September 7, 2023 edition of the Bay Area Reporter

John Ferrannini

San Francisco Mayor London Breed shares a joke during the news conference announcing plans to relocate The Stud LGBTQ bar to a site on Folsom Street.

The Stud LGBTQ bar needs to raise $500K for reopening

by John Ferrannini

Acampaign to raise half-a-million dollars to reopen The Stud has already brought in $27,000. If the sum total is raised in the next three months, a new location could open “by the end of winter,” a coowner told the Bay Area Reporter.

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Oakland unifies for one Pride celebration this weekend

by John Ferrannini

As San Francisco’s Castro neighborhood awaits new bar and nightclub openings, Oakland is already experiencing a renaissance of sorts in its LGBTQ scene. It will be on full display when the East Bay city welcomes visitors from around the Bay Area and beyond for its Pride festivities this weekend.

“It’s a challenge for all LGBTQ venues right now,” said Sean Sullivan, a gay man who is the longtime co-owner of the Port Bar and now co-owner of Fluid 510, which opened earlier this year. “Oakland added several in the last year, and it’s the more, the merrier and more places for people to go to. I can say, from my own side, we’ll be celebrating Pride all weekend long.”

Oakland Pride is back as one celebration on one weekend – in 2022 there’d been the regular Oakland Pride on Labor Day weekend, followed by Pridefest Oakland the following weekend. The latter was spearheaded the year before by Sullivan and others after Oakland Pride abruptly canceled its 2021 event just weeks before it had been planned.

Emails sent to the Bay Area Reporter at that time showed an organization in disarray. Sullivan told the B.A.R. that things have improved to the point where Pridefest and Pride could move forward as one.

B.A.R.’s Besties balloting begins

by Cynthia Laird

It’s time for Bay Area Reporter readers to cast their ballots for the LGBTQ newspaper’s annual Best of the Bay contest.

Readers can choose their favorite people, places, and things in the Bay Area in several categories. People can vote through midnight October 1.

Categories include Arts and Culture, Community, Nightlife, Nightlife Venues and Events, Dining, Services and Shopping, and Weddings and Destinations.

The best drag queen category includes 34 candidates, including San Francisco drag laureate D’Arcy Drollinger, as well as Peaches Christ, Grace Towers, Holotta Tymes, and Juanita MORE! There is also the drag king category that features 15 contestants such as Alex U. Inn, Fudgie Frottage, and Madd Dogg 20/20.

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“In the spirit of unity we really wanted to come together to do one event,” Sullivan said. “Our community has been attacked across this country, with over 500 anti-LGBTQ bills being put forth, and with crimes against trans people and violence against LGBT people so high.”

Indeed, hate crimes against gay men, lesbians, and trans people all rose last year in California, according to state data announced by Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office in June.

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CA schools czar Thurmond fights anti-LGBTQ policies

by Matthew S. Bajko

With conservative-led school boards throughout California adopting policies he considers harmful for LGBTQ students, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond has become a vocal advocate for protecting their rights to privacy and a safe learning environment. In recent months he has shown up at school board meetings and news conferences to denounce the growing attacks against LGBTQ youth.

Thurmond, a straight ally and former state legislator from the East Bay, is contending with how to counter the anti-LGBTQ school policies being championed under the banner of parental rights by a host of groups across the state. They run the gamut from banning books by LGBTQ authors or textbooks covering LGBTQ subjects to requiring that school administrators out transgender and nonbinary students to their parents without their consent.

His office issued guidance to school districts explaining that it believes, based on legal rulings, students have a right to privacy as it relates to their sexual orientation and gender identity. He convened a hearing this summer to ensure textbook publishers are adhering to state laws requiring schools teach about LGBTQ history by producing classroom materials inclusive of often-underrepresented groups.

He issued a joint letter dated June 1 along with Governor Gavin Newsom and Attorney General

Rob Bonta to school leaders laying out why it is unconstitutional to remove books from school libraries. And to mark the start of Pride Month that day, Thurmond gathered with his staff, fellow elected officials and LGBTQ advocates to raise the Progress Pride flag for the first time at the headquarters of the California Department of Education in Sacramento.

Meanwhile, Thurmond has worked with gay Assemblymember Corey Jackson, Ph.D. (D-Perris) to craft legislation aimed at ensuring school districts are not removing certain books from classrooms or

libraries because they address such topics as race or sexual orientation. His office launched an investigation of the Temecula Valley Unified School District in Riverside County after its school board rejected a social studies textbook because it included supplemental information about the late gay San Francisco supervisor and civil rights leader Harvey Milk. (Faced with a steep fiscal penalty threatened by Newsom, the board members later reversed course.)

“We are not trying to take away local control or the rights of parents. We are just saying that banning books has a negative effect on our kids, especially if someone is trying to ban books in order to discriminate against LGBTQ students or students of color,” said Thurmond in a recent video interview with the Bay Area Reporter.

In July, at the behest of LGBTQ students, Thurmond showed up at a meeting of the Chino Valley Unified School District board to speak out against its adopting a forced outing policy. His being ejected from the meeting generated wide media coverage about the issue, while Bonta is now suing the school district over the policy. (A judge issued a temporary restraining order against the district Wednesday.)

“We know a forced outing policy is dangerous for our students,” said Thurmond, pointing to the fact that many youth end up homeless because their parents kicked them out of their home after learning they were LGBTQ.

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SLO, PS getaways

LGBTQ Colombia Lavender Tube

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond will be honored by the East Bay Stonewall Democratic Club at its Pride Breakfast.

Courtesy CA Dept.

The Blue Shield contingent took part in last year’s Oakland Pride parade. This year’s event is Sunday, September 10.

Jane Philomen Cleland

Pansy tattoo grows into song

SF health officials see uptick in mpox cases

by John Ferrannini

The San Francisco Department of Public Health issued a health advisory about mpox August 30 after seeing an uptick in cases among residents. It was prompted by reports of seven cases of the disease among city residents in the past five weeks.

“This is an increase from an average of one case per month from January to June 2023,” noted local health officials.

The news comes as the city’s LGBTQ community is gearing up for the annual Folsom Street Fair Sunday, September 24. Thousands of attendees are expected at this year’s fetish event and related parties held over that weekend of the month.

Federal officials warned in the spring ahead of the annual LGBTQ celebrations held during Pride Month in June and throughout the summer about a potential resurgence of the virus, as the Bay Area Reporter reported at the time.

As the B.A.R. reported in June, Los Angeles public health officials reported six new cases in a week after Pride festivities in LA and the LGBTQ enclave of West Hollywood in the first two weeks of that month.

San Francisco’s health department reports that there have been 855 total mpox cases in the city since the outbreak began in spring of 2022. It has mostly affected gay and bisexual men and their sexual partners.

According to the latest case counts for

the city, there were two reported mpox cases August 16. One mpox case was reported on August 15, 10, 6, 1, and July 28.

The health department encouraged people to get vaccinated if they have not already done so.

“The Jynneos vaccine is widely available across San Francisco. Health systems, community clinics such as the San Francisco AIDS Foundation’s Strut clinic, and SFDPH-affiliated sites, including our SF City Clinic, continue to offer vaccines, tests and other mpox resources,” DPH stated. “The mpox vaccine decreases the risk of mpox illness and if someone does get mpox, may reduce illness severity and risk of hospitalization.”

The AIDS foundation continues to promote mpox vaccination via its Douchie mascot and has a dedicated website with information about how to get vaxxed. As it noted in an August 4 newsletter, “Douchie’s here to remind you to get vaccinated for mpox! The vaccine is safe and effective, with two doses providing the best protection.”

While anyone who wants protection from mpox infection may seek a vaccine, DPH strongly recommends and encourages two-dose vaccination for all people living with HIV, anyone taking or eligible to take HIV PrEP, and all men, trans people, and nonbinary people who have sex with men, trans people, or nonbinary people. These groups are likely to be among those most affected if mpox cases were to increase again in San Francisco, the department noted.

The health advisory also makes six recommendations of San Francisco clinicians: maintaining awareness of what lesions look like (https://www.cdc.gov/ poxvirus/mpox/clinicians/clinical-recognition.html), strongly recommending and administering the vaccine, and counseling patients on risk reduction by using condoms and reducing one’s total number of different sexual partners.

A Applications and more info available on DAHLIA San Francisco Housing Portal: housing sfgov org

T The applications deadline is September 28th, 2023 at 5PM Applications must be submitted online at housing.sfgov.org from September 7 to September 28, 2023. For assistance, contact one of the housing counseling agencies listed at housing.sfgov.org/housing-counselors

This property has some units with special features for mobility impaired or sensory impaired households. Several preferences apply; learn more at housing.sfgov.org Income and other restrictions apply. Section 8 welcome. Equal Housing Opportunity.

Other recommendations include talking about mpox risk assessment and vaccination status in all sexual health visits for men, trans, and nonbinary people; providing mpox vaccine as part of a comprehensive package that includes discussion of PrEP, and other HIV and sexually transmitted infection-related issues; and referring those who’ve contracted the mpox virus to take part in the STOMP Trial, which is “a national randomized controlled trial on the efficacy and safety of tecovirimat (TPOXX).”

“Persons with severe disease will be prescribed TPOXX and persons with

Besties

From page 1

In the Community category, readers can choose their favorite LGBTQ community center, LGBTQ nonprofits, and LGBTQ fundraiser. New this year is a category for San Francisco’s three LGBTQ cultural districts – the Castro LGBTQ Cultural District, the Leather

Stud bar

From page 1

That new location is at 1123-1125 Folsom Street, just blocks from where the iconic nightclub was located before it was forced to shutter in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Back in 2020, the Stud Collective, which since 2016 has owned what had been San Francisco’s oldest continuously-operating LGBTQ bar, had claimed it would be reopening at some point. At a news conference September 5 in front of the new space, for which it has signed a lease, the co-owners got to say “told ya so.”

“South of Market has been really, really impacted by the pandemic –and let’s be real, we’ve always struggled a bit,” said Honey Mahogany, a Black, queer trans member of the collective who is also a former candidate for District 6 supervisor and current chair of the San Francisco Democratic Party. “But San Francisco is where our emblem is the phoenix.”

Rebirth was also the focus of Mayor London Breed’s remarks. She has been trying to boost San Francisco in spite of a narrative of a city on the decline and out of control due to public safety issues and an exodus of companies from downtown.

“We don’t just throw up our hands,” Breed said. “We rebuild.”

Breed paid tribute to The Stud’s long history. It opened in 1966 and was home of Trannyshack (later Mother), the long-running drag show spearheaded by the late Heklina.

The San Francisco Department of Public Health had an informational booth at the 2022 Up Your Alley street fair.

mild to moderate disease will be randomized to either TPOXX or placebo,” the advisory states. TPOXX can be prescribed through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Two doses of the Jynneos vaccine, given about a month apart, provide the best protection against mpox, health officials note. Over 50,000 doses of the mpox vaccine were distributed last year in San Francisco, DPH stated, covering 42% of all people living with HIV in the city and 65% of people who had received PrEP at San Francisco City Clinic prior to June 2022.

For information on the mpox vaccine, go to sf.gov/information/mpoxvaccine.  t

& LGBTQ Cultural District, and the Transgender District.

The Besties issue will be published October 26. Everyone who casts a ballot – either online or mail-in (this week the ballot is on pages 10-11) – is eligible to win $500 in a random drawing.

To complete the ballot online, go to www.surveymonkey.com/r/besties2023. The survey should take between 10-15 minutes. t

“It wasn’t just about partying,” Breed said. “It was about being with friends and family.”

The city’s First Year Free program, created by the supervisors and the mayor earlier this year, waives business registration, application, inspection, one-time fees, and initial license fees for new businesses for the first year. Breed said The Stud would be participating in this program.

Stud Collective member Nate Allbee told the B.A.R. that the $500,000 is for a complete remodel of the space – “a stage, green room, dance floor, and DJ booth,” he said – as well as to buy-out the business currently there, the Trademark Sports Bar. According to its website, it closed in April to become the venue for a pop-up restaurant based on the 1980s NBC sitcom “The Golden Girls” and is now home to a Halloween-themed pop up.

Mahogany, who hosted her 2022 supervisor campaign election night party at Trademark, told the B.A.R. the business had closed. Its owners could not be reached for comment.

Allbee said the sooner fundraising is completed, the better: if they have the money within three months, The Stud could be open by the end of winter 2024, he said.

Rachel Ryan, the collective’s president, said that the new venue being leased is larger and has twice as many bathrooms as its last location at 399 Ninth Street.

“Anyone who got stuck in the bathroom bottleneck will rejoice,” Ryan said.

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We stand with the LGBTQ+ community in health, harmony, and happiness.

Everyone deserves access to inclusive and affirming care, no matter who they love or how they identify. We see you — and celebrate you — for all that is you.

Happy Oakland Pride from all of us at Kaiser Permanente.

The world has changed

by Gwendolyn Ann Smith

Ihadthe best of intentions.

I had planned to focus purely on a quartet of aging rock stars, and their anti-trans statements, made all the odder by the gender-transgressive history of many of them.

You see, Kiss singer-guitarist Paul Stanley decided in May to share his deep thoughts on gender identity. Little did he know he would be the first to bring transphobia to the 1970s rocker set.

At the time, he likened minors struggling with their gender identity to merely “playing dress up” and that it would all lead to a “sad and dangerous fad.” Stanley later walked back his statement, claiming his words weren’t clear, and that he “support[s] those struggling with their sexual identity.”

Dee Snider, the frontman of Twisted Sister, leapt in, adding, “You know what? There was a time where I ‘felt pretty’ too. Glad my parents didn’t jump to any rash conclusions!” As a result of this, San Francisco Pride disinvited Snider from this year’s celebration, after having planned to have him sing the band’s biggest hit, “We’re Not Gonna Take It,” from the main stage, as the Bay Area Reporter and multiple outlets reported.

