by John Ferrannini
Agay man who had worked at a Castro neighborhood hair salon was found dead in the Grand Canyon in Arizona earlier this month.
The body of Michael Lee Clayton Dille, 51, of San Francisco, was found March 12 after it’d been “discovered by a bystander,” according to Joelle Baird, who is a public affairs specialist for the National Park Service.
See page 10 >>
by Matthew S. Bajko
Despite LGBTQ rights coming under attack in statehouses across the country, lesbian California Senate President pro Tempore Toni G. Atkins (D-San Diego) is moving to end the Golden State’s ban on using taxpayer money for travel to 23 states that have passed anti-LGBTQ legislation over the past eight years. It comes as San Francisco leaders are also expected to lift the city’s similar travel ban policy.
But it is in contrast to the stance the author of the state’s travel ban policy, gay Assemblymember Evan Low (D-Cupertino), had taken earlier in March. He had told the Bay Area Reporter at the time that he remained convinced his Assembly Bill 1887 establishing the ban on all but emergency travel to states on the “no-fly list” remained effective policy.
“We don’t have any intentions of backing down and changing our position on the statefunded travel ban,” Low had told the B.A.R.
Atkins on Wednesday announced her Senate Bill 447 called the BRIDGE Act, which stands for Building and Reinforcing Inclusive, Diverse, Gender-Supportive Equality. It would scrap the travel ban policy for a marketing program in
those states attacking LGBTQ rights that Atkins said would “encourage acceptance of the LGBTQ+ community.”
How much money would be allocated toward the marketing effort is to be determined, according to Atkins’ office. In a statement provided to the B.A.R. ahead of its official release
late Wednesday afternoon, the 60-year-old Atkins noted how “the idea of being accepted as a lesbian was a foreign concept” when she was growing up in rural Virginia.
“Times have changed, but for so many in the LGBTQ+ community, the feelings of isolation
See page 11 >>
by Cynthia Laird
Salesh Prasad, who was granted bond by an immigration judge late last year, has settled into transitional housing in San Francisco, where he also now has a job.
“I’m enjoying my freedom,” Prasad said during a recent interview at the office of the San Francisco Public Defender, which is representing him.
Prasad had been in Immigration and Customs
Enforcement custody in Southern California for 473 days when immigration Judge Kevin Riley granted a $5,000 bond following a lengthy Decem-
See page 12 >>
The San Francisco Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development has ordered St. James Infirmary to investigate a claim by a trans woman that she is a victim of sexual retaliation by some of the nonprofit’s workers.
Blanche Kriege, 31, told the Bay Area Reporter she lives at the Bobbie Jean Baker House in San Francisco’s Mission neighborhood. She said she is being kicked out of the transitional housing facility at the end of the month after refusing to accompany two St. James workers to a sex club. (The B.A.R. is not naming the two accused staffers because no criminal charges have been filed.)
“This complaint was forwarded to MOHCD staff this morning,” MOHCD communications manager Anne Stanley stated to the B.A.R. on March 16. “Shortly after receiving the complaint, MOHCD staff directed St. James Infirmary’s acting executive director and board president to conduct a full investigation into the allegations.”
Stanley’s statement added, “We are staying apprised of the situation as additional information is made available and cannot offer further comment at this time.”
Anita “Durt” O’Shea, the chief operating officer of St. James, confirmed the existence of the investigation.
“St. James has hired a third-party investigator to investigate this grievance,” O’Shea stated to the B.A.R. “Because it is an active investigation I cannot comment on it.”
O’Shea confirmed that attorney Karen Carrera is the third-party investigator. Carrera did not respond
to a request for comment for this report as of press time.
Kriege told the B.A.R. that she is a Bay Area native who became homeless after losing her apartment during the COVID-19 pandemic.
See page 12 >>
The Miss California Organization, part of the long-running Miss America pageant, has crowned the first transgender local winner in the state group’s 99-year history. San Francisco resident Monroe Lace will now compete to become the first trans statewide titleholder in the contest’s history.
Lace, 25, was named Miss San Francisco earlier this month. She now goes on to the statewide competition to be held for the first time in Visalia in late June to pick the next Miss California, who will represent the state in the annual Miss America pageant.
The Bay Area native and UCLA graduate’s win comes just four years after she left her home and unaccepting family. Afterward she said that she became homeless and was then violently raped.
“I would rather be homeless and me with open arms.”
Lace, who identifies as straight, said
Transgender and nonbinary California residents can change their gender when?” she said. “So I just went in being my whole authentic self and I won.”
Lace was crowned March 5 and is among winners from 21 Miss California local competitions now vying for the state title. Most of the local contests are regionally based and run by nonprofit groups that raise scholarship funds for the contestants.
Tamicia Wakefield, the executive director of the Bay Area Scholarship Alliances, which organizes and fundraises for the regional Miss California pageants, said many people aren’t aware that Miss America has never outright barred transgender women from competing or confuse the organization with other pageants that do.
She said people also often think of Miss America as only a beauty pageant, but the competition has shifted over the years and puts greater emphasis on each contestant’s social platform.
“I really hope through [Lace’s] social platform more young people in general feel empowered to advocate for themselves – especially given a lot of the legislation happening (in other states) across the country right now,” said Wakefield, who has competed in the Miss Santa Clara competition in the past and identifies as queer. “There’s so many attacks on the queer community, the drag community. It doesn’t matter if you’re from a state that has these laws or not, they’re all fearful.”
Lace’s community service platform for her year as Miss San Francisco comes from her own experiences with sexual assault.
When she left her family, which she hasn’t had contact with for four years now, she ended up sleeping on a hotel room floor where she was raped at gunpoint. This fall, she will testify against her attacker in San Francisco Superior Court, she said.
“My platform is all about supporting survivors and rape victims through education, legislation, and awareness,” she said. “I hope to use my year of service to share my personal story, teach children about good character and about being their most authentic selves and advocate for legislation that keeps the city and state safe.”
She recently completed beauty school and earned her cosmetology license. While she works as a hairstylist, she plans to go to law school and become a deputy district attorney.
Her ultimate goal is to then become a judge and work in the same administrative building in downtown Oakland where her father worked as a janitor for 16 years.
“I want to be the Miss San Francisco that brings San Francisco with me and leaves the city a better place,” she said. “I think my story is part of America and I want to see America in me. My win is our win, all of us together.”
The 2023 Miss California Week kicks off June 25 at the Visalia Convention Center in the San Joaquin Valley city’s downtown. The finals will take place Saturday, July 1.t
For more information about the pageant and how to enter, visit https://www.misscalifornia.org/
In the March 23 article “SF supes OK 2 LGBTQs for homeless panel,” the occupation of one of the appointees was incorrect. Joaquin Whitt Guerrero had been the director of housing for Our Trans Home SF, but Guerrero reached out to the B.A.R. after publication to clarify that since January he’s been a mediator for landlord and tenant disputes with the San Francisco Bar
At Gilead, we understand that it’s going to take a combination of both science and social change to help end the HIV epidemic for everyone, everywhere. It’s only by collaborating with advocates and organizations across the country that we can reach this collective goal. Together, we’re working tirelessly to improve health equity and bring awareness to the HIV epidemic.
How did a gay stay-at-home married dad end up solving the 33-year-old cold case murder of a Los Angeles gay porn star?
“That’s the million-dollar question,” Clark Williams told the Bay Area Reporter. “One my husband and daughter have been asking as well.”
Daralyn Madden, a transgender woman who is serving a life prison sentence in Oklahoma, confessed to Los Angeles Police Department Detective John Lamberti that on October 29, 1990, she had killed and dismembered gay porn star William “Billy” Arnold Newton (his screen name was Billy London) in a February interview that came about because of painstaking research by Williams.
“I gotta tell you: it was one of the most moving moments of my career as a police officer,” Lamberti told the B.A.R. “I was almost speechless when I finally talked to Madden – my partner and I. It was something else. It’s hard to put into words.”
Williams’ amateur detective work was detailed in a February 7 Los Angeles Times article available to subscribers.
A former northern co-chair of what was then called the LGBT Caucus of the California Democratic Party (it’s now the LGBTQ caucus), Williams relocated from San Jose to Los Angeles with his family back in 2013, the B.A.R. reported at the time. In the intervening years, he’d devoted himself to his daughter’s rowing pursuits through high school.
“Taking her to practice, helping her get in, took a fair bit of time,” Williams said, adding that once she started at Michigan State University in the fall of 2021, where she’s a Division I rower, he found himself bored and an empty nester.
So Williams decided to connect with people from his youth through a Facebook group on the gay history of Wisconsin, his home state. Enter Rachel Mason – the documentarian who directed and wrote “Circus of Books,” about her parents who ran a West Hollywood gay pornographic store.
“She did a post on Facebook asking for Jeffrey Dahmer’s whereabouts in October 1990 because of the still-unsolved murder of Billy Newton,” Williams said. Mason, who did not respond to a request for comment for this report, posted an article with her query.
Dahmer killed and dismembered 17 men and boys between 1978 and 1991, mostly in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he found many of his victims at gay bars. Dahmer, who was sentenced to life imprisonment after being convicted on 16 counts of first-degree murder in 1992, was bludgeoned to death by a fellow inmate two years later.
Dahmer is not a figure Williams and other gay Wisconsinites take kindly to being reminded of.
“It was a sucker punch that Dahmer, a
member of our community, went to our safe spaces. He really hurt us as a community,” Williams said. “I understand the intention but [Mason’s] post in the Facebook group was going to get her attacked, albeit unfairly. So I messaged her and I made it very clear he [Dahmer] did not commit any murders other than in Milwaukee and Ohio.”
Indeed, Dahmer was asked if he had killed Newton during a police interview, to which he replied in the negative. But from the article Mason had shared, Williams learned that Newton hailed from his own hometown of Eau Claire.
“We were born just a week apart,” Williams, 57, said of Newton. “So, I thought ‘who the hell is this guy?’ I don’t need to tell you growing up in Wisconsin gay at that time was hard. You couldn’t even say the word ‘gay’ without being attacked in my community. I realized Billy Newton also came from that community and I felt very connected to Billy Newton.”
Williams hadn’t remembered Newton because the latter ran away from home at the age of 16. Newton “came to be a runaway youth in the streets of West Hollywood,” Williams said. It was while working at Hollywood Spa, a gay bathhouse in Los Angeles, that Newton met adult film producer David Rey; the two later started London-Rey Productions in 1987.
A change in focus
After talking to Mason, Williams began working on the Dahmer connection.
“I told Rachel [Mason] ‘I’ll spend a little time on this,’” Williams said. “I went to Fresno, where Dahmer’s mom lived at the time. I talked to friends in Milwaukee to ask what they think. I learned Los Angeles police did file a request for information from Milwaukee police about Newton’s death after Jeffery Dahmer was arrested. The answer was always no. So I worked on that for a couple months –pretty vigorously – but got nothing.”
Then Williams changed his focus.
“The answer was not so much ‘who did it?’ as ‘who was Billy Newton?’” Williams said.
For that, he flew back to Wisconsin, where he got hold of Newton’s school records.
