January 6, 2022 edition of the Bay Area Reporter by Bay Area Reporter

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Vol. 52 • No. 01 • January 6-12, 2022

New SFAF CEO breaks barriers by John Ferrannini

T Courtesy LGBTQ Victory Fund

Assemblymember Alex Lee

Assemblymember Alex Lee reflects on 1st year by Matthew S. Bajko

ntil this fall the farthest east Assemblymember Alex Lee (D-San Jose) had traveled was South Dakota to see Mount Rushmore with a friend. Then Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Los Angeles) tapped him for a legislative delegation to lobby officials in Washington, D.C. at the White House and on Capitol Hill. During the late September trip Lee, one of the Legislature’s most liberal members, caught a glimpse of progressive Congressmember Cori Bush (D-Missouri) and was able to meet another progressive political idol of his, Congressmember Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York). Photos he posted to Twitter show the two talking and smiling for the camera. “It was amazing to see someone I consider a personal inspiration and talk to them. She was really humble and nice,” recalled Lee. “I did not expect to be taller than her. In my mind I wasn’t taller than her. Certainly a highlight of the trip.” It capped for Lee, who stands at 5 feet, 8 inches, his first year serving as a legislator. Now 26, Lee won election in 2020 as the first out bisexual to serve in the Legislature and as its youngest member since 1938. Gay state Senator John Laird (D-San Jose), at 71 the oldest member of the Legislative LGBTQ Caucus, ribbed Lee for having never seen the sitcom “Designing Women” during the affinity groups’ meetings. “I have a double whammy on this side, as I am not very good at keeping up with popular things like movies and TV shows,” said Lee, born two years after the CBS show had ended its run. Speaking by phone to the Bay Area Reporter about the first half of his freshman two-year term, Lee said it had been both “extremely challenging but rewarding most of the time.” It also reinforced for him “why I ran in the first place, to make real tangible changes in people’s lives,” he added. Just as his campaign for the open Assembly District 25 seat was thrown a curveball by the COVID-19 pandemic, limiting his ability to interact with voters face-to-face, so too were his first eight months in office. Much of the legislative session, which ended in August, was conducted remotely. Luckily, Lee to date has not tested positive for the coronavirus. When the legislators did convene in person, they did so with masks on and heard from the public largely via call-in lines rather than physically in the hearing rooms of

he San Francisco AIDS Foundation announced a new CEO January 4 – only the second in the organization’s 40-year history who is HIV-positive. Tyler TerMeer, Ph.D., will also be the first nonwhite leader of the nonprofit health services provider. TerMeer, who is Black, starts February 14. He gave a phone interview to the Bay Area Reporter shortly before the new year, in which he said he has a lot to learn about San Francisco and is eager to do so as he takes the helm of the city’s largest provider of HIV/AIDS and other health services. “I think as a person who’s been working in this field and has been living with this disease for 18 years, I do hope a day arrives when we can end HIV – and I hope it’s within my lifetime,” TerMeer said. The 39-year-old gay man brings 17 years of experience in nonprofit leadership to the organization. He was most recently CEO of the Cascade AIDS Project and Prism Health in Portland, Oregon. “It is an honor to be selected for this role at such a pivotal moment in the HIV movement, and I am looking forward to contributing my leadership to best serve people living with and at risk for HIV in the Bay Area and

Courtesy SFAF

Incoming SFAF CEO Tyler TerMeer, Ph.D.

beyond,” stated TerMeer in a news release. TerMeer succeeds Joe Hollendoner, a gay man who stepped down in May to lead the Los Angeles LGBT Center. The position was held for most of 2021 in an interim capacity by Kevin Rogers, previously the foundation’s chief financial officer. “The board search committee was tasked with finding a leader that could oversee the complex and multi-faceted strategy and service delivery of SFAF,” stated Douglas Brooks, the co-chair of the organization’s board of

directors who chaired the CEO search committee. “We have found that leader in Dr. TerMeer. We have every confidence that he will guide the organization toward even greater progress on achieving the transformational goals of racial equity and health justice outlined in our strategic plan.” TerMeer, who holds a Ph.D. in public policy and administration from Walden University in Minneapolis, has also previously served as director of public policy and government relations at AIDS Resource Center Ohio, and as the director of the Ohio AIDS Coalition. He was honored by the White House twice during the Obama administration – first in 2012 as one of America’s “emerging LGBTQ+ leaders” and again the next year as part of America’s “emerging Black leadership.” Local leaders praised the hiring decision. Gay state Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), who has worked on sexual health issues in the state Legislature, told the B.A.R. that although he doesn’t personally know TerMeer, what he has “seen about him seems fantastic.” His hiring is a historic choice, added Wiener, that will be globally impactful. “I am really excited to get to know him and continue our work with the AIDS foundation on so many critical issues,” said Wiener. “It is historic and having someone in such a really See page 8 >>

Tenderloin linkage center to open mid-January, city says

by John Ferrannini

connect people to services. We’ve made a commitment to this neighborhood and its residents and businesses, and we will follow through.” The news release touted the accomplishments of the emergency period, stating that 58 people have been placed in shelters, 23 were transported to the hospital or into behavioral health programs; 33 were arrested for dealing drugs (among drugs seized were over 3,164 grams of fentanyl); and Public Works responded to 1,044 requests for service, resulting in 463 tons of waste being removed from the neighborhood.

he city signed a lease for a linkage center at 1170 Market Street near United Nations Plaza January 4 shortly before the San Francisco Board of Supervisors continued until February a vote on whether to again ratify Mayor London Breed’s state of emergency declaration in the Tenderloin. “The purpose of this center is to be a safe, welcoming location for people who suffer from substance use disorder in the Tenderloin where they can access hygiene resources and social space as well as to provide a single location for those who are ready to access city health and human services to link to those programs easily and quickly,” a news release states. “Food, water, hygiene supplies, dignity services, and social space will be available at the center.” The center will include referrals to behavioral health care and treatment; substance use treatment; temporary winter shelter; transitional housing; the Homeward Bound program; food coordination; vocational support; therapy and mentoring; and child and family care. It is expected to open in mid-January. Authorized by Breed’s emergency declaration, which the board approved in an 8-2 vote during a dramatic hourslong meeting that ended the morning of Christmas Eve, the linkage center is

See page 6 >>

Supervisors discuss emergency declaration Screengrab

San Francisco Board of Supervisors President Shamann Walton opened the January 4 hearing on the emergency declaration in the Tenderloin.

next to the Orpheum Theatre, less than a block from the Civic Center BART station. “We are coordinating all our city departments to do everything they can to support everyone living in the Tenderloin,” Breed stated. “These initial efforts will continue everyday as we add more resources, like opening up a new linkage center that will allow us to more quickly and directly

During the supervisors’ first meeting this year, they considered whether or not to approve the emergency declaration for a second time, but eventually voted 8-3 to continue the item till February 8. Three board members — Gay District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, District 2 Supervisor Catherine Stefani, and District 7 Supervisor Myrna Melgar — voted against continuing the discussion to next month. Mandelman stated to the B.A.R. that it’s time the board move forward. “Today was the second many-hours-long committee of the whole on the emergency declaration in less than two weeks,” Mandelman stated. “I think See page 2 >>

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<< Community News

2 • Bay Area Reporter • January 6-12, 2022

2022 seeing more changes for SF sex venues by John Ferrannini

hile one potential gay bathhouse proprietor has decided against pursuing the business, kink and other sex venues in San Francisco are planned or being considered. One of those is the sex-positive kink space at 1060 Folsom Street in the South of Market neighborhood, which recently got new owners who have signed a lease on the space. The moves regarding gay bathhouses are coming about as it’s anticipated the Board of Supervisors will approve a change to the zoning for such spaces so that the businesses can be considered in all parts of the city. The queer man who was the first to inquire with gay District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman about the prospect of opening a gay bathhouse has changed his mind. “I just wasn’t comfortable being the first one to do it because there’s so many nuances that’ll happen with the city, and that makes things a lot more expensive than if you do it later on,” Jack Komar told the Bay Area Reporter shortly before the new year. Komar said he’s moving to Florida, where he may open a bathhouse in the Sunshine State after he “does more research about it.”

