November 2, 2023 edition of the Bay Area Reporter by Bay Area Reporter

Update on Lt. gov's trans council

New Oakland port commissioner

Sundance Stompede

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Vol. 53 • No. 44 • November 2-8, 2023

After long legal fight, KQED begins to mine Prop 8 tapes by Matthew S. Bajko

Courtesy CDPH

California public health director Dr. Tomás J. Aragón is urging people to get vaccinated against the mpox virus.

State health officials sound alarm as mpox returns by John Ferrannini

ith mpox cases continuing to rise in the Bay Area and statewide, the California Department of Public Health is encouraging all people – but gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men in particular – to get the full vaccination series for the disease if they have not already. The increase in recent weeks has been precipitous. The Bay Area Reporter last reported October 13 that there’d been only one case reported in San Francisco that month. As of October 31, there’ve been 20 reported cases – the most of any month this year. “We are beginning to see an uptick in mpox cases across the state. With this, we are reminding and encouraging all Californians to be aware of the signs and symptoms of mpox and to take preventive measures, including vaccination, to protect against severe illness,” stated Dr. Tomás J. Aragón, the state’s public health director. “Mpox began circulating in California in the spring of 2022, and while cases have been low since its initial emergence thanks to education and community vaccination efforts, mpox can seriously impact individuals who test positive,” added Aragón, who used to be the health officer for San Francisco before joining the state health department. Statewide, reported cases had averaged less than seven per week in July and August, in spite of fears of a summer resurgence. Cases have now increased to “nearly 17 per week,” according to a California DPH news release, which stated that a health advisory was sent to providers October 30. San Diego County recently saw a spike in mpox cases, with 11 new cases reported in October, according to a county newsletter. Two doses of the Jynneos vaccine given about a month apart provides the best protection against the disease, health officials said. According to the San Francisco Department of Public Health in a statement See page 4 >>

eated next to his husband, Paul Katami, in one of KQED’s San Francisco studios, Jeff Zarrillo is seen watching for the first time video footage of his testimony as one of the plaintiffs in the 2010 federal lawsuit Hollingsworth v. Perry. Seeing the moment where he is asked by one of his attorneys to talk about meeting the man he would one day marry due to winning the case, Zarillo’s eyes well up. “I was just incredibly anxious, incredibly nervous, and wanted to make sure I articulated my story and our story. We had prepared for days for that moment,” recalls Zarrillo, moments later adding, “I just always knew we were on the right side of the law.” Katami adds that the Los Angeles couple hadn’t expected they would serve as witnesses when they agreed to be part of the lawsuit that won the right for same-sex couples to wed in California in June of 2013. “Never did we, one at the start of this, did we think we would take the stand and have to testify,” he says.

Kori Suzuki/KQED

Paul Katami, center left, a plaintiff in the landmark 2010 lawsuit that overturned California’s ban on same-sex marriage, greets fellow plaintiffs Kris Perry, center right, Sandy Stier, right, and KQED politics editor Scott Shafer, left, ahead of an interview at the KQED offices in San Francisco on March 3, 2023. Katami, Perry, and Stier came to the studio to watch clips of their testimony in federal court, which KQED had fought to get unsealed, for the first time.

The men’s comments are part of a 14-minute video the Bay Area public broadcaster is releasing online Thursday, November 2. A

second 10-minute video it is posting that day features interviews with the other plaintiff See page 2 >>

SFPD LGBTQ forum talks safe havens and hate crimes at meeting

by John Ferrannini

n LGBTQ group that advises the San Francisco Police Department is seeking new members. That was one of the messages delivered at the department’s LGBTQ+ Advisory Forum meeting October 25 that the Bay Area Reporter was invited to attend. The forum is made up of civilians and department personnel. It is looking for a more diverse array of participants as it works on updated posters to let victims of crime know where they can go for safe haven in the event they are victims of a crime, officials said. The group is also planning a community symposium on hate crimes. “The purpose of this forum is not to represent the Castro,” Greg Carey, a gay man who is the chair of Castro Community on Patrol and community co-chairperson of the forum, said during the group’s meeting, held at the UCSF Mission Bay campus. “It’s to represent all of San Francisco, all genders and ethnicities. ... There are other places in the city that have populations of queer people who also should have a voice in the conversation.” The forum was established in 2010 by thenSan Francisco Police Chief George Gascón as a way for the LGBTQ community to address concerns directly to SFPD command staff. Gascón

John Ferrannini

San Francisco Police Department Officer Jose Canchola, left, and Captain Christopher Del Gandio listen to a presentation by Graham Hinchcliffe, M.S., right, on Pride flag pins he introduced at UCSF during the SFPD’s LGBTQ+ Advisory Forum meeting at the UCSF Mission Bay campus October 25.

went on to become the city’s district attorney before relocating to Los Angeles, where he was elected that county’s DA in November 2020. (He is running for reelection next year.) Christopher Del Gandio, the first out gay SFPD captain and the department’s co-chairperson of the forum, said that there are eight similar advisory bodies for other groups and communities throughout the city, such as for Asian American Pacific Islanders and small business owners.

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The LGBTQ+ forum, which currently has 20 members, was recently renamed from the San Francisco Police Department Chief ’s LGBTQ+ Forum because the forums are being restructured, Del Gandio explained. The proliferation of chief ’s forums has made it hard for Chief William Scott to attend all of them, and so one representative selected by Scott from each forum will comprise a new chief ’s forum, and the existing forums will become department-focused forums. See page 12 >>

<< State News

t Lt. gov’s trans council finds niche in advocacy work 2 • Bay Area Repor ter • November 2-8, 2023

by John Ferrannini

As the B.A.R. previously reported, Newsom vetoed Assembly Bill 957, which would have required state courts to strongly consider that affirming a child’s gender identity is in the best interest of the child when one parent does not consent to a minor’s legal name change to conform with the minor’s gender identity. He also vetoed AB 1432, which would’ve required out-of-state insurers to cover gender-affirming care in California. “I have not seen anything the lieutenant governor has put out specifically,” Salcedo said. “That is a discussion, though, that we’re going to have. This is something we will discuss in our next meeting.”

he transgender advisory council formed by Lieutenant Governor Eleni Kounalakis two years ago has met nine times since then, and now has a member connected to San Francisco. The Bay Area Reporter pointed out the lack of Bay Area representation in its initial report in September 2021. The City-by-the-Bay has a sizable trans population, the world’s first and only Transgender District, and the Office of Transgender Initiatives under the aegis of the mayor’s office. Khilynn E. Fowler, an African American transgender woman, lives in San Leandro but works as manager of community relations for the San Francisco Community Health Center, which in March opened its Trans Thrive program at 1460 Pine Street. “I’ve been on the council now going on a year,” Fowler told the B.A.R. October 31. Fowler was first brought to the attention of the council through her brainchild, the SHE Boutique that is a program of the health center. Come for the fashion, Fowler said, stay for the health care access. “It is a one-of-a-kind boutique that connects health care and fashion,” Fowler said. “We all know good health care never goes out of style.” The boutique was created as a result of trans women engaging less with medical care during the COVID-19 pandemic. “We were losing our trans women out of health care rapidly because of the mistrust during the pandemic,” Fowler said. “Being a trans woman – it’s hard to transition properly when you have medical mistrust. So, I had to be quick on my feet. We’re people who can take lemons and make it into chocolate cake if that’s what we must do. Honestly, I didn’t think it’d be as successful as it was.” Kounalakis’ council has nine members and meets quarterly via Zoom, according to meeting agendas the B.A.R.

Council still evolving Lieutenant Governor Eleni Kounalakis’ transgender advisory council continues to meet regularly.

Ebony Harper is co-chair of the transgender advisory council.

obtained via a Public Records Act request from the lieutenant governor’s office. The most recent meeting was from noon to 1:30 p.m. July 21 and included “reviewing/approving legislation.” The B.A.R. also requested meeting minutes but spokespeople for the lieutenant governor’s office didn’t provide them. They also said that Kounalakis, a former ambassador to Hungary during the Obama administration who is running for governor in 2026 and who has served on San Francisco’s port commission and as a trustee of the War Memorial and Performing Arts Center, “is not available” to be interviewed for this report. “This council is really not about the lieutenant governor but rather the focus has always been on the council members themselves and the issues faced by the community,” the spokesperson stated. “By using the bully pulpit of this office, it has helped to elevate the issues, and build new bridges between the council members and stakeholders,

tails “going to speak at a hearing or for the bill, as a representative of the council.” “Most of us have been working in advocacy for decades,” Harper said. “I came out in 1992 at 13 and I went through the typical life a Black trans woman has to go through, and to come back to 2023 where that [trans rights] might be pushed back is really scary.” So, the council prepared a joint statement on the votes in some California school districts requiring the forced outing of students who identify as transgender or gender-nonconforming without their consent, as well as for accessing sex-segregated programs and activities that align with their gender. “California has a history of enacting policies and laws that are supportive of transgender individuals, particularly when it comes to protecting the rights of transgender children and youth,” the statement, issued September 8, reads in part. “We urge reconsideration of this policy in the best interest of all students. We advocate for a collective effort to foster an environment where students are protected, schools are safe and affirming, and teachers and staff are able to be trusting adults in their students’ lives.” Harper said that the co-written statement was “a strong moment for the council.” Nonetheless, several school districts have approved such policies, but are facing pushback from state officials such as Attorney General Rob Bonta, who sued the Chino Valley Unified School District over its forced outing policy. Subsequently, as the B.A.R. reported October 19, a San Bernardino County Superior Court judge issued a preliminary injunction against enforcing the Chino Valley school district’s policy. But not everything has been so sanguine. Council member Bamby Salcedo, a trans Latina immigrant who is the president and CEO of the TransLatin@ Coalition in Los Angeles, said that at the next meeting the council members want to ask about some of the legislation that had been approved by the Legislature but ultimately vetoed by Governor Gavin Newsom.

policy makers, various industry sectors, and decision makers. “As an office, we are very proud of the work the council has done so far and continues to do,” the spokesperson added. “We hope that by bringing this incredible group of trans leaders together to share the challenges themselves, it will help bring more understanding of the community.”

Statement on forced outing a ‘strong moment’

The office did, however, make cochair Ebony Harper available for an interview. Circling back to the approval and reviewing of legislation, Harper, the executive director of the Sacramentobased trans health care advocacy group California TRANScends, said that she and other members have been advocating for the many bills affecting the trans community that were proposed or voted on in the recently concluded legislative session. Harper said that advocacy work en-

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Prop 8 tapes

From page 1

couple in the case, Berkeley residents and wives Kris Perry and Sandy Stier, as they react to the footage of their testimony in the trial. “It is very poignant to hear what the couples went through at the time and how getting married changed their lives, and what it meant to fight this fight and what it means today going through a cycle of LGBTQ hate in so many places,” said Scott Shafer, a gay man who is KQED’s senior editor for politics and government. A year after KQED won a protracted legal fight to have the trial recordings be unsealed, it is releasing its first look at the footage. It is timed to mark the 15th an-

Salcedo agreed with Fowler and Harper that Kounalakis has been fulfilling her roles and responsibilities. “I am in love with the lieutenant governor,” Harper told the B.A.R. “I know you as a reporter, you should have your criticisms, you should be able to call out – hey, you formed this council, what are you doing with that – I feel she’d been very supportive. She steps in every now and then but the council is self-governing.” Fowler said that Kounalakis “goes beyond the call of duty to make sure the council is flourishing as it should be.” For example, Harper said Kounalakis was able to get Salcedo in touch with the California Housing Authority when Salcedo had “some housing concerns.” “They [Kounalakis’ office] have been very responsive,” Harper said. “She’s a lieutenant governor – the lieutenant governor is not the governor – she more has a bully pulpit than anything but it was my suggestion she set up a council. We’re still evolving and seeing what we will do.” Salcedo agreed that “because it is the first of its kind we’re continuing to expand and evolve to ensure we propose recommendations to address the disparities the trans, gender nonconforming and intersex people have.” “It’s great that we have this body at the state level,” Salcedo said. “Obviously part of what we do is take positions on bills that advance trans rights and obviously we also reject bills that will diminish or try to take the little rights we have as a community away. This year we supported a set of legislative bills specific to our community. With everything that is happening right now, not just across the country but here in California and Los Angeles, by how school districts and boards are enacting policies criminalizing our communities, along with reproductive rights and all of that, we’re able to provide statements on what’s impacting our community.” Harper’s council co-chair Evan Minton, a trans man, is running to represent California State Assembly District 6, which includes downtown Sacramento and the city’s Lavender Heights LGBTQ neighborhood. Minton referred questions to Harper, “the temporary lead on communications with the press while I’m running my campaign.”t

niversary this Saturday of the passage of Proposition 8, the ballot measure banning same-sex marriage in the Golden State that California voters narrowly adopted November 4, 2008.

Federal lawsuit

After Prop 8’s passage, lawyers filed the federal lawsuit against the constitutionality of the homophobic proposition on behalf of the two couples. Neither had married during the brief window that same-sex couples could wed in California between the summer and fall of 2008 prior to the adoption of the ballot measure. Both couples wanted to marry and agreed to become the face of the legal fight to get Prop 8 overturned. See page 7 >>

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<< National News

t House speaker once equated LGBTQs to pedophiles 4 • Bay Area Repor ter • November 2-8, 2023

by John Ferrannini

“Congratulations to Speaker Johnson on his election as the 56th speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives,” she stated. “I am thankful our party has united and is moving forward on behalf of the American people. I look forward to working with Speaker Johnson and Speaker Emeritus [Kevin] McCarthy to keep and grow our House seats here in California, to continue holding the failing Biden administration accountable.”

three-week leadership battle in the United States House of Representatives ended October 25 with Congressmember Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) selected as the body’s 56th speaker. But Johnson has already come under criticism for his hardline, conservative stance on LGBTQ people. “The MAGA House majority has selected the most anti-equality speaker in U.S. history by elevating Mike Johnson – this is a choice that will be a stain on the record of everyone who voted for him,” stated Kelley Robinson, a queer Black woman who is president of the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest LGBTQ rights organization. “Johnson is someone who doesn’t hesitate to express his disdain for the LGTBQ+ community from the rooftops and then introduces legislation that seeks to erase us from society.” Johnson worked for over a decade as an attorney for the Alliance Defending Freedom, considered an anti-LGBTQ hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. ADF has brought many conservative cases to the U.S. Supreme Court and has won 15 times, according to a recent profile in The New Yorker. During that time, Johnson argued against the Day of Silence, an event held to protest the bullying of queer kids, according to a 2006 San Francisco Chronicle report that quoted him as saying that the day of action is “another perspective on the homosexual lifestyle, which many people believe is morally wrong and physically dangerous.” HRC also stated in its news release that Johnson wrote in a 2004 editorial for the News-Star, a Monroe, Louisiana newspaper, that “if we change marriage for the homosexual activists, we will have to do it for every deviant group. Polygamists, polyamorists, pedophiles, and others will be next in line to claim equal protection.” More recently, Johnson introduced the Stop the Sexualization of Children Act of 2022, which critics dubbed a national version of Florida’s so-called Don’t Say Gay legislation. The bill would have prohibited any federal funding toward mate-

Mpox

From page 1

earlier this month, “no vaccine is 100% effective and people who have been vaccinated may still get mpox, but vaccination may decrease illness severity and reduce the risk of hospitalization.” Over 50,000 doses of Jynneos were distributed last year in San Francisco, the city’s DPH stated, covering 42% of all people living with HIV in the city and 65% of people who had received PrEP at San Francisco City Clinic prior to June 2022. Still, Dr. Stephanie Cohen, a straight ally who is the section director for HIV/STI prevention with the health department, previously told the B.A.R. that 40% of those who received the first dose of mpox vaccine didn’t return for a second. The city’s DPH reiterated the need for vaccination in a statement to the B.A.R. October 31. “The vaccine reduces the risk of infection, and significantly reduces the risk of severe disease, hospitalization, and death,” the statement reads. “We encourage anyone who wants protection to complete the two-dose vaccine series. It’s never too late to get your second dose.” The California DPH release stated that “while anyone can get mpox and preventive measures should be taken by all, vaccines are recommended

Fractured House GOP unites

Congressmember Johnson’s office

Mike Johnson, a conservative Republican who has espoused anti-LGBTQ views, was elected speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives October 25.

rial discussing sexual orientation or gender identity with children under 10. It stalled in the House committees on oversight and reform, and education and labor, and has not been reintroduced. “The Democrat[ic] Party and their cultural allies are on a misguided crusade to immerse young children in sexual imagery and radical gender ideology,” he said at the time. Not everyone is displeased with the Republicans’ choice for speaker. American Principles Project President Terry Shilling brought up the children’s bill in a statement praising Johnson’s election as House leader, stating he hopes the 51-year-old representative will be an “excellent” speaker. “Congressman Mike Johnson has been a stalwart conservative and profamily champion during his time in the House,” Shilling stated. “In particular, he has been outspoken on the harms of gender ideology to children, vocally opposing the use of transgender drugs and surgeries on minors. He also notably sponsored the Stop the Sexualization of Children Act, an APP-endorsed bill which would end all federal funding for sexually oriented programs aimed at kids under 10 years old.” Jessica Millan Patterson, chair of the California Republican Party, hopes he will help “get our country back on track.” for those at highest risk,” and urged a number of groups to consider vaccination if they are not vaccinated already. These include people who know or suspect exposure to someone who has had the mpox virus; people whose sexual partners have been diagnosed with mpox in the last two weeks; and people who are gay, bisexual, or other men who have sex with men. Additionally, transgender, nonbinary or gender-diverse people who’ve had a sexually transmitted infection in the last six months are recommended for the vaccine, as are people who, in the last six months, have had sex “at a commercial sex venue” such as a bathhouse, or “sex in connection with a large commercial event or in the San Francisco Bay Area or Los Angeles, where higher transmission is occurring.” Los Angeles County has seen five cases in October, according to its public health department. The state also encouraged vaccination for those who’ve exchanged sex for “money or other items,” people who have more than one sex partner regardless of sexual orientation, people who have HIV or are otherwise immunosuppressed, people who work in laboratory or other settings where they may be exposed to the mpox virus, people who have a sex partner who is in any of the aforementioned groups or scenarios, and people

McCarthy, a Bakersfield Republican, won a protracted fight to be elected speaker in January after Republicans took control of the body. But he was voted out of that role October 3 after a revolt led by hardline Congressmember Matt Gaetz (R-Florida), who was upset that McCarthy negotiated with President Joe Biden to avert a government shutdown in September. McCarthy, who won the speakership on the 15th ballot, became the firstever speaker to be removed during a legislative session, and held the role for the third-shortest time in U.S. history. Johnson is the fourth candidate to have run since McCarthy’s ouster. Johnson received the votes of all 220 Republicans in attendance during the House’s October 25 session; all 209 Democrats voted for Minority Leader Congressmember Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York). Another government shutdown may come beginning November 17 unless Biden and Johnson are willing or able to come to an agreement. Critics of Johnson also pointed out his opposition to U.S. funding of Ukraine’s defense against Russia’s invasion, for which Biden asked Congress for more money during a nationally televised Oval Office address last week. Biden stated he and his wife Jill “congratulate Speaker Johnson on his election.” “As I said when this process began, whoever the speaker is, I will seek to work with them in good faith on behalf of the American people,” the president stated. “That’s a principle I have always held to, and that I’ve acted on – delivering major bipartisan legislation on infrastructure, outcompeting China, gun reform, and veterans care.”