Kiss guitarist Paul Stanley is one of several aging rockers who have issued anti-trans comments.

Snider, too, has backtracked, sort of, saying “I, Dee Snider, will continue to support the Transgender community and their rights even if they reject me and moving forward, I am open to educating myself so I can be a better ally.”

I had assumed that this trend had died down before Pride, but more recently, Alice Cooper joined the fray, going much further than his rock n’ roll compatriots.

“I’m understanding that there are cases of transgender, but I’m afraid that it’s also a fad and I’m afraid there’s a lot of people claiming to be this just because they want to be that,” Cooper said in an interview with Stereogum.

As a result, Cooper lost a makeup collaboration with Vampire Cosmetics, a woman-owned, LGBTQ-friendly cosmetics brand.

There have been others as well. Last month, rock guitarist Carlos Santana went on an anti-trans rant at a concert. Video of his comments showed him saying that transgender people “should stay in the closet.” The San Francisco Chronicle reported that Santana issued an apology that was shared with the paper but then deleted it from his Facebook page and replaced it with a cryptic poem.

My intentions were to just talk about these aging rockers, who have used their platform to spread misinformation about transgender and nonbinary people’s lives. But, in the midst of all this, a longtime friend of mine shared much the same on Facebook.

Now, unlike the above-mentioned celebs, my friend is not a household name. He’s just someone I met three decades ago, who was there when I was in the process of my transition. He has always been a gentleman and was an ardent supporter of me when I came out. His support has always meant the world to me.

He does have a tendency to repost a lot of the usual sorts of things one might find on Facebook. A lot of nostalgic memes about “the good old days,” when we all drank water that flowed through lead pipes and weren’t glued to our cellphones.

Now I personally find those types of posts a bit baffling. Yes, sure, many of us did survive those days – but not all of us did. More might sur vive now thanks to, oh, better safety regulations. And while I may not have had a cell phone back then, I surely had a Game Boy and, long before that, Mattel handheld games. The meme he shared the other day was an older one, complaining about millennials when people still called them “Generation Y,” but the meme itself wasn’t the issue. Above it, my friend had noted that at least the

millennials “had no problems figuring out what gender they were, what bathrooms to use.”

This was an icy dagger. A friend, who was there when I was “figuring out what gender I was,” and having to deal with the politics around even a single-sex stall at work, making a statement this broad was crushing.

Now, I’m sure he didn’t think that when he made that statement he was including me. After all, I’m his age, the age that may have listened to Alice Cooper, Kiss, and, yes, Twisted Sister. And yet, this was still very much about people just like me, who are now much more visible than I was all those years ago.

I realized that my friend has a lot in common with those old rock stars. Everyone is busy recalling a different world. We knew what the world was then, and now things are changing. One of those differences is in trans lives. We’re no longer a quiet minority, punctuated by experiences with friends and close family. Now, we hear about trans people in a much wider way, and it is easy to lose sight that everyone who is trans is going through these same experiences.

More than that, there are a great many invested in scapegoating transgender people right now, portraying us as either sinister predators or witless victims of outside forces, the “transgender lobby,” or “big Pharma” or what have you.

Some of those who are scapegoating us are also more than happy to see old rock-and-rollers – and longtime friends – get caught up in it all, and not quite realize what they may be saying.

So I am going to have some compassion for Stanley, Snider, Cooper, and Santana – as well as my friend. They, too, have been played by falsehoods and sold lies about transgender lives. Nostalgia can be a trap, especially when it causes you to lose sight of what’s really going on.

I hope they can escape that trap and look at things with fresh eyes. t

Gwen Smith may lose a dear friend over this column. You’ll find her at www.gwensmith.com.

<< Stud bar

From page 2

Even if The Stud wasn’t all about partying, that was a pretty important part.

“I came here ready to party,” Breed said, joking about the news conference’s 10 a.m. start time.

“I figured it was 10 o’clock at night,” she quipped. “I had my outfit ready.”

D’Arcy Drollinger, owner of the nearby SOMA nightclub Oasis and the city’s first and current drag laureate, as well as a longtime friend of Heklina’s, also paid tribute to history.

Drollinger said the announcement made for a “wonderful, exciting day.”

“I cut my teeth doing drag at The Stud, so it’s really important to me,” Drollinger said. “I felt like we were losing a part of San Francisco and part of SOMA’s history.”

Among those who’d mentioned partying at the old Stud were gay political leaders state Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) and District 6 Supervisor Matt Dorsey.

Wiener said The Stud was “personal” for him.

“I moved here in 1997 as a young gay guy trying to find community,” Wiener said. “Within months, I was at The Stud. It was the first place I saw Heklina on a Tuesday night. We see the tenacity of the SOMA community and the queer community saying we’re not going anywhere.”

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Christine Smith

Pansy tattoo effort blooms a song

by Matthew S. Bajko

An anthem, of sorts, for the transgender community, and queer people in general, is blooming in an East Bay music studio with help from a former Oakland musician and songwriter now living in Ohio. It is an outgrowth of local tattoo artist Cedre Csillagi’s A Thousand Pansies initiative.

Csillagi, who is nonbinary, is aiming to have 1,000 people sport a special pansy tattoo that they designed in response to the nationwide legislative assault on LGBTQ rights, especially discriminatory laws aimed at transgender individuals. With 15 tattoo artists in several states assisting Csillagi in inking people with the floral tattoo, it can be found now on more than 100 bodies. They reached that mark in late July and, as of August 31, had hit pansy tattoo number 111.

“Reaching 100 was a big deal,” Csillagi, 45, who co-owns Diving Swallow Tattoo in Oakland, recently told the Bay Area Reporter. “Considering it will be a year since I launched it as of October, I am just proud of it.”

As the B.A.R. noted in a story last November, people can sign up for a session with Csillagi or one of the other tattoo artists to get the pansy tattoo by donating $500 directly to The Knights and Orchids Society, a Blackled LGBTQ services provider based in Selma, Alabama. The fundraising effort recently reached its own milestone, with more than $50,000 now being donated to the TKO Society, which is in the process of buying the building that houses it.

The nonprofit would also like to acquire the property it uses for its Montgomery office. It recently shared floor plans for the Selma location with Csillagi, who hopes one day to visit the agency.

“It is incredibly beautiful. I am just

really happy for the TKOS,” they said. “I would love to tattoo some of them, the people who work at TKOS on staff.”

Turning to song

When tattooing Nino Moschella, the owner of recording studio Bird & Egg in Richmond, California, April 19 with a different tattoo design on his knee, Csillagi brought up that they had been talking with musician Katie Cash about creating a song for the pansy tattoo initiative and suggested he produce it. Moschella, a straight ally who lives in Oakland, offered to donate studio time if Cash needed a place to record.

Within minutes they had group texted Cash along with fellow Oakland residents music producer Julie Wolf and musician Vicky Randle, forming what Csillagi jokingly referred to as the A Thousand Pansies Band.

“I was blown away,” recalled Moschella, 47, whose spouse, Mia Birdsong, has been a client of Csillagi’s for roughly 15 years and now sports one of the pansy tattoos.

Moschella, for years, has been

friends and a collaborator with Wolf, 57, who is queer. In addition to being music producers, the two are both musicians and song composers.

“We are besties,” said Wolf, who also is a music director and educator.

They also have long been friends and collaborators with Randle, 68, who has been in the all-queer-dyke band Skip the Needle Together the last 10 years with Cash. The close bonds between all those involved makes working on the new song particularly special for Cash.

“I was really honored that Cedre asked,” said Cash, 45, a butch dyke who also lives in Oakland. “It was a really easy yes because of that and making music with my friends. I feel honored to play music with, and have such a high level of respect for, all the musicians involved.”

As they began to work on a song for the pansy initiative, they landed on the idea of finding one’s place in the world and came up with the title “Already Home” for it. It speaks to the basic universal need everyone has of finding community and a place that feels

like you’re home, explained Randle, who found such belonging from her chosen family as opposed to her biological family.

“We all experience that no matter where we come from,” she said. “Some of us are lucky to find that community, to find a place.”

For Cash, she was inspired by her own experiences of being a female musician with few role models to turn to and not adhering to the gender norms she was expected to conform to as a little girl. In photos taken during her youth, “I look like a doll,” she said.

“It is so opposite of who I am in terms of how I visually identify,” added Cash. “For me, it is just so important for people to be able to live within who they truly are and to be as free as possible within doing that.”

The song’s title “resonates with me in the sense everything I need is already within me and everything I am, I am born with,” explained Cash about going through the process to discover one’s true self. “I am already home. I don’t need to seek far and wide, what we have is sort of like a heart place. Who we are is within us and we don’t need to seek outside of ourselves for that truth.”

The quartet eventually reached out to songwriter and musician DillBilly, who used to live in Oakland but now resides in Ohio outside of Columbus. Moschella and Wolf had worked with them on their own record and sought their help with the lyrics for the song.

“What is going on right now in the world around anti-trans legislation certainly has been very much a big part of my thoughts and struggles,” said DillBilly, 41, who is trans, nonbinary, and queer.

From afar, DillBilly provided feedback about the song’s melody and has been fleshing out the lyrics, which speak to the fact that trans and nonbinary people have long existed in the world.

“Some of what the project is saying is that I think the world has a shortterm memory problem that queer, trans, nonbinary people are somehow new and some sort of fad. But we have always been here,” Dillbilly told the B.A.R. in a recent phone interview. “This project lined up with what I live every day as a queer, trans, nonbinary person, and I wanted to be part of that.”

The derogatory remarks trans people hear said about them can result in them feeling lost, noted Dillbilly. The song is a counterpoint to that discourse.

“I think the message of the song is trying to counter what the world is telling us over and over again, and reminding myself as the person singing the song, and hopefully others, there is already a home for us in our body,” they said. “However we choose to express that, our identity as queer trans people is not new and is not going anywhere. We have always existed.”

Dillbilly had put work on the song on hold for a little while due to the birth in July of their baby, Selah, with their partner, Blythe. On Labor Day the four local members of the song-producing team gathered at Bird & Egg to begin laying down the track for “Already Home.” The final version of the music will then be sent to DillBilly so they can record the lead lyrics for the song, with the aim to release the finished version this fall.

It is a mashup of both folk music and rock spirituals with some of Cash’s punk rock sensibilities rolled in. Asked to define the musical genre it falls into, Wolf gave it a brand new name of “pansy.”

Cash told the B.A.R. they are already thinking about doing a punk version of “Already Home” and per-

See page 12 >>

Musicians and producers each show their pansy tattoos, including, from left, Julie Wolf, Katie Cash, Vicky Randle, and Nino Moschella.

Courtesy Cedre Csillagi

Volume 53, Number 36

September 7-13, 2023

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PUBLISHER

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Engaging the public in helping others

T his week San Francisco Mayor London

Breed and the city’s Department of Emergency Management unveiled a new public education campaign about how to help people in crisis. This is a good step, especially as drug overdose deaths remain at crisis levels. Too many times people may see someone on the street who is experiencing a crisis and not know what to do. This, of course, is in addition to other things the city is doing, such as specialized street response teams that serve as alternatives to law enforcement and reduce the need for a police response to people experiencing a behavioral health crisis.

It’s all part of the new public education component for the city’s Coordinated Street Response Program. According to a news release from the mayor’s office, it will help the community understand what to do, who to call, and what happens when San Francisco responds to people experiencing a crisis on the streets.

“We want San Franciscans to know that it is OK to call when you see someone experiencing a crisis on the streets,” stated DEM Executive Director Mary Ellen Carroll.

“If you are worried about someone’s safety, call 911 for emergencies and one of our highly trained dispatchers will send the right help. For urgent but non-emergency situations, contact 311 to get connected to city services and info.”

It may seem simple, but many residents are concerned that if they call 911, police will respond when perhaps an alternative to law enforcement is more appropriate. The city states that 911 should be called for crime, fire, overdoses, medical emergencies, and mental health crises. For other cases, 311 should be utilized for support for unhoused people, mo-

bility and access issues, encampments, street or sidewalk cleaning, food security problems, debris pickup and syringes and hazardous waste.

In light of our recent editorial on cityapproved funding for three Wellness Hubs (which are not yet up and running), the public awareness campaign adds another layer of assistance for people on the streets.

It’s in addition to the Street Crisis Response Teams, which have been operating since November 2020; the Bridge and Engagement Services Team Neighborhoods, which provides rapid, trauma-informed behavioral health assessments and interventions; the Street Overdose Response Team and Post Overdose Engagement Team; and the Homeless Engagement Assistance Response Team. Most of these have responded to thousands of calls that previously had been addressed by law enforcement, according to the mayor’s office. That’s a positive development.

Dr. Grant Colfax, a gay man who is director of health at the Department of Public Health,

stated that the public education campaign will be a benefit to those in need. “We want our residents to know what to do when they see a person in crisis on our streets and to be aware of the vital services provided through our multidepartment Coordinated Street Response Program,” he stated. “We want people to know that a simple call just might get someone on the road to recovery.”

The mayor’s office noted that the public education campaign was developed with the help of service providers and advocacy groups. The city then worked with residents, including seniors, youth, people with disabilities, merchants, and neighborhood groups. People who speak languages other than English were also consulted.

Look for posters, bus ads, and digital ads as the new campaign rolls out. As Breed stated, “It is vital that the community understands how and when to call 911 and 311 for help, and that they feel empowered to do so.”

There’s a related development as well: Narcan, the opioid overdose treatment, is now available to buy without a prescription. The federal Food and Drug Administration approved it for over-the-counter sale in March. While harm reduction advocates and agencies have provided the treatment for some time, the news this week that anyone can purchase the nasal spray may also help prevent overdose deaths. KRONTV reported Tuesday that it costs less than $50 – and while insurance may or may not cover it (a state bill would require insurers to cover the cost, but that is pending in the Legislature), it’s an option some people may want to utilize.

