November 3, 2022 edition of the Bay Area Reporter

U.S. soccer star Megan Rapinoe will be inducted into the California Hall of Fame next month.

Soccer star Rapinoe named to CA Hall of Fame

by Cynthia Laird

USA women’s soccer champion Megan Rapinoe has been named as one of the members of the 15th class of the California Hall of Fame, Governor Gavin Newsom and first partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom announced November 1. The global sports superstar grew up in the Northern Califor nia town of Redding near Mount Shasta.

Rapinoe, 37, a lesbian, has been an outspoken advocate for LGBTQ rights, women’s rights, and racial justice. She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Free dom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, by President Joe Biden in July.

Ahead of the midterm elections on No vember 8, Rapinoe has urged Americans to exercise their right to vote, especially wom en, as part of the Voting Suits You initiative asking female voters to wear pink suits to the ballot box on Tuesday. In an October 20 post on her Instagram account, Rapinoe posted a picture of her adorned in a pink shirt, jacket and pants combo.

“When we organize, when we march, and most importantly when we VOTE we are unstoppable. From equal pay to abortion access, our freedoms are under attack,” she wrote. “That’s why, this November, we’re showing up – with determination, with joy, and in pink – to cast our votes and demand a government that represents us.”

Rapinoe led the U.S. Women’s National Team to win the Women’s World cup in 2015 and 2019, and scored some of the big gest goals in the 2019 tournament as team co-captain. On the Olympic stage, Rapinoe led the team to a gold medal at the 2012 London Games, according to her bio in the hall of fame materials.

Newsom and Siebel Newsom praised all of the members of the incoming class, who also include singer Linda Ronstadt, actor Lynda Carter, and Olympic champion ice skater Peggy Fleming.

SF supervisor candidates differ on housing ballot measures

by Matthew S. Bajko

Housinghas been a political hot button issue in San Francisco for decades, and this year is no exception. It has been a top concern among the candidates running this fall for even-numbered supervi sor district seats, as city leaders work to meet a state mandate that they build 82,000 units of housing by 2030.

How to do so is the focus of dueling local measures on the November 8 ballot. Proposition D, known as the Affordable Housing - Initiative Petition, aims to streamline the approval process for housing developments while requiring pre vailing wages and health care for workers.

Among its backers are Mayor London Breed and gay state Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco). In fact, Wiener is featured in com mercials touting Prop D and urging voters to reject Proposition E, titled Affordable Housing - Board of Supervisors.

Supervisors Connie Chan and Aaron Peskin worked with a majority of their board col leagues to place Prop E on the ballot. They ar gue it will assist in building affordable housing while also ensuring there is local control over the design and impact of the projects.

Opponents, however, criticize Prop E as

containing provisions that will do nothing to speed up approval for housing projects and complain it will still subject 100% affordable housing projects to stringent environmental review. Both measures need simple majority votes to pass, and if both receive 50% or more of the vote next Tuesday, then the one with the most total votes will prevail.

The Bay Area Reporter asked in its ques tionnaire for this year’s crop of supervisorial candidates where they stood on the two ballot measures. Their answers ran the gamut from either supporting or opposing them to being neutral on one of the two.

Interracial gay couple discusses love, hate

by David-Elijah Nahmod

ForAmos and Mickey Lim, a married gay couple who live with their 14-year-old daughter in San Francisco, the road to love was filled with challenges.

Amos Lim, 52, is an emigre from Singapore, a country where it’s not easy to be gay. Mickey Lim, 58, is a white man. Their love for each other and for their daughter runs deep, but they admit that at times they must deal with the prejudices of the outside world.

The couple met online in 1995.

“I think I reached out because I was living in Singapore and was struggling with being gay,” Amos Lim recalled in a recent interview. “I saw a post that said the reason there’s no love in gay relationships is because we don’t have role models, and Mickey replied saying that’s not true, that there was a couple that just released their book called ‘Straight From the Heart,’ so I emailed him and asked him if he minded getting me the book because it’ll probably be banned in my country.”

“Straight From the Heart: A Love Story” (1995) was written by Rod and Bob JacksonParis and was one of the first books by a gay couple in the national spotlight. Bob JacksonParis was a bodybuilder and Rod Jackson-Paris was a former Playgirl Man of the Year.

That online reply from Mickey Lim was the beginning of their relationship. At first Amos Lim struggled to get a visa to come to the Unit

ed States, but he finally got an education visa in 1999 and came to the U.S. to attend school.

“And the rest is history,” he said.

Before that, it was in 1997 when they met in person for the first time, when Mickey Lim visited Singapore. Thirty minutes after meet ing they knew they were meant for each other. Both had boyfriends at the time and they each ended their respective relationships.

Amos Lim spoke of the difference between living as a gay man in Singapore and living a gay life in the Bay Area.

“It’s night and day,” he said. “It’s not that I never came out to people in Singapore, I have a very close group of friends that I’m out with, I’m out with my family, and my extended fam ily all know, I’m sure a lot of people know, but we don’t talk about it.”

According to Amos Lim, gay life in Singa pore was non-existent, unless one went to bars or sex clubs regularly. Going to dance clubs, he recalled, was risky because the police might raid the club and arrest people.

Courtesy the candidates

San Francisco Supervisor Matt Dorsey, left, and his challenger, Honey Mahogany, both support the Proposition D housing measure; board President Shamann Walton supports the competing Proposition E; and Supervisor Gordon Mar supports both.

Amos Lim, left, and his husband, Mickey Lim, are happily married but still face anti-Asian prejudice on occasion.

Courtesy California Museum

Christopher Robledo

Rainbow center ED departs

I

Concord LGBTQ center executive director to depart

by Matthew S. Bajko

Several months shy of his threeyear mark in the position, Kiku Johnson is departing as executive director of the Rainbow Commu nity Center in Concord. His last day leading the Contra Costa County LGBTQ service provider will be Fri day, November 18.

In an emailed announcement October 28, Johnson disclosed he was stepping down after accepting an offer to lead Outside In based in Portland, Oregon. The feder ally qualified health center provides services to the city’s LGBTQIA+ community, people of color, immi grants, and the underserved.

“I feel I was poised to be able to serve with Rainbow in a very specific time of change and recovery,” wrote Johnson. “I have been committed and passionate about lifting our staff, culture, and our work throughout my tenure here, and I have com plete belief Rainbow will continue to thrive and serve our communities as

the next leadership representation is sought and landed.”

Johnson has brought steady lead ership to the LGBTQ center and helmed it through the upheavals of the COVID pandemic. Last month, he presided over the grand opening party celebrating Rainbow’s move to its new location at 2380 Salvio Street, Suite 301.

“After three long, isolating and difficult years for all – especially the LGBTQIA+ community and their allies – the ability to come in person and join together in community can be truly lifesaving. We look forward to seeing more and more folks in person – especially for events, our social and support groups for youth, adults and seniors, and our STI/ HIV testing and support services,”

Johnson had told the B.A.R. ahead of the new location’s opening.

Johnson, a transgender man of color, became the Rainbow center’s executive director on February 10, 2020. As the Bay Area Reporter noted in January of that year, the nonprofit

had been without an executive direc tor since November 2019, when Jack Rednour-Bruckman left to take a new job in Southern California. Rednour-Bruckman, who identi fies as nonbinary and a butch queer, had been hired as the center’s con sulting interim director in April 2019 following the resignation of former executive director Kevin McAllister

less than a year in the job. His leav ing was sparked by an outcry over the sudden firing several months prior of most of the center’s counseling staff.

Impressed by Rednour-Bruck man’s handling of the job, the center’s board hired them as the executive director officially as of May 1, 2019.

By that point the center had churned through three leaders following the

retirement in December 2017 of BenDavid Barr, Ph.D., citing health rea sons. He had been the center’s execu tive director for a decade.

Johnson, in his resignation email announcement, wrote, “I have great faith as to the purpose of Rain bow’s mission, vision, and values being carried forth with centering our most marginalized identities while serving the entirety of the LGBTQIA+ community, past and present. Rainbow has redefined and strengthened its identity, presence, service delivery, and partnership these last nearly three years.”

He added that he is working on a transition plan with the center’s board president, Robyn Kuslits, and the agency’s six-member leadership team.

“We are landing interim and per manent leadership steps that Rain bow will adopt moving forward and share out soon,” wrote Johnson.

For more information about the Rainbow center and the services it provides, visit its website at https:// www.rainbowcc.org/t

Historic Milk plaza lampposts eyed for relocation

by Matthew S. Bajko

Two lighting fixtures in Harvey Milk Plaza that are part of San Francisco’s historic Path of Gold light standards along Market Street are being eyed for relocation. They both would be reassembled closer to the roadway in order to facilitate a proposed remodel of the public par klet above the Castro Muni station.

The San Francisco Historic Pres ervation Commission had scheduled a hearing on the lampposts at its Oc tober 19 meeting. But at the request of planning department staff, the

item was postponed to the oversight body’s November 16 meeting.

John Goldsmith, a gay man who opposes the renovation plans for Milk plaza, had requested that the lamppost item not be taken up last month as planned. In an email to the commission, he wrote, “The Path of Gold terminates here, on the 2400 block of Market at Castro (at Collin gwood). The two lampposts are lo cated in excellent vista spots currently and should not be moved.”

As explained in the staff report, the two street lamps need to be moved “as part of the larger rede

sign of the plaza, which includes accessibility upgrades to the Castro Muni Station, integrated memorial elements for Harvey Milk, and vari ous landscape improvements.” The group Friends of Harvey Milk Plaza has been working on a renovation plan for the plaza since 2017.

The current redesign propos al calls for a new spiral podium fea ture to be built at the entrance of the plaza at the intersection of Castro and Market streets. A smaller stair way leading to the underground sub way station would be constructed.

A rose-colored, transparent over

hang above the escalator that goes to the Muni station would be used to protect it from rainwater. The color scheme is derived from that of the red-and-white bullhorn the plaza’s namesake famously used to rally residents of the neighborhood and the city’s larger LGBTQ commu nity during protests held at the site and during marches that embarked from there.

The late Supervisor Harvey Milk was the first gay person elected to public office in San Francisco and California. He was gunned down 11 months into his first term inside City Hall the morning of Novem ber 27, 1978 along with then-mayor George Moscone by disgruntled former supervisor Dan White.

City officials named the plaza in honor of Milk, a vocal public tran sit advocate during his lifetime, in 1985. Quotes of Milk’s would be embedded throughout the plaza.

A memorial grove with 11 differ ent kinds of trees symbolizing Milk’s 11 months in office would stand at the plaza’s entrance from Colling wood Street. In the same area would be a “hope grove,” symbolizing the candlelight vigil that took mourners from the Castro to City Hall after Milk and Moscone were slain.

Final approval for the proposal is still required by a number of city oversight bodies. Funding to pay for the work also still needs to be se cured, with previous estimates call ing for upwards of $10 million to be raised to cover the costs.

Both of the lampposts currently stand in the way of the renovation plans. One is located in the walkway near the corner of Castro and Mar ket streets and has the Castro street sign affixed to it, while the other is

in the planter bed near the Colling wood end of the plaza.

The distinctive structures sport three lighted glass globes in a trident formation at the end of a slender pole painted blue with minor gold accents. Architect Willis Polk de signed their look, with the first ones initially installed in 1916.

The ones at Harvey Milk Plaza are replicas that were installed in the mid-1980s, according to the staff report. All of the existing 327 light standards on Market Street from the Embarcadero to just beyond Cas tro Street are designated as historic resources due to being made city landmarks in 1991.

Approval for relocating the two Milk plaza lampposts closer to Mar ket Street will come with a stipula tion that only hand tools be used. It will also be required that their indi vidual components be wrapped in protective materials for temporary storage in a secure facility sheltered from weather.

The planning department has rec ommended their relocation be ap proved after determining in the report “that the historic character of the two Path of Gold light standards located in Harvey Milk Plaza will be retained and preserved and will not result in the removal of historic fabric.”

As part of the San Francisco Mu nicipal Transportation Agency’s Castro Accessibility Project a new four-stop elevator, estimated to cost between $15 and $30 million, will be built into a portion of the plaza’s sunken garden area closest to the entrance into the Muni station. SFMTA’s website for the project states it is currently out to bid with construction slated to start “in late 2022” and be completed in 2025.t

This is one of the Path of Gold lighting fixtures being eyed for relocation as part of the renovation of Harvey Milk Plaza.

Courtesy TreanorHL

Kiku Johnson will soon depart as executive director of the Rainbow Community Center in Concord.

Courtesy RCC

HOW THE COMMUNITY WILDFIRE SAFETY PROGRAM IS HELPING TO PREVENT WILDFIRES IN 2022

LESS THAN

PG&E’s Community Wildfire Safety Program (CWSP) will continue to use Enhanced Powerline Safety Settings following the success of its pilot program. Enhanced safety settings allow PG&E to be more surgical in its approach to preventing wildfires. These settings will automatically turn off power within one-tenth of a second if an object comes in contact with a powerline. This approach is just one part of a multifaceted wildfire strategy which includes:

■ Undergrounding 175 miles of powerlines in high fire-threat areas as part of our multi-year goal of 10,000 miles.

■ Strengthening the electric grid with stronger poles and covered lines to reduce wildfire risks.

■ Installing microgrids that use generators to keep the electricity on during wildfire safety outages.

While these safety settings prevent wildfires, they also may result in additional outages for customers.

Public Safety Power Shutoffs

During extreme weather or wildfire conditions, PG&E may proactively turn off power to prevent wildfires.

vs.

SECOND

These enhanced safety settings will automatically turn off power within onetenth of a second if an object such as a tree comes in contact with a powerline.

Enhanced Powerline Safety Settings

Advanced settings on powerlines to quickly and automatically turn off power if a threat is detected.

Learn how to prepare for EPSS and find additional resources to reduce the impact of these safety outages at pge.com/epss.

“PG&E” refers to Pacific Gas and Electric Company, a subsidiary of PG&E Corporation. ©2022 Pacific Gas and Electric Company. All rights reserved. Paid for by PG&E shareholders.