who “anticipate” being part of any of the aforementioned groups or scenarios. The release stated that other prevention strategies in addition to vaccination include “having open conversations” with sexual partners and health providers about symptoms and possible exposure; “being aware” of new sores or rashes; not sharing bedding, towels, clothing, utensils or cups with someone who has mpox; not hugging, kissing, cuddling, or having sex with people who have mpox or were exposed within the last three weeks; washing hands frequently with soap and water or alcohol-based hand sanitizer; and using a mask, gown, and gloves while caring for people who have mpox. Symptoms start between three and 21 days after exposure to the mpox virus. They can include flulike symptoms and/or rashes on the face, body, genitalia, arms and legs. Most reported U.S. cases were in California, New York, Florida, and Texas, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data, which showed that there were 38 mpox deaths nationwide between May 2022 and March 2023, during which time there were 30,235 cases. For the 24 decedents who had HIV for whom data was available, all had a CD4 count of less than 50. t

Biden brought up both the impending shutdown and his request for $100 billion for military aid to Ukraine and Israel, which went to war with Hamas earlier this month. “We need to move swiftly to address our national security needs and to avoid a shutdown in 22 days,” Biden stated. “Even though we have real disagreements about important issues, there should be mutual effort to find common ground wherever we can.” As for Johnson, critics have also brought up his actions during the insurrection on the Capitol on January 6, 2021. NBC News reported Johnson led over 100 House Republicans in filing an amicus brief to a lawsuit challenging the 2020 presidential election results in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton – who brought the suit – lacked “a judicially cognizable interest” in bringing it. HRC’s Robinson brought attention to that, calling Johnson “an election-denying, anti-LGBTQ+ extremist” and added that “the lawmakers who appeared to stand on principle in opposing [failed speaker nominee Congressmember Jim] Jordan’s bid have revealed themselves to be just as out-of-touch as their new leader.” Derek Marshall, a gay man and Democrat who’s challenging California Congressmember Jay Obernolte (R), who represents a district in the high desert east of Los Angeles, stated in a fundraising email that “Obernolte and Johnson voted together to overturn the 2020 election and against the January 6 commission. Enough is enough. To defend democracy, we must take back the House by firing Rep. Jay Obernolte and Speaker Mike Johnson.” HER Time, a pro-abortion rights political action committee started by bi former congressmember Katie Hill (D-Agua Dulce), also used Johnson’s ascension as a fundraising opportunity in an email October 25. “Mike Johnson is currently the co-sponsor of three bills that would ban abortion nationwide,” the email stated. “He writes bills that attack LGBTQ+ rights and freedoms. Don’t be fooled just because you’ve prob-

ably never heard of him, he’s just as extreme and far-right as they come. We knew the new Speaker of the House would be bad, but this is a WORST CASE SCENARIO.” The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which works to elect Democrats to the House, sent out an email blast calling attention to vulnerable GOP House members, who the committee stated, “have spent the past week showing Californians exactly who they are – enablers of their party’s worst impulses and far-right extremists who want to ban abortion and overturn election results” by voting for Johnson. These included California Congressmembers David Valadao (RHanford), John Duarte (R-Turlock), Ken Calvert (R-Palm Springs), and Young Kim (R-Anaheim). A gay man, Will Rollins (D), is running again against Calvert. “These GOP shills can speak about moderation until they’re blue in the face, but they cave to their MAGA extremist friends almost every time,” the email continued. The Congressional Equality Caucus, comprising 195 LGBTQ or proLGBTQ members of the House, issued a statement on X condemning the choice of Johnson. “He has an extensive record of pushing an extreme anti-equality agenda & under his speakership, attacks against LGBTQI+ people will undoubtedly continue,” the X post reads. The caucus’s chair, gay Congressmember Mark Pocan (D-Wisconsin), stated, “Today, the House had the opportunity to elect a speaker of the House who could lead in a bipartisan manner to move America forward. Instead, extreme MAGA Republicans elected a speaker who has dedicated his career to attacking LGBTQI+ people and pushing an anti-equality agenda. The House has already taken more than 10 anti-equality votes this Congress. By electing Mike Johnson – a vehement opponent of LGBTQI+ equality – as speaker, his supporters have signaled they want these attacks against our community to continue.” The Log Cabin Republicans, a group for LGBTQ Republicans, did not return a request for comment. t

Andrea Aiello, Castro CBD

Halloween returns to Castro district

ostumed revelers were out in San Francisco’s LGBTQ Castro neighborhood to celebrate the return of Halloween last weekend. On October 28, more than 40 businesses had storefront daytime activations ranging from tarot card readings to “Ask A Witch.” The day concluded with the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence’s costume contest at the Castro Theatre and a screening of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.” The fun continued on Sunday with a Halloween block party.

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<< Community News

6 • Bay Area Repor ter • November 2-8, 2023

Breed proposes honorary street name for MTT compiled by Cynthia Laird

ormer longtime San Francisco Symphony music director Michael Tilson Thomas may have a street block ceremonially named in his honor after Mayor London Breed proposed the legislation last week. Tilson Thomas, a gay man, is suffering from an aggressive form of brain cancer. He was appointed music director of the symphony in 1995 and served in that role for 25 years. He recently returned to the podium at Davies Symphony Hall, now as the orchestra’s music director laureate, and conducted the symphony in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, as the San Francisco Chronicle reported. Breed announced the proposal October 24. If approved by the Board of Supervisors, it would designate one block of Grove Street between Franklin Street and Van Ness Avenue – adjacent to the symphony hall – as “MTT Way” in recognition of Tilson Thomas’ “tremendous impact on the city’s local arts and culture,” a news release stated. The honorary MTT Way sign would hang underneath the official Grove Street sign, the release added. No street addresses would need to be changed under the proposal. “The story of the classical music, arts, and culture scenes in San Francisco is intertwined with the artistic journey of

Brandon Patoc via SF Symphony

Former San Francisco Symphony music director Michael Tilson Thomas

Michael Tilson Thomas,” the mayor stated. “Today, we not only recognize him as a vital part of the cultural makeup of the city, we also celebrate the fact that he has been San Francisco’s proud ambassador on the world stage.” Tilson Thomas, 78, led the symphony on national and international tours during his tenure. He frequently collaborated with Bay Area luminaries, composers, and bands, the release noted. He also helped expand the symphony’s education initiatives, affecting the lives of countless young people in

San Francisco and beyond, as part of his commitment to education and mentorship of youth. He created the acclaimed multimedia education series “Keeping Score” in 2014, making classical music more accessible to people of all ages and musical backgrounds. Tilson Thomas stated he appreciates the recognition. “What a tremendous honor and what fantastic fun,” he stated. “I will always treasure that symphonygoers will pick up their Davies Symphony Hall tickets, and that ballet and operagoers will get their afterperformance transportation on ‘MTT Way.’ I am honored for this recognition, and I thank the City and County of San Francisco and Mayor Breed for their contributions to the arts and to my life.” Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony’s recordings – many of them released through the symphony’s own SFS Media label, which launched under Tilson Thomas’ leadership – have been recognized with 12 Grammy Awards. He is an Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres of France, member of the American Academies of Arts and Sciences and Arts and Letters, National Medal of Arts recipient, Peabody Award winner, Kennedy

Center Honoree, and a member of the California Hall of Fame.

SF Pride announces new board members

The San Francisco LGBT Pride Celebration Committee has announced new board members and returning executive officers. The winners of the election for three open board seats are Dr. Nasser “Nas” Mohamed, Adell Hanson-Kahn, and Joshua Smith. Executive officers Nguyen Pham, president; Janelle Luster, vice president; Spring Collins, secretary; and Robert Louis, treasurer, were voted unanimously by the board to continue in their leadership roles, a news release stated. “I’m proud and honored that our board has voted unanimously in favor of continuity of SF Pride’s top leadership,” stated Pham, a gay man who was elected board president last year. Mohamed, who, as the Bay Area Reporter previously reported, served as a community grand marshal in June’s Pride parade, received 85 votes. Mohamed is believed to be the first Qatari to publicly come out as gay, which he did in 2022 when he spoke out about the abuses against

LGBTQ Qataris in his former homeland in an interview with the BBC. He’s a primary care physician who runs the LGBTQ-affirming Osra Medical in San Francisco. Hanson-Kahn, a software engineer, received 80 votes, while Smith, who is queer, garnered 64 votes to be reelected. The release noted that the recent election marks a return of a majority of trans or nonbinary individuals to the board. “SF Pride’s board elections are not just a democratic process, they represent the heartbeat of our organization” stated Suzanne Ford, a trans woman who is executive director and a former board member. “We are thrilled to welcome these exceptional individuals who will bring fresh perspectives and energy to our leadership. Their diverse voices and the unity of our reelected executive committee ensure that we continue to champion the values of inclusion and progress at the core of our mission.” Next year’s San Francisco Pride parade and celebration will take place June 29-30. For more information, visit sfpride.org.

Dan Nicoletta

Dr. Nasser “Nas” Mohamed is a new board member of SF Pride.

Castro Art Mart is Sunday

The monthly Castro Art Mart will take place Sunday, November 5, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.at Noe and Market streets in the LGBTQ neighborhood. People can visit booths and local shops while supporting local artists, listening to live music, and watching live drag performances. Restaurants will be open, serving food and drinks. Artyhood SF is one of the organizers, and the event is supported by the Castro Merchants Association.

Nominations open for LGBTQ sports award

This resource is supported in whole or in part by funding provided by the State of California, administered by the California State Library in partnership with the California Department of Social Services and the California Commission on Asian and Pacific Islander American Affairs as part of the Stop the Hate program. To report a hate incident or hate crime and get support, go to https://www.cavshate.org/.

The Sin City Classic Sports Festival will take place in Las Vegas January 11-14, and organizers have announced that nominations are now open for the third annual Ken Scearce Leadership Award. Scearce was executive director of the popular LGBTQ+ sporting event and passed away suddenly in 2021. The award recognizes an individual whose leadership and dedication has bettered their local LGBTQ+ sports league, a news release stated. The award will be presented at the festival. “Ken was dedicated to expanding the LGBTQ+ sports community, stated Sin City Classic co-directors Larry Ruiz and Jason Peplinski. “He worked tirelessly to grow the Sin City Classic and make sure all athletes were able to compete and have fun in a safe and welcoming environment.” The Sin City Classic, which was started in 2008 by the Greater Los Angeles Softball Association, has grown to include 24 sports and approximately 10,000 athletes and fans, the release stated. The organizing committee of the event will determine the winner of the leadership award based on a number of criteria. These include that the individual is always a “team player,” putting the needs of the team first; dedicated to growing their sport within the LGBTQ+ community; leads by example; and gives back to the LGBTQ+ community. Nominations for the Ken Scearce Leadership Award can be submitted at https://tinyurl.com/3jcb5rzk. The deadline is November 30. t

Community News>>

November 2-8, 2023 • Bay Area Repor ter • 7

Oakland port’s new out board member Myres is forging ahead by Cynthia Laird

he Port of Oakland’s newest out commissioner is excited to be part of the body that oversees one of the Bay Area’s economic engines. Jahmese Myres, a queer Black woman, joined the board in July after she was appointed and sworn in by Mayor Sheng Thao. During a ferry tour of the port October 27, Myres joined around 45 other East Bay LGBTQ elected and appointed officials and others on the late afternoon trip. Michael Colbruno, a gay man who’s served on the port commission for nine years, helped organize the gathering. The Port of Oakland not only oversees the seaport, but also Oakland International Airport and the commercial real estate at Jack London Square, where the port has its offices. Danny Wan, who was the first openly gay man to serve on the Oakland City Council when he was appointed in 2000, currently serves as executive director of the port. During an interview with the Bay Area Reporter aboard a Blue and Gold Ferry, Myres said she’s so far attended three commission meetings. “I’m really excited,” she said of her new role. “It’s a really important time at the port with all the environmental work happening.” In early October, the port announced it would be receiving up to $1.2 billion in federal funding for hydrogen projects. The port is part of the Alliance for Renewable Clean Energy Hydrogen Systems, a statewide public-private partnership, and will be designated as a hydrogen hub, according to a news release. During his remarks, Wan thanked lesbian at-large City Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan for helping to secure the federal funding. “She’s been a great advocate,” Wan said. Kaplan, who also attended the event, noted she’s a member of the Alameda County Transportation Commission, which worked on the funding. Others on hand included gay San Leandro City Councilmember Victor Aguilar Jr., whom Colbruno said was his “partner in crime” with coming up with

Prop 8 tapes

From page 2

At the start of the proceedings in early 2010, then-judge Vaughn Walker of the U.S. District Court in San Francisco wanted to record them and broadcast them live to several courthouses around the country. His desire to do so led to its own legal fight, with a divided U.S. Supreme Court ruling 5-4 against Walker’s broadcasting the trial. Nonetheless, Walker did tape the proceedings, saying at the time it would aid in his deliberations of the case and that it wasn’t “for purposes of public broadcasting or televising.” He would go on to rule that Prop 8 was unconstitutional, a decision allowed to stand by the U.S. Supreme Court, and afterward come out publicly as a gay man.

KQED sues for the tapes

In 2017, a coalition of media outlets led by KQED sought to have the Northern District of California unseal the trial tapes. Agreeing that the footage was of historical interest, the court decided the tapes should be released on August 12, 2020, a decade after the case had been closed. Backers of Prop 8 appealed the decision to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, arguing the release of the tapes could lead to witnesses in the case being harassed. But the court denied the appeal based on the petitioners lacking standing to do so. The Prop 8 proponents last year

Cynthia Laird

New Port of Oakland Commissioner Jahmese Myres, left, and port Executive Director Danny Wan took in the view during the October 27 port ferry tour.

John Perry/Port of Oakland

LGBTQ elected and appointed officials and others took a ferry tour of the Port of Oakland October 27. Gay port Commissioner Michael Colbruno, in sailor shirt, helped organize the gathering.

the idea of the ferry tour; queer District 4 Oakland City Councilmember Janani Ramachandran; gay District 4 Berkeley City Councilmember Terry Taplin; gay Alameda school board member Ryan LaLonde; and lesbian Alameda County Superior Court Judge Tara Flanagan. Myres said the port is on the “cutting edge not only on environmental work but also community benefits.” She worked on the latter before joining the commission in a community organizing role when she served as campaign director and deputy director at the East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy. “I want to be a leader on” those things, she said. And she noted that the LGBTQ community “has a long history of sharing resources.” Prior to being appointed to the port commission, Myres served on the Oakland Planning Commission from 20142020. Colbruno said he’s happy not to be the only out member on the body. “It’s nice to have a comrade in arms on the commission,” he said. in March sought to have the U.S. Supreme Court block the release of the tapes but were rejected. The justices released their decision October 11, 2022, ironically on what is annually celebrated as National Coming Out Day. Within days the district court in San Francisco had uploaded the trial tapes online to its YouTube channel. Wanting to use the footage in some manner, Shafer approached KQED’s team of reporters who produce content across its various platforms. “What do you do with 12 days of trial tapes? It is not like ‘Perry Mason’ or ‘LA Law’ or whatever legal show you want to describe or mention. Trials are not always riveting,” said Shafer, who co-hosts the station’s Thursday evening program “Political Breakdown.” It was why last December, normally a slow news month, Carlos Cabrera-Lomelí found himself watching the entirety of the trial footage. A community reporter and producer for KQED News, CabreraLomelí was living in San Francisco and in the fifth grade when Prop 8 was passed. He remembers seeing the different leaflets for and against it left on his doorstep. “It did draw my attention, the question of should people marry ... same-sex marriages be legal. I grew up in a home where the answer was no,” recalled Cabrera-Lomelí, 25, in a phone interview with the Bay Area Reporter. See page 12 >>

Myres currently works as leadership development director at Powerswitch Action, which supports social justice leaders across the country to make bold change, according to the port’s website. She lives in East Oakland with her partner, Elyse Rivas, and their 20-month-old baby. Colbruno talked about his interest in revitalizing an affinity group for out port commissioners and staff around the state. In 2014, as the B.A.R. reported, such a group was formed due in part to how homophobic and closeted the culture was at maritime facilities. At the time, Leslie Katz, a lesbian, served as a commissioner for the Port of San Francisco. Katz, who now lives in Oakland, is on the executive board of EQCA, which helped sponsor the recent ferry tour.

“We’re going to start going to ports again,” said Colbruno.

The Port of Oakland

On the tour, Wan pointed out Howard Terminal, which was recently the site of a proposed ballpark for the Oakland A’s. (A’s owner John Fisher is now focused on moving the team to Las Vegas.) The seaport is a container port, Wan explained. Back in the 1960s, there was a debate about the best way to ship items in the most efficient way, via containers or in bulk. Containerization took off, Wan said, and the Port of Oakland was the largest container port in the nation for awhile. Today, Howard Terminal is “much too small,” Wan said, and the water is only 42 feet deep, which is too shallow for today’s huge container ships.