The new public education campaign is just one more way for residents to help each other. Instead of vilifying people on the street through videos on social media, people should make those calls for assistance.t

Californians should not take the repeal of Prop 8 for granted

by Lex Lazar

As a former first-time candidate for public office, I am always looking for the political signage that pops up on yard signs and billboards at the beginning of an election cycle, to gauge the interest of voters in a campaign or candidate. Over my recent birthday weekend while commuting on Interstate 80, I saw my first bumper sticker of this cycle reading, “Miss me yet? Trump 2024.”

Even with recent indictments and controversies former President Donald J. Trump seems poised to win the Republican primary in March, and make it to the November 2024 general election ballot.

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On the ballot next November is the “California Right to Marry and Repeal Proposition 8 Amendment.” A “yes” vote would support repealing Prop 8, which passed in 2008 and defined marriage as a union between one man and one woman in the California State Constitution. A “no” vote would keep the above definition in the state constitution.

You read that right. The state constitution in the most liberal state in America still reflects language that was upheld as unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2013, two years before the same court legalized same-sex marriage nationwide in Obergefell v. Hodges in 2015. (Golden State voters had approved Prop 8 in 2008, but it was the subject of a federal trial that found it to be unconstitutional.)

The problem now is that should Trump’s Supreme Court overturn Obergefell v. Hodges at some point in the future, marriage equality in California would be in jeopardy. (Trump nominated three conservative justices to the high court during his presidency, resulting in a 6-3 supermajority.) Thankfully, gay California lawmakers Assemblymember Evan Low (D-Cupertino) and state Senator Scott Wiener (DSan Francisco) worked hard this year to see Assembly Constitutional Amendment 5 approved by the Legislature to go before California voters next year.

Passage of ACA 5 would remove the “zombie” Prop 8 language from the state constitution.

If all this back and forth about same-sex marriage at the ballot box, and in the courts, sounds confusing, it is. Let’s take a quick trip back to 2004, in the “Rainbow Wayback Machine.” I was 25 years old and, in February of that year, I remember catching news reports of same-sex couples lining up around San Francisco City Hall because then-mayor Gavin Newsom, now the state’s governor, ordered city and county officials to ignore previous state statutes barring same-sex marriage and issue licenses to same-

sex couples. The county clerk’s office began marrying same-sex couples, and the scenes of pure love and happiness made me optimistic that outdated opinions on homosexuality were becoming a thing of the past, and also hopeful that I, too, could fall in love in the future and have that union legally recognized.

The backlash didn’t take long however. Through Lockyer v. City and County of San Francisco, the California Supreme Court ordered San Francisco to stop performing same-sex marriages and later ultimately voided all the marriages on August 12, 2004. Fast-forward to May 2008 when the California Supreme Court ruled that the state’s ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional. The decision went into effect on June 16, 2008, at 5:01 p.m. and, promptly, the same energy from San Francisco in 2004 was permeating through courthouses across California. Just a few months later, Prop 8 was passed with 52% of the vote, banning same-sex marriage statewide. Although a federal appeals court deemed Prop 8 unconstitutional in 2010, which the U.S. Supreme Court let stand, the only way to overturn a decision made by the voters of California is to bring it back before voters.

Throughout this period, it was hard for me to ignore that my right to a legally recognized union with the man I have yet to meet was never certain and could be left to the whims of judges or voters. After dropping out of California State University, Los Angeles in the late 1990s, I had been working retail management jobs. This helter-skelter debate on same-sex marriage influenced me to complete

my college education with a focus on policy and political science. I volunteered with my local chapter of the No on Proposition 8 campaign, which was ultimately unsuccessful. The Yes on 8 campaign used slogans like “Restore Marriage” and images of a cartoon nuclear family, which successfully confused just enough voters for the measure to pass. Conservative activists from the religious right also mobilized with volunteers and donations to pass Prop 8.

Although a majority of voters in 2023 approve of same-sex marriage, Californians should not take the repeal of Prop 8 for granted. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a return of social policies pushed by the religious right. There have been efforts to ban books and critical race theory in some school districts. The state Republican Party and some pastors in California have used the opposition to mask mandates, for reasons such as personal freedom or religious beliefs, to elect very conservative school board members in places like Temecula. The school board there recently rejected a social studies curriculum that featured a half-page biography of the late Supervisor Harvey Milk, an action denounced by State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond and Newsom. Just like the “Miss me yet?” Trump bumper sticker should remind us that his voters are energized to take to the polls next March, we should energize the LGBTQ+ community and our allies to repeal Prop 8 in November 2024.

Until recently, I was a candidate for Assembly District 6 in the Sacramento area. The recent unexpected death of my older brother led me to decide September 5 to close my campaign to spend time with my family. There are currently four other LGBTQ candidates in that Assembly race, including the president of the Sacramento chapter of the Log Cabin Republicans. The nature of the race is historic, and as it draws more attention, I call on all the candidates to stand strong in unison in support of the repeal of Prop 8. I don’t think I’ve met the man I want to “put a ring on” yet but, if I do, it would be another twist of fate for the right to marry him to be stripped away by narrow-minded conservatives once again. t

Lex Lazar is a former aide to San Francisco Mayor London Breed and Congressmember Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco). He now works in the tech sector.

Lex Lazar

Courtesy Lex Lazar

Mayor London Breed has announced a public education campaign to inform people how to help those in crisis.

John Ferrannini

In US Senate race, Lee banks on LGBTQ support

by Matthew S. Bajko

As she crisscrosses the state vying to succeed retiring U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-California) next year, Congressmember Barbara Lee (D-Oakland) is banking on the support of LGBTQ voters to help her survive the March primary and advance to the November ballot. In terms of her record fighting for LGBTQ rights over her 24 years serving in the House, Lee argues it pales in comparison to her opponents in the race. She co-founded the Equality Caucus in Congress and continues to serve as one of its vice chairs. As an appropriator Lee has been a tireless advocate for HIV and AIDS funding, especially for minority communities disproportionately impacted by the diseases.

She worked with former President George W. Bush to establish the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, known as PEPFAR, to address the epidemic globally and is now fighting for its renewal this year. She also pushed through a change in federal law during the Obama administration to allow people living with HIV to be organ donors for one another.

This week, President Joe Biden nominated Lee to serve as the U.S. representative to the 78th Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations. If confirmed it will be her eighth time serving in the post and give Lee a global platform to continue advocating on behalf of LGBTQ individuals.

“I think it is important as a candidate to communicate what I have done. When no one else led on LGBTQ-plus community issues, I did and will do so all my life,” said Lee, 77, during a recent phone interview with the Bay Area Reporter.

Her being a straight ally is rooted in Lee’s childhood growing up in El Paso, Texas. There, one of her mother’s best friends was a lesbian.

“My mother always taught us we better not make any distinction between her life, how she loved, and what she did. This was her personal, private business,” recalled Lee. “As a child my mom taught us to treat people with equality no matter their backgrounds or who they love. I did not come to this recently; it has always been a part of my life.”

As a high school student, having moved to San Fernando, California, Lee worked with the local chapter of the NAACP to integrate her school’s cheerleading squad. The 15-yearold became the first Black female cheerleader at San Fernando High School.

“The NAACP helped me change the rules of the game,” said Lee. “We fought and helped to dismantle that process.”

It is a chapter in her life many voters outside of the Bay Area may not be aware of about Lee, having never before been asked to cast a ballot for her candidacy. It is one she now highlights due to finding herself competing against two well-known Democratic House members from Southern California, Congressmembers Adam Schiff of Los Angeles and Katie Porter of Irvine.

It is partly why Lee expresses confidence in being able to attract a winning margin in the primary race. With a fourth Democratic candidate, Silicon Valley executive Lexi Reese, a relative unknown as a firsttime candidate, Lee told the B.A.R. she sees a path to making it to the fall contest.

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“Turn out in Northern California, and especially in my congressional district, has always been the highest in the state. We have to solidify my votes in Northern California, and I believe I can take a large chunk of votes in Southern California and split the vote between the three other candidates,” said Lee, noting that the mayor of Irvine has endorsed her candidacy. “I may not win in Orange County but I have a huge amount of voters in Orange County who support me. We need to be strategic and make sure they get to know me.”

In order to do so, she is focused on a targeted media campaign and a strong ground game to get her name and message before voters. Lee makes no secret that she is likely to lack the financial resources as that of her opponents, having reported having a bit more than $1.4 million in cash on hand as of August 1.

“Communicating to voters and getting my voters to vote is key to this election,” said Lee. “California is a big state; it costs a lot of money to be on the air. I plan to use the resources people donate to me judicially and strategically.”

Pleased with PPIC polling showing her at 13% support – Porter came in at 19% and Schiff at 16% – Lee told the B.A.R. she is focused on her Senate bid when asked about speculation she could decide to seek reelection to her House seat. The filing deadline is in early December, and Lee has yet to endorse anyone seeking to succeed her next year.

“I am running for U.S. Senate,” said Lee, adding that she is “in the process of raising money. Let me tell you, I am gaining a lot of support throughout the state.”

Lee argued she doesn’t need to raise as much money as other candidates for the grassroots campaign she is running. The part of her strategy relying on in-person events will play out in Oakland this weekend when Lee plans to participate in the East Bay city’s annual Pride parade and celebration.

“I definitely intend to be there,”

Lee told the B.A.R. She is also focused on helping to push through a five-year reauthorization of PEPFAR out of the House this month. It has become embroiled in heated debates over abortion rights and the funding of the government led by conservative congressmembers, putting PEPFAR’s future in doubt.

“Only 25% of the members of Congress were here when we first authorized PEPFAR. Now we got MAGA extremist Republicans, some of whom want to blow it up, and some who don’t know about it,”

said Lee, expressing confidence in seeing the impasse be resolved. “It has always been bipartisan.”

It is one of the issues Lee pledged will remain a focus should she be elected to the Senate. It is also why Lee hopes to have the support of LGBTQ voters in the race.

“Look into my record and you will see what I have done and delivered in the past is a driver and indicator for what I will do in the Senate,” said Lee. “I will be making sure the LGBTQ-plus community has a seat at the table. That is my life’s work and I intend to do that in the Senate on behalf of everyone.”

Lazar ends Assembly bid

Due to the unexpected death of a sibling, Alex Lazar has ended his 2024 bid for the Assembly District 6 seat. Assemblymember Kevin McCarty (D-Sacramento) is departing as he is seeking to be elected his city’s mayor next year.

Lazar, a gay former aide to San Francisco Democrats Mayor London Breed and Congressmember Nancy Pelosi, had been vying to become one of the first out LGBTQ state legislators from the Sacramento region. But he announced Tuesday that he was dropping out of the race following the August 19 death of his older brother, Eleazar Rodriguez Jr. of Gilroy, California.

“Eleazar’s passing, among other factors, led me to the difficult decision to close the Lazar for Assembly 2024 committee in order to spend more time with my family,” stated Lazar.

As the Political Notebook noted in a July profile of Lazar, there are a number of out leaders seeking to succeed McCarty in the Legislature. Evan Minton, a onetime legislative aide for Assemblymember Phil Ting (D-San Francisco), is running to be the first transgender man elected to a legislative seat in California.

Also in the race are Carlos Marquez, a gay married man who formerly served as executive director of American Civil Liberties Union California Action; lesbian Sacramento Municipal Utility District Director Rosanna Herber, and Log Cabin Republicans Sacramento President Preston Romero. They are part of a crowded field of Sacramento leaders aiming to survive the March primary and be one of the two candidates advancing to the fall ballot. t

Political Notes, the notebook’s online companion, returns Monday, September 11. Keep abreast of the latest LGBTQ political news by following the Political Notebook on Threads @ https://www.threads.net/@matthewbajko.

Planning Ahead is Simple

Planning Ahead is Simple

The benefits are immense.

Planning Ahead is Simple

The benefits are immense.

When you plan your life celebration and lasting remembrance in advance, you can design every detail of your own unique memorial and provide your loved ones with true peace of mind. Planning ahead protects your loved ones from unnecessary stress and financial burden, allowing them to focus on what will matter most at that time—you.

The benefits are immense.

When you plan your life celebration and lasting remembrance in advance, you can design every detail of your own unique memorial and provide your loved ones with true peace of mind. Planning ahead protects your loved ones from unnecessary stress and financial burden, allowing them to focus on what will matter most at that time—you.

When you plan your life celebration and lasting remembrance in advance, you can design every detail of your own unique memorial and provide your loved ones with true peace of mind. Planning ahead protects your loved ones from unnecessary stress and financial burden, allowing them to focus on what will matter most at that time—you. Contact

Proudly

Proudly serving the LGBT Community.

Congressmember Barbara Lee rode in the Oakland Pride parade in 2019 and intends to be at Pride festivities this weekend.

Jane Philomen Cleland

Central CA city rolls out welcome mat for LGBTQs <<

by Heather Cassell

Looking for a change of scenery, I was excited to head to San Luis Obispo for a long weekend getaway earlier this summer.

When I arrived, I was surprised to find the idyllic Central California town is maturing from its farming roots. San Luis Obispo, called SLO by locals, is giving travelers more reasons to visit than ever before. The city has leaned into sustainability as well, having many climatefriendly policies.

Since my last visit six years ago, San Luis Obispo has gotten a little more sophisticated and a little more queer. At the time, in 2017, I could count the number of LGBTQ-owned businesses and fine dining on one hand. They included restaurants Red Luna and Novo that are owned by gay restaurateur Robin Covey and the gay-owned SLO Provisions,

which opened in 2015. It appeared that little had changed since my family trips from San Francisco and Santa Cruz to visit my cousins in San Luis Obispo, which is the seat of the county that shares its name, when I was growing up. For the longest time, California Polytechnic State University (better known as Cal Poly), was the only happening place in town for young people. The out-of-theway LGBTQ bar one of my cousins took me to in my 20s closed decades ago.

