September 8th, 2022 edition of the Bay Area Reporter

SF LGBTQ leaders provide Dutch queen a royal welcome

Rick Gerharter

SF expands MPX vaccine eligibility, starts 2nd doses

by Liz Highleyman

The San Francisco Department of Public Health has expanded eligibility for monkeypox vaccines to include all gay, bisexual, and trans people. Local providers began offering second doses this week to people who received their first dose at least a month ago.

“This expansion of eligibility, as well as second dose availability is aligned with the movement of the state and other Bay Area agencies,” said San Francisco Public Health Officer Dr. Susan Philip. “Two doses provides longer lasting protection compared to a single dose, and is recommended by the FDA and CDC for this vaccine. We will continue to work to distribute the vaccines to those who need it as quickly and as equitably as possible.”

The San Francisco Department of Public Health statement notes that this change is in alignment with other Bay Area counties, some of which started giving second doses last week.

Santa Clara County health officials issued a release August 31 stating that people can now make appointments for second doses if it has been 28 days or more since the person received their first dose. People can click here to make an appointment (https://vax.sccgov.org/)

There is no need to restart the series if more than 28 days have passed since first dose administration, officials stated, adding that people who get their medical care through large healthcare systems, may also be able to get a second dose through their regular doctor. The vaccine offers the best protection when individuals get both doses.

On August 31, DPH updated the criteria on its MPX website to state that “all gay, bisexual, trans people, and men or trans people who have sex with men or trans

See page 5 >>

by Matthew S. Bajko

LGBTQ officials provided a royal welcome to Queen Máxima of the Netherlands and other Dutch officials Tuesday as they toured San Francisco’s Castro district. The royal delegation took in a brief glimpse of the city’s LGBTQ museum and engaged in a friendly conversation with half a dozen local LGBTQ leaders. See page 5 >>

Queer herbalist aims to redefine wellness

by Matthew S. Bajko

Having kept her herbal apothecary in San Francisco’s Mission district afloat since the start of the COVID pandemic in 2020, Laura Ash has now launched a new online venture aimed at redefining how people view wellness. It is reaching a global audience keen on expanding how they approach their own well-being or provide health care to others.

Called Land of Verse , the online school soft-launched in May to offer modern wellness courses in herbal medicine, botanical beauty, psychedelics and mental health, divination and tarot. Ash is aiming to raise $750,000 in seed funding to support the digital platform.

“The goal is to be a trusted voice of wellness online,” said Ash, 42, a clinical herbalist and teacher of western herbal medicine.

The website offers different certifications for people looking to become professional herbalists. The months of courses are all taught online and cost around $3,000, though scholarships to help offset the price are available, particularly for trans, femmes, Black, Indigenous, and people of color, and persons with a disability.

“We want to make it easy for professionals to start integrating herbal medicine into the lives of their family and community,” said Ash, who now lives in Oakland with the two young children she had with her ex-husband, and her wife, Lucy Laliberte , a department manager at Pixar.

Ash assumed ownership of the Scarlet Sage Herb Co. , located at 1193 Valencia Street, in 2015. She worked there in 2006 while attending the California School of Herbal Studies in Sonoma.

As the Bay Area Reporter noted in 2018, Ash had expanded the business to offer more classes ranging from mindfulness and broom making workshops to astrology certification and spiritual cleansings. She transformed a basement area of the store into the home of the Scarlet Sage Wellness Space and the Scarlet Sage School of Traditional Healing Arts.

Then COVID hit, forcing Ash to shut

down all in-person educational classes, temporarily close the doors to the apothecary, and furlough her employees for six weeks.

During that time she handled mail orders herself made via the store’s website or over the phone.

“As an alternative health care provider in San Francisco, I was really concerned about the safety of my staff,” recalled Ash, who was able to reopen after being deemed an essential business by the city. “It was such a scary time. No one knew how safe it was to be with people at all.”

See page 7 >>

San Francisco Health Officer

Dr. Susan Philip

Queen Máxima of the Netherlands, left, shakes hands with San Francisco AIDS Foundation CEO Tyler TerMeer, Ph.D., as Aria Sa’id of the Transgender District looks on at a meeting with LGBTQ leaders at Twin Peaks Tavern in the Castro September 6.

Matthew S. Bajko

Clinical herbalist Laura Ash has launched a new online venture.

Newsom to decide on bill that would help trans kids

by Matthew S. Bajko

California legislators have adopted protections for parents who bring their transgender children to the Golden State to access gender-affirming health care banned in their home state. It is now up to Governor Gavin Newsom to make them law.

Newsom in recent months has gone out of his way to wage a public affairs campaign against Republican governors across the South who have implemented laws that rollback protections for their LGBTQ state residents in addition to restricting access to abortion services. But back at home he has faced criticism for vetoing legislation that could hamper his ability to wage a future presidential campaign in GOPdominated states.

It has led to heightened scrutiny and speculation this legislative session on which bills Newsom will sign or veto. One such piece of legislation is Senate Bill 107, which aims to provide a legal refuge for trans kids and their families who face being persecuted by their own state governments, such as in Alabama, Texas, and Idaho.

Under Texas Governor Greg Abbott, parents of trans kids who receive gender-affirming care found themselves being investigated by state agencies and facing the possibility of being prosecuted and seeing their trans children placed in foster care. A state court placed a temporary hold, however, on such policies as the state presses its argument in support of the transphobic law in court.

In Alabama, parents and physicians face being imprisoned for up to 10 years for either allowing their trans kids or providing their trans patients gender-affirming care. A federal district court placed an injunction on the law, however, as it is challenged in court.

Bolstering the likelihood that Newsom will enact SB 107 is that he has engaged in a war of words this summer

with the governors of both the Lone Star and Yellowhammer states over how they are running their states. Plus, 19 other states have introduced similar “trans refuge state” bills.

Gay state Senator Scott Wiener (DSan Francisco) gutted and amended legislation before the Assembly to introduce SB 107 in April. It makes it California policy to reject any outof-state court judgments removing trans kids from their parents’ custody because they allowed them to receive gender-affirming health care.

The bill also bars state health officials from complying with subpoenas seeking health records and any information related to such criminal cases. Public safety officers would also be instructed to make out-of-state criminal arrest warrants for such parents their lowest priority.

The bill didn’t escape the last day of the session without some opposition. Senator Melissa Melendez (R-Los Angeles) suggested that the bill could cause even further problems for families in other states when parents don’t agree with one another about genderaffirming care for their children. Along

with Senator Brian Dahle (R-Gold River), who is running for governor, she described the bill as approving surgery on children.

“Later on you discover it’s something you regret, you can’t change it,” she argued.

That, argued Wiener, was a distortion of the bill’s contents. “This bill does not write what the standards are for gender-affirming care,” he said, adding that opponents of genderaffirming care were “trying to score cheap political points on the backs of these children.”

After passing the Assembly August 29 on a 48-16 vote, the state Senate Wednesday, August 31, adopted SB 107 on a 30-9 vote. Newsom has until September 30 to sign it into law or veto it.

“Trans kids and their parents are being criminalized and used as political punching bags by right-wing zealots,” stated Wiener. “California will always stand with LGBTQ kids and their families. No one should ever have to worry about being separated from their child simply for allowing that child to be who they are. This is disgusting and we will fight back.”

All eight members of the Legislative LGBTQ Caucus co-authored SB 107, as did straight allies such as Assemblymembers Matt Haney (D-San Francisco), Ash Kalra (D-San Jose), Rebecca Bauer-Kahan (D-Orinda), Mia Bonta (D-Alameda) and Lori Wilson (D-Fairfield). Statewide LGBTQ advocacy organization Equality California, Planned Parenthood, and Lieutenant Governor Eleni Kounalakis all signed on as co-sponsors of the bill.

Legislators passed two other LGBTQ-related bills August 31 ahead of their deadline to do so at midnight that day. AB 2417, the Youth Bill of Rights by Assemblymember Phil Ting (D-San Francisco), would require incarcerated youth, many of whom are LGBTQ+, to be informed of their existing rights under state and federal law and have easier access to that information. The Senate passed it August 30 on a 40-0 vote and the next day the Assembly approved it 79 to 1.

“A #YouthBillofRights already exists in CA law, but it only applies to youth prisons. CA needs to protect these rights in county youth facilities. #AB2417 will give incarcerated youth across CA a bill of rights so they can be safe, protected, and empowered,” the Anti-Recidivism Coalition explained in a tweet supporting the law’s passage.

Also awaiting Newsom’s signature is the STI Prevention & Treatment Fairness Act, SB 1234 authored by Senator Dr. Richard Pan (D-Sacramento), which passed out of the Assembly by a 31-8 vote August 31. It aims to expand access to services related to the prevention and treatment of sexually transmitted infections to income-eligible patients who have confidentiality concerns, including LGBTQ+ patients, through the state’s Family Planning, Access, Care, and Treatment program. Such patients would be reimbursed for the cost of their care, subject to an appropriation by the Legislature and any potential draw down of federal matching funds.

“With STI rates rising for the past seven years, we need to turn the tide and expand access to confidential and high quality STI care for LGBTQ+ patients,” tweeted the advocacy group Essential Access Health as for why the legislation is needed.

Other trans bills sent to Newsom

Several bills related to transgender issues are now before the governor. Wiener’s SB 923 would require medical professionals who interact with transgender, gender-nonconforming, and intersex patients to receive cultural competency training, and health providers would need to create searchable online directories of their genderaffirming services.

Known as the TGI Inclusive Care Act, it builds on the state’s Transgender Wellness and Equity Fund created in 2020 and allocated $13 million last year. The Office of Health Equity within the State Department of Public Health administers the fund and awards grants to organizations providing trans-inclusive health care.

“Trans people often have to educate their healthcare providers about gender in order to receive the care they need,” stated Wiener. “That responsibility should never fall on a patient. SB 964 is first-in-the-nation legislation which will ensure California stays at the forefront of trans-inclusive health care.”

Under Assembly Bill 2521 by Assemblymember Miguel Santiago (D-Los Angeles), the fund would be renamed the TGI Wellness and Equity Fund. A main champion for its creation, Santiago also wants to see the health equity office establish a community advisory committee of TGI individuals that would recommend which organizations and entities should receive funding and how much each grant should be.

The state’s pharmacists and pharmacy technicians would have to un-

dergo at least one hour of culturally competent training about the concerns of LGBTQ+ patients before receiving a license under AB 2194 authored by gay Assemblymember Chris Ward (D-San Diego).

AB 2315 by Assemblymember Dr. Joaquin Arambula (D-Fresno) would require the governing board of each community college district in California to implement a process by which students, staff, and faculty can declare an affirmed name, gender, or both name and gender identification to be used in records where legal names are not required by law. The community colleges would need to be in compliance with AB 2315 commencing with the 2023-24 academic year.

It builds on a bill adopted last year that prohibits the state’s community colleges and public universities from deadnaming trans and nonbinary students – that is using their former names they were given based on the sex they were assigned at birth – on their diplomas and academic records.

Other bills for LGBTQ families, businesses

Protections for LGBTQ foster families would be bolstered under AB 2466 authored by lesbian Assemblymember Sabrina Cervantes (D-Corona). It explicitly prohibits an agency that places foster children from declining to place a child with a resource family because a resource family parent identifies as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer. It would also scrap the usage of the phrase “hard-to-place children” in state codes.

