way we’d related to people in the past did affect what we brought to the relationship on screen. Having lots of LGBTQ people on the production team creates a shorthand, an under standing. There don’t have to be rules that only gay actors should play gay characters, but those telling the story really do understand what’s going on, which help guide and protect the sto

For Parsons, from the moment Aldridge auditioned on Zoom, knew he was the one he should be working

“I felt I didn’t have to explain my self to him, being so comfortable with him from the start,” Parsons said. “There was never a moment of ‘What does he mean,’ and that spirit has continued for over a year now. We were getting to discover each other, doing the work that mimicked the Michael-Kit relationship. He was always surprising me, which seemed an important aspect to being a couple on camera.”

Life-affirming

With the box office failure of “Bros,” a gay rom-com with an all-queer cast that was heavily promoted, were they worried if LGBTQ audiences would

cold macerated with Ecuadoran co coa nibs from the Mission District’s Dandelion Chocolates. Order online or stop by the distillery for a weekend tasting. www.treecraftdistillery.com

Another enterprising couple, Joe Wolosz and Jeff Durham, are the minds behind Gentleman Farmer, a winery and burgeoning lifestyle brand based in Napa. Hospitality industry veterans,

show up for “Spoiler,” especially since the film could be seen as a downer compared to the upbeat “Bros?”

Parsons didn’t want to predict how well the film would do, seeing “differ ent elements at play, but I don’t feel the success or failure of both films is sexuality based in any way.”

Aldridge rejected the downer label.

“I’ve only viewed the film once, but I was surprised with my takeaway. I didn’t feel I had watched a film where someone dies, but rather two people who fall in love and all that involves.

It chronicles a relationship fairly well from the spark of discovering some one, being disarmed by someone, and how time and life can change that relationship. When you leave the theater, you don’t feel weathered, but exhilarated because the film is lifeaffirming. You cry and are moved, marveling at life and awe that love is at the center of this film, in a way different from other queer films we’ve seen before, that are often centered more on struggle.”

According to Parsons, humor took away some of the sting of the film’s ending.

“The absurdity of the sit-com skits

The pair began experimenting with winemaking back in 1999 and today remain an intimate, hands-on op eration, producing under 1000 cases a year, much of which is sold through their wine club.

Keeping their operation a bit under the radar until recently, the couple built relationships with high-end wine country tour operators, who would bring lucky guests to Wolosz and Durham’s Yountville home for tast ings accompanied by spectacular food pairings cooked up by Wolosz (who is working on a Gentleman Farmer cookbook). This spring, they’ll open a unique bungalow headquarters in downtown Napa with tastings for the general public and invitation-only events for club members. Member ships and a limited range of individual bottles –including their distinctively dry 2021 Rosé blend of pinot noir, merlot and pinot meunier; awarded 90 points by “Wine Spectator”–are available for holiday giving. www.gentlemanfarmerwines.com

Gay apparel has made its way to oenophile gadgetry this season, with

enabled some of the more profound moments to become more promi nent, even more heartbreaking. Play ing around with the structure, which we got from the book, says we’re ad mitting the artifice and no one is try ing to trick anybody, or put one over the audience, but it allows them to let their guard down and really absorb what happens.”

Aldridge, who came out publicly as gay in 2020, feels fortunate that stories like “Spoiler Alert” are being told now and he’s glad to be a part of them.

“Part of my choice to come out publicly was that something felt mis aligned,” he explained. “I’d played a lot of straight, romantic parts. In my 30s, I want to play things I really un derstand and connect to. We’re more than men that suffer with shame. There is room to celebrate the love and the joy of who we are. At its heart, ‘Spoiler Alert’ is two people in love. That’s what I feel most proud of.”t

www.focusfeatures.com

Read the full article on www.ebar.com

the award-winning Coravin 6+ wine preservation system now available in a handsome black and white pat terned Keith Haring design. An ideal

Bill Irwin, Sally Field, Ben Aldridge and Jim Parsons in ‘Spoiler Alert’

Wine from Gentleman Farmer

Keith Haring wine preserver from Coravin 6+

‘Little Shop’ is a kick in the plants

downtown Tevye and instead pushes the caricature full-on Filipino, com plete with thick accent (Think: “Ip I were a rich man!”).

Director Lo’s decision to make this switch from “Oy!” to Pinoy, trading one comic stereotype for another, feels clever given Arias’ background, and inoffensive given the show’s broad brush humor (The character’s name remains Mushnik; Wong’s ChineseAmerican Seymour’s similarly semitic surname is “Krelborn”).