“Billy Newton was an actual person, a person from my community, and I wanted to do justice for Billy so he would not just be remembered for how he died but for how he lived. I really felt like telling Billy’s story in an accurate way was telling the story of a whole lost generation, which I feel like I was the only survivor of, at times,” Williams said, referring to the hundreds of thousands of American gay men who died during the AIDS epidemic. “These are ghosts, these are friends of mine.”
Williams also got in touch with Lamberti, a homicide detective who works on cold cases, who was “very appreciative of
the efforts because they [the LAPD] did not have the resources” for the case, Williams said.
“I was very careful in corresponding with him and did a tremendous amount of research before going forward with any lead to him,” Williams said.
After the Dahmer and Wisconsin avenues dried up, Williams proceeded to do a “dive into the gay porn community.”
“I’ve watched gay porn, but knew next to nothing about the industry. ... My gay friends laugh – ‘what a tough job, looking at gay porn,’” Williams said. “I’m not a police investigator. I was trying to help Rachel tell an accurate story of Billy’s life [for her forthcoming documentary].”
‘I almost fell out of bed’
Through the gay pornography connection, Williams discovered a man named Rick Paskay, who around the time of Newton’s murder had claimed to be a private investigator looking into it. He was actually “in the gay porn industry for 20 years, which he never disclosed,” Williams said, adding that Paskay’s real name was Richard Lawrence.
Lawrence had directed a pornographic film, titled “The Devil and Danny Webster,” that touted it was “Introducing Billy Houston.”
It was in researching Houston that Williams discovered the new star’s real name was Darrell Lynn Madden (now Daralyn Madden) who, as it turned out, pleaded guilty to killing a gay man in Oklahoma named Steven Domer as well as Madden’s own accomplice in that murder, Bradley Qualls.
The 2007 murder was “just before Halloween,” Williams said. “Billy Newton was killed just before Halloween 1990. It said in an article that Darrell Madden had once worked in gay porn as Billy Houston.”
Disturbed by the coincidence, Williams looked into Madden’s “lengthy criminal record in California,” which showed some violent crimes as well as sale of methamphetamine. It was while reading an interview with Madden in a book – “American Honor Killings” by Scott McConnell – that Williams said he “almost fell out of bed.”
“I’m reading the book, where he talked about Darrell Madden and he confessed, in the book, to committing murders in L.A. while in the gay porn industry,” Williams said. “This really scared me. While he was committing these crimes he was hanging around a skinhead gang as Richy Rich. … That kind of psychology of identifying as gay during the day then at night going with people who commit crimes against gay people – that’s a dangerous level of psychopathy.”
Williams said he told Lamberti about the connection.
“He said ‘this is the biggest tip in 32 years of this case,’” Williams recalled Lamberti saying.
Lamberti met with Madden, who reportedly confessed to the crime. (An attorney for Madden could not be located.)
“It was so overwhelming,” Williams said. “I sobbed. I was also really sad because it drove me back to when I was younger.”
Williams said that acts of violence from skinhead biker gangs were common around the time of Newton’s murder.
“I learned a lot about the City of Angels at that time,” Williams said. “There were a number of attacks and they were largely unreported or not investigated at all. Billy, like a lot of gay men, came here and built their own family systems in Los Angeles, and I’m sure it’s true in the Castro as well. Gay men were fighting for our lives at that point with HIV/AIDS, so random street attacks weren’t much of a priority.”
Williams said Newton may have just been among those unreported, uninvestigated cases. Only his head and feet have ever been recovered – from a dumpster.
He was last seen leaving the Rage nightclub, now Heart, at 8911 Santa Monica Boulevard.
“The reality is it’s a miracle they found Billy Newton’s remains,” Williams said. “It’s a chance. A homeless person found his body in a dumpster.”
‘It’s really humbling’
The confession also cleared the name of Marc Rabins, Newton’s onetime lover, who had been suspected of the crime.
“He’s a victim, too,” Williams said. “Marc Rabins had nothing to do with the murder and the police have cleared him of any involvement.”
Rabins told the B.A.R. that “not only was I in the Hollywood homicide suspect list, there have been many others that believed I may have been guilty.”
“Bill and I were partners for a couple years before he was murdered. We loved each other very much,” Rabins stated. “His death changed my life forever. ... Needless to say, I am very grateful for all those who helped justice prevail after 32 long years.”
Lamberti said he is grateful for Williams’ work on the case.
“The LAPD has four homicide bureaus divvied up throughout the city,” Lamberti said. “At our unit we have cold cases dating back to the early 1970s, about 50 years of records. How many are we actually working on at any given time? I try to have a small handful. ... Clark blew me out of the water.”
Williams called Lamberti a detective who is “at the top of his profession in one of the foremost departments in the country.”
Williams isn’t necessarily done with cold case work, either.
“Who knew I had this third act in my life?” he asked. “It’s really humbling.”
Still, it was the passion for telling New-
ton’s story fairly and compassionately that did the job, Williams said.
“If I’d had any other motivation, it’d never have been solved, frankly,” Williams said.
Multiple outlets have reported that the office of Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón, a former assistant chief of the Los Angeles Police Department who also served as the district attorney of San Francisco, is not filing charges against Madden. It and the Oklahoma Department of Corrections did not respond to a request for comment for this report as of press time.t
At Dignity Health – Saint Francis Memorial Hospital, we take pride in treating all people with dignity and respect. It’s how we spread humankindness and make everyone feel safe, seen and supported. We’re so proud to be recognized by the most recent Human Rights Campaign’s Healthcare Equality Index for our commitment to LGBTQ+ patients, visitors and employees. The Index helped us adopt best practices and advance our commitment to provide inclusive, compassionate and knowledgeable care to everyone.
So no matter who you are or who you love, know that you are welcome here.
Whenseveral dozen Castro dog owners came out on a stormy evening for a community meeting about improving the Eureka Valley Dog Play Area, they didn’t hold back.
“It smells like a toilet,” shouted Keith Folger, a gay social worker who takes his French bulldog, Teddy, to the dog park “at least twice a day.”
Nobody argued with Folger. The putrid odor of urine and feces is a long-standing problem that has sent many Castro dog owners to other parks around the city.
The dog park is one of 35 in San Francisco, according to the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department, which operates them. Volunteers at several parks have successfully organized campaigns to pay for renovations. Now, some local dog owners want to do the same.
“This is hardly the best [dog park] in the city,” said J. Lee Stickles, a landscape architect whose firm, TS Studio, has consulted on renovations on a handful of dog parks in the Bay Area.
Members of the Eureka Valley Dog Owners Group, a nonprofit offshoot of the Eureka Valley Neighborhood Association, had invited Stickles to the first of three community meetings March 21 to talk about redesigning the dog park.
Stickles, who has a degree in landscape architecture from Pennsylvania State University, and a master’s degree in urban design from Harvard University, is volunteering her firm’s services to help the dog owners come up with some practical solutions.
Based on her work developing plans for a number of dog parks, Stickles estimates that the cost of a typical renovation runs at least $1 million. The funds would probably be a combination of private fundraising and grants.
“It can be done,” said Stickles, “but it takes time.”
Some people said they avoid the dog park, which is adjacent to the Eureka Valley Recreation Center in the heart of the LGBTQ neighborhood.
“I don’t go [to Eureka Valley dog park] any more,” said Alex Lemberg, a local attorney who is nonbinary and
president of EVNA. “I live close by but get in my car” to drive to other parks, they said in an interview with the Bay Area Reporter.
EVDOG was formed in part to raise funds for improving the dog area.
At the meeting, held at the rec center, some 60 dog owners gathered in small groups to develop a wish list of priorities for the proposed renovation.
Among the ideas were upgrades to the ground surface with turf, grading, and irrigation; an interactive dog playground; shade structures and seating; new plantings; a dog/human drinking fountain; and a community engagement bulletin board, among others.
Several dog owners expressed concerns about the anticipated four- to 12-month closure of the park while any renovations were in progress. They wondered whether the city might allow the dogs to use the adjacent athletic field named for lesbian pioneer Rikki Streicher.
“Not likely,” said Carol Sionkowsky, who oversees the management of the park for Rec and Park. The department is working with the dog owners on the proposal. The field has a sign indicating dogs are not allowed.
One person who was particularly upset about the potential closure is Susana Atwood, who takes her dog Woody to the park every day. She voiced her concerns in an interview after the meeting.
“I feel like I’m being evicted,” she said. Atwood said a closure of even one day would be upsetting to her. “I vote for no improvements,” she said.
Atwood belongs to another group of dog owners who also use the park, Collingwood Dog Park Friends (also the name of its Facebook page). Atwood said that group has bought and installed “many” canopies, chairs, and benches over the years. Atwood attended the meeting but didn’t participate in the small groups.
Atwood said that daily use of the park has at least doubled since COVID closures caused many dog owners to work from home. The park is a resource “that has become a part of our daily life,” she said. “The dogs have an opportunity to learn to be good dog citizens in a safe, fenced environment.”
Atwood is happy with the park as is.
“I hope they fail,” she said, referring to EVDOG’s attempts to make changes.
EVDOG has scheduled two more community meetings, hoping to flesh out details of the proposed redesign. After the final meeting, the group will put together a proposal to submit to Rec and Park and begin fundraising.
Stickles was optimistic improvements could be made.
“It’s not going to happen overnight. It will take a while,” she told the B.A.R. EVDOG is not advocating for any particular plan, M Rocket, one of its active volunteers, told the B.A.R. in an interview at the meeting.
“We hope to get input from everyone who uses the park,” said Rocket, who estimates that about 100 people a day use the canine play area.
Rocket, who founded Bay Woof in 2007, said her organization isn’t involved with EVDOG but she helps the group with community outreach. The Bay Woof Foundation, a nonprofit, publishes a free monthly emagazine and a directory of local dog parks.
Noting the importance of improvements in the park, Rocket wrote in an email to the B.A.R., “Outdoor space in an urban environment is absolutely necessary for everyone’s health and well-being, dogs and humans alike. Parks can provide a safe space for pets and humans to get fresh air and commune with others, reducing isolation, providing exercise, and potentially, community engagement, which is the part I like ... folks coming together around a topic of caring for our dogs and each other, which can help people feel anchored in their neighborhood and their city. When the love of dogs is involved, people’s hearts open up.”
For more about the proposals, visit the EVDOG website or its Facebook page, which has the same name.
The next two community meetings are scheduled for Tuesday, April 25, and Wednesday, May 24, both at 6 p.m. at EVRC, 100 Collingwood Street. Interested people can take an online survey at https://bit.ly/40ltds1.t
O ne year after sustaining damage in a hit-and-run crash, the Louise Lawrence Transgender Archive in Vallejo is set to reopen on Transgender Day of Visibility, March 31, and a community open house is planned for next month.
Ms. Bob Davis, a trans woman who founded the archive in 2017 – it opened in 2018 – told the Bay Area Reporter that she looks forward to researchers and others coming to the archive.
“I’m excited and partially in a state of disbelief to see everything in place,” Davis said in a phone interview. “It’s breathtaking.”
It was March 31, 2022 as Davis was rushing into the archive to get brochures for a Transgender Day of Visibility event when she was “greeted by an SUV parked in the middle of the office,” she wrote in an email to supporters last year. “How did it get there?”
Neighbors said the driver lost control of the vehicle, which crashed through the rear wall of the archive, as the B.A.R. previously reported. (https://www.ebar.com/story. php?314820) The damage was mostly confined to the archive’s office, which Davis said “was obliterated.”