Tenderloin

From page 1

it’s time for the board to get out of the way and let the Departments of Emergency Management, Public Health, and SFPD actually try to make some positive change for the Tenderloin.” At the outset of the meeting, Board President Shamann Walton said that the vote was undertaken again so that the supervisors could have more context absent during the first meeting. “Ultimately, our board voted 8-2 to approve the motion to concur,” Walton said, referring to the December 23-24 meeting. “At the time of the meeting we had not received a written plan from the department of emergency management and the mayor’s office. ... We will devote this committee of the whole to get answers to unanswered questions about the plan and to get next steps.” District 3 Supervisor Aaron Peskin apologized for missing the earlier vote as he was on vacation. “Apologies I could not join you on December 23 though my staff watched all 10 1/2 hours of that meeting and briefed me thoroughly,” Peskin said. “As I said in the letter I wrote

Christopher Wood

A new public benefit group, Transform 1060 Inc., has signed a lease for the 1060 Folsom Street sex-positive space.

“It’s a whole different state: different policies, laws,” Komar said. “But we are looking into it.” Curtis Chude, a gay would-be bathhouse proprietor, has also been in touch with Mandelman’s office. He shared his bathhouse concept with the B.A.R. in November, saying it could work at the old 24 Hour Fitness location on Market Street, the Embarcadero’s Pier 1, or a warehouse from Mexico, it is obvious to all of us … that the Tenderloin has been in crisis for quite some time and even more so during the pandemic.” Peskin, who’d urged a yes vote, said he wanted to know if the emergency declaration can speed up the implementation of Mental Health SF, which passed three years ago, exactly what people are being linked to at the linkage site, and what the relationship is between the Tenderloin emergency and “the seemingly endless COVID emergency.” “Whether declarations of local emergency are in order or not, I am pleased the mayor is focusing on this and I’d like to collaborate with the administration cooperatively,” Peskin said. “I have fundamental questions – linkage to what? Navigation centers to navigate to where? These are questions we should continue to ask.” Peskin noted that two-thirds of the homeless population is vaccinated for COVID-19. “We can utilize shelter sites more efficiently if there are shelter sites for folks who are fully vaccinated,” Peskin said. “They can be used at higher utilization rates during the health emergency.” Deputy City Attorney Anne Pear-

site. He reiterated his interest to the B.A.R. January 4. “I’m noticing this is going to be a longer process than what I’d anticipated, but I’m still pursuing it,” Chude said. In the November story, Mandelman aide Jacob Bintliff, a gay man, told the B.A.R. that the supervisor would seek to introduce legislation to open up zoning for bathhouses by the end of 2021. That didn’t happen – but Bintliff updated the B.A.R. that it’ll be happening in January. Currently, gay bathhouses are prohibited in much of the city. While Mandelman spearheaded successful legislation last year to allow them in the city again after they’d been closed in 1984 to prevent the spread of the AIDS epidemic, the planning code – which defines them as “adult businesses” – only allows them to open without conditions in the Civic Center area, the Financial District, along most of the waterfront, and in parts of the Mission, Dogpatch, and Bayview neighborhoods. They are permitted conditionally in other areas as well, such as on Market Street from Church Street to Van Ness Avenue. According to Bintliff and Daniel A. Sider, chief of staff of the planning department, Mandelman’s new legislation will seek to divorce bathhouses from

adult businesses to form a new category. “Our proposal all along has been to create an ‘Adult Sex Venue’ definition in the planning [code] and to allow it in Castro/Upper Market, SOMA, and other areas,” Bintliff stated. Bintliff stated January 4 that the proposed legislation is currently being finalized with the city attorney’s office before it’s introduced. Meanwhile, the Castro has been left without an adult sex venue of any kind for the first time in three decades, with the December 15 closure of Eros at 2051 Market Street, between Church and Dolores streets. Eros co-owner Ken Rowe confirmed to the B.A.R. in November that the sex club will reopen in the Tenderloin’s Transgender District after being asked about reports the new location will be on Turk Street. Rowe stated January 4 that Eros is looking at an opening date in “midMarch or April.” Eros’ closure comes after BlowBuddies in SOMA permanently closed last year amid the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown.

son reassured Peskin that the Tenderloin and COVID-19 emergencies can both be addressed, even with the rise in cases due to the higher contagiousness of the Omicron variant. “It sounds like you’re concerned one emergency might take away resources, but I’d hope some effort is taken to address both folks suffering from COVID and folks in the Tenderloin,” Pearson said to Peskin. Pearson said that the emergency can be used to speed up the implementation of Mental Health SF. “Mental Health SF is a big and complicated piece of leg[islation], including a number of different elements,” she said. “If there are elements of that you think are necessary to happen earlier than the date they are scheduled under the legislation itself, we can look to see if emergency powers would be warranted. … I’m not sure every piece is necessary to address this emergency, but some may be.” Dr. Hillary Kunis, the director of behavioral health for the Department of Public Health, concurred with Pearson. “Our goal is to reduce overdose deaths, to reduce public drug use, and to provide access to care and treat-

ment for the people of the Tenderloin,” Kunis said. “This is something obviously that is extremely important to the city, to the department, and we are aiming to not divert resources and to very much maintain and respond to the current challenges the pandemic is bringing up.” Peskin asked, if this is a public health emergency (a point he agreed with), how come it’s being framed differently in the plan submitted to the board. “The chief health officer has not said this is a public health emergency, and nor has the mayor,” Peskin said. “Maybe you can just tell me how you guys are involved? What services is DPH providing?” Kunis replied that “it takes multiple strategies, multiple kinds of intervention, to solve complex problems, so from the public health point of view we want to use this opportunity to expand, develop, and be creative.” Kunis said that DPH will be providing the program design for the linkage center, as well as shape and coordinate outreach. “We are still working out the specific details about the staffing: DPH staff who will be on site at the linkage

SOMA kink venue gets new owners

Meanwhile, 1060 Folsom Street, also in SOMA, plays host to spe-

cial events such as San Francisco CumUnion. The space, previously known as Alchemy or SF Catalyst, has been an event space for a number of sex-positive groups over the years, and it was announced January 1 that the public benefit corporation Transform1060 Inc. has signed a new lease for it, taking over from the San Francisco Bay Area Leather Alliance, which accrued almost $70,000 in rent debt due to the COVID pandemic. “To mark the new ownership, the venue has been renamed ‘Transform1060,’” a news release states. “The name is a nod to both the previous names (‘Alchemy’ and ‘SF Catalyst’), which evoked change and transformation, and to the ownership transition process. While the ownership transfer is still being finalized between the two organizations, the lease represents significant progress in that process.” Transform1060 is seeking to raise $100,000 by the end of the first quarter this year. “This new lease ensures that kinky folks from all of our communities will continue to have a safe space in SF to gather, play, teach, and learn,” Christopher Wood of Transform1060 stated. t center and who will provide services when appropriate and linkage when appropriate,” Kunis said. “We are intending to use, really, our whole system of care, evaluating where space is available on a daily basis. We are working to facilitate where we need creation of space, if we need to. We know we will run into capacity issues and we will actively problem-solve them because we have a team at the ready, ready to coordinate care and move when appropriate. “I also want to point out for the number of people not ready for formal treatment and formal programs, we are intent on designing programs to encourage people to make positive behavior change,” she added. “We see this as also helping motivate people to seek care, and to pull them into care with all of our skills.” District 9 Supervisor Hillary Ronen and District 6 Supervisor Matt Haney, who crafted the Mental Health SF plan, touted that the city is looking to fill 200 behavioral health positions in 90 days. “I think that is, as was said by [DPH chief operating officer Greg] Wagner, a much needed and unprecedented rapid hiring and deployment of pubSee page 6 >>

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January 6-12, 2022 • Bay Area Reporter • 3