Unfortunately, in marketing this otherwise top-notch production, Lo and TheatreWorks have effortfully stressed the fact that they’ve set their “Little Shop” in San Francisco’s Chi natown and cast mainly AAPI actors. It’s great to see representation, but other than a bit of set-dressing –a tailwagging cat clock, a mural of Bruce Lee, Chinese characters on store sig nage– the shift feels largely irrelevant otherwise.

by Jim Gladstone

Forget the poinsettias and celebrate this holiday season with an Audrey II. Perennial stage favorite “Little Shop of Horrors” is blooming in the Bay Area for a second time this year (An other production was mounted at the Berkeley Playhouse in the spring) at TheatreWorks Silicon Valley), and for good reason.

With its pop-culture savvy book and lyrics by the late gay writer How ard Ashman, a zippy 1950s pastiche score by Alan Menken and an offkilter monster movie-meets-“Sesame Street” scenario adapted from Roger Corman’s grindhouse classic, “Little Shop” offers family-friendly entertain

ment (Let’s say for ages 10 and up) with a full stratum of funny subter ranean dirt for adults to dig while the kids remain oblivious.

Chief among the musical’s adult pleasures is the sadistic dentist, Orin Scrivello, played here to puffed up perfection by Nick Nakashima. Un der the wise direction of Jeffrey Lo, he combines the looming but cartoon ish physical presence of a parade float with an endlessly elastic repertoire of facial expressions to simultaneously portray and undermine his potentially problematic character. (Orin physical ly and psychologically abuses shop girl Audrey, played by Sumi Yu, who effec tively conveys a growing confidence as the show progresses).

Toys beneath the tree

Late in the second act, Nakashima nearly steals the show altogether, unexpectedly popping up in three smaller roles –one of which is female–in rapid succession. But complete lar ceny is impossible given the wealth of talent on stage here.

In addition to Yu, whose comic sweetness feels entirely natural, Phil Wong turns in a deliciously self-con scious Seymour, keeping you on his side even when his dorkyness turns to darkness; and the Motown Greek chorus of Ronette, Chiffon and Crys tal (Lucca Troutman, Alia Hodge and Naima Alakham) aces their giggle-in ducing blend of choreographic slinki ness and editorial side-eye.

If Ashman and Menken, who also

wrote the lyrics and music for Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast” and “The Little Mermaid,” are role models for team work, their standard is lived up to by this production’s puppetry crew. Mat thew McAvenue Creations’ design, Brandon Leland’s remarkably expres sive manipulation and Katrina Lauren McGraw’s disco diva vocals combine to give Audrey II, the man-eating plant, an alluring vegetal vavoom.

Left-coast fertilizer

As Mr. Mushnik, Seymour and Audrey’s boss, Lawrence-Michael C. Arias’ turns in another yet another laugh-out-loud performance. He takes a character usually played with the exaggerated shtetl schmaltz of a

There’s a little rainbow flag by the cash register and a photo of Harvey Milk (next to a headshot of former SF Giants’ Tim Lincecum) pinned to the flower shop wall; a nice little bit of queer and local representation on stage, yes. But is there any deep meaning? Might Mushnik be growing pansies? I noticed these clever details without a press release extolling their virtues.

“Little Shop” is a smart, silly com edy. TheaterWorks’ noise about its version subtly addressing issues in cluding Chinatown gentrification and domestic violence in the Asian-Amer ican community feels overstated and unattractively opportunistic. There’s a theater marketing strategist who de serves a meeting with Audrey II.t

‘Little Shop of Horrors,’ through Dec. 24. $30-$100. Lucie Stern The atre, 1305 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto. (877) 662-8978. www.theatreworks.org

gift for single wine-loving friends, the ingenious Coravin device allows you to enjoy favorite vintages by the glass with no concern that the unfinished wine will go bad. The gizmo pierces a cork without removing it from the bottle, then pipes in argon gas to fill the space occupied by wine as its poured. Remove the device and the cork naturally recompresses, reseal ing the bottle with no oxygen ever coming into contact with the remain ing wine. The Coravin also allows you to enjoy tastes from two or more different bottles over the course of an evening without leaving you in a stupor or leaving any wine to waste.