SF pioneers rollout of new STI prevention tool

by Liz Highleyman

San Francisco is the first city to is sue guidelines on the use of dox ycycline post-exposure prophylaxis, or doxy-PEP, to prevent sexually transmitted infections, the Depart ment of Public Health announced October 20. The interim guidance comes after study results showed that the inexpensive antibiotic low ers the risk of chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis by more than 60%.

“We know that our community is very interested in taking advantage of this innovation in sexual health,” San Francisco City Clinic medical director Dr. Stephanie Cohen told the Bay Area Reporter. “We’re really hopeful that doxy-PEP can help us turn the tide on the STI epidemic that we’ve been struggling with in San Francisco and across the coun try for so long. We believe this is a really important, innovative public health strategy for STI prevention.”

According to the new guidance, doxy-PEP is an option for cisgender gay and bisexual men and transgen der women who have been diag nosed with a bacterial STI and who have had condomless anal or oral sex with at least one cis male or trans partner during the past year, as well as anyone with a history of syphilis.

This approach is supported by findings from the DoxyPEP trial, which were presented at the Inter national AIDS Conference in Mon treal this summer and at the Sep tember 22 meeting of the SF Getting to Zero Consortium.

As the B.A.R. previously report

ed, Dr. Annie Luetkemeyer of UCSF and colleagues recruited at public health clinics in San Francisco and Seattle more than 500 men and transgender women who have sex with men. About a third were living with HIV and the rest were taking PrEP. They were randomly assigned to receive a single dose of oral doxy cycline within 72 hours after con domless sex or the standard of care, which is regular testing and treat ment after an STI diagnosis. They were tested for gonorrhea, chlamyd ia, and syphilis every three months.

The study was halted a year ahead of schedule after an interim analysis showed that doxy-PEP significantly reduced STI incidence. Among HIVpositive people, doxycycline reduced the likelihood of being diagnosed with any of these STIs by 62% per quarter compared with the standard of care (incidence of 12% versus 31%). The incidence of gonorrhea fell by 57%, chlamydia by 74%, and

syphilis by 77%. HIV-negative par ticipants on PrEP saw an even larger 66% risk reduction compared with the standard of care group (inci dence of 11% versus 32%). Gonor rhea dropped by 55%, chlamydia by 88%, and syphilis by 87%.

Doxycycline is generally safe, and it has few interactions with HIV medications, according to Cohen. However, it can cause side effects in cluding gastrointestinal symptoms and sensitivity to sunlight, increas ing the risk of sunburn.

“Doxy-PEP is the first biomedi cal prevention drug that has been shown to be effective and well-tol erated to reduce these infections,” the DPH said in a statement. “In particular, doxy-PEP holds promise to decrease rates of syphilis in San Francisco, which are among the highest in the country.”

Doxy-PEP implementation

The new guidance continues San Francisco’s history of being at the forefront of innovations in HIV prevention and care. The city was the first in the U.S. to recommend antiretroviral treatment for every one diagnosed with HIV – which both halts disease progression and prevents transmission of the virus –and gay and bi men in San Francisco were early adopters of PrEP.

A “handful” of local provid ers have already been prescribing doxy-PEP because they are aware of the data and their patients have re quested it, Cohen said. Many of the approximately 250 San Francisco trial participants opted to continue

doxy-PEP after they completed study follow-up.

Cohen estimated that around 5,000 city residents could be eligible for doxy-PEP based on having had an STI during the past year. In addi tion, some gay and bi men and trans women have multiple sex partners but have not recently been diag nosed with an STI. Providers can offer them doxy-PEP after explain ing what is known and isn’t known. Using broader eligibility criteria of all gay and bi men and trans women who are living with HIV or on PrEP, the number rises to around 35,000.

Doxy-PEP has not yet been stud ied for cisgender women and trans men, but a trial of cis women in Ke nya is now underway. “I think this will provide the evidence base we need to make an informed decision about whether we can and should offer doxy-PEP to cis women. For now, we think there is insufficient evidence to make a recommenda tion,” Cohen said. If a provider does offer doxy-PEP to at-risk cis women or trans men, they should test for pregnancy because doxycycline should not be used by pregnant people, she cautioned.

Preventive use of doxycycline is not without concerns. One is that overuse of antibiotics can lead to drug resistance. Another is whether frequent antibiotic use would dis rupt the microbiome, the ecosystem of healthy bacteria that normally live in the gut and elsewhere in the body.

Leutkemeyer noted that people in the standard-of-care group in the DoxyPEP study had STIs so often

that they spent a substantial portion of time on doxycycline for treatment anyway. But using doxycycline as PEP instead prevents symptomatic illness and decreases the amount of time people can transmit the STIs.

“This isn’t meant for everyone,” she said at an AIDS conference me dia briefing. “But there are popula tions that are really suffering from the STI epidemic, and it’s time to take action on the data and really think about incorporating it into guidelines and rolling this out in a safe and thoughtful way.”

To that end, the DPH worked with stakeholders including medical ex perts, local providers and advocates to develop the pioneering guidance. The federal Centers for Disease Con trol and Prevention and the Califor nia Department of Public Health do not yet have doxy-PEP guidelines, but both are considering it.

“We are really excited that we have the opportunity to offer this potentially highly impactful bio medical STI prevention tool to our community,” Cohen told the B.A.R. “We’ve seen the impact biomedical HIV prevention tools can have with PrEP and treatment-as-prevention, but for so long we have not had such a tool for STIs.

“We know that we have a com munity that’s very engaged in advo cacy around sexual health and that has historically been enthusiastic about trying new interventions,” she continued. “We’re excited to work with the community to roll this out and see what impact it can have in San Francisco.”t

SF Dems pass resolution on behalf of queer detainee

by Cynthia Laird

The San Francisco Democratic Party on October 26 approved a resolution urging Governor Gavin Newsom to pardon Salesh Prasad, a queer man who is in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody and faces deportation.

As the Bay Area Reporter recently reported, Prasad, 51, is at risk of be ing deported to Fiji, a country he left

over 44 years ago. He came to the U.S. as a lawful permanent resident when he was a child. But, at 22, he “made a horrible mistake in the heat of an argument and unfortunately took another person’s life,” as Prasad wrote in a Guest Opinion in the Bay Area Reporter in July.

Last month, several faith-based and human rights organizations is sued a call to action, urging people to contact Newsom’s office to request

that he issue a pardon for Prasad.

Prasad was found eligible for re lease from prison due to his reha bilitation and remorse, according to the call to action. However, in Au gust 2021, after being found eligible for parole, instead of being released to the community, he was directly transferred from prison to ICE cus tody at Golden State Annex. Shortly after he was detained by ICE, his mother died from COVID, and ICE denied him the opportunity to be released, even temporarily, to say goodbye or to attend her funeral. He has been detained by ICE for over nine months now.

CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO

Community Outreach Public Notice

The San Francisco Democratic Party adopted a resolution spon sored by queer BART vice president Janice Li, a member of its governing body, and Public Defender Mano Raju, whose office represents Prasad.

“Be it resolved that the San Fran cisco County Central Committee urges Governor Newsom to grant Mr. Prasad a full pardon in order for him to remain lawfully in the United States with his family and his community, and that copies of this resolution shall be sent to Governor Newsom,” the resolution states.

miles away from the only home he has ever known since he was 6.”

Ammiano pointed out that Prasad earned his release from pris on through a rigorous process. “Like any other Californian, he should have been able to reunite with his loved ones, rebuild his life, and be come a contributing member of our community,” he wrote. “But instead, he was subject to a cruel double punishment, and transferred to ICE detention.”

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

“My story starts with my family, which is Indo-Fijian,” Prasad wrote. “My parents left Fiji because they wanted a better life for their chil dren. I arrived in Modesto, Califor nia as a lawful permanent resident at just 6 years old.

“As a child in the United States, I survived both sexual abuse and do mestic violence,” he explained in the op-ed. “I felt like I was crying out for help but no one was listening. I felt numb, like my world was drained of any vibrancy and color. In my desperation to feel safe, I self-med icated with drugs and alcohol and joined a gang that I hoped would protect me from more abuse.”

He also explained how he came out as a queer man while in ICE de tention, and the work he’s done to help other detainees.

or call 1-888942-9675

To enroll in SFDPH WIC Program visit, www.sfdph.org/wic to start your application or call 628-217-6890 to make an appointment.

Newly pregnant individuals, working families, including military and migrant families are encouraged to apply! WIC welcomes dads, grandparents, foster parents, or guardians who care for eligible children.

This institution is an equal opportunity employer.

Current or Upcoming Board or Commission Vacancies:

The Assessment Appeals Board (AAB)

The AAB resolves legal and value assessment issues between the Assessor’s office and property owners. Board vacancies are as follows: Board 1 – two; Board 2 - four; and Board 3 – five.

Hearings are quasi-judicial, conducted in a manner similar to a court setting, with evidence and testimony presented by the parties. The Board then evaluates the evidence and testimony and renders its decision.

To be eligible for seat appointment, you must have a minimum of five years professional experience in California as either a: (1) public accountant; (2) real estate broker; (3) attorney; or (4) property appraiser accredited by a nationally recognized organization, or certified by either the Office of Real Estate Appraiser or the State Board of Equalization.

For a full list of current or upcoming Boards, Commission s and Task Forces, please visit https://sfbos.org/vacancy-boards-commissions-task-forces

The governor’s office did not re spond to a request for comment.

Gay former state Assemblymem ber and San Francisco supervisor Tom Ammiano was pleased that the local party passed the resolution.

“As a member of the queer com munity, the story of Salesh Prasad resonates with me deeply,” Ammia no wrote in a letter to the B.A.R. He noted that in addition to the local Democratic Party, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and the Stan islaus County Democratic Party also approved resolutions urging Newsom to issue the pardon.

“It breaks my heart to think that Sal could spend another holiday season away from his chosen and biological family,” Ammiano stated. “And it terrifies me to think that Sal could be banished thousands of

The groups that have organized the call to action are the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin, based in Fresno; the Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity, a statewide non profit based in Oakland; and the New York-based Queer Detainee Empowerment Project.

The Reverend Deborah Lee, ex ecutive director of the Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity, issued a statement in July, after the San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed its resolution urging New som to pardon Prasad.

“Sal is a freedom fighter and an artist, who generously shares his gifts with others around him. His spiritual path of redemption is a model for all of us,” Lee stated. “Sal has the support and love of his com munity, including the faith com munity here in San Francisco, and should be released.”

“I have stood up for my fellow de tainees by speaking out about work conditions and safety with Cal-OS HA, the state’s occupational health and safety agency,” Prasad wrote. “I have fought to protect the rights of people detained by ICE during the COVID-19 pandemic, by advocat ing for vaccinations for people who are detained by ICE and fighting for an end to transfers of people who served their time in California pris ons, to ICE detention.”

While in prison, he wrote that he found treatment for his drug and al cohol addiction through Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anony mous. He also started therapy.

He explained that returning to Fiji would likely mean going back into the closet because of who he is, or facing discrimination and hate crimes.

To sign the change.org peti tion for Prasad, go to https://bit. ly/3SX72E2

San Francisco City Clinic medical director Dr. Stephanie Cohen

Rick Gerharter

The San Francisco Democratic Party has approved a resolution urging Governor Gavin Newsom to pardon Salesh Prasad, a queer man in ICE detention.

Courtesy Salesh Prasad

LGBTQ candidates hope to make history in elections

by Lisa Keen

Political analysts will be watching the November 8 election returns to gauge the health of American democracy and see which political party will control the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. For LG BTQ newswatchers, there are several specific contests that will both con tribute to that overall political land scape and make important LGBTQ history. Here’s what to watch.

Three governor races

One of the more likely highlights of the evening will be the election, for the first time in U.S. history, of an openly lesbian candidate as gov ernor of any state. (Oregon Gover nor Kate Brown, who is bisexual, was the first openly LGBTQ person to be elected governor when she won a special election bid in 2016; Jared Polis became the first gay man when he was elected governor of Colorado in 2018.)

This year, in Massachusetts, state Attorney General Maura Healey, a popular Democrat in a deeply blue state, is expected to coast to victory over a Donald Trump-backed Re publican to become the Bay State’s next governor.

In Oregon, where voters have re jected Republican candidates for governor for decades, Democrat Tina Kotek, former speaker of the state House, polls about 1% behind a well-funded Republican. Kotek has had to contend with a third party candidate who appears to be draw ing 10 to 15 points from voters who would otherwise vote Democratic.

Meanwhile, in Colorado, Polis ap pears poised to win his second term as governor, with polls showing him

with an 18-point lead or higher over his Republican challenger.

Fivethirtyeight.com gives Healey and Polis a 99% chance for victory; Kotek a 49% chance.

U.S. House incumbents

Eight of nine incumbent Demo cratic LGBTQ candidates in the U.S. House are running for reelec tion, and half have a cakewalk to the next term: Mark Pocan (Wiscon sin 2nd), Mark Takano (California 41st), David Cicilline (Rhode Island 1st), and first-termer Ritchie Torres (New York 15th). The others have a tougher road to the finish line.

Sean Patrick Maloney (New York17th CD): Democrat Maloney is seeking his sixth term to represent a district in New York. But, because of redistricting, he had to choose whether to run in District 18, his original district, or District 17, where his home is located under the new map. The complication: Dis trict 17 was the district being rep resented by another gay representa tive, Mondaire Jones. Much to Jones’ chagrin, Maloney chose District 17.

Now polls suggest Maloney’s race against Republican candidate, state Assemblyman Mike Lawler, is a toss up. And Jones’ efforts to be on the 10th district ballot fell short.

Angie Craig (Minnesota-2nd CD): Minnesota’s 2nd Congres sional District race is always a nailbiter, including this year, as the two-term Democrat faces the same Republican opponent she beat by only two points last time. In the strangest of twists, just like during the 2020 race, a third party candi date’s name is also on the ballot even though that person is dead. In 2020, the dead candidate won 6% percent of the vote (voters are not alerted if a listed candidate is deceased).

Chris Pappas (New Hampshire-1st CD): Democrat Pappas, New Hamp shire’s first openly gay member of Congress, is running for a third term in a congressional district that has been split evenly among Democrats, Republicans, and non-affiliated vot ers. After winning his first term by 8.6 points, he won the second term by 5.1 points. Now, Trump has pro moted a Republican challenger,

Karoline Leavitt, and fivethirtyeight. com’s analysis of the polls as of Octo ber 28 suggest Pappas has a 4.8 point lead. RealClearPolitics.com says it leans Republican. Leavitt has spoken out against trans women athletes and self-accepted pronouns, and she would support Florida-like “Don’t Say Gay” legislation.