“We must strive to instill this basic principle in foster care system: No child is too difficult to love or care for regardless of their race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression,” tweeted Cervantes after her bill passed August 25.

Under AB 2663 by Assemblymember James C. Ramos (D-Highland), the state Department of Social Services would establish a five-year pilot project called the Youth Acceptance Project in counties that volunteer to sign up for it. The state agency would contract with the nonprofit Family Builders by Adoption to provide therapeutic-style support and intervention services to LGBTQ+ youth who receive, or are at risk of receiving, child welfare services.

“By expanding this model statewide, we can change the heartbreaking outcomes youth experience from rejection to acceptance,” wrote Jill Jacobs, a lesbian who is executive director of the Oakland-based agency in an August 25 guest opinion for the Bay Area Reporter.

LGBTQ+ youth who are experiencing homelessness or are at risk of homelessness, and their families who are struggling with accepting the youth’s sexual orientation, gender identity, or expression, would also be eligible to receive services through the project. A clinician or social worker would be in charge of the services, which the bill specifically requires to be designed to increase acceptance among a LGBTQ+ youth’s parents, caregivers, foster parents, adoptive parents, extended family members, social workers, and additional staff involved in a youth’s care

The state agency would have to submit a report to the Legislature with an evaluation of the pilot project, which would end on January 1, 2030.

Death certificates would need to list a decedents’ parents without referring to the parents’ gender under AB 2436 co-authored by Bauer-Kahan and Cervantes. The change would benefit LGBTQ+ parents as they navigate estate proceedings and other matters following the death of a child. It builds on the law pushed by Bauer-Kahan last year that added nonbinary as a gender option on the forms.

“So proud that my bill to increase gender inclusive language on death

50 YEARS PROUD. 50 YEARS BART.

More LGBTQ-related bills are headed to Governor Gavin Newsom’s desk.

Jane Philomen Cleland

Celebrating diversity, supporting the community, and sharing our pride.

Celebrating diversity, supporting the community, and sharing our pride.

kp.org/community

kp.org/community

At Kaiser Permanente, we believe everyone has a right to be celebrated, heard, represented, and loved. We stand united in our support of equity, diversity, and community pride.

Celebrating diversity, supporting the community, and sharing our pride.

kp.org/community

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City College endorsements

San Francisco voters will elect four trustees to the board that oversees City College of San Francisco. Three seats are up this cycle, plus one trustee, Murrell Green, who was appointed earlier this year by Mayor London Breed to a vacancy, is running to complete the remaining two years of the term that had been held by Tom Temprano, a gay man who resigned when he became political director of Equality California, the statewide LGBTQ rights organization.

Two-year term

Green, a straight ally, is seen as a solid appointment as he has community college experience and is an educator. He has a doctorate in education and even has experience working at City College as a financial and academic counselor.

Appointed to the college board in May, Green has had several months to survey the landscape, and it’s apparent that City College has yet to emerge from budget deficits that have plagued the school for years. But Green, who was born and raised in San Francisco, has the background to be a good pick for the board.

We recommend his election to the unexpired term.

Four-year seats

City College was hit hard by the COVID pandemic, when enrollment stalled and its campuses switched to remote learning. Now students have returned to in-person instruction, but a large budget deficit has threatened class offerings and employees. Thirty full-time faculty were laid off, and the college lost 30% of its enrollment. That’s a tough situation for anyone, but new Chancellor David Martin took the helm last year and seems to have steadied the ship.

“He hasn’t run screaming from the room, as most chancellors have before him,” Thea Selby, one of the incumbents running for reelection, told us in her endorsement questionnaire.

In fact, Selby, a straight ally and a past board president, implemented the Free City College program that provides tuition for all students and grew enrollment by about 25% when she led the board, she stated. Selby said that she’s working with Martin to modify the Free City memorandum of understanding to allow for student debt from COVID to be covered, as well as the same amount of money the college had the first year of the program – $1 million – to recruit students back to the school.

Selby also pointed to Assembly Bill 1919, a pilot program for free transit for all students K-16. If it is signed by Governor Gavin Newsom, Selby pointed out that it removes a barrier for high school students who take courses at the college to get to in-person classes “and could also help with recruitment.”

Selby also noted that recruiting diverse faculty will help with enrollment. “We negotiated 100+ units of affordable housing for faculty as part of an MOU with Balboa Reservoir, next door to City College’s Ocean campus,” she wrote. “This will

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help greatly in getting faculty of color to come to CCSF, as housing is prohibitively expensive. As we grow our enrollment, we can grow the diversity of our faculty, which will further grow enrollment.”

We think Selby has done a good job as a City College trustee and endorse her for another term.

Another incumbent who we recommend is John Rizzo. In his endorsement questionnaire, Rizzo, a straight ally, stated that the college’s finances have been stabilized due to laying off tenured faculty and reducing the number of classes offered. He noted, however, that some classes are being added back. The college’s structural deficits have been eliminated, he stated.

“This puts the college in a strong position in a number of ways,” he wrote. “We have satisfied all financial requirements of the accrediting commission, the state chancellor’s office, the state [fiscal crisis and management assistance team] auditors, and our own independent auditors. And, by eliminating the structural deficits, there is no need for further cuts in coming years.”

Rizzo is currently the longest-serving trustee. He has served as board president and is currently vice president and chair of the facilities committee. We think it is important to have trustees with institutional knowledge of the issues facing City College, and we hope that a robust recruiting plan can be implemented now that the financial issues seem to have abated.

That’s not to say that a new voice wouldn’t be of value, and that’s why we’re recommending William Walker, a gay Black man, for the college board. Walker, a former student trustee and student body president at City College, has run twice before, and we’ve been impressed with his passion and commitment to the school. We endorsed him in his 2014 race.

In terms of boosting enrollment, Walker suggested marketing the school to city residents. “If San Franciscans understood how helpful even enrolling in one course at the college would be for building enrollment, residents would surely pick up a class of interest,” he stated in his endorsement questionnaire. He also advocates aligning community needs to the state mandated program review process in which faculty, staff, administrators, students, and the larger San Francisco com-

munity come together and identify programs to offer at CCSF that will help the local economy or provide a community service. “UCSF and Stanford hospitals could partner with CCSF to add nursing student enrollment slots for students to help reduce the shortage of nurses,” he suggested. “Nonprofits could develop a curriculum that helps organizations secure talent capable of writing grants, balancing budgets, growing programs, and acquiring talent all while understanding the many guidelines and laws governing them.”

Walker is not a fan of the chancellor, however, and suggested he be placed on a performance plan that evaluates whether he can meet enrollment growth goals.

Walker, born and raised in San Francisco, has served on nonprofit boards, including San Francisco Pride. City College has a pioneering queer studies program, and Walker suggested advertising LGBTQ studies at high schools, nonprofits, and employee resource groups to make more people aware of it.

Much about City College’s future rests on increasing enrollment and innovative marketing to attract students. We know that the trustees and administration have had to make some tough decisions in recent years, but the goal of maintaining a great community college in San Francisco is important. Whether students attend after high school or take courses later in life, the school is a valuable part of the city. It needs a strong board and we recommend Murrell Green, Thea Selby, John Rizzo, and William Walker. t

Pridefest offers a new beginning in Oakland

by Sean Sullivan & Christie James

After years of working to create a safe space and build a sense of community in The Town, our town, we couldn’t believe the words we were hearing about the spirit of Pride in Oakland – that “Pride was dead.” Surely, this was a joke and this poor soul was misinformed. The spirit of the LGBTQ community, which has long stood for resilience in the face of hatred and adversity, could not be extinguished simply because of COVID and thus, Pridefest Oakland was born last year with a street festival. Initially, we thought this would be a placeholder event but after its success, at the behest of Oaklanders, we began planning a 2022 celebration in January.

Pridefest Oakland was born out of a spirit of resilience and determination not to let the spirit of Oakland die, albeit that’s a somewhat dramatic explanation for the beginning of what we hope will be a kick-ass, power-to-the-people, all-out dance festival that showcases the best of local and national LGBTQ+ talent.

At its core, Pridefest Oakland is a diverse group of Oakland’s LGBTQ community leaders, coming together to bring a renewed sense

of Pride to Oakland. Our mission is neither a slight to festivals past nor a reckoning of new ideas that may spring forth from this seed we are planting, but a joyful celebration of LGBTQ+ Pride and joy after a rollercoaster of a ride of COVID shut-ins and political nightmares.

On Sunday, September 11, a day of reflection for our country no doubt, we are taking to the streets of downtown Oakland on 20th Street/Thomas L. Berkley Way from Broadway to Harrison Street to show up and show out and celebrate the love and Pride that is ingrained in our community.

In May, Mayor London Breed, left, appointed Murrell D. Green to the vacant seat on the City College Board of Trustees.

Courtesy Tom Temprano City College Trustees John Rizzo (left) and Thea Selby

Courtesy of John Rizzo and Thea Selby, respectively.

City College candidate William Walker

Courtesy William Walker

Singer-songwriter Mýa drew a crowd at last year’s Pridefest.

Giotographer/Pridefest Oakland

people” are now eligible for vaccination. This is broader than the previous criteria, which limited eligibility to gay and bi men and trans people who had more than one sex partner in the past two weeks.

In addition, people who have had close contact with a person with MPX, those who have attended venues or events where a case was identified, sex workers of any gender or orientation, and certain clinicians and laboratory workers will remain eligible.

DPH is encouraging people to seek second vaccine doses from their health care provider rather than mass vaccine clinics, regardless of where they received their initial shot. “Health care providers now have the infrastructure” to offer the vaccine, a DPH spokesperson told the Bay Area Reporter.

Split-dose vaccine strategy

The MPX virus is related to smallpox, though less severe, and smallpox vaccines can prevent MPX too. DPH is offering the Jynneos vaccine, a safer alternative to older live-virus smallpox vaccines. Because the virus has a long incubation period, vaccines may be used either as post-exposure prophylaxis within several days after exposure or as pre-exposure prophylaxis for those at risk.

The original Jynneos indication calls for two doses administered by subcutaneous injections four weeks apart. In an effort to stretch the limited vaccine supply, SF and other jurisdictions resorted to a onedose strategy to give twice as many people partial protection as soon as possible. But experts say the vaccine

<< Dutch queen

From page 1

King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands, who married Máxima in 2002, was to have joined his wife and the other Dutch dignitaries on their visit to the Bay Area. But he had to cancel at the last minute after becoming ill with pneumonia and his doctors advising him against traveling overseas.

“He would love to have been here,” said Máxima during brief remarks she gave to the press alongside San Francisco Mayor London Breed at the end of her roughly hourlong visit to the Castro.

Her being able to see the neighborhood was “an honor,” said the queen, who thanked Breed “so much for giving us not only myself but also our minister and our people with us the opportunity to seeing Castro. You know the Netherlands and San Francisco share so many

Letters >>

Consequences of wider sidewalks

does not provide full protection until two weeks after the second dose.

“This is a two-dose vaccine and it’s important to receive the second dose in the series,” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Dr. Rochelle Walensky told reporters during an August 26 briefing. “I encourage providers to continue to highlight the importance of the second dose so that all vaccinated people optimize their protection from the vaccine.”