The Port of Oakland seaport, established in 1927, is currently the nation’s ninth largest, according to Marine Insight and the port. The Port of Los Angeles is in the top position. In the outer harbor of the port, the water is 50 feet deep, Wan pointed out, meaning it can handle the larger ships. The Port of Oakland provides about $175 million in economic impact in the region. The seaport loads and discharges more than 99% of the containerized goods moving through Northern California, the website stated. In 2022, about 74% of Oakland’s trade was with Asia. Europe accounted for 17%, Australia/New Zealand and other Pacific islands about 3%, and other foreign nations about 1%. About 5% of Oakland’s trade is domestic (primarily Hawaii), according to the website. Wan said that the Matson Terminal, located along the Oakland Estuary, provides “lots of shipping to Hawaii.” t

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<< Open Forum

8 • Bay Area Repor ter • November 2-8, 2023

Volume 53, Number 44 November 2-8, 2023 www.ebar.com

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Lesbian tech confab has outgrown Castro

he Lesbians Who Tech & Allies Summit has come and gone, and organizers have only themselves to blame for the bitter feelings they’ve left with many Castro business owners. No, this is not about lesbians and others not being welcome in the LGBTQ neighborhood – they are. In fact, most businesses that saw an uptick in foot traffic thanks to the confab report that conference attendees were great. The problem is that Leanne Pittsford, CEO and founder of the conference, and her team reneged on every promise they made to the Castro Merchants Association, which was already deeply disappointed with last year’s version of the gathering. Chief among those complaints was that the fencing with tarps that was erected last year be replaced with less invasive barricades this year. (Spoiler alert: that didn’t happen.) The merchants group is expected to vote at its meeting Thursday morning on whether to continue supporting Lesbians Who Tech, which just celebrated the summit’s 10th anniversary. At this juncture, after two consecutive years of failing to work with the neighborhood, we urge the merchants’ association to give it the boot. Last year’s fencing drew howls of protest at the November 2022 Castro Merchants Association meeting, where even the executive director of LYRIC, the queer youth organization, said that some of their clients felt uncomfortable seeing Castro Street fenced off. It also prevented deliveries from taking place. So the merchants decided this year that they would support the conference but with conditions, as in barricades instead of fencing. It was suggested that the crew behind Castro Street Seen could add some historic images to the barriers to make them even more welcoming. (The group works to beautify vacant storefronts by adding large reproductions of historic photos.) But when the conference started setting up in mid-October, the fences with green tarps were back. Terry Asten Bennett, a straight ally who is president of the merchants’ group, wrote in her president’s letter that as of early October, she did not have a good feeling about the conference organizers adhering to the conditions agreed to in the spring. “Unfortunately, I do not get to stand before you all and say I was wrong,” she wrote. “We asked them to make the barrier fun and joyous as not to make

Cynthia Laird

The bare windows of Harvey’s at 18th and Castro streets still had the Lesbians Who Tech organization’s tagline in the corner, but not the historic photos that Castro Street Seen had installed earlier this year.

the community feel excluded and look like the back end of a carnival. We gave them suggestions on how to make that happen; they took none of the suggestions and did not improve the barrier.” Bennett noted that the merchants had also asked that delivery points be created and outreach done to the delivery companies. “They told us they created delivery points, but none actually existed. There was no signage, and there were SFMTA parking enforcement officers preventing anyone from stopping to make deliveries,” Bennett wrote, referring to the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency. The merchants asked that the city’s trash contractor Recology be looped in to make sure that garbage and recycling were picked up from the businesses. “This did not go well and many of us, particularly on the 400 block, had many days where our garbage or recycling was not picked up,” Bennett wrote, referring to the business she co-owns, Cliff’s Variety, at 479 Castro Street. And the complaints go on from there. Bus rerouting signs were nonexistent; outreach to residents about late night construction for the conference didn’t happen. In fact, we suspect that the sole reason confer-

ence organizers worked to get the merchants’ approval in March was to help secure its permit from the SFMTA’s Interdepartmental Staff Committee on Traffic and Transportation. The committee, known as ISCOTT, is responsible for deciding upon street closures in the city. Initially, LWT officials said they had a meeting before ISCOTT on March 15. But that turned out to be inaccurate. In fact, ISCOTT didn’t have a meeting that day and there was no LWT item on the March 9 agenda. ISCOTT approved the tech confab’s street closure request for Castro Street on July 13, as we previously reported. (Thank goodness ISCOTT officials listened to staff and declined to approve closure of Jane Warner Plaza for the confab – that would have been a disaster.) As it is, the neighborhood is already worse off now that LWT has packed up and moved on. Earlier this year, Castro Street Seen put some of those historic pictures on the windows of the old Harvey’s bar and restaurant at 18th and Castro streets. LWT utilized the inside of the space and removed the photos. So now, there’s the vacant storefront with no lovely historic pictures. In short, the privately-run conference supported itself but did not support the community. That’s the bottom line and that’s why LWT needs to find somewhere else to hold its next gathering. t

Black queer women make history in California politics

by Jennifer Esteen

News Editor • news@ebar.com Arts Editor • arts@ebar.com Out & About listings • jim@ebar.com Advertising • scott@ebar.com Letters • letters@ebar.com Published weekly. Bay Area Reporter reserves the right to edit or reject any advertisement which the publisher believes is in poor taste or which advertises illegal items which might result in legal action against Bay Area Reporter. Ads will not be rejected solely on the basis of politics, philosophy, religion, race, age, or sexual orientation. Advertising rates available upon request. Our list of subscribers and advertisers is confidential and is not sold. The sexual orientation of advertisers, photographers, and writers published herein is neither inferred nor implied. We are not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts or artwork.

s the hottest labor fall in several generations churns on, Governor Gavin Newsom turned up the heat in the labor community by appointing Laphonza Butler to replace the late Dianne Feinstein as California’s U.S. senator. This appointment marks a historic milestone that will be celebrated for years to come. As of October 3, California has its first lesbian Black woman senator. For all who cherish equal rights, civil rights, representation, and equity, this is a cause célèbre. Butler, who recently announced that she would not seek election for a full six-year term, has a remarkable back story that makes her uniquely qualified for the role, and she said that she would work hard for the remaining 300-odd days she will serve in the Senate. She migrated to California following the path of so many who left the South during the Great Migration, which brought millions of Black people to northern and western parts of the United States as they escaped the harsh economic conditions and racism of the Jim Crow South. Born and raised in Magnolia, Mississippi, Butler spent the majority of her early professional years organizing and leading in multiple roles within California’s largest labor union, Service Employees International Union. She moved between locals serving as a president multiple times, as a division director and an SEIU international executive vice president. Needless to say, her labor experience is vast and, through it, she developed deep relationships with other labor leaders and elected officials all across the Golden State. While that work solidified her experience as a leader within unions, the next phase of her career highlighted her ability to move corporate policy with international impact. Butler was a partner and strategist at SCRB Strategies, a political consulting firm; worked

Butler, Newsom’s office; Esteen, courtesy the candidate; Franco-Clausen, courtesy the subject

U.S. Senator Laphonza Butler, left, Alameda County supervisor candidate Jennifer Esteen, and Equality California political director Shay Franco-Clausen are three out Black women in state politics.

as director of public policy and campaigns in North America for Airbnb; and in 2019 consulted with Uber during what was then the most expensive ballot measure campaign in California history. The initiative, Proposition 22, passed, which prevented rideshare drivers from being classified as employees. Her advocacy for women’s issues is also strong, having worked as president of Emily’s List, one of the nation’s preeminent fundraising organizations that supports female-identified Democratic politicians. She’s served as an adviser to Vice President Kamala Harris, former secretary of state Hilary Clinton, and Los Angeles County Supervisor Holly Mitchell. Her career highlights an ability to carry major weight and lobbying power when it comes to federal political decision making and shows that she clearly has the necessary breadth

of experience to be a successful U.S. senator. Because of the historic gains made in California, we’re fortunate that we don’t have to fear persecution for saying gay, but we have experienced fearmongering and homophobic attacks in response to drag story hour or even to raising our Pride flag. That makes it all the more remarkable that we also have two smart gay women born and raised in the Deep South doing work to grow and strengthen the labor movement. Senator Butler and I, your humble writer Jennifer Esteen, grew up during the same time period, in neighboring states. Her hometown is Magnolia, Mississippi, mine is New Orleans, Louisiana. We graduated high school and college in the same years, made our way to California and have organized workers of all stripes in the same union, SEIU. See page 13 >>

Politics >>

November 2-8, 2023 • Bay Area Repor ter • 9

Gay former transit planner Logan runs for Oakland council by Matthew S. Bajko

gay man who oversaw mobility issues in both San Francisco and Oakland is running to unseat from office next November Oakland District 3 City Councilmember Carroll Fife. West Oakland resident Warren Logan will officially launch his campaign with a community event next week. “I didn’t come to this decision lightly, and I didn’t come to it quickly either,” Logan, 34, told the Bay Area Reporter during a phone interview October 30. “A good portion of this year I spent connecting with neighbors, business owners, even visitors, to ask people what is it they are looking for in leadership in the city.” What most people told him, said Logan, is there “is some leadership deficit” currently in Oakland City Hall. He determined the race on the November 2024 ballot for the council seat was an “opportunity to help” the city he has called home for a decade. “People are really unhappy with the direction of the city,” said Logan, who bought his home three years ago with his husband, Jeff Clare, an environmental attorney. “After talking to people about the experiences they had during COVID, when I was one of the city’s emergency directors, a lot of people are responsive to, and I would say supportive of, what I can bring to the table.” Logan, who had served as former Oakland mayor Libby Schaaf’s policy director of mobility and interagency relations, oversaw setting up the city’s first COVID testing sites. He was also responsible for its slow streets program launched during the pandemic. “A lot of people remember, and frankly miss, the programs I put together during the pandemic and are looking for that type of leadership,” Logan said. He left his city job in December 2021, as Schaaf was entering her last year in office due to term limits, to become a partner at Lighthouse Public Affairs. Last November, he joined Progress Public Affairs. As a first-time candidate for public office, Logan is largely focused on his campaign though he is consulting part-time for his firm. The San Diego native had moved to the Bay Area after graduating from Occidental College in 2011 with a B.A. in urban and environmental studies to attend graduate school at UC Berkeley. While interning with the city of Berkeley as a transportation planner, Logan earned his master’s degree in city planning, transportation planning, and urban design. After graduating in 2013, he landed a job with a design firm and was then hired by the San Francisco County Transportation Authority in late 2016 as a senior transportation planner. “Having worked as a city planner for so many years, I try to place myself wherever the need is and what my set of skills can help,” Logan said when asked about why he had chosen to enter a race against an incumbent. In an emailed reply Monday, Fife told the B.A.R. she is running for reelection to a second four-year term. She noted she had filed all of her paperwork to do so but has yet to officially launch her campaign. “I will announce once I get some extended family affairs in order,” said Fife, one of the more progressive members of the council who was a co-founder of the affordable housing advocacy group Moms for Housing. After the latest redistricting process, the District 3 seat now includes West Oakland, the city’s port, most of Jack London Square, Old Oakland, and parts of downtown, Adams Point, and areas west of Lake Merritt. “It is a big district with lots of different people, lots of different homes, and lots of different businesses,” said Logan, who has lived in several of its neighborhoods over the last 10 years.

Courtesy the candidate

Warren Logan is running for the District 3 seat on the Oakland City Council.

Logan announced his candidacy October 26 to be elected as the East Bay city’s first African American LGBTQ leader to serve on the council and the third male out councilmember of color. The last was Abel Guillén, who identifies as two spirit and lost his 2018 reelection bid for the District 2 council seat to Nikki Fortunato Bas, now council president. Port of Oakland Executive Director Danny Wan was the first openly gay man to serve on the Oakland City Council when he was appointed in 2000. Currently, there are two out women on the council, queer District 4 Councilmember Janani Ramachandran and lesbian at-large Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan, who is up for reelection next fall. “One of the main reasons I chose to live in Oakland is I felt really represented and it continues to represent the intersections of my identity being both a Black and a gay man in California,” said Logan, who said he was bullied as a kid. “It is something so dear to me and it is really wonderful to have the feeling that my identity is celebrated.” Among his top priorities are addressing public safety, affordable housing, and public transit. Logan said he came home a few weeks ago to find someone had thrown a brick through one of his home’s windows. When he couldn’t get through to the city’s police department to file a report, he did so online. “We need leaders able to respond quickly. It is not enough to have right answers,” said Logan. “You need to be able to work with a lot of competing stakeholders and get to a solution quick. I bring that to the table.” He demurred when asked if he supports the recall effort to remove Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price, a progressive elected last year, telling the B.A.R. he is focused on his own campaign. Safety is a main reason for why many people he knows has moved out of Oakland recently, said Logan, who stressed solutions to the problem won’t come from leaders who are fighting among themselves. “I can understand D.A. Price’s frustration with our police department. I can also understand our police department’s frustration with Pamela Price,” said Logan. “At the end of the day we need to stop trading barbs against each other. We need to be working together, because it is not just one person’s responsibility to fix the entire county’s criminal system, criminal justice system.” While he wouldn’t say who his number one pick for Oakland mayor was in last fall’s election, only that Mayor Sheng Thao was among his ranked choice votes, Logan did tell the B.A.R. he wants to see the city’s leader succeed. “No one wins when our mayor is not successful,” he said. “I don’t do better if she is not successful. I live in Oakland and I want to see our mayor be successful in her term.”

One proposal he backs, and would look at replicating in District 3 if elected as its councilmember, is having Oakland establish the Lakeshore LGBTQ Cultural District northeast of Lake Merritt where a number of queer-owned businesses and the city’s LGBTQ community center are located. The city council is set to vote on it at its November 7 meeting. With myriad LGBTQ-owned establishments also now located in downtown Oakland, which has seen a number of queer-run nightlife venues open of late, Logan told the B.A.R. there is an opportunity for Oakland to create several LGBTQ districts, as San Francisco has three such designated areas. “I am really excited the city is thinking about making that district,” said Logan. “I also have spoken to LGBTQ businesses in my district in Uptown and downtown that are also looking for support in lots of different ways. In addition to every other business downtown that is really hurting right now.” Logan’s campaign launch party will take place from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Thursday, November 9, at 7th West. The bar, restaurant, and events space is located at 1255 Seventh Street near the West Oakland BART Station. To learn more about his candidacy, visit his campaign website at https:// warrenforoakland.com/

Lee, Porter pick up LGBTQ support

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Congressmembers Barbara Lee (DOakland) and Katie Porter (D-Irvine) both picked up prominent supporters within the LGBTQ community this week as they seek to succeed the late U.S. senator Dianne Feinstein next year. Earlier in the year Feinstein, who died in late September at the age of 90, had announced she wouldn’t seek reelection in 2024. 44 Gough Street #302, San Francisco, CA 94103 (415) 829-8937 • www.ebar.com And lesbian U.S. Senator Laphonza Butler (D-California), appointed to fill the vacancy, disclosed to the New York Times last month she wouldn’t seek a full term. It was seen as a boost for Lee, who has trailed Porter and Congressmember Adam Schiff (D-Burbank) in polling and fundraising, in not having to run against a fellow Black woman. Monday, gay Congressmember Robert Garcia (D-Long Beach) announced he was backing Porter in the race. As Politico noted, he is the first member of the state’s congressional delegation to do so. (The state’s other gay congressmember, Mark Takano of Riverside, is backing Schiff.) Tuesday, Lee touted in a news release her receiving the endorsements of two more “storied LGBTQ+ clubs” – the San Diego Democrats for Equality and the East Bay Stonewall Democratic Club. When you plan your life celebration and lasting remembrance in They join the Harvey Milk LGBTQ advance, you can design every detail of your own unique memorial Democratic Club in backing Lee, as the and provide your loved ones with true peace of mind. Planning ahead B.A.R.’s online Political Notes column When your celebration lasting protectsyou your plan loved ones fromlife unnecessary stress and and financial burden, first reported last month. When you plan your life celebration and lasting remembrance in allowing them to focus on what will matter most at that time—you. remembrance in advance, you can design every “I have always been willing to stand advance, you canofdesign every detail of your ownand unique memorial up and defend the rights and dignity detail own memorial provide Contact usyour today about theunique beautiful ways to create a lasting legacy of the LGBTQ+ community, and Iand will provide atyour the San Francisco Columbarium. loved ones with true peace of mind. Planning your loved ones with true peace of mind. Planning ahead honor these endorsements by continuprotects your loved onesProudly from unnecessary stressunnecessary and financial burden, ahead protects yourserving loved onesCommunity. from ing that fight in the United States Senate, ” the LGBT allowing them focus on whatburden, will matter most them at thattotime—you. stated Lee. stresstoand financial allowing Lexi Reese, formerly an executive at focus on what will matter most at that time—you. Google and the HR platform Gusto, is Contact us today about the beautiful ways to create a lasting legacy also running for the seat on the Democratic side, as is Christina Pascucci, at athe San Contact FranciscousColumbarium. today about the beautiful ways to create longtime Los Angeles television joura lasting legacy at the San Francisco Columbarium. nalist. Republican former baseball star One Loraine Ct. | San Francisco | 415-771-0717 Steve Garvey has also jumped into the Proudly serving our Community. SanFranciscoColumbarium.com race. Proudly serving the LGBT Community. Only the top two finishers regardFD 1306 / COA 660 less of party affiliation in the March 5 primary will move on to the ballot next November to compete for a full six-year term in the Senate seat. The candidates are expected to enter the race that will also be on the March ballot to complete Feinstein’s term through January 3, 2025, with the top two vote-getters of that contest competing on next fall’s ballot. One Loraine Ct. | San Francisco | 415-771-0717 Though the winner will only serve for less than two months, it could provide SanFranciscoColumbarium.com them more seniority in the Senate if they also are elected to the full term that will FD 1306 / COA 660 run through January 3, 2031.t

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<< Commentary

10 • Bay Area Repor ter • November 2-8, 2023

Forgotten histories by Gwendolyn Ann Smith

t should come as no surprise to anyone that I feel that the trans community often fails to grasp its own history. That focus is, after all, part of my own history. Part of that failure to understand where we come from is institutional in its more basic form. In the era where gatekeepers controlled trans health care, we were discouraged from forming any ties with other transgender people to find out what they experienced and encouraged to fade into the woodwork shortly after we had surgery. There was no attempt to build any sort of history among each other, as that clearly served to maintain control over us and our needs. We also very much leaned into this – and still do. Our dysphoria – and, perhaps, our terminal sense of embar-

rassment – aids us in trying to be distant from our messy pasts. In doing so, we may opt to go off on our own ways, and shelter far away from our old haunts. I’ll admit I’m certainly plenty guilty of this as well. In eras past, and likely still today, it was common to purge anything trans from our lives. It was the shameful secret to be discarded on our deathbed, or the confidence we never saw disclosed. What’s more, our families would also aid in this, seeing us buried under the names we were assigned at birth, our personal history stripped away to reveal their – not our – version of the truth. There’s a lot in our personal history, too, that may cause us hurt and sorrow from which we may wish to simply move on. Many of us lose lovers, family, and longtime friends when we transition, and long-standing jobs and homes may become alien to us through this

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process. I can’t blame anyone who wants to leave such pain behind. Yet, this often means we have to reinvent the wheel. Even in this era of plentiful online resources, we can still find it hard to learn about our shared history. Sure, we’ll know some of the big points: the 1969 Stonewall rebellion, for example, or a few other, similar actions. We may know some of our celebrities, or the groundbreaking things they may have done. Conversely, we may know of a few events that harmed our community, such as the burning of the library at the Institut für Sexualwissenschaft in Germany in 1933 during the lead up to World War II that saw the destruction of countless books, magazines, and other items that covered the first modern transgender clinic and LGBTQ institute that was headed by Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld. You have to dig, still, to find more. To learn about the trans people who were at that institute, or others elsewhere in the world at the same time. You have to rely on a handful of trans scholars who are working hard to uncover our past and bring it to light on YouTube, at various transgender archives, or in print. Even then, there is still so much that

is simply forgotten and lost to time. It wasn’t until very recently that we’ve even attempted to focus on any trans history, and, as a result, there is a lot we simply may never know. We are living through a very hard time, where white, straight, cisgender, right-wing men are trying to control the narratives of our society, and where the things they’re allowing to be taught are being controlled as tightly as possible. The notion of even seeing the word transgender, let alone so many others, is not a possibility they’ll allow. I think back to my childhood, trying to find information about being trans at my local public library, and coming up empty. There was nothing to learn, no history, and no role models to emulate. I remember how hopeless this made me feel, and how alone. There are those who are more than happy to see us right back there. Those trying to control our history seek to make sure we don’t get to have one, and that we get to be treated as a new deviance, rather than a long-standing part of culture. We have always been here, and the historical record shows us in Sumeria, in ancient Egypt, in Rome, and every century before and after, but without a his-

tory, how would we ever know? And why even mention the ancient world, when we only recently were able to rediscover Jackie Shane, a trans R&B musician of the 1960s. There is a joke that often comes up, that every transgender person ends up being labeled as the “first transgender person” to accomplish something. Usually, we’ll find that they weren’t nearly the first, with decades, even centuries, of history to look back on. In preparing to write this, I came across a perfect example of this, as Google told me that the first transgender singer was Kim Petras. I’m sure that would be a surprise to a great many others who came before, including the aforementioned Shane. I’ll give the entry partial credit, though, as Petras is the first trans singer to win a Grammy. That we know of. Having a history should be core to who we are as a people. We need to know where we come from, and what we have accomplished. We need to have transgender people who make up a long and stellar history that we can look back on, and build towards our future. Locally, the GLBT Historical Society has a robust collection of trans history, and Ms. Bob Davis has established the Louise Lawrence Transgender Archives in Vallejo (the historical society is a fiscal sponsor). While small, the archive, named for Lawrence, a trans pioneer who began living as a woman in 1942 in the Bay Area, seeks to increase the understanding of trans people, its website noted. (https://lltransarchive.org/) As we go into what may be a darkly historical year for all of us, we need to know where we come from more than ever. t Gwen Smith hopes you’ll support trans historians and archives. You’ll find her at www.gwensmith.com

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SF Gay Men’s Chorus opens new home

anny Sullivan plays the piano in the newly remodeled Grand Hall of the Pansy L. Chan and Terrence D. Chan National Queer Arts Center (The Chan) during a community open house October 30. The San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus, which purchased the building at 170 Valencia Street in 2019 for $9.6 million, has spent the last three years remodeling it, thanks to a $15 million capital campaign, a news release stated. The chorus stated that The Chan will become a new home for artists, arts leaders, and activists to meet, spark collaborations, and develop new projects to

further enhance the LGBTQ arts field. This includes serving as a performance venue where other gay choruses and community-based organizations from around the world can present their work to the public. “The Chan National Queer Arts Center transcends the essence of a mere building; it embodies a vibrant community and a living narrative of our queer heritage in San Francisco and beyond,” stated artistic director Jacob Stensberg. Former San Francisco supervisor Matt Haney, now a member of the state Assembly, secured $250,000 to support the new center, the release noted.