Sharice Davids (Kansas-3rd CD): Democrat Davids is facing her 2020 challenger and a more Republicanleaning district this year, thanks to redistricting. The latest polling in dicates Davids has a strong lead (14 points), suggesting that abortion may be more of a factor there. Kan sas voters in August overwhelm ingly rejected an effort to give the state Legislature power to ban all abortions in the state. Davids sup ports the right of pregnant people to obtain an abortion; her Republi can opponent, Amanda Adkins, says she’s “pro-life” but thinks the issue should be decided at the state level, not by the federal government.

U.S. House challengers

The LGBTQ Victory Fund is sup porting eight new candidates for Congress this year.

Becca Balint (Vermont-At-Large CD): Democrat Balint, president pro tem of the Vermont Senate, is making her first bid for the state’s one U.S. House seat and is expected to win easily against Republican Liam Madden.

Eric Sorenson (Illinois 17th CD): Democrat Sorenson is given slight odds to win this open seat previ ously won by a Democrat by a nar row margin.

Jasmine Beach-Ferrara (North Carolina 11th CD): Democrat Beach-Ferrara is a county com

missioner, ordained minister, and LGBTQ activist in the state. She’s vying for an open seat vacated by a Democrat near the more progres sive Asheville area.

Robert Garcia (California 42nd CD): Long Beach Mayor Garcia, a Democrat, is hoping to win a new congressional seat in that state. Fivethirtyeight predicts he is “very likely” to win.

Will Rollins (California 41st CD): Democrat Rollins is a former federal prosecutor who has worked on cases against some of the Janu ary 6 insurrectionists. He’s running against an anti-gay incumbent who has a zero score on LGBTQ votes in Congress, according to the Human Rights Campaign.

Jamie McLeod-Skinner (Or egon 5th CD): Democrat McLeodSkinner has a fighting chance to win her second bid for Congress. Fivethirtyeight says the education, health, and clean water activist is in a “dead heat” with her Republican opponent. A former San Francisco Bay Area resident, she’s also won the endorsement of the state’s biggest newspaper, the Oregonian.

Heather Mizeur (Maryland 1st CD): Democrat Mizeur, a former state legislator, is given very little chance of unseating the pro-Trump incumbent in her district, despite her impressive campaign for gover nor eight years ago.

Robert Zimmerman (New York 3rd CD): Democrat Zimmerman has a decent chance to win his bid for this open seat, previously held by a Democrat. He’s a former aide to members of Congress and a po litical commentator and is running against a gay Republican candidate who backs Trump.t

“These phenomenal individuals are proof that the California dream is alive and well,” Newsom stated in a news release. “Jennifer and I are excited to induct the 15th class of leaders, dreamers, and innovators into the California Hall of Fame and celebrate these Californians who broke down barriers and reimag ined what was possible.”

This year marks the return of an in-person ceremony following the induction of a virtual class during the COVID pandemic, the gover nor’s office stated. That ceremony will be held Tuesday, December 13, according to the California Mu seum, which holds the event and works on the hall of fame project with the governor and first part ner’s offices. The ceremony will be livestreamed on YouTube.

This year’s other members of the class are: chef Roy Choi, physicist Steven Chu, sociologist Arlie Russell Hochschild, choreographer Alonzo King, teacher and former astronaut Barbara Morgan, artist Ed Ruscha, and the band Las Tigres del Norte.

“We’re thrilled to join the Gover nor and First Partner in celebrating these remarkable Californians,” stated California Museum Board of Trust ees Chair Anne-Marie Petrie. “Their achievements will inspire thousands of Museum visitors in the year ahead to pursue their own dreams.”

Past LGBTQ inductees to the hall include the late gay Supervisor Har vey Milk, gay artist David Hockney, lesbian tennis star Billie Jean King, gay TV star George Takei, gay San Francisco Symphony music director laureate Michael Tilson Thomas,

the late lesbian astronaut Sally Ride, gay drag queen and reality TV host RuPaul Charles, and the late pio neering lesbian couple Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin. Former governor Arnold Schwarzenegger established the hall of fame in 2006 in collabo ration with the California Museum and his former wife, Maria Shriver.

Sarria snubbed again LGBTQ leaders are still hoping that the late San Francisco drag queen José Julio Sarria is one day inducted into the hall. LGBTQ community leaders across the Golden State launched an effort to see Sarria be named to the hall in 2015 due to it being the 50th anniversary of the Imperial Court System. Sarria established the court in San Francisco, and it became a major LGBT philanthropic group throughout North America.

Sarria, who died in 2013 at the age of 90, made history in 1961 with his unsuccessful bid for a San Francisco Board of Supervisors seat. It marked the first time an out gay person had sought elected office in the U.S.

The campaign to induct Sarria has broad support, as the Bay Area Re porter previously reported. He will be inducted into the Palm Springs Walk of Stars this December, as the B.A.R. reported in September.

It is part of the 100th Jubilee cel ebrations taking place for Sarria in the LGBTQ tourist and retirement mecca. The events are being orga nized by the José Sarria Foundation, which considers December 12, 1922 to be Sarria’s birthdate.

It is what is on Sarria’s headstone, noted foundation founder Gene Brake, who is helping to coordinate the jubilee events. (Other records say Sarria was born December 12,

1923 at St. Francis Hospital in San Francisco.)

San Diego resident Nicole Mur ray Ramirez, who was elected an

empress of the Imperial Court in 1973 and currently holds the title of Queen Mother I of the Americas, Canada, United States, and Mexico,

did not immediately respond to a text message about continuing to work to get Sarria inducted into the California Hall of Fame.t

Out gubernatorial candidates Maura Healey in Massachusetts, Tina Kotek in Oregon, and incumbent Jared Polis in Colorado hope to win their November 8 races.

Courtesy the candidates

Musk already showing his true colors

Elon Musk had owned Twitter for all of three days before he retweeted an anti-LGBTQ conspiracy theory about the vicious assault on Paul Pelosi, who is the husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco). Paul Pelosi, 82, was attacked around 2:30 a.m. Oc tober 28 when a man, later identified as David DePape, allegedly broke into the home and at tacked him with a hammer, fracturing his skull and causing other injuries. DePape was quick ly apprehended by San Francisco police and now faces numerous federal and state charges in connection with the incident. Nancy Pelosi was not at home at the time, and DePape al legedly called out, “Where’s Nancy?” an eerie echo of shouts made by some of the January 6 insurrectionists who stormed the U.S. Capitol nearly two years ago.

It’s important to recognize that the attack on Paul Pelosi is an extreme result of just how toxic political discourse has become activated in this country. According to reports, DePape told Paul Pelosi that he would wait until Nancy Pelosi returned home, and allegedly brought tools with him including a hammer and zip-ties. Republicans have used Nancy Pe losi, the most powerful woman in U.S. politics and second in line to the presidency, as a bogeywoman for years, hurling insults on social media and in campaign ads.

But leave it to Musk, who just spent $44 bil lion to acquire Twitter, to try and out-Trump former President Donald Trump with his tweet spreading a bizarre anti-LGBTQ conspiracy theory about the attack that had been pub lished on the Santa Monica Observer, a fringe website with a legitimate sounding name, as the Los Angeles Times has reported. (https:// www.latimes.com/business/story/2022-10-31/ santa-monica-observer-elon-musk-paul-pe losi) Musk was responding to a tweet by for mer secretary of state and former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, who was critical of the Republican Party spread ing “hate and deranged conspiracy theories.” Musk responded early Sunday morning with a tweet that said, “There is a tiny possibility there

Elon Musk had owned Twitter for three days when he retweeted a baseless anti-LGBTQ conspiracy theory about the recent attack on Paul Pelosi.

might be more to this story than meets the eye,” and linked to the baseless article. Musk deleted his tweet about five hours later, but by then it had been retweeted more than 30,000 times and liked more than 110,000 times.

That episode, in a nutshell, is why LGBTQs should be very concerned about Musk as the owner of Twit ter. It is now a private company, and he has dissolved its board (though he apparently plans to name a new one). It’s no secret that Musk has had his issues with Twitter, and has been critical of the company’s bans on officials like Trump. But to have the world’s richest man diving into the cesspool of baseless claims and then spreading that mis information to thousands of people is danger ous. And it’s not the first time. In 2018, Musk called experienced British caver Vernon Un sworth a “pedo guy” in a tweet because the two got into a war of words over Musk’s efforts to help with the rescue of the trapped Thai school boys. Unsworth sued Musk for defamation but lost in federal court in Los Angeles. We’re not alone in our concern now that Musk owns Twitter. The Human Rights Cam paign, the country’s largest LGBTQ rights or ganization, issued a statement October 27 after Musk officially acquired the social media com pany. It said the deal raises questions about content moderation and safety for marginal ized people.

“We are very concerned about Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter,” stated Jay Brown, HRC’s senior vice president of programs, research, and training. “Musk has pledged to restore the ac counts of dangerous people who push extrem ism and disinformation. When this happens, Twitter – a place where many marginalized people, including LGBTQ+ people, find both community and face an onslaught of hate – will quickly become even more hostile. Adding in sult to injury, Musk’s reported plans to cut staff levels – including employees who provide mod eration – are deeply troubling.

“As a company, Twitter has a right, and a responsibility, to keep its platform from being exploited to fuel a dangerous media environ ment,” Brown added. “This isn’t about censor ship or discrimination of ideas – it is about what kind of company they want to be and what kind of world they want to shape.”

Based on Musk’s first few days of owner ship, we’re not holding our breath that he cares about any of this. When you’re as rich as Musk, you play by your own rules. He’s demonstrated that with his Tesla car company, when he de fied Alameda County shut down orders in the early months of COVID, and he seems to be operating Twitter one tweet at a time. Granted, there’s a lot we don’t know about in terms of Musk’s plans. He has floated the idea of creat ing a content moderation council, which will be made up of people with “widely diverse viewpoints,” per a tweet. As of now, he wrote, no changes have been made to content moder ation, but one of his first acts as the new owner was to fire the content moderation chief – as well as the CEO and other executives.

Make no mistake, Twitter was already fer tile ground for bigotry against LGBTQs long before Musk took it over, and since then the platform has seen haters come out of the woodwork with antisemitic tropes and antiAsian prejudice. The company was often slow to respond to reports of alleged violations of its terms of service – like virtually every other social media platform. What’s different here is that there is now no public accountability for this company and that is indeed alarming. The bird may be free and feel freer to spew hatred and disinformation.t

Vote yes on Prop L –SF’s transit future depends on it

by Rafael Mandelman

San Franciscans have a critical choice to make on the ballot this year, and it’s one that I fear is not getting enough attention with everything else filling up our ballots. This No vember 8 we are asking voters to renew the one-half cent transportation sales tax that we have had since 1989 (this is not a new tax) that funds road repairs, pedestrian safety, Muni and BART improvements, paratransit, and a ton of other worthy and necessary transit in vestments, by voting yes on Proposition L.

Although Bay Area Reporter readers may be more familiar with my role as District 8 supervisor, I also serve as chair of the San Francisco County Transportation Authority, a position previously held at various times by two of my predecessors, both gay men, Scott Wiener, now a state senator representing San Francisco, and Bevan Dufty, who is currently an elected BART director, along with his out queer colleague from San Francisco, Janice Li.

From U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete But tigieg on down to gay Director Jeff Tumlin at the Municipal Transportation Agency, now happens to be a very queer moment for trans portation leadership. And in San Francisco, we really need our queer community to come through for transit on the ballot.

Prop L requires two-thirds of the vote to pass, a tough threshold that San Franciscans narrow ly missed on the June ballot for Proposition A (the $400 million Muni bond). If Prop L does not pass, not only will we not have the local rev enue it generates to keep our city moving, but we will miss out on billions of dollars in match ing funds from the state and federal govern ments. The historic infrastructure law passed by Democrats in Washington, D.C. allocates

generous grant funds for local transit projects that we can help secure by passing Prop L. If we don’t renew our sales tax, Sacramento and D.C. have plenty of places other than San Francis co to send their infrastructure dollars.

And what will the funding from Prop L do? It will repair and repave our roads and reduce congestion for emergency vehicles so that they can respond quickly and save lives. It will install crosswalks, traffic signals, and bulb-outs to protect pedestrians and build new protected bike lanes. It will dedicate new funding to our paratransit system that has been overburdened during the pandemic so that those operators can continue their vi tal mission serving our seniors and those with disabilities. And this funding will help revital ize all our public transit agencies by investing in the renewal of those systems, buying new more efficient and reliable buses and trains, and replacing our outdated train control sys tems so we can all get where we need to go faster and more reliably.

These past few years have been tough, and San Franciscans have shown great resilience. However, we are at a tipping point in our re covery, and Prop L funding will be a big part in securing that economic rebound. Now is the time to invest in the future of our transpor tation systems, to revive our downtown and improve connections among neighborhoods.

Not only will Prop L allow us to reconfig ure our transit network so that it works for the commute patterns of 2023 and beyond, but the state and federal grants we receive will allow us to build projects that generations of San Fran ciscans will depend on, creating thousands of good, union jobs in the process. That includes projects like undergrounding and electrifying Caltrain, preparing for eventual high speed rail, and building a ferry terminal near Chase Center so folks don’t have to drive to War riors games. These projects, alongside all the smaller ones funded by Prop L, are crucial in our fight against cli mate change. If we do not invest in making San Francisco a safe and easy place to walk, bike, and use public transportation, we will fail to reach our climate goals. How ever, all of us can help our city take a big step in the right direction (and prevent us from sliding backward) when we vote this year.

Please join me in voting Yes on L before No vember 8. Better roads and transit – no new taxes.t

Rafael Mandelman, a gay man, represents District 8 on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and is chair of the San Francisco County

is

up

Courtesy Sky News

Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, center, gathered with Prop L supporters at a rally for the transportation measure.