Intersex bill, again, dies in CA Senate committee by Matthew S. Bajko

acking the votes to pass his bill banning medically unnecessary surgeries on intersex children out of committee, gay state Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) announced January 4 he was once again shelving the bill. Since 2019, Wiener has tried to get a legislative ban passed by his colleagues to no avail. Wiener had resubmitted his legislation Senate Bill 225, known as the Bodily Autonomy, Dignity and Choice Act, last January with the hope of moving it out of the Legislature this session. He had worked with intersex advocates and LGBTQ rights groups to revise it from previous versions, such as indicating a precise age for when such surgeries could be performed. Thus, the latest version of SB 225 would have required parents and doctors to postpone elective surgery on intersex children until they are 12 years of age and can take part in making such a medical decision. Yet the powerful California Medical Association and some parents continued to lobby against the bill. With the legislation failing to muster enough support to pass out of the Senate’s Committee on Business, Professions, and Economic Development, Wiener had pulled the bill last April from consideration with the hope of moving it forward this year. As it was a twoyear bill, state legislators could have taken it up in 2022, and a hearing on SB 225 had been scheduled for Monday, January 10. But Wiener made the decision to withdraw it, stating in a news release that it “does not appear to have a viable path forward,” as the Associated Press was first to report. He noted that “for three years, we’ve worked to advance legislation, and it’s become apparent that we continue to lack the votes to pass a meaningful bill – one that actually protects intersex people – through committee.” In a phone interview with the Bay Area Reporter, Wiener said he was “deeply disappointed and frustrated” that he could not muster enough support among the committee members to pass “a basic civil rights law.” “These babies are having their genitals permanently changed, irreversibly changed, even though there is no medical reason to do it,” said Wiener. “It makes all the sense in the world to wait until these kids can participate in these decisions.” Wiener said the only way for him to move his bill forward was to water it down to the point it would set a “bad precedent” and end up doing more harm than good for intersex children. “For three years in a row we have hit a wall in the business profession committee; we just don’t have the votes,” said Wiener. “We would need to water it down to the point it is not worth passing.” He pledged to reintroduce the bill at a later date when he sees “a viable path forward” for getting it passed out of the legislative committee. Depending on the outcome of the November elections, that

Correction

he December 30 article “Bay Area national parks group marks 40 years of transformations” should have reported that Quartermaster Reach Marsh, the nearly seven-acre site situated next

Courtesy Sen. Wiener’s office

State Senator Scott Wiener

time could be in 2023, or it may need to wait until 2025, when several of his Senate colleagues will have been termed out of office. “We are committed to the issue; we are not going to stop,” Wiener pledged to the B.A.R. “The Legislature is more broadly in support for this. I can see a scenario next year where we may have a path forward, but it is way too soon for me to know for sure.” In reacting to the news, statewide LGBTQ advocacy organization Equality California thanked Wiener for his leadership on the issue. EQCA has worked alongside the legislator and interACT, which fights for the rights of intersex people, to try to pass the bill. “We don’t have the votes to pass this bill through committee, but our fight for bodily autonomy, dignity & choice continues,” tweeted EQCA. InterACT, whose former executive director Kimberly Zieselman stepped down in December, has yet to respond to a request for comment from the B.A.R. Four years ago Wiener was able to get his legislative colleagues to pass a nonbinding resolution that called for doctors to postpone performing surgeries on intersex individuals until they are able to give their informed consent. He did so in order to educate lawmakers and the public about the issue prior to moving forward with an official ban of most such procedures. Approximately 1%-2% percent of people are born with variations in bodily sex characteristics. Intersex is an umbrella term for differences in sex traits or reproductive anatomy. People are born with these differences or develop them in childhood. There are many possible differences in genitalia, hormones, internal anatomy, or chromosomes. Physicians will perform sex assignment and genital modification surgeries on intersex infants in order that they can be classified as either male or female. The procedures can entail infant vaginoplasties, clitoral reductions, or the removal of gonadal tissues. Those opposed to the practices point out that the medical intervention can result in extreme scarring, chronic pain, incontinence, lost sexual sensation, post-traumatic stress disorder, and incorrect gender assignment. Both Human Rights Watch and the World Health

to Crissy Field Marsh, cost $23 million. The project, supported by the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy, is in addition to the $118 million in park upgrades planned for that area of the Presidio. The online story has been updated.

Organization have condemned performing surgeries on intersex infants, while the United Nations deems doing so akin to torture. According to the AP, the nations of Germany, Colombia, and Malta all restrict certain surgeries on intersex children but no U.S. state has followed suit. A bill similar to Wiener’s SB 225 was introduced in the Rhode Island state legislature last year but was also put on hold “for further study,” according to interACT. At the urging of interACT, the Human Rights Campaign agreed to start asking in its 2022 Healthcare Equality Index of more than 1,700 hospitals in the United States if the medical institutions have policies to delay genital surgeries on intersex children. Two years ago a pair of U.S. hospitals were the first in the country to take steps to limit the kinds of surgeries done on intersex children. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago no longer performs irreversible genital procedures, particularly clitoroplasty, until patients can participate meaningfully in making the decision for themselves, unless medically necessary. Boston Children’s Hospital, the largest children’s hospital in Massachusetts, decided to stop performing clitoral and vaginal surgeries on intersex infants. “Pausing medically unnecessary genital surgeries until a child is old enough to participate in the decision isn’t a radical idea. Rather, it’s about basic human dignity,” stated Wiener. “I’m not giving up, and I stand in solidarity with the intersex community in its fight for bodily autonomy, dignity and choice.” t

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<< Open Forum

4 • Bay Area Reporter • January 6-12, 2022

Volume 52, Number 01 January 6-12, 2022 www.ebar.com

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SF surplus should aid LGBTQs

here was some good news from the city last month when Mayor London Breed announced that for the first time since 1998, San Francisco is projecting a budget surplus for the next two years. As the Board of Supervisors and city departments prepare for the budget process for Fiscal years 202223 and 2023-24, we recommend that some of the surplus funds be budgeted for programs and staff serving the LGBTQ community, particularly as the city begins its recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, although that will likely be an ongoing part of life for the foreseeable future. The city’s annual general fund is approximately $6 billion. According to a news release, there is a projected $108 million surplus that results from a mix of three sources: revenue improvements, record returns to the city’s pension program, and responsible budget decisions over the last two years. Stronger revenues included local taxes like property and transfer taxes, federal funding through the Federal Emergency Management Agency reimbursements, and the American Rescue Plan, which was enacted by Congress and signed by President Joe Biden last year. The returns to the city’s pension program will help reduce San Francisco’s obligations over the next four-year period and beyond. Finally, constraining cost growth included focusing on one-time investments during the difficult budgets of the pandemic to prevent long-term obligations. The city still has a projected budget deficit in years three and four of the long-term financial projection, according t o the mayor’s press release. In her budget instructions to city departments, Breed has requested that they continue decisions that have helped the city avoid a deficit for the first time in 20 years. Breed has asked departments to get “back to basics” and focus on better service delivery. Departments are not being asked to make any proposed cuts, as has been the case in prior years, but instead to reprioritize existing funding toward programs and services that will deliver results and meet the top priorities of the city. The release states that in addition to spending on homelessness, mental health, and anti-poverty programs like the Dreamkeeper Initiative, the mayor’s priorities are: restoring the vibrancy of the city, including improving public safety and street conditions; focusing on economic recovery; and delivering on accountability and equity in city spending.

It’s this equity priority that we’d like to focus on with our suggestions.

Hiring staff for planning dept.

The planning department should budget for a staff position that would be solely tasked with landmarking city properties, particularly those of historic significance to the LGBTQ community and communities of color. There is reportedly a huge backlog because the department doesn’t have the staff to work on this. Landmarking various properties not only provides historical context for their importance, it also offers some protections at a time when gentrification remains a pressing issue in the city. Last year the city landmarked the Eagle Bar in the South of Market neighborhood and the Noe Valley home of late lesbian pioneers Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon, but only because Supervisors Matt Haney and Rafael Mandelman introduced ordinances that forced planners to work on the landmarks. Both of these properties are significant to LGBTQ history, as are the other landmarks that have been approved over the years. In 2022, we will likely see a push to landmark the flagpole at Castro and Market streets. Having a staff person devoted to the necessary reports and other information is critical if various properties are to be acknowledged.