www.coravin.com

Those mischievous elves at San Francisco’s own Good Vibrations are at it again. Among the most play ful options on offer this season are a rainbow-striped butt plug that en courages users to feel oh-so-full of Pride. There’s also a new line of locally designed goodies officially known as Cute Little Fuckers; adorable, color ful vibrating critters that bear resem blances to starfish, octopuses, eels and other familiar life forms that are ready to wriggle all over your nether regions. Launched on Kickstarter to wild success back in 2018, they’re the creation of non-binary designer Step, who’s created lots of online how-to content to help you make the most of your toy box. No more silent nights! www.goodvibrations.comt

Cute Little Fuckers from Good Vibrations

Audrey II (voiced by Katrina Lauren McGraw, puppeteered by Brandon Leland, puppet by Matthew McAvene Creations) demands food from Seymour (Phil Wong) in TheatreWorks Silicon Valley’s “Little Shop of Horrors.”

Kevin Berne

by Tim Pfaff

In what could be taken as her phi losophy of fiction, Sara Thankam Mathews has produced a debut novel entitled “All This Could Be Different” (Viking). Before that title is dismissed with a Well, yes, it warrants saying that –at a time when experimental fiction is all the rage– Mathews can, unde niably, control a large block of prose with a clear, involving plot and char acters that make strong impressions.

As likely is that “All This” is more than a novelization of Mathews’ own life, although her own experience as a gay woman with South Asian roots whose experience of America goes well beyond assimilation clearly in forms her work. Think what you will of what’s now called autofiction, this is not it. There’s nothing automatic about it, and Mathews leaves no doubt that she has approached her task with fo cus and dedication as well as demon strable talent.

As much a truism as “all this could be different” is “there’s nothing new under the sun.” Mathews tackles themes and trends that count as fa miliar ground in literary fiction. But there’s nothing generic about her de

piction of being a first-generation im migrant with Indian parents.

Her protagonist, Sneha, has barely taken the stage before she clarifies how to pronounce her name (SNAYhah). She has that kind of directness. She has come to America with her parents, who have returned to Kar nataka after her father is deported for business malfeasance. A recent gradu ate from an unnamed college in what is by implication a more sophisticated part of the States, fate whisks her off to Milwaukee, Wisconsin to take a job

with a decent salary (that she negoti ates up) as a consultant with a Fortune 500 company.

The struggle of most of her age-mates in post-financial-crisis America plays out in Sneha’s friends and colleagues, and what’s notable about Sneha’s situa tion is that she accepts it without com plaint or at least without whining. And her skill at money management means that she can discharge the obligation borne by most of her fellow immigrant children: she can and does send her parents money they need.

Broken Heartland

Even in chilly Wisconsin –the freez ing winter temperatures are almost a character– Sneha builds a life of her own with determination even when clear direction sometimes eludes her. The reader is never unaware of her strength of character in that regard.

The trials of the workplace notwith standing, the strongest challenge she faces is finding her place in lesbian Mil waukee, where there are two dyke bars and otherwise scant opportunity for public openness. Reaching out, she finds herself on a tightrope between forth right women like Tig –a Black woman who has shortened her name from An tigone– and to her more attractive, and therefore less reliable partners such as Marina, a dancer (white, of course) who becomes her principal obsession. Al though a familiar dynamic, there’s noth ing routine or generic about it for Sneha.

If this novel served no other pur pose, it’s an important addition to les bian fiction that could only have been written by a sister. Pride may not be the precise word for it, but there’s not a trace of denial on Sneha’s part of the facts of her sexuality – or any dodging of their implications.

Mathews avoids loftiness at every

turn. In the same way her charac terizations skirt self-pity, neither are they given to inflation. She articulates Sneha’s fundamental conflict in famil iar terms..

“I’m afraid … that I’m not very well constructed to … be with anyone. For me there was only Amit and that was a disaster. Friendship I can navigate, though there are still things there that feel like too much…. I’m afraid maybe of being with someone I also really like, because then what if I’m ugly to that person…. I’ve never been in love, I don’t have it in me to, I think sometimes.”

The question hanging over every debut novel is brutal: can the author write? Mathews indisputably can, and she enters a crowded field with a singular voice. A lingering question is whether she has another novel in her. Count me among those who would welcome and read it.t

‘All This Could Be Different’ by Sarah Tankam Mathews.