The archive is named in honor of Lawrence (1912-1976), a northern California transgender pioneer who began living full-time as a woman in 1942, first in Berkeley then San Francisco, as the B.A.R. noted in a 2017 article. She, along with Virginia Prince and others, published the first incarnation of Transvestia in 1952. Lawrence’s address book was the initial subscription list, and she was instrumental in developing the trans community’s connection to pioneering sex researchers such as Alfred Kinsey and Harry Benjamin, according to Davis.
Immediately after the crash, Davis stated in a news release, Rob Oakley, an ally who designed the original space, loaded his truck with plywood and two-by-fours to board up the gaping hole left by the SUV. Last year, Oakley told the B.A.R. that he’s known Davis for about 20 years.
Since then, Davis noted that volunteers have spent about 100 hours working on the space.
“Without the aid of the community, we wouldn’t be welcoming researchers and curiosity seekers back to explore our remarkable collections,” Davis stated. “The rebuilt archive has additional storage space to better meet professional archiving standards, making more of the collection easily available to our guests.”
The GLBT Historical Society, which is the archive’s fiscal sponsor, helped out with emergency financial support, as did Horizons Foundation, LEF Foundation/California, and dozens of individual donors, Davis stated. She told the B.A.R. that the rebuilt archive cost about $35,000 total, including dealing with termites that were discovered. The money came from insurance as well as the other financial support, she explained.
Additionally, Davis said that three Bay Area archivists pitched in to help her out. Isaac Fellman, a reference archivist at the GLBT Historical Society; Marjorie Bryer, accessioning and processing archivist at UC Berkeley’s Bancroft Library; and Al Bersch, metadata and systems librarian at the California Historical Society, all volunteered a day at the archive, she said.
In an email, Fellman, who stated he was commenting in his personal capacity and not on behalf of the historical society, wrote that he and the other archivists assisted Davis last April 21.
“As an archivist, I’m very aware of
the fragility of things,” explained Fellman, a queer trans man. “Every item in an archive has survived against the odds – it’s avoided fire, flood, mold, neglect, and the garbage can. But we forget sometimes that the archives can’t keep that item safe forever. The archives aren’t static; they need to be protected, repaired, and renewed.”
Fellman stated that he was “thrilled” the Louise Lawrence archive was reopening.
“Hell yes,” he wrote, adding that trans people have long archived their own history. “Ms. Bob’s project is both an archive of trans history and an act of trans history – Louise is vital and unique.”
Fellman added that when the archivists helped Davis last year, they were renewing their commitment to each other. “And we have an opportunity to remember that some broken things are fixable,” he stated.
Bryer and Bersch did not respond to messages seeking comment.
Davis, a retired music instructor from City College of San Francisco, noted the Louise Lawrence archive is one of the few archival centers in the U.S. to focus entirely on document-
ing transgender and gender-nonconforming history and culture.
The archive will be open by appointment only beginning March 31. On Saturday, April 8, Davis will be holding an open house to welcome supporters and the public. It will take place from 1 to 5 p.m. at 3021 Irwin Street, in Vallejo.
To schedule a visit or tour, email lltransarchive@gmail.com. For more information, visit the website at https://lltransarchive.org/. t
With easy one hour flights from San Francisco, it’s easy to see why many consider buying a second home or retiring in Palm Springs, a very LGBTQ friendly city that’s clean, has less traffic and is beautiful.
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Shanti’s LGBTQ+ Aging & Abilities Support Network (LAASN)
Since 1974, Shanti has trained over 20,000 Bay Area volunteers to offer emotional and practical support to some of our most marginalized neighbors. LAASN offers emotional and practical support to LGBTQ+ older adults and adults with disabilities who face isolation and need greater social support and connection.
Shanti LAASN peer support volunteers:
Go through the internationally recognized training on the Shanti Model of Peer SupportTM
Make a commitment of 2-4 hours a week for a minimum of 6 months
Get matched with one client, for whom they serve as a non-judgmental source of emotional support and reliable practical help
Have one of the most rewarding volunteer experiences of their lives!
To learn more about how you can be a Shanti volunteer, contact Volunteer Services at 415-674-4751 or email acone@shanti.org. For more information about LAASN services, call 415-979-9950 or email djohnson@shanti.org.
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Ugandan lawmakers have passed a harsh antiLGBTQ bill that President Yoweri Museveni has indicated he supports, and LGBTQ residents in the country are on edge. We hope Museveni vetoes the bill, but are not confident he will. He views LGBTQ rights as an ideology that Western countries try to impose on others, but this terrible legislation goes further than most, even prescribing death for the offense of “aggravated homosexuality” and life imprisonment for “homosexuality.”
The Associated Press reported that “aggravated homosexuality is defined as cases of sex relations involving those infected with HIV as well as minors and other categories of vulnerable people. Jail terms of up to 20 years are proposed for those who advocate or promote the rights of LGBTQ people.”
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Paul H. Melbostad, Esq.
Human Rights Watch reported that the 2023 Anti-Homosexuality Bill “is a revised and more egregious version” of the 2014 Anti-Homosexuality Act, which was signed into law but then struck down by a court on procedural grounds. “One of the most extreme features of this new bill is that it criminalizes people simply for being who they are as well as further infringing on the rights to privacy, and freedoms of expression and association that are already compromised in Uganda,” said Oryem Nyeko, Uganda researcher at Human Rights Watch. The bill has led LGBTQ Ugandans to fear they could become homeless. Frank Mugisha, head of the banned LGBTQ support group Sexual Minorities Uganda, told AP, “I am worried about being evicted from the place where I live, because I don’t own
property. I could become homeless.” Should the bill be signed, Mugisha said it would be impossible for him to live in the country. The U.S. government has taken a stand against the bill. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said that the Biden administration had “grave concerns” about it. She noted that if the bill becomes law, tourism and economic investment in Uganda could take a hit, along with the East African country’s reputation. But Uganda’s leaders don’t seem to care about that. Politicians there have repeatedly targeted the LGBTQ community, whether through draconian laws or stopping the work of the non-governmental organization Sexual Minorities Uganda, which it did last year.
John Kirby, the spokesperson for the National Security Council, said the U.S. would “have to take a look at” imposing economic sanctions on Uganda. That would be unfortunate, as much of the country’s U.S. aid is in the form of health assistance, including for HIV/AIDS.
The United Nations has also weighed in with its opposition. U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk on March 22 stated in a news release that the adoption in Uganda of the new legislation targeting lesbian, gay, and bisexual people was devastating and deeply disturbing. “The passing of this discriminatory bill – probably among the worst of its kind in the world – is a deeply troubling development,” Türk stated. “If signed into law by the president, it will render lesbian, gay, and bisexual people in Uganda criminals simply for existing, for being who they are. It could provide carte blanche for the systematic violation of nearly all of their human rights and serve to incite people against each other.”
Overall this is a desperate situation. People’s lives will be at stake no matter what Museveni does. The easiest thing, or course, would be for Museveni to veto the bill but even that won’t stop the rampant homophobia in his country. If he signs the bill and the U.S. imposes sanctions, lives will be in jeopardy if foreign aid is decreased or suspended. LGBTQ Ugandans already have a difficult life in so many respects that forcing them back into the closet is counterproductive. Even as homosexuality is criminalized in more than 30 of Africa’s 54 countries, Uganda does not need to add to that count. If the bill does become law, LGBTQ Ugandans will need support from the U.S. and other countries. t
This is the worst year in history for anti-trans and anti-drag legislation. Full stop. This highly orchestrated trans and drag panic is brought to us by far-right extremists and strategists who literally want to stop us from living authentically as LGBTQ+ people, particularly those identifying as transgender. The playbook that these legislators, activists, and strategists are using to instigate culture wars through anti-trans and genderaffirming bans are similar to those used to attack reproductive rights and a person’s right to choose. Like with the abortion playbook, restrictions targeting minors are a stepping stone to broader restrictions for adults. These attacks come at a time of extreme vulnerability for LGBTQ+ individuals and families now that a conservative, activist faction controls the U.S. Supreme Court.
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The number of people publicly identifying as LGBTQ+ has doubled in size in the last decade, and the fanatic Christian right is doing everything it can to erase trans and LGBQ+ neighbors, co-workers, parents, and families in an attempt to drive us back in the closet. The ban on drag performances mainly sprang from objections raised by zealots, including the Proud Boys, to Drag Story Hour, which aims to teach children about gender diversity and acceptance with readings of age-appropriate books by drag artists. Far-right extremist and Christian conservatives frame drag performers as recruiters that expand the LGBTQ+ community, a new take on the old trope once used in a similar fashion against gays and lesbians. Whatever the reason, a recent Gallup poll shows that one in five Gen Z identifies as LGBTQ+. Moreover these LGBTQ+ youth are driving change in societal norms that are antithetical to the political agenda of the Christian right.
The National Center for Transgender Equality estimates that more than 430 bills that seek to strip away basic rights, protections, and resources from trans people, nonbinary people, and drag performers have been introduced in 44 states. Christian conservative organizations are giving states model legislation to push through these efforts in order to overwhelm LGBTQ+ people and their allies by flooding legislative bodies with as many bills as possible.
Examples include Florida’s Senate Bill 254 that would permit courts to remove trans children from affirming households if their parents allow them to access transition care. There are bills that ban gender-affirming health care and require transgender youth to detransition, and Texas’ House Bill 4378, which would allow any individual to sue the organizers of – and performers in – drag shows if a child saw the performance. People who successfully sue over drag performances would be entitled to statutory “damages’’ of $5,000, mirror-
ing the Texan abortion bounty hunter law.
In this context, over the last year the New York Times, with nearly nine million subscribers, began platforming anti-trans extremists in its coverage. The reckless, bigoted reporting by the Times ultimately helped to fuel a trans panic in 2022 and continues to perpetuate disinformation about trans youth, providing a megaphone that has been used by politicians to harm transgender people in legislative hearings. More recently the Times hired evangelical Christian David French to be a staff writer for its Opinion section.
Touted as a credible conservative, French, formerly an attorney for the anti-LGBTQ Alliance Defending Freedom, shamelessly advocates for the erasure of trans people.
According to GLAAD, French has a history of expressing his outward disdain for transgender people. In the past, he lamented “transgender entitlement” and once described a young transgender woman as a “man” who is “on the verge of mutilating himself,” as Media Matters has noted. The Times continues to double down, despite universal condemnation by over 100 LGBTQ+ groups led by GLAAD and the Human Rights Campaign.
Last week, the Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club hosted a forum to kick-start the local conversation on how to counter these efforts locally and nationally. It included Sister Roma, Alex U. Inn, Michael Trung Nguyen, Jackie Thornhill, Pau Crego, and myself. We need many more conversations like this to educate ourselves and our allies on what is happening, what’s at stake, and what we can do to fight back.
Ultimately it comes down to a fight over whether drag artists are helping children to ac-
cept themselves, or as rightwing Christians call it, “grooming.” Why does this matter? Because of stigma and mistreatment, LGBTQ+ youth are more than four times as likely to attempt suicide than their peers. A 2022 JAMA study found that transgender and nonbinary youth who received gender-affirming care had 60%-73% percent lower odds of suicidality over the course of a year.