The new SLO

During this trip, I was introduced to a whole new San Luis Obispo. The town is maturing, and queer residents are out and proud with thriving businesses. Its history as a pit stop between San Francisco and Los Angeles, or being viewed mainly as a college town, is quickly becoming just that: a thing of the past. The changes are being made intention-

ally. The city’s leadership, businesses, and community are focused on sustainability and supporting independent local businesses and artists collectively to keep San Luis Obispo’s reputation intact as one of the happiest places in the United States while welcoming change and growth.

One of the significant changes is the 78-room luxury Hotel San Luis Obispo , which opened in the heart of the city in the fall of 2019. The hotel (where I was a guest) is only a block away from the Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa and steps away from dining and shopping at the town’s eateries and unique boutique shops.

Hotel San Luis Obispo is owned by Piazza Hospitality, which also owns luxury hotels on the plaza in Healdsburg, California: Hotel Healdsburg, h2Hotel, and Harmon Guest House. The hotel was built around historic buildings with sustainability in mind at every stage, Lydia Bates, the hotel’s director of sales and marketing, pointed out on a tour. The hotel features a European-style lighting system in the spacious rooms (guests use their key to power the room). The hotel also honored the history it excavated during the building process with a large-scale artwork from the findings. The shadowbox piece greets guests at the main entrance to the hotel lobby. Local artists’ works adorn the hotel’s hallways and rooms that pay homage to San Luis Obispo’s natural beauty, environment, and history.

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San Luis Obispo is an outdoorsy town with a mild year-round climate perfect for cycling and hiking. Surfing is an option at Avila Beach and Pismo Beach, both a short drive away. Now the city offers cultural experiences to go with its natural beauty.

Gay-owned Italian restaurant Nate’s on Marsh joined Covey’s restaurants in 2021, along with newer fine dining options that opened in 2019: steakhouse Ox + Anchor and Peruvian restaurant Mistura.

There are also venues for more casual dining without giving up on taste, health, and protecting the environment, such as farm-to-table restaurants Piadina, Big Sky Cafe, Seeds, and queer woman-owned Skipper’s Brew, which opened in 2021.

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Another significant change is the number of LGBTQ-owned businesses and the expansion of Pride events and projects from the GALA Pride and Diversity Center, the local LGBTQ community center, which also produces the annual Pride celebration in June. Center Executive Director Dusty Colyer-Worth, a gay man, is envisioning ways to spread queer joy in San Luis Obispo, he said at dinner one evening. In recent years, he expanded the Pride celebration to a two-day event by adding a family-friendly day in a local park. He is slowly growing the center’s services and projects to meet the needs of the LGBTQ community.

Colyer-Worth did not respond to a follow-up message seeking comment.

In the last four years, San Luis Obispo has exploded with LGBTQ-owned businesses. There were at least eight queer-owned restaurants, bars and cafes, and shops that I was introduced to during this trip. Queer business owners are mostly people who grew up in the area, Cal Poly graduates, and people who relocated due to a job.

Maggie Przybylski, 42, who owns Two Broads Ciderworks, with her wife Morgan Murphy, 44, opened the business in 2019, the B.A.R. previously reported. The queer couple, who started out home brewing while students at Cal Poly, where they met, appreciate the growth of LGBTQ businesses in San Luis Obispo.

Queer people are attracted to urban centers because it’s easier to find each other, noted Murphy, who grew up in Orange County. San Luis Obispo is not only a college town but growing. At the same time,

it’s keeping its charm and is a welcoming place for queer people. This makes it an attractive place for LGBTQ people to live and for queer travelers to visit.

Przybylski, who is from Oakland, encouraged LGBTQ people to check out San Luis Obispo.

“Come play with us,” she said.

A few of the latest LGBTQ businesses that have opened in San Luis Obispo are Italian chocolatier Breda (https:// bredaslo.com/), which launched in 2021 and is a pop up at Mistura and other locations, and Junkgirls, which opened in 2018 and sells inspirational souvenirs and holds makers workshops and art parties.

Michelin-starred pastry chef Florencia Breda is from a town outside of Venice, Italy. She worked for Michelinstarred chefs all over the world before briefly getting a short job opportunity in nearby Paso Robles.

A year after that gig, she was asked to return to San Luis Obispo in 2019. This time, instead of leaving, she rooted herself into the community, she told the B.A.R.

“San Luis Obispo is probably really in the top three places that you really feel safe,” she said.

It was one of the reasons she fell in love with the town, saying, “in Italy, you don’t have this privilege if you are gay,” because people will make anti-gay comments and give disapproving looks.

“Here it’s the opposite. Here everyone is so friendly,” said the 35-year-old lesbian chocolatier about how San Luis Obispo puts out rainbow flags for Pride. The people are friendly and she feels safe holding another woman’s hand in public.

“It really makes you feel like home, even if you come from somewhere else. It’s so important,” she said.

Familiar

and different

Visiting San Luis Obispo was like getting to know an old friend I hadn’t seen in a long time. The town was familiar as I retraced the steps from my cousin’s house, walking downtown to the candy store and adding to the wall in the famous Bubblegum Alley.

In our teens, we would party at Cal Poly. Four decades later, San Luis Obispo is the same yet just as different as I am now. My palate welcomed the new restaurants and the mixology class

hosted by Krobar Craft Distillery and the pottery and wine tasting class led by Adriana Lemus from Night Owl Pottery Shop hosted by Region.

One of the afternoons during the trip, the group I was traveling with enjoyed music by two musicians from the San Luis Obispo Symphony during lunch at Dallidet Adobe, the home of one of the town’s founding families. We learned about the city’s beginnings from Thomas Kessler, a gay man who’s the executive director of the History Center San Luis Obispo.

I particularly enjoyed the new public art on display around downtown. The vibrant murals and mosaics cover select sides of businesses’ walls and bridges. Our walking tour was led by Leann Standish, executive director of the San Luis Obispo Museum of Art. The tour started at the “Seven Sisters (Celestial Subduction)” mural created by transgender artist Maria Molteni. The art that brightens up the parking lot behind the Fremont Theater is one of nine murals that take viewers on a journey through the heart of the town to the art museum. Art lovers should check out the museum and head over to the LOBRO neighborhood, San Luis Obispo’s emerging art district (at Lower Broad Street and Orcutt Road), where they will find The Bunker SLO, a new artist collective with art studios, event space, and a cafe that hosts exhibits and workshops, among other art spaces and places to eat and drink.

Returning to San Francisco, I drove home with a deeper understanding of my cousin’s hometown and what makes San Luis Obispo so unique to visit. t

DISPLAY OBITUARIES & IN MEMORIAMS

The Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa in San Luis Obispo draws visitors to the Central California city.

Heather Cassell

Transgender artist Maria Molteni standing in front of a portion of the “Seven Sisters (Celestial Subduction)” mural they were invited to create by the San Luis Obispo Museum of Art.

Courtesy Stephen Heraldo/Heraldo

Breda owner Florencia Breda, left, a Michelin-star pastry chef and chocolatier, stands in the pop-up shop with sous chef Jessica Garcia.

Austin Ma

Palm Springs gears up for a busy fall

by Ed Walsh

Palm Springs has dried out and cleaned up after Tropical Storm Hilary last month and is gearing up for a busy fall. A number of events designed to bring more visitors to the desert city are coming up including The Dinah, Cinema Diverse, Leather Pride, Pride, and Halloween.

The Club Skirts Dinah Shore Weekend,better known as The Dinah, kicks off the season September 20-24. The lesbian-centric gathering that includes pool and dance parties is one of the most popular events of its kind in the world. The Margaritaville Resort and Sp is “Dinah Central.” It’s already sold out but there are still a few rooms left at the event’s overflow hotel, the Hilton Doubletree. But if that hotel fills up, September is generally a slow month in Palm Springs, so you probably won’t have much trouble finding another hotel nearby at a reasonable room rate.

The 16th annual LGBTQ film Festival, Cinema Diverse, partially over laps with The Dinah, September 21-24 and September 28-October 1. For a film schedule and to buy passes check out pscul turalcenter.org/filmfest.

PS Leather Pride is held the weekend before Halloween, October 26-28. Hotel ZoSo is the host hotel, conveniently located adjacent to the Arenas District, where the biggest concentration of gay bars and nightclubs are situated.

Palm Springs’ Halloween block party will be held this year on Sunday, October 29, from 4 to 10 p.m. Admission to the party is free but there is a suggested donation of $10, with the proceeds going to LGBTQ charities. A $75 VIP pass that includes an open bar can be purchased online at halloweenpalmsprings.com.

The 37th annual Palm Springs Pride is November 3-5. Broadway star Idina Menzel headlines the stage in the Arenas District block party on Saturday, November 4, and on Sunday, November 5, the parade steps off in downtown Palm Springs at 10 a.m.

Gay resorts

Palm Springs has a dozen gay resorts, more than any other place on the planet. All are marketed toward gay men and all are clothing-optional, with 24-hour pool and hot tub access, so you can take advantage of a warm fall nighttime swim without having to worry about sunburn. Most have free continental breakfasts, all have free parking and some even throw in a free lunch. Five of the 12 gay resorts still don’t charge the dreaded resort fee so be sure to check out the bottom line when you are comparing prices.

The newest of the gay resorts, Twin Palms Resort, (https://twinpalmsresort.com/) will be celebrating its first anniversary in November. Twin Palms is a modern, stunning luxury resort. The hotel includes an expanded continental breakfast and a free lunch. It also has bicycles free for guests and has a free wine happy hour. A 24-hour canteen offers free drinks and snacks.

The Twin Palms’ sister properties, Descanso and Santiago, are also known for a similar high level of service and luxury. They also provide a free breakfast and lunch and a 24hour canteen with free snacks and soft drinks. Descanso is centrally located just north of downtown, and Santiago is just south of downtown with a huge pool and hot tub. Twin Palms, Descanso, and Santiago all charge a resort fee of $16 a day. Rates at the three hotels start around $250.

The Triangle Inn is on the same block as Santiago and deservedly has a very loyal following. Michael Green and his husband, Stephen Boyd, are known for their service in the LGBTQ community. Green is the executive

director of the Palm Springs Cultural Association, which runs Palm Springs LGBTQ film festival, Cinema Diverse.

The Triangle Inn was built in 1958 by Hugh Kaptur, who was one of Palm Springs’ most acclaimed mid-century modern architects. Both architecture and landscaping buffs will find plenty to love about this picture-perfect resort. Rates start at around $175 and it has no resort fee.

The Canyon Club Hotel is the only gay resort in downtown Palm Springs and has the cheapest rates, starting at $119, with no resort fee. It’s not a luxury property, but it has a huge backyard with a koi pond and a hedge maze. It is open every day for day passes for $15. Renovations are underway at this property to bring it back to its past glory.

The biggest concentration of gay resorts is in the Warm Sands neighborhood about a half mile east of downtown. El Mirasol Villas is a historic property built by Howard Hughes in 1947 and eventually turned into a gay hotel in 1975 and is the oldest gay resort in the city. Rates start at $159, with no resort fee.

All Worlds Resort is next to El Mirasol and is the only of the resorts in Warm Sands that offers day passes. It is in the property that was formerly Inn Exile. Expect to pay extra fees tacked on to your room rate starting at about $20 a day, to its rates that start at about $350.

Vista Grande is a fabulous gay resort that includes three pools, a huge hot tub, waterfall, and a steam room. They also throw in a free breakfast and lunch. It has a resort fee starting around $8 a day. Its sister property, Atrium, is kitty corner from the main resort and has its own pool. Rates start about $239.

The Hacienda at Warm Sands is next to Vista Grande and is known for pampering its guests. It even has a pillow menu. The luxury resort also includes a free breakfast and lunch. The property boasts two pools and a hot tub with a mountain view. It has a resort fee starting around $30 daily but that includes all tips to staff. Hacienda’s rates start around $430.

InnDulge is just across the street from Hacienda and deservedly stays busy even during the slower summer months. It has a great happy hour with free drinks and snacks every early evening. Free pizza is included with the cocktail hour on Thursday evenings.

Rates start at around $250 with no resort fee.

The Desert Paradise Resort is another first-class property that includes steam and dry saunas and a continental breakfast. It is a kitty-corner from the Hacienda. Rates start at about $179 with no resort fee.

The Cathedral City Boys Club, better known as CCBC, is the only of the gay resorts in Cathedral City, the city just south of Palm Springs. The expansive property, 3.5 acres, hosts a number of special events and is open all the time for day passes. CCBC no longer serves a continental breakfast and has the steepest resort fee of any of the gay resorts at $35 a day. Rates start at about $275, or $310 if you include the resort fee.

Spa

Palm Springs’ newest spa, The Spa at Séc-he, opened in April in downtown Palm Springs and is one of the most modern, upscale spas in the country. You can bathe in the hot springs waters for which Palm Springs is named.

Those waters are considered sacred by the Agua Caliente tribe, which owns the property. A day pass costs $145, but if you schedule a massage or other individual spa service, you can enjoy all the benefits of a day pass without an added cost.

Nightlife

For a great guide to nightlife options when you are in town, check out the excellent Desert Daily Guide online at gaydesertguide.com.

Most of Palm Springs’ nightlife is centered in the Arenas District, in downtown Palm Springs, on E. Arenas Rd. just east of Indian Canyon Drive. That is where you will find the popular bars and clubs like Hunters, Chill, Quadz Palm Springs, Dicks on Arenas, BlackBook, and StreetBar.

The newest bar in the Arenas District is the retro speakeasy bar called The Evening Citizen. Its entrance is hidden on the backside of the building where Stacey’s used to be.

A couple of gay nightlife options outside of Arenas include Toucans, which is on the north side of the city, and Tool Shed, located on the south edge of the Warm Sands neighborhood. The Tool Shed is making its huge outdoor patio that it started during the COVID pandemic permanent. The patio is slated to open in late October, in time for Leather Pride.