Courtesy Yes on L campaign

Oakland mayoral candidates back building LGBTQ senior housing

by Matthew S. Bajko

J ust as San Francisco’s LGBTQ population is aging into retire ment years, so is Oakland’s LGBTQ community seeing a growing num ber of its members become senior citizens. But unlike its counterpart across the bay, the East Bay city has yet to build an affordable senior housing complex that is primarily targeted at LGBTQ older adults.

As the Bay Area Reporter re ported in September, a new af fordable housing project in San Francisco aimed at LGBTQ seniors is proposed to have 185 units in a 15-story building on upper Market Street. It will be the third such de velopment specifically geared for LGBTQ seniors in the city’s greater LGBTQ Castro district.

With many LGBTQ people priced out of San Francisco in recent decades having moved to Oakland in search of cheaper housing, there is just as much a need for affordable senior housing in Alameda County’s largest city as there is in San Francisco. Thus, the B.A.R. asked the crop of contend ers seeking to become Oakland’s next mayor where they stood on building an LGBTQ-affirming se nior housing project in their city.

The three leading candidates in the race who responded to the B.A.R.’s questionnaire all ex pressed support for working on such a project during their may oral term.

District 4 City Councilmember Sheng Thao noted that she has long worked to ad dress the needs of her city’s LGBTQ residents, dating back to when she served as policy direc tor and chief of staff to lesbian At-Large City Councilmember Re becca Kaplan , now running to be elected Tuesday as Alameda County’s first out supervisor. That has included housing, whether it be for seniors or transitional housing for home less transgender youth, which Thao said she has been trying to address in partnership with Oak land’s LGBTQ community center.

“I am leading the efforts to es tablish an Enhanced Infrastructure Financing District (EIFD) which would allow us to bond against future revenue to build more af fordable housing, including LG BTQ senior housing,” Thao told the B.A.R.

District 6 City Councilmember Loren Taylor said he would work closely with LGBTQ advocates, such as the nonprofit Lavender Se niors of the East Bay, to push for ward such a housing project. He noted he has supported projects during his time on the council that will bring 800 affordable housing units to his district.

“Residents like our seniors who live on a fixed income in the midst of the escalating cost of living in Oakland are in a precarious situ ation, and it is our job as govern ment to support and stabilize them. These challenges are only exacerbated in historically margin alized demographics like our LG BTQ seniors,” wrote Taylor in his response. “That is why I prioritize affordable housing development with seniors in mind.”

Taylor also pointed to his serv ing for nearly four years on the

Oakland council’s Community & Economic Development Commit tee where he has helped to guide, advise, and decide on similar housing projects.

“Through this committee we have ushered in tens of thousands of units of housing. The percent age of affordable housing units to market rate housing units has more than doubled, but still falls short of our goal and our need,” wrote Taylor.

Ignacio De La Fuente , formerly the District 5 city councilmember, told the B.A.R. that during his tenure on the governmental body, his district saw the construction of a historic amount of affordable housing. He would seek to achieve a similar milestone if elected next week to succeed Mayor Libby Schaaf , who is termed out.

“I would bring the same expertise and ap proach to the job of mayor,” pledged De La Fuente. “Working with the city of Oakland Adult & Aging Services is an important nexus to de veloping a firm grasp on the needs of LGBTQ se niors in terms of afford able housing, but more important ly is developing a relationship with organizations that are already do ing the work, but need assistance with bolstering their path forward such as: Lavender Seniors of the East Bay, Oakland LGBTQ Com munity Center and SOS Meals on Wheels etc.”

Fonda backs out Bay Area supervisor candidates

Actor and environmental activ ist Jane Fonda is supporting two history-making supervisor candi dates in the Bay Area via her politi cal action committee focused on electing political leaders who will address climate change. The Jane Fonda Climate PAC has endorsed Laura Parmer-Lohan in San Ma teo County and Honey Mahogany in San Francisco County.

Parmer-Lohan is vying for the District 2 seat on the Peninsula’s Board of Supervisors. If elected November 8, she would be the first out lesbian to serve on it.

Her campaign announced Fon da’s endorsement of her candidacy on October 27. It noted that she has refused to accept donations from the oil industry and is focused on addressing such issues as wildfire prevention and the impacts of the state’s yearslong drought.

“Laura will work to protect the county’s amazing beaches, forests, and open spaces for future genera tions to enjoy and work to preserve clean air,” stated Fonda, who was in

San Francisco November 2 as the featured guest for a fundraising event held at LGBTQ nightclub Oasis. “She is not taking money from Big Oil and will work to transition San Mateo County away from fossil fuel dependence.”

Mahogany, if elected to the Dis trict 6 seat on her city’s board, would be the first transgender in dividual and drag queen elected as a San Francisco supervisor. She is running against gay District 6 Su pervisor Matt Dorsey , appointed to fill the vacancy when Mahog any’s former boss, Matt Haney , resigned to become a state Assem blymember.

Fonda endorsed Mahogany in mid-October and had released a video praising her candidacy. Re acting to the news in an October 17 tweet, Mahogany wrote, “Ok, I’m absolutely ecstatic about this one. @Janefonda is a legendary activist and powerful voice for change with @janeclimatepac. She’s supporting my campaign as we have an oppor tunity to make history together. But don’t just take my word for it – hear it from Jane herself!”

Fonda followed up the endorse ment with helping to fundraise for Mahogany (and other candidates she is backing this year) with an October 28 event that brought to gether her co-star on the hit Netflix comedy “Grace & Frankie,” lesbian actor Lily Tomlin , and the rest of the cast for a live reunion where they read the script from two epi sodes on the show. Contributions of $22, to be split between Mahog any and Fonda’s PAC, gained peo ple access to the online fundraiser.

“With Election Day just around the corner, our Climate Champi ons like Honey Mahogany need all the help we can give them to put them over the top on Nov. 8,” wrote Fonda in an emailed invite.

In May, ahead of the June 7 pri mary, Fonda’s PAC had endorsed East Bay Assembly candidate Jen nifer Esteen , who had been vying to become the state’s first Black fe male LGBTQ legislator. But Esteen failed to advance to the general election. t

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Web Extra: For more queer politi cal news, be sure to check http:// www.ebar.com Monday mornings for Political Notes, the notebook’s online companion. This week’s column reported on the Califor nia Legislature set to become the first in the U.S. with 10% of its members LGBTQ.

Keep abreast of the latest LGBTQ political news by following the Political Notebook on Twitter @ http://twitter.com/politicalnotes. Got a tip on LGBTQ politics? Call Matthew S. Bajko at (415) 8298836 or e-mail m.bajko@ebar.com.

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Courtesy the candidates

Sounding the alarm

by Gwendolyn Ann Smith

Ioften feel that I am too alarmist. I have spent decades now, deep in the issue of anti-transgender vio lence and murder, and I know that colors my views. It is hard to look at things objectively sometimes, with out expecting the worst of them.

I am also sure that I do not want to write a column that is merely me screaming about how awful things may be because you’d be un likely to read it. I get it. No one wants to deal with how bad things can be. Times are hard enough.

For years now, we’ve seen the right-wing using transgender people as a scapegoat and work ing to criminalize our lives.

We saw the “bathroom predator” meme in use over trans and LGBTQ rights battles, including the suc cessful repeal of the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance in 2015. We saw the Public Facilities Privacy & Se curity Act – House Bill 2 – pass in North Carolina back in 2016, a bath room bill that required a birth cer tificate to use sex-segregated public

restrooms in the state. Thankfully, we did see that bill repealed after a major outcry that led to Republican Gover nor Pat McCrory, who championed HB 2, losing reelection.

We’ve seen more recent challenges with Texas classifying care for trans gender kids as abuse, threatening to take trans children away from their parents and placing them in an al ready overburdened foster care sys tem. We’ve seen hundreds of bills just this year attempting to bar trans kids from school rest rooms and sports, caregiv ers threatened with felony charges, and any number of attempts to bar even the mention of transgen der people existing.

But this week, we may have slipped into a new level of ill treatment toward transgender people.

Let’s back up to April, when Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo, under the guidance of Re publican Governor and likely future presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis, issued guidance through the Florida Health Department seeking to bar gender-affirming medical care, as well as “social gender transition,” for

minors in the state.

Of course, this is the Sunshine State, home of the Florida Parental Rights in Education Act (HB 1557), better known as the “Don’t Say Gay” law that DeSantis signed earlier this year. It went into effect in July and prohibits teaching about sexual orientation or gender identity in kindergarten through third grades. According to reports, the law has al ready had a chilling effect, with many educators uncertain of what they can discuss in their classrooms.

In August, the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration, under DeSantis, finalized new rules that ban health care providers from bill ing the state’s Medicaid program for gender-affirming treatments. The new rule was pushed through within a month, in spite of substantial pro test and pushback.

This, however, is not the worst of it.

Not yet satisfied with the afore mentioned moves, the Florida Board of Medicine – also under DeSantis’ control – held a meeting to discuss a ban on gender-affirming care for transgender minors statewide.

It’s worth mentioning for those who may not wholly understand the issue that gender-affirming care for transgender youth is usually pretty limited. You can socially transition, adopting a new name and taking on the social role consistent with your gender identity. You can change your attire. In some cases, when puberty is

near, medication known as puberty blockers can be introduced. The fed eral Food and Drug Administration approved these in 1993, primarily to treat non-transgender children going through an early puberty.

Gender-affirming care for youth doesn’t tend to include feminizing or masculinizing hormones, nor does it tend to include surgical intervention.

The care that has generally been in use for youth has been shown to be very successful. A ban on genderaffirming care is opposed by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Psychiatric Association, and the American Medical Associa tion.

The Florida Board of Medicine meeting, which went on for five hours, was held at the Orlando In ternational Airport. The reason for the unusual venue seems to be that a large number of those seeking to bar the treatment were flying in from out of the state.

As the public comment section of the meeting opened, the first few people spoke in favor of the ban. Then, with about 45 minutes left in the public comment period – and, according to some in the room, just before people set to rebut the previ ous comments could speak – board member Dr. Zachariah P. Zachariah cut off comments.

A rough draft of a rule was hur riedly discussed by the board, in cluding the possibility of allowing those already in care to be allowed to

continue. Zachariah apparently dis agreed, pressing for a vote right then – not a draft.

He then declared that the motion passed without announcing a final tally.

One attendee yelled out, saying, “The blood is on your hands!”

Zachariah replied, “That’s OK.”

Indeed, it would seem that Zacha riah – as well as DeSantis – is more than willing to see transgender peo ple done away with. I really do not want to sound alarmist, but Florida – joining Texas – is no longer a safe place for transgender people or their supporters. The state itself is seeking to cause real harm to transgender people.

DeSantis, who is likely to easily win reelection for a second term as governor November 8, sees trans gender people as a steppingstone for his national political ambitions – red meat that he can offer his base in the run-up to next week’s election. That there are real lives at stake is appar ently irrelevant to him.

There will be one more meeting of the Florida Board of Medicine on November 4, at the Holiday Inn Or lando-Disney Springs. I do hope my Florida counterparts give them hell.

I’m not being alarmist: our lives are very much on the line.t

Halloran

Manager

Spooky performance grabs attention in Castro

block party was packed all day long, filled with such a diverse group of families and other revelers looking to celebrate Halloween in true Castro fashion. It is critical we continue to host large-scale events such as these in the Castro that pull people off Amazon and down into the neighborhood to support local small businesses. It was great to see so many attendees supporting local merchants during and after the event. That has a real financial impact on our community.”

Gwen Smith wonders how many more states will join Texas and Florida. You’ll find her at www.gwensmith.com

Christine Smith

Musician and drag artist Trixxie Carr performed at the inaugural Castro Halloween Block Party Sunday, October 30. The family-friendly event was sponsored by the Castro Merchants Association and included costume contests for pets, kids, and adults. Dave Karraker, co-president of the merchants group, was

with the event. “The turnout at the Castro Merchants’ first-annual family Halloween event was

an

Christopher Robledo

Artist draws up mascot for SF Castro district

by Matthew S. Bajko

It began as a request from his boy friend, Mau Dominguez, who wanted something special to wear while working as a server at the Cas tro gay bar the Edge during Pride weekend. So last year Dimas Jose Arellano sketched out a design of a boy lying atop a rainbow.

“At first, it just started out with me wanting a T-shirt with my own logo,” recalled Dominguez. “A lot of people were asking me where can they buy it.”

Arellano no longer has his draw ing of that first design or a photo of it, he told the Bay Area Reporter. But, as it happened, he had created a different “Castro Boy” logo that he first posted an image of on May 20, 2021 to his Instagram page. A note said a small batch of T-shirts em blazoned with it were on sale at the Castro adult gift store Does Your Mother Know

For the logo “Castro” is written out in big pink bubble letters with “Boy!” in smaller type underneath the letter “o.” A rainbow arcs above from the letter “a” to the letter “o.”

The concept was derived from conversations the couple had about creating a character inspired by their own experiences living and working in San Francisco’s LGBTQ district. Employed at a pizzeria in the neighborhood for a number of years, Arellano picked up the nick name “Pizza Boy.”

It sparked the idea for him to create a cartoon character dubbed “Castro Boy.”

“My boyfriend knew that a bunch of people catcall me, ‘Pizza Boy.’ He was like, ‘Why not a Castro Boy? Why not draw a Castro Boy?’ It was such a simple name but, I don’t know, it is kind of too simple that it is kind of perfect,” said Arellano. “My boyfriend

said, ‘Why not create stuff about the Castro that people can buy?’ There isn’t much merchandise people can buy that represents the people living in the Castro or the people who come to the Castro to visit for the same rea son for this community.”

First drawn as a little boy with brown hair and large eyes, the char acter debuted on Arellano’s Ins tagram page January 23, 2021. He wore blue shorts, red boots, and a white T-shirt with a pink triangle on the back containing the letters “C” and “B” for Castro Boy.

“He is a curious kid running around the Castro looking around and making his way in the Castro,” said Arellano, adding that the char acter is a homage to the Japanese anime and manga character Astro Boy created by Osamu Tezuka in the 1950s. “I saw his show a few times but didn’t read the actual manga of

his until 2017 and 2018.”

Arellano made some stickers of the image to hand out to friends. And he began tinkering with the figure’s proportions, elongating his arms and legs, and depicting him shirtless. In his more recent draw ings of the character he is nude or only wearing skimpy blue shorts.