To stretch supplies even further, the Food and Drug Administration recently issued an emergency use authorization that allows Jynneos to be administered by intradermal injection, splitting a single vial into five doses. The skin contains plentiful immune cells that recognize viral antigens in the vaccine and trigger a strong immune response. Studies show that the subcutaneous and intradermal methods produce similar antibody responses. However, some experts caution that intradermal administration may not be appropriate for people living with HIV, and it should not be used for people with keloids, an overgrowth of scar tissue that is more common among Black people

The federal government is now reporting the number of distributed vaccine doses assuming providers will use fractional-dose administration. DPH received 8,000 doses last week and expects 13,000 more in the next allotment, according to the statement.

Vaccine availability

People who initially received a subcutaneous first dose of Jynneos can get an intradermal second dose, or they can get both doses using the intradermal method. According to the FDA protocol, the second dose

should be given a month after the first, but experts say waiting up to several months will not compromise effectiveness.

Starting next week, the walk-in MPX vaccine clinic at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center will continue to serve first dose walk-ins and will begin administering second doses by appointment to San Francisco Health Network patients and to a limited number of walk-ins as supply allows.

If a person’s primary health care provider does not offer the vaccine, they can receive a second dose by appointment at the San Francisco AIDS Foundation’s Strut clinic in the Castro, Kaiser Permanente, UCSF, DPH’s Adult Immunization and Travel Clinic, and SF Health Network providers.

San Francisco is among the first jurisdictions to expand eligibility to include all gay, bi, and trans people regardless of their recent sexual history. The new criteria do not take into account the fact that some cisgender women and straight-identified men are connected to gay men’s sexual networks. Washington, D.C. recently took the opposite approach, expanding eligibility to include people of any sexual orientation or gender who recently had multiple sex partners.

San Francisco’s approach has the advantage of not requiring people to divulge their sexual activity while DC’s approach is independent of self-identification. Both could be important as health officials and providers try to expand their reach to vaccinate people beyond early adopters, who have disproportionately been white gay men. Latino people in the Bay Area and Black people nationwide have higher MPX rates but are less likely to have received the vaccine.t

our world equal for everybody so everybody feels at home wherever they live.”

Being welcoming is something, she added, “we take very seriously in the Netherlands and we are extremely happy to see how it’s been developed here in San Francisco with your leadership but also with the leadership of this amazing community.”

things in common, but this support to LGB community, it is something we feel so strongly about.”

Máxima noted she was there “not only to learn about your history but also to learn from each other where are we good at, where are we actually not great because we still have to live by example. We have to make

Perhaps those lofty city leaders who decided they wanted to widen the sidewalks on Castro Street between Market and 19th Street back in 2013 didn’t realize that they were just making it more comfortable for those without homes to make themselves at home on our street [“Right-wing media loving Castro merchants’ protest letter to SF,” online, September 2].

Mike Zonta San Francisco

Interesting juxtaposition

Interesting juxtaposition in this week’s edition of the Bay Area Reporter: Castro merchants and residents vociferously complain about unsafe sidewalks, including graphic details of repeated verbal and visual, if not physical, assaults on Castro walking tours [“SF responds to Castro merchants’ letter,” September 1].

Juxtaposed with the article announcing that Queen Máxima of the Netherlands plans a walking tour from the LGBTQ History Museum to the Castro Theater and Twin Peaks Tavern September 6 [“With Dutch king ill, Queen Máxima will lead delegation on SF visit,” online, September 1.]

What could possibly go wrong? And how much police security will be needed for that? I’m feeling the need for

The royals had specifically wanted to meet with American LGBTQ leaders and visit the Castro district due to their own advocacy on LGBTQ rights. The Netherlands was the first country to legalize same-sex marriage in 2001, and Máxima became the first member of a European royal family to attend an LGBTQ rights conference in 2008.

It was what prompted husbands Kris Anders, 41, and Roger Schachtel, 72, to get up early Tuesday in order to welcome the queen to the neigh-

See page 6 >>

some Sisters’ street theater to cap off (crap off?) this event!

Charlie Spiegel, Esq. San Francisco

Newsom’s mistaken veto on overdose bill

I am extremely disappointed with Governor Gavin Newsom’s veto of a pilot program for safe consumption sites in San Francisco and other cities [“Newsom vetoes safe consumption pilot bill, online, August 22]. There is ample evidence that safe consumption sites save lives, promote harm reduction, oh - and take some drug use off the streets, imagine that.

Preventing overdose is paramount to keeping our communities safe. Providing services and harm reduction strategies to those using drugs is vital to improving the health and safety of those who consume drugs. A safe, clean, judgment-free site where people can safely consume while getting resources on offboarding from drugs could have been one solution to San Francisco’s overdose and drug abuse crisis.

By vetoing the bill, Newsom now owns the inevitable ongoing failure of piecemeal, carceral solutions to drug addiction.

Jeremy Rosenberg, Esq. San Francisco

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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 serving our Community.

Well-wishers greet Queen Máxima of the Netherlands who visited the Castro September 6.

San Francisco Chronicle/pool

borhood. They joined several dozen well-wishers outside of the GLBT Historical Society Museum who had gathered to greet the Dutch royal.

“The whole history of that royal family and gay people is admirable and deserves recognition,” said Schachtel, adorned in orange, the official color of the Netherlands, whose parents in the 1960s happened to sail on a Holland America ship from Europe to the U.S. along with then–reigning monarchs Queen Juliana and Prince Bernhard.

As for why Anders instigated the couple’s being there, he told the Bay Area Reporter in addition to the Netherlands’ early embrace of marriage equality, “one thing we gay people like to do is see queens. This is a really cool thing to see, you know.”

Standing next to them with a Dutch flag and orange scarf was Ingrid Buscher, 57, who took the day off from her nursing job in order to see the queen. Born in Weert in the southeast of the Netherlands, Buscher said it was very difficult to glimpse the Dutch royals in her home country because thousands of people would gather for their visits.

“I never got to see them, so this is unheard of,” said Buscher, who ended up standing next to the queen as she walked down the sidewalk.

With her son having recently come out as gay, Buscher told the B.A.R. it was another reason for her wanting to witness Queen Máxima visit the gayborhood.

“The Dutch people are always very accepting and tolerant of immigrants and gay people. We are just very tolerant,” said Buscher, who first came to the Bay Area in 1991 and has dual American and Dutch citizenship. “It is a safe community for many, many people to live in. It is why it is so full.”

At the museum the queen was shown the special glass vitrine that contains the suit worn by the late

gay San Francisco supervisor Harvey Milk the morning of his assassination on November 27, 1978. Museum staff also pointed out a section of the current exhibit devoted to the AIDS epidemic, which ravaged residents of the city’s LGBTQ neighborhood in the 1980s and prompted the creation of an LGBTQ archival group to collect their ephemera and other historical items.

Shown a photograph of AIDS activists blocking traffic on the Golden Gate Bridge on January 31, 1989, taken by B.A.R. photographer Rick Gerharter, the queen responded, “I remember that.”

Not on display to the public but stored in its archives are eight blocks of the Dutch version of the AIDS quilt, two of which honor gay couples who had lived in San Francisco. The founder of the Dutch AIDS Memorial Quilt, Dutchman Gart Zeebregts, had worked in the 1980s as the international outreach coordinator for the NAMES Project in San Francisco, the organization that launched and oversaw the American AIDS quilt.

Showing off one of the first rainbow flags made by the late Gilbert Baker now on display at the museum, interim co-executive director Andrew Shaffer noted how it used to include a pink stripe that had to be chopped off because the fabric was difficult to buy. Máxima, adorned in a hot pink dress, joked, “I am so glad to be adding myself to it.”

“It is amazing how it has become a symbol,” she said of the flag. “We have hung it often, so very nice to see.”

Meeting at tavern

From the museum the 51-yearold Dutch royal walked over to the Castro Theatre and the historic Twin Peaks Tavern, the first gay bar in the U.S. to install clear-glass windows providing full views of its patrons. Escorting her on the brief walk, which took her across Castro Street and its rainbow crosswalks, was gay District 8 Supervisor Ra-

NOVA: Ending HIV in America

fael Mandelman, who represents the neighborhood at City Hall.

“People are very excited. We don’t get royalty here everyday,” said Mandelman. “We have had hundreds of folks ask, ‘Can you get us in to meet her?’”

Meeting Máxima midblock in the rainbow crosswalk were three drag queens. Husbands of five years Maurits Dekkers and Hans Culp, who are both Dutch but now live in San Francisco, with their drag mother, The One and Only Rexy, handed the queen a bouquet of flowers and exchanged greetings in both English and Dutch.

“We need more attention for diversity,” said Dekkers about the royal visit’s inclusion on its itinerary a focus on LGBTQ issues.

The experience “was amazing,” said Rexy, adding that the queen’s visit showcases how “people from around the world can learn from us and we can learn from people from around the world.”

Greeting the queen to their bar were Twin Peaks Tavern co-owners George Roehm and Jeff Green, who had fielded Dutch press inquiries in the days leading up to the visit. They expect the publicity will result in more people from the Netherlands walking through the doors.

“It was very exciting. We were

honored to have her here,” said Green. “She is an ally to the LGBT+ community around the world. We really appreciate that, and she is very elegant.”

Mandelman joined in the conversation with Máxima at the famous watering hole with San Francisco AIDS Foundation CEO Tyler TerMeer, Ph.D.; San Francisco LGBT Community Center Executive Director Rebecca Rolf; National Center for Lesbian Rights Executive Director Imani Rupert-Gordon; and Aria Sa’id, president and chief strategist of the Transgender District in the city’s Tenderloin neighborhood.

“She is so incredibly kind, generous, and sincerely cares about equality,” Rupert-Gordon told the B.A.R. after meeting the queen.

Noting that “so many times the LGBTQ community is left out,” Rupert-Gordon said having the queen want to visit and speak with local LGBTQ leaders “is so incredibly powerful for people here and the neighborhood.”

The local LGBTQ leaders’ discussion with Máxima focused on both HIV services, primarily in terms of access to health care, and transgender issues, from the issues trans people face to the services the city is providing. Both Sa’id and Breed highlighted the city’s effort to end trans homelessness by 2027.

Sa’id told the B.A.R. she very much appreciated the queen’s “understanding of trans issues” and wanting to learn about ways to address them.

“I think the realities that exist in San Francisco also exist in other modern-thinking countries in the world,” she said.

TerMeer, a 39-year-old gay man who is of Dutch ancestry, discussed the current state of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the U.S.

“It was a really amazing moment for LGBT leaders here in the Bay Area to meet with Her Majesty, who is very supportive of LGBTQ rights in her home country,” he said.

Thomas Horn, a gay man who chairs the San Francisco Host Committee, the nonprofit arm of the mayor’s protocol office, also helped escort the queen through the Castro and took part in the conversation at the Twin Peaks. He said her visit brings public attention to LGBTQ issues across the globe.

“It certainly sends the message in the Netherlands they care,” said Horn, a former publisher of the B.A.R. who serves as honorary consul of Monaco in San Francisco. “It

The September 1 article, “Dutch royalty to visit the Castro” contained several errors. Stanford University was on the itinerary but the queen did not go to Los Angeles.

The Netherlands’ consulate in San Francisco serves an estimated 40,000 Dutch citizens in 13 Western states: California, Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.