Hiring staff for trans office

The Office of Transgender Initiatives has done critical work with a barebones staff, and we recommend at least one additional position. In the past, the mayor has asked that the office also work on LGB projects in addition to those focused on the trans community, so in our opinion additional staff are needed since the scope of the office has increased. In addition, the city should increase funding for trans housing. Last year the budget included $4 million over two years for trans and HIV housing subsidies. The need for these subsidies remains high, as does money for Our Trans Home SF, which is a mix of rental subsidies and case management for trans clients. Last year’s budget kept funding flat for Our Trans Home – with the projected surplus, it seems an increase in the budget could help more people. Sherilyn Adams, the executive director of Larkin Street Youth Services, which has the contract for the Our Trans Home rental subsidies, told us during last year’s budget process that more

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subsidies are needed. “Housing assistance for trans folks is life-saving,” she said at the time. As we have reported for years, trans and gender-nonconforming and HIV-positive people face higher rates of housing insecurity and health disparities.

LGBTQ Cultural Heritage Strategy report

The Board of Supervisors has yet to hold a hearing on the city’s groundbreaking LGBTQ Cultural Heritage Strategy report. We reported last January (https://www.ebar.com/news/news//300736) that Mandelman, the board’s lone LGBTQ member, expected to call for a hearing in 2021. That did not happen. The 56-page report was first released in draft form in 2018 and was published with revisions in 2020. “Other than being taken up by the city’s historic preservation commission in the fall of 2018, there has yet to be a public hearing about the final version of the strategy before any city oversight panels or a supervisors’ committee,” we reported a year ago. There are 50 proposals in the report that would cost an estimated $10.2 to $15.7 million to implement. The report noted that 23 of the listed initiatives have received some sort of funding to get underway. With the projected budget surplus, this is the year to make sure the funding is in place for these initiatives. Mandelman, who represents District 8 and the LGBTQ Castro neighborhood, or his colleague Haney, who represents District 6 and the South of Market and Tenderloin – both of which have many LGBTQ residents – should call for a hearing this year. District 3 Supervisor Aaron Peskin, who represents North Beach, which has a large number of historic sites important to the LGBTQ community, could also call for the hearing. In short, a supervisor needs to hold a hearing on this so that the process can move forward. Planning department director Rich Hillis and Office of Transgender Initiatives acting director Pau Crego should approach the coming budget session with an eye toward requesting additional funding that ties in with the mayor’s own goal of equity in city spending. The proposals we’ve outlined above could also aid in the city’s economic recovery and deliver on accountability, especially in the case of housing aid for trans and HIV-positive people. Given the good news regarding the budget, it’s time for the city to deliver in these areas for the LGBTQ community. t

Smoking imperils health of LGBTQ+ BIPOC community by Ryan Oda

Bay Area Reporter

hile smoking rates have declined nationally in the past 20 years, this reduction has not been shared equally among Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) communities or the LGBTQ+ community – and especially among those with intersecting identities. Tobacco is one of many harmful coping mechanisms that are adopted disproportionately by the LGBTQ+ community due to discrimination. Research shows that intense amounts of discrimination is linked to increased risk of tobacco use. This is no coincidence. The LGBTQ+ community is unique because people of all ages, races, and religions can identify as LGBTQ+. Issues that affect one community, such as the increased risk of tobacco use for Black communities, also impacts Black LGBTQ+ folks at even higher rates. In fact, research has shown that Black lesbian, gay and bisexual youth are 225% more likely to smoke than heterosexual Black youth. While many cisgender heterosexual BIPOC folks can rely on their tight-knit communities as a support system, LGBTQ+ BIPOC people are often disowned by their biological family and wider community because of their LGBTQ+ identities. These added stressors caused by the lived experiences of LGBTQ+ people are associated with a higher risk of tobacco. Big Tobacco has used flavors, like menthol, to cover up the harsh taste of tobacco, which makes it easier to get hooked and harder to quit. Candy, fruit, and dessert flavors are attractive to young people, getting them hooked on nicotine from a dangerously young age. Big Tobacco’s marketing strategy has targeted LGBTQ+ people resulting in an overwhelming presence of tobacco products in LG-

Courtesy Out Against Big Tobacco

OUT Against Big Tobacco works to reduce LGBTQ+ tobacco use in Los Angeles County.

BTQ+ spaces, clubs, bars, Pride events, etc. OUT Against Big Tobacco Los Angeles, a coalition supported by Equality California Institute, is working in Santa Monica to educate the community and policymakers on the impacts of flavored tobacco - and coupons and discounts on tobacco purchases - on the LGBTQ+ community. Santa Monica, which has a history of passing tobacco control policies, has the unique opportunity to create a healthy and safe environment for its residents, including youth. Research has shown that flavored tobacco increases people’s risk of becoming addicted to nicotine; because youth are most likely to begin smoking with flavored tobacco, youth can especially be at risk for becoming addicted due to these products. The city of Santa Monica passed an outdoor smoking ordinance at the Pier, citing its danger and risk of secondhand smoke

exposure to youth and tourists. As the pandemic has continued, so have stressors for the LGBTQ+ community and BIPOC youth. More now than ever, community action based on research is needed to prevent more people from becoming addicted to nicotine. To add to the many stressors LGBTQ+ folks deal with, the past year has resulted in many LGBTQ+ people facing increased risk of social isolation and depression. Due to COVID-19, various support groups that the community often relied on outside of their biological family such as school, Gender and Sexuality Alliances (GSAs) or Pride clubs, were no longer available to gather in-person. This lack of in-person support has created room for online influences to now hold even more weight than they previously did. As we reopen, the long-term effects of isolation on youth remain to be seen. Further research is needed to fully understand the impacts that the pandemic and subsequent social isolation has had on smoking rates for LGBTQ+ youth, especially those of color. It’s likely that more LGBTQ+ young people will come out of this pandemic addicted to tobacco. The onus is on institutions to ensure equitable access to resources to quit. Big Tobacco must be prevented, once and for all, from targeting our youth. t Ryan Oda (he/him) is a program associate for Equality California Institute’s OUT Against Big Tobacco Program, where he is working to reduce LGBTQ+ tobacco use throughout Los Angeles County. To find out more about how to get involved in tobacco control work, check out OUT Against Big Tobacco’s Twitter: @outtobacco and Facebook: @OUTAgainstBigTobaccoCoalition. For help quitting, go to Kick It California (https:// kickitca.org/).