“That is what sells,” said Arellano. “Nobody cares about him when he is clothed.”

Their idea is for the cartoon figure to be come another part of the Castro community, explained Arellano.

“I totally want the Castro Boy character to be not an icon but like a mascot for the Castro and support local community stuff happening,” said Arellano. “I see him as kind of

the Castro’s own little spirit charac ter thing.”

It is also a manifestation of his own feelings about the neighbor hood. Arellano, 32, has lived in San Francisco on and off for 11 years, mostly as a Castro resident.

“But this idea of me living in Cas tro all these years as some ‘Castro Boy’ who could not find himself to leave, to escape, ever; continued to dance within our conversations. Like some Peter Pan of San Francisco, never able to leave, age or grow up,” as Arellano wrote in his bio on his website.

Moved from LA

The Los Angeles native first moved to the Bay Area when his stepfather, who was unaccepting of Arellano be ing gay, told him at age 19 that it was time for him to move out on his own. A female friend of Arellano’s was at tending art school in San Francisco and offered him a place to stay.

“I lived rent free on her couch for a year in the Sunset. I helped out with chores,” recalled Arellano, who enrolled himself at City College of San Francisco where he took several art classes.

It led him to attend Parsons The New School for Design in New York in the fall of 2009. But he was denied financial aid and forced to quit after one semester and returned to Los Angeles.

For the next two years he attended the Art In stitute in Riverside but ended up dropping out because of the nearly $50,000 in debt he had racked up paying his tu ition. Once again, Arellano decided to move back to San Francisco and has called the Castro home for the past five years.

“Without Castro I would have

never become who I am today. Cas tro Boy would have been in denial. I would have not looked at myself and seen success. But I do,” Arellano wrote in his online bio.

He is again taking classes at City College, where he hopes to earn an associate degree. Due to COVID, he lost his server job at Castro res taurant Hamburger Mary’s, which remains shuttered, and got rehired as a gardener with the landscaping firm Bramble and Vine where he had worked years prior.

“I love plants,” said Arellano, who in 2020 painted the pink mural with green plants on the parklet for the former burger restaurant on 18th Street adjacent to the Castro’s Star bucks.

Over the years he has worked at several Castro bars. For the past three and half months Arellano has worked as a tour guide and bartend er at Anchor Brewing Company’s brewery on Potrero Hill.

Eventually, Arellano would like to turn his Castro Boy art into a suc cessful business venture. He is now thinking about creating a diverse group of friends for Castro Boy modeled after people he has met in the neighborhood.

“I just want to make a whole city of characters we can all fall in love with and get to know,” said Arellano, who also paints surrealist works featuring characters named Red and Yellow.

He is hoping to get his Castro Boy T-shirts and stickers into more stores in the Castro. For now, people can purchase them through his personal website. The various stickers cost $3, while a Castro Boy print sells for $25 and a T-shirt goes for $30.

“For me, the character needs to be here right now,” said Arellano. “For me, especially, I need this kind

Driverless is more

Dimas Jose Arellano, creator of Castro Boy, works in his sketchbook on ideas for his Castro Boy images that are reproduced in stickers, a T-shirt, and a small poster. He is developing a game that includes a set of playing cards.

Rick Gerharter

ENDORSEMENTS CALIFORNIA GENERAL ELECTION

CA ASSEMBLY Dist. 17: Matt Haney Dist. 19: Phil Ting Dist. 15: Buffy Wicks Dist. 16: Rebecca Bauer-Kahan Dist. 18: Mia Bonta Dist. 20: Shawn Kumagai Dist. 21: Diane Papan Dist. 24: Alex Lee Dist. 26: Evan Low

CA SENATE Dist. 10: No endorsement

CA JUDGES Retain all judges

SAN FRANCISCO

Board of Supervisors Dist. 2: Catherine Stefani Dist. 4: Gordon Mar Dist. 6: Matt Dorsey, 1st choice, Honey Mahogany, 2nd choice Dist. 8: Rafael Mandelman Dist. 10: Shamann Walton District Attorney: Brooke Jenkins Public Defender: Mano Raju City College Board Short Term: Murrell Green 4-year Term: Thea Selby, John Rizzoand William Walker

Mike Thompson Dist. 8: John Garamendi Dist. 9: Josh Harder Dist. 10: Mark DeSaulnier Dist. 11: Nancy Pelosi Dist. 12: Barbara Lee Dist. 14: Eric Swalwell Dist. 15: Kevin Mullin Dist. 16: Anna Eshoo Dist. 17: Ro Khanna Dist. 18: Zoe Lofgren

SAN FRANCISCO PROPS

Yes: A, B, C, D, F, G, J, L, N,O No: E, H, I, M

CALIFORNIA PROPS Yes: 1, 26, 28, 30, 31 No: 27, 29

SF Board of Education Lainie Motamedi, Lisa Weissman-Ward Karen Fleshman Assessor-Recorder: Joaquín Torres BART Board, Dist. 9: Janice Li

OTHER RACES

AC Transit At-Large: Alfred Twu

Alameda County Board of Supervisors Dist. 3: Rebecca Kaplan

Alameda City Council: Jim Oddie

Alameda School Board: Ryan LaLonde

Cabrillo College Board Area 2: Adam Spickler

Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors Dist. 4: Ken Carlson

Cupertino City Council: J.R. Fruen

East Bay MUD Ward 3 Marguerite Young

El Cerrito City Council

Gabriel Quinto

Oakland City Council Dist 4: Janani Ramachandran

Oakland Mayor (Ranked):

1st Choice - Sheng Thao

2nd Choice - Loren Taylor 3rd Choice: Ignacio De La Fuente

Oakland School Board Dist. 4: Nick Resnick

Redwood City Council Chris Sturken

Richmond City Council Dist. 2: Cesar Zepeda Dist. 4: Jamin Pursell

San Mateo County Board of Supervisors Dist. 3: Laura Parmer-Lohan

San Mateo City Council Sarah Fields

San Jose City Council Dist. 3: Omar Torres

San Jose Mayor Cindy Chavez

San Leandro City Council

Victor Aguilar

San Leandro School Board

James Aguilar

Santa Clara Mayor

Anthony Becker

Sonoma County S

uperintendent of Schools Amie Carter, Ph.D.

Sunnyvale City Council Richard Mehlinger

of character to bring energy into it because it does bring people joy. Once they hear a little bit about him, they get it.”

Arellano has participated in several local art shows over the years and had his first booth at last month’s Castro Street Fair where he was selling his Castro Boy merch.

“It is all my boyfriend. He is the mastermind with this stuff, getting me out there and promoting my artwork,” said Arellano, who started dating Dominguez in 2020.

Dominguez, 23, also grew up in Los Angeles and moved to the Cas tro in December 2019, living out of his car until he found an apart ment a few months later. He told the B.A.R. the couple were surprised at how well Arellano’s artwork was re ceived at the street festival.

“We sold more than we both ex pected,” he said. “It makes me re ally happy to see the logo we both created a year ago is now actually out there. We have now seen people in the streets of the Castro wearing the logo.”

The public response, said Domin quez, “makes me really happy to see where Dimas’ art goes.”

Arellano had been working on a mural project for a building in Mis sion Bay but it fell through amid the outbreak of the COVID pandemic. Asked about creating a Castro Boy mural in the Castro neighborhood, Arellano said he hadn’t thought about it but said it is “an amazing idea” since the character brings smiles to most people when they see him.

“That would be something,” said Arellano.

The character is also imbued with hope, a nod to one of the Castro’s more famous denizens, the late gay supervisor Harvey Milk, who had a mantra about providing people, particularly LGBTQ youth, a reason to hope.

“Castro Boy is here to remind you there is hope. That there is a place we belong, and he’s here to show you it’s not far far away,” as Arellano wrote in his website bio.

To learn more about Arellano and to order his artwork online, visit his website at https://www.dimasaurus rex.com/t

Queer murder mystery benefit for therapy group

compiled by Cynthia Laird

Queer LifeSpace, the nonprof it arm of the San Francisco Therapy Collective, will hold a ben efit event, “Speakeasy: A Very Queer Murder Mystery,” Friday, November 11, from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Academy, 2166 Market Street in San Francisco.

The hostess will be drag artist Juanita MORE! with entertainment provided by Katya Smirnoff-Skyy. The interactive 1920s-themed mur der mystery is set in San Francisco. The evening includes hors d’oeuvres, gourmet food stations, a VIP open bar or cash bar option, drag per formances, naughty apple-bobbing contest, and more.

According to Queer LifeSpace’s website, the plotline selected is highly rated and designed for large groups. Primary roles in the game will be released on a first come, first served basis to those who claim them. Sec ondary roles will also be available. Participation is optional, but every one is encouraged to take part.

Queer LifeSpace provides coun seling and mental health services and has also trained therapists over its 10 years.

Tickets for “Speakeasy” are $150 for the VIP option, $100 for regu lar admission, or $40 for artists and students. For more information and to purchase tickets, go to https://bit. ly/3NqqqZi.

For more information about Queer LifeSpace, go to https://www. queerlifespace.org/.

Vacant Castro retail space discussion

The aforementioned Academy is the site for a panel discussion Thurs day, November 3, about vacant retail spaces in the Castro. The meeting, which is free, takes place from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at 2166 Market Street.

Castro business owners and gay District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandel man will discuss retail closures and empty storefronts in the LGBTQ neighborhood. Joining Mandelman will be Dave Karraker, co-president of the Castro Merchants Association and co-owner of MX3 Fitness; and Levi Maxwell, chair of the economic and workforce development com mittee of the Castro LGBTQ Cultural District. John T. Hendricks, founder of Hendricks Law PC, will moderate.

“Doing business in San Francisco is not for the faint of heart,” Hen dricks stated in an event announce ment. “And in this environment, it takes capital, skill, and a big dose of luck to succeed.”

As of April, retail vacancies to taled more than 20% of commer cial properties in the Castro, the announcement stated. Yet, in recent months, a number of new businesses have opened in the neighborhood on its two main commercial cor ridors of Castro and Market streets, while three new eateries set to open on upper Market Street are working through the permit process.

Mandelman recently introduced a pair of policies allowing new queer bars and bathhouses to open, though as the Bay Area Reporter has previ ously reported, no new bathhouse operator has yet come forward.

For more information and to reg ister, go to https://bit.ly/3gR2kKM

Oakland LGBTQ center marks 5th anniversary

Put on those disco shoes and get ready to dance the night away at Boogie Wonderland, a gala and fun draiser celebrating the fifth anniver sary of the Oakland LGBTQ Com munity Center. The party will be held Saturday, November 12, from 5 to 9 p.m. at the California Ballroom, Oakland’s Art Deco event space lo cated at 1736 Franklin Street.

Center officials noted in an email announcement that after nearly three

Katya Smirnoff-Skyy will be one of the entertainers at “Speakeasy,” a benefit for Queer LifeSpace.

years of being unable to hold in-per son events, they are looking forward to the gathering. The party includes a buffet meal, drinks, entertainment, awards, a best-dressed contest, DJ music, and, of course, dancing. At tendees are encouraged to wear their best disco-inspired outfits.

People must be 16 or over to at tend and be prepared to show ID and proof of COVID vaccination. Once inside, face masks will be optional. The facility has an elevator for those with limited mobility.

Tickets are $100 and can be pur chased at www.oaklandlgbtqcenter. org/.

Art auction to benefit Maitri

A gallery art exhibit and auction will benefit Maitri Compassionate Care Saturday, November 12, from 2 to 5 p.m. at Art Attack, 2358 Market Street in San Francisco.

According to an announce ment, the event, titled “Works of HeART,” will feature local artists and artwork themed around Maitri’s mean ing, “loving kindness.”

Maitri is a 35-year-old organization providing hospice, short-term respite care, and recovery support following gender-affirma tion surgery, in the Castro’s Duboce Triangle neighborhood.

There is no admission to attend. Proceeds from the auction will ben efit Maitri and its programming. For more information and a list of par ticipating artists, go to https://www. maitrisf.org/works-of-heart/.

Memorial for Urvashi Vaid

A memorial and celebration of life for lesbian LGBTQ leader Urvashi

Vaid will be held Thursday, No vember 3, in New York City and be livestreamed at 2 p.m. Pacific time.

Vaid died May 14 at the age of 63.

She led the national progressive Gay and Lesbian Task Force, now known as the National LGBTQ Task Force, from 1989-1992. She was its first female leader. Prior to taking the helm of the organization she served as its media director, among other positions during her decade-long tenure there. She co-founded the Task Force’s popular Creating Change conference, now in its 33rd year. She re signed from the Task Force in 1995.

Born in New Delhi, India on October 8, 1958, Vaid and her family immigrated to the U.S. in 1966 when she was 7 years old.

She was 10 years old when the Stonewall riots happened in 1969, she wrote in the preface of her award-winning 1995 book, “Vir tual Equality: The Mainstreaming of Gay and Lesbian Liberation.” The book was part memoir, part political manifesto, and part call to action for a real civil rights movement rather than “conditional equality” under the

guise of acceptance.

Speakers at the celebration of life include Richard Burns, board chair of the American LGBTQ+ Museum in New York City; Natalia Kanem, executive director of the United Na tions Population Fund; Alok VaidMenon, an activist and performance artist; playwright Tony Kushner, feminist leader Gloria Steinem; Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum; and Vaid’s spouse Kate Clinton. The musical group Betty will perform the song “Together.”

The YouTube link for the live stream is https://bit.ly/3Fx7JRz.t

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Courtesy JAGC Photography via Queer LifeSpace

Urvashi Vaid

Rex Wockner

Gay District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, who represents the Castro district where high housing costs have been blamed for driving out its LGBTQ residents, is a hard no on Prop E. But he is remaining neutral on Prop D, although he did vote for the local Democratic Party to have a “No Endorsement” on it as a member of its governing body. The party is against Prop D and en dorsed Prop E.

Mandelman told the B.A.R. that both of the measures are “flawed” but that Prop D appears to be the better of the two, as “it seems likely to actually produce housing. It does this by allowing some projects that have been 100% union labor to pro ceed with a lesser degree of labor protection and by freeing develop ers from the obligation to negotiate community benefits packages or higher affordability levels with the neighboring community.”