Nightlife options in Cathedral City include The Barracks, The Runway (at

CCBC), One Eleven Bar (formerly Studio One 11), The Roost Lounge, and the AMP Sports Lounge.

Reforma is a huge LGBTQ-friendly restaurant and nightclub in the heart of downtown Palm Springs. You will often see a line wrapped around the block on weekends. The restaurant has an intimate feel and serves up topnotch gourmet grub in a dark and dramatic intimate setting.

If you want to get a great sampling of locally made art and crafts, and sample some of the best eats and entertainment in the desert, check out the city’s Village Fest street fair every Thursday evening from 7 to 10 p.m.

By the way, the Palm Springs Art Museum is free every Thursday night from 5 to 8 p.m. so you can combine it with a visit to the street fair. Through February 2024, the museum includes the special exhibits “Contemporary African Art” and the stunning collection of glass sculptures “Meditations in Glass.” t

For more information, check out the city’s official website at visitpalmsprings.com.

Palm Springs newest spa, The Spa at Séc-he, is one of the most upscale in the country.

Ed Walsh

Michael Green is co-owner of the Triangle Inn in Palm Springs and executive director of the city’s LGBTQ film festival.

Ed Walsh

VOTE TO WIN

VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE PLACES, PEOPLE AND THINGS TO DO IN SAN FRANCISCO AND THE BAY AREA AND THE CHANCE TO WIN $500 IN A RANDOM DRAWING.

Thank you for taking the time to complete this reader survey by the Bay Area Reporter. Your opinions are important to us. For this twelfth annual readers’ poll we’re including nominees for each category, along with a write-in designation. This year’s nominees are a mix of previous winners, runners-up from last year, and new entries.

The survey should only take 10-15 minutes. Your identity and answers are completely confidential and will be used to contact the winner of a random drawing for $500. You must complete at least 75 percent of the survey to qualify for the prize drawing. Entrants will be added to our newsletter recipients. One survey per person/email is allowed and must be submitted by midnight (Pacific Time) October 1, 2023. Survey results will be published in the October 26 issue of the B.A.R. If you have any questions about the survey, please contact our office at (415) 861-5019.

Arts & Culture

Best Art Museum

 Asian Art Museum

 Contemporary Jewish Museum

 de Young Museum

 GLBT Historical Society Museum

 Legion of Honor

 Museum of Craft and Design

 Museum of the African Diaspora

 Oakland Museum of California

 Pacific Pinball Museum

 San Jose Museum of Art

 SF MOMA

 Walt Disney Family Museum

✎

Best Live Music Venue

 The Chapel

 The Fillmore

 Fox Oakland

 Great American Music Hall

 Greek Theatre, Berkeley

 Masonic Hall

 Paramount Theatre

 Regency Center

 SF Jazz

 The Warfield

✎

Best Nature or Science Museum

 California Academy of Sciences

 Exploratorium

 SF Botanical Gardens

 SF Conservatory of Flowers

✎

Best Small Music Venue

 Café du Nord

 The Lost Church

 The New Parish

 Thee Parkside

 Rickshaw Stop

 El Rio

✎

Best Ballet Company

 Alonzo King Lines Ballet

 Ballet22

 Ballet San Jose

 Diablo Ballet

 Oakland Ballet

 Post:ballet

 San Francisco Ballet

 Smuin Contemporary Ballet

✎

Best Theatre Company

 American Conservatory Theater

 Aurora Theatre

 Berkeley Repertory Theatre

 New Conservatory Theatre Center

 Ray of Light Theatre

 Shotgun Players

 Theatre Rhinoceros

✎

Best Modern Dance Company

 Amy Siewert’s Imagery

 AXIS Dance Company

 David Herrera Performance Company

 Epiphany Dance Theatre

 Joe Goode Performance Group

 ODC Dance

 PUSH Dance Company

 RAWdance

 Robert Moses’ Kin

 Sean Dorsey Dance

 Zaccho Dance Theatre

✎

Best Choral Group

 Chanticleer

 East Bay Gay Men’s Chorus

 Lesbian/Gay Chorus of SF

 Rainbow Women’s Chorus (San Jose)

 SF Gay Men’s Chorus

✎

Best LGBTQ Nonprofit

 Bay Area American Indian TwoSpirits

 GLBTQ+ Asian Pacific Alliance

 Horizons Foundation

 LGBT Asylum Project

 Project Open Hand

 Transgender Law Center

✎

Best LGBTQ Community Center

 Billy DeFrank LGBTQ Center (San Jose)

 Coast Pride (Half Moon Bay)

 Oakland LGBTQ Community Center

 Pacific Center for Human Growth (Berkeley)

 Rainbow Community Center (Concord)

 San Francisco LGBT Community Center

 San Mateo County Pride Center

 Solano Pride Center

 The Spahr Center (Marin)

✎

Best LGBTQ Sports League

 SF Fog Rugby Club

 SF FrontRunners

 SF Gay Basketball Association

 SF Gay Softball League

 SF Pool Association

 SF Tsunami Water Polo

✎

Community

Best LGBTQ Event

 Folsom Street Fair

 Imperial Court of SF Coronation

 Juanita MORE!’s Pride Party

 SF Pride Parade and Celebration

 SF Drag King Contest

 Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence Easter Celebration

Best Ethnic/International Dance Company

 Abhinaya Dance Company

 Barangay Dance Company

 Chitresh Das Dance Company

 Likha-Pilipino Folk Ensemble

 Nā Lei Hulu I Ka Wēkiu

 Ong Dance Company

 Theatre Flamenco of San Francisco

✎

Best Classical Venue

 Davies Symphony Hall

 Herbst Theatre, Veteran’s Building

 War Memorial Opera House

 Old First Church

 SF Conservatory of Music

✎

✎

Best Pro Sports Team

 Golden State Warriors

 Oakland Roots (soccer)

 San Francisco 49ers

 San Francisco Giants

 San Jose Earthquakes

 San Jose Sharks

✎

Best SF LGBTQ Cultural District

 Castro LGBTQ Cultural District

 San Francisco Leather & LGBTQ Cultural District

 Transgender District

✎

Nightlife

Best Comic

 Wonder Dave

 Lisa Geduldig

 Marga Gomez

 Jesus U Betta Work

 Nick Leonard

 Justin Lucas

 Sampson McCormick

 Natasha Muse

 Ronn Vigh

✎

Best LGBTQ Fundraiser

 Compassion (Shanti)

 Light in the Grove (AIDS Memorial Grove)

 National Center for Lesbian Rights

gala

 Santa Skivvies Run (SFAF)

 Soiree (LGBT center)

 Reunion (GLBT Historical Society)

✎

Best DJ

 Carrie on Disco

 Siobhan Aluvalot

 Don Baird

 Blackstone

 Brown Amy

 Bus Station John

 Hawthorne

 Steve Fabus

 Sergio Fedasz

 Paul Goodyear

 David Harness

 Page Hodel

 Mohammad

 Olga T

 Russ Rich

 Lady Ryan

 Brian Urmanita

✎

Best Bartender

 Andy Anderson, 440 Castro

 Michael Breshears, Lookout

 Robbie Cheah, Oasis

 Miguel Chavez, Hole in the Wall

 Steve Dalton, SF Eagle

 David Delgado, The Cinch

Best Drag Queen

 Au Jus

 Ava LaShay

 Bebe Sweetbriar

 Black Betty Towers

 Carnie Asada

 D’Arcy Drollinger

 Donna Sachet

 Elsa Touche

 Evian

 Glamamore

 God’s Lil Princess

 Grace Towers

 Holotta Tymes

 Intensive Claire

 Joie de Vivre

 Juanita MORE!

 Jubilee

 Landa Lakes

 LOL McFiercen

 Mama Celeste

 Mercedez Munro

 Mutha Chucka

 Nicki Jizz

 Peaches Christ

 Rahni NothingMore

 Raya Light

 Rock M. Sakura

 Rosie Petals

 Sister Roma

 Sue Casa

 Sugah Betes

 Suppositori Spelling

 Trangela Lansbury

 U-Phoria

✎

 Heather Dunham, Wild Side West

 Lauren Eggen, Beaux

 Charlie Evans, Lone Star Saloon

 Captain Ficcardi, White Horse

 Gage Fisher, SF Eagle

 Jeffrey Green, Twin Peaks Tavern

 Kurtis Janitch, Beaux

 Erick Lopez, The Edge

 Johnnie Wartella, Pilsner Inn ✎

Best Live Nightlife/Cabaret

Performer

 Connie Champagne

 Spencer Day

 Russell Deason

 Sony Holland

 Barry Lloyd

 Kippy Marks

 Kim Nalley

 Carly Ozard

 Suzanne “Kitten on the Keys” Ramsey

 Katya Smirnoff-Skyy

 Paula West

✎

Best Drag King

 Alex U. Inn

 Arty Fishal

 Chester Vanderbox

 Chico Suave

 Clammy Faye

 Dicky Love

 Fudgie Frottage

 Kegel Kater

 Kit Tapata

 Leigh Crow

 Madd Dogg 20/20

 Mason Dixon Jars

 Mickey Finn

 Pepe Pan

 Vegas Jake

✎

Best Live Band

 Commando

 Gravy Train  Homobiles

 The Klipptones  Lipstick Conspiracy  Lolly Gaggers  Middle-Aged Queers  Planet Booty

 Secret Emchy Society  Velvetta ✎

Best Gogo Dancer

 Connor Hochleutner

 James Kindle

 Emerson Silva

 Chad Stewart

 Koji Tare

 Colin Stack-Troost

 Michael Tempesta

 Paul William



Lucy Dorado



Jella Gogo

 Chloe Rainwater

✎

Best Faux Queen

 Alotta Boutté

 Black Benatar

 Bruja Palmiero

 Crème Fatale

 Fauxnique

 Miss Shugana

 Trixxie Carr

 Scarlet Astrid

✎

Best Nightlife Photographer

 Marques Daniels

 Gooch

 Kid With a Camera

 Fred Rowe



Darryl Pelletier

 Tom Schmidt/Dot

 Shot in the City

 Steven Underhill

✎

<< Pansy tattoo

From page 5 haps their own song in honor of the pansy initiative. Meanwhile, Csillagi has been talking to their trans nephew who is a musician and lives in Texas about creating his own song.

“Maybe we will make an album. I don’t know,” said Csillagi.

They are still trying to figure out when and how the song will be released and how it could also be used to raise funds for the TKO Society.

“People are going to be so blown away. It is really special,” said Csillagi.

An art show related to the pansy tattoo initiative is also in the works at a venue in Daly City. In the spring a student of one of Csillagi’s clients did a class project about the initiative. They also helped raise money for it by selling buttons of the pansy tattoo design

Stud bar

From page 4

Wiener has pushed for legislation aimed at helping the nightlife community over the years, such as a bill that would’ve allowed some cities, such as San Francisco, to move last call back to 4 a.m. That, however, wasn’t successful.

“Nightlife has always been at the center of San Francisco and our economy,” Wiener said. “It wouldn’t be San Francisco without queer nightlife in South of Market.”

Dorsey, who no longer drinks alcohol, said he “has many fond memories” of The Stud, before joking that “to be honest a lot I didn’t remember.”

Allbee told the B.A.R. that while

<< Oakland Pride

From page 1

This summer also saw a number of high profile crimes that officials say were motivated by hate – the killing of O’Shae Sibley, a 28-year-old gay Black man in New York City, and the killing of Laura Carleton, a 66-year-old straight ally in San Bernardino County, the latter ostensibly for flying a rainbow Pride flag outside her business.

Oakland itself has seen the killings of two known gay men this year.

Curtis Marsh, 53, a gay Black man, was killed in his Oakland home earlier this year, though authorities have said it did not appear to be a hate crime. Sweven Waterman, a custodian at UC Berkeley, has been charged in the case, but not with hate crime counts. His preliminary hearing is set to be scheduled soon. Waterman remains in custody and has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

A second gay Black man, Devonte Davis, was fatally shot in Oakland just after Marsh’s killing but the two cases are unrelated, police have said.

George J. Smith III, a gay Black man who’s the vice president of Oakland Pride’s board of directors, said the ability of the two organizations to work together this year is a positive sign.

“Us coming together as a community has always been our focus – to

Thurmond

From page 1

The issue could end up going before the state’s voters if conservative parent groups are able to qualify a measure on next November’s ballot that would explicitly say that school districts can forcibly out transgender students to their parents or legal guardians without their permission. As the B.A.R. reported last

at school and their father’s Awaken Cafe & Roasting in downtown Oakland.

Mahogany was running against Dorsey for District 6 supervisor last year, she asked him if he’d introduce zoning legislation allowing for new nighttime entertainment on Folsom Street between Seventh and Division streets. In spite of the campaign, Dorsey acted in the district’s best interest, Allbee said, and carried the legislation.

Dorsey told the B.A.R. that the legislation was introduced in October 2022 and passed in February 2023.

“I think we each recognized the importance of not letting our competing bids for supervisor get in the way of what was best for the LGBTQ+ community we have long histories in,” Dorsey stated. “I’m incredibly grateful for the commitment that Honey, Nate Allbee, and all the other members of The Stud Collective have made to pre-

do a really safe Pride celebration for the East Bay and downtown Oakland, spreading joy,” Smith said. “We want to continue this in the coming years.”

Two-plus days of celebrations

The weekend’s events will be split over two days, Sullivan said, though there are plans for a Friday night party as well. Pridefest will be putting on a bar crawl on Saturday, September 9, “featuring most, if not all, the LGBTowned bars,” he said, as a fundraiser for the Oakland Pride organization. A $25 donation is suggested to participate. The bar crawl starts at 3 p.m. at the White Horse Bar at the BerkeleyOakland border, and concludes at the Town Bar and Lounge at 8:45 p.m.

On Friday, September 8, Bacardi is sponsoring another bar crawl, beginning at 5 p.m. at the Que Rico nightclub and concluding at 8:30 p.m. at the Port Bar.