For Transgender Visibility Week, I would suggest a time-tested strategy like icons the late San Francisco supervisor Harvey Milk, gay rights activist Hank Wilson, and lesbian educator Sally Gearhart, and current leaders Cleve Jones, Gwenn Craig, and Tom Ammiano used during the fight over the 1978 Briggs initiative, a ballot measure that would have banned gay and lesbian teachers from California public school classrooms. (Wilson was a former teacher, as is Ammiano.) Right-wing Christians also argued at that time that these hardworking educators were “recruiting” children. LGBTQ+ folks, hand-in-hand with straight allies, partnered to tell their stories through speakers’ bureaus. Ultimately, Proposition 6, as it was known, was defeated by LGBTQ+ people, labor unions, feminists, and other allies who organized a powerful grassroots movement. We can do something similar by working in partnership with these same coalitions and by telling our personal stories. To paraphrase Milk, “Every ‘trans’ person must come out. As difficult as it is, you must tell your immediate family. You must tell your relatives. You must tell your friends if indeed they are your friends. You must tell the people you work with. You must tell the people in the stores you shop in. Once they realize that we are indeed their children, that we are indeed everywhere, every myth, every lie, every innuendo will be destroyed once and all.”
The Trans Day of Visibility, observed March 31, has never been more critical and vital to our community because “rights are won only by those who make their voices heard.”
Also, please join this critically important rally and march to fight back.
Organized by Sister Roma, Juanita MORE!, Alex U. Inn, the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, the Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club and others, “Drag Up! Fight Back!” takes place Saturday, April 8, with a rally at 11 a.m. and a noon march from San Francisco City Hall to Union Square. t
Gabriel Haaland, who is trans, is a former president of the Harvey Milk LGBTQ+ Democratic Club. A former Bay Area resident, they currently reside in Asheville, North Carolina, with their dog Buddy, by way of the rain forests of Costa Rica where they previously lived after leaving the Bay Area.
A gay East Bay college board member is seeking to be appointed to a vacancy on the Alameda County Board of Supervisors. Seen as an underdog candidate for the seat, Harris Mojadedi would be the first out LGBTQ member of the countywide governing body if he is selected.
The county supervisors will begin their deliberation on whom to appoint at a special meeting at 1:30 p.m. Thursday, and the new supervisor is to be formally appointed and sworn into office at the board’s April 4 meeting. During their March 28 meeting they interviewed four candidates under consideration to become the new District 2 supervisor.
The elected position became vacant following the death in early February of supervisor Richard Valle, who represented the communities of Hayward, Union City, Newark, and portions of Fremont. In June 2012 he had been appointed to fill a vacancy and went on to be elected that November.
Mojadedi was appointed last February to fill a vacancy on the Chabot-Las Positas Community College District Board of Trustees. The Union City resident became the first gay Afghan American to hold an elected public office in the U.S.
He was unopposed last year for a full four-year term in the district’s Trustee Area 3 seat so didn’t need to run for election on the November ballot. Several days after Valle’s death, Mojadedi tweeted about losing a key adviser in his life.
“I lost a mentor who shaped my views on public service/opened doors for me and won’t be able to tell him just how much his friendship/ support meant to me,” wrote Mojadedi, who works as a policy analyst at UC Berkeley.
There has yet to be an out supervisor in Alameda County. Last year, lesbian Rebecca Kaplan lost her bid for the open District 3 seat that includes the cities of Alameda, San Leandro, a portion of Oakland, and the unincorporated communities of San Lorenzo, Hayward Acres, and a portion of Ashland.
Kaplan, the at-large member on the Oakland City Council since 2008, had sought the supervisor seat
following the death in late 2021 of longtime supervisor Wilma Chan, who was struck by a driver while walking her dog in Alameda. Her board colleagues appointed Chan’s former aide, Dave Brown, to serve out the remaining 14 months of her term after he committed not to seek election to the seat.
Last week, Mojadedi garnered three votes among the current four supervisors to move forward to being interviewed during their March 28 meeting. He is the only male applicant being considered, due to Hayward Mayor Mark Salinas pulling himself out of contention this week.
The role of a supervisor, said Mojadedi during his interview by the board Tuesday, “is making those most marginalized and vulnerable in our society feel they belong, because they do.”
He also said it is time for there to be an LGBTQ supervisor serving in Alameda County during a period of intense backlash against LGBTQ rights.
“Our community is under attack, and Alameda County is not exempt from that,” said Mojadedi, the only one to outright mention the LGBTQ community during his opening remarks to the supervisors.
The three women up for the appointment had all received four votes from the supervisors to be interviewed Tuesday. They are Fremont City Councilmember Teresa Keng, who lost her bid for a legislative seat last year; Hayward City Councilmember Elisa Márquez; and Ariana Casanova, a political organizer at SEIU Local 1021 who reportedly recently moved from Oakland to Hayward in order to seek the seat.
According to reporting by East Bay political watcher Steven Tavares, the leading candidate is Márquez, who was initially appointed to her council seat in 2014 and most recently won reelection in 2020. A mom and Hayward native, Márquez is a probate court investigator with the Santa Clara County Superior Court.
A “proud Chicana,” Márquez told the supervisors, “I am proven policy maker with nearly 29 years of casting votes in the city of Hayward, which includes my experience on the planning commission and as a
council member. My work ethic is unmatched.”
Casanova, a working mom and daughter of immigrants, has strong backing from labor groups and leaders. She created a website to raise support for her being appointed and seeking election to the seat in 2024.
She teared up telling the supervisors that Valle had supported her seeking to be elected to the position next year.
“Anywhere you put me in any area I always deliver. I get things done. I work with everyone. I listen to everyone. I truly believe in collaboration,” said Casanova.
Keng, currently her city’s vice mayor, emailed supporters over the weekend thanking them “for sending letters of support to the supervisors. Please continue to do so if you haven’t gotten a chance to.” She also asked them to speak up at Tuesday’s meeting in support of her being appointed.
“Supervisor Valle was a friend, public servant, and a voice to those who didn’t have a voice,” Keng told the supervisors at the hearing. “I want to continue that legacy to serve those who didn’t have a voice.”
Should one of the women be selected, they would double female representation on the five-person board and serve alongside District 3 Supervisor Lena Tam, who defeated Kaplan in their race in November. Any of the four applicants would bring the number of supervisors of color on the county board to four.
Whoever is appointed to the supervisorial seat will need to run in 2024 in order to be elected to serve out the remaining two years of Valle’s term. They would then run for a full four-year term in 2026. t
Web Extra: For more queer political news, be sure to check http:// www.ebar.com Monday mornings for Political Notes, the notebook’s online companion. This week’s column reported on a national survey regarding LGBTQ issues.
Keep abreast of the latest LGBTQ political news by following the Political Notebook on Twitter @ http://twitter.com/politicalnotes.
Got a tip on LGBTQ politics? Call Matthew S. Bajko at (415) 8298836 or e-mail m.bajko@ebar.com.
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Angered by the anti-trans and anti-drag hysteria that is being whipped up around the country, activists have planned a “Drag Up! Fight Back!” march and rally for Saturday, April 8, from noon to 3 p.m. in San Francisco over the Easter holiday weekend.
According to a news release, the American Civil Liberties Union is now tracking 430 anti-LGBTQ+ bills, fueled by extreme right-wing politicians, media, churches, and others. “These bills
target everything from what can be said and taught in schools to which books can be read to banning drag performances and banning gender-affirming care for trans youth,” the release stated.
“This cumulative effect is dangerous, as it affects the physical and mental health of trans people, the safety and livelihoods of drag artists, and the basic rights of LGBTQ+ people everywhere,” the release noted.
The day will start with a rally at 11 a.m. on the steps of San Francisco City Hall, 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place. From there, participants will march
to Union Square where there will be performances, readings by members of Drag Story Hour, and surprise guests, according to the release.
Sponsors include the People’s March, LGBTQ nightclub Oasis, the San Francisco Democratic Party, and the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, which will be hosting its annual celebration on Easter Sunday, April 9, in Mission Dolores Park. (That day the Los Angeles LGBT Center is hosting an all-ages Drag March LA in West Hollywood.)
“These fascist laws are an attempt to silence, criminalize, and eradicate our
Outstanding member of Bay Area’s LGBTQ+ Community, Owner of famed SOMA’s BOOT CAMP BAR (1980’s)
Avid Gardener, Nature Lover and World Traveler. Ken had a boundless generosity towards anyone he met, whether be a stranger, his friends, or members of his Natural and chosen family. He will never be forgotten by those who were fortunate to meet him, as well as friends: Clay Araujo and Chris Murray, And his sisters: MaryAnn Fitzharris, Jeannette Fitzharris, Maureen Walters and brother in-law Michael Frank.
HAPPY HEAVENLY BIRTHDAY KEN
Clay Araujo
community,” stated Sister Roma of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, who is helping organize the event. “‘Drag Up! Fight Back!’ is a call to action for everyone who believes that drag is not a crime and knows that queer and trans rights are human rights.”
Other drag artists are also sponsoring the event, including Alex U. Inn and Juanita MORE! of the People’s March, Kochina Rule, Juicy Liu, Per’sia, Santana Tapia, and Sister Shalita Corndog. Also listed as sponsors are D’Arcy Drollinger of Oasis, the Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club, and local Democratic Party Chair Honey Mahogany, who came up short in last year’s District 6 supervisor race.
Roma stated that people are encouraged to wear drag, but it is not required.
“We’re going to show them how San Francisco responds to hate – with love and joy,” Roma stated.
For more information, visit the event’s Facebook page at https://bit. ly/3JKgurX.
in several cities in northern San Mateo County.
According to a news release, in February MOWSF became the main provider of free, home-delivered meals to the homes of more than 300 seniors living in the cities of South San Francisco, Colma, Daly City, Brisbane, and San Bruno – a region that was previously served by Peninsula Volunteers. In its March newsletter, MOWSF stated it had begun partnering with northern San Mateo County last summer and, as part of that contract, took over last month.
A graph in the newsletter shows that the seniors in Northern San Mateo County rely more on walkers or wheelchairs (42%) and have poor mobility or are bedbound (31%) than the clients served in San Francisco, of which 29% rely on walkers or wheelchairs and 14% have poor mobility or are bedbound.
SF trans visibility event
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The Transgender Day of Visibility will be observed in San Francisco with a free event Friday, March 31, from 5:45 to 9:30 p.m. at SOMArts Gallery, 934 Brannan Street. According to organizers, the gathering will cel ebrate trans identities.
“With over 400 anti-trans legislation bills currently active in the United States, it is important that we celebrate trans visibility and joy,” stated organizer Niko Storment. “Now more than ever, it is paramount to showcase our stories in the media. We must stand up to this pandemic of hate.”
Meals on Wheels San Francisco has announced that it has expanded its service region and now provides homedelivered meals to homebound seniors
“More than 30% of the seniors we’re delivering meals to in Northern San Mateo tend to be homebound or bedbound, and really need the support to make sure they have food to eat,” stated Phil Duarte, director of the homedelivered meals program at MOWSF. “Our expansion into the county is a natural one for us because we already have established infrastructure to be able to deliver thousands of meals daily so that no one misses a lunch or dinner.”