Politics >>

January 6-12, 2022 • Bay Area Reporter • 5

In House, gay attorney Rollins could represent Palm Springs area

ue to the oddly-shaped congressional district that Palm Springs has been drawn into, the LGBTQ retirement and tourist mecca could see it be represented by a gay former federal prosecutor come 2023. The result of the decennial redistricting process means the fight for California’s new 41st Congressional District is likely to draw national LGBTQ interest. Will Rollins still faces an uphill climb as a relatively unknown Democratic candidate in winning the Southern California House seat. He and several other Democrats will be facing off against conservative Congressmember Ken Calvert (RCorona), who currently represents the 42nd Congressional District. As currently drawn, Calvert’s district largely follows Interstate 15 from Murrieta north to Corona. It branches off to the east to include Canyon Lake, where Rollins lives with his partner, and other Riverside County towns such as Menifee, Winchester, and Nuevo. The new CD 41 map still runs along I-15 but starts farther north in Wildomar and stretches farther east to include Palm Springs, Rancho Mirage, Palm Desert, Indian Wells, and La Quinta in the Coachella Valley. Cathedral City, however, is carved out of the district and is in the 25th Congressional District. Rollins’ campaign hasn’t wasted any time in ballyhooing the changed map. In one email it sent out last week, it noted the district has now shifted seven points in Democrats’ favor making it “officially a swing seat!” Yet the Cook Political Report rated it as “Likely Republican,” giving Calvert the edge in keeping it in GOP hands. When Rollins spoke to the Bay Area Reporter in mid-November while he was in town for a fundraiser hosted by friends, he said he was “very excited” about the prospect of potentially representing the Palm Springs area in the House. It is about an hour drive from his home he shares with his partner, Paolo Benvenuto, a user experience designer for Google. “It would be an honor to do that,” said Rollins, 37, who graduated from Dartmouth and Columbia Law School and, until last year, had worked as an assistant U.S. attorney. “The best part about it is knowing I share the same values as the people who live in Palm Springs.” Even before the district map changed, Rollins was making Calvert’s dismal record on LGBTQ rights an issue. In 2020, Calvert earned a 10% on LGBTQ statewide advocacy organization Equality California’s federal scorecard. (EQCA has yet to release its 2021 scorecard.) Meanwhile, the conservative Heritage Action for America has rated Calvert at 96% so far during the current congressional session. He has a lifetime score of 60% from the GOPaligned think tank. Yet, when asked recently by the Desert Sun about his anti-LGBTQ voting record, which includes opposing the federal Equality Act and repeal of the military’s homophobic “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, Calvert contended he supports treating “all people” equally. “I’ve never believed in any kind of prejudice or discrimination against any group of people, whether they’re gay or Black or Hispanic, and the laws in our country should reflect that,” he told the newspaper. Rollins was quick to charge Calvert with lying about his record, telling his supporters in an email last week that

Rick Gerharter

Southern California congressional candidate Will Rollins

he had “to call BS on” the 28-year congressmember’s response to the Sun. In speaking to the B.A.R., Rollins said of his seeking to oust Calvert, “I look at it as a privilege to run against someone like that.” Calvert’s stance regarding LGBTQ military members being able to serve openly harmed the country’s defense, said Rollins. And by fighting against the rights of LGBTQ Americans, Calvert is hurting all Americans, Rollins argued. “We don’t talk enough about how discrimination hurts the country as a whole,” Rollins told the B.A.R. A driving force for Rollins to give up his federal legal career, in which he had been focused on counterterrorism cases, and mount a bid for Congress was Calvert’s vote last January 6 against certifying the 2020 presidential election results. In doing so, he helped to propagate former President Donald Trump’s “big lie” that he should have been declared the winner rather than President Joe Biden, Rollins contended. “A guy like that is not qualified to hold office, in my opinion,” said Rollins.

Other House races

At least two other gay men are also aiming in 2022 to be elected to represent Southern California congressional districts. Gay Congressmember Mark Takano (D-Riverside) is seeking reelection in the new 39th Congressional District. It largely mirrors his current 41st Congressional District. Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia could become the first gay Latino to represent California in the House. He is seeking the new 42nd Congressional District that is majority Latino. Also seeking the open seat that includes a number of southwestern Los Angeles County cities is Assemblymember Cristina Garcia (D-Bell Gardens). Both of the current congressmembers who ended up in the new district, Alan Lowenthal (DLong Beach) and Lucille RoybalAllard (D-Downey), decided not to seek reelection this year. Gay veteran Joseph C. Rocha had been running for the newly drawn 48th Congressional District that borders the House seat Rollins is seeking. A first-time Democratic candidate like Rollins, Rocha was aiming to oust from office Republican Congressmember Darrell Issa, who currently represents the suburban 50th Congressional District seat northeast of San Diego. But Rocha announced January 4

that he was suspending his House candidacy and would instead run for state Senate against Senator Brian Jones (R-Santee) in the newly drawn 40th Senate District. Along the West Coast, there are two other out House candidates in Oregon who are seen as mounting viable campaigns. Lesbian former Santa Clara city councilmember Jamie McLeod-Skinner is making her second attempt to win a congressional seat from the Beaver State, while former San Francisco resident Kevin Easton is the first openly gay man to run for Congress in Oregon. The three-state West Coast region could go from having Takano as its lone current LGBTQ congressional member to seeing its out representation in the House grow at least fivefold come 2023 depending on how the quintet of out House candidates does this year. Rollins told the B.A.R. he believes he has a strong chance of surviving California’s June 7 primary, where the top two voter-getters advance to the November election. Also seeking the House seat are fellow Democrats engineer Shrina Kurani and teacher Brandon Mosely. Rollins grew up in Temecula, which was drawn out of the new House district. His mother is a public defender and his father is a journalist. In the late 2000s Rollins worked for a law firm in San Francisco one summer and attended his first Pride parade in the city in 2009, a year after he came out of the closet at age 24. He served as an assistant press secretary for former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Rollins also was a judicial law clerk at a U.S. District Court for Central California then at the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals until he joined the U.S. Department of Justice in September 2016. After first working on white-collar criminal cases, Rollins joined the Terrorism and Export Crimes Section of the National Security Division. He handled cases that involved a Chinese spy, Iranians who violated U.S. sanctions, and some of the Trump supporters who attacked the U.S. Capitol last January 6. He has not shied away from talking about his experience as a gay man on the campaign trail, highlighting it since first announcing his candidacy last year. Photos of him and Benvenuto are prominently featured on his campaign site at https://willrollinsforcongress.com/, while Benvenuto recently emailed out a fundraising pitch on his partner’s behalf under the subject line “So proud of Will.” “It is an honor to follow in the footsteps of gay leaders who have made my life better and I hope to continue to build on that legacy,” said Rollins. “When more doors open to LGBT Americans, the country overall does better. It is a message I will keep talking about on the campaign trail.” Rollins will be discussing the January 6 attack on the Capitol on its anniversary Thursday during a virtual event at 5:30 p.m. To register online visit https://bit.ly/32LX0Svt

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t SF to launch LGBTQ senior telehealth program 6 • Bay Area Reporter • January 6-12, 2022

by Matthew S. Bajko

an Francisco is set to launch an innovative LGBTQ senior telehealth program this year, as mental health issues among the city’s older LGBTQ adults have only increased due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. It is believed to be the first of its kind in the country funded by a city. The city allocated $600,000 for the LGBTQ senior telehealth program in the current fiscal year budget that began July 1. There is $250,000 for the telehealth/mental health component and $350,000 for the complementary technology support and connections program. While a request for proposals from local providers was expected to be issued in 2021, it is now set to go out sometime this month. Mike Zaugg, director of the Office of Community Partnerships within the city’s Department of Disability and Aging Services, noted in an emailed reply this week that his team is “hustling to get this RFP out ASAP.” LGBTQ senior advocates and officials with the Curry Senior Center had lobbied city officials last spring to set aside funds for launching the program. The nonprofit provider of senior ser-

Courtesy Northwell Health

San Francisco is expected to launch a telehealth program for LGBTQ seniors this year.

vices plans to submit a proposal for the funds in order to launch it, as health care officials at all levels have embraced telehealth platforms due to the ongoing pandemic making it difficult to provide in-person services. “I am not aware of any specific cityfunded programs specifically like this one,” Toby Shorts, a gay man who is the nonprofit’s senior center director, told the Bay Area Reporter. “The federal government and everyone else has relaxed restrictions on telehealth. Most of us are moving into that arena as a matter of necessity.” As the B.A.R. reported in August, a local survey provided evidence to what mental health care providers were see-

ing anecdotally, that the pandemic had exacerbated the isolation and loneliness many queer elders had already been struggling with for years prior to the emergence of COVID-19 in March 2020. Nearly 8% of the 500 LGBTQ respondents over the age of 50 reported seriously thinking about committing suicide in the past 12 months. Nearly 65% reported feeling lonelier than before the pandemic began. Over 80% said they felt isolated from others, with almost 40% saying they often felt isolated. During the first year of the pandemic, 29% who wanted to receive mental health services via appointments over the phone or video (telehealth) were able to get them. Another 14% said they wanted such telehealth services but could not get them. Of those who were receiving telehealth services at the time of the survey, about 35% said they were very likely to continue using them even when other options are available. Another 40% were somewhat likely. About one-fourth of respondents were somewhat or very unlikely to continue to use telehealth services once other options are available. Mental health counseling was the highest unmet need – at almost 17% of all respondents – that the survey found. In late 2020 the Curry Senior Center had hired a consultant to design what a telehealth program for LGBTQ seniors would look like. “When the pandemic started, we recognized that our LGBTQ+ older adults were having a different experience than just the population as a whole. But we had to limit what we could do onsite,” recalled Shorts. “The survey showed support for what we are doing; that is fantastic.” His agency received a grant from Horizons Foundation that paid for tablets given to LGBTQ older adults so they could safely access the Curry

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lic health prof to meet this deadly epidemic killing two people a day in our city,” Haney said. “I’m very hopeful that by deploying hundreds of people we can save hundreds of lives, but it also leaves me furious and sad we’ve seen 700 people die each year over the last years and were sitting on positions this board allocated to respond to this epidemic with Mental Health SF.”