Deputy General Consul Vincent Storimans served at the Netherlands’ Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Beijing and Moscow before coming to the U.S. He worked at the embassy

furthers our goal of acceptance, assimilation, equality, diversity, and inclusion. She was very invested; it wasn’t only a perfunctory tour of the Castro. She asked smart questions.”

Speaking to the B.A.R. ahead of the delegation’s visit September 6-9, gay deputy consul general for the Netherlands Consulate in San Francisco Vincent Storimans noted its agenda included stops at the campuses of Stanford, UC Berkeley, and UCSF, and tech giant Google. After leaving the Castro the queen attended a seminar at Salesforce Tower about the challenges urban areas are facing.

A cocktail reception for the queen was held Tuesday at San Francisco City Hall with 700 expected guests. Early Tuesday morning Máxima presided over a ceremonial flag raising ceremony at the building with Breed.

“Having the queen at the forefront of this fight is absolutely extraordinary,” said Breed to reporters, of Máxima bringing global attention to LGBTQ issues.

According to the mayor’s office it was the first royal visit to the city since 2005, when England’s Prince Charles, newly married to Camilla Parker Bowles, the Duchess of Cornwall, toured the Bay Area. They toured the Ferry Building and attended the now-closed camp revue “Beach Blanket Babylon” before heading north to meet with Marin County farmers due to the British royals’ personal interest in organic farming.

Governor Gavin Newsom, who had greeted the British royals as the then-mayor of San Francisco, is scheduled to meet Máxima and other Dutch officials. While in San Francisco, Máxima was also expected to take in several activities on the to-do list of any tourist: riding one of the city’s famed cable cars and visiting the Golden Gate Bridge.

In conjunction with the royal delegation, a trade mission of more than 100 Dutch companies from the fields of life sciences and health, urban mobility, and cycling is on a parallel visit to San Francisco and Los Angeles.

The queen, who is being trailed by more than a dozen Dutch journalists, is set to visit Texas after leaving the Golden State. Her American tour is meant to highlight the impact of climate change on both the Netherlands and the U.S.; potential solutions to the energy crisis brought on by the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent sanctions imposed; and transatlantic cooperation.

“The Netherlands and California have been working together for many years in areas such as technology, climate change, and innovation. And cities in the Netherlands and California are at the forefront of the transition to create healthier urban living,” stated Dutch Ambassador André Haspels, adding that the visit by “Her Majesty Queen Máxima highlights this cooperation and charts the way for future opportunities in technology, higher education, and health care.”

Noting she had “heard a lot of Spanish spoken here,” Máxima, who was born Máxima Zorreguieta in Argentina, ended her media briefing in the Castro with a short message in her native tongue.

She concluded, “Gracias a todos and long live Castro.”t

in Washington, D.C. then came to San Francisco. He previously worked on a trade mission in Turkey but did not serve in the embassies there. He plans to extend his tour in San Francisco by a year, serving five years total.

References to Storimans working on the incident involving the downed passenger airliner while serving in Moscow have been removed from the article as that incident occurred three years after he served there.

The online version has been updated. t

Queen Máxima of the Netherlands tours the Castro district guided by Supervisor Rafael Mandelman during her September 6 visit to the LGBTQ neighborhood.

Rick Gerharter

SF leather district to hold MPX vaccine clinic

by Eric Burkett

M onkeypox vaccines are trickling in and, this weekend, there will be two more opportunities to get the jab.

The Leather & LGBTQ Cultural District, along with the San Francisco Department of Public Health, will hold two MPX vac -

<< Business Briefing

From page 1

She qualified for several rounds of government financial assistance for small businesses and established new protocols for her and her staff to follow, such as wearing masks and passing a smell test of essential oils due to those early on with COVID reporting lost senses of smell and taste.

Not knowing much about mRNA vaccine technology, Ash researched it and determined the COVID vaccines would be safe and had herself and two children vaccinated.

“I am a huge advocate of the vaccines. They are safe, clean, and extremely efficacious. I took it upon myself to educate my own staff and

<< Newsom

From page 2

certificates has passed the Senate!

#AB2436 will ensure all families are correctly identified,” Bauer-Kahan tweeted August 24.

AB 2873, authored by Assemblymember Reggie Jones-Sawyer (D-Los Angeles), would require applicants of the state’s low-income housing tax credit programs, as well as any of their subsidiaries and affiliates, to annually submit a report to the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee on how they plan to increase procurement from LGBTQ business enterprises and those owned by women, minorities and disabled veterans.

The bill would also require the state committee to include in its annual reports beginning in 2023 a summary of the commitments made by affordable housing companies to increase their working with the various business enterprises and their progress toward meeting those goals.

AB 1041 by Assemblymember Buffy Wicks (D-Oakland) would expand family leave provisions for workers to include their chosen family members in addition to their biological relatives, spouses and children. It aims to take into account how many LGBTQ people are estranged from their biological families and have households comprised of close friends they may need to care for during times of illness.

Two bills already signed Newsom has already signed two LGBTQ bills this year. One, AB 1741 introduced by gay Assemblymember Evan Low (D-Campbell), requires the governor to annually proclaim November 20 as Transgender Day of Remembrance. The event, started in 1998 by B.A.R. Transmissions columnist Gwen Smith, commemorates those transgender people lost to violence in a given year.

He also signed Wiener’s SB 357 that repeals California’s “walking while trans” loitering law. Sex worker advocates and LGBTQ leaders have denounced such criminal codes due to police using them to arrest transgender women who engage in prostitution in order to make a living.

The Legislature had passed the bill last year, but Wiener held off on sending it to the governor until this year as Newsom reviewed it. California now joins the state of New York in repealing its loitering laws, as the Empire State did so in 2021. t

cine pop-ups Saturday, September 10, and Sunday, September 11, at Eagle Plaza, 398 12th Street. Saturday’s pop-up will run from 2 to 5 p.m. and Sunday’s from 3 to 5 p.m. Leather district manager Cal Callahan said there would be at least 100 vaccines available per day. First and second doses are available.

my community about what I understand the vaccines are and how long they have been used and their safety,” said Ash, who tried to not engage with customers about the vaccines having had people yell at her and her staff about needing to cover their face in the store. “We definitely had customers really push back on wearing masks. Everything was very, very challenging that first year.”

Some of her employees opted to leave, while many of the store’s long-term customers moved outside the Bay Area and have not returned, said Ash. But newer residents of the region are coming in.

“We haven’t had to let people go but we adjusted our business model. There are less people coming into the store,” she said. “We are just starting to see it pick up

Those who come for the vaccines must meet SFDPH eligibility requirements and belong to one of the following priority populations: Black, Indigenous, people of color, gay, bisexual, transgender, or a current sex worker of any gender and orientation. On August 31, DPH updated the criteria on its MPX website to state that

again, but much more slowly. It is much slower than I thought.”

The teaching classes moved online within two weeks, as 50 students had signed up for courses. The transition was a bit difficult at first, said Ash, as not many herbalists were used to spending hours on a computer.

“I’d never run an online school,” said Ash. “Thankfully, all of our students stayed. They were eager to stay connected.”

Her new venture stems from people seeking out the outdoors during the COVID pandemic not only to exercise but also for spiritual renewal. One course Land of Verse teaches is about forest bathing, a traditional Japanese Shinto and Buddhist practice that aims to derive healing and energy from the trees and the woods, explained Ash.

“all gay, bisexual, trans people, and men or trans people who have sex with men or trans people” are now eligible for vaccination. This is broader than the previous criteria, which limited eligibility to gay and bi men and trans people who had more than one sex partner in the past two weeks. t

“Getting people outside is the focus of all the positive that has come from the anthropause of COVID,” she said.

Expanding acceptance of such traditional practices comes with challenges. As Ash writes in a blog post on the site about the need to rebrand wellness, she has heard from her own clients and friends that “taking herbal medicine is exclusive to hippies, woo-woo witches, or conspiracy theorists.”

Such thinking leads them to dismiss working with “a herbalist, acupuncturist, or nutritionist as adjunct therapies to their western allopathic care. Sadly, no matter the evidence backing up these complementary therapies,”

writes Ash, adding that for those who do want such services, they often can’t afford to do so. “Sadly, the people that want alternative care often do not have the means to pay for additional services since these therapies are not covered by their insurance.”

Already, the site is attracting students from across the globe, hailing from Dubai, New Zealand, Wales, and Canada. People from across the U.S. are also signing up for courses, said Ash.

“Scarlet Sage has a pretty wide reach,” she noted. “We got lucky because students who traveled in and out of San Francisco always wanted to take a class. Now they have an opportunity to participate in a community.” t

The San Francisco Leather & LGBTQ Cultural District will hold an MPX vaccine clinic this weekend at Eagle Plaza.

Felix Uribe

APE says groups canceling events at Castro Theatre

by Eric Burkett

The continuing furor over proposed renovations to the Castro Theatre is having an impact on the day-to-day operations of the beloved movie palace, according to an employee of Another Planet Entertainment, which now manages it.

At the September 1 meeting of the Castro Merchants Association, APE program director Margaret Casey told the group it has had cancellations because of the controversies, particularly surrounding the proposed removal of the theater’s raked seating. There has been substantial public outcry over APE’s plans to remove the cinema’s existing seating layout in favor of a multi-tiered plan which would allow for seatless, open areas for people to stand in during concerts.

Staff at the theater have also been affected, Casey said.

Another major point of contention has been worry about APE’s commitment to LGBTQ programming, to which APE repeatedly says it’s strongly committed. Ironically, it was an LGBTQ-focused event that canceled.

While Casey, a straight ally, characterized HeadPrint House’s decision to cancel its “Our Night” event as a result of pressure, event organizer Jessie Sunday, also a straight ally, said it was more a “sort of implied” pressure.

“We did not receive any direct pressure,” Sunday told the Bay Area Reporter.

Sunday is the events director for HeadPrint House, which focuses on programming of interest to the drag community, she said. That, in turn, is part of HeadPrint Studios, a Pacific Heights salon owned by Teddy Greene, which has just opened its second location in the Castro. The organization has sponsored numerous other events, such as last year’s

Holiday Artist Market, and the Make Me Up Glam Class.

HeadPrint House is “an organization built out of the passion for the queer community, especially creators and artists,” said Sunday.

But still, the controversy was very real, she added, and she heard from numerous participants in “Our Night” said they felt uncomfortable going forward with the program given how emotionally charged the matter has become within the LGBTQ community.

“The show we have created is fully baked,” Sunday, 39, said. “We have this cabaret show of all local performers from the LGBTQ community: drag kings, drag queens, fashion designers.”

In addition, there was to have been an art display and sale on the theater’s mezzanine. Proceeds from the event were to go toward trans-focused programming in conjunction with the San Francisco LGBT Community Center, said Sunday.

Not all the performers and show participants shared the same sentiment, but everyone “respected the choice and completely understood,” Sunday said. The APE town hall held in August only added to the heat. There, several hundred people showed up to voice their displeasure with APE’s renovation plans, as the B.A.R. previously reported.

“We’re just taking a pause to give space to this politically charged climate,” Sunday said.

This wasn’t the first time the show was canceled, however. An earlier attempt slated for July 14 was postponed when Sunday’s expected child insisted upon being born two months early, said Sunday, who has one child already. After discussions with Casey, the July show was moved to September 16, which is now canceled.