MOWSF continues to see a growing need for meals as the population of people aged 60 and older continues to outpace other age demographics in San Francisco, the release noted.
Seniors in the Northern San Mateo County cities listed above can call (415)-920-1111 to see if they qualify for meals.
The release stated that San Francisco seniors can sign up for home-delivered meals through the city’s Department of Disability and Aging Services’ information referral and intake unit at (415) 355-6700. t
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Dille, who worked at Every Six Weeks at 491 Castro Street, was reported missing by friends last month, having been last seen February 2. One described his behavior before his disappearance as “very erratic” in a Facebook post.
“Our rangers discovered a body below the Trailview Overlook,” a popular observation point for visitors to the national park, Baird told the Bay Area Reporter on March 27.
“We successfully recovered the body,” she continued, adding it’s estimated it’d been there for about a day.
Baird said there was no evidence of
foul play, though Dille had fallen “approximately 200-300 feet” from the southern rim of the canyon. An autopsy has to be done by the Coconino County Health and Human Services Medical Examiner’s Office, she added.
Trish Lees, a community relations manager with the office, told the B.A.R. that the autopsy has not been completed and it could take up to 60 days.
Dille had lived in the Castro for decades. A 1997 San Francisco Examiner piece described him as a “hairdresser” who’d previously lived in San Diego, where he knew the gay serial killer Andrew Cunanan. In the report Dille, talking to a friend at The Cafe, said he did
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Whentheir friend goes in for gender-affirming surgery at a Bay Area health care facility in April, Fresno resident Kaede Coronado-Acuña has offered to drive them and help care for them post the procedure. In order to do so, they will need to take time off from their job as the GSA Network’s Central Valley regional organizer.
“I offered to bring my friend because I remember how difficult it was for my spouse,” said Coronado-Acuña, 23, whose partner had the same surgery. “I know it is going to be a hassle. Their family is not really that supportive, but we are family. Me and my friend, we are all family, so we take care of each other.”
Coronado-Acuña, who is queer and nonbinary, has been in their job five months and is only allowed 40 hours of vacation time. In order to care for their friend, they will need to either use up a week of their vacation hours or apply to have it be covered as paid leave.
“I used my vacation time and some sick time with my spouse as well when they were getting their top surgery last year,” noted Coronado-Acuña, who at the time was employed by the Fresno
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not want to return to San Diego because he was frightened of Cunanan, who killed five people in 1997. Cunanan died by suicide in July 1997.
A memorial for Dille was put up
From page 1
and fear remain. Lifting the travel ban and putting a program in its place that
Courtesy Kaede Coronado-Acuñasupports proposed legislation that would expand Paid Family Leave to chosen families.
Economic Opportunity Commission. Under a state law that went into effect January 1, Assembly Bill 1041 by Assemblymember Buffy Wicks (DOakland), California expanded family leave provisions for workers to include their chosen family members in addition to their biological relatives, spouses, and children. It takes into account how
at what is known as “Hibernia Beach” outside the Bank of America building at 18th and Castro streets, a regular site for memorials of deceased LGBTQ community members.
Every Six Weeks did not return a request for comment for this report as of press time, but a former co-worker, Doyle Lavarias, told the B.A.R. that the
would infuse inclusive, nonpartisan messages in other states is a way that California can help build a bridge of inclusion and acceptance,” stated Atkins. “At a time when LGBTQ+ rights and protections are being rescinded,
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many LGBTQ people are estranged from their biological families and have households comprised of close friends they may need to care for during times of illness.
Another bill signed into law last year by Governor Gavin Newsom, Senate Bill 951 by Senator María Elena Durazo (D-Los Angeles), boosts leave benefits for lower- and middle-income employees to cover more of their regular income while they take time off to care for loved ones. LGBTQ family advocates, such as the San Francisco-based Our Family Coalition, had supported the bill. It extends increased wage replacement rates for State Disability Insurance and Paid Family Leave (PFL) that were set to sunset last year. Under the legislation’s phased-in increase in benefits, by 2025, workers earning less than the state’s average wage could receive up to 90% of their regular wages while taking leave.
This legislative session Wicks is carrying two new bills to further strengthen the state’s paid leave provisions for workers and ensure LGBTQ people who provide care to their family and friends are not discriminated against by employers.
The Family Caregiver Anti-Dis-
last time he saw Dille, he “gave me the biggest hug.”
When Dille went missing, Lavarias thought “Oh my God – was that the last hug?”
Lavarias, a gay man, described Dille as “super positive.”
“He never said anything bad about anyone,” Lavarias said. “He always made
and the very words we use are being weaponized, putting understanding and kindness at the forefront is more important than ever.”
Atkins added that the goal of her legislation “is to speak to people’s
crimination Act, AB 524, would make it unlawful for employers to refuse to hire, fire, demote, or take other adverse employment action against workers because of their responsibilities to their biological or chosen family members. It passed out of the Assembly Judiciary Committee this month and awaits a hearing before the Committee on Labor and Employment.
AB 518, dubbed Paid Family Leave for Chosen Family, would give workers the right to receive Paid Family Leave wage replacement benefits while on leave. Currently, most California workers pay into the Paid Family Leave program through automatic paycheck deductions, but those with chosen family cannot currently access the program when they need to take time off to care for those loved ones.
Thus, advocates of the legislation argue it will ensure employees can afford to care for their chosen family members. It is awaiting a vote by the Assembly Insurance Committee.
“Who we count as members of our family and choose to care for includes so many more Californians than what our current laws recognize,” stated Wicks. “Employee protections must continue to
the day fun. He was like my work roommate in the salon, making chit-chat.”
Lavarias’ clients were sad to hear of Dille’s disappearance, he said, as the latter had made conversation with them and gave tarot card readings.
“He talked about portals, energy, the Grand Canyon, and rock formations,” Lavarias said, adding that to hear Dille
hearts and open minds. That’s a pursuit that would have made teen Toni –that southwestern Virginia girl afraid to be herself back then – so proud.”
Low’s office told the B.A.R. it didn’t have a comment “at this time yet” as
evolve so workers can care for those they love, and not get punished for it. AB 524 and AB 518 are important next steps to making that happen.”
Equal Rights Advocates is supporting both bills. Jessica Stender, the organization’s policy director and deputy legal director, told the Bay Area Reporter that it is confident the legislation will be passed by the Legislature because of the support for last year’s bills.
“I think the Legislature showed the need and an understanding of having a more expansive definition for family to take into account workers who don’t have close family or family that is not related by blood,” said Stender, a straight ally.
In a recent video interview with the B.A.R. Coronado-Acuña noted that the concept of carrying for one’s chosen family is not well understood. They added that they have been lucky to work for employers who do understand it.
“I feel like most people would be ‘It’s not your responsibility. It is not your blood relative, so you shouldn’t have to take care of them,’” they said. “My response again would be that your family isn’t always blood. Family is what you make it.” t
died in the Grand Canyon “gave me chills.”
“For his last breath he went to the Grand Canyon, where he always wanted to go,” Lavarias said. “I hope he found peace, and what he was looking for.” t
of the paper’s noon print deadline Wednesday.
San Francisco’s policy known as
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She moved into the Bobbie Jean Baker House, an 18-bed transitional house for trans, gender-nonconforming, and intersex people in the Mission. It’s part of Our Trans Home SF, a city-funded coalition that includes St. James and works to address homelessness and housing instability in these populations.
“The BJB House offers an independent & supportive living environment with integrated case management services to help TGI individuals who are experiencing homelessness stabilize and begin a pathway to long-term housing,” St. James’ website states.
“Residents at the BJB house may stay up to 18 months and are not required to pay any rent, are provided with basic food staples, in-house supportive services, and case management. Our program has a waitlist, however, we encourage people to apply as turnover will happen over time,” the website states.
Creepy advances alleged
Kriege said that after moving there in August 2022, she was subjected to “a number of creepy advancements and touches” from one person who works there.
For example, Kriege alleges the first St. James employee repeatedly asked her to join him at the park, to which she repeatedly said no. But things became clearer to Kriege, she said, after he asked her on December 27 to join him and a second employee at a sex club.
“He drags me out and, when I get to the bus stop, he asks if I want to go to a sex club with him and [the second St.
From page 1
ber 5 hearing in Van Nuys, California.
As the Bay Area Reporter has previously reported, Prasad, who told the court during that hearing 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 another person’s life,” as Prasad wrote in a Guest Opinion piece in the B.A.R. last year.
He was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 20 years to life, he said. Because of that conviction, he faced deportation to Fiji. He has an immigration court hearing in April to determine whether he would likely face danger if deported to the island country in the South Pacific.
Prasad was found eligible for release from prison due to his rehabilitation and remorse, as he told the judge in December. 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 Annex. 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.
From page 11
12X bans not only travel but also contracting with businesses headquartered in the 30 states now covered by it. It was expanded from targeting those states that had passed anti-LGBTQ laws since 2015 to also include those with restrictions on abortion access and voting rights.
This month a majority of San Francisco supervisors voted to allow city agencies and departments to enter into construction contracts with companies in the 30 states. And later this spring the board is expected to revoke the entire policy covering bans on travel and doing other business in those states.
“I had been toying with the idea of just dealing with the contracting and leaving the travel ban in place. But the more I heard from city departments on how the travel ban is working in prac-
Courtesy St. James Infirmary Anita “Durt” O’Shea, the chief operating officer of St. James, has confirmed that an attorney is conducting an investigation.James employee],” Kriege said. “I just said, ‘sorry, not my thing.’ Something like that.”
After she said no, it became harder for Kriege to get her needs met at the home, she said.
“When I first got here, when I asked for something, I got it right away,” Kriege said.
However, a mattress change Kriege requested was taking “a very long time.”
“I asked for one and every time they said ‘it’s in process,’” Kriege said.
Then, a third St. James employee told Kriege that the first St. James employee would be willing to give her his “old gross mattress,” however “there’s a little bit of cum on it, but you won’t care, right?” she recalled.
“That’s what I was told,” Kriege said.
Kriege said that on January 26, the first and second St. James employees called her into “an accusatory gas-lighting bully session.” Kriege said that she was told people had complaints against her, but when pressed they were too
Prasad, 51, was released from ICE custody December 6 and soon made his way to San Francisco, as he has been assigned to the parole unit here. He is currently living in transitional housing, but that will end in June. He recently started a GoFundMe campaign to raise funds to move into an apartment in the East Bay.
“It’s less expensive there,” he said, adding that he would continue working in San Francisco, where he is a social residence counselor for HomeRise, a nonprofit that works with people experiencing homelessness. “I like socializing with the residents. It’s really overwhelming to help people,” he said.
Prasad did just that while in custody, he explained. As he attended therapy and 12-step meetings to deal with his issues, he also found time to help other prisoners, as he wrote in the guest opinion. “I have stood up for my fellow detainees by speaking out about work conditions and safety with Cal-OSHA, the state’s occupational health and safety agency,” he wrote. “I have fought to protect the rights of people detained by ICE during the COVID-19 pandemic, by advocating for vaccinations for people who are detained by ICE and fighting for an end to transfers of people who served their time in California prisons, to ICE detention.”