Viking/Penguin Random House, 312 pages. $27.

www.penguinrandomhouse.com

Read the full review on www.ebar.com

by Jim Piechota

listing of

enjoy,

‘The First to Die at the End’ by Adam Silvera, $19.99 (Quill Tree Books)

Silvera’s diehard fans will enjoy this intensive, emotional prequel to 2017’s crushing but hugely satisfying

futuristic novel, “They Both Die at the End.” That book featured Puer to Rican teen Mateo and bisexual Cuban-American foster kid Rufus who both must contend with their final day in New York City after be ing alerted to their impending deaths within twenty-four hours.

This time, Silvera backtracks to the initial launch of Death-Cast, a company that predicts the deaths of its subscribers. It involves the fates of young aspiring writer Orion Pagan and male model Valentino Prince who both receive calls about their looming deaths, but attempt to skirt the inevitable by reaching closure with their budding romance, their families, and what life has afforded them both in the relatively short time they’ve been alive. Though this a sequel, reading the first book isn’t required, but doing so only intensi fies the emotional heft and riveting conclusion of this second entry.

‘The Frenemy Zone’ by Yolanda Wallace, $13.95 (Bold Strokes)

Adult fiction author Wallace dips into YA ter ritory with this fantastic story about a high school senior who processes racism and homophobia after her family uproots itself to a conservative, predominantly white town following the death of her grandfather. As an openly lesbian wrestler, she is the daughter of two fathers, one Black and one Japanese American, which catches the ire of the small minds in her new hamlet.

Her hopes of finish ing school without inci dent are dashed after she meets the town mayor’s closeted lesbian daugh ter Ariel Hall, with whom she initially locks horns with but eventually set tles into a friendship that has simmering embers for something more. There are undercurrents of more intricate racial, social, and diversityrelated issues embedded in the narrative, and Wal lace handles all of these sensitive areas with great

respect, knowledge, and intelligence.

‘The Ones We Burn’ by Rebecca Mix, $21.99 (McElderry Books/S&S)

When a witch is sent to assassinate a prince, things get complicated in Michigan fantasy au thor Mix’s entertaining otherworldly romance.

The assassin in ques tion is Ranka, a muscu lar female blood-witch who, after refusing to marry Prince Galen, is sent by her coven leader to kill him. Her plan is dashed when Ranka sets her eyes upon the prince’s fetching twin sister Aramis. Sparks fly as the twins and their friends at tempt to discover the origins of a deadly plague that is convert ing witches into hell ish demonic versions of themselves. This is high queer fantasy reading whose plot and world-building poten tial speeds along at an impressive clip, while keeping the simmering romance between Ran ka and Aramis on the back burner, but never out of reach.

‘Take a Bow, Noah Mitchell’ by Tobias Madden, $18.99

(Page Street Kids)

Gay teen romance shifts into overdrive in this sometimes heartfelt, but mostly superficial tale of an Australian gamer who attempts to conjure the digital affections of his online crush into a real-life relation ship. Noah Mitchell, 17, is relentlessly bul lied at school, so his only respite from that harassment is play ing interactive online

games. A buddy whom Noah plays with but only knows as “Mage Pants69” has driven his curiosity to new heights as the boy lives in his town, but the rest of the details are unknown, until “M” reveals he is involved in a stage play. Noah, now obsessed with his crush’s identity, sleuths the play’s where abouts and discovers that it’s his mother’s production of Chicago Noah insinuates him self into the theatrical assembly but finds that it’s a tough juggling act with learning the chal lenging choreography, finishing schoolwork, and keeping things fun and fresh with his crush, now revealed as Eli Callaghan. This is a sweet, sensitive, and often silly novel that will please anyone who has sought out a mysterious online crush only to find that while it’s a lot of work, finding love is always worth the effort.

‘The Minus-One Club’ by Kekla Magoon, $19.99 (Henry Holt & Co.)

This adventurous coming-of-age story from award-winning author Kekla Magoon features Kermit, a high school sophomore who has just tragically lost his sister, Sheila, in a drunk driving accident. He is just one in an underground network of stu dents who have experienced painful devastating loss and trauma, and he subsequently has become inducted into the top-secret Minus-One Club. Like the author herself, Kermit is biracial. He is also closeted, but dis covers an attraction to another club member, an open gay student named Matt, while seeking the emotional support he truly needs through out the remaining years of his high school experience.