“Margaret has been fantastic to offer this change,” said Sunday.

The production will happen eventually, Sunday continued, and APE has

been “very excited about the show.”

Although, as the Castro Theatre’s end-of-the-year holiday programming comes into play, followed with at least several months of renovation work that will close the theater for much of 2023, it may be a while before “Our Night” finally makes it to the stage.

Other groups, too, have canceled, said Casey. In one instance, Bears of San Francisco canceled a volunteer appreciation event, she said. After negotiations, BoSF and APE had agreed upon a $1,000 fee that included pretty much everything, Casey said.

“We were gonna lose a little money, but that’s OK,” she said but, then, “out of the blue,” a third person from the group contacted her and said “no, no, we’re not doing it.”

That incident left Casey wondering if the bears were pulling out for similar reasons but, according to BoSF Chair Erik Green, it was simply a decision that the venue was too large for their event of 30 to 40 people.

Another Planet “absolutely bent over backwards” to meet the group’s needs, said Green, who added they’ve had an “excellent relationship” with the concert promoters, who are also sponsors of this year’s Bearrison Street Fair that takes place October 15 on Harrison Street in San Francisco’s South of Market neighborhood.

Impact on staff, too Casey, however, said that the ongoing trials have begun to have an impact on staffing at the Castro Theatre, as well.

Employees of APE, particularly the younger ones who tend to work as ushers and other positions that put them into contact with the public, have been bearing much of the brunt of the controversy over the theater’s future.

“We’ve found that people were really beating up on ushers and event managers, pushing back on young people just doing their job,” said Casey.

It’s gotten to the point that many APE staffers, who are assigned to events all over the Bay Area, such as the Greek Theatre in Berkeley, the Fox Theatre in Oakland, and the Independent in San Francisco, are asking to be reassigned from events at the Castro, she said.

There’s also been a lot of insistence by critics that APE use LGBTQ staff at Castro events, but that isn’t a realistic demand, said Casey. While she estimates that about one-third of APE staff are LGBTQ, the company doesn’t make hiring decisions based on a person’s sexual orientation, she said.

“It’s a surprise,” said Casey. “Another Planet is used to being the good guy, so it’s been an unusual experience to get piled on.”t

Some groups have pulled their events from the Castro Theatre over Another Planet Entertainment’s renovation plans that have sparked controversy.

Scott Wazlowski

Philomen Cleland

Biden nominates out lawyer to northern CA judgeship

by Matthew S. Bajko

Should San Francisco attorney

P. Casey Pitts be confirmed to the United States District Court for the Northern District of California then he would be the only LGBT Article III judge actively serving on the court, according to the White House.

President Joe Biden announced September 2 that he was nominating the Yale Law School graduate to the local federal bench. An Article III judge means the person was nominated by the president and confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

That is the second out ju dicial pick for a California federal bench that Biden has made in recent months. In late July, he nominated gay Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Daniel Calabretta to a seat on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California.

As the Bay Area Reporter noted at the time, Calabretta would be the first openly LGBTQ judge to serve on the federal district court if confirmed. California’s two Democratic U.S. senators – Alex Padilla and Dianne Feinstein – are backing his appointment and issued a statement Friday calling for Pitts to also be confirmed by their Senate colleagues.

“Pitts’ professional background and his effective work on behalf of laborers, consumers, and beyond will serve Californians well on the bench,” noted the senators in their joint release. “Our courts are also strengthened by his diversity of life experience, as the only openly LGBTQ+ Article III judge actively serving in the Northern District if confirmed. We urge our colleagues

in the Senate to support his swift confirmation.”

Pitts, in his early 40s and originally from Fargo, North Dakota, did not immediately respond to the B.A.R.’s interview requests Friday.

He is a partner at Altshuler Berzon LLP in San Francisco where he has worked since 2009. The announcement from the White House did not specify how Pitts identifies under the LGBT acronym, but Padilla’s office confirmed to the B.A.R. that he is a gay man.

According to his bio on the law firm’s website, he is a member of the amicus and judiciary committees of BALIF, the San Francisco Bay Area’s LGBTQ bar association also known as Bay Area Lawyers for Individual Freedom. San Francisco magazine had named Pitts a “Rising Star” in its Northern California Super Lawyers listings each year between 2016 and 2019.

From 2008 to 2009 Pitts served as a law clerk for now-retired Judge Stephen Reinhardt on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Altshuler Berzon hired him as an associate at the firm in 2009, and he became a partner in 2017. He has worked on, and written about, various LGBTQ legal cases over the years. In 2006, writing for the Yale Law Journal, Pitts explained why the military’s homophobic “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy barring LGBTQ servicemembers from being out was a deterrent for many young people to enlist in the armed forces.

“When defenders of (DADT) focus on the uniqueness of the military’s needs, and when judges defer to congressional judgments to the same effect, the military appears out of step with the world that most young people inhabit. The military’s

exemption from the norms that govern the civilian world hampers efforts to recruit the best and brightest into service,” wrote Pitts, who in law school served as a senior editor for the Yale Law Journal, as managing editor of the Yale Journal of Law and Feminism, and co-directed the Rebellious Lawyering Conference.

In 2015, Pitts was part of the legal team that filed a federal employment discrimination lawsuit on behalf of a transgender manager trainee at the Mississippi-based finance company Tower Loan. Tristan Broussard, 21 years old at the time, was fired after he refused to agree to dress and be treated as female, according to the lawsuit.

“Federal law protects transgender workers who deserve the same certainty as others that their jobs and livelihood depend, not on irrelevant characteristics like their gender, but on their skills, effort, and performance,” stated Pitts in a news release about the case.

It was filed by the National Center for Lesbian Rights, the Southern Poverty Law Center, Altshuler Ber-

zon LLP, and Delaney & Robb Attorneys at Law LLC. Broussard was awarded $53,000 in damages by an arbitrator, while Tower Loan in 2017 agreed to implement gender identity protections as part of settlement in a sex discrimination lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission after it intervened in Broussard v. First Tower Loan, LLC.

According to his law firm bio, Pitts has worked on cases involving workers, labor unions, consumers, public entities, and public interest organizations in complex impact and appellate litigation. It notes he has briefed both the United States Supreme Court and the California Supreme Court in numerous lawsuits, and has argued cases in the federal and state trial and appellate courts.

He also represents local unions in collective bargaining, including in negotiations and contract enforcement. Pitts serves an appellate representative to the 9th Circuit Judicial Conference, according to his bio, and volunteers with the

Workers’ Rights Clinic of Legal Aid at Work.

LGBTQ legal advocates have been calling on Biden to name more out judges to the federal bench. A report issued in February by Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund noted, as of its publication, there were only 14 active federal judges who openly identify as gay or lesbian, which is a mere 1.6% of the 870 Article III judgeships in the federal judiciary.

In April, Biden nominated Ana Reyes, a lesbian who is an attorney at the D.C.-based law firm Williams & Connolly LLP, for a seat on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, and her confirmation is now pending before the Senate. She would be the first Hispanic woman and the first out lesbian who would ever serve on the court, noted the Washington Blade LGBTQ newspaper.

This year also saw the confirmation of Biden nominee Alison Nathan, a lesbian former federal district court judge in New York, to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Last November, the Senate confirmed Biden’s first lesbian nominee to the 2nd Circuit: Beth Robinson of Vermont.

The 2nd Circuit includes Vermont, New York, and Connecticut. That confirmation marked the first time an openly LGBTQ woman had been appointed to a federal appeals circuit seat, as the Bay Area Reporter had noted.t

Political Notes, the notebook’s online companion, will return Monday, September 12. Keep abreast of the latest LGBTQ political news by following the Political Notebook on Twitter @ http://twitter.com/politicalnotes.

Got a tip on LGBTQ politics? Call Matthew S. Bajko at (415) 8298836 or e-mail m.bajko@ebar.com.

Right-wing media loving Castro merchants’ protest letter to SF

by Eric Burkett

Right-wing media is having a field day with the news that members of the Castro Merchants Association are threatening civil disobedience if the leaders of San Francisco don’t step in and take concrete actions to help groups like theirs deal with the onslaught of encampments and now-routine petty crimes committed by a core group of unhoused individuals, many of whom apparently struggle with mental health issues.

At the September 1 meeting of the merchants group, Daniel Bergerac, one of the partners at Mudpuppy’s, the dog grooming shop on Castro Street and a past president of the merchants’ group, mentioned that he’d been seeing reports on Fox News about the CMA’s threats to withhold fees or taxes if the city didn’t take concrete actions to clear up the problems.

Such conservative media outlets have often highlighted the idea that San Francisco is falling apart, whether it be video footage of unhoused people sleeping in tents or on the streets or open-air drug use. Toss in a threatened tax revolt, and outlets like Fox News and the New York Post are in overdrive.

In August, the CMA wrote a letter decrying the increasingly difficult circumstances under which small businesses in the Castro find them-

selves struggling, to various city officials including Mayor London Breed, as the Bay Area Reporter previously reported. In the letter, the group demanded that 35 beds in the city’s unhoused system be designated for unhoused people in the Castro as well as offered other suggestions.

While not stated in the letter itself, CMA Co-President Dave Karraker said the group was considering withholding the fees, and possibly taxes, they pay to the city unless things improve. That statement, which he made to multiple local outlets, including the B.A.R., led to much coverage of the issue.

Two city officials responded to the

letter and outlined the numerous actions the city and DPH have taken, or are undertaking, to address the issues discussed in CMA’s letter.

“Businesses in one of San Francisco’s trendiest neighborhoods are threatening to withhold tax payments unless the woke politicians remove homeless people from the area and implement a stronger police presence,” reported Fox News August 31.

A Breitbart story about CMA’s letter, which featured no original reporting but did quote heavily from the B.A.R., focused on one particular homeless individual, “James,” who said he had come to San Fran-

cisco from Texas because “it’s fucking easy” to qualify for food stamps and other benefits from the city “and it pays for him to have Amazon Prime and Netflix on his phone,” the article stated.

Nothing in the story indicated James was in the Castro.

Tucker Carlson, who hosts “Tucker Carlson Tonight” on Fox News, two years ago ran a five-part series – the longest segment was just over five minutes – titled “American Dystopia” that focused on the very real problems San Francisco faces but which failed to mention that those issues are not unique to the city. He did call the city “one of the prettiest” in the United States, however.

Still other sites also mentioned the Castro merchants’ issues.

“If the city won’t deal with the burglaries, vandalism, and both the crazy and homeless people littering the street along with human feces, the businesses are going to stop paying taxes,” announced USSA News, another right-wing site.

Bergerac seemed amused by the attention but told the meeting, “It’s very rare I agree with Fox News.” Gay District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, who represents the Castro and routinely attends the merchants’ monthly meetings, was a little less entertained.

That sort of attention from outlets like Fox News is an “advertisement saying progressive governance doesn’t

work,” Mandelman said. “It gives fabulous talking points to Breitbart.”

Karraker mentioned to meeting attendees that he had been getting a lot of requests for interviews. He had just turned down an interview with Carlson, in fact.

Later, a reporter mentioned that they’d found numerous stories on right-wing sites about CMA’s letter to city leaders, prompting Karraker to reply, “That would explain all the emails I got from Florida this morning.”