Community News>>

November 2-8, 2023 • Bay Area Repor ter • 11

LGBTQ summit returns to South Bay by Heather Cassell

popular LGBTQ summit returned to an in-person format for the first time in three years, as nearly 200 queer and allied activists and community organizers met in San Jose. The Santa Clara County Office of LGBTQ Affairs held the fifth annual summit, themed “All Work is Work,” October 27 at the Holiday Inn San Jose. “It’s lovely seeing a lot of community members that we typically see outside of our office,” Sera Fernando, manager of the LGBTQ affairs office, told the Bay Area Reporter. “Now for all of us to come into the space and learn about what ‘all work is work’ means to different industries, different trades, different sectors – it’s just really cool to see. Everyone seems very excited.” Fernando is the second manager of the office, as the B.A.R. reported last year. The 43-year-old Filipina asexual queer transgender person succeeded the office’s first manager Maribel Martínez, a queer woman of color, who was promoted in 2022. Previous summits covered LGBTQ community resources and support, especially for LGBTQ youth; transgender economic empowerment; and intersectionality. The summit went virtual in 2020 with the COVID-19 shutdown. It remained virtual in 2021 and 2022. The first summit in 2019 attracted approximately 150 attendees to the Campbell Community Center. This year’s event saw a slight uptick to 160 attendees. Fernando noted in an email to the B.A.R. October 30 that one of the biggest shifts of the summit in its first five years was moving from a “resource-focused event to a researchfocused event.” Additionally, making the summit “relevant to current LGBTQ+ cultural climate,” she added, noting the more than 500 pieces of anti-LGBTQ and anti-transgender legislation across the country. She noted that the summit faced challenges during its first five years. Two of the biggest were moving the event to a virtual format during COVID and getting buy-in from county executives and management, she wrote. Fernando stated that learning how to “drive engagement” virtually and county leadership investment to allow their teams to attend the summit, “especially LGBTQ+ allies wanting to drive DEI (diversity, equality, and inclusion) initiatives,” was hard. However, the successes far outweighed the challenges, she stated. During the first five years, the office maintained stable summit attendance numbers; built stronger relationships and coalitions between resource providers, panelists, presenters, and attendees; and connected with a broader Bay Area audience and even attendees from other cities in California and the United States. This year, Santa Clara County District 1 Supervisor Sylvia Arenas (https://board.sccgov.org/home), an ally and the first Democrat to win office in the conservative rural district in 25 years, opened the summit with gay former District 4 county supervisor Ken Yeager. Yeager, 70, was the county’s first openly gay supervisor until he was termed out of office in early 2019 after a 12-year run. He was previously the first gay person to serve on the San Jose City Council, as the B.A.R. reported. He left the county’s LGBTQ community in good standing with the creation of the Office of LGBTQ Affairs and other agencies and programs that grew out of the 2013 health survey he spearheaded, the B.A.R. also reported. Summit attendees learned about LGBTQ lived experiences and how

Heather Cassell

Lorna Sumatra, a South Bay preventative health educator for youth and young adults, asked a question at the fifth annual LGBTQ+ Summit, “All Work is Work,” in San Jose.

“We always think of ‘professional’ as working in an office. There are so many professionals who don’t work in an office.” –Lyseria Kursave, president of the South, Bay Chapter of Pride at Work

they can benefit organizations, sex workers’ health and harm reduction practices, work experiences in a diverse array of industries, and LGBTQ entrepreneurship. “Lessons from Diverse Work Experiences” panelist Lyseria Kursave, president of the South Bay Chapter of Pride at Work (https://www.prideatwork.org/), was at the summit to talk about non-traditional workplaces. Pride at Work is an LGBTQ organization supporting union workers and their allies, according to its website. Kursave, 38, a union electrician, is a self-identified bisexual, polyamorous monoromantic transgender woman, and transitioned while on the job in the male-dominated construction industry. She wanted to broaden the definition of workplaces beyond the traditional office environment. “We always think of ‘professional’ as working in an office,” she said. “There are so many professionals who don’t work in an office. “I don’t have an office,” she continued. “I have never been given a human resources department phone number on any job site I’ve ever worked. “I don’t know the last time I’ve had sexual harassment training outside of my union,” Kursave added. “My first line of defense – and this has nothing to do with me being transgender or queer – if there’s an issue at work, [journeymen train you] to tell the person to fuck off.” Fernando said all the modules offered throughout the day were important, but she was personally excited about the entrepreneur session at the end of the day. “That’s going to be most exciting for me,” she said. “We really want to inspire people to learn how to create their own pathways, their own voice, and really leverage their skills to make their own business models and be able to grow from there.”

Coming together in community

“The community was just so delighted to be able to have an LGBTQ summit here in the South Bay,” Fernando said. She noted the plethora of queer conferences and summits that happen all over the Bay Area, but that having one dedicated to the South Bay LGBTQ experience that was open to county employees, community organizations, service providers,

and community members and students “was very important to us.” “That’s why we’re delighted to offer this to South Bay community members,” she added. Conference attendees agreed. Many were at the summit to network and meet other people working in queer spaces in the South Bay. Lorna Sumatra, a Black queer woman who is a preventative health educator for youth and young adults in the county, said she wanted to “invest in my roots.” The East San Jose native attended the event to connect with local queer community leaders and to support events like the summit happening in Santa Clara County. “I just feel like there’s just not a lot of activities that go on in the South Bay,” said Sumatra, who has been involved in the LGBTQ community – especially communities of color – throughout the Bay Area for years. “Honestly, I want to see my people. I don’t really get to see other people that care about making the community better and I know they exist and that’s why I’m here.” Sumatra said she learned a lot from the “Sex Worker Health and Harm Reduction 101” module led by Robyn Learned, which was what she was most interested in at the summit. Learned is the manager of the drug user health team at the National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors (https:// nastad.org/). She was not representing NASTAD at the summit. Rabbi Lisa Levenberg, also known as Rabbi Q, attended the summit because she’s on a mission to provide more services for the South Bay’s LGBTQ Jewish community, something she sees lacking in San Jose and the county. The 48-year-old selfidentified dyke was at the summit to network with local leaders and organizations to get a pulse on what is happening for the queer community in the county. “I think it’s possible to turn that around and kind of take a strengthbased approach to thinking about San Jose and Santa Clara County,” she said, stating that the South Bay city sometimes gets overshadowed by San Francisco and Oakland. She believes San Jose is “much more accessible than some of the other local cities in terms of getting to know the different organizations and community leaders that are doing the work.” Tessa Reynolds, the new rehabilitation counselor at the county’s

Behavioral Health Services Department’s Q Corner, was glad to be surrounded by the South Bay’s LGBTQ community providers and to get to know the community. “I’m excited about everything that has to do with working in the queer community and just knowing that these spaces are provided in Santa Clara County,” said Reynolds, 39, a queer nonbinary person who uses she/they pronouns. Yeager, who is executive direc-

tor of the BAYMEC Community Foundation (https://www.baymecfoundation.org/), which supports programs and projects to promote the South Bay’s LGBTQ community, such as Queer Silicon Valley (https://www.queersiliconvalley. org/), expressed the significance of the summit. “It’s so important for our community to be able to have summits like this where we talk about issues that are very critical to our community and is a place where people can gather and meet other people,” said Yeager. Queer Silicon Valley is a project documenting Silicon Valley’s LGBTQ history, milestones, leaders, and accomplishments, according to its website. Yeager was at the summit promoting his new memoir, “Run!: My Story of LGBTQ+ Political Power, Equality, and Acceptance in Silicon Valley,” and talking with LGBTQ people interested in seeking elected office. County agencies, such as the county’s Behavioral Health Services and Employee Services Agency, and community organizations, like the Billy DeFrank LGBTQ Community Center, were also represented. Fernando is looking forward to the next five years of the summit. “Our hope is for the LGBTQ+ Summit to be the largest LGBTQ+ summit in the South Bay, complete with more panels and keynote speakers representing LGBTQ+ equity and social justice work across the nation,” she said. For those who missed the summit, video recordings of the speakers and panel discussions will be available online at the county’s Office of LGBTQ+ Affairs website and its YouTube channel by the end of November. t

Alan Jaffray September 12, 1974 - July 20, 2023 Born in Santa Rosa, Alan Jaffray grew up playing chess and bridge with his dad. Alan excelled at school, especially math. Alan tested out of high school at 14. His mother recalls his beaming face upon coming home from school and announcing: “I don’t have to be there anymore!” Alan completed a bachelor’s at Sonoma State before age 18, then moved to the University of Chicago for graduate school in mathematics. Alan discovered himself there, coming out as bisexual and polyamorous, and becoming a fixture at the U of C Bisexual Union over the next several years. After Chicago, Alan helped create a bridge-playing computer program in Eugene, OR, that competed in bridge tournaments including the world bridge tourney in Bermuda. In his early 20s Akamai hired Alan as a computer programmer. Soon Alan became a professional poker player, gambling in casinos as an advantage player using his math skills to secure a comfortable living. Alan won “prizes” like cases of barbecue sauce and a singing-and-dancing stuffed Christmas iguana. His advantage gambling career led to a series of math lectures where some students refuse to believe he exists, or that so many adventures and misadventures could originate from just one person. Alan cherished blurring the lines of gender expression, and took to wearing a small metal chain flogger clipped to the front belt loop of his jeans. Alan made a life of caring for partners and friends in need. He proudly stood for progressive causes: electric vehicle infrastructure, reproductive justice, abortion access, transgender rights, and LGBTQ+ visibility. Alan loved cats, juggling, many genres of music, trivia, and watching most sports, especially disc golf. In recent years he regularly sunbathed nude poolside at his home in Woodland, and enjoyed making unusual cocktails. Alan is survived by his partner Bex, by his parents, and by friends and former lovers from across the country. He is pre-deceased by his adored cats: Zan, Jayna, Ursa, and Ellie. Alan adored cats. Please adopt or foster your next cat from a local shelter, on Alan’s behalf.

<< Community News

12 • Bay Area Repor ter • November 2-8, 2023

SFPD forum

From page 1

“This is new to us and it remains to be seen how it will work out,” Del Gandio said. “His schedule is seven days a week, like the mayor. … [Gascón] attended each meeting but there weren’t so many groups at that time.” One of the efforts the forum is currently undertaking is updating the pink triangle “Stop the Violence” signs posted in many Castro-area businesses. Carey said that the purpose of the signs is to let crime victims know that they can go to the merchant for safety before law enforcement can arrive. The original signs included the words “Safe Space” beneath the triangle, but this eventually became “Stop Hate,” which obscured the purpose of the signs, Carey said. “The idea is those signs are to mark a safe haven for victims of crime,” Carey said. “The new signage is not self-explanatory that the merchant is a safe haven.” Carey said that when the new signs are done, the forum will try to “get those up in as many businesses as possible.” “The wording is not specific to the Castro so it can be put up anywhere in the city,” he said. They were last replaced in 2017 when the rightwing Patriot Prayer group threatened to come to San Francisco (it later canceled the planned gatherings, which had been approved by the National Park Service to be held at Crissy Field).

Prop 8 tapes

From page 7

At the time struggling with his own sexual orientation, as he would later come out as bisexual, CabreraLomelí recalled seeing news coverage about the legal fight over Prop 8. He would read about the trial in the San Francisco Examiner newspaper while taking the bus to school. “There weren’t smartphones then,” noted Cabrera-Lomelí, who wasn’t thinking about getting married himself but was pleased to see samesex marriage become a reality, first in California in 2013 with the Prop 8 decision and then nationwide in 2015 with the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges. “I think, for a lot of young queer people my age, we have grown up with marriage equality as a given. Because we are standing on the shoulders of giants, we can now focus on other issues as well, like rights for trans people, and rights and protections for trans youth,” said Cabrera-Lomelí. “But I think that fight happening while I was growing up shaped my thinking, and shaped a lot of people my age, especially here in the Bay Area.” Watching the Prop 8 tapes he realized the footage isn’t very compelling visually. Formatted together are the feeds from three cameras – of the judge, witnesses, and lawyers – into one video screen. Altogether there are 65 individual videos that the court uploaded. “The quality of the video is just bad,” noted Cabrera-Lomelí of the Prop 8 tapes. Most of the videos have only been watched a handful of times, according to the view counts. Two had been viewed more than 410 times as of Tuesday morning, with viewership for the rest dropping precipitously. Many have been watched less than 50 times. “It was going to be a really tough sell to reclip this and put it out there,” said Cabrera-Lomelí of the footage.

Humanizing the videos

What was needed, he thought, was a way to humanize the courtroom videos. “As I was watching this, I thought we need to find the human element, the human story in all of this legal

Del Gandio suggested adding a QR code to the signs with a “link to resources or a resource guide,” he said. He also stated that posting the signs will require more merchants to agree to use their businesses as a safe harbor and to commit to calling 911 if a crime victim shows up. Terry Asten Bennett, a straight ally who is the co-owner of Cliff ’s Variety on Castro Street and is the president of the Castro Merchants Association, told the Bay Area Reporter, “I don’t know that changing the words is as important as getting out the message that there are places for safe harbor and people willing to help.” “If changing the words and refreshing the signs gets the word out there, then I am all for it,” she stated. “I love the idea of a QR code linking to resources.” The forum members also discussed having a larger symposium about hate crimes after a successful event featuring the SFPD and the FBI drew a crowd in the Castro on August 30, as the B.A.R. previously reported. “It went very well,” said Del Gandio, who was there. “I got a lot of positive feedback about it from the community. Our command staff put the [B.A.R.] article up the chain of command to the chief and everyone was super happy with the turnout on one of the hottest days of the year.” That event had been by invitation-only. Carey said that there was a larger symposium, open to the general public, on the subject “about 10 years ago” at the Eureka Valley

Recreation Center, and suggested having a similar event again. “It’s very important to get people up to date on what is a hate crime and to get a local focus,” Carey said. “The FBI is often not needed in San Francisco because we have such good laws here in California.” Del Gandio said that event should happen in 2024.

jargon. Even if you’ve never heard of Prop 8, you need to find somebody to root for, that was when I was watching the cross examination of Paul Katami come up,” said Cabrera-Lomelí. “He is questioned so intensely about who he is, his orientation and his relationship with Jeffrey. I was like, ‘wow.’” As he contemplated what to do with the Prop 8 footage, CabreraLomelí found inspiration in the videos created by magazines showing actors watching clips of their film work. He also thought about the videos the gay hookup app Grndr had created showing four older gay men react to current pop culture trends and content. After learning that Perry and Stier continue to reside in the Bay Area, Cabrera-Lomelí pitched doing something similar to the other videos by having them come into a studio and react to clips of their testimony. The station also reached out to have Zarrillo and Katami fly up to do the same. “We have this footage that is hard to work with and need contemporary footage. They are right here, let’s bring them in,” said Cabrera-Lomelí, who noted how unique such an opportunity would be. “It is rare queer people can look at their younger selves with love and affection.” As can be seen in the two segments the station produced, there was a technical glitch the KQED team didn’t realize when they filmed the two couples. They had them seated together and looking at screens of the trial footage placed beside their partners. Thus, when they went to splice the footage together, the couples are seen looking not at the trial footage but in the opposite direction off screen. Were their positioning to be reversed, it would have resulted in the trial footage hovering over their partners’ faces in the edited segments. “Visually, in a composition sense, it is a little tough,” acknowledged Cabrera-Lomelí. Nonetheless, the couples’ reactions are very emotional and powerful footage. Despite the placement problem that arose later on in the editing room, Cabrera-Lomelí told the B.A.R. filming the spouses together was the right call. “Having both of them together

looking at it, I think is really beautiful,” he said. As well as “very poignant,” said Shafer, “to hear what the couples went through at the time and how getting married changed their lives, what it meant to fight this fight, and what it means today going through a cycle of LGBTQ hate in so many places.” For now, the videos will be posted to KQED’s YouTube channel for its news division at https://www.youtube.com/@KQEDnews. Thomas R. Burke, the local attorney KQED hired to bring forward its lawsuit, told the B.A.R. he suggested the station use them during its pledge drives. “I think it was a huge commitment of time and resources and money by KQED,” said Burke, who estimated the station’s legal costs were in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. A KQED spokesperson told the B.A.R. they weren’t sure what the total cost of the lawsuit was. The station ended up being the lone media outlet to fully pursue the case. “It started out as a coalition of media, with CNN, Fox, NBC,” said Burke. “In later years it was just KQED alone. I think it is really a testament to KQED’s commitment to its audience and commitment to this incredibly important issue, not only to the Bay Area but to the whole world.”