The tradeoff, noted Mandelman, is that Prop D will set minimum la bor standards, such as a prevailing wage for workers, and slightly en hanced affordability requirements for how many below-market-rate units projects need to deliver.

“I am not formally opposing Prop D, because it at least repre sents a serious effort to address our need for more market-rate housing production, but I remain uncertain that it gets the trade-offs right and I am concerned that it locks these developer protections in for perpe tuity without any opportunity for modification by the board,” wrote Mandelman.

His opponent Kate Stoia, a lawyer and straight married mother who lives in Noe Valley with her family, told the B.A.R. that she supports Prop D “because it will actually get housing built.”

While she didn’t address why she opposes Prop E, Mandelman told the B.A.R. he opposed placing it on the ballot because he questioned

its authors’ sincerity in wanting to speed up the construction of new housing in the city.

“I voted against Prop E at the Board of Supervisors because it did not seem to me to represent a seri ous effort by the board to grapple with the challenge of needing to increase housing production in the city, but rather seems almost entirely an effort to undermine the mayor’s measure, which at least is a serious (if flawed) effort to get more housing built,” wrote Mandelman.

Supporting Prop E is Board President Shamann Walton, who represents District 10 where Black residents of Hunters Point and the Bayview have also decamped from the city because of high housing costs. Referring to it as the Afford able Housing Production Act, Wal ton predicted Prop E would create an average of 30% more additional affordable units on-site citywide if it were to pass.

“It defines a range of low to mid dle incomes capped at $3,600 for a 2-bedroom home, has construction worker protections to provide ap prenticeship training, and pathways to union jobs for local workers,” wrote Walton, a straight ally who is the first Black man to be board president. “It also requires afford able units to include 2 or 3 bedroom homes for family housing instead of just studios and sets a construction timeline within two years.”

District 4 Supervisor Gordon Mar, a straight married father who represents the Sunset District, sup ports both Prop D and Prop E. As for why he has endorsed both mea sures, Mar explained to the B.A.R. it is because he believes “in the production of affordable housing units, and finding ways to supply new housing options for San Fran cisco’s low-income families and educators.”

His opponent, gay former jour nalist Joel Engardio, is supporting Prop D and was critical of Prop E for focusing “less on middle-income housing and, according to an analysis

by SPUR ‘places onerous new labor standards and inclusionary require ments on mixed-income projects that will only make it harder to build affordable housing.’ If we want fami lies to stay in San Francisco, we need to build middle-income housing.”

Engardio argued that Prop D “will create more middle-income housing and let a larger pool of workers get good-paying construc tion jobs.”

Criticism of rejected project

He was critical of Mar and his board colleagues’ vote a year ago that rejected a development proposal to build 495 units, with 24% affordable, on a parking lot South of Market at 469 Stevenson Street. Such decisions make it hard for the city to meet its housing obligations, argued Engar dio, and put it in danger of having local control over such projects taken away by state officials.

“We can’t keep the status quo of not building anything. Forces great er than the Board of Supervisors are going to take over,” wrote Engardio. “Governor (Gavin) Newsom says San Francisco isn’t doing enough to build more housing. With our housing approval process under

state review, we risk losing local control of how and where housing is built.”

Gay District 6 Supervisor Matt Dorsey, appointed to fill the vacancy created when Matt Haney departed in the spring for the state Assembly, also opposes Prop E and backs Prop D. He noted to the B.A.R. that he was “proud” to be the first supervi sor to endorse Prop D.

“The proposal will make it faster and easier to build affordable and new homes in San Francisco for low- and middle-income San Fran ciscans, public school teachers, and those who work in public schools or at community colleges,” wrote Dorsey. “This will support a more sustainable transit-first vision for the city that will make it easier for our educators to both live and work in the city – avoiding hours-long commutes from far-off locales as congestion and gas prices worsen.”

He also brought up the Steven son project vote and told the B.A.R. he would have voted in favor of it. Haney had championed the project and was critical of his former col leagues for rejecting it.

Dorsey praised his opponent, lo cal Democratic Party Chair Honey Mahogany, for also endorsing Prop D. But he called her decision to ab stain from voting on Prop E when the party’s governing body weighed in on the ballot measures “as wholly disingenuous.”

“It’s intellectually dishonest to be neutral on a measure whose success would kill the measure one is osten sibly supporting, and I feel it’s a level of political game-playing we don’t need more of on the Board of Super visors – especially when it comes to housing,” Dorsey told the B.A.R.

Asked about Dorsey’s criticism, Mahogany told the B.A.R. that she abstained from taking a position on Prop E because she “knew how important it was to both labor and community organizations fighting for deeply affordable housing.” She added that she didn’t want “to burn bridges” with people behind the

measure who need to be part of the solution going forward to address the city’s lack of affordable housing.

As for why she supports Prop D, Mahogany argued it “would set a foundation to streamline future housing through by-right develop ment, and ensure we can build much needed affordable and teacher hous ing in our city as fast as possible.”

Mahogany, who had worked for Haney at City Hall as his chief of staff, noted that she had been the lead staffer on the 469 Stevenson project. She was critical for how op ponents of new housing in the city have used environmental review processes to block such projects.

“We definitely need to make sure we are protecting our environment, but we cannot afford to keep block ing good housing from being built,” wrote Mahogany, who would be the first transgender individual and drag queen elected supervisor in the city.

Watching the Stevenson project “get struck down for political reasons has only motivated me more to make changes to our approval process,” Mahogany told the B.A.R., adding that if elected she would focus on ensuring the city meets its housing goals required by the state, “and I strongly believe we need to rethink our approach to housing in the city.”

Meanwhile, District 2 Supervisor Catherine Stefani, a straight mar ried mom who is running unop posed for reelection, backs Prop D. She told the B.A.R. she believes it will make it easier to build housing in the city.

“There is no question that there is too much red-tape when it comes to addressing our housing afford ability crisis as people are priced out of the city we love,” wrote Ste fani, who represents the Marina, Pacific Heights, and Cow Hollow neighborhoods. “Teachers and low and middle income families have nowhere to go and we need to do more. In my opinion, Prop D does more to remove that red tape while Prop E includes poison pills that will make it harder to build.”t

“Things have changed in the last 20 years,” he said. “When I went back in March, I’m noticing more out people on the streets. We have an annual Pride event called Pink Dot that’s being organized now. I think they’ve been doing it for 15 or 18 years now. I don’t have to worry about talking about my life here.

“In Singapore, depending on the group of people I’m with, I tend to be more circumspect and not overshare. I don’t have any rights as an LGBT person in Singapore, not even to get a spousal visa [for Mickey] to come and live with me in Singa pore,” Amos Lim added.

By contrast, they own the house they live in in San Francisco. The men report that, like any couple, they occasionally argue, but that they love each other dearly. They said that their families are support ive of their relationship.

“We exchange messages when we work saying that I love you,” said Mickey Lim. “We check in every day when we’re away from each other. We’re happy!”

Both have good jobs. Mickey Lim is a pharmacist at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center. Amos Lim works in the economic justice program at Chinese for Affirmative Action, a civil rights organization in Chinatown for Asian Americans. His duties include helping limited English-speaking Asians look for jobs and improve their skills, and to advocate for them when laws are introduced that impact them. Both enjoy their work.

Anti-Asian prejudice

The couple has been, on occasion, subjected to the anti-Asian hate that has increased in recent years.

In September, Governor Gavin Newsom signed two anti-bias bills collectively called the No Place for Hate Campaign, though they were watered down from their original versions in the state Legislature.

The first, authored by state Sena tor Dave Min (D-Costa Mesa), is Senate Bill 1161. Called “Improv ing Public Transit Ridership Safety” it aims to protect LGBTQ+ people, cisgender women, and other vul nerable public transit riders. It re quires the Mineta Transportation Institute at San Jose State Univer sity to create a community survey for California transit operators to strengthen and promote passenger safety.

The second is Assembly Bill 2448 by Assemblymember Phil Ting (DSan Francisco) and is titled “Ex panding Civil Rights Protections at Businesses.” It directs the state’s Civil Rights Department to create a first-of-its-kind pilot program that incentivizes businesses to create safe and welcoming environments.

The new laws come as Cali fornia has seen a spike in antiAsian incidents. In June, Attorney General Rob Bonta released the state’s annual hate crimes report (https://oag.ca.gov/news/pressreleases/attorney-general-bontareleases-2021-hate-crime-reporthighlights-resources) that saw reported incidents in California increase 32.6% between 20202021, with the number of hate crimes against Black people still the most frequent overall but whose increase was 12.5%. Hate crimes against Asians “increased dramati cally” by 177.5%. “Anti-Hispanic or Latino bias events increased 29.6%,” according to the report, and “among hate crime events in volving religious bias, anti-Jewish bias events were the most prevalent

and increased 32.2%.” Hate crimes against LGBTQ+ people increased by 47.8%, although reported antitransgender bias events fell 29.6% and those concerning gender bias decreased 12.9%.

Mickey Lim recalled a time when their daughter, then aged 2-3, was having a meltdown at a party. Amos Lim took the girl out into the lobby.

“And somebody comes up and says, ‘Should I be concerned?’” Mickey Lim recounted. “Should they be concerned about what? With a white blonde girl and an Asian man and she’s having a fit. And Amos said, ‘She’s my daugh ter.’”

“I’m used to it,” said Amos Lim. “The verbal is easier because you can react or reply or address it. It’s more the stares when you go to the grocery store and you’re walk ing with a 2-year-old white-haired girl that doesn’t look like you and they’re either following you or tracking you or checking back to make sure things are OK. At first it was disconcerting, but after a while I ignore it because I get it all the time.”

Amos Lim added that while he’s never been subjected to violence, their house has been egged four times.

“I know the first time it was be cause we had a No on Prop 8 poster on our window,” recalled Amos Lim, referring to Proposition 8, the 2008 ballot initiative that voters approved that temporarily banned same-sex marriage in California. After a federal trial Prop 8 was found to be unconstitutional and that was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2013, two years before the court legalized same-sex marriage na tionwide. The Lims were active in the No on 8 campaign.

“There was the time when [Don

ald] Trump was elected and our garage was egged,” Amos Lim said. “And there was another time when he went on about immigrants and we were egged.”

In fact, when the COVID pan demic hit in early 2020, Trump repeatedly called it the “Chinese” virus, which inflamed anti-Asian sentiment among some of his fer vent supporters.

These incidents were “disconcert ing,” according to Amos Lim.

“The truth is that if it was just adults here with no kids, I’d be less worried, because I know I can take care of myself,” he said. “But now that we have a kid, I am more wor ried that the information I put out identifies where I live.”

Amos Lim added that it’s impor tant when subjected to a hate crime to report it to authorities.

“There are victim compensation services available at the district at torney’s office,” he said, referring

to the San Francisco District Attor ney’s office. “There are also websites and organizations which collect data about AAPI hate, so it’s im portant that whatever incident that happens to you be reported so that somebody knows about it, so that you might need services, you might need help. Data is important. If you don’t report it then people will as sume that it doesn’t happen.”

“In health care, if you don’t docu ment it, then it didn’t happen,” added Mickey Lim. “So you have to document it. In this day and age, documentation is essential. So any body that has anything happen, it has to be documented. You have to go there.”

Amos Lim tried to relax after the incidents that happened to the cou ple by taking walks on the beach, but after the anti-AAPI incidents began, he stopped, saying that he didn’t feel safe.

“Anything can happen,” said Mickey Lim. “And that’s kind of al ways embedded in the fear, and I see that in him, I feel that in him, and there’s nothing I can do about it. I can’t protect him as he goes out to take a walk, just to take a walk.”

When asked if he had anything to say to the people perpetrating the hate, Amos Lim replied that he had nothing to say.

“Hate is toxic,” said Mickey Lim. “It serves nothing. However evil you are, it’s a rabbit hole.”

Added Amos Lim, “It takes so much more energy to hate than to love.”t

The Bay Area Reporter is a participant in the Stop the Hate journalism collaborative, a project of Ethnic Media Services. The article is funded by the California State Library’s Stop the Hate campaign.

This housing project was approved in November 2020 after first being proposed in 2019 at the site of the old Sparky’s diner, which closed in 2016.

Rendering by Kerman Morris Architects

Amos Lim, left, and his husband, Mickey Lim, urge people to report bias incidents to authorities.

Christopher Robledo

by Brian Bromberger

Cancel culture is again dominating the headlines. Thus, the appearance of the film “Tár” within the last month couldn’t be more timely, because this social phenomenon in which a celebrity is ostracized or boycotted after they do or say something inappropriate, is at its center. Can we separate an artist’s personal failings from our assessment and appreciation of their creative work?

“Tár” (Focus Features) is an intense and relent less investigation about the fictional orchestral di rector Lydia Tár (the phenomenal Cate Blanchett) and her downfall. The movie, seemingly centered around music, is really about power. The film is directed by Todd Field, his first movie in 16 years and only his third feature after the success of “In the Bedroom” (2001) and “Little Children” (2006). Field had spent years trying to get other projects off the ground but they never panned out.

Dance the masque

Although it takes place over three weeks, “Tár” feels like an exhaustive suffocating day in the life of this exacting woman. The film opens as she is being interviewed by a fawning New Yorker writer Adam Gopnik (playing himself) which is a clever device that mimics a biographical sketch, a talking CV of Tár, the preeminent conductor of her generation, leading the Berlin Philharmonic.

We hear a listing of her myriads of accom plishments, as an EGOT, a disciple of Leonard Bernstein (the rare classical titan who became a popular success, a status Tár longs to emulate), a Harvard Ph.D., and author of a memoir “Tár on Tár,” destined to be a best seller. She has recorded all of Mahler’s symphonies, except the thorny fifth, but is in process of completing it now.

While teaching a class at Julliard, one of her students identifying himself as a “BIPOC pangen der person,” rejects Bach because of his misogyny and white privilege. Tár humiliates him, saying, “You want to dance the masque, you must service

the composer. You’ve got to sublimate yourself, your ego. And yes, your identity (to the music).” He calls her a bitch, to which she replies, “Don’t be eager to be offended.” As the movie progresses, it becomes apparent this is Tár’s struggle as well.