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Tenderloin

From page 2

Alex Lee

From page 1

the Statehouse. The year was “tough,” as Lee noted in a recent fundraising appeal email. “Governing as a state assemblymember for more than half a million people during a global pandemic in 2021 has not been a walk in the park, but it has proved the necessity for government’s transformative power of change,” wrote Lee, who currently represents parts of Alameda and Santa Clara counties. The pandemic recovery measures the state’s lawmakers enacted will “set a precedent for years to come,” said Lee, of what the government is able to do to assist the public during times of crises. The efforts ranged from direct payments to low-income households to protections for renters and homeowners unable to pay their rents or mortgages. “We stretched the limit of what government is able to do and changed people’s minds and attitudes of that direct assistance, too,” said Lee, a former legislative policy adviser. “It is challenging to do that stuff.”

New district

When the B.A.R. talked with Lee in early November, the state’s redistricting commission had yet to fi-

center’s services from home. It allowed them to connect with their counselor or therapist remotely. “We have served the LGBTQ+ older adult population for a very long time. Being in the Tenderloin has meant we are close at hand with that population,” said Shorts, noting that Curry has long worked with LGBTQ nonprofits like Openhouse and Shanti Project. Should Curry, which turns 50 this July and is named after former city health director Dr. Francis J. Curry, be granted the city funds, it hopes to launch the program early this year. It also plans to convene an advisory panel of LGBTQ older adults to offer guidance on the program. The Curry center received $30,000 to help design its proposed program from the Metta Fund, the California Health Care Foundation, and Horizons. East Bay-based licensed marriage and family therapist Jay Louie, who is transgender fluid, was hired to help design the pilot program.

Report findings

Their 34-page report was based on interviews with various local LGBTQ service providers and older adults. Louie also determined that “the pandemic exacerbated acute and chronic mental health symptoms in LGBTQ+ older adults,” and a program specifically focused on such a cohort of clients was needed. As one 63-year-old Black trans woman told Louie, “If I want to go to mental health providers, I don’t have the luxury of going to doctors who are familiar with transgender women or men. I’m stuck going to straight communities, straight doctors, people who are not viewing me in what I want.” In an interview with the B.A.R. Louie said they were unaware of any

telehealth programs focused on LGBTQ seniors pre-pandemic. “There may be ones that have sprung up, as everyone had to seriously consider telehealth in order to maintain their programs during shelter-in-place,” noted Louie. Compared to a program for straight seniors, one aimed at LGBTQ seniors needs to take into account their basic safety and trust, said Louie, as they are more likely to have experienced discrimination in health care settings during their lifetimes. “Those things are very different for LGBTQ+ older adults,” they said. “The experience of older adults that are LGBTQ and from racial minority groups is different. Honoring those differences is really important. Also, in terms of acknowledging how the HIV epidemic had impacted those communities is very different than in heteronormative spaces for older adults.” Louie estimated at least $388,850 would be needed for a 12-monthlong program, especially in order to properly compensate the therapists hired to staff it. The program could also offer individual sessions, groups, or a combination of the two to clients. “Instead of looking at this as a challenge, we can leverage tech for cost savings and meet their need for connection,” Louie said. Such a program can easily be launched in other cities, Louie told the B.A.R., though they acknowledged doing so might be easier in some states and not others. “It can be replicated but it also relies on people locally who have been working in these communities and have knowledge of these communities because there are geographical differences,” they said. t

Wagner said, “I and everyone at DPH share the frustration and sense of urgency,” and that the reason for the positions remaining unfilled is because of COVID-related shifts in the medical and local markets. “We have gotten behind in behavioral health full-person integrated care and elsewhere during the months that pieces of the hiring process were frozen due to the COVID emergency and we haven’t been able to dig out of that hole,” said Wagner, adding that

the Tenderloin state of emergency will speed up the hiring process. Supervisors such as District 5 Supervisor Dean Preston expressed disappointment at Breed’s absence from this meeting (she was also absent last month), as well as the absence of other agencies such as the police (which did have Chief William Scott at the December meeting). Peskin voted to continue the item, which was agreed to 8-3. t

nalize its work, thus he was unable to speak directly about how his Assembly seat was being redrawn. All Lee would say was that his district “would be quite different.” The new AD 25 seat is fully contained within Santa Clara County and sprawls from San Jose’s Alum Rock district southeast through Henry Coe State Park to the edge of Pacheco State Park along State Route 152. At 38.42%, it is majority Asian with Latinos accounting for 34.38% of its 497,894 residents. Lee’s family is Cantonese Chinese; his parents emigrated from Hong Kong to the South Bay. He and his younger brother grew up in the Berryessa district of San Jose and Milpitas, as their parents divorced when they were young and the siblings shuttled between their homes in the two cities. “No matter what happens, it is out of my control. I am still running for state Assembly. I’ve got 10 more years to do the stuff I want to do, so I want to use them,” Lee said in the fall, referring to legislators having 12 years in office prior to being termed out. He is fending off a challenge from his predecessor in the Assembly seat, Kansen Chu, who opted not to seek reelection in 2020 and went on to lose his bid for a Santa Clara County supervisor seat. Chu has criticized Lee for lacking legislative experience and

pushing for extremely liberal policies, such as restricting Ellis Act evictions, only to see them die in committee. In response, Lee knocked Chu for focusing on ending daylight saving time during his six years in the Assembly as opposed to issues he is championing, like housing and health care for all. “I can guarantee you that is less impactful on your life than how much your rent is,” said Lee of doing away with changing the clocks twice a year.

Unrepentant for progressive bills

Five of his bills were signed into law last year. They included ones ensuring BART police can properly patrol the two new stations in Santa Clara County, protecting mobile home residents from unfair water service charges, and several judicial system reforms. Lee is unrepentant for trying to push his Democratic colleagues to the left and has no qualms about expressing his criticisms publicly via his social media platforms. Lee told the B.A.R. he plans to revive several of his bills that died last year, such as calling for the state to provide single-payer health care and social housing, referring to affordable rental units owned See page 7 >>

Sports >>

January 6-12, 2022 • Bay Area Reporter • 7

News flash: B.A.R. sports columnist retires by Roger Brigham

wrote my first sports column for the Bay Area Reporter 15 years ago this week. I’d already had a pretty good career writing for daily newspapers, mostly in sports, and had covered major events all over the world, but realized I was now writing for readers to whom my name meant nothing. So I began that first essay with the words, “I’m Bart Simpson; who the hell are you?” As I now write my final regularly scheduled column for you, I hope you have come to see me for the cheeky and combative columnist I have striven to be. I am retiring as columnist for the B.A.R. Hell, I’m pretty much retiring from my entire 46-year professional journalism career and my 41 years in sports writing and editing. I’ve survived some serious lifethreatening renal and cardiac issues throughout my tenure at the B.A.R., and in more recent years arthritic hands, riddled with bone chips, have made note-taking during interviews more painful and problematic. Comes a point when it is obvious it is healthier both for me and the future sports coverage of the paper to step aside and let others take the lead. How did I come to be the B.A.R. sports columnist, and what led me to become involved in the inclusive world of LGBTQ-centric recreational sports? Glad you asked. My favorite Shakespeare quote comes from his play, “As You Like It”: “Sweet are the uses of adversity, which, like the toad, ugly and venomous, wears yet a precious jewel in his head; and this our life, exempt from public haunt, finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, sermons in stones, and good in every thing.”