Traffic stops and foot beats

Officer Jose Canchola, who’s on the SFPD’s Castro foot patrol beat, said that the department has been conducting more vehicle stops in the area after a pedestrian was hit in the intersection at 19th and Castro streets. “It was pretty bad,” Canchola said, referring to speeding in the area. “Some people going 15-miles-perhour through the stop sign, not even doing that little bit of hesitation.” Canchola said that there aren’t more foot patrols in the Castro because of the police staffing shortage. Mission Station, which covers most of the LGBTQ neighborhood, has one of the lowest numbers of available officers in the city, according to Dave Burke, the SFPD District 8 liaison. A proposal to move the Castro into SFPD’s Park Station’s radius wouldn’t necessarily improve things, because Park Station is among the least-staffed stations in the city, Burke added. Park Station does include some of the upper Market Street area. During the recent Lesbians Who Tech confab that took place in the

Castro, Canchola was on foot patrol and said “a lot of people were shocked” to see officers on the street after dark. Canchola said police morale is up because public attitudes toward the police have become more positive in recent years. As the B.A.R. previously reported, the nation has seen a crime spike in recent years; in 2022 reported violent crime finally fell by 1.7%. San Francisco Mayor London Breed recently unveiled a ballot measure that she says would free up officers to be on the streets more, increase the use of modern tools like surveillance cameras, and loosen policies on police pursuits. With the recall of former DA Chesa Boudin last year, new DA Brooke Jenkins, who has a more traditional philosophy than the progressive Boudin, has also worked to charge various criminal cases, though her tenure has been marked by some controversies, such as her decision not to file charges against the store security guard who shot unarmed Black trans man Banko Brown at a downtown Walgreens in April. Also at the meeting, Graham Hinchcliffe, M.S., gave a presentation about Pride flag pins and a related pledge he introduced at UCSF. A gay man himself, the HIV researcher has passed out hundreds of pins since he started the project earlier this year. “It was around the time there was a lot of news coverage about anti-LGBTQ bills,” Hinchcliffe said, referring to hundreds of bills that have been

debated in state legislatures across the country, some dealing with trans students and drag performances. “It was really to get support for folks at UCSF, our LGBTQ community here, for everybody,” he added. Since then, Hinchcliffe has handed out the pins at the AIDS Walk and at the Pride parade in June. Congressmember Nancy Pelosi (DSan Francisco) wore one of his pins there, he said. “People seem to love a pin – they really do,” he said. The forum did not decide when it is going to meet again; two months out from October would put the meeting around the holidays, so the idea of an early January meeting was floated. Forum community cochairperson Ken Craig said that the chairs would be in touch. People interested in becoming part of the forum can contact lgbtq. forum@sfgov.org. t The State of California offers help for victims or witnesses to a hate crime or hate incident. This resource is supported in whole or in part by funding provided by the State of California, administered by the California State Library in partnership with the California Department of Social Services and the California Commission on Asian and Pacific Islander American Affairs as part of the Stop the Hate program. To report a hate incident or hate crime and get support, go to cavshate.org.

Courtesy Scott Shafer

Jeff Zarrillo, left, and Paul Katami, plaintiffs in the landmark 2010 lawsuit that overturned California’s ban on same-sex marriage, sit during an interview at the KQED offices in San Francisco on March 3, 2023. Katami and Zarrillo had come to the studio to watch clips of their testimony in federal court, which KQED had fought to get unsealed.

A witness to history

With the annulment by state courts of their marriage in 2004, when San Francisco officials wed same-sex couples in defiance of state law, Shafer and his husband, John Ignacio Kennedy, married a second time in 2014 once Prop 8 was overturned. Shafer had covered the Prop 8 trial for KQED and told the B.A.R. doing so was “a privilege” as he was a witness to history. He is grateful that the station was willing to wage the legal fight over the trial tapes. “I am really proud that KQED invested the time and effort to get these tapes released. Not every media outlet would have done that,” said Shafer. “To see it come full circle and help other people see it in a way that is digestible, and also historic, I think it definitely brings it full circle.” Attorney Burke and his wife live in Albany, and their daughter at-

Kori Suzuki/KQED

KQED politics editor Scott Shafer, right, and his John Ignacio Kennedy, got married for a second time in 2014 after Prop 8 was overturned.

tended the same high school as Stier and Perry’s twin sons. The two families were already acquaintances, he said, when he first was hired by the Prop 8 plaintiffs’ legal team to press the case with Walker for broadcasting the trial. He recalled suggesting that Walker embed a CNN crew in the courtroom who could share its footage with other media. They would bring in high tech equipment for doing so and could blend into the background of the proceedings, Burke had noted to the judge. “He looked at me and said, ‘I appreciate the offer, but this is my

deal. I am just going to use my own camera.’ Literally, they were cameras bought at Radio Shack,” said Burke. Rereading the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling against televising the trial back in 2010, Burke remains convinced it made a mistake. The issues examined in Walker’s court were of utmost public importance then and remain controversial today, said Burke, pointing to newly elected House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) having to answer to his vocal opposition in the past to marriage equality. See page 13 >>

t <<

Community News>>

November 2-8, 2023 • Bay Area Repor ter • 13

Prop 8 tapes

From page 12

“This was, I think, a shining moment for the federal judiciary to try a very controversial issue of the day with the federal rules of evidence, and I think it is extremely disappointing it took more than 10 years later for the videos to become unsealed,” said Burke. “Not only because this was a historic trial, but because it was a trial of same-sex marriage with experts and evidence and testimony. There was absolutely no reason, whether in favor of it or against it, for you and the public to not understand this was given a fair shot in a federal trial and that is just so critical.”

2024 Prop 8 repeal

With voters being asked on the November 2024 ballot to remove Prop 8’s language that is still embedded in the California Constitution, as LGBTQ advocates fear it could become law again should the conservative-led Supreme Court annul its earlier rulings in favor of marriage equality, Burke told the B.A.R. he hopes having the Prop 8 trial footage available helps the repeal campaign next year. “As you recall, it was a poorly worded and perhaps intentionally

Guest Opinion

From page 8

I currently serve in an appointed role as the vice president of the board of trustees for the Alameda Health System. And I’m vying for the District 4 seat on the Alameda County Board of Supervisors in 2024. Upon winning, I’ll become the first openly gay Black woman to serve as a county supervisor in California and the first Black Jewish woman as well. In 2023 there’s still lots of history to make for members of marginalized communities. Having overlapping marginalized identities makes one appear to be a unicorn of sorts. Of the eight known LGBTQ county supervisors in the state, two are non-male, and neither

Kori Suzuki/KQED

Kris Perry, left, and Sandy Stier, two plaintiffs in the landmark 2010 lawsuit that overturned California’s ban on same-sex marriage, share photographs from their wedding ceremony during an interview at the KQED offices in San Francisco on March 3, 2023. Stier and Perry came to the studio to watch clips of their testimony in federal court, which KQED had fought to get unsealed, for the first time.

all started, there was a different feeling about same-sex marriage across the country,” noted Burke. “Having a recording of a federal trial that took the whole issue seriously and asked what is wrong with same-sex marriage, will it pose an issue, all of that is remarkable. It was a brilliant move by the judge to have that be an evidence based, what is called a bench trial.” As for how the footage is used going forward, Burke told the B.A.R. he can’t envision many people sitting at home and watching the courtroom videos on their own. Rather, he sees them being utilized in educational settings such as middle or high school civics classes and at law schools. “I don’t think anybody is going to ever rush to watch these, quite honestly. Just because it is already history, and most people are not big fans of history or too busy for it,” he said. “I would be surprised if there aren’t law clinics that will want to have law school students watch these to teach about the historic nature of the case.” And he expects to see the footage be utilized by documentarians in their films. “They should,” said Burke. “It is a very rare, very rare collection of footage of a federal trial, if not one of the most important to ever occur in San Francisco.” t

deceptive proposition the last time. That cost a lot of votes,” said Burke. “Elections matter; votes matter.” Burke, 61, grew up in a small Nebraska town with an older sister who would come out as gay. She died

unexpectedly at the age of 46 several years ago. Poignantly for Burke, he was at home when he argued the Prop 8 tapes case before the Ninth Circuit because the court was meeting vir-

tually due to COVID. Behind him was a photo of his sister and her partner. “I think what is really remarkable when you look back over the dozen years or more than that when this

identifies as a person of color. A few weeks after Butler’s historic appointment, Equality California, the nation’s largest statewide LGBTQ+ civil rights organization, announced the hiring of Shay Franco-Clausen as its new political director. Franco-Clausen, an experienced political consultant and veteran of many candidate and ballot initiative campaigns, will lead electoral and civic engagement programs as the organization gears up for the critical 2024 presidential primary and general elections. Franco-Clausen, who is Afro-Latina, is an award-winning public speaker, political strategist, and community leader based in Hayward where she serves on the city’s planning commission. As the LGBTQ political group

BAYMEC noted in 2018, she became the first queer woman of color to hold elective office in Santa Clara County when she was appointed in lieu of election to a seat on the Santa Clara County Open Space Authority since no one else filed to run for it. She has served as PAC chair of the Courage California C4 Board, vice chair of the California Democratic Party LGBTQ Caucus, co-chair of the National Black Justice Coalition’s “Good Trouble Network,” PAC chair for the East Bay Stonewall Democratic Club, and is a member of the Victory Fund campaign board. She has played a pivotal role in extending the statute of limitations for felony domestic violence survivors, advocating for the rights of foster youth, preserving endangered

open spaces, and championing a ballot measure to restore voting rights for individuals on parole. Though our visibility is increasing in California and across the nation, our lives are in precarious and often perilous conditions. The risks are especially high for those of us raised or living in states that are actively passing laws to enshrine discriminatory practices that put our lives at risk. Leaders and elected officials use inflammatory language that incites violence and encourages people to violently attack members of our community. Laws that force parents and medical professionals to choose between expensive fines or even jail time for providing compassionate care and necessary medical treatment to LGBTQ youth. Trans

youth, especially those who are people of color, are more likely to be alienated from their family, living in poverty, unhoused, and have untreated behavioral health needs, which leads to being at higher risk for suicide. Having strong and well-qualified leaders like Butler, Franco-Clausen, and myself serving in appointed and elected roles gives us visibility and credibility. We serve as beacons of hope and strength for members of our LGBTQ community so young people and their families can take comfort in knowing the future has positive possibilities. t

California law provides that, for purposes of division of property upon dissolution of a marriage or domestic partnership or upon legal separation, property acquired by the parties during marriage or domestic partnership in joint form is presumed to be community property. If either party to this action should die before the jointly held community property is divided, the language in the deed that characterizes how title is held (i.e. joint tenancy, tenants in common, or community property) will be controlling, and not the community property presumption. You should consult your attorney if you want the community property presumption to be written into the recorded title to the property.

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401572

The following person(s) is/are doing business as PRESTON DILIGENCE, 1653 ALABAMA ST #A, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed KM PLANNING STRATEGY (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 09/29/2023. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 09/29/2023.

2024 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

Jennifer Esteen, a gay woman, is running for the District 4 seat on the Alameda County Board of Supervisors.

Legals>> SUMMONS (FAMILY LAW) SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO, 400 MCALLISTER ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102 NOTICE TO RESPONDENT: DONALD CLARK CUNNINGHAM, YOU ARE BEING SUED BY PETITIONER: BERSATH VERDUGO DOMINGUEZ AKA BERSAIN VERDUGO-DOMINGUEZ CASE NO. FDI-23-798307

You have been sued. Read the information below. You have 30 calendar days after this Summons and Petition are served on you to file a Response (form FL-120) at the court and have a copy served on the petitioner. A letter or phone call, or court appearance will not protect you. If you do not file your Response on time, the court may make orders affecting your marriage or domestic partnership, your property, and custody of your children. You may be ordered to pay support and attorney fees and costs. For legal advice, contact a lawyer immediately. Get help finding a lawyer at the California Courts Online Self-Help Center (www.courts.ca.gov/selfhelp), at the California Legal Services website (www.lawhelpca.org) or by contacting your local county bar association. NOTICE – RESTRAINING ORDERS ARE ON PAGE 2: These restraining orders are effective against both spouses or domestic partners until the petition is dismissed, a judgment is entered, or the court makes further orders. They are enforceable anywhere in California by any law enforcement officer who has received or seen a copy of them. FEE WAIVER: If you cannot pay the filing fee, ask the court clerk for a fee waiver form. The court may order you to pay back all or part of the fees and costs that the court waived for you or the other party. The name and address of the court are: Superior Court of California, County of San Francisco, 400 McAllister St. San Francisco, California 94102. The name, address and telephone number of petitioner’s attorney, or petitioner without an attorney is: BERSATH VERDUGO DOMINGUEZ, 684 ELLIS ST #513, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109; (415) 509-4409. Date: 07/10/2023. Clerk of The Court, Damon Carter, Deputy. STANDARD FAMILY LAW RESTRAINING ORDERS: Starting immediately, you and your spouse or domestic partner are restrained from: 1. Removing the minor child or children of the parties, if any, from the state without the prior written consent of the other party or an order of the court; 2. Cashing borrowing against, canceling, transferring, disposing of, or changing the beneficiaries of any insurance or other coverage, including life, health, automobile, and disability, held for the benefit of the parties and their minor child or children; 3. Transferring, encumbering, hypothecating, concealing, or in any way disposing of any property, real or personal, whether community, quasi-community, or separate, without the written consent of the other party or an order of the court, except in the usual course of business or for the necessities of life; and 4. Creating a nonprobate transfer or modifying a nonprobate transfer in the manner that affects the disposition of property subject to the transfer, without the written consent of the other party or an order of the court. Before revocation of a nonprobate transfer can take effect or a right of survivorship to property can be eliminated, notice of the change must be filed and served on the other party. You must notify each other of any proposed extraordinary expenditures at least five business days prior to incurring these extraordinary expenditures and account to the court for all extraordinary expenditures made after these restraining orders are effective. However, you may use community property, quasi-community property, or your own separate property to pay an attorney to help you or to pay court costs. WARNING – IMPORTANT INFORMATION

OCT 12, 19, 26, NOV 02, 2023

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-23558827

In the matter of the application of GAVIN OCAMPO SENORA, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appears from said application that petitioner GAVIN OCAMPO SENORA is requesting that the name GAVIN OCAMPO SENORA be changed to GAVIN OCAMPO. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 103N, Rm. 103N on the 4th of JANUARY 2023 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

OCT 12, 19, 26, NOV 02, 2023

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-23558268

The following person(s) is/are doing business as PROSPERPLAY, 1787 OAK ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94117. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed LUCIE SCHULZ. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 09/21/2023. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/03/2023.

OCT 12, 19, 26, NOV 02, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401457

The following person(s) is/are doing business as UPFRONT, 576 SACRAMENTO ST, 3RD FL, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94111. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed UPFRONT ENERGY INC. (DE). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/04/2023. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/06/2023.

OCT 12, 19, 26, NOV 02, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401561

The following person(s) is/are doing business as MI ZE LA, 777 JACKSON ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94133. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed CHUNXI LIU. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 03/16/2015. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 09/19/2023.

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401425

The following person(s) is/are doing business as FIRST CLASS PARKING MANAGEMENT, 22 HAWTHORNE ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94105. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed NATHAN KOFF. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 04/14/2015. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 09/13/2023.

OCT 12, 19, 26, NOV 02, 2023

In the matter of the application of ELIJAH TERRELL DONALDSON JR., for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appears from said application that petitioner ELIJAH TERRELL DONALDSON JR. is requesting that the name ELIJAH TERRELL DONALDSON JR. be changed to ELIJAH TERRELL BACCAL DONALDSON JR.. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 103N, Rm. 103N on the 21st of DECEMBER 2023 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as STATE MARKET; BIG TIME MARKET & DELI, 1231 GENEVA AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94112. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed NANCY S. KHARSA. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/10/2003. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 09/07/2023.

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401588

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401460

OCT 12, 19, 26, NOV 02, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401378

OCT 12, 19, 26, NOV 02, 2023

The following person(s) is/are doing business as PADMA CONSULTING, 1150 LOMBARD ST #3, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed MARGARET W. SOUTHERLAND. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/09/2013. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/04/2023.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as METRO HONG KONG DESSERT, 928 STOCKTON ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94108. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed METRO HONG KONG DESSERT (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 09/19/2023. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 09/19/2023.

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401432

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401585

OCT 12, 19, 26, NOV 02, 2023

The following person(s) is/are doing business as RAMBO CLEANING SERVICE, 1495 CASA BUENA DR #205, CORTE MADERA, CA 94925. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed EVELYN PATINO. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 09/14/2023. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 09/14/2023.

OCT 12, 19, 26, NOV 02, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401594

OCT 12, 19, 26, NOV 02, 2023

The following person(s) is/are doing business as GIRON CONSTRUCTION, 1485 BAYSHORE BLVD #222, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94124. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed GECMS, INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/31/2012. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/04/2023.

OCT 12, 19, 26, NOV 02, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401555

OCT 12, 19, 26, NOV 02, 2023

The following person(s) is/are doing business as ZIPPY LOCKSMITH, 674 11TH AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94118. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed QUICKSMITH LOCKSMITH LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 09/29/2023. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/02/2023.

OCT 12, 19, 26, NOV 02, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401553

The following person(s) is/are doing business as ONESTOP EVENTS, 1373 CAYUGA AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94112. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed ONESTOP TRADING, LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/01/2023. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 09/29/2023.

OCT 12, 19, 26, NOV 02, 2023

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-23558287

In the matter of the application of KADIATU HAJAH KOROMA, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appears from said application that petitioner KADIATU HAJAH KOROMA is requesting that the name KADIATU HAJAH KOROMA be changed to KADIA HAJAH KOROMA. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 103N, Rm. 103N on the 9th of JANUARY 2024 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

OCT 19, 26, NOV 02, 09, 2023

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-23558292

In the matter of the application of THOMAS YIM HUNG CHAN, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appears from said application that petitioner THOMAS YIM HUNG CHAN is requesting that the name THOMAS YIM HUNG CHAN be changed to YIM HUNG CHAN. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 103N, Rm. 103N on the 11th of JANUARY

OCT 19, 26, NOV 02, 09, 2023

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-23558289

In the matter of the application of KAREN MARISOL GOMEZ MENDEZ & MAYNOR EDMUNDO FELICIANO TEMAJ, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appears from said application that petitioner KAREN MARISOL GOMEZ MENDEZ & MAYNOR EDMUNDO FELICIANO TEMAJ is requesting that the name ISABELLA ABIGAIL FELICIANO GOMEZ be changed to ILEANA ABIGAIL FELICANO GOMEZ. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 103N, Rm. 103N on the 10th of DECEMBER 2023 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

OCT 19, 26, NOV 02, 09, 2023

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-23558293

In the matter of the application of S. HEIDI ANDERSON, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appears from said application that petitioner S. HEIDI ANDERSON is requesting that the name S. HEIDI ANDERSON be changed to KAIA ANDERSON-BUCKLEY. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 103N, Rm. 103N on the 28th of NOVEMBER 2023 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

OCT 19, 26, NOV 02, 09, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401606

The following person(s) is/are doing business as RITUAL ARTS TAROT ENTERTAINMENT, 1250 BRODERICK ST #6, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94115. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed THOM FOWLER. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 09/23/2023. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/10/2023.

OCT 19, 26, NOV 02, 09, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401607 The following person(s) is/are doing business as YELLOWSTONE MARKET, 714 O’FARRELL ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed SAFWAN SHAIE. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/10/2023. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/10/2023.

OCT 19, 26, NOV 02, 09, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401593 The following person(s) is/are doing business as CHROMATIC FLOW, 3953 20TH ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94114. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed DEBORAH NUCCITELLI. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N/A. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/06/2023.

OCT 19, 26, NOV 02, 09, 2023

<< Classifieds

14 • Bay Area Repor ter • November 2-8, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401611 The following person(s) is/are doing business as FRISCO KID LIFE COACH, 4048 FULTON ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94118. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed FRANK STROM. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/11/2023. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/11/2023.

OCT 19, 26, NOV 02, 09, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401600

The following person(s) is/are doing business as GROUNDED THRU BIRTH, 2010 GOUGH ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed JOANNA TURNER. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N/A. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/10/2023.

OCT 19, 26, NOV 02, 09, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401504 The following person(s) is/are doing business as YS+A ARCHITECTURE, 164 GAMBIER ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94134. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed YOUNG WOO SON. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 12/02/2019. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 09/25/2023.

OCT 19, 26, NOV 02, 09, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401637 The following person(s) is/are doing business as SUN FLOWER STUDIO, 1541 KIRKWOOD AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94124. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed SARAH IVESON. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/08/2023. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/13/2023.