“I have coping skills,” he said in the interview, adding he has learned what trig-
tice, I don’t think it makes sense either,” gay District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, who is the lead author of the ordinance to completely jettison the city’s 12X policy, had told the B.A.R.
Atkins authors 2 LGBTQ bills
Atkins’ bill to end the state travel ban is the second piece of legislation she is carrying this year that directly addresses LGBTQ rights. She also is the author of a bill aimed at protecting access to gender-affirming care for transgender individuals.
Last week, Atkins announced her SB 487 that is largely focused on protecting providers of abortion in California from various legal repercussions but also includes providers of gender-affirming care services. It would ensure that a health insurer, or health care service plan, couldn’t penalize a licensed California health care provider who performs such services.
In addition, the bill would restrict
vague or nonsensical to respond to.
“There’ve been issues and concerns against you but we can’t explain them without violating HIPAA,” Kriege characterized St. James staff as saying at a subsequent January 30 meeting, referring to the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996.
After receiving “heavy breathing voicemails” in the early morning hours of February 5 from the first St. James employee’s phone number, Kriege said she went to the San Francisco Police Department’s special victims unit South of Market. Eventually getting in touch with SVU over the phone, she was told to file a police report, which she did February 11 and provided to the B.A.R.
After the police report was filed, SVU and SFPD did not get back in touch with Kriege, she said.
When asked, SFPD Public Information Officer Niccole Pacchetti told the B.A.R., “We are unable to locate an incident report with the information you have provided.” When asked about SVU not getting back to Kriege, SFPD told the B.A.R. that a computer automated dispatch number is not enough to find a documented incident to refer to.
Kriege said she ran into San Francisco Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin on February 21 after a meeting of the Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club and told him about her plight; Peskin, she said, was upset at what he heard and asked her to contact his office. The office subsequently told Kriege that because the house is in Supervisor Hillary Ronen’s district, she should contact Ronen’s office.
Kriege said that she “never got anything” from Ronen’s office after calling. Peskin’s office did not respond to a re-
gers him and now can work around that. He also talked about the communication skills he learned while in custody.
“I had negative communication skills,” he said, attributing that to his past use of alcohol and crack cocaine. He said that he has been sober for many years.
San Francisco Deputy Public Defender Jennifer Friedman, who is now representing Prasad, sat in on part of the interview. She said that Prasad’s embrace of therapy during his imprisonment was a positive thing.
“A lot of stable people do talk therapy because it is helpful,” she said.
Prasad does wear an ankle monitor, and checks in with his parole agent.
“It sucks,” he said of the device, which he explained rubs against his skin.
But he acknowledged that it’s a small price to pay for the freedom Prasad now enjoys.
“I enjoy life now and don’t let anything bother me,” he said.
His transitional housing is located in San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood, which is often abuzz with activity, both legal and otherwise. Sixty people live in his building where he has a bathroom with a shower in his room but no kitchen, he said. Meals are provided, he said.
“I know a lot of people in there and I help a lot of people out,” Prasad said. “I’m cordial.”
Medi-Cal from automatically suspending a provider’s license should another state’s Medicaid program suspend them for performing abortion or gender-affirming care services.
Atkins’ office noted that SB 487 would not shield a provider from facing suspension or other consequences for any other wrongful or illegal acts, as determined through existing law.
With other states moving to criminalize the offering of abortion and transgender health care, SB 487 would protect providers from facing additional retaliation and repercussions in California should they face civil, criminal, or other punitive actions because of services provided in another state, or because they provided services to a person from out of state.
“SB 487 would shield our providers from sanctions so that there is no disruption in their ability to perform abortion care in California, where abortion is legal, and was enshrined
quest for comment for this report as of press time.
Santiago Lerma, a legislative aide with Ronen’s office, stated to the B.A.R. that “I have not received any phone calls regarding this. I have sent emails to [Department of Public Health], HSH [Homelessness and Supportive Housing], and the mayor’s office about this issue and so far I don’t have any information. I just contacted the mayor’s Office of Transgender Initiatives and so far have not heard back. I am happy to share any information once I hear anything.”
Eventually, on March 9, Kriege was informed in a letter physically handed to her by staff that she would have to leave by the end of the month.
On March 15, Kriege complained to the Shelter Monitoring Committee, which she said informed her it does not have regulatory oversight of the house. However, the day after her public remarks at the committee’s meeting, MOHCD received the complaint and ordered the investigation opened.
Pau Crego, the executive director of the city’s Office of Transgender Initiatives, told the B.A.R. that his office does not have oversight over the program.
“The Office of Transgender Initiatives does not issue any grants, so we are not in charge of oversight, compliance, or reviewing complaints for any city-funded programs,” Crego told the B.A.R. When asked March 28 if he or his office has any more comment on this case, Crego did not respond as of press time.
Kriege said she intends to stay at the house. She said she has health problems that moving would exacerbate.
“Who do these people think they are?” she asked. “Then they go out and march for people’s rights? It’s disgusting.
It’s a different life from what he experienced while in custody.
“I hear fire trucks and ambulances all the time,” he said. “People have sex everywhere – on the side of the road, in an alley.”
For his court hearing, Friedman explained that it’s being held for a decision on Prasad’s application for protection under the Convention Against Torture, or CAT. It was previously denied but remanded from the Board of Immigration Appeals due to errors in the immigration judge’s decision, so it’s on for a new decision.
“The legal standard for a grant of CAT is establishing that it’s more likely than not that he would be tortured if deported to Fiji,” Friedman stated.
According to Outright International Fiji decriminalized same-sex relations in 2010 and is one of few countries in the world to ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in its constitution yet does not allow same-sex marriages. The global nonprofit also noted in its report on the country that “hate speech from politicians and religious leaders remains prominent.”
And in 2020 the country’s Rainbow Pride Foundation issued a joint statement with the International Service for Human Rights calling on Fijian leaders to take a number of measures to protect the free-
by voters in our state constitution,” stated Atkins.
The bill would also prohibit insurers from discriminating against, or refusing to contract with, a provider who may have been sanctioned in another state for providing prohibited or restricted services that are legal in California. With many states starting to restrict or outlaw gender-affirming care, such a provision “is needed now more than ever,” noted Atkins’ office.
“SB 487 will help ensure providers can continue to perform abortion and gender-affirming services without facing any penalties, even as other states continue to pass restrictions and outright bans on this type of health care,” stated Sacramento-based Dr. Kelly McCue, the District IX chair of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
The two bills this legislative session mark a rare instance of Atkins authoring legislation focused on LGBTQ
And San Francisco is a sanctuary city, a haven of protection?”
While MOHCD said it had forwarded the complaint to St. James’ executive director, the website of the nonprofit has none listed. Stanley confirmed to the B.A.R. that O’Shea is the “acting/interim executive director.”
St. James had told the B.A.R. in 2021 it’d be moving forward without an executive director because it wanted to embrace “a new horizontal leadership structure.” Its last permanent executive director, Toni Newman, resigned in February of 2020 after deciding to move back to Southern California, as the B.A.R. reported (https://www.ebar.com/ story.php?288636) at the time.
MOHCD funds the Our Trans Home initiative to the tune of $900,000 per year, including funding of the Bobbi Jean Baker House “and a team of housing navigators that provide housing stability case management to program participants,” Stanley told the B.A.R.
“All city-funded nonprofits are required to have grievance policies and procedures in place,” Stanley stated. “We work closely with the city attorney and controller’s offices to ensure grantees are held to these policies, including those mandated through the whistleblower program.”
Kriege told the B.A.R. that she officially complained to St. James at the March 9 meeting. She said she was reluctant to do so earlier, concerned the nonprofit would “cover up [its] tracks.”
A transgender woman has complained she’s being told to vacate her transitional housing provided by St. James Infirmary after alleging sexual retaliation by some of the agency’s staff. t
doms and rights of its LGBTQ citizens, among them was reducing “the targeting and harassment of LGBTI human rights defenders.”
Prasad has garnered broad support and has petitioned Governor Gavin Newsom to grant him a pardon, as the B.A.R. has previously reported. Last year, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and the San Francisco Democratic Party 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 roofing. “I was able to partake in mental health services for my childhood trauma and other forms of coping skills therapy,” he told the court at the December hearing.
Prasad told the B.A.R. he was grateful to his supporters and talks with them regularly. One thing that he hasn’t done yet is visit the LGBTQ Castro neighborhood. “I want to go,” he added.
He does plan to attend this year’s Pride parade in late June. t
To donate to Prasad’s GoFundMe campaign, go to https://bit. ly/42EQJBR.
rights since she took over leadership of the Legislature’s upper chamber in 2018. She last authored LGBTQ-related bills the year prior.
In 2017, Atkins authored SB 179, which created a third gender marker on state-issued identification documents for people who identify as nonbinary or intersex. She also that year carried to passage SB 310, the Name and Dignity Act that made it easier for transgender people incarcerated in state prisons or county jails to change their legal name or gender marker. It also required corrections officials to use the new name of a person who obtains a name change and to list their prior name only as an alias.
This year and next are Atkins’ last chance to spearhead legislation in Sacramento, as she will be termed out of office in early December 2024. She was first elected to the state Assembly in 2010 and was elected to her Senate seat six years later. t
Drag artist Sasha Velour takes to the stage of the Palace of Fine Arts Theater on April 6 with a new show that’s also a celebration of the publication of “The Big Reveal: An Illustrated Manifesto of Drag,” her first book. The show is named after the book and is simply titled “The Big Reveal Live Show.”
Velour, the Season 9 winner of “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” has become known for her striking shows that combine drag and performance art. In a version of the Kylie Minogue song, “Can’t Get You Out of My Head,” Velour steps into the spotlight dressed as a bat, complete with pointy ears, sharp fangs, and a pair of giant bat wings covering her arms. According to Velour, stage personas such as this are an extension of herself.
“Sasha Velour is the real me, just exaggerated and glamorized a bit for the stage and screen,” Velour (real name Alexander Hedges Steinberg) said in an interview with the Bay Area Reporter. “I think of her as a cartoon version of myself, and that’s why I like to draw any looks, make-up or performances out on paper before creating them in real life.”
Velour recalls a childhood in which she always loved dressing up as feminine characters. When she learned about what she calls “the
by Jim Gladstone
New Conservatory Theatre Center, never afraid to take on hot-button topics in its efforts to explore the full spectrum of queer experience on stage, is once again about to touch the third rail of homosexuality vis-à-vis Catholicism – famously grabbed hold of in NCTC productions of Terrence McNally’s “Corpus Christi” and “Crucifixion” – with the West Coast premiere of “Locusts Have No King.”
A sort of wicked male “Golden Girls” by way of “The Exorcist,” the show’s five-week run begins this weekend with previews April 7 and 9, accompanied by sure-to-be thorny on stage conversations with playwright C. Julian Jiménez.
In a recent interview with the Bay Area Reporter, director Richard A. Mosqueda, one of the most exciting and sensitive young theatermakers in the Bay Area (NCTC’s “A Picture of Two Boys; TheaterFIRST’s “A Marriage”), described the play as a horror comedy. Like the squishy pulp beneath a locust’s brittle carapace, there’s serious creepiness under its crisp, bitchy surface.
The play’s four characters are all gay men. They’re also all Catholic priests. They’re two couples. And two of them are a former couple.