Courtesy Facebook

Former San Francisco 49er David Kopay, Roger Brigham, and the late Patricia Nell Warren were photographed at the 30th anniversary celebration of the Gay Games in West Hollywood in 2012.

I was infected with HIV sometime around 1982 before I had ever heard of the concept of “safe sex.” I met the clinical criteria for AIDS before the end of that decade. By the mid-1990s I had had almost every opportunistic infection except dementia and pneumocystis. Going blind and covered with lesions, I was placed on a sixmonth death watch ... for 30 months. The advent of the “AIDS cocktails” averted my death but triggered an unending series of health challenges related to the toxicity of the medications that were keeping me alive. As I regained weight and strength and my spirits revived, those continuing health challenges led me to discover the inclusive world of queer-centric sports. I joined Golden Gate Wrestling Club in 2003 not because I was gay, but because it was the only legitimate wrestling club I could find that had the patience and desire to work with a 50-year-old wrestler with artificial hips. That in turn led me to Team San Francisco and the Federation of Gay Games. I was so grateful for the opportunities they afforded me that I devoted a great block of my time to

Alex Lee

From page 6

by the state or a nonprofit entity. He also intends to continue to push for a “clean money” in politics law to require greater transparency in who or what groups are financing campaigns. Lee argues he is legislatively trying to enact policies endorsed by the Democratic Party. “Look at the party platform for the Democratic Party and look at what we accomplish,” said Lee. “It is so frustrating, even though we have a super majority with all these Democrats, why are we not accomplishing things in the party platform, things we promised?” With a number of his legislative colleagues leaving in recent months for other positions or deciding to retire at the end of the legislative session this year, Lee told the B.A.R. he is optimistic of seeing a younger, more progressive class of legislators be elected come November that will be more amenable to his policy goals. Just this week former San Diego City Councilwoman Georgette Gómez, a queer progressive, launched her bid for the special election that will be held this spring for the current 80th Assembly District seat. Assemblymember Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher (D-San Diego) announced

Courtesy Twitter

Assemblymember Alex Lee stood on the Assembly floor on his first day in office, December 7, 2020.

her resignation January 3 after accepting the California Labor Federation, AFL-CIO’s offer to be its leader in July. “I always say most things worth doing are hard, require a lot of organizing, and pushing to gather the momentum to do. If I only did the easy things, I wouldn’t be an effective legislator for you,” Lee said of his message to his constituents. Being the lone bisexual state legislator, and one of only a few in elective office in the state, comes with its own challenges for Lee. Despite California’s liberal reputation and being in the vanguard of LGBTQ rights, Lee has faced

volunteering for both of those organizations. Connections from that involvement led to my signing on to write about sports for the B.A.R. It was, essentially, one more way for me to give back to my supportive community. The ugly venomous toad finding the good. My recollection of the years opining for the B.A.R. stir up memories loaded with joy, sadness, anger, humor, and passion. Defining themes that have unfolded in my tenure have been the struggles of the Gay Games to maintain identity and mission while facing massive internal and external challenges; the growing threat the legitimate anti-testosterone movement in sports unintentionally or intentionally posed to HIV-positive athletes first and more recently to transgender and intersex athletes; the efforts and shortcomings of athletic institutions to obliterate their institutionalized culture of racism, sexism, homophobia, and transphobia; and the continued failure of sports organizations and administrators to adequately protect the health and safety of the athletes at all levels upon whom their fortunes and notoriety depend. I love sports but have to admit my adrenaline rushed most when I took zingers at what I saw as injustice or incompetence. As in late 2017, when I penned my obituary on the World Outgames after the Miami event was canceled the day of opening ceremonies. I wrote: “The World Outgames were a nihilistic golem haunting LGBT participatory sports since 2004. They were invented by a handful of jilted organizers in Montreal who, in 2003,

April 19, 1933 – January 18, 2021

Paul Elroy Gerrior of San Francisco and Arlington, Massachusetts, born April 19, 1933 in Arlington. Paul is survived by his spouse, Bill Essex, of San Francisco, and his sister, Jeanne Martin, of Woburn, Massachusetts. Paul passed Jan-

as any to develop grace under fire.” I think that last quote captures as well as any why I love sports, why I think sports are important, and why I am passionate about articulating the value of sports. My life writing and competing in sports has been spent cavorting with Shakespeare’s toads, fighting through the onslaught of trials to find voices, lessons, goodness and strength at every turn. I tell the athletes I coach that the road to success is cobblestoned with failure. They come to embrace that (once they’ve Googled the word “cobblestoned”). I hope in some ways, at some times, I have helped my readers and fellow survivors to embrace it as well. Although I am stepping back from sports writing, I hope to take on freelance writing projects now and then and am working on a few book-writing projects, including a heavy revision and expansion of my cookbook. I want to thank my editors – Cynthia Laird, Matthew S. Bajko, and John Ferrannini – for their editorial support and relentlessness in rooting out my typographical errors, especially those created by the parade of cats who like to walk on my keyboard while I am working. I’d also like to thank all of the coaches, organizers, athletes, and activists who have taken the time to talk with me and to share their insights and passions. I’d like to thank my ever-loving husband, Eduardo, who always encouraged me to keep wrestling, keep coaching, and keep writing. And thank you, loyal readers, for sticking with me, re-posting my stories, and generally putting up with my dubious wit. Love, Bart. t

biphobia over the past year. “Even in office I hear stories or hear people talk behind my back. There is still biphobia and a misunderstanding about that,” said Lee, adding that one positive is more people are comfortable identifying as bisexual or pansexual in public. “Bi erasure has led to a lot of things; there are high levels of mental health issues bi people face.” Lee told the B.A.R. he prefers to look at the silver lining of his being an out bi official allows him to explain to people that one’s sexual orientation or sexuality is not defined by their sexual partner. Otherwise, he noted, single people would be considered asexual. “The beauty of the LGBTQ comWhen you plan your life celebration and lasting remembrance in munity is more than binaries exist. I advance, you can design every detail of your own unique memorial am trying to have that conversation,” and provide your loved ones with true peace of mind. Planning ahead When your celebration lasting said Lee, who still finds it strange to protectsyou your plan loved ones fromlife unnecessary stress and and financial burden, When you plan your life celebration and lasting remembrance in allowing them to focus on what will matter most at that time—you. be told by other bi individuals they are remembrance in advance, you can design every thankful for him being a public advance, role you canofdesign every detail of your ownand unique memorial detail own memorial provide Contact usyour today about theunique beautiful ways to create a lasting legacy model. at the San Francisco Columbarium. and provide your loved ones with true peace of mind. Planning your loved ones with true peace of mind. Planning ahead “Honestly, I am surprised by that your loved onesProudly from unnecessary stressunnecessary and financial burden, reaction from people. It shows protects the ahead protects yourserving loved onesCommunity. from the LGBT lack of representation we have,” allowing said them focus on whatburden, will matter most them at thattotime—you. stresstoand financial allowing Lee, though he acknowledged “there are not a lot of bi folk out there, so it focus on what will matter most at that time—you. is refreshing for people who struggle Contact us today about the beautiful ways to create a lasting legacy with their identity to find someone to at the San Contact FranciscousColumbarium. today about the beautiful ways to create maybe model after.” t

PlanningAhead Ahead isisSimple Planning Simple The benefits are immense.

Planning Ahead is Simple The benefits are immense. The benefits are immense.

a lasting legacy at the San Francisco Columbarium. One Loraine Ct. | San Francisco | 415-771-0717 Proudly serving our Community.