Power, predator

Tár lives in an austere bunker-like apartment with her patient wife Sharon (the wonderful Nina Hoss), a first-chair violinist in the orches tra and concertmaster, with their adopted Syrian daughter Petra. Sharon is constantly reassuring a mood-swinging Tár who seems perpetually per turbed by her. Later in the film, Sharon will bit terly observe that for Tár all her relationships are transactional, useful only for how they contribute to her success. The relationship seems to be a mu tual toxic codependency.

Every person in Tár’s life meets her needs. She’s a sadistic predator, manipulating people to do her bidding. She’s so enthralled with her own power and knowing how to exercise it to enhance

her career, she seems oblivious to how that same power will plant the seeds of her ruin. She’s made the fatal mistake of believing her own hype.

She has wrecked lives and careers, especially young women with whom she apparently has had inappropriate romantic relationships as their mentor. One past protegee Krista, who stalked her, led Tár to blacklist her. Krista was preparing to publish an article destroying Tár’s reputation. Krista commits suicide and there is an investiga tion leading to other past indiscretions and the unraveling of Tár’s stellar career.

Is the audience to fall in love with a manipula tive tyrant or a #MeToo martyr? Do we admire or revile Tár? The same qualities that made her a legend in her field are the same ones that bring her to disaster. The film suggests that in order to maintain this level of celebrity one must guard it with a certain level of paranoia.

Career-peak performance

The film is over 2.5 hours long, but is never boring. It plays almost like a thriller, especially in the second half when you aren’t sure whether something awful will happen to Tár or if she will do something awful.

None of this would be possible without the transformational, stupendous, probably careerpeak performance of Blanchett. As Tár, she joins Daniel Day-Lewis and Meryl Streep as master class actors who disappear into their roles. Any one else is unimaginable as this character.

Blanchett learned German (fluently) and took conducting lessons for over a year. Her fierce in telligence and dedication flashes throughout her performance. It’s inconceivable she won’t be nom inated for a Best Actress Oscar and more than likely she will win her third Academy Award.

The film itself is a probable Best Picture nomi nee, even though the last half hour feels rushed, confusing, and murky about what is happening, raising more questions than it answers.

To its credit, the film remains nonjudgmental on whether Tár is a monster or not. Do we em pathize with or condemn her? It lets the audience decide for itself.

What is undeniable is that “Tár” has created a contradictory symphonic portrayal of a gifted but distraught goddess/tyrant, like Icarus flying too high to the sun and toppling precipitously to a devastating fall.t

www.focusfeatures.com

Read the full review on www.ebar.com

by Michael Flanagan

Suburbs get overlooked in LGBT history.

Since 2020 I have been trying to fill in the gaps for San Mateo and northern Santa Clara County in a program I have done at Pen insula libraries. For the purposes of this article I’m focusing on the period from the 1950s for ward, when the first businesses catering to the community opened.

Prior to Stonewall, one of the few ways we come to know of this history is through encoun ters with the law. Twice in the 1950s men were arrested at the Southern Pacific Depot restroom in Palo Alto, in both February 1956 and January 1959 (23 in 1956 and 24 in 1959).

In 1956, plainclothesmen entrapped men and in 1959 motion activated cameras were used. In both instance the names, professions and ad dresses of the arrested were printed in the papers.

In the 1956 case, seven Stanford students were suspended pending “satisfactory medical evidence of their rehabilitation” according to the SF Examiner. Regarding San Francisco resi dents arrested in 1956, Palo Alto Police Chief William Hydie told the Examiner that police activity in San Francisco “apparently drove them from their own haunts and caused them to gather here.”

In another raid in February 1956, 90 people were arrested at Hazel’s Inn, a bar in Sharp Park

(now Pacifica), and charged as “lewd and disso lute persons.” Of the 90, only eight were residents of San Mateo County. The others were San Fran cisco residents who had crossed county lines in the mistaken notion that they would be safe from prosecution in San Mateo County. San Mateo Sheriff Earl Whitmore made clear that this was not the case, telling the San Mateo Times:

“The purpose of this raid was to let it be known that we are not going to tolerate gathering of ho mosexuals in this county.”

Dire Strait

In August 1962 the Carriage Bar in Menlo Park (1149 El Camino Real) was raided and five men were arrested for “soliciting other men for lewd acts” as the Examiner put it. Again the names and addresses of those arrested were published. The Chronicle described the bar as a “homosexual hangout.” This time there was push back, how ever, in the first San Francisco gay newspaper, the LCE News. Editor Guy Strait ran an editorial on the front page calling the arrests a “Crucifixion

Without Nails” and polled people in Menlo Park as to whether or not they minded having a gay bar in town. The vast majority didn’t care. None theless, the Carriage closed by 1963.

Other gay bars developed a survival strategy. They would open as a gay bar on some nights and a folk music venue on other nights. The Sabre Club in Brisbane and the Cracked Pot in Redwood City (2785 El Camino Real) both used this ruse.

The Cracked Pot was well known as the place where the Kingston Trio first played in 1957, but was listed as a gay club in 1964 in the Directory 43 and in the Damron Guide in 1965, two early gay bar guides.

The San Francisco Chronicle announced the Sabre Club’s opening in November 1961, call ing it a spot for “old fashioned community sings” accompanied by a banjo player and piano. But Sabre Club was also advertising in 1961 in LCE News. The ruse didn’t always work, however. In May 1964 the Chronicle reported that the Sabre Club was closed for 30 days for “permitting lewd acts by homosexuals on the premises.” It’s the last mention of the Sabre Club in the press.

Swingin’ ’60s

By 1968 things had changed considerably and bars and baths were opening throughout the area. Bars often closed under one name and reopened under another.

Dino & Tils (2651 El Camino

Cate Blanchett’s conducter: genius or monster?

San Francisco Chronicle coverage of the 1956 raid on Hazel’s Inn

Real, Redwood City) was open by 1968 and reopened at The Cruiser Lounge at the same address in 1970 (it was open through 1989). The Bayou Lounge (1640 Main Street, Redwood City) opened in 1970 and became The Answer and then Revenge (billed as “a dance bar” in advertisements) in 1985. Other bars which didn’t have quite so long a tenure included the Golden

Stein (2601 El Camino Real) and the women’s bar The Hive (also known as the Bee Hive, at 3201 Middlefield).

Palo Alto had its own bars too, in cluding the Kona Kai (3740 El Camino Real) which was in business from 1972 – 1974 and then became the Gold Mine in 1975. The Whiskey Gulch neighborhood (which was in both East Palo Alto and Palo Alto) had The Gar den (1960 University) and Whiskey Gulch (1951 University). Baths in Palo Alto and East Palo Alto included the

Golden Door (1025 E. Bayshore, East Palo Alto) and Bachelor’s Quarters (1934 University, Palo Alto). Further up the Peninsula, B. Street and Sassy’s opened at 236 B. Street, San Mateo in 1981. Sassy’s was a women’s bar and was upstairs from B. Street, which was predominantly a gay men’s bar.

The spread of venues and services featured a flowering of LGBT culture as well. A three story show bar, Le Cabaret (2821 El Camino Real, Red wood City) opened in 1970 at that opening with an evening advertised as featuring a night with “The Entire Royal Court of San Francisco,” pre sided over by none other than the Ab solute Empress of San Francisco (and former Redwood City resident) José Sarria (it closed in 1972).

The court system was involved with events on the Peninsula like the Grand Czarina Ball, held at the Bold Knight restaurant in Sunnyvale (769 N. Mathilda Ave) on February 11, 1973. At that event Billy Diamond was named Grand Czarina, Regent to the Peninsula Realm (only to be removed from office on October 23 by Max ine, Empress VIII de San Francisco –quelle scandale!).

B Street featured a wide variety of events including a midnight perfor mance by Stacey Q (of “Two of Hearts” fame) on October 7, 1989 and bur lesque performances by Male Express

and the Fantasy Playmates. Upstairs at Sassy’s Bay Area Career Women had networking events like their “Thank God It’s Friday” parties.

Peninsularity

Throughout the 1970s and ’80s, events on the Peninsula were well cov ered in the Bay Area Reporter, with a column called “Peninsular Gossip” appearing 1971. In 1974 a colum nist with the paper and performer who covered events on the Peninsula named Alfie (Alfred Newton) was ar rested in connection with a particular ly lurid murder in Redwood City and later found not guilty. The trial was heavily covered in the paper.

When B Street opened in 1981, the initial ad for its open ing ran in the B.A.R. Also in 1981, when the bar held a benefit for Palo Alto Coalition for Equal Rights (PACER) on Measure B, which would have guaranteed nondiscrimination in housing and employment based on sexual orientation, it was featured in the paper as well (the measure lost 59 to 41%).

As things began to turn sour towards gay businesses on the Peninsula during the AIDS epidemic, it was covered in the paper as well. In April 1986, a group of attackers attempted to use a battering ram to smash through the front door of B Street and the police did noth ing to stop it.

It was covered by B.A.R. reporter (a Stanford alumnus and a founding member of the GLBT Historical Society) Gerard Koskovich.

I have had participants in my library talks report that San Mateo police would wait until closing and follow patrons from B Street in the 1980s as well.

Koskovich also reported on gay patrons being removed from the bar Boomers for same-sex dancing in 1986. Boomers was the straight ver sion of the bar that had been the Bayou Lounge, Cruisers and the Answer, and went out of business later that year.

When Shouts (2034 Broad way, Redwood City) closed in 2000 it was covered by former B.A.R reporter (and current president of the GGBA) Terry Beswick. Shouts was the last gay bar in San Mateo County.

When the Women’s/LGBT Bookstore Lavender Dragon (605 Cambridge, Menlo Park) closed in December 2001 it was covered by B.A.R. reporter Katie Szymanski.

Regarding the closing of her bookstore, owner Owl Blos som told Szymanski some thing that rings true regarding what happened to LGBT busi nesses on the Peninsula:

“I think that the commu nity in Menlo Park has assimi lated. Of course as the world becomes safer, that’s what we want, but it breaks up the com munity. It’s a double edge.”

Part of that assimilation has resulted in gains in the public sector, however. Since 2012,

a county-sponsored Pride event has been held annually. In June 2017 the San Mateo County Pride Center opened (1021 S. El Camino Real, San Mateo). In December 2020 San Carlos swore in Laura Parmer-Lohan as the city’s first openly lesbian mayor (a feat which has not happened in larger Bay area cities).

So the passing of the era of the Pen insula’s gay businesses cannot be seen as a total loss of community.t

Watch Michael Flanagan’s presentation, ‘LGBTQ+ San Mateo County: a History, at https://vimeo.com/570483829

Above: Ad for The Cruiser, Redwood City, from Vector Magazine, 1970

Middle: Ad for the opening of B. Street from 1981 in the Bay Area Reporter

Below: Ad for Stacey Q at B. Street from a 1989 Bay Area Reporter

<< Peninsula

From page 17

Above: Article on the 1973 Czarina Ball for Czarina IV Billie Diamond from David Magazine (Jacksonville, FL).

Below: More photos from the 1973 Czarina Ball including Pat Duncan and Norma Nelson (owners of The Hive, the first Peninsula Women’s bar).

Both courtesy JD Doyle

Left: Stanford Students given leave of absence after 1956 bathroom arrest, as reported in the San Fran cisco Examiner Above: San Francisco Chronicle coverage of the 1962 raid on The Carriage.

Welcome to the world of

How the Ballets Russes rocked the dance world

by Tim Pfaff

If you were really somebody in Paris at the 1913 premiere of Igor Stravin sky’s “Le Sacre du printemps” (“The Rite of Spring”), you weren’t just in the Theatre des Champs-Elysees. You were in the car that spirited a distinguished quartet to the after-party: Stravinsky himself, the Ballets Russes impresa rio Serge Diaghilev, Diaghilev’s muse, principal dancer, and love interest, Vas lav Nijinsky, and Count Harry Kessler.

We know this from Kessler’s own account in his essential, spellbinding diary, “Journey to the Abyss.” An aris tocratic gay aesthete, Kessler seems to have been everywhere of consequence during the “Belle Epoque” leading up to World War I, and he and his diaries make frequent appearances, always sa lient, in “Diaghilev’s Empire: How the Ballets Russes Enthralled the World” (Farrar, Straus and Giroux), Rupert Christiansen’s absorbing new chroni cle of one of history’s most influential dance companies.

True to its title, and despite a catalog of the names of some of the most wellknown artists of the Belle Epoque and beyond, the book maintains a keen fo cus on Diaghilev, whose florid charac ter lent the vivid colors to his company and its legendary repertoire.

High-brow immorality

By the time his aging, already de clining company entered its second decade, the Ballet Russes mounted two American tours, where its “European” values shocked consciousnesses and consciences –and sold tickets. Before its appearance in Kansas City, a local of ficial sent advance word to Dogleaf that “This is a strictly moral town, and we won’t stand for any of that high-brow immorality.”

Christiansen’s summary judgment of Diaghilev comes early: “He was neither intellectual nor theorist, and he had no creative gifts of his own –the ideas were

harvested largely from others.”

But like no one else in the world of the “high” arts, Diaghilev knew how to put on a show, and Christiansen, a dance critic for a quarter-century who shares his subject’s sweet tooth for opera, puts on one of his own re counting it.

It’s not for nothing that, today, only balletomanes have associations with Diaghilev that go beyond that infa mous “Rite of Spring,” which caused a riot in the audience at its premiere.

Popular lore has it that the scandal was in the pit, with Stravinsky’s raucous score. But Christiansen takes the posi tion that the outrage was over the danc ing, that the high-society Parisian audi ence was shocked by Vaslav Nijinsky’s quasi-primitive and proto-modernist choreography.

The Rite stuff

Kessler wrote of the premiere, “The public…was from the beginning restless, laughing, whistling, making

jokes… The commotion became gen eral….Above this crazy din there con tinued the salvos of laughter and scorn ful clapping while the music raged and on the stage the dancers, without flinching, danced fervently in a prehis toric fashion.”

“The Rite” was not the first of Di aghilev’s towering innovations, but it changed the world not just of dance but of the arts overall. Now even regional orchestras know –and play– the score.

At the turn of the century, Chris tiansen writes, ballet was “moribund and infantilized, surviving either as over-stuffed family-friendly entertain ment for court theaters … or as part of a fancy parade in superior variety halls,” … “vaudeville turns offering a pas de deux sandwiched between performing dogs and jugglers.” By harnessing the creative powers of many of the giants of the early-20th-century arts, Diaghilev changed it forever, tossing family enter tainment into the aisles.