While Karraker’s been fielding a lot of requests from right-wing sites for interviews, he said he refuses them. The problems CMA, and numerous other business groups and neighborhoods face, are very real and need to be dealt with, he said, but he’s not eager to give them any fodder.

“I’m avoiding them,” he told the B.A.R. “It’s feeding into their propaganda machine and they haven’t done any favors to the LGBT community.”

The conversation needs “to happen in San Francisco,” he said, and probably Sacramento, he added, because many of the fixes will need to come from the state government.

Still, he’s amused by the attention but noted the sudden fame hadn’t given him celebrity status.

“I made the New York Post and I wasn’t on Page Six,” Karraker quipped, referring to the tabloid’s infamous gossip column.t

U.S. federal judge nominee P. Casey Pitts

Several members of the Castro Merchants Association seem amused that publicity around the group’s recent letter to city officials demanding changes has gotten the attention of right-wing news outlets.

Rick Gerharter

Ewing to mount first cartoon show at Oakland cafe

compiled by Cynthia Laird

Leslie Ewing, a longtime Bay Area community leader and AIDS advocate, will mount the first show of her cartoons at Rockridge Cafe in Oakland.

Ewing, a lesbian, has served in many leadership roles over the years, including at the old NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt (now part of the National AIDS Memorial Grove, with which she is also involved), the old AIDS Emergency Fund (now part of PRC), Breast Cancer Emergency Fund, Lyon-Martin Community Health, and the 1993 March on Washington, D.C.

Ewing is also the former executive director of the Pacific Center for

<< Guest Opinion

From page 4

Now more than ever, celebrating our LGBTQ/queer community is necessary and powerful against a national tide of political attacks against our community and another pandemic. It is important we come together to celebrate. With domestic terrorists, white nationalists, and the politicians that cater to them literally coming to threaten us, we gather to show our strength, the power of our community, and to send them the message clearly, they won’t break our joy.

Legals>>

SUMMONS (CITACION JUDICIAL) NOTICE TO DEFENDANT: (AVISO AL DEMANDADO): MARVELL SEMICONDUCTOR, INC., A CALIFORNIA CORPORATION, CHING LIN WANG, DBA BEST BUY MARKET SUPPLY AND DOES 1-50, INCLUSIVE. YOU ARE BEING SUED BY PLAINTIFF: (LO ESTA DEMANDANDO EL DEMANDANTE): AMERICA FRESH, INC., A CALIFORNIA CORPORATION

CASE NUMBER: NUMERO DEL CASO: 22CV00360

NOTICE! You have been sued. The court may decide against you without your being heard unless you respond within 30 days. Read the information below. You have 30 CALENDAR DAYS after this summons and legal papers are served on you to file a written response at this court and have a copy served on the plaintiff. A letter or phone call will not protect you. Your written response must be in proper legal form if you want the court to hear your case. There may be a court form that you can use for your response. You can find these court forms and more information at the California Courts Online Self-Help Center (www. courlinfo.ca.gov/selfhelp), your county law library, or the courthouse nearest you. If you cannot pay the filing fee, ask the court clerk for a fee waiver form. If you do not file your response on time, you may lose the case by default, and your wages, money, and property may be taken without further warning from the court. There are other legal requirements. You may want to call an attorney right away.

If you do not know an attorney, you may want to call an attorney referral service. If you cannot afford an attorney, you may be eligible for free legal services from a nonprofit legal services program. You can locate these nonprofit groups at the California Legal Services Web site (www.lawhelpcalifornia.org), the California Courts Online Self-Help Center (www.courlinfo.ca.gov/selfhelp), or by contacting your local court or county bar association. NOTE: The court has a statutory lien for waived fees and costs on any settlement or arbitration award of $10,000 or more in a civil case. The court’s lien must be paid before the court will dismiss the case.

!AVISO! Lo han demandado. Si no responde dentro de 30 dias, la corte puede decidir en su contra sin escuchar su version. Lea la informacion a continuacion.

Tiene 30 DIAS DE CALENDARIO despues de que le entreguen esta citacion y papeles legales para presenter una respuesta por escrito en esta corte y hacer que se entregue una copia al demandante. Una carta o una llamada telefonica no lo protegen. Su respuesta por escrito tiene que estar en formato legal correcto si desea que procesen su caso en la corte. Es posible que haya un formulario que usted pueda usar para su respuesta. Puede encontrar estos formularios de la corte y mas informacion en el Centro de Ayuda de las Cortes de California (www.sucorte.ca.gov), en la biblioteca de /leyes de su condado o en la corte que le quede mas cerca. Si no puede pagar la cuota de presentacion, pida al secretario de la corte que le de un formulario de exencion de pago de cuotas. Si no presenta su respuesta a tiempo, puede perder el caso par incumplimiento y la corte le podra quitar su sueldo, dinero y bienes sin mas advertencia. Hay otros requisitos legates. Es recomendable que llame a un abogado inmediatamente. Si no conoce a un abogado, puede llamar a un servicio de remision a abogados. Si no puede pagar a un abogado, es posible que cumpla con los requisitos para obtener servicios legales gratuitos de un programa de servicios legales sin fines de lucro. Puede encontrar estos grupos sin fines de lucro en el sitio web de California Legal Services, (www.lawhelpcalifornia.org}, en el Centro de Ayuda de las Cortes de California, (www.sucorte. ca.gov) o poniendose en contacto con la corle o el colegio de abogados locales. AVISO: Por ley, la corte tiene derecho a reclamar las cuotas y los costos exentos por imponer un gravamen sobre cualquier recuperacion de $10,000 o mas de valor recibida mediante un acuerdo o una concesion de arbitraje en un caso de derecho civil. Tiene que pagar el The name, address, and telephone number of plaintiffs attorney, or plaintiff without an attorney, is: (El nombre, la direccion y el numero de telefono del abogado del demandante, o del demandante que no

Human Growth, the oldest LGBTQ community center in the Bay Area. She retired from that position in 2019.

A news release noted that during all of this Ewing has drawn cartoons. In 2020, she drew the political op-art for the Bay Area Reporter’s end of the year Political Notebook column. “I’ve been a cartoonist all my life, going back to childhood,” Ewing said at the time.

Now, Ewing is bringing her art to the masses, with an exhibit opening Thursday, September 15, and running through Wednesday, October 26, at the cafe, located at 5492 College Avenue. Created over a period of nearly four decades, the exhibit will consist of 40 of her cartoons that capture the spirit, challenges, and quirky humor of those times.

In Oakland, our elected officials have banded together with us to help reduce the burdens of bureaucracy, raised, and even donated funds to make Pridefest Oakland happen. It’s a family affair y’all!

We represent “100% Pure Love” as one of our many headliners, Crystal Waters, states in her hit song of the same name. We are thrilled to have a dance music icon who has been such a staunch supporter of the LGBTQ community in the Bay Area, and as a whole, performing at this year’s festival.

We are especially grateful to Oakland’s LGBTQ Community Center

tiene abogado,es): DAVID J. TERRAZAS (SB#256132),

BRERETON, MOHAMED & TERRAZAS LLP, 1362

PACIFIC AVE. SUITE 221, SANTA CRUZ, CA 95060; (831) 429-6391

AUG 18, 25, SEPT 01, 08, 2022

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF

NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-22557346

In the matter of the application of MUAAMAR SHAIEA AKA MOHAMED SHAIEA, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appears from said application that petitioner MUAAMAR SHAIEA AKA MOHAMED SHAIEA is requesting that the name MUAAMAR SHAIEA AKA MOHAMED SHAIEA be changed to MOHAMED SHAIEA. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 103N, Rm. 103N on the 22nd of SEPTEMBER 2022 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

AUG 18, 25, SEPT 01, 08, 2022

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-22-557344

In the matter of the application of YUSHAN CHEN, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appears from said application that petitioner YUSHAN CHEN is requesting that the name YUSHAN CHEN be changed to SHANNON CHEN. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 103N, Rm. 103N on the 22nd of SEPTEMBER 2022 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

AUG 18, 25, SEPT 01, 08, 2022

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF

NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-22-557341

In the matter of the application of JIAQIAN LU & RUIFENG ZHENG, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appears from said application that petitioner JIAQIAN LU & RUIFENG ZHENG is requesting that the name BUI ZHENG be changed to BUIE ZHENG. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 103N, Rm. 103N on the 20th of SEPTEMBER 2022 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

AUG 18, 25, SEPT 01, 08, 2022

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-22-557343

In the matter of the application of JEONG SIM KIM, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appears from said application that petitioner JEONG SIM KIM is requesting that the name JEONG SIM KIM be changed to JASMINE

JOY KIM. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 103N, Rm. 103N on the 22nd of SEPTEMBER 2022 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

AUG 18, 25, SEPT 01, 08, 2022

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-22-557345

In the matter of the application of MICHELLE CRISTINE ESPINOSA, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appears from said application that petitioner MICHELLE CRISTINE ESPINOSA is requesting that the name MICHELLE CRISTINE ESPINOSA be changed to MICHELLE CRISTINE HSU. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 103N, Rm. 103N on the 10th of OCTOBER 2022 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

AUG 18, 25, SEPT 01, 08, 2022

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE

People can view the art during the cafe’s hours of 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. daily. There is no charge to see the show, but visitors are encouraged to support the cafe, which has been part of the Rockridge community for 49 years. Ewing plans to be at the cafe around 1 p.m. each Saturday during the show’s run to greet visitors.

Castro cultural district seeks board members

The Castro LGBTQ Community District is accepting nominations for up to five seats on its advisory board that are up for election. Each seat is for a three-year term beginning next month and running through October 2025, according to an email announcement.

for sponsoring her performance for Pridefest Oakland 2022 and look forward to a high-energy show that will no doubt appeal to Oakland’s diverse audience.

“The center is super excited to be participating in Pridefest this year,” stated Joe Hawkins, co-founder of the center, which is the fiscal sponsor of Pridefest. “Last year for our fourth anniversary, we held our ‘Pride in the Park’ event, and when members of the organizing body of Pridefest reached out to us after last year’s successful event, we were happy to support however we could. The team at Pridefest has really worked hard to be inclusive,

NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-22-557348

In the matter of the application of MEI HONG LI-LIU for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appears from said application that petitioner MEI HONG LI-LIU is requesting that the name MEI HONG LI-LIU be changed to MEI HONG LI. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 103N, Rm. 103N on the 11th of OCTOBER 2022 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

AUG 18, 25, SEPT 01, 08, 2022

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0397873

The following person(s) is/are doing business as LE SEL JEWELRY, 599 3RD SAT #305, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94107. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed YUXUAN LI. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 07/20/22. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/01/22.

AUG 18, 25, SEPT 01, 08, 2022

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0397854

The following person(s) is/are doing business as ADELITA’S CAKES CON SABORES NICARAGUENCES, 3780 MISSION ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 941105843. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed NICOLE A. BARILLAS. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/15/22. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/28/22.

AUG 18, 25, SEPT 01, 08, 2022

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0397841

The following person(s) is/are doing business as IN GAS WE TRUST, 1474 INNES AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94124-2124. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed DEBRAY CARPENTER. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 07/22/22. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/27/22.