OCT 19, 26, NOV 02, 09, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401652

The following person(s) is/are doing business as UNITED PAINTERS, 1080A CAPP ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed OVED MAZARIEGOS. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/01/2018. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/17/2023.

OCT 19, 26, NOV 02, 09, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401509

The following person(s) is/are doing business as BABY FAMILY DAYCARE, 154 BRIGHT ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94132. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed SU NU ZHENG. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/06/2012. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 09/25/2023.

OCT 19, 26, NOV 02, 09, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401601

The following person(s) is/are doing business as MID CITY MARKET, 868 GEARY ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed 2 E SHQAIR INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/01/2008. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/10/2023.

OCT 19, 26, NOV 02, 09, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401644

The following person(s) is/are doing business as DAJU VAI ENTERTAINMENT, 1411A WASHINGTON BLVD, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94129. This business is conducted by co-partners, and is signed NIROJ GURUNG & AMIT MALLA. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/08/2023. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/16/2023.

OCT 19, 26, NOV 02, 09, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401647

The following person(s) is/are doing business as PRAXIS, 3047 24TH ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed NORGANICS LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/11/2013. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/16/2023.

OCT 19, 26, NOV 02, 09, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401437

The following person(s) is/are doing business as MCS; MCS-PORTSIDE; PORTSIDE, 401 MAIN ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94105. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed SILVA - MANAGEMENT AND CONSTRUCTION SERVICES, LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N/A. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 09/15/2023.

OCT 19, 26, NOV 02, 09, 2023

AMENDED NOTICE OF PETITION TO ADMINISTER ESTATE OF IVY BEATRICE CARO IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO: FILE PES-23-306729

To all heirs, beneficiaries, creditors, contingent creditors, and persons who may otherwise be interested in the will or estate, or both, of IVY BEATRICE CARO. An Amended Petition for Probate has been filed by RIGOBERTO CARO JR. in the Superior Court of California, County of San Francisco. The Petition for Probate requests that RIGOBERTO CARO JR. be appointed as personal representative to administer the estate of the decedent. The petition requests the decedent’s will and codicils, if any, be admitted to probate. The will and any codicils are available for examination in the file kept by the court. The petition requests authority to administer the estate under the Independent Administration of Estates Act. (This authority will allow the personal representative to take many actions without obtaining court approval. Before taking certain very important actions, however, the personal representative will be required to give notice to interested persons unless they have waived notice or consented to the proposed action.) The independent administration authority will be granted unless an interested person files an objection to the petition and shows good cause why the court should not grant the authority. A hearing on the petition will be held in this court as follows: NOVEMBER 20, 2023, 9:00 am, Dept: Probate, Rm. 204, Superior Court of California, 400 McAllister St., San Francisco, CA 94102.1. Remote Access to Department 204: A) Appearance or Public Access by Video and/or Audio via Zoom: Parties, counsel, and witnesses may appear by video or audio-only telephone through Zoom. For a video appearance, go to zoom. us, click ‘join a meeting” and input meeting ID 160 225 4765 and password 514879. For an audio-only telephone appearance through Zoom, call 1-669-2545252 and key in meeting ID 160 225 4765#, then participant ID 0#, then password 514879#. Toll rates may apply. Counsel, parties, and witnesses appearing by video must input their first and last name into the “’Your Name” dialogue box. B) Appearance by Audio via CourtCall: Parties, counsel, and witnesses may appear by audio-only telephone through CourtCall by calling CourtCall at 1-888-882-6878 and obtaining an appearance access code for the hearing’s scheduled date and time. A CourtCall appearance may be made by mobile phone. CourtCall appearances may require the payment of a fee, even for parties with fee waivers. C) Public Access by Audio via CourtCall: For audio-only access through CourtCall, call the mute public line for Department 204 at 1-415- 796-6280 and enter access code 12129865#. This line will allow a member of the public to listen to the proceedings; it will not support an attempt to appear before the Court. 2. Remote Access to Dept 202 (Ex Parte Proceeding): A) Appearance or Public Access by Video and/or Audio via Zoom: To appear by video, go to zoom. us, click “join a meeting” and input meeting ID 160 9249

7549 and password 002786. For an audio-only telephone appearance through Zoom, call l-669-254- 5252 and key in meeting ID I 60 9249 7549#, then participant ID 0#, then password 002786#. Toll rates may apply. B) Appearance by Audio via CourtCall: To appear by audio-only telephone through CourtCall, call CourtCall at 1-888- 882-6878 and obtain an appearance access code for the proceeding’s scheduled date and time in Room 202. Any party may make a CourtCall appearance by mobile phone. CourtCall appearances may require the payment of a fee, even for parties with fee waivers. C) Public Access by Audio via CourtCall: For audio-only access through CourtCall, call the mute publica line for Department 204 at 1-415-7966280 and enter access code 12129874#. This line will allow a member of the public to listen to the proceedings; it will not support an attempt to appear before the Court. If you object to the granting of the petition, you should appear at the hearing and state your objections or file written objections with the court before the hearing. Your appearance may be in person or by your attorney. If you are a creditor or contingent creditor of the decedent, you must file your claim with the court and mail a copy to the personal representative appointed by the court within the later of either (1) four months from the date of first issuance of letters to a general personal representative, as defined by section 58(b) of the California Probate Code, or (2) 60 days from the date of mailing or personal delivery to you of a notice under section 9052 of the California Probate Code. Other California statutes and legal authority may affect your rights as a creditor. You may want to consult with an attorney knowledgeable in California law. You may examine the file kept by the court. If you are a person interested in the estate, you may file with the court a Request for Special Notice (form DE-154) of the filing of an inventory and appraisal of estate assets or of any petition or account as provided in Probate Code section 1250. A Request for Special Notice form is available from the court clerk. Attorney for petitioner: MICHAEL WOODS, 377 WEST PORTAL #B, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94127; Ph. (415) 759-1900.

OCT 26, NOV 02, 09, 2023

CITATION TO APPEAR (FAMILY CODE § 7822) IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN MATEO, 400 COUNTY CENTER, REDWOOD CITY, CA 94063. IN THE MATTER OF THE PETITION OF: ANDREA ARMANINO, ON BEHALF OF ANAVA ANN ARMANINO, A MINOR, FOR FREEDOM FROM PARENTAL CUSTODY AND CONTROL. CASE NO. 124306-A THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA TO: MICHAEL TERRELL JOHNESE-PRESTON

By Order of this Court, you are hereby cited to appear before the Judge presiding in Department 5 of this Court on November 30, 2023, at 2:00 p.m., then and there to show cause, if any you have, why the request of Andrea Armanino to have the minor Anava Ann Armanino declared free from your custody and control. Please be advised that should you be unable to afford counsel, and should you request it, the Court will appoint counsel to represent you. The address of the Court is 400 County Center, Redwood City, California 94063. Parties may be able to appear remotely. Information on the rules regarding remote appearances can be found at https:// www.sanmateocourt.org/court_divisions/family_law/calendars.php. Attorney for Petitioner: DEBORAH H. WALD (SBN 129936); THE WALD LAW GROUP PC, 100 BUSH ST #1900, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94104; (415) 648-3097. Dated: 10/16/2023, 9:20am; Janet Rey, Clerk.

OCT 26, NOV 02, 09, 16, 2023

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-23558278

In the matter of the application of GABRIELLE LYNNE CAPILI, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appears from said application that petitioner GABRIELLE LYNNE CAPILI is requesting that the name GABRIELLE LYNNE CAPILI be changed to GABBY DRAGON CALDERA. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 103N, Rm. 103N on the 28th of DECEMBER 2023 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

OCT 26, NOV 02, 09, 16, 2023

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-23558301

In the matter of the application of SIN YU NGAI, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appears from said application that petitioner SIN YU NGAI is requesting that the name SIN YU NGAI AKA SINYU NGAI be changed to NATALIE SINYU NGAI. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 103N on the 26th of DECEMBER 2023 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

OCT 26, NOV 02, 09, 16, 2023

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-23558302

In the matter of the application of HELEN POE HEONG SIM WU, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appears from said application that petitioner HELEN POE HEONG SIM WU is requesting that the name HELEN POE HEONG SIM WU AKA POE HEONG SIM WU AKA HELEN POE HEONG SIM AKA HELEN P H SIM WU be changed to HELEN POE HEONG SIM. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 103N on the 28th of DECEMBER 2023 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

In the matter of the application of CHESTER VAN TRUONG & NGA THI PHUONG TRAN, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appears from said application that petitioner CHESTER VAN TRUONG & NGA THI PHUONG TRAN is requesting that the name NGHI AI TRUONG be changed to SALLY ANNA TRUONG. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 103N, Rm. 103N on the 23rd of JANUARY 2024 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

OCT 26, NOV 02, 09, 16, 2023

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-23558313

In the matter of the application of ANDREW WESTBROOKE GEORGE, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appears from said application that petitioner ANDREW WESTBROOKE GEORGE is requesting that the name ANDREW WESTBROOKE GEORGE be changed to ANDREW WESTBROOKE GIORDANO. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 103N on the 21st of DECEMBER 2023 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

OCT 26, NOV 02, 09, 16, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401657

The following person(s) is/are doing business as SPARTAN INTERNATIONAL CONSULTING, 132 LISBON ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94112 . This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed DINO ZOGRAFOS. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N/A. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/17/2023.

OCT 26, NOV 02, 09, 16, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401527

The following person(s) is/are doing business as BEST TRAVEL, 317 HYDE ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed MAI XUAN LE. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N/A. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 09/26.

OCT 26, NOV 02, 09, 16, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401669

The following person(s) is/are doing business as GUMMAAE, 447 SUTTER ST #405, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94108. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed JEANNIE WU. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 09/28/2023. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/18/2023.

OCT 26, NOV 02, 09, 16, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401671 The following person(s) is/are doing business as HIRAYA IMMIGRATION, 3229 B MISSION ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed RHODORA V. DERPO. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/13/2023. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/18/2023.

OCT 26, NOV 02, 09, 16, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401446

The following person(s) is/are doing business as SMOOTH GHOUL DIGITAL, 1295 41ST AVE #103, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94122. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed PATRICK WHITE. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N/A. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 09/18/2023.

OCT 26, NOV 02, 09, 16, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401676

The following person(s) is/are doing business as NEW HAIR; NEW HAIR FOR MEN; NEW HAIR FOR YOU; NEW HAIR FOR MEN AND WOMEN, 490 POST ST #1505, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed THOMAS MCKAY. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/18/2023. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/18/2023.

OCT 26, NOV 02, 09, 16, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401665

The following person(s) is/are doing business as HAWAIIAN DRIVE INN, 2600 SAN BRUNO AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94134. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed HAWAIIAN DRIVE INN INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 03/10/2010. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/18/2023.

OCT 26, NOV 02, 09, 16, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401655

The following person(s) is/are doing business as HAIR PLAY INC, 695 SAN JOSE AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed HAIR PLAY INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/17/2023. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/17/2023.

OCT 26, NOV 02, 09, 16, 2023

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE: JD22-3172

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401629

In the matter of the application of UNNAMED BABY GIRL, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appears from said application that petitioner MICHAELA ROBERTS is requesting that the name UNNAMED BABY GIRL be changed to BROOKLYN ERIN ROBERTS. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Rm. 425 on the 30th of NOVEMBER 2023 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

OCT 26, NOV 02, 09, 16, 2023

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-23558312

In the matter of the application of MAX MEREDITH VASILATOS, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appears from said application that petitioner MAX MEREDITH VASILATOS is requesting that the name MAX MEREDITH VASILATOS be changed to MAX VASILATOS RASMUSSEN. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 103N, Rm. 103N on the 21st of DECEMBER 2023 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

OCT 26, NOV 02, 09, 16, 2023

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-23558310

In the matter of the application of MOLLEN K. KAIRIA, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appears from said application that petitioner MOLLEN K. KAIRIA is requesting that the name KAIRIA be changed to NIA BETTY KAIGONGI. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 103N, Rm. 103N on the 23rd of JANUARY 2024 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

OCT 26, NOV 02, 09, 16, 2023

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-23558316

The following person(s) is/are doing business as JLARAM HOTEL, 868 VALENCIA ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by a limited partnership, and is signed BALWANTSINH D. THAKOR & LATABEN B. THAKOR. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/05/2011. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/12/2023.

OCT 26, NOV 02, 09, 16, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401694

The following person(s) is/are doing business as SF CHEF DANIEL, 610 28TH AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94121. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed MURPHY TRADES LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/23/2023. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/23/2023.

OCT 26, NOV 02, 09, 16, 2023

NOTICE OF PETITION TO ADMINISTER ESTATE OF MARTIN SEYMOUR MORDKOFF IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO: FILE PES-23-306659

To all heirs, beneficiaries, creditors, contingent creditors, and persons who may otherwise be interested in the will or estate, or both, of MARTIN SEYMOUR MORDKOFF. A Petition for Probate has been filed by JEREMY L. MORDKOFF in the Superior Court of California, County of San Francisco. The Petition for Probate requests that JEREMY L. MORDKOFF be appointed as personal representative to administer the estate of the decedent. The petition requests the decedent’s will and codicils, if any, be admitted to probate. The will and any codicils are available for examination in the file kept by the court. The petition requests authority to administer the estate under the Independent Administration of Estates Act. (This authority will allow the personal representative to take many actions without obtaining court approval. Before taking certain very important actions, however, the personal representative will be required to give notice to interested persons unless they have waived notice or consented to the proposed action.) The independent administration authority will be granted unless an interested person files an objection to the petition and shows good cause why the court should not grant the authority. A hearing on the petition will be held in this court as follows: NOVEMBER 20, 2023, 9:00 am, Dept. 204, Superior Court of California, 400 McAllister St., San

Francisco, CA 94102. If you object to the granting of the petition, you should appear at the hearing and state your objections or file written objections with the court before the hearing. Your appearance may be in person or by your attorney. If you are a creditor or contingent creditor of the decedent, you must file your claim with the court and mail a copy to the personal representative appointed by the court within the later of either (1) four months from the date of first issuance of letters to a general personal representative, as defined by section 58(b) of the California Probate Code, or (2) 60 days from the date of mailing or personal delivery to you of a notice under section 9052 of the California Probate Code. Other California statutes and legal authority may affect your rights as a creditor. You may want to consult with an attorney knowledgeable in California law. You may examine the file kept by the court. If you are a person interested in the estate, you may file with the court a Request for Special Notice (form DE-154) of the filing of an inventory and appraisal of estate assets or of any petition or account as provided in Probate Code section 1250. A Request for Special Notice form is available from the court clerk. Petitioner: ANNEMARIE MORDKOFF, 1 CATALPA CRES, PILESGROVE, NJ 08098-2729; Ph. (978) 257-1752.

NOV 02, 09, 16, 2023

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-23558326

In the matter of the application of CHLOE ELIZABETH WHITEHEAD, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appears from said application that petitioner CHLOE ELIZABETH WHITEHEAD is requesting that the name CHLOE ELIZABETH WHITEHEAD be changed to ZYRUS ELIZABETH WHITEHEAD. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 103N, Rm. 103N on the 30th of JANUARY 2024 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

NOV 02, 09, 16, 23, 2023

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-23558336

In the matter of the application of JOHN YOUNES & ALEXANDRA DE CLERCK, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appears from said application that petitioner JOHN YOUNES & ALEXANDRA DE CLERCK is requesting that the name LEO PAUL DOMINIEK YOUNES be changed to LEO PAUL ALEX YOUNES. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 103N on the 30th of JANUARY 2024 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

NOV 02, 09, 16, 23, 2023

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-23558335

In the matter of the application of CHOON SEON KIM, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appears from said application that petitioner CHOON SEON KIM is requesting that the name CHOON SEON KIM be changed to AMY KYUNG KIM. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 103N on the 30th of JANUARY 2024 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

NOV 02, 09, 16, 23, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401683

The following person(s) is/are doing business as PAPAYA ISLAND, 501 6TH ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed ALBERT H. CHENG. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N/A. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/20/2023.

NOV 02, 09, 16, 23, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401748

The following person(s) is/are doing business as LIFE’S SEASONS, 2770 PINE ST #202, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94115. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed DEBORAH L. ESTELL. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/27/2023. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/27/2023.

NOV 02, 09, 16, 23, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401751

The following person(s) is/are doing business as JOP IDEAS AND TECHNOLOGY, 466 GEARY ST #1500, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94108. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed JULIANO DE OLIVEIRA PORCIUNCULA. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N/A. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/30/2023.

09/15/2012. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/12/2023.

NOV 02, 09, 16, 23, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401621

The following person(s) is/are doing business as FITNESS SF SOMA, 1001 BRANNAN ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed BRANNAN STREET FITNESS INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 09/15/2012. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/12/2023.

NOV 02, 09, 16, 23, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401625

The following person(s) is/are doing business as FITNESS SF EMBARCADERO, 2 EMBARCADERO CENTER, LOBBY LEVEL, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94111. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed EMBARCADERO FITNESS INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/03/2016. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/12/2023.

NOV 02, 09, 16, 23, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401677

The following person(s) is/are doing business as WESTHAUS, 595 PACIFIC AVE, FL 4, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94133. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed AVENUE 8 INC. (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N/A. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/19/2023.

NOV 02, 09, 16, 23, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401730

The following person(s) is/are doing business as NEW STAR ELL, 501 DIVISADERO ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94117. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed FIVE ZERO ONE GROCERIES INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/26/2023. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/26/2023.

NOV 02, 09, 16, 23, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401700 The following person(s) is/are doing business as TIM’S SNACKS, 565-B ELLIS ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed TIM’S SNACKS (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N/A. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/14/2023.

NOV 02, 09, 16, 23, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401714

The following person(s) is/are doing business as GOLDEN GATE APA, 3572 18TH ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed SAN FRANCISCO BILLIARDS LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N/A. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/25/2023.

NOV 02, 09, 16, 23, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401728

The following person(s) is/are doing business as FINANCEPERIOD, 1446A RHODE ISLAND ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94107. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed HAWK ADVISORY LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/26/2023. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/26/2023.

NOV 02, 09, 16, 23, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401570

The following person(s) is/are doing business as TEACH YOU TO FISH FINANCIAL, 601 VAN NESS AVE SUITE E, PMD 733, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed EAAC LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 09/25/2023. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/03/2023.

NOV 02, 09, 16, 23, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401659

The following person(s) is/are doing business as OAK VALLEY CARS, 220 BAYSHORE BLVD, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94124. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed MICHELLE SHAWNTA TONEY. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 09/01/2023. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/17/2023.

NOV 02, 09, 16, 23, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0401756 The following person(s) is/are doing business as BUDGET CLEANERS, 536 DIVISADERO ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94117. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed YARK HAR LEE. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 07/29/2009. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/30/2023.

Classifieds

Hauling>>

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NOV 02, 09, 16, 23, 2023

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Courtesy Sundance Saloon/Ingu Yun

A packed dance floor at a recent Sundance Stompede

The last roundup

Sundance Stompede’s country dance weekend goes out with a bang

undance Stompede, a popular country western dance celebration, returns to San Francisco from November 9-12. It’s the Stompede’s 27th year, and sadly, this year will be the last. According to Ingu Yun, a co-founder and codirector of the Sundance Stompede, the event is now so large that it is no longer sustainable as an all-volunteer grassroots production. In addition, Yun pointed out that the organizers aren’t as young as they once were.