On Sunday, September 10, the Oakland Pride organization is putting on the parade at 11 a.m. It will run up Broadway, from 14th to 21st streets. Grand marshals have not been announced as of press time.

“We expect a really fun time – 30 to 40 contingents,” Smith said. “We are really, really excited about it.”

The East Bay Stonewall Democratic Club will hold its Pride breakfast at

week, it is one of three measures aimed at restricting the rights of trans students being eyed for the 2024 general election.

“I think it is important to acknowledge this is a political movement that is intended to stamp out any conversation about the needs of LGBTQ-plus kids,” said Thurmond. “It is a political movement that says students of color don’t have the right to learn about the contributions of their ancestors. Even though these things we call inclusive education

While Dillbilly has yet to get a pansy tattoo, the four locals behind the song each got a pansy tattoo on the same day this summer. Randle’s is on her right leg calf; Wolf had hers put on her right bicep; and Moschella opted for the back of his right arm.

Cash’s pansy tattoo is on her right elbow so that it is visible when she is playing guitar. It has already prompted discussions among people who have noticed it and asked about it.

host a party in October and invite everyone who has gotten the pansy to attend in order to take a group photo. Alas, their hope to ink actor Elliot Page, who released in June “Pageboy: A Memoir” about their coming out as a trans man, has yet to come to pass.

“I have gotten no response around that,” said Csillagi. “Thank you so much for putting that out there. I am sure he is busy with his book out.” t

“Little sweet things are happening,” said Csillagi, adding that they find the collective activism to be “so beautiful.”

serve a venue that’s such an iconic part of queer history in San Francisco. I’m going to support this venue however I can, and that’s not limited to the zoning legislation I sponsored.”

District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman – who Mahogany described at the news conference as “the original gay” because, until Dorsey’s appointment as supervisor last year, he was the sole LGBTQ member of the city’s Board of Supervisors – also played what he termed “a little, small role helping this process along.”

Mandelman stated to the B.A.R. afterward that he meant that his office “helped with convening meetings, coordinating with planning staff and moving the process along as Dorsey was getting settled. It was all very collaborative.”

8:30 a.m. Sunday, as the B.A.R. previously reported.

Starting at noon and ending at 6 p.m., a celebration and festival will fill the streets of Uptown Oakland, as in years past. The entrance is at Broadway and 20th Street. Festival admission is $20 for adults, $15 for seniors over 65, $10 for children 12-18, and free for those under 12.

Canadian straight ally Deborah Cox will be the headliner on the main stage and Mexican longtime straight ally Diana Reyes will headline the Latin Stage, produced by Valentino Carrillo, a gay man who’s the owner of Que Rico.

Reyes told the B.A.R., in remarks translated from Spanish, “You guys don’t know how much I love to sing in gay pride events because it gets loud, super fun, a lot of singing and partying – so thanks Club Papi for taking me into account. See you guys in Oakland Pride.”

Carrillo told the B.A.R. that he’s “excited to once again return to Oakland Pride.”

“I was the original producer of the Latin Stage until 2019,” Carrillo stated. “This time I will be co-producing the Latin Stage with Club Papi together. We also produce the Latin Stage at San Francisco Pride and can’t wait to bring our experience to Oakland Pride once again. I hope to see everyone at Oak-

help students of all backgrounds do better educationally.”

It comes as Thurmond, who easily secured a second term last November in marked contrast to his close contest in 2018, is now mulling a gubernatorial bid in 2026. His actions this year on behalf of LGBTQ students have not gone unnoticed, with the East Bay Stonewall Democratic Club honoring Thurmond with its Ally Award this Sunday at its Pride Breakfast fundraiser titled “Protect Trans Kids!”

“I look forward to seeing people out in the world I don’t know that have it,” said Cash, noting being part of such a club is important for a touring musician like herself who travels to places less friendly of LGBTQ people. “I travel throughout the U.S. to a lot of places that are not safe and you can feel that, so it is definitely a cool thing, I think, in that respect.”

To mark the tattoo initiative’s first anniversary Csillagi is planning to

Mandelman, whose district includes the Castro, said at the news conference that the collective “had promised the queer community in San Francisco that they would be back” and that the city’s nightlife community “make magic happen.”

Castro developments

The Castro is expecting three nightlife venue openings in coming months – Q Bar’s co-owner told the B.A.R. he is eying an opening this month; the new co-manager of San Francisco Badlands told the B.A.R. he is eyeing an October opening; and a new team from the Beaux nightclub has leased the old Harvey’s space out, eyeing to open next summer.

Allbee praised the Mayor’s Office of Economic and Workforce Devel-

land Pride and at the Que Rico Nightclub afterparty after the festival.”

Cox did not return a request for comment for this report as of press time.

Regina Voce, a drag performer who is in the top four of “Drag Race México,” will be among the entertainers.

“I’m going to be performing on Saturday and Sunday at the Pride and, of course, at the official Pride parties with Que Rico nightclub so Que Rico join me there,” Voce said.

Safety first Oakland, like San Francisco, has had its reputation tarnished in recent years over crime. Earlier this month, a movement to recall Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price filed an official notice of intent as discontent reaches a fever pitch.

Sullivan said he hopes these concerns don’t stop people from all over the Bay Area from coming to see what The Town has to offer.

“We wish it was safer. … I would say it’s difficult day-to-day – I still struggle,” Sullivan said. “Criminals who break windows don’t care if they are breaking an LGBTQ person’s car window or a heterosexual person’s car window, but that’s on both sides of the bay. It gets situated in Oakland, but it’s the same as downtown San Francisco, and other parts of San Francisco, but

“I am deeply honored to receive their award,” said Thurmond.

Ryan LaLonde, a gay father who is the LGBTQ political club’s secretary and membership chair, attended the flag raising ceremony that Thurmond and his staff held in June in his capacity as an elected member of the school board in the city of Alameda. He told the B.A.R. that prior to the recent battles over LGBTQ school policies, Thurmond had long been an advocate for LGBTQ students.

To learn more about the pansy tattoo initiative and receive emailed updates about upcoming appointments to be inked with one, visit its website at https://cedreink.com/athousandpansies/ or Instagram page at https://www. instagram.com/a1000pansies/

opment for its help; the office stated to the B.A.R. on September 5 that it’s been working with the collective for seven years.

“As the collective celebrates their new space, OEWD will continue to provide guidance around permitting and liquor licensing for The Stud,” a statement read. “We look forward to connecting them to all available resources to support this endeavor, such as Mayor Breed’s First Year Free program (which waives permit and license fees for new business locations) as well as Rent Stabilization Grants for Legacy Businesses through our Office of Small Business.”

For more information on the campaign, or to donate, go to givebutter. com/Stud2024. t

LGBTQ people are undaunted and we will not let unfortunate incidents stop us from celebrating queer joy.”

Sullivan said that “the owner of Town Bar [and Lounge] was featured crying on TV about crime, and we are right around the corner.”

Joshua Huynh, the owner of Town Bar and Lounge, which like Fluid510 is an LGBTQ establishment that opened just this year, told KNTV-TV he’d had staff and “some special guest” robbed at gunpoint.

Huynh told the B.A.R. that the businesses are looking out for each other.

“We can’t do anything but what we’re continuing to do – getting with all the business owners in finding out how to support the city and support each other,” Huynh said. “Doing nothing isn’t helping.”

Huynh said that Oakland’s burgeoning LGBTQ scene is a welcome breath of fresh air.

“We’re part of two bar crawls – one on Friday, one on Saturday,” Huynh said. “I think there’s a definite need for queer spaces in the East Bay because people don’t want to travel over the bridge. It’s a completely different vibe from what Castro’s giving. In Castro, you know what you’re going to get. If you go to all the bars in Oakland, every single one is completely different.”

For more information, go to oaklandpride.org. t

“During his tenure, Superintendent Thurmond has been on the forefront of making sure our LGBTQ+ students are respected, supported and celebrated and most recently been a fierce advocate for our California trans students,” said LaLonde. “Tony is the perfect example of a leader stepping up to safeguard the progress we have made for our queer students and make sure the hateful forces behind the backlash don’t win.” t

Julie Wolf, left, and Katie Cash sit in the recording studio.

Courtesy Cedre Csillagi

by Rick Karlin

LGBT travelers are visiting Colombia more often, and it’s no wonder. Colombia is a country that embraces diversity. Same-sex marriage is legal, adoption for same-sex couples is permitted, and nationwide anti-discrimination laws protect the LGBT population.

Moreover, the Colombian national police have been certified as an LGBT-friendly organization. As a result, Colombia was considered the Leading LGBTQ Destination in South America in 2018, by the World Travel Awards.

Gone are the days when the cartels ruled Colombia. The country is now one of the safest on earth. Foreign visitors are drawn by the unchanging nature of its climate all year round.

When LGBT travelers think of traveling to Colombia, two main destinations come to mind; Bogota, the country’s largest city in the mountains, which has a wide gastronomic and cultural vibe to offer and is home to the largest gay bar in Latin America.

Cartegena, on the Caribbean Coast, with its summer chock-full of LGBT festivals, is also very popular. Savvy travelers are now exploring some emerging locations that offer a lot to enjoy, and a new organization, Out in Colombia arranges terrific vacation adventures for LGBT travelers in both established and emerging destinations.

Santa Marta and Tayrona

One of those emerging destinations is Santa Marta, nestled in the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas. It is a small city on the Caribbean in northern Colombia. A busy port, it was also the first Spanish settlement in Colombia.

The recently opened Hilton Santa Marta is

Undiscovered Colombia

Bogota, Medellín Pride, tours, treats and more

located right off the public beach and offers its own private beach and has two pools; a family-friendly one located on the mezzanine level, overlooking the beach, and a rooftop pool and hot tub for adults only that also hosts a wonderful bar. It’s a great place to sit and sip a cocktail while you chill in a cabana, in the infinity pool overlooking the sea, or watch the sun set behind the mountains.

Santa Marta is the gateway for a trip to Tayrona National Park. Out in Colombia, working with Magic Tours, arranged a trip via a cabin cruiser complete with a fully stocked cooler, although the ride was so choppy that most of us were hanging on to our seats rather than our cocktails. Our captain assured us the ride back would be smoother as we would be sailing into the waves. Although bumpy, it was a fun ride as we sang along to disco hits and seat-danced to Colombian pop songs.

When we arrived at the park, the boat pulled close to shore, and we hopped into the warm blue waters of the Caribbean and waded to shore. I was content to stand in the water and watch the colorful fish swim around my feet. Others went snorkeling, then we all gathered under beach umbrellas and sipped cocktails.

Ours was a day trip, but for those who want to explore the area more, there are multi-day guided treks to the Lost City of Teyuna archaeological site. For those staying overnight, Ecohabs comfortable cabins with a design inspired by the landscape of the park, are available to rent.

There is also a camping area in Arrecifes sector, signed paths, a parking area, and restaurants. For us, after a quick stop at another beach down the coast, it was time to head back to the hotel for a wonderful dinner and drinks on the rooftop deck.

Years, queers and fears

by Victoria A. Brownworth

The crazy ratcheted up a notch on Labor Day Weekend when climate crisis flooding turned the Burning Man love fest in the desert into a muddy mess with no way in or out. Conspiracy theorists with nothing better to do with their time invented an Ebola outbreak hoax replete with fake CDC tweets and tweeted about government officials in hazmat gear roping off the mini-city of 73,000 that happens every year.

This all made us think of “Years and Years,” a queer dystopian thriller series from “Queer as Folk” creator Russell T. Davies that you likely haven’t seen.

Taking place between 2019 and 2034, the sixpart series follows the lives of the Lyons family, who witness increasingly tumultuous global affairs and the rise to power of Vivienne Rook (Emma Thompson at her scenery-chewing best), an outspoken British celebrity businesswoman turned populist politician whose controversial opinions

divide the nation as she lures in the grievance-ridden underclasses and unnerves the elites.

Sound like a vaguely familiar real-life scenario? “Years and Years” was a BBC/ HBO original and like everything Davies does is just brilliant. It debuted for Pride Month in 2019 in the U.K. but never got a splash here.

The series is totally queer, quite political, and has perfect pitch and perfect pacing. The Manchester-based Lyons family includes Daniel (out gay actor Russell Tovey), who is married to Ralph (hot out actor Dino Fetscher).

All their lives converge on one crucial night in 2019, and the story accelerates into the future, following them over the next fifteen years as Britain is rocked by political upheavals, economic instability, technological advances and lots of chaos. This is a fabulously good must-see series, available on Max, Hulu, Amazon Prime and Apple+.

Pop-up thrills for fall

It’s always hot in New Orleans, but it’s beyond steamy in this latest iteration of Anne Rice’s classic homoerotic vampire novel, “Interview with the Vampire.” Season one is coming to HBO Max for a September and October mash-up with

BBC

Medellín marvels

The next day we packed our bags for a quick, hour and a half flight aboard Avianca to Medellín (pronounced Meda-gyeen.) It’s a city of about 2.5 million people and is the capital of Colombia’s mountainous Antioquia province. Nicknamed the “City of Eternal Spring” for its temperate weather, it hosts a famous annual Flower Festival. A modern metro makes getting around the city and surrounding barrios a breeze and offers views of the Aburrá Valley below. Sculptures by Fernando Botero decorate the city.

We checked into the ultra-trendy Click Clack boutique hotel, in the hip Provenza/ElPoblado area. After the spacious Hilton, I found the room to be cell-like which was not helped by the black-

See page 17 >>

AMC, which originated the series last year.

AMC and Max are partnering to re-release several spooky series in advance of Halloween. Deadline reports, “AMC Networks and Warner Bros. Discovery have struck a deal for a ‘programming pop-up’ that will see more than 200 episodes of seven titles launch on Max, formerly known as HBO Max. The shows will be available from September 1–October 31.”