When they get together for a high-strung dinner party in one pair’s rectory apartment, all manner of hell breaks loose, and not just figuratively. (The ambitious technical elements of this production will need to be pitch-perfect to bring the show to a satisfying climax).
M ore than 30 years since the release of her debut album, jazz vocalist, songwriter, and Winnetka-native Ann Hampton Callaway shows no sign of slowing down. With well over a dozen albums to her name, including live and holiday recordings, as well as collaborations with her sister Liz Callaway, Ann is a prolific recording artist.
Additionally, her songs have appeared on movie soundtracks, and more significantly on albums by Barbra Streisand. She’s even comfortable joking about what may be her most famous tune, the theme song to the popular ’90s sitcom, “The Nanny.”
As if that wasn’t enough, Callaway is known as a dynamic live performer who regularly tours with themed concerts. Her latest album, “Fever: A Peggy Lee Celebration!” (Palmetto), a musical love letter to Peggy Lee, was released, fittingly enough, on Valentine’s Day 2023.
Gregg Shapiro: Ann, your artist legacy series has featured your musical tributes to Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, and Linda Ronstadt…
Ann Hampton Callaway: …and Barbra Streisand. My (artist legacy series) recordings have been Ella and Sarah. Then I did a CD called “Signature” where it was a compilation of tributes to my favorite male and female jazz singers. I like saying thank you and I like studying people and finding out how to do a portrait of them musically that still allows me to be myself as a singer.
From page 15
radical history of drag” she came to appreciate what the art form means, and set out to create a drag persona for herself.
Winning “Drag Race” was a big step forward for the artist.
“I had already started to make a name for myself in the drag scene before appearing on TV,” she said.
“Just a little success thanks to my Brooklyn show, ‘NightGowns’ and self-published magazine Velour, but being cast on ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ introduced me to a much bigger world. It really changed my life.”
RuPaul remains a hero of Velour’s.
“One of the smartest people I’ve ever met,” she said. “I knew I couldn’t do drag exactly like her, that I needed
Did Peggy Lee’s centennial, as well as the 20th anniversary of her passing, have anything to do with why she’s the focus of your new album?
Yes. The centennial was very much a time when I thought I could finally do a serious portrait of her in the way that I gave the artistic atten-
to find my own path. But I’ve always followed Ru’s example in making a big splash with whatever you’ve got.”
Drag rights
According to Velour, laws against drag shows, such as the one just passed in Tennessee, as well as laws against trans health care, are hate crimes. She calls it “shameful” that the far right is making headway in legislating LGBTQ people out of existence.
“Drag is artistic expression,” she said. “It is a right, and it helps people. It has saved my life many times, and connected me deeper with my history and my community. The world needs drag.”
The backlash against drag has not affected Velour’s career. In fact, she is busier than ever. Though the backlash against drag and trans people reminds
tion to these other wonderful artists that I have covered. Since I’ve been a friend of the Peggy Lee family for so long – I met them in 2003. I had performed symphony concerts honoring her.
I’ve learned so much about her over the years. She’s been a lifelong influence for me.
her of the importance of being visible and loud. She has used her celebrity to raise money for those who are most affected by these laws.
“In just two nights of my monthly ‘NightGowns’ show, this year we raised over $6,000 for shelters and food organizations that support the community,” she said.
She wrote her book “The Big Reveal” because she wanted to publish the drag book she had always been looking for. She spent more than a decade researching histories from around the world to find out how widespread, creative and political drag really is. But she knew that she also had to share her own story about how she was naturally drawn to drag when she was a child, and how drag has helped her.
“So I wove my story and the history together,” she said. “Plus there’s lots of imagery, drawings, and photos. I did most of the visual design for this book too, which felt very full circle, because book layout was my day job when I started doing drag.”
The San Francisco show promises to offer a lot of “big reveals.’ Velour
<<
One of the things that makes the record special is that because I’m friends with Peggy’s granddaughter Holly Foster Wells, I had access to so many wonderful things, such as getting an unpublished poem by Peggy Lee and getting to write music for it and singing a song that had never been released as a recording before.
Things like that that make it not just a bunch of Peggy Lee songs, but something that tells a story about her life and shows the uniqueness of her contribution as a songwriter, which I think has been really a neglected part of her career in terms of people understanding what a huge difference she made in the industry.
Do you remember the first Peggy Lee song you ever heard?
I’m pretty sure it was “Fever.” That came out the year that I was born. My father, I think, had a little bit of a crush on Peggy. I just remember seeing that beautiful blonde lady with her pretty voice and thinking, “Wow, she seems really magical.”
As I became a mature person and a person who loved jazz and great music, then I got to know who she was and what she was about. But “Fever,” and that whole time period, was some of her best records, and my parents had a hefty collection of Peggy Lee albums, including that one.
When you approach Lee’s covers of songs that were written by others, did you feel pulled towards honoring her rendition or trying to leave your own mark, or maybe a combination of both?
It was definitely a combination of both, on “Fever,” and a few other
pieces. Most of the record has my own stamp on things, but “Fever” is so iconic I didn’t really feel like I could do much. I’ve heard many recordings of people singing “Fever” that did not come near what I think of as the sultry, sexy power of what Peggy Lee did.
How I made that my own was I wrote a verse. She wrote new verses and a bridge to “Fever” to make it a hit song. I wrote about her and her relationship with Dave Barbour. We put piano in it that was not something she had in her rendition.
Have you started thinking about who’s next in the Artist Legacy series?
Right now, my legacy series is taking a little turn in the new year. After honoring one of the people who helped me have a road ahead to be a singer/ songwriter, I’m going to be releasing a record later in 2023 called “Finding Beauty” of all my original songs.
I’ve written some of these songs with great people like Alan Bergman. Melissa Manchester and I are working on the last song right now.
But there will be other people that I want to portray. I did a lovely show about Judy Garland. This year is her actual centennial, and I would have loved to have done something on her, as well, in a recording. What I’d love to do is do all my divas and have a box set of these shows. I think that would be a really exciting project.
www.annhamptoncallaway.com
Read the full interview, with music clips, on www.ebar.com.
tion with a special guest star. A book signing will follow. Velour “revealed” who the special guest star will be.
“Papa Velour, a.k.a. Professor Mark Steinberg,” she said. “We’ve never appeared together on stage. We will talk about drag and especially queer and trans rights from a family perspective, as well as a historical one. He’s a professor of history.”
The evening will be a reunion, as Velour’s family is from the Bay Area. The audience will be filled with her relatives (Velour was born in Berkeley and raised in Connecticut).
“Please come,” she said. “I always try to surprise my audiences, even ones who have seen me before. But as they can attest, a Sasha Velour show is always an intricately well-planned and ferociously gorgeous night filled with beauty, gags, and maybe some headscratchers too.”t
From page 15
Jiménez has said that, after feeling somewhat bored by Mart Crowley’s inarguably dated “The Boys In The Band,” he wanted to put a fantastic spin on that play’s scenario. And there’s no doubt audiences will sense a Virginia Woolf at the apartment door.
Mosqueda said that both he and Jiménez were raised Catholic and, as gay men, “have very complex and conflicted relationships with the church.”
Similar feelings are apparent in all four of the play’s characters who, while officially closeted from parishioners, are open to each other about their sexuality, sometimes with a venomous flamboyance that points to desperation.
At the heart of the play lies the question of whether the church offers these deeply conflicted men a refuge or a hiding place. Jiménez also poses
will be reading passages from the book, but she promises that the show will be mostly performance, with new video and costume gags that she’s been developing. There will also be an audience Q & A, and an intimate conversa-
Sasha Velour’s ‘The Big Reveal Live Show’ April 6, 8pm, Palace of Fine Arts Theater, 3301 Lyon St, $45-$100.
www.palaceoffinearts.org
www.sashavelour.com
when he goes to bars in order to get free drinks).
What exactly can a Modern Priesthood be, the play asks us? Once homosexuality enters the picture, are there new rules about infidelity? If blow jobs and bong hits are a part of the church’s patriarchy, does the church exist at all?
One needn’t be Catholic to feel shaken by these provocations. Jiménez pries the institutional apart from the spiritual, and the light that comes between them illuminates more questions than answers.
challenging meta-theatrical questions.
To what extent is the role of a priest inherently performative? When the collar comes off, must the man remain collared? (One of the play’s four fathers speaks of keeping his collar on
Whether you’re a Sister of Perpetual Indulgence, a devout Saint Ignatius alum or merely an acolyte of Thespis, you’ll find a prickly, ticklish sense of communion at this fascinating plague within a play.t
‘Locusts Have No King,’ through May 14. $25-$65. New Conservatory Theatre Center, 25 Van Ness Ave. (415) 861-8972. www.nctcsf.org
by David-Elijah Nahmod
On April 15 the City View at the Metreon will come alive when the San Francisco LGBT Center celebrates its 21st year with its annual Soirée, which promises to be a night to remember. The evening will include a decadent cocktail reception, dinner, and a lively after party. Live entertainment is being organized by Juanita MORE!, with music by DJ LadyRyan. The event will be hosted by community icons Sister Roma and Honey Mahogany.
“We’re thrilled to be returning to the Center’s grandest fundraising event of the year,” Roman and Mahogany wrote in a joint statement to the Bay
Area Reporter. “The recent onslaught of politically fueled hate, legislative attacks on our rights, and ongoing challenges stemming from the pandemic have made clear how important it is for us to have a home base like the Center. Soiree raises critical funds for all of the SF LGBT Center’s programs and services. We’re proud to support the Center’s work creating welcoming spaces and people-centered services for those in our community who need them most.”
The Center hopes to raise $300,000 in support of their programs, which includes services for youth experiencing homelessness, unemployed job
seekers, and trans, non-binary and BiPOC community members. Rebecca Rolfe, the Center’s Executive Director since 2008, spoke to the BAR about some of these programs.
“I’m really proud of what we created for and with our community here at the Center, and it’s truly been an honor to be part of building a home that caters to the full spectrum of the LGBTQ community,” Rolfe said in a telephone interview. “Getting here has been both daunting and exciting, but I’m really thrilled about what’s ahead for us, and we continue to listen and learn.”
Rolfe pointed out that the Center has been running a Dedicated Youth Services Program since 2007, a program that serves homeless or
marginally-housed youth ages 16-24. Services provided include community building, crisis intervention, as well as educational workshops and access to essentials such as food and hygiene supplies. In 2019 the Center expanded the program to include mental health services and access to housing.
“Those services are available to the literally hundreds of youth experiencing homelessness and isolation each year,” she said. “About 65% of the youth in our program identify as trans or gender non-binary, and about the same percentage identify as Black, indigenous, or other people of color.”
Rolfe added that not only does the Center offer a general employment program, they developed a specific
trans employment program to address the transphobia that transgender job seekers face in both keeping and getting jobs that offer sustainable wages.
“The program has provided invaluable training to Bay Area employers as well,” said Rolfe. “So that we’re not only helping job seekers seek jobs, but we’re working with employers to transform their work places, so they can help their employees be fabulously successful in their roles.”
The Center has also created “Queer Vibes,” which provides a space for queer performers to build their careers in the music industry and in LGBTQ plus spaces.