“We’ll still have our regular twice-weekly dance event, Sundance Saloon, to run,” Yun said in an interview with the Bay Area Reporter. “Ending the Stompede will allow us to continue to make sure we have the resources to maintain the high quality of Sundance Saloon, which itself is an all volunteer non-profit project that takes a lot of time and energy all year round.” Yun and his colleagues wanted Sundance Stompede to go out with a bang, and judging by the schedule they’ve put together, it appears that it certainly will.

Full dance card

three rooms of dancing. On Saturday Nov. 11, from 7pm-11pm, attendees can party at Hoedown 2023, a gala benefit dance at the Regency Ballroom (1300 Van Ness Ave). The final event, The Stompede Ball, promises to be the grandest of all, complete with a line dance marathon from 5pm-7pm, followed by open country-western dancing until 11pm. This happens at the Space 550. There will also be dance workshops and instruction throughout the weekend. See page 16 >>

The weekend actually begins a day early, on Thursday November 9 at Space 550, (550 Barneveld St.), with a kick-off dance that will begin with beginning and intermediate dance lessons from 6:45pm-8pm, followed by open country-western dancing until closing. This will be followed by a Welcome Dance at the Golden Gate Holiday Inn (1500 Van Ness Ave.), the weekend’s host hotel, on Friday Nov. 10 from 7pm-1am. The evening will include dance exhibition performances at 8:30pm, followed by

David-Elijah Nahmod: Please tell me about this show. Hennessy: “Tell” is an opportunity for us to think and approach racial healing. Crowell: It’s an opportunity for dancers to embody racial healing. “Tell” is a unique offering that gives an audience an entryway into a process that’s been a year long with two groups of dancers. We created a piece that isn’t really a traditional performance. It’s more of an offering. We peel away the veil from the process of what we’ve been working on for the last year, so the group of dancers started rehearsing together in separate groups and we talked to each other about racial healing, we talked about white supremacy, we talked about re-centering people of color in order to open the circle of human concern and to expand it rather than contract it. So, we had these conversations in those separate groups, and then we met after a few months of working separately, we met and created sacred space. Hennessy: the audience is coming to an event that feels like a performance, and when they come, they’re going to get this hybrid activity where a performance meets a behind-the-scenes making of, and where they’re also part of the process. We refer to the work as interactive, and just to clarify for audiences, it’s completely optional. No one has to do anything, but there are gentle invitations.

Alexa Burrel

Samara Atkins and Keith Hennessy in ‘Tell.’

Show and ‘Tell’

Dancing towards racial healing

by David-Elijah Nahmod

rom November 3-5 Dance Mission Theater will host “Tell,” a new interactive dance piece, which, according to creators and choreographers Sarah Crowell and Keith

Hennessy, will begin a dialogue geared towards racial healing. Crowell and Hennessy will be joined onstage by six other dancers, Larry Arrington, Samara Atkins, Amber Julian, Sheila Russell, Ainsley Tharp and Shaunna Vella. Collectively they comprise four white dancers and four

I’d imagine that the show is very timely, because the Black Lives Matter movement is still happening, and there’s a lot of discussion going on regarding how the police treat Black people. See page 16 >>

Black dancers who will emphasize the importance and necessity of multi-racial collaboration. Both Crowell and Hennessy have long histories of working for social justice causes through their art. Both dancers participated in a Q & A style interview with the Bay Area Reporter.

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<< Dance

16 • Bay Area Repor ter • November 2-8, 2023

Courtesy Sundance Saloon/Ingu Yun

Sundance Stompede co-founder and co-director Ingu Yun

Courtesy Sundance Saloon/Ingu Yun

Women and men at recent Sundance Stompedes (in 2013 and 2011)

Sundance Stompede

From page 15

“If the Stompede was going to end, we wanted it to go out on a high note,” said Yun. “It’s something special we’ll remember for the rest of our lives. And it looks like we’ll succeed with this, with attendance over one and a half times what we had last year.” Those who attend Sundance Stompede will be doing more than just having a good time. They’ll also be donating to a few good causes. Proceeds from the weekend will benefit the Positive Resource Center, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, and Trans Lifeline. “The Sundance Association has raised over $460,000 for other nonprofit organizations over the past 27 years, with the bulk of that coming from Stompede,” Yun said.

Dance floor magic

Yun spoke about why country western dancing is so popular in the LGBT community. “It’s a terrific way for folks to connect face-to-face in a way that doesn’t happen in a regular bar or nightclub,” he said. “That seems to be increasingly difficult to do in our society, with folks

Bill Weaver

The Windy City Cowboys performed at the 2010 Sundance Stompede.

glued to the screens on their phones. There’s something magical about holding someone in your arms and being swept across the dance floor to the music.” “It’s a healthy way to go out and have fun, physically, mentally and emotionally,” Yun continued. “And at least at Sundance Saloon there’s a culture of welcoming and inclusiveness that you just don’t find anywhere else, a place

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where everyone can feel they belong. I still find it amazing to look out onto the dance floor and see all ages, genders, races and ethnicities, and everyone mixing with each other so effortlessly. It’s a real cross-section of our community and I think that appeals to many folks too.” And though this is the final Stompede, Yun doesn’t expect the party to end on a somber note.

Show and ‘Tell’

From page 15

Hennessy: Yes, it is both timely and timeless. I think everyone in the piece is activated by a long-term commitment to a movement for Black lives. I think all of us see that movement as something that is more than two hundred years old. It goes back to abolition movements against slavery. Why is the show called “Tell?” Hennessy: The name of the show has been growing its meaning since we started. There’s a line in the performance where one of the dancers says, “welcome to ‘Tell’ where we tell you things, and you draw your own conclusions.” And I think there was this feeling that we are going to use dancing to tell, not just the story but to tell about new ways to live in a body and to live in bodies together, that our dancing was going to do the telling. That our relationships were going to do the telling.”

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And the audience will participate in the dancing? Crowell: The audience is invited, it’s an invitation, a gentle invitation in some very simple movement as a way to have the audience connected to the process, because we understand that the project of racial healing is lifelong. It involves peeling away layers of mistrust and fear and anger. Because we’re all skilled at facilitating spaces that involve the body, we’re like, “Let’s scaffold in gently and intentionally a way to connect with the audience.” It doesn’t feel confrontational, but feels like a truly tender invitation. The audience will be invited to do some gentle movement, and dance a little bit as a way to introduce ourselves to bring everybody into the space. Then there will be an opportunity for small groups of folks, facilitat-

“If anything, I think it will lean towards highly celebratory,” he said. “And a tribute to everything that led up to this moment.” Yun emphasized that their twice weekly event, the Sundance Saloon, will continue even after the Sundance Stompede takes its final bow. He’s proud of the legacy that the Stompede leaves behind. “Over the decades I think the most important accomplishment of the Sundance Stompede was creating a global community,” he said. “Each Stompede has felt like a reunion where this community comes back together and builds on itself. And while the Stompede will no longer serve that function, this amazing community it fostered will continue to live on, and that is really it’s legacy in a nutshell.” “There are other country dance weekends around the country and hopefully and hopefully they will be able to carry on with the values of welcoming and inclusivity that have been so important to the Stompede,” Yun added. “And if a new country western dance weekend emerges in San Francisco, I hope that it will also look to this aspect of the Stompede to further this legacy.”t

Sundance Stompede Schedule

ed by each dancer, to have a conversation about what they’ve seen so far.

come up with this flashy experience for an audience.” It’s really about what we just shared about inviting the audience into a process. So it’s a sweet challenge to create a new process, to allow relationships and movement to unfold rather than to be forced.t

What are the challenges in marketing a show like this? Crowell: One challenge is that I’ve never done anything like this before. This project feels very unique to me. I’ve produced, choreographed and co-directed many, many dance theater productions. This one is less show and more tell, it’s less showy, it’s telling through the body, it’s telling through experience. So it’s not about, “Let’s

Kick-off Dance Nov. 9, 6:30pm, Space 550, 550 Barneveld Street, $15. Welcome Dance Nov. 10, 7pm, Golden Gateway Holiday Inn, 1500 Van Ness Ave, $40. Hoedown 2023 Nov. 11, 7pm, Regency Ballroom, 1300 Van Ness Ave, $60. Stompede Ball Nov. 12, 5pm, Space 550, 550 Barneveld St., $15. Dance instruction Fri. 10am-5pm, Sat. 9:30am4:30pm, & Sun. 10am-4pm at Golden Gateway Holiday Inn, 1500 Van Ness Ave. $50 day pass for classes.

www.stompede.com

‘Tell,’ November 3 and 4 at 8pm, November 5 at 5pm with ASL. Free-$30, pay what you want, Dance Mission Theater, 3316 24th St. www.circozero.org/tell www.dancemissiontheater.org

Both photos: Robbie Sweeny

Above: Dancer Samara Atkins Below: Keith Hennessy and Sarah Crowell

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<< Theater

18 • Bay Area Repor ter • November 2-8, 2023

NCTC’s ‘we are continuous’

Ordinary people, extraordinarily wrought

by Jim Gladstone

mong family members, conversations that sound plain on the surface can bubble under with contentiousness and complexity. One of the most poignant moments in Harrison David Rivers’ autobiographical “we are continuous,” which opened at New Conservatory Theatre Center October 28, is a mother’s reaction when her gay adult son, says “You don’t have to worry about me.” She’s furious with him. Although Simon (Devin A. Cunningham) may – at least in part, at least consciously – intend his statement to be reassuring, his mother Ora (Alicia Stamps) senses a current of spiteful rejection: “I don’t need you anymore.” And because she fears that she may deserve that rejection, Ora is furious with herself as well. Ora and her husband Hoyt are devout Christians. Despite knowing that Simon is gay, they’ve strenuously avoided discussing either his sexuality or his relationships since he came out to them at 16. After they refuse to attend Simon’s wedding to his partner Abe (Walter Zarnowitz), their only child retaliates by cutting off all but the most rudimentary contact with them. Everyone ends up worse off. Good people behave badly in “we are continuous.” But Rivers writes with palpable empathy for each of his characters. He loves them and he makes it clear that they love each other, even when they’re painfully at odds. His swift 70-minute play is com-

Lois Tema

Devin A. Cunningham and Alicia Stamps in ‘we are continuous’

posed of overlapping, interlocking monologues through which Ora, Simon and Abe recall their lives together, revealing an ever-present past that will never be fully resolved.

A conspicuous absence

Shawn J West directs with seamless

confidence, keeping the characters moving with the flow of their words and making it clear how intently they’re listening to each other. An elegant in-the-round set by Isaac Fine and subtle, score-like sound design by Ray Archie deepen the sense of intimacy.

A tribute to Edith Piaf by Jim Gladstone

etween a summer that brought TayTay and Bey to the Bay and a winter that heralds the latest manifestation of Madonna, yet another gayfavored global superstar headlines the Herbst Theatre on Monday, November 6. You’ve surely heard her hit “Padam, Padam,” but she’s not Kylie. She’s not even alive. Edith Piaf (1915-1963), the original padamsel in success, will be paid tribute in “Piaf! The Show,” featuring fellow French songstress Nathalie Lermitte fronting a four-piece combo. In a phone interview with the Bay Area Reporter from her home in Paris, Lermitte suggested that Piaf ’s knack

for self-mythologizing and personal branding makes her a true forerunner to today’s social media-adept musical celebrities. “She was born in poverty and worked her way to the top,” said Lermitte, who remembered first hearing Piaf on her parents’ phonograph at six years old. “By repeating this story over and over, to the press and anyone who would listen,” Lermitte said, “she turned herself into a symbol of hope, of the idea that anything is possible if you want it to be. She was one of the first woman entertainers who really knew how to manipulate the press. She built an identity that was bigger than herself.” Lermitte, who has performed high-

lights of Piaf ’s oeuvre in hundreds of concerts around the world, said that it’s clear to her that Piaf ’s staying power transcends her distinctive, if unpretty, singing voice and even the lyrics of her repertoire. “How many Francophone singers ever become popular in China or in Mexico, let alone remain in people’s minds 60 years after their death? It’s the idea of Piaf, of this tiny little woman who stood tall and sang loudly, that has made her last. She made herself into an immortal rock star.”

Cunningham and Stamps exude warmth through every moment of their storytelling, And while the stories are similar to ones we’ve heard before, Rivers adorns them with enough distinctive details to keep them from feeling generic.

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Ora recalls coming across an unfamiliar garment while doing teenage Simon’s laundry – “I realized I had no idea whose underwear I’d just folded” – and remembers tenderly kissing his keloids after he’s scarred by a violent attack. Simon recounts the community’s outrage when he, a Black boy, is cast as Atticus Finch in a high school production of “To Kill a Mockingbird.” And he savors the memory of his mother’s defiant rebuke to the school board. Zarnowitz charms as Abe, a levelheaded peacemaker, able to extend compassion to both mother and son when they can’t manage to do so for each other. What Rivers can’t quite manage to do is make sense of his decision to not have Simon’s father, Hoyt, be represented on stage. The absence makes it easy for audiences to villainize him. But there are many indications in the others’ stories that, despite Hoyt’s strong religious faith and conservative machismo, he profoundly loves his wife and son. One wishes he were given a chance to say his piece and perhaps make his peace. As nuanced as Rivers’ writing can be, there’s a further layer of complexity that he seems reluctant to fully grapple with here. The three-way embrace that ends the play is uncomfortably tidy. The story of “we are continuous” demands to be continued.t ‘we are continuous,’ through Nov. 26. $25-$65. New Conservatory Theatre Center, 25 Van Ness Ave. (415) 861-8972. www.nctcsf.org

Along with the myth, there is still the music. And whether or not you understand all the words to “Non, Je ne Regrette Rien,” “La Vie en Rose,” or the 1951 “Padam, Padam” (a maddening earworm of waltz), just the sound Piaf ’s piercing, earthy burr, so skillfully summoned on stage by Lermitte, can inspire a sense of indomitable selfreliance and undying hope.t ‘Piaf! The Concert,’ Nov. 6. $60-$100. Herbst Theater. 401 Van Ness Ave. (415) 392-4400. www.cityboxoffice.com

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Nathalie Lermitte in ‘Piaf! The Concert’

Nathalie Lermitte

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November 2-8, 2023 • Bay Area Repor ter • 19

‘The Gilded Age’

Fellowes serves costume drama’s second season

by Brian Bromberger

n a continual concern and compassion for the extremely rich, especially the unhappy ones, “The Gilded Age” gifts us with a second season, now streaming on HBO. For the uninitiated, this series is Baron Julian Fellowes’s follow up to his iconic PBS “Downton Abbey,” only instead of Edwardian England, we sprint back to the 1880s in a period of rapid economic growth in the U.S. spurred on by industrialization and robber barons. In New York City, this created a conflict in the upper classes between these new money families and older established clans, epitomized in this series by power couple, railroad magnate George Russell (Morgan Spector) and his ambitious wife Bertha (Carrie Coon) versus the old money van Rhijn sisters Agnes (Christine Baranski) and spinster Ada (Cynthia Nixon) plus their penniless border niece Marian Brook (Louisa Jacobson, daughter of Meryl Streep, proving acting talent isn’t hereditary). Last season was built on the premise of whether Marian would follow the established rules of society or create her own path. Aside from Agnes, no one seemed to care.

Seasonal shift

This season the focus wisely shifts to the Russells, who were the breakout stars of season one, compared to the relatively boring Marian. Bertha is denied a box at the Academy of Music by the old money reigning queen Caroline Astor (Donna Murphy), cutting her unthrottled access to high society! Bertha decides to support the rival soon-to-be opened Metropolitan Opera House. Caught in the middle is Ward McAllister (Nathan Lane, again sounding like Colonel Sanders of KFC), as gatekeeper of old New York social decorum and allied with Mrs. Astor, but also friendly with Bertha. Meanwhile George must deal with dissatisfied railroad workers (subsistent pay, unsafe conditions) forming a

Barbara Nitke/HBO

Taissa Farmiga, Carrie Coon and Morgan Spector in ‘The Gilded Age’ season 2

union and deciding to strike. Will he bust it with scab replacements which could lead to violence? Their kindhearted son Larry (Harry Richardson) becomes a boy toy in a scandalous forbidden liaison with an older recent widow (Laura Benanti). Fair maid Marian takes a part-time job as an art teacher in a local school but is being romanced by a rich handsome but bland cousin/widower Dashiell (David Furr) with a young daughter taking Marian’s class. Aunt Agnes is appalled by Marian lowering herself to work for a living and most certainly doesn’t approve of Ada’s courtship of the church’s new friendly rector Luke (Robert Sean Leonard). Agnes’s gay son Oscar (Blake Ritson) after his affair with another man ended in season one because his partner was tired of leading a closeted existence, decides he must secure a rich bride Gladys Russell (Taissa Farmiga), which will lead to personal and financial disaster. To answer critics who claim the show is only interested in frippery, we have Peggy Scott (Denée Benton), friend to Marian and former secretary to Agnes, but now a Black newspaper writer, traveling with her editor, Thomas Fortune (Sullivan Jones) to cover the construction of a new Black school in Tuskegee, Alabama headed by Booker

T. Washington. She must contend with racist Jim Crow South, but more importantly her increasing attraction to her handsome married boss. All these events are occurring as the Brooklyn Bridge is about to be completed by engineer John Roebling’s wife Emily and its opening celebrated with fireworks.