In addition to “Interview with the Vampire,” the series available are seasons one through seven of “Fear the Walking Dead,” three seasons of the very queer “A Discovery of Witches,” four seasons of our favorite lesbian thriller ever, “Killing Eve,” two seasons of “Gangs of London,” season one of the Native American detective series “Dark Winds,” and five seasons of “Ride with Norman Reedus.”

“Interview with the Vampire” opens in 2022 where the vampire Louis de Pointe du Lac (Jacob Anderson) lives in Dubai and wants to tell the story of his life (or afterlife) to renowned journalist Daniel Molloy (Eric Bogosian). Beginning in 1910 New Orleans (instead of the 1800s like the book and film version), Louis’ story follows his relationship with the vampire Lestat du Lioncourt (Sam Reid) and their formed family, including teen fledgling Claudia (Bailey Bass). A couple big changes from the book are that Louis is Black and Claudia is a teenager rather than a child. (Bass is superb in that teen vampire role.)

The other big change is the overt homosexuality, which was erased in the films. “Interview with the Vampire” is awesomely good. Reid and Anderson have excellent chemistry, the sets are to die for, and the mise en scène is just spectacular.

The sex is amazingly explicit for TV and there’s a lot of it. Unlike the film versions of Rice’s vampire novels, Lestat is prominent and utterly unabashedly queer.

See page 16 >>

Will Salazar and Jorge Rios from Out in Colombia at Donde Aquellos nightclub in Medellín

Out in Colombia

The main cast of ‘Years and Years’

The Lavender Tube on ‘Years, ‘Vampire’, ‘Good Omens’ and more

Emma Thompson in ‘Years and Years’

Sam Reid, Jacob Anderson and Bailey Bass in ‘Interview with the Vampire’

All aboard the “Soul Train” at A.C.T. t

by Jim Gladstone

Dominique Morisseau wasn’t interested in working on another jukebox musical after writing the book for “Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations,” which debuted at Berkeley Repertory in 2017 and went on to a hit run on Broadway, garnering a dozen 2019 Tony nominations (including Best Book).

And yet this week, she returns to the Bay Area for the premiere production of “Hippest Trip: The Soul Train Musical” for which she wrote the book. The show is playing at A.C.T.’s Toni Rembe Theater through October 8. Morisseau’s change of heart began with a fortunate coincidence and was fueled by an invigorating musical treasure hunt.

A worthy temptation Morisseau, 45, is one of the country’s most frequently produced contemporary playwrights, duly celebrated for her Detroit trilogy (“Paradise Blue,” “Detroit ’67,” and “Skeleton Crew,” all of which have had wellreceived Bay Area productions). She’s also the winner of an esteemed 2018 MacArthur Fellowship.

But the opportunity to join director Des McAnuff’s creative team in developing “Ain’t Too Proud” came before she’d reached these heights of acknowledgement. At the time, Morisseau was supplementing her playwriting and expanding her horizons as a writer and story editor on the gritty Showtime comedy “Shameless.”

Morisseau, who considers herself first and foremost a theater artist, had yet to see any of her work produced on Broadway, which is where “Ain’t Too Proud” was aimed from the outset. (McAnuff initiated Broadway’s 21stcentury jukebox avalanche with “Jersey Boys” in 2005).

Having grown up in Detroit, where The Temptations and their record company, Motown, were based, she also felt a personal attraction to the show’s material.

“I’ve been attracted to theater for as

Lavender Tube

From page 15

Good Omens

We will watch David Tennant and his neck beard (missing here) in anything, because he’s just so good, so although fantasy TV is not our thing, we fell into this queerish Neil Gaiman creation and we think you’ll love it. Based on Gaiman’s and Terry Pratchett’s 1990 novel of the same name, “Good

long as I can remember,” said Morisseau in an interview with the Bay Area Reporter, “but musicals were not something I particularly loved because, well, because I didn’t love the music.”

Showtunes were not a staple of her formative years.

“But this!” she said, regarding the soul, pop and R&B genres represented in both “Ain’t Too Proud” and “The Hippest Trip,” “was music that I heard all the time when I was growing up. It was music that connected to my life and that I like to listen to.”

Never say never

“After ‘Ain’t Too Proud,’ I said I wasn’t going to do it again,” noted Morisseau about tangling with the pre-existing musical conditions germane to the jukebox genre. Particularly when these shows are written to reflect a popular artist’s biography, their writing can feel more like carpentry than art.

But in 2019, Morisseau was contacted by a group of would-be producers who had an idea she was strangely familiar with.

“I’d actually had the idea to do a ‘Soul

Omens” is an Amazon/BBC production with Gaiman as showrunner.

Season one is set in 2019 and follows the demon Crowley (David Tennant) and the angel Aziraphale (Michael Sheen), longtime acquaintances who have grown accustomed to each other’s company, and to a pleasant life on Earth as representatives of Heaven and Hell. The duo have agreed not to let the conflict between their warring sides complicate their friendship. Azi-

Train’ musical about ten years earlier,” she recalled. In 2010, she’d been inspired by a BET documentary, “Soul Train: The Hippest Trip in America,” which chronicled the 36-year history and enduring social impact of the nationally televised dance party.

While “Soul Train” was widely known for fueling and fostering youth trends in music and fashion, Moris-

seau, who grew up watching the show, was engaged with the historic entrepreneurial story behind it.

Chicago-based former disc jockey Don Cornelius was not only the show’s creator and longtime host. He retained creative control and ownership rights, making him a maverick Black businessman with broad cultural influence. According to many of the dancers who once appeared on “Soul Train,” he could also be a domineering, shortsighted taskmaster.

After developing a treatment of her would-be show and unsuccessfully trying to stir up interest in the theater community (in part because securing rights to music from a broad range of artists’ catalogs seemed a daunting challenge), Morisseau moved on to other projects.

Nearly a decade later, a production team –including a former BET executive and Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, a member of the Roots and a “Soul Train” fanatic who had authored a 2013 book about the show– approached Morisseau with a concept that closely aligned with her long-ago notion.

Creative license, and licensing

Another member of the core production team, Don Cornelius’ son, Tony, was a potential cause of concern for a playwright whose work has been marked by thematic complexity and psychological nuance.

But Morisseau said she quickly came to understand that the “Soul Train” scion was supportive of an honest, gloss-free portrayal of his father. Rather than truncating the action at the senior Cornelius’ glory days (The tactic taken by the creators of “M.J,” the Michael Jackson musical), the show continues through his suicide at age 75 in 2012.

Tony Cornelius and his production partners gave Morisseau the freedom to dramatize the “Soul Train” phenomenon as she saw fit. Her vision is far from hagiography. In fact, it’s not even a biographical musical in the traditional sense.

Along with the dual plotlines Morisseau has hewn from “Soul Train”’s history, one of the elements that distinguishes “Hippest Trip” from most jukebox shows is the enormity of the jukebox from which she had the opportunity to select songs.

The musical’s production team had the right to use virtually any musical number ever played or performed on the television show; more than 2,000 tunes in all, every one of them a hit.

While Morisseau had to build “Ain’t Too Proud” around just a couple dozen widely recognizable Temptations songs, she had a much broader palette of music and lyrics to work from this time.

“I could search through this huge catalog to find just the right song to capture the emotions of the characters at every point in the story,” she recalled.

Where most jukebox musicals call to mind shoehorns and tight loafers, “Hippest Trip” feels closer to a bespoke suit.

“You have to remember that ‘Soul Train’ was on the air from the 1970s through the 2000s.” A.C.T. Artistic Director Pam MacKinnon told the Bay Area Reporter last week. “There’s a variety of music from across four decades in the show. It’s not just soul and R&B. There’s disco and funk and New Jack Swing and hip-hop.”

Rest assured, you’ll hear some of your favorites (and likely some songs you’ve forgotten were your favorites), whether you watched “Soul Train” or listened to AM radio in the era of Stevie Wonder, Gloria Gaynor or Public Enemy.

“You could feel something really exciting happening,” said MacKinnon of last week’s first preview performance. “We had 700 people from three different generations in the theater. And there were moments that seemed to send electricity through every one of them.”

All aboard!t

‘Hippest Trip: The Soul Train Musical,’ through Oct. 8. $25-$130. Toni Rembe Theater, 415 Geary St. (415) 749-2228 www.act-sf.org

raphale owns an antiquarian bookstore in London which figures in both seasons of the series.

Season two is set post-COVID-19 lockdown. In this iteration, the Archangel Gabriel (played riotously well by Jon Hamm) turns up –in a state of amnesia sans his memories– to Aziraphale’s bookshop. Aziraphale and Crowley attempt to find out what happened to Gabriel and to also hide him from Heaven and Hell, both of which are eager to find him.

Also, two women near the bookshop, café owner Nina (Nina Sosanya), and Maggie (Maggie Service), a failing record shop owner, become the ongoing subjects of Crowley and Aziraphale’s attempt to play Cupid, all in a ruse to cover their miracle-casting tracks.

This is a fun, arch, really smart dramedy (think “The Good Place” and “Ted Lasso” and “Lucifer”) with a compelling theme, as of course we’re always battling Good and Evil IRL, right?

Foundation Season 2 of Apple+ sci-fi series “Foundation” has just dropped. Based on the classic novel “Foundation” by Isaac Asimov, the series is the creation of sci-fi superheads David S. Goyer and Josh Friedman, who have a myriad of sci-fi credits between them, most notably the brilliant “Sarah Connor Chronicles” from Friedman.

In “Foundation,” the fate of an entire galaxy rests on the beliefs of Dr. Hari Seldon (Jared Harris). Will his conviction save humanity or doom it? In this new season, as predicted by mathematician Seldon, the Galactic Empire is beginning to crumble.

But as the Emperor (out gay actor Lee Pace) flails, Seldon’s Foundation,

Above: Amazon/BBC Below:Apple+

Above: Michael Sheen, David Tennant (and a nude Jon Hamm) in ‘Good Omens’

Below: Ben Daniels and Dino Fetscher in ‘Foundation’

which aims to cushion the galaxy’s fall, is under threat. For sci-fi devotees, there’s also a gay relationship. Bel Riose (Ben Daniels) is released from a labor camp and reunited with his husband Glawen Kurr (Dino Fetscher again) in exchange for returning to his role as General under

the regime of Empire (Pace). The two men share a very touching reunion scene and will figure in one of the multiple storylines. You must watch season 1 first, though.t

Read the full column on www.ebar.com.

Playwright Dominique Morisseau

Alain “Hurrikane” Lauture and the cast of ‘Hippest Trip: The Soul Train Musical.’

Kevin Berne

LGBTQ History Month playlist

by Gregg Shapiro

We’vegot a select batch of new music from artists you may know, a few that you likely don’t but should, and a musical score you have to love.

After his most daring (and possibly best) album, 2019’s “Territories,” prolific gay singer/songwriter Tom Goss returns with the bouncy and infectious pop album, “Remember What It Feels Like.” The more traditional tunes range from dance-floor ready cuts including “Everything,” “Literally,” and “Undercover Summer,” bubblegum numbers “Enemy of Good,” “Don’t Wanna,” “First Date,” and “Break Your Heart.” Ballads including “Something Beautiful” and “Fall Before You Fly,” are examples of his versatility. Goss, who is known for being generous with his fans, packing recent recordings with more than a dozen songs, doesn’t skimp on “Remember What It Feels Like,” with its 15 tracks. www.tomgossmusic.com

At just 22 years old, Joanna Sternberg is an old soul. Most of the songs on their new album “I’ve Got Me” (Fat Possum), come from a bare-bones folk tradition, performed by Sternberg on guitar, piano and keys, violin, and bass. The lyrics, sung in Sternberg’s distinctive vocal style, alternate between introspection (the title tune, “Mountains High,” “Drifting On A Cloud”), yearning (“I Will Be With You,” “I’ll Make You Mine,” “The Human Magnet Song”), and brutal honesty (“Stockholm Syndrome,” and the rocking “People Are Toys to You”). The vocals and simple, yet meaningful, lyrics also sound like they owe a debt to early Carole King. This is especially true on the piano and vocal numbers, including “She Dreams.” www.joannasternberg.com

In a perfect and more accepting world, “Out Here Now,” the second album by queer Americana act Ever

More Nest (aka Kelcy Mae Wilburn), would be embraced by music lovers from all walks of life. The songs are as accessible as anything you’d hear on albums by non-queer musical acts from Austin to Nashville and beyond, as well as those on records by Brandy Clark or Brandi Carlile. In other words, there’s so much to like about “Out Here Now,” including the title track, “What’s Gone Is Gone,” “Out Loud,” “Wishing Well,” “My Story” (check out Fat Kaplin’s fiddle work), “All I Want,” and “Almost Home.” www.evermorenest.com

Could singer/songwriter Rachael

Sage be the bi Taylor Swift? Prolific, independent, eternally struggling with love, and empress of her own musical empire, Sage beat Swift to the rerecording punch by a few years when she revisited two of her previously released albums. For the ambitious double disc “The Other Side” (MPress),

Sage chose to include a second album of “alternate mixes.”

Sage, who plays keyboards and guitar, once again delivers a set of pleasing pop songs including “Flowers For Free,” “The Place of Fun,” “Albatross,”

“Butterflies at Night,” “I Made A Case” (which appears in two versions, including a duet with Howard Jones), and “No Regrets” (co-written with her father Stuart Weitzman). Sage’s wellchosen covers include queer singer/ songwriter Maria McKee’s “Breathe,” Yaz’s “Only You,” and “Forgive Me This,” an obscure Europop song. Rachel Sage performs Sept. 12, 8:15pm (with Alexx Calise) at The Lost Church, 988 Columbus Ave. $18.

www.rachaelsage.com

Directed by Martin Scorsese, the 1977 drama “New York, New York,” starring Liza Minnelli and Robert DeNiro, was more of a movie with musical numbers than a movie musical. Considered

a commercial and critical failure, especially coming as it did right after 1976’s Oscar-nominated “Taxi Driver,” “New York, New York” is probably best known for its theme song, both Liza’s version and the one that Frank Sinatra turned into one of his signature tunes.