See page 19 >>
by Gregg Shapiro
You know the old adage: don’t judge a book by its cover. But what about an album? What happens when the music on the record is as cool as the cover art? That sounds like a win-win situation for everyone. Since its 2016 debut album, Chicago’s Whitney has been making some of the prettiest pop of the 21st century. Kudos to Julien Ehrlich and Max Kakacek for finding a formula that works, and sticking with it, on Whitney’s latest “Spark” (Secretly Canadian). Nothing groundbreaking or earth-shaking happens over the course of the 12 songs, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t pleasure to be found, as is the case with the
lightly dizzying “Twirl,” and the subtle funk of “Real Love,” “Memory,” and “Never Crossed My Mind,” the stirring “Terminal, and the retro-pop vibe of “Heart Will Beat.”
Disq takes the loud/quiet/loud concept seriously on “Desperately Imagining Someplace Quiet” (Saddle Creek). Did you catch the acronym?
There’s not really anyplace quiet on the album, although there’s plenty of variety to keep listeners’ attention from drifting. The first few songs alone – “Civilization Four,” “Prize Contest Life,” “Cujo Kiddies,” and “This Time,” bounce all over the musical map. The biggest treats can be found on “Charlie Chimp” and “Hitting A Nail With A BB Gun,” featuring female vocalist
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Raina Bock on lead.
Once you get past the ’90s alt bombast of “Gonna Lose,” the opening track on “When The Wind Forgets Your Name” (Sub Pop) by Built to Spill you might be surprised to hear the accessible direction taken by some of the songs. Not necessarily known for its pop chops over the course of its 30 years, Built to Spill maintains its indie rock cred while being willing to take new chances on songs including “Elements,” Understood,” the slow funk of “Rocksteady,” the controlled freak-out of “Never Alright,” and the intimate “Alright.” Divino Niño, a Chicago-viaBogota foursome, focuses more on dance energy on its new album “The Last Spa On Earth” (Winspear) than on previous records. The result is the kind of house party soundtrack with something for almost every dancer in
attendance. This includes the rapidfire reggaeton “Tu Tonto,” the slinky beats of “Nos Soltamos,” the clubby “Ecstasy,” the rap en Español of “Especial,” and even a chance to chill out on “I Am Nobody.”
As a member of Toad The Wet Sprocket (remember “Walk on the Ocean”), Glen Phillips recorded more than half a dozen albums. As a solo artist, Phillips has released at least 10, with “There Is So Much Here” (Compass) being the most recent.
Backed by a stellar array of guest musicians, including out singer/songwriter Natalia Zuckerman, as well as Dave Depper (of Death Cab For Cutie), and Sean Watkins (of Nickel Creek renown), Phillips delivers a strong set of tunes including “I Was A Riot,” “Stone Throat,” “The Bluest Eye,” “Brand New Blue,” “The Sound of Drinking,” and the gorgeous “Let In Anarchy.”
Glen Phillips isn’t the only Phillips to have made a splash in the 1990s and then went on to have a respected solo career. Grant-Lee Phillips (no relation) and his band Grant Lee Buffalo made an impression during the ’90s (remember “Fuzzy”), and then he went on to be even more prolific as a solo artist, putting out nearly a dozen albums including “All That You Can Dream” (Yep Roc). A product of the COVID and Trump/post-Trump period, you can hear the ache in Phillips’ voice and lyrics. Songs such as “Cruel Trick,” “Peace is a Delicate Thing,” “Cut to the Ending,” “Rats in a Barrel,” “My Eyes Have Seen,” and the title cut capture the mood of the moment, making it a soundtrack to recent history.t
Grant-Lee Phillips performs on June 3 at Hopmonk Tavern in Novato; www.hopmonk.com
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Our online event listings continue to grow, now that venues have opened and arts and nightlife events fill our weekly schedule.
Among the thriving arts this spring are several local and visiting dance companies’ concerts, like ODC/Dance at YBCA. The acclaimed local company’s Dance Downtown home season includes world premieres by Brenda Way and Amy Seiwert, and repertory works by Way, Dexandro Montalvo, KT Nelson and Kate Weare. Tickets are $25-$100 for March 29-April 2 concerts, with a gala fundraiser March 31 ($190).
Here’s a special treat; LGBTQ+ night is on April 1, with free admission for anyone in drag (no fooling!), and an after-party hosted by Manny Yekutiel and Honey Mahogany.
See you at the Blue Shield of California Theater, 700 Howard St. Purse first! www.odc.dance/downtown For more events. Go to www.ebar.com.
“Doctors say it’s okay to have sex after a heart attack, provided you close the ambulance door.”
— Phyllis Diller
men who wanted to have a poly relationship with him.
“As it turned out, this relationship saved my life,” Der Boghossian said in an interview with the Bay Area Reporter. Seriously, on so many levels. Something came alive in me. And I don’t think I could have been prepared for it if I hadn’t spent so much time with Jonathan, Bobby and Clare and their poly relationship; what I loved about it, and my disappointment with some of the choices they made, and ultimately how I didn’t want to make those same mistakes. And here we are. Jim, Gordy and I have been together for over eleven years. It’s the best thing that ever happened to me.”
Books with queer themes are the subject of each episode of “This Queer Book Saved My Life,” a podcast based out of Minneapolis. In installment after installment, host J. P. Der Boghossian talks to a guest about books that saved their life, i.e. had a tremendous impact on them. The books chosen aren’t new, as in the episode in which a gay man discusses Armistead Maupin’s “Tales of the City,” which gave him his first taste of characters he could identify with.
In some episodes, the author of the book will join Der Boghossian and his guest in the discussion. In the premiere episode of season three, Minnesota Public Radio reporter Jacob Aloi talked about the young adult novel “Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda,” a tale about
<< Soiree
“At the Soirée this year we’re having Tory Teasley, one of the very first performers to perform with us through ‘Queer Vibes,’” Rolfe said. “She’s going to talk about her experiences and what it meant to her to have that platform and how it really helped her to move forward very significantly in her career after participating in ‘Queer Vibes.’ So she’s going to talk about that. It’s the intersection of our arts and culture work and our work to support people’s financial and economic well being as well.”
Rolfe is delighted that Roma and Mahogany will be serving as Soirée hosts.
“They are two iconic community leaders,” she said. “They are featured on the mural on the side of our build-
a 16-year-old boy coming to terms with his sexuality. In 2018, the book was adapted into the hit film “Love, Simon.” Becky Albertalli, the author of the book, joins Der Boghossian and Aloi in the discussion.
Occasionally a famous author will appear on the podcast. Back in October 2022, Dr. Joe Perazzo, an HIV clinical trials nurse and a nursing professor, told Der Boghossian why he kept coming back to “Breaking the Surface,” the memoir by gay Olympic diver Greg Louganis, who talked about being open and honest about his HIV status, among other things.
Der Boghossian has a queer book of his own which he says saved his life. When he read “A Home at the End of the World” by Michael Cunningham, he learned, for the first time, about polyamorous relationships. Some time later Der Boghossian met two
Der Boghossian works as an Associate Vice President of Equity at a community college. He finds the work important, yet he missed working directly in the LGBTQ community. As he continued to write and publish essays, he found himself wanting to be more engaged in the literary scene.
“And I love books,” he said. “My joke is that I came out of the womb with a book. They are my solace. And I found myself missing my first career in broadcast journalism. There was something so satisfying in telling stories and using that specific skillset.”
It was his therapist who suggested that a podcast could combine all of that, and so “This Queer Book Saved My Life” was born.
“We have armed psychos showing up at drag queen story hours,” Der Boghossian said. “We have shooters in our clubs. We have more laws than ever before banning our books from schools, and criminalizing health care for trans and nonbinary kids. How do we navigate this? How? I wanted to hear from queer people about the
stories that helped them live and love in this world.”
Der Boghossian and his executive producer Jim Pounds do not select the books or the authors that appear on the podcast. Rather, they recruit the guests, who tell them what the book is that saved their life. From there, they reach out to the authors.
“So we really don’t know what the book is going to be, which is very exciting,” he said. “We are intentional about how we are recruiting. It was very important to us to make sure the full rainbow is represented. Not every person we reach out to wants to be on the show, but a good number do. And now we’re to the point where people are reaching out to us through the website or social media to request being on the podcast. I love that. A listener hears an episode and that sparks the desire to share their story and the book that saved their life.”
In addition to the full-length episodes, “This Queer Book” also features a series of interviews called “7 Minutes in Book Heaven.” In these segments, Der Boghossian spends seven minutes chatting with an author about their
new or upcoming book. Questions he asks them include “What do you feel is the best sentence you’ve ever written?” and “What are your favorite senses or smells to write about?” As the author responds, Der Boghossian reacts with an enthusiasm that is infectious.
“This Queer Book” is growing in popularity. According to Der Boghossian, the podcast has been heard in 53 countries and 872 communities worldwide. Top countries outside the US are Bangladesh, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia and Germany. Top US cities are Minneapolis/St. Paul, New York, Los Angeles, Seattle and Chicago.
“I hope that a listener will find a book that unlocks something lifegiving for them,” said Der Boghossian. “That it sparks new ways for them to live and love in this world and that they pass it along by sharing the podcast with others.”t
Episodes of “This Queer Book Saved My Life” can be found on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, and on the podcast’s website, www.thisqueerbook.com
ing. So they are clearly incredible leaders in the community and incredible entertainers, so we are really thrilled to have them back on stage as co-hosts this year. And we are really grateful for the unwavering support of the work we do here at the Center as well as the work they do to support so many folks in the community.”
Rolfe added that MORE! was in the process of putting together a list of performers for the gala party. Names have not yet been finalized, but announcements will be made in the coming weeks.
“The cocktail party is a lovely way to kick off the evening,” said Rolfe.
“We have a pink carpet leading into the event, very culturally appropriate. We have amazing appetizers, an open bar, a Scotch tasting station, roaming entertainers, and of course we’re at the City View Metreon, so there’s an incredible sunset of the San Francisco
skyline on the deck.”
The dinner menu promises to whet the palate, with something for everyone. This year they’re offering braised chicken, vegetarian meatballs, and roasted vegetables, among other items. They’ve been working with the same caterer for years, and Rolfe guarantees that the food will be wonderful.
The after-party, Rolfe promises, will be dazzling. There will be a host of local performers, dancing, and an ice cream sundae bar.
“The Soirée is going to be so much fun,” Rolfe said. “It’s our grandest celebration of the year and we’re excited to celebrate sheer community brilliance. We’d love to see as many folks as possible. It’s just a fabulous, fun, superqueer event.”t
Soirée 2023, April 15, 5:30pm-11pm, City View at the Metreon, 135 4th Street. $95-$725. www.sfcenter.org
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Tuesday 8am (last seating 9:45pm)
Wednesday 8am (last seating 9:45pm)
Thursday 8am Open 24 Hours
Friday Open 24 Hours
Saturday Open 24 Hours
Sunday 7am (last seating 9:45pm)
Take in our vibrant California Coast exhibit and help us restore biodiversity for a thriving California—and planet. Because every visit supports our mission to regenerate the natural world.
Make a reservation at calacademy.org
AQUARIUM + PLANETARIUM + RAINFOREST + LIVING MUSEUM
March 24-April 23
Splash, create, and explore.
Celebrate the arrival of spring with fun festivities for the whole family.