While there are a lot of themes and threads flowing through the story, Magoon keeps the narrative alive with plenty of melodrama, in terpersonal trouble, the religious homophobia of Kermit’s parents, and electric sexual tension as Kermit nav igates his life amidst the distractions of sexuality, masculinity, and queer growing pains.t

Author Sarah Tankam Mathews

Dondre Stuetley

by David-Elijah Nahmod

Former San Franciscan Sean Patrick Murtagh offers an im pressive debut CD with “The Ma rio 101,” an homage to the great Hollywood tenor Mario Lanza. The album, which is now avail able, features a dozen songs from the Lanza songbook. The song choices represent a wide array of musical genres, everything from show tunes like “On the Street Where You Live” from the classic musical “My Fair Lady,” to oper atic standards such as “E Lucevan Le Stelle” from Puccini’s “Tosca,” to grand torch songs like Cole Por ter’s “Night and Day.”

Every song on the album was at one time recorded by Lanza, and Murtagh does a magnificent job of channeling the late tenor’s spirit. Lanza’s film career was brief. He only made a handful of films before succumbing to illness at age 38 in 1959. Today he remains an almost legendary figure in the world of music, remembered and respected for his powerful vocals. Murtagh refers to Lanza as “a marvelous tenor” and “a once in a lifetime talent.”

“When I talk about Mario Lanza to other people, you see their eyes light up,” Murtagh said in an interview with the Bay Area Reporter. “And I’m talk ing about people of all ages. And so you see an entire range of generations that get warm fuzzy feelings when the name Mario Lanza is mentioned.”

Murtagh looks upon Lanza as a mentor. “He’s someone to aspire to,” he said.

At first Murtagh found it exciting to ex plore Lanza’s voice and work, but then he and Nickol had a falling out, and they went their separate ways. Mur tagh proceeded to push everything he learned from Nickol out of his life.

“And then one day I got a phone call that Richard had died,” Murtagh recalls. “And so here I am with all this trauma and hard feelings that I’m now never going to get closure on.”

He began to listen to Lanza again as away of processing his grief over the loss of Nickol.

“And one day I was listening and it was so beautiful that I started crying,” he said. “I was having this emotional release of everything I was holding on to and holding against Richard and the dream he started for me but wasn’t able to finish. I am a really spiritual

person and I felt this was a spiritual moment where I had both Mario and Richard helping me to get back to this journey.”

He put together a show, performing at The Green Room, a cabaret in New York City. His performances were well received, and he won the 2020 Mac Award, the Manhattan Association of Concerts and Cabarets.

Return to Martuni’s

He continues to perform in San Francisco, and does an annual Christ mas show at Martuni’s, which this year will be seen on December 18 at 4pm and December 20 at 7pm.

“I love Christmas music and holi day music in general,” he said. “And being half Latino and half Irish, Christmas is very interesting in my home, with lots of stories. So I have all these stories about Christmas.”

He calls his San Francisco show “Holiday Test Drive,” as a reference to the holiday test drive events that car companies have every year. The Martuni’s show, which often sells out, is now in its tenth year.

“People send cards and newsletters for holidays to let people know what the year’s been like and what they’ve been up to and things they’re looking forward to,” Murtagh said. “And that’s what this cabaret came to be for me, a holiday newsletter set to music. I get to tell people about my adventures in New York, talk about stories from Christmases past, both funny and meaningful, and I sing a whole vari ety of Christmas songs. What’s most mind boggling to me is how people have made this part of their holiday tradition, and every year they bring friends. It’s a really fun time.”

Murtagh said he will commemo rate the tenth anniversary of the Martuni’s show by doing a little bit of everything.

“This year is extra special because it’s my second holiday with my boy friend,” he said. “But Hanukkah is lined up with Christmas this year, the first night of the concert is the first night of Hanukkah. And so I’ll be do ing a Sephardic holiday song to capture that part of this new holiday tradition that’s now become part of my life.”

And since this show is his new one, he’ll be doing a few songs from the Mario Lanza album.

“To say that this is something I did this year, and I’m proud of it,” he said.

Murtagh continues to pursue the ater and has begun to get called in for TV projects. He’s been seen on Inves tigation Discovery, and has also done a few short films.

“As things are opening back up it seems to all be going well,” he said. “I get my audition requests from my agents and I film them and send them back and hope for the best.”t

Murtagh was introduced to Lanza by his voice teacher Richard Nickol, a musical theater performer who opened a voice studio in San Francisco.

Sean Patrick Murtagh’s ‘Holiday Test Drive’, $25. Sunday December 18 at 4pm, Tuesday December 20 at 7pm. Martuni’s, 4 Valencia St. www.eventbrite.com www.seanpatrickmurtagh.com

Sean Patrick Murtagh