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Obituaries >> Paul Elroy Gerrior

had walked away from negotiations to host the 2006 Gay Games, chafing at the requirements demanded of a Gay Games host, and deciding to create their own beast to usurp the Gay Games they had come to loathe. They sculpted their invention from the mud of their own disdain. They created an event that would not be accountable to anyone.” I referred to professional and college football as the “bloated pigskin of excess.” I called the international track rule that essentially banned intersex women “elitist crap.” Of efforts to rid pro sports of homophobia, I wrote, “Bigotry, whether over race or orientation, occurs not on a once-a-year basis but minute by minute throughout the days. Like a mushroom, bigotry feeds in darkness on crap. It must be exterminated not by the occasional glare of the media spotlight on a single athlete coming out after the fact, but by the brightness of articulated enlightenment and an absolute intolerance for intolerance the instant it is uttered.” On steroids in sports: “The reality is these substances were created in medical laboratories, financed by hopes to save lives. It is not medicine that creates monsters, but its misuse.” On the Virginia Tech massacre in 2007 and the value of sports participation: “Homeland security be damned – none of us ever was safe in this world and none of us ever will be. None of us can ever be sure of what ultimate test we shall be faced with – it may be a deranged student, it may be a terrorist, it may be a virus – but we can be damned sure we will be tested. And sports is as good a way

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uary 18, 2021 after a brief battle with cancer. Paul served honorably in the Army stationed in Bremerhaven, Germany. Paul exercised all his life starting with track and field at Arlington High School, which he continued into his senior years at his local fitness center. He was dedicated to theater acting that started in high school, then later in the Army while stationed in Germany. In San Francisco he performed with Cutting Ball, Phoenix, Exit, and other theaters. Paul worked for Pacific Telephone and AT&T for 25 years.

Paul was also known by his Colt name of Ledermeister that encapsulated his masculine presence, which inspired many generations of men to appreciate their own connection to the masculine gay community. A memorial service was held at St. Agnes Church in Arlington on July 23, 2021 and interment followed at St. Paul Cemetery in Arlington with an Army Honor Guard. Donations may be made to the American Cancer Society.

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<< From the Cover

8 • Bay Area Reporter • January 6-12, 2022

SFAF CEO

From page 1

truly national and international leadership role – the AIDS foundation is an international leadership organization - with deep lived experience that is very meaningful and impactful.” Gay District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman also expressed excitement. “The San Francisco AIDS Foundation is an important provider of care for HIV-positive San Franciscans and is a critical partner in our efforts to get to zero new HIV infections,” Mandelman stated. “I commend the AIDS foundation board for appointing a CEO with Dr. TerMeer’s extensive leadership experience and look forward to working closely with him to support the critical work the foundation will undertake in the years to come.”

Goals

TerMeer said that one of his goals will be to find ways to address racial disparities in HIV infection rates. TerMeer brought up a 2016 study from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that found up to half of gay and bisexual Black men who are currently alive will contract HIV in their lifetimes, compared to 1 in 6 gay and bisexual men of all races, and 1 in 11 gay and bisexual white men. “It’s impossible to have a discussion about the HIV epidemic, just as with any other socioeconomic disparity, without addressing race,” TerMeer said. “There’s trauma ingrained in our society. We need to have a strong understanding of what’s happening in communities of color and how we can prevent HIV in the communities we serve.”

Courtesy SFAF

The San Francisco AIDS Foundation will soon have a new leader in CEO Tyler TerMeer, Ph.D.

TerMeer said he is proud to be the first Black head of the foundation and the second who is HIVpositive. The first HIV-positive CEO was Tim Jones, who served in an interim capacity in 2015. “Black and Brown folks are disproportionately impacted by the epidemic. ... We need Black gay leadership,” TerMeer said. “I was not aware I was only the second person living with HIV – though an opportunity to have an individual living with HIV at the helm at an organization is an important one.” TerMeer said he agrees with the foundation’s longtime public support for a supervised drug consumption facility. The foundation has long expressed interest in operating one, and late last year the city purchased a site in the Tenderloin that may be used as a location, as the B.A.R. reported. “In my current role at Cascade

AIDS Project, we have taken a position as an agency – and I have taken a position personally – of supporting safe consumption sites,” TerMeer said. “I am not yet fully briefed on the work SFAF is doing in this arena, but I know it’s among their goals in the year ahead.” TerMeer said that “historically my approach has been to always develop partnerships with elected officials,” and he looks forward to applying that experience to the administration of Mayor London Breed and the Board of Supervisors. “I’ve made a concerted effort in Portland to have relationships with the City Council, the mayor’s office, county commissioners, and the legislators in Oregon,” TerMeer said. The AIDS foundation was one of the first agencies to create a program for long-term HIV survivors: the Elizabeth Taylor 50-Plus Network.

FRANCISCO, CA 94110, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner CLAUDIA JEANNE PENWELL is requesting that the name CLAUDIA JEANNE PENWELL be changed to CLAUDIA JEANNE PENDLETON. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Rm. 103N on the 13th of JANUARY 2022 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

changed to DONOVAN WILLIAM WAGONER DE SOUSA, and the name COLETTE LANOUE DE SOUSA be changed to COLETTE LANOUE WAGONER DE SOUSA. 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 11th of JANUARY 2022 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

When asked how he will ensure longterm survivors are heard, he said he’s “committed to those who came before me and paved a pathway for me to survive. It’ll be great to hear directly from the community.” In Portland, TerMeer said he helped launch the Aging Well program at the Cascade AIDS Project, which helps aging adults affected by HIV to connect with one another. “They’ve really been able to come together prior to the COVID pandemic, and to find community in virtual space,” TerMeer said. That pandemic affected the AIDS foundation’s fundraising, and prior to his departure Hollendoner presided over 17 layoffs, as the B.A.R. reported. TerMeer said that while he’s “looking forward to developing a complete understanding of the foundation’s revenue and expenses, and to ensure we fulfill our commitments to our donors and the communities we serve ... I’ve learned the foundation remains fiscally healthy,” and “to my knowledge there are no contemplated layoffs in the future.” TerMeer is hopeful about federal goals to end the HIV epidemic. Ending the HIV Epidemic is the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ plan to reduce the number of HIV infections by 90% by the end of the decade, though he said this is only possible if the U.S. “can overcome some of the barriers that exist across our country,” particularly in the South, which, according to a 2019 CDC issue brief is home to 51% of the nation’s total number of new HIV infections, and “the greatest burden of HIV and deaths of any U.S. region.”

San Francisco and several other California cities have their own Getting to Zero programs that aim to sharply reduce the number of HIV cases and AIDS-related deaths and reduce stigma. There were 168 new HIV cases in San Francisco in 2020, according to the latest HIV epidemiology report from the city’s Department of Public Health. TerMeer said one reason for the deaths – “in some Southern states, people with HIV have death rates that are three times higher than people with HIV in other states,” the CDC stated – is that many Republican-run states did not expand Medicaid after the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act became law in 2010. “We have the tools in our tool belt to end HIV, but we have to find out how to end HIV in places like the South,” TerMeer said. In California, experts fear already record-high rates of sexually transmitted infections will get higher as people physically distance less and less due to the COVID-19 pandemic – which itself led to problems with access to STI testing. “I don’t bring with me any new specific strategy around STI prevention that we’ve been doing up here in Portland,” TerMeer said, though we must “find ways to reduce stigma relative to HIV and STIs so finding out your status is not a stigmatizing thing, but an empowering thing so that you can take control of your own health.” TerMeer disclosed that he was hired with a base annual salary of $325,000, which he said was based on the recommendation of an outside expert. SFAF’s annual budget is more than $45 million. t

Legals>> ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-21-556766

In the matter of the application of HA KHANH CHANG, 17 HILLVIEW CT, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94124, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner HA KHANH CHANG is requesting that the name HA KHANH CHANG be changed to TIFFANY KHANH HA CHANG. 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 11th of JANUARY 2022 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.