AUG 18, 25, SEPT 01, 08, 2022

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0397936

The following person(s) is/are doing business as LEE’S SAX WORX, 1724 TARAVAL ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94116. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed LEE A. KRAMKA. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/01/96. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/11/22.

AUG 18, 25, SEPT 01, 08, 2022

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0397940

The following person(s) is/are doing business as TAX SOLUTIONS; ALEMAN & ASSOCIATES, 4751 MISSION ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94112. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed CARLOS ALEMAN. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 12/15/16. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/11/22.

AUG 18, 25, SEPT 01, 08, 2022

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0397954

The following person(s) is/are doing business as IRON AND BEAD, 18 DORADO TERRACE #11, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94112. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed JACQUELINE WINGCHI CURTIS. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/12/22. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/12/22.

AUG 18, 25, SEPT 01, 08, 2022

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0397898

Advisory board members work on a variety of projects in support of the goals of the district.

Nominations close September 15 and elections will take place October 15 virtually and in-person. To apply, click here.

SF Pride membership meeting

San Francisco Pride will hold its annual membership meeting Saturday, September 10, from noon to 4 p.m. at the San Francisco LGBT Community Center, 1800 Mar ket Street.

According to an email an nouncement, people will be able to meet and ask questions of the

community-centered, and transparent. It just feels good.”

Our intention was and is to create a diverse festival that feels good and inclusive to all our community. We were intentional in seeking Oakland vendors where we could and are proud to partner with A2Z Media Group, a local, woman-owned, and minorityowned advertising event agency to help produce Pridefest Oakland 2022.

We have asked the many talents who have kept you entertained through parties and events to help us program the stages. It’s a DIY local love event and we couldn’t be prouder about it.

CISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed TIFFANY N. SCHMIDTKE/ KEELING. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/03/22. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/03/22. AUG 18, 25, SEPT 01, 08, 2022

people running for board seats and learn about themes for the 2023 Pride parade and festival. Members in good standing (those having paid dues by July 11) will be able to vote on both board members and the theme over the 72 hours following the meeting. The meeting will be both in-person and on Zoom for those who wish to attend remotely. There is no cost to attend the meeting, but organizers are asking that people sign up, which they can do here. t

plications for membership on the BART Police Citizen Review Board (BPCRB) from Monday, July 18, 2022 - Friday, September 16, 2022. This appointment will be made by Director Mark Foley, District 2. How to Apply

To learn more about the BPCRB and/or how to apply for appointment, visit our website at https://www.bart.gov/about/bod/ advisory/crb

Applications will be available for download via the BPCRB website located at https://www.bart.gov/about/bod/advisory/ crb

Applications must be completed and returned to the BART District Secretary’s Office by mail, email, or in-person: District Secretary’s Office San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District 2150 Webster Street, 10th Floor, Oakland, CA 94612 U.S. Mail: San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District c/o District Secretary’s Office P.O. Box 12688, Oakland, CA 94604-2688 Email: CitizenReviewBoard@bart.gov

Phone: 510-464-6083

Application period closes on Friday, September 16, 2022

VOLUNTEER As a volunteer of the BPCRB, members work to increase the public’s confidence in BART’s policing services by:

• Reviewing, recommending and monitoring the implementation of changes to police policies, procedures, and practices

• Receiving citizen allegations of on-duty police misconduct

• Advising Board of Directors, General Manager, Independent Police Auditor, and Police Chief

• Participating in recommending appropriate disciplinary action

• Meeting periodically with representatives of the BART Police associations

• Participating in community outreach

Member Qualifications:

• Must reside within Alameda, Contra Costa, San Francisco, or San Mateo County

• Fair minded and objective

• Demonstrated commitment to community service

• Not currently

•

Together, we are all committed to making Pridefest 2022 an unforgettable event and showing that Pride is not only alive but also thriving in Oakland! .t

Sean Sullivan and Christie James are Pridefest Oakland co-chairs. Sullivan co-owns the Port Bar with his partner, Richard Fuentes. James, who identifies as bisexual and pansexual, is a DJ and hosts “Morning Drive with Christie Live” on 107.3 FM. For more information on Pridefest Oakland, which takes place September 11 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., visit https:// pridefestoakland.com/.

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0397967

The following person(s) is/are doing business as ATELIER PRELUDE, 405 12TH AVE #203, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94118. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed DREW STONEBREAKER. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/16/22. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/16/22.

AUG 18, 25, SEPT 01, 08, 2022

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0397926

The following person(s) is/are doing business as BROTHERS (CHINESE) RECORDING, 801 SUTTER ST #602, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109. This business is conducted by a general partnership, and is signed JASON PELLICCI & IAN PELLICCI. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/01/22. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/09/22.

AUG 18, 25, SEPT 01, 08, 2022

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-0397947

The following person(s) is/are doing business as MEDUSALON, 2250 UNION ST #1A, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94123. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed MADUSALON (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/01/22. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/12/22.

AUG 18, 25, SEPT 01, 08, 2022

NOTICE OF PETITION TO ADMINISTER ESTATE OF CAROL BARBARA HICKS IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO: FILE PES-22-305531

To all heirs, beneficiaries, creditors, contingent creditors, and persons who may otherwise be interested in the will or estate, or both, of CAROL BARBARA HICKS. A Petition for Probate has been filed by STACIE PASCAL in the Superior Court of California, County of San Francisco. The Petition for Probate requests that STACIE PASCAL be appointed as personal representative to administer the estate of the decedent. The petition requests the decedent’s will and codicils, if any, be admitted to probate. The will and any codicils are available for examination in the file kept by the court. A hearing on the petition will be held in this court as follows: OCTOBER 17, 2022, 9:00 am, Rm. 204, Superior Court of California, 400 McAllister St., San Francisco, CA 94102. If you object to the granting of the petition, you should appear at the hearing and state your objections or file written objections with the court before the hearing. Your appearance may be in person or by your attorney. If you are a creditor or contingent creditor of the decedent, you must file your claim with the court and mail a copy to the personal representative appointed by the court within the latter of either (1) four months from the date of first issuance of letters to a general personal representative, as defined by section 58(b) of the California Probate Code, or (2) 60 days from the date of mailing or personal delivery to you of a notice under section 9052 of the California Probate Code. Other California statutes and legal authority may affect your rights as a creditor. You may want to consult with an attorney knowledgeable in California law. You may examine the file kept by the court. If you are a person interested in the estate, you may file with the court a Request for Special Notice (form DE-154) of the filing of an inventory and appraisal of estate assets or of any petition or account as provided in Probate Code section 1250.

A Request for Special Notice form is available from the court clerk. Attorney for petitioner: MICHAEL F. WOODS (SB#277665), 395 WEST PORTAL, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94127; Ph. (415) 759-1900. AUG 25, SEPT 01, 08, 2022

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF

NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-22557353 In

by Jim Gladstone

Acrowd-pleasing package of infectious music, thrilling choreography, vibrant costumes and charismatic performances, “Goddess,” now having its world premiere at Berkeley Repertory Theatre, probably already has all it takes to achieve the Broadway success its creators are hoping for.

It’s a colorful swirl of entertainment that makes for a great night out. But if the producers and director Saheem Ali, who conceptualized the show based on an African myth, further aspire to artistic coherence and emotional power, there’s work to be done.

For passionate local theatergoers, sussing out the nature of that work is one of the joys of having Broadway-targeted productions as part of the Berkeley Rep’s programming.

After post-Rep polishes, the Temptations musical “Ain’t Too Proud” went on to be a hit (You can see how it evolved when a national tour comes to the Golden Gate Theatre in November) while “Paradise Square” proved unfixable. Audiences who saw the Avett Brothers’ “Swept Away” earlier this year are surely curious which elements will be salvaged and which abandoned should the maritime musical eventually set sail again.

“Goddess,” set in Kenya, has a simple story at its core. Jocelyn Bioh’s book follows the parallel

paths of a romantic duo. Using the alias Nadira, Marimba the Goddess of Music (Amber Iman), lives and searches for love among mortals in defiance of her mother. Omari (Phillip Johnson Richardson), scion of a Mombasan political dynasty, just returned from university in the U.S., wants to reject the run for mayor his parents have planned and dedicate himself to his saxophone and the less prestigious career track as a performing artist.

In the end, the pair cannot remain together on the same physical plane, but they effectively form a transcendent love triangle with music at its apex. This notion is not just simple, it has a beautiful resonance. Music is the connective tissue between the mortal world and the spirit

realm. Anyone who has ever been moved by a church choir would shout “Amen!” to that.

But despite loads of audience toe-tapping and occasional shouted hosannas throughout, the show’s motivating revelation never quite lands. The production’s second act is so hectically cluttered with plot and platitudes (The former including harsh gunplay completely at odds with the show’s essential warmth; the latter exemplified by “Always be true to exactly who you are” and “I knew you were special, even in my womb”) that the story’s ultimate articulation of its central tenet is almost entirely obscured.

by Brian Bromberger

Fall films offer a variety of LGBT themes and queer-adjacent stories. As this continued list of fall offerings reveals, there are many queer artists behind the camera, even if on camera portrayals are still a mixed bag.

Moonage Daydream” is a documentary

“illuminating the life and genius of bisexual English singer-songwriter David Bowie. Told through sublime kaleidoscopic, never-beforeseen footage, performances, and music, this cinematic odyssey explores Bowie’s creative musical and spiritual journey.”

Bowie himself is the narrator and is the first officially sanctioned film on the artist. The doc might be as an immersive experience of Bowie

as Todd Haynes accomplished last year in “The Velvet Underground” for that landmark experimental rock band. Perhaps it will also help us understand the “chilly, sexy, enigma” that was Bowie. The title comes from Bowie’s 1971 song; in theaters, September 16, then HBO Max in Spring 2023.

It took almost 30 years, but “Hocus Pocus

2” is a haunting sequel to the 1993 Hollywood

cult classic, which brings back the delightfully wicked three-hundred-year-old Sanderson sisters returning to present-day Salem seeking revenge for returning them back to the grave in the original fantasy comedy horror film. It’s up to three high school students to stop their havoc. Starring the original trio of Sarah Jessica Parker,

David Bowie documentary ‘Moonage Daydream’

Tony-winner Matt Doyle at Feinstein’s t

contagion and the consequent shuffle of understudies. But the show went on to garner more Tony nominations than any of the year’s other musicals.

“The song has stuck with me in so many different ways,” says Doyle, reflecting on his bittersweet but ultimately triumphant “Company” journey. “It’s attached itself to me in a way that goes even beyond the relevance of the lyrics because it’s something I kept playing and singing to myself throughout the profound experience of the past three years.”

Making the experience all the more resonant was the fact that Doyle is the first actor to ever play the role of Jamie, who like himself is gay, in “Company” on Broadway. From the 1971 premiere production until director Marianne Elliott’s 2018 London revival, the character was a woman named Amy.

Contemporary switch

by Jim Gladstone

WhenMatt Doyle first performed at Feinstein’s at the Nikko in 2019, he was a Broadway up-andcomer whose San Francisco draw was surely bolstered by the fact that he grew up in Marin County. He returns to Feinstein’s this weekend as a bonafide Broadway star, friends and family discounts be damned.

Doyle is now recognized by theater cognoscenti as the recipient of one of two Tonys awarded to cast members of the recently closed revival of Stephen Sondheim’s “Company.” The other went home with a certain Ms. Patti Lupone.