The movie featured a few standards, alongside original tunes by the Tony Award-winning duo of gay John Kander and his writing partner, the late Fred Ebb. In 2023, a stage musical adaptation of “New York, New York,” opened on Broadway, featuring the titular song, as well as “But The World Goes ‘Round” and “Happy Endings” (from the movie).

You can hear those songs, as well as several new Kander & Ebb compositions (along with lyric contributions by the ubiquitous Lin-Manuel Miranda) on the double disc “New York, New York: Original Broadway Cast Recording.”t newyorknewyorkbroadway.com

Colombia

From page 15

on-black décor and exposed shower.

That evening we were treated to dinner at a pop-up dining experience at the Orozco Clothing company. As a very well-built shirtless bartender plied us with cocktails, we got to sample some dishes from one of the city’s most popular chefs, Esteban. While some of our crew went out for a night on the town, I called it an early night and returned to my cell, I mean, room.

The region around Medellín is called Zona Cafetera, or the coffee zone, because this is where the country’s famous coffee plantations are found. Up bright and early the next day for our trip out of the city to the Café Capilla Del Rosario Coffee Farm, I got to see more of beautiful Medellín. Imagine San Francisco in a tropical climate and you’ll get an idea of how beautiful the city is, even in its downtown area.

After a tour of the coffee farm and some lessons on preparing the coffee

beans for drying and roasting (and some samples), we headed back to the city for lunch at Lavocadería, which as you might guess from the name, showcases the avocado. It’s in everything, from avocado lemonade to salads, appetizers, and entrees.

For lunch, I had a cheeseburger served between two halves of an avocado. No bun, just the avocado with a small, tossed salad tucked in the bottom section of where the pit would be and pickles in the top section. It was delicious and came with an order of yucca fries that were just salty enough.

Pride with paisas

Out in Colombia Visitors offers walking tours in Medellín including one focusing on its historic sites, including the importance of the LGBTQ community and how it played a role in transforming the face of modern-day Medellín. There is also the Medellín Graffiti Tour through the legendary Comuna 13, once a very dangerous neighborhood.

Paisas (what Medellín residents are called) are very open, friendly, and welcoming which makes this city probably the friendliest of gay-friendly Colombia. You’ll be able to find gay bars and clubs throughout Medellín, although some of the trendiest are in El Poblado, including Bar Chiquita and Club Oroculo. As the next day was the Pride Parade, we toured the clubs before calling it a night.

Nothing you’ve experienced in the States can prepare you for Pride in Medellín! It doesn’t step off until at least 2 p.m., so we got to enjoy a chance to sleep in and a leisurely breakfast. As we headed to the parade lineup, it seemed the entire city was participating, and it wasn’t far off from that. Organizers estimated nearly a million people.

And by participate, I mean dancing down the street and hanging on the floats. There are no barriers keeping onlookers away. Everybody’s part of the fun. We had a couple of popular Colombian social influencers on the float and they had the crowd rushing

our float all day. We took off at 2pm, and at 6pm, when we decided to get off the float, it was not even halfway through the parade route.

I was just about Prided out, but our last dinner together was that night, at Test Kitchen, an intimate dining space that features multi-course meals utilizing local fresh produce and a team of chefs and mixologists

trained in molecular gastronomy. The six-course meal, paired with complementary cocktails, was delightful, each course a revelation. A perfect ending to a perfect trip.t www.outincolombia.com https://www.gaytravel4u.com/ event/medellin-pride-festivalantioquia-vive-diversa

Left to Right: Hotel Click Clack in Medellín; Hikers in Ciudad Perdida, Santa Marta; Tayrona National Park in Santa Marta; A mural in Centro Cultural Moravia

Rick Karlin

Both Photos: Medellín Pride Festival

Rick Karlin

Colombia Travel Colombia Travel Out in Colombia

in Colombia

Autumn reads, part 2 t

‘The Old Gays Guide to the Good Life’ by Mick Peterson et al. $31.99 (Harper Wave) November

by Jim Piechota

Here comes the second part of our fall books roundup, which will give you an idea of what is coming to bookstores over the next several months.

FICTION

‘Day’ by Michael Cunningham, $28 (Random House) November

A multigenerational family saga is the driving force behind Pulitzer Prize-winner Cunningham’s latest novel. Across the span of three years, the lightly plotted story delicately captures the bewilderment, confusion, and fear surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic through a New York family primarily comprised of Isabel Walker and her musician husband Dan Byrne. They are a couple whose relationship has seen better days. Written with rich insight and suffused with gorgeous prose and perceptions of love, loss, hope, and promise, this intimate, memorable family portrait is classic Cunningham.

‘The Lookback Window’ by Kyle Dillon Hertz, $26.99 (Simon & Schuster)

This impressive debut from Hertz

follows a Manhattan gay man wrestling with demons from his adolescence as he juggles an impending marriage and grad school. Dylan is 26 and happily engaged to his fiancé Moans, but finds himself distressed about a newly enacted statute allowing sexual assault victims a one-year window for filing civil suits against their attackers after the statute of limitations has run out. Dylan longs to vanquish his emotional trauma by confronting one of his rapists on his own, which expectedly leads to an epic final blowout. Cathartic and revelatory, this is a gritty recovery story that packs a punch.

‘Blackouts’ by Justin Torres, $27

(Farrar, Straus & Giroux) October

Queer author Torres combines styles and genres into this novel about a young man who reconnects with an elderly, desert-bound friend. When a flood displaces the unnamed narrator from his apartment, he relocates to Juan’s complex in the playa to live, but in exchange for completing Juan’s life project about a 1941 research study on homosexual sex.

Juan’s copy of the original project has blacked out sections, leading to intensive conversations between the two about the origins of queer history. Tor-

res, after his terrific 2011 novel about family dynamics, “We The Animals,” continues to display immense literary talent and a knack for distinctive storytelling.

MEMOIR

‘Touching the Art’ by Mattilda B. Sycamore, $27 (Soft Skull) November

Prolific author Sycamore escorts readers down the Memory Lane of her adventuresome life anchored by a unique relationship with a relative. Interspersed with lucid, opinionated commentary about books by Mary Gabriel, Grace Hartigan, and the works of Andy Warhol, Sycamore evokes the very essence and memory of her late grandmother Gladys, a Baltimore-based abstract artist who painted her at various stages of her life and coached her to harness the creativity that flowed within.

That is, until Gladys found Sycamore’s expressions to be too queer for comfort. Unapologetic and reflective, Sycamore’s memoir invokes the very nature of art and the mindset of the artist. Queer artists will find much to ponder in this outspoken, deeply felt examination of creativity, family, betrayal, and independent expression.

‘Leading Lady’ by Charles Busch, $27.95 (Smart Pop) September Charles Busch needs no introduction. He remains a legendary cabaret

entertainer, drag icon, playwright, actor, and director, and this memoir is the ideal vehicle to showcase, memorialize, and celebrate his legacy. The book is overflowing with stories and memories about the star, whose talents as a raconteur are addictive and devilishly dishy.

Readers looking for the insider scoop on the Grande Dame’s difficult early life or about the celebs Busch rubbed elbows with back in the day (Joan Rivers, etc.) are certain to be tickled many times over as the memoir leaves no rhinestone unpolished and lays bare the essence of a true queen and performance superstar.

NON-FICTION

‘Live, Laugh, Lesbian: How to Navigate Life as a Lesbian in the 21st Century’ by Helen Scott, $18.95 (Jessica Kingsley) October

This unique self-help guide to being a contemporary lesbian comes courtesy of Helen Scott, a UK-based broadcaster, social media influencer, and “vocal ambassador” for the lesbian community. Her guide, mainly targeting the young, fresh-faced “baby gays,” delves into the issues of coming out and manifesting your own identity as a lesbian, self-acceptance, sartorial uniqueness, and how many different styles and preferences make up the global lesbian community. Newly out women and those who favor a fresh perspective on the Sapphic community at large will want to take a look.

This fizzy upbeat glimpse at the four Palm Springs-based gay elders who make up the Old Gays group is as fun, sassy and unapologetic as their viral TikTok videos. The quartet, comprised of Peterson, Robert Reeves, Jessay Martin, and Bill Lyons, share the secrets to their longevity, and impart spicy opinions on fashion, manscaping, dinner parties, faith, homophobia, desert life, and how they all survived the AIDS epidemic. Joyous and effortlessly valiant, this book represents how much personal happiness and liberation can arise from gathering with a group of fearless friends.

MUSIC BIOGRAPHIES

‘Madonna: A Rebel Life’ by Mary Gabriel, $38 (Little, Brown) October

This new Madonna biography clocks in at nearly 900 pages and multi-prize-winning author Gabriel drills down into the controversial, button-pushing superstar’s life. From Madonna’s quirky beginnings in Michigan in 1958 to the epicenter of her fame, the evolution of her fashion sense, and a primed look into her future, this is a must-have for any (and every) Madonna fan.

‘Curepedia: The A-Z of The Cure’ by Simon Price, $35 (Dey Street Books) November Robert Smith and the band that changed the world get their due in this unique literary celebration of the group arranged in alphabetic format (“B is for Babacar and Ballet; J is for “Just Say Yes”). Photographic visuals are included by longtime Cure collaborator Andy Vella and are interwoven into the book’s contributions of trivia, insider facts, exclusive and in-depth song origins and lesserknown details about the band, its frontman, and their 40-year evolution through the decades. Cure fans will definitely want this one for their bookshelves. t

Mark S. King’s ‘My Fabulous Disease’

by Hank Trout

Mark S. King, familiar to all of us but especially to the HIV community, is an award-winning writer, speaker, and HIV/AIDS activist. His cheeky, provocative blog “My Fabulous Disease” has been a must-read source of information, opinion, and humor for the HIV-positive and -negative for several years.

Now, he has published “My Fabulous Disease: Chronicles of a Gay Survivor,” an anthology of some of his favorite blog entries and other pieces he wrote for various gay newspapers. For his new readers, it serves as a carefully curated introduction to Mark, his straight-forward style, his deeply rooted compassion, and his sometime contrariness.

The book is like a “greatest hits” album reminding us why we read him regularly. The entries in the book are thoughtful, thought-provoking, intensely personal yet touching on universal themes, and, again, often very funny. Having lived with HIV since 1985, Mark has a lot to say, and he’s not shy about saying it.

Take, for instance, “Stop Bludgeoning Young Gay Men with Our AIDS Tragedy,” the blog entry from November 2013, the entry that Mark says provoked the most heated responses of anything he’s written. In it, while acknowledging the importance of our recording and sharing our HIV/AIDS history, he chastises, in no uncertain terms, those in the community who would use that history in all its gory detail to shame and scare younger men who were born or came out after the worst years of the plague.

In response to comments like, “You don’t know. You didn’t go through what we went through,” Mark responds, “Well, thank God they didn’t go through what we did!”

He begins the essay telling us that there are little rituals he goes through to honor his friend Lesley who died of AIDS in the 1980s.

“There’s something I will not do. I will not dig up Lesley’s body and beat young gay men with his corpse.” That jarring image exemplifies Mark’s take-no-prisoners attitude and writing style.

In other essays, his softer compassionate nature takes over. He writes lovingly and sensitively about his parents, his older gay brother, and other family and friends.

In “Hurting Mom on My First Gay Christmas,” he recounts the story of his first Christmas after coming out. He received two watches that year, one from his boyfriend, one from his mother. Asked which watch he would keep and wear, he made a decision that, he says, still haunts him to this day.

In “I Am the Man My Father Built,” he pays moving homage to his kitebuilding father.

The most somber, poignant piece in the book, and the best-written, is “Suicide: A Love Story,” which tells two stories. The first recounts Mark’s experience of being in the house when his brother David’s AIDS-weakened lover of thirteen years died.

The second occurs a few years later, when David tells Mark the full, gutwrenching story of his lover’s death. There are images in this piece, such as the sound of the coroner’s gurney squeaking as it rolls across the Spanish tile in the house’s foyer, that will stay with me for quite some time. It is a remarkable piece of writing.

Mark’s lighter, more humorous approach to life, including his life with HIV, informs several of the other entries in the book. For instance, “The Fabulous Wizard of POZ” is a laughout-loud self-deprecating fantasy about attending a “poz social” right after he appeared on the cover of POZ Magazine in 2013.

In it, the character “Mark King” is a clueless, self-promoting, subtly ego-

maniacal media whore. He gripes that Leibowitz and Scavullo were unavailable to shoot the cover; that the editor of POZ turned down his suggestion of appearing in a prom dress with a

bucket of blood dumped on his head. It’s one of the funniest things I’ve read in ages.

Many readers will react very favorably to how easy Mark’s book is to

read. The brevity indicates that Mark has set himself the task of making strong, resonant points about life and love and living and dying, in about 800 words or so. He recently told

me that his approach to his columns and blog pieces is “to get in, tell you a story, make my point, and get out.” It is a technique that serves him and his readers very well.

“My Fabulous Disease: Chronicles of a Gay Survivor” is heartily recommended for anyone who enjoys a good, taut, concise, moving read.t

Mark S. King’s local appearances:

Sept. 15, 7:45am: on-air interview with Reggie Aqui on KGO-TV.

Sept. 16, 10am-12pm: Elizabeth Taylor 50-Plus Networks weekly meeting, Maxfield’s House of Caffeine, Dolores St. at 17th.

Sept. 16, 7pm: Mark and members of San Francisco’s long-term survivor community will read excerpts from ‘My Fabulous Disease’ at Strut SF, 470 Castro St.

‘My Fabulous Disease: Chronicles of a Gay Survivor,’ by Mark S. King. 209 Pages; $19.99. www.marksking.com

Author Mark S. King

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