Glamorous gilded soap

On balance, the second season is an improvement over season one, for the simple reason that “The Gilded Age” has decided to embrace unapologeti-

cally what it always was: a glamorous period costume soap opera with every scene bigger and bolder, now extended to opulent estates in Newport. All eight episodes feature a huge party or elaborate dinner with glorious designer clothes and a flawless production design. Fellowes, who either wrote each episode alone or with a woman co-author, uses every soap opera trick in the book: fatal illnesses, weddings, naked couples in bed, last minute dire appearances of a presumably lost or late character, feuds, bankruptcy, etc. To its credit these clichéd plots move fast as opposed to last year’s Heinz ketchuplike pace and at times are absorbing. And most of the wonderful cast has been imported from the Broadway stage, giving much needed employment to New York actors. However, the gay element prominent last year is almost totally absent this season with only two very brief cameos of Oscar’s former lover, John Adams (Claybourne Elder), and zilch concerning the obviously gay Ward McAllister. There is a refreshing appearance by Oscar Wilde visiting America in one episode, but no sexual hijinks here. Fellowes’s ambivalence about gay

characters so prominent in “Downton Abbey” continues unabated here, with Oscar as the unlikable schemer (ala Downton’s Barrow) practically obliterating the family fortune. Losing money and/or power, not love, is the chief sin in this series, so that “The Gilded Age” becomes the 1880s equivalent of that other contemporary HBO behemoth, “Succession.” Is it elitist? Of course it is! The series is quite content to wear its label as an escapist lavish melodrama with pride. Nor is it the least bit embarrassed of promoting its cause of how wonderful rich people really are. Fellowes has accepted the reality that this series will never be as good or popular as “Downton Abbey.” But that doesn’t mean we can’t have fun anyway and all the period grandeur, superb actresses in stunning gowns, lots of catty lines (especially Agnes: “I’m going to have to ring for my smelling salts if you do not moderate your tone.”), and inflated drama. With the world in dire straits crumbling all around us, it’s all welcome frivolity and we’re fortunate “The Gilded Age” is more than happy to provide us with it.t www.hbo.com/the-gilded-age

Both photos: Barbara Nitke/HBO

Left: Blake Ritson and Kelli O’Hara in ‘The Gilded Age’ season 2 Right: Denée Benton and Sullivan Jones in ‘The Gilded Age’ season 2

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<< TV

20 • Bay Area Repor ter • November 2-8, 2023

‘Friends’ and a family’s ‘Fall’ by Victoria A. Brownworth

ould there be a more queer show right now than Netflix’s fabulous new iteration of the Edgar Allen Poe classic, “The Fall of the House of Usher?” If there is, we haven’t seen it. As Netflix explains, “Loosely based on various works by 19th-century author Edgar Allan Poe, the series adapts otherwise-unrelated stories and characters by Poe into a single nonlinear narrative set from 1953 to 2023, and recounts both the rise to power of Roderick Usher, the powerful CEO of a corrupt pharmaceutical company and his sister Madeline (Mary McDonnell), and the events leading to the deaths of all six of his children. It stars an ensemble cast led by Carla Gugino as a mysterious woman, plaguing the Ushers, and Bruce Greenwood as an elderly Roderick.” “The Fall of the House of Usher” is the latest series from Mike Flanagan, who brought us two other very queer series with classic horror roots, the acclaimed “The Haunting of Hill House” and the incredible lesbian drama, “Bly Manor.” “The Fall of the House of Usher” starts in 2023, right after Roderick Usher, the wealthy and powerful CEO of corrupt pharmaceutical company Fortunato Pharmaceuticals, lost all six of his children from oldest to youngest. Frederick (Henry Thomas) and Tamerlane (Samantha Sloyan) are the only two Usher children not born from different mothers or outside marriage. Then there are Victorine (T’Nai Miller), Camille (Kate Siegel), Napoleon (Rahul Kohli) and Prospero (Sauriyan Sapkota), within two weeks. The evening after the final funeral for his children, Roderick invites C. Auguste Dupin (Carl Lumbly), an Assistant

Elke Schroter/Netflix

Right: The cast of ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’ Left: Paola Núñez and T’Nia Miller in ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’

United States Attorney who dedicated his career to exposing Fortunato Pharmaceuticals’ corruption, to Roderick’s childhood home, where he tells Dupin the true story of his family and progressively unveils its darkest secrets. The series follows two timelines in addition to the conversation between Roderick and Dupin, depicted onscreen when told by Roderick. The first, taking place from 1953 to 1980, recounts Roderick and his twin sister Madeline’s youth and progressive rise to power, while the second follows all of the Ushers during the two weeks leading up to the discussion, revealing the truth behind the deaths of Roderick’s children. Who’s queer? Napoleon “Leo” Usher lives with his boyfriend Julius (Daniel Jun). Perry Usher is pansexual. Victorine (played by out actress T’Nia Miller from “Bly Manor”) is a lesbian scientist dating a surgeon, Dr. Alessandra Ruiz (Paola Núñez). Camille

is bisexual and there’s quite the threesome here. Dupin has a husband and children. It’s wild, it’s so, so, so dark, it’s mesmerizingly binge-worthy. And it has Mark Hamill as Arthur Gordon Pym, the family’s ruthless attorney and fixer, which is amazing casting in and of itself. And Gugino is Emmy-worthy. Lots of good scares, too; streaming on Netflix.

For so many, Perry was a figure Gen Xers could identify with. His Chandler Bing was hot and edgy and walked that line between depression and sarcasm and did it with flair. “I’m not good at advice,” he told Rachel

RIP Chandler Bing

The guy who brought sarcasm to sit-coms has died. “Friends” star Matthew Perry, 54, died suddenly at his Los Angeles home in the late afternoon of Oct. 28, from a likely drowning in his hot tub. His body is now with the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office and an autopsy is pending, according to online records from that agency. No foul play is suspected, a law enforcement source told CNN, however, the incident remains under investigation by the Los Angeles Police Department Robbery-Homicide Division.

Matthew Perry’s memoir

(Jennifer Aniston). “Can I interest you in a sarcastic comment?” Chandler also had a complicated family like so many of us. His mother, Nora Tyler Bing, was an erotic romance novelist, and Charles Bing, his father, was a gay female impersonator (later redefined as trans and star of a Las Vegas drag show called “Viva Las Gay-gas” as Helena Handbasket. Charles was played by Kathleen Turner, Nora by Morgan Fairchild. Incredible, right? Perry played Chandler on “Friends” for the show’s entire 10 seasons from 1994 to 2004. In May 2021, he was part of an HBO Max special, “Friends: The Reunion.” In 2022, Perry wrote a sad and revelatory memoir, “Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing” about his roller coaster ride to fame at 24 and how he crash-landed into addiction. Unlike most celebrity memoirs, Perry’s was written without a ghostwriter, which makes the best seller all the more poignant. Perry was also great in the toosoon-cancelled Aaron Sorkin drama “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip” which we loved and others didn’t. And before Sorkin tapped him to star in that series, Perry was on “The West Wing,” the show that made folks fall in love with Beltway politics and believe Democrats could make it all work. Our good friend, writer Leslie Gray Streeter, wrote on Twitter/X when his death was announced Saturday night, “He should have been getting amazing character actor roles at his age. He was so talented. I wish he’d have been able to. What a terrible loss. He struggled and tried and I’m just so sad. Godspeed.” Indeed. May his memory be a blessing to all who loved him.t

Read the full column on www.ebar.com.

Halloween in the Castro Photos by Steven Underhill

alloween came early in the Castro on Saturday, October 28, as dressed-up ghouls and gals bar-hopped in the Castro district. A new event inside the Castro Theatre included a costume contest hosted by the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, and screenings of classic movies like “Hocus Pocus” and “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.” For more Steven Underhill event photos, visit www.facebook.com/lgbtsf.nightlife and www.stevenunderhill.com For upcoming nightlife and arts events, check out Going Out this week and every week on www.ebar.com.

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<< Music & Film Festival

22 • Bay Area Repor ter • November 2-8, 2023

Becca Mancari

on her new music and a new tour

by Gregg Shapiro

body that I look to and learn from. She is somebody that is touched by whatever you called musical gods; I believe that. She’s so in her strength and in her truth. She’s never afraid to share light on a project she believes in. She’s taught me to work really hard, too. It’s not like it’s an easy thing. We’ve always talked about that. She said, “Becca, I don’t know how long it will take you to achieve what you want to achieve, but I know it will happen. You just have to not quit.”

s there anything more exhilarating than experiencing the creative growth of an artist you admire? Becca Mancari is such a perfect illustration of that. Over the course of three albums, including the modern Americana of her 2017 debut album “Good Woman,” to the daring and haunting experimentation of the follow-up, 2020’s “The Greatest Part,” Mancari proved herself to be a musician who took risks. Her new album, “Left Hand” (Captured Tracks), and its title cut, which is as challenging as it is accessible, crosses multiple genres, including jazz and spoken word. Even as she continues to develop her craft, Mancari never excludes the listener. Becca was kind enough to make time for an interview in advance of her Nov. 7 concert at Cafe Du Nord in San Francisco. Gregg Shapiro: The last time we spoke in 2020, about the release of your album “The Greatest Part,” we were still in the early days of the COVID pandemic. Did you come through it all right? Becca Mancari: [Laughs] I came through it changed. I think I came through it a very different person than I was when I was in it and who I was before. Zac Farro, who produced your 2020 album “The Greatest Part” returns on the song “It’s Too Late” – what do you like best about working with Zac?

Becca Mancari

Everything! I really do. He’s the most fun person to be around. He brings an energy that I am almost addicted to. It was really hard for me not to do the record with him (as producer) and I’d love to do another record with him someday. But I think that it was a great opportunity for me to grow and learn and even learn from what we did together. “It’s Too Late” was the perfect bridge and we were really excited to do that song together, because it felt like the right song for him to play drums on. We tried to redo the drums in the studio, and I went back to the original. I

Shervin Lainez

think that once you get Zac as a drummer, it’s very difficult to replace him. What an honor and a privilege to be his friend; always a great collaboration. Brittany Howard, with whom you performed as two-thirds of Bermuda Triangle, can be heard on “Don’t Even Worry,” which she co-wrote with you. What’s it like working with Brittany? It’s like working with a genius. I don’t know if I know anybody that’s better at making music than Brittany Howard. I told her that. Not only is she my best friend, but she’s some-

The gorgeous “To Love The Earth” sounds like a love letter to the planet. We just lived through the hottest July in recorded history and I wanted to ask you to please say a few words about your concerns for the planet and what kinds of action, if any, you are taking. This is how my brain works. Getting so involved in understanding exactly what’s happening, but I also know that that’s something that’s a privilege. Over the course of my life, realizing what’s happening to the planet. You know what’s interesting? This is why I wrote the song, too. When I was a kid growing up, and this isn’t even just on my parents, this is on the community of radical, rightwing Christianity. There’s a belief that the earth is going to burn up because that’s literally what we’re taught as kids. We’re taught that God’s going to come back, and the earth is going to burn. So, go ahead and drive your SUV, the planet’s going to burn anyway, so it doesn’t really matter.

Transgender Film Festival returns

You already have a full tour schedule this fall. What are you most looking forward to about playing these new songs for a live audience? I’m really investing in this tour in a big way. I’m financially investing in it. I am buying my own playback rig. Basically, it’s like having your own sound system that you are bringing with you for your ears. It’s such a huge investment, but I think these songs really call to us – my team and my band – leveling up. We are doing that. We’re practicing for a month straight. We’re really going deep into this. I think my goal is that I want people, when they spend their hardearned money, to come to a show where it makes them feel similar to when you go to the movies. You get to set off for a bit and be part of something. You get to go to another place with the artist in another world. I want to create that atmosphere as much as I can on a budget, make the best-sounding, sonically appealing new show that we can. Then I can’t not talk. I can’t not tell stories, so that’s always part of my show. I just want to connect with people. I love what I do, and I think that’s my place in it.t

Read the full interview, with music videos, on www.ebar.com. Becca Mancari performs Nov. 7, 8pm at Café du Nord, 2174 Market St. $20. www.cafedunord.com www.beccamancari.com

26 years and going strong

‘The Hanky,’ ‘I Seek Your Help to Bury a Man,’ ‘Last Call’ and ‘House of Enigma’ at the San Francisco Transgender Film Festival

by David-Elijah Nahmod

or the past quarter of a century, the San Francisco Transgender Film Festival has brought stories about the lives of trans and gender non-conforming people to the silver screen. Even during the pandemic the festival continued, making the films available

online. Last year the festival celebrated its 25th anniversary. Now, with year 26 upon us, the festival offers five programs of 33 short films in a hybrid festival that will screen to a worldwide audience online as well as at the Roxie Theater. The festival will run at the Roxie from November 8-10, and online from

November 11-19. “I’m grateful we’re still around,” said Shawna Virago, Artistic Director of the San Francisco Transgender Film Festival in an interview with the Bay Area Reporter. “We have a great team that makes it happen. It’s a labor of love.” The first question we had was why a transgender film festival? Each year San Francisco hosts Frameline, a massive LGBT film festival that could easily give many of these films a home. “We were started by trans people,” explained Virago. “Christopher Lee and Alex Austin founded the festival in 1997. Unlike larger LGBTQ festivals, we are committed to the filmic expression of only trans and gender nonconforming artists for trans and gender non-conforming communities.” Virago added that mainstream cinema is void of content from trans directors. Mainstream cinema, she pointed out, is generally not interested in the struggles of many communities, in particular trans communities. “As we have seen recently, there are hundreds of anti-trans bills being introduced in state legislatures throughout the country,” Virago said. “We have anti-trans extremist Republicans vying to be president. In the UK, the director of a human rights organization, Liz Truss, has actively worked to undermine transgender human rights. These attacks are front and center for us.”

Virago has grown quite fond of the Roxie, which has been home to the festival for many years. “The Roxie feels like home,” she said. “I respect the curatorial choices of their own programming and also the ways they support many smaller film festivals.” This year’s festival will include appearances by two local celebrities. Program 3 will screen “Belonging: An Indian Trans Immigrant Story” by Amir Jaffer. The film will share the story of Anjali Rimi, a trans immigrant woman and her role in leading Parivar, the USA’s first and only transgender led South Asian organization. Beloved icon Sister Roma of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence will also make an appearance in one of the films. Program 1 will include a showing of “Gender Euphoria: Trans People in the Bay Area” which will showcase the diversity of the Bay Area trans community. Sister Roma is one of the locals who was interviewed for this film. Other festival highlights include “Do Digital Curanderas Use Eggs in Their Limpias?” directed by Roberto Fatal, which deals with the displacement of BiPOC communities in the Bay Area. “It actually goes deeper than that, dealing with the struggles and generational trauma of Indigenous and

Latinx communities since the beginning of white settler colonialism,” said Virago. “It centers on a struggling Latinx healer who considers abandoning the physical world for promises of a digital utopia.” Non-binary folks are also represented. “Shipping Them,” directed by Ryan Rox, is a comedy about a non-binary daydreamer and her fantasies of being the girl next door,” Virago said. Virago pointed to how accessible the film programs are. Ticket prices start at a few dollars each, and no one will be turned away due to lack of funds. All in-person programs will be ASL interpreted and all films are close captioned for deaf and hard of hearing audiences. And, Virago added, The Roxie is fully wheelchair accessible. She also asks that people be aware of the fact that KN95 masks are required for those attending at the theater. Masks will be required for those who need them. And please note that Program 5 is for adults only. “Our audiences are primarily trans, gender non-conforming and queer, but all genders are welcome,” said Virago.t San Francisco Transgender Film Festival, Nov. 8-10 at the Roxie Theater, 3117 16th Street; online Nov. 11-19. Free-$50 at the Roxie and online. https://sftff.org/

Books>>

November 2-8, 2023 • Bay Area Repor ter • 23

JD Doyle’s ‘1981: My Gay American Road Trip’ by Michael Flanagan

Dog Show and Parade (Harry Britt, Cleve Jones and Sylvester were the judges), the nude beach at Land’s End, Buena Vista Park, and a reading by Armistead Maupin at the Walt Whitman Bookshop. Along with the Castro and Polk neighborhoods, he visits bars in the Haight (Deluxe), South of Market (Arena was one his favorite bars in San Francisco) and the Financial District (Sutter’s Mill). He travels north to the Russian River and stays with Leonard Matlovich.

Doyle was the producer of the show Queer Music Heritage on KPFT (Pacifica radio in Houston) from 2000 to 2015 and maintains the website of the same name as well as the Houston LGBT History and Texas Obituary Project websites. He has just self-published the book “1981: My Gay American Road Trip,” a journal of his cross-country trip to 29 cities in 24 states from April to August 1981. He began his journey out of the closet in 1976 and was fully out by the time he arrived in Virginia, having had gay sex for the first time in Toronto in 1977. Upon arriving in Virginia, he called the Gay Hot Line and shortly was working at the local newspaper, Our Own Community Press, where he became editor in 1979. Right from the start the book impresses, not only because of Doyle’s resourcefulness in using the Gay Hot Lines, but also in reminding those of us who came out before AIDS of the power that acts like picking up an issue of In Touch magazine and browsing it in a bookstore had (that’s how Doyle made contact in Toronto). The genesis of Doyle’s journey was his being laid off from his job at Virginia Chemicals. His father suggested that he use the opportunity to take a cross-country trip and keep a journal. On his trip, Doyle visited places big and small (from cities like Los Angeles, Houston and Denver to places like Cheyenne, Wyoming and Elko, Nevada) and recorded his impressions. The reason for publishing the journal now is clear. It serves as a window into pre-AIDS gay culture. The book mostly focuses on gay male culture so calling it “LGBTQ” would be an anachronism.

Remember me

In San Diego, Doyle meets Brad Truax at the Park Place, a newer bar at the time and one Doyle liked. Doyle guesses correctly that Truax is a medical professional, though the doctor

Out west Author JD Doyle

keeps jokingly telling him that he’s a hustler. Examples of pre-AIDS culture and what happened to it after the epidemic hit even reach down to the music in the clubs. While in Houston, Doyle first hears “Remember Me/Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” by Boys Town Gang at the Babylon disco and is quite taken with the song. He mentions hearing it in Babylon again while attending a Grace Jones concert. The song was on Moby Dick records, associated with the Castro bar of the same name (which Doyle would visit in San Francisco). Moby Dick records shut down in 1984 after several employees at the label died of AIDS. It’s worth remembering that Doyle’s visit to San Francisco was just four months before Bobbi Campbell posted the flyer about “Gay Cancer” on the window of Star Pharmacy. But to Doyle that is an unknown future, and his 1981 journey is filled with lively adventures across America. This book functions as local history for all the various places he visited.

SF bar scene

San Francisco readers will delight in his time spent in the area from June 4 to June 29, scheduled to coincide with the Pride parade. This section takes up 41 pages in the book and mostly covers the city, Russian River

and Sausalito. One of the joys of the book is that Doyle sheds light on aspects of preAIDS San Francisco. In the 1970s and early ’80s San Francisco had more than 100 gay bars. The sheer density of the community is portrayed in this Polk Street section:

The book has stories about unlikely places as well. In Cheyenne, Wyoming he calls the gay hotline and is told the Hitching Post is a mixed bar. Doyle found it “painfully straight,” but even this failure leaves a trail for future Wyoming LGBTQ historians in the knowledge that there was a gay hotline and a pitiful mixed bar. Doyle’s journal reveals a world lost not only to AIDS but irrevocably altered by technological change. One

of the stops on his journey is the Gay Press Association meeting in Dallas in early May. Many of the publications represented at that meeting have now either shuttered or evolved into online-only publications. Likewise the record and bookstores he visited are mostly gone, too. The journey brings about big changes in Doyle’s life. A romance forms over the course of the book and the trip inspires Doyle to move from Norfolk to Houston. This trip feels both historic and yet still relevant. Any book that evokes thoughts of our current lives in the reflection of a fortyplus-year journey is doing yeoman’s work and is a thoughtful and wonderful read.t

Read the full review on www.ebar.com. JD Doyle’s ‘1981: My Gay American Road Trip’ QMH Press, 334 pages, $39.95 hardcover, $35.95 paperback www.linktr.ee/jddoyle

“Saturday- June 13, 1981 Saturday night on Polk Street started off with a delicious dinner at La Trattoria and then bar-hopping, mostly on the west side of the street. There are five more bars on the east side of the street all within nine blocks of each other. You can spend the whole night without crossing the street. But before you get too excited, I would say that they sure did not seem like anything special. Even on a Saturday night. The one I liked best was the Cinch Saloon, a Western neighborhood-type bar. While there I saw a guy play Pac Man and score 197,000 points in 20 rounds! I had never seen anyone get past nine rounds before—this guy was incredible.” The other bars he mentions on this Polk Street trip are Kimo’s, the New Bell Saloon, the Giraffe, Polk Gulch Saloon, and the Stallion. While in San Francisco Doyle goes to the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence

Both photos: JD Doyle

Above: Sylvester judging the Dog Show in the Castro, 1981 Below: Castro Street in 1981, including The Castro Station

JD Doyle

Hibernia Bank on Castro at 18th in 1981

“No people come into possession of a culture without having paid a heavy price for it.” —James Baldwin

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