Kessler opined that “this Russian ballet [is] one of the most remarkable and significant manifestations of our time…. We are truly witnessing the birth of a new art.”

Christiansen’s take is that “the Bal lets Russes adumbrated a new form of sensuality, challenging conventional demarcations of masculinity and femi ninity as well as fostering a distinctly homosexual subculture in its audience.”

The boys in the band

The Pole had previously shocked Pa risian audiences with his highly eroti cized version of Debussy’s “Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun,” which ended in simulated masturbation until even Diaghilev had to tone it down. Het erosexual, Nijinsky early recognized what the Russian impresario could do for him and his career, and, was, like a succession of other dancers and men in Diaghilev’s sphere over the years, “com pliant” in the bedroom.

The author is appreciative of Nijin sky’s genius and compassionate about his slow descent into madness brought on by chronic paranoid schizophrenia.

A subplot of Christiansen’s study is the parade of young men, usually het erosexual, often but not always from the lower classes, who earned their day in the sun with nights in Diaghilev’s

bed, enduring for as long as they could. Well after he was part of it, Stravinsky decried “the perversity of Diaghilev’s entourage –a kind of homosexual Swiss guard.”

At an impressively young age, con ductor-to-be Igor Markevich capitu lated to what Christiansen calls “Di aghilev’s uncomplicated sexual urges,” later declining to accuse Diaghilev of exploitation. “[Diaghilev] certainly can’t be accused of favoring or promot ing pretty boys of mediocre talent,” Christiansen observes drily, “and it could be argued that his relationships with Nijinsky and Massine … would have been no different had he not been sexually involved with them.”

Sympathetic even with the op portunists who rushed into the gap presented by Diaghilev’s death, his medical condition a surprise to most, Christiansen ends his study asserting, “They are true balletomanes all, making a reverent bow of sorts to Diaghilev’s revolutionary endeavor –a phenom enon of rich progeny that enchanted and exalted millions and leaves its mark on history as one of the greater beauties created by the fraught and largely ugly twentieth century.”t

Read the full review on www.ebar.com

‘Diaghilev’s Empire: How the Bal lets Russes Enthralled the World’ by Rupert Christiansen. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 350 pages, $35. www.us.macmillan.com

Igor Stravinsky’s ‘Le Sacre du Printemps’ (‘The Rite of Spring’)

Author Rupert Christiansen

Vaslav Nijinsky in a publicity photo for ‘Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun”

Serge Diaghilev on a ship headed to the U.S.

Ship, witches, drag & more

Wreck

Okay, the thought of being on a cruise ship in the pandemic era seems like horror enough, no matter how many times that charming Norwegian spokesperson for Viking cruises, Tor stein Hagen, tells us on PBS that “the world awaits.” So it makes sense that “Wreck” would be a horror series set on a cruise ship, right?

This British horror/dramedy creat ed by Ryan J. Brown, was just renewed for a second season by BBC Three on Oct. 28.

Drag Latina

Revry’s international drag compe tition series, “Drag Latina” premiered to a global audience with over a mil lion viewers tuned in from the U.S., Brazil, Mexico, and the U.K. Revry says “many clubs, bars and households hosted viewing parties in Los Angeles, San Diego, Houston, New York City, Dallas and Puerto Rico to celebrate the beginning of the series.”

by Victoria A. Brownworth

Our favorite TV event this past week was watching the delight ful Rowan Ward winning week two of the “Jeopardy! Second Chance” competition on Oct. 28. Ward made “Jeopardy!” history in more than one way when they came out as nonbinary on the show.

Ward explained that they had previ ously competed under their old name, but had–grab a tissue–spent their winnings on getting their official name change and were now competing as their true authentic self. Ward is a masterful player and their love for the game shines. Ward smiled throughout the two-day competition, clearly just happy to be part of the elite.

“I’m so excited,” they said. “This is a dream come true.”

Rowan won their semifinal game with a huge lead after the first game of the two-day finals. Then in the fi nal game, Rowan and Weller were in a dead heat and Friday’s game came down to Final Jeopardy! All three contestants were unable to provide

the correct response, which allowed Rowan to win the competition with a total score of $37,999 due to strategic betting. The Tournament of Champi ons began Monday, Oct. 31. We now have a new favorite to win.

The Bastard Son & The Devil Himself

Okay, spoiler alert: We are not fans of gore and “The Bastard Son & The Devil Himself” series is gory AF, but–there’s always a but–it’s also incredibly compel ling storytelling. Based on the ‘Half Bad’ trilogy by Sally Green and adapted by Brit ish screenwriter Joe Barton, “The Bastard Son & The Devil Himself” has got witches, magic and massive amounts of mayhem. It also has a totally hot queer love triangle. Oh and that title–right?!

So the series is in part about a battle between witch clans–Blood Witch and Fairborn Witch. Kind of a Sharks v. Jets situation in witchdom.

The title bastard is Nathan Byrn (Jay Lycurgo). He’s Black, nearly 17 and some kind of witch, but the big ques tion is what kind?

Nathan is the illegitimate son of a dangerous, mayhem-wreaking witch, Marcus Edge (David Gyasi). Marcus was a pretty awesomely ter rible witch. He turned up at a peace council between the two clans and oops–turned into a wolf and massa cred the Fairborns. Not surprisingly, this had some spillover for Nathan as he tries to find his place in the world and discover his powers and where he belongs.

This series is lush and beautifully shot with stellar special effects and true creativity from Barton. The series is also simmering with emotions–rage, pain and loss among them. “The Bastard Son & The Devil Himself” is also hot, very queer and thoroughly engaging. And the sexuality fairly siz zles. Lycurgo is very, very good and we feel an immediate affinity with him. He reads as vulnerable and edgy and a bit lost. Like most of the darker stories that begin as Y/A, “The Bastard Son & The Devil Himself” doesn’t read as a kids’ story or plot at all. This Netflix original series was definitely made with sophisticated audiences in mind. At eight episodes, you can binge it in a weekend, and you’ll want to; on Net flix now.

The plot is simple horror fare. Ja mie (Oscar Kennedy) joins the crew of the Sacramentum cruise ship. His mission is to uncover what happened to his sister Pippa (Jodie Tyack), who went missing while on board the ship months earlier. But as Jamie searches for answers, the ship’s duck mascot Quacky is revealed as more than just a big lovable water fowl.

Brown told BBC, “I’m really thrilled to be serving up another slice of ‘Wreck.’ We’ll be back, bigger and bloodier in 2023. To have BBC Three’s confidence in us reaffirmed is the best feeling. I’ve always had big plans for where our story could go and to fully realize that is an honor.” Watch via www.streamingdigitally.com

LGBTQ-first media company Revry released the Revry Original se ries, “Drag Latina,” which Revry calls “a Spanish-language international drag competition with performers representing their identity, their cul ture and their country.”

This unique drag series is hosted by Mexican singer and television actress Ninel Conde with singer Fedro as a mentor and judge. “Drag Latina” is viewable on a host of services.

In season one, the “Drag Latina” queens are Afrika Mendiola, Anika Leclere, Amalara Sofia, Chichi Fuera, Leyla Edwards, Mariah Spanic, Sunel Molina, Valeria Sparx, Venus Carangi, and Vicky Chavarria. www.revry.tvt

Read the full review on www.ebar.com

Nadia Parkes, Jay Lycurgo, and Emilien Vekemans in ‘The Bastard Son & The Devil Himself’Rowan Ward on ‘Jeopardy!’

The cast of ‘Drag Latina’

Boys interrupted

by Jim Gladstone

A fter attending the world-pre miere production of “A Picture of Two Boys,” now on stage at the New Conservatory Theatre Center, audience members will have much to discuss.

The play focuses on the reunion of two emotionally scarred men decades after they bonded as teenagers. And among the questions that playwright Nicholas Malakhow leaves humming in one’s mind as his tender, provoca tive duet comes to a close is whether or not Peter, one of the play’s pair of characters, is gay.

“Some directors who have read the play have asked me about this, too,” explained the New Jersey-born, Col orado-based Malakhow in a recent interview with the Bay Area Reporter.

But in the context of a work that pits the power of friendship against the lifelong impact of sexual abuse, Malakhow says that the answer to this question, while perhaps not irrelevant, is rendered unknowable by the events recounted in the play.

“What I want to come across loud and clear,” says Malakhow, who worked on the play sporadically over seven years while working as a mid dle school English teacher, “is that abuse robbed Pete of an opportunity to fully understand himself. It inter fered with the process of growing into himself as a person.”

The audience’s question is shared by the character himself. Its unanswer ability is at the heart of Pete’s tragedy.

Identity politics have held center stage in many Bay Area theater pro ductions over the years, increasingly so in the wake of the Black Lives Mat ter movement, the rise in anti-Asian American discrimination and vio lence and ongoing xenophobia toward Latino immigrants.

Refreshingly, in “A Picture of Two Boys,” Malakhow has largely left such topical matters in the wings. While Pete is Latino and Marcus, the second boy of the title, is black, their indi vidual racial backgrounds are not as

important to their characters as the mutual sense of outsiderdom they experience in the largely white small town where they grow up.

Malakhow, who is half-Domini can and half-Ukrainian, recalls that “where I grew up and even amongst my friend groups, I felt a constant sense of othering” that didn’t quite align with the specific ethnic and ra cial prejudices frequently explored in social-realist drama.

In his online artist’s statement, Mal akhow writes: “I often find myself hes itant to claim a seat at any particular cultural table. Similarly, I find myself struggling to define what it means to

be a part of the queer community, as I don’t feel an affinity with, and often feel at odds with stereotypical ‘white gay male culture.’”

When reading gay, black and La tino literature during his own high school and college years (Swarth more College and the theater educa tion Masters program at Emerson), Malakhow, now 38, says “I always found myself doing empathy acro batics” in order to connect with the characters’ life experiences.

Ultimately, this led to Malakhow’s desire to write about what he refers to as “universal identity”: common denominators shared both by people

who might use identity politics to separate themselves and also those, like the playwright himself, who find themselves perpetually outside of tribal communities.

“The germ of ‘A Picture of Two Boys,’” Malakhow explains, was to explore the relationship of two people who probably might otherwise have never found each other but forged a friendship through their shared out siderness.

Malakhow is passionate about his work as a teacher and writes alongside his classroom duties. Several of his works in progress, like this show –his professional debut, developed over seven years– reflects the lives of young people who are sometimes unable to effectively articulate the psychological turmoil they are experiencing.

“One of the things I love about playwriting,” he explains, “is that un like in a novel, where characters’ in ternal thoughts are often played out in prose, there’s an incongruence be tween what’s being felt and what’s be ing said in the dialogue. Partly due to growing up with a sense of otherness, I think of myself as a listener. I try to hear both how people communicateand fail to communicate -with their words.”t

‘A Picture of Two Boys,’ through Nov. 27. $25-$65. New Conservatory Theatre Center. 25 Van Ness Ave. (415) 861-8972 www.nctcsf.org

‘The People We Hate at the Wedding’

by Gregg Shapiro

Based on the novel by gay writer Grant Ginder, the best way to de scribe the painfully unfunny movie version of “The People We Hate at the

seating 9:45pm)

seating

Wednesday 8am (last seating 9:45pm)

Thursday 8am

Open 24 Hours

Friday

Open 24 Hours

Saturday

Open 24 Hours

Sunday 7am (last seating 9:45pm)

Wedding” is to say that it’s one of those movies that makes you feel less horri ble about your own family. Not having read the book, it’s difficult to say how faithful Wendy Molyneux and Lizzie Molyneux-Longlin’s adapted screen

play is to the source material. One thing that can be said with certainty is that it’s a comedy lacking in laughs, unless you consider vomit to be funny.

The hated people of the title are the three lead characters; mother Donna (Allison Janney, whose comedic gifts are wasted here), daughter Alice (Kris ten Bell), and gay son Paul (out actor Ben Platt). The wedding is that of Elo ise (Cynthia Addai-Robinson), Don na’s daughter from her first marriage to serial cheater Henrique (Isaach De Bankolé).

Now a widower living in Indianap olis, Donna has a strained relationship with Alice, an architect who works as an assistant (and side piece) to mar ried tech wizard Jonathan (Jorma Taccone). Paul, who works at a ther apy center run by self-help guru Dr. Goulding (Tony Goldwyn) has been avoiding Donna for years because he’s been led to believe that she disap proves of him being gay.

Paul is also in a relationship with the unpleasant Dominic (out actor Karan Soni), who spends much of the movie trying to convince Paul to have a three-way. Donna’s best maternal relationship may be with Eloise, and that’s probably because she lives thou sands of miles away in London.

After much back and forth, the ugly Americans agree to attend the wedding

of Eloise and Ollie (John Macmillan). Right away there are complications. Donna takes a few gummies and is practically unable to function during her travels. Alice is depressed because Jonathan keeps saying he’ll join her in London and then backs out repeatedly because of his wife Marissa (Lizzy Ca plan) and new baby. Fortunately, she meets hot Dennis (Dustin Milligan) who distracts her from her situation.

Meanwhile, the devious Dominic rearranges his and Paul’s accommo dations so that they can stay with his former Ph.D. professor Alcott (Julian Ovenden), increasing the chances for a three-way.

If you don’t already hate these peo ple by this point, there’s still plenty of time to work up to that emotion, as each of them goes out of their way to make complete asses of themselves. Alice spends a great deal of time drunk and then puking. Donna and Henrique hook up, even though he hasn’t stopped his Casanova ways. Paul and Dominic break up (at least one good thing happens). Even Eloise, who has her own set of complicated issues, comes close to earning the dis tinction of being hated.

With a guest list like this, you’d be better off not RSVPing to this wed ding. Rating: Dt

Nick Malakhow’s stirring professional debut

“I have tasted freedom. I will not give up that which I have tasted.”

—Harvey Milk

Leon Jones and Tim Garcia in ‘A Picture of Two Boys.’

Jenni Chapman Photography Playwright Nicholas Malakhow

Kristen Bell, Allison Janney and Ben Platt are ‘The People We Hate at the Wedding’

Halloween in the Castro

photos by Steven Underhill