“I did those shows in San Francisco six months before I got cast in ‘Company,’” said a relaxed and affable Doyle as he recalled his hometown cabaret debut in a recent phone interview with the Bay Area Reporter. At that point, Doyle’s Broadway musical experience included replacing prior cast members in the long-runs of “Spring Awakening” and “The Book of Mormon.”

“I always like to open with something that’s really stuck with me emotionally for some reason or other, so for those two nights I did ‘One Song Glory’ from ‘Rent’ which was an earworm for me as a teenager in Ross, obsessed with pop music and musicals.”

This go-round, said Doyle, “I’ll start with a big song from the show that’s changed my life.”

That’d be Stephen Sondheim’s indelible “Being Alive,” the urgent expression of perseverance, partnership and gratitude that became a mantra for Doyle and his entire “Company” company after the Coronavirus pandemic shut down the production after nine previews in March 2020. Their waiting game of unemployment and loose ends lasted until November 15, 2021 when previews resumed with the composer/ lyricist in the audience.

Eleven days later, Sondheim died at age 91, and in another eleven, the show officially opened. Like every Broadway show last season, “Company” struggled with backstage

But Elliott was not interested in presenting the show as a period piece and thought that Amy no longer felt like a believable contemporary woman. With same-sex marriage legal but still a relatively untried concept, she thought that the character’s wedding day jitters were more fitting for a gay male character. And with Sondheim’s approval and consultation, Amy became Jamie, played by Jonathan Bailey (“Bridgerton”) in London, then by Doyle in New York. (Similarly, the lead character, Bobbie –played by Katrina Lenk on Broadway– was Robert prior to Elliott’s revamp).

“The most fascinating thing about the gender flip,” said Doyle, who was previously directed by Elliott in “Warhorse” on Broadway, “is that virtually all of the text and lyrics stayed exactly the same. But there was a single line of dialogue added, between Jamie and his fiancé Paul: ‘Just because we can doesn’t mean we should.’”

After seven years together, including intense pandemic quarantining in their one-bedroom apartment, Doyle and his partner, Max Clayton –also an actor, currently

Professional headshots / profile pics Weddings / Events

The show looks and sounds glorious. Costume designer Dede Ayite conveys urban African style with an eye-tickling mix of traditional prints, Day-Glo flash and figureflaunting women’s wear, all of which remain in near constant motion thanks to Darrell Grand Moultrie’s loose-limbed hard-partying choreography.

And Arnulfo Maldonado’s twotiered set of the Moto Moto nightclub, where most of the action takes place, is an African Copacabana with a charmingly disorganized bar area, a dramatic staircase, a handsome bandstand from which the show’s hot eight-piece ensemble, led by Marco Paguia, plays composer Michael Thurber’s percolating blend of jazz, Afrobeat and R&B. The score is endlessly engaging, a contextappropriate amalgam of grooves and rhythms more than traditional show tune stylings.

Distinct characters

The 18 cast members are uniformly superb, especially during ensemble song and dance numbers at the nightclub: Through facial expressions and physical signatures, they retain distinct character personalities even as they coalesce in ensemble formations.

As Nadira, leading lady Amber Iman is shockingly talented, with a multi-octave range and remarkable timbre control, alternately bringing Patti Labelle and Anita Baker to mind. She’s also a formidable scat singer who somehow imbues that usually rat-atat genre with bluesy moodiness.

As flirtatious club managers Ahmed and Rashida, Rodrick Covington and

working as Hugh Jackman’s standby in “The Music Man”– are in no rush to tie the knot themselves.

“We really work so well together,” said Doyle. “Plus both of us have sisters who got married over the past couple years, and you never want to step on that! We call each other partners and have for years, and yet now there are people who say, ‘But he’s not your husband’ It’s almost like we have to go an extra mile now.”

“Personally,” said Doyle. “I know a million gay couples and they all have their own sets of rules and their own ways of finding joy within their relationships. I remember when gay marriage passed, people were running to the altar like crazy. I was in love then myself, but I was a kid and it just didn’t make sense. When we were working on the show, we talked about the need to recognize this elephant in the room. It’s not exactly the same for us. I wanted to explore this extra anxiety into the character, the added pressure of not knowing how to fit in this hetero-normative institution.”

The opportunity to play a role with such a distinct connection to his own life undoubtedly fueled Doyle’s Tonywinning performance.

“I’m sitting in my living room staring at the trophy right now,” said Doyle. “I look at it and think it’s just so weird that this happened, it’s an unbelievable dream come true. People in the business are more aware of me now and presenting me with sorts of opportunities I haven’t had before.”t

Matt Doyle, Sept. 7-9. $80-$85. Feinstein’s at the Nikko. 222 Mason St. (866) 663-1063. www.feinsteinssf.com

mononymed Abena, serve as comic counterpoint to the romantic leads and nearly steal the show. Their smiles, sexy body language and deliciously humorous line readings make every audience member feel like they’re in on the fun.

Occasionally, Ahmed is pressed into service as a fourth wall-breaking narrator despite the fact that a Nadiraadjacent female trio has earlier been introduced as a Greek chorus. Ahmed alone would be the smarter choice, since he better reflects the show’s fundamental spirit (Think the Emcee in “Cabaret,” the Leading Player in “Pippin”) and the trio diffuses Nadira’s supernatural singularity.

There’s so much jubilant, authentic, African-inspired energy to the scenes at Moto Moto that “Goddess” loses momentum and, to its disadvantage, invites closer consideration when the action shifts to Omari’s family home and the tone shifts to American sitcom. The prodigal son’s demanding

parents (Kingsley Leggs and Kecia Lewis) and betrothed (Destinee Rea) bicker and peck at him to play the good son and strong candidate. All three deliver the dialogue they’ve been given with genuinely excellent comic timing, but it’s pat and old hat and it sucks emotional stakes out of the storyline.

While you’re sitting in Berkeley’s Roda Theater, the sax swoons, the electric guitar plinks an irresistibly intricate pattern and the whole cast dances a smile onto your face. In the moment, all this show’s shortcomings are easily forgiven. But as it makes its way to Manhattan, questions remain for the creators: Will you settle for a fat stack of “in the moment” success? Or will you keep striving to create an immortal Broadway “Goddess”?t ‘Goddess,’ through Sept. 25. $30-$138. Berkeley Rep. 2015 Addison St., Berkeley. (510) 6472949. www.berkeleyrep.org

Goddess From page 13

Rodrick Covington (center) and cast members of ‘Goddess.’

Kevin Berne & Alessandra Mello/Berkeley Repertory Theatre

Matt Doyle

Curtis Brown

Etai Benson and Matt Doyle in ‘Company’

Partners Max Clayton and Matt Doyle at the 2022 Tony Awards

and grapple with how her sexuality impacted her creativity; in theaters, September 9.

The life of Italian fashion icon Salvatore Ferragamo is explored in the documentary, “Salvatore: Shoemaker of Dreams.” In 1915 a poor teenage cobbler sailed from Naples to America seeking a better life. He settled in southern California and became Hollywood’s go-to shoemaker during the silent era (“The Thief of Bagdad,” “The Ten Commandments”). In 1927 he returned to Florence where he founded his luxury brand; in theaters, November 4.

The biographical drama film “ Till ” follows educator and activist, Mamie Till-Mobley’s pursuit of justice after the 1955 lynching of her 14-year-old son Emmett Till (Jalyn Hall). The film uses the research of Keith Beauchamp whose efforts led to the reopening of the Till case by the U.S. Department of Justice in 2004. Danielle Deadwyler (“The Harder They Fall”) stars as Mamie, with Whoopi Goldberg in a supporting role; in theaters, October 14.

Weird: The Al Yankovic Story ” charts “every facet of the singer’s life from his meteoric rise to fame with early hits like ‘Eat It” and ‘Like a Surgeon’ to his torrid celebrity love affairs and famously depraved lifestyle.” Harry Potter himself, Daniel Radcliffe, who has created a fascinating adult career in offbeat, independent films, will star as Yankovic, along with bisexual actress Evan Rachel Wood as Madonna. Yankovic cowrote the screenplay; in theaters, November 4.

In a case of perfect timing in light of the Supreme Court overturning Roe vs. Wade last June, “Call Jane” revolves around a married woman with an unwanted pregnancy at a time when it was illegal to get an abortion. She works with a group of suburban women called the Jane Collective to find help and also fight for women’s rights. Elizabeth Banks stars, but it is Sigourney Weaver getting raves as the Collective’s leader. Lesbian Phyllis Nagy directs, but she’s best known for her Oscar nominated screenplay for “Carol,” Todd Hayne’s 1950s lesbian romance; in theaters, October 28.

Upper

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From page 13

Bette Midler, and Kathy Najimy, this sequel could be another so-bad-it’sgood campfest like its predecessor. Perhaps Midler will revisit her now definitive rendition of “I Put A Spell On You.” - on Disney Plus, September 30 in time for Halloween.

Patricia Highsmith (1921-1995) was the author of “Carol,” (original

title “Salt”), the first lesbian story with a happy ending and her life is illuminated in the documentary “Loving Highsmith,” which screened at this year’s Frameline. Based on her diaries and notebooks (found after her death in a laundry closet), it features interviews with family and surviving former gossipy girlfriends.

This intimate doc compels us to reevaluate Highsmith as an artist

She Said” is another biographical drama, with this one derived from the 2019 book about two PulitzerPrize winning New York Times journalists, Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey, who exposed Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein’s history of abuse and sexual misconduct against the female employees of Miramax and The Weinstein Company studios.

The film stars Carey Mulligan (“Promising Young Woman” and Zoe Kazan (“The Big Sick”). The allegations ignited the #MeToo movement and resulted in Weinstein being sentenced to 23 years in prison. Actor Brad Pitt is one of the producers, resulting in blowback because he was aware of Weinstein’s behavior in 1996 by his thengirlfriend Gwyneth Paltrow, but

continued to work with Weinstein afterwards anyway. A strong possible Oscar contender, it’ll be in theaters November 18.

The Fablemans” is a semiautobiographical coming-of-age drama, loosely based on director Steven Spielberg’s childhood. It stars Gabriel LaBelle as Sammy Fabelman, who grew up in post-World War II Arizona from age seven to eighteen. He discovers a shattering family secret and explores how the power of films can help him see the truth, leading to his passion for moviemaking; in theaters, November 11.

Prolific gay French director

Francois Ozon’s

his gay artistic mentor,

Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant” on its 50th anniversary. He reverses the gender spectrum of the allfemale original, in which famous, narcissistic, and cruel filmmaker Peter von Kant, portrayed in an over-the-top performance by Denis Menochet. It’s an homage to Fassbinder but incorporates melodramatic elements in the style of the 1950s

Monday 8am (last seating 9:45pm)

Tuesday 8am (last seating 9:45pm)

Wednesday 8am (last seating 9:45pm)

Thursday 8am Open 24 Hours

Friday Open 24 Hours

Saturday Open 24 Hours

Sunday 7am (last seating 9:45pm)

Proudly

(“Summer of 85”) latest, “Peter von Kant ,” reimagines

Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s lesbian classic “The

legendary Hollywood director, Douglas Sirk; at the Landmark Opera Theater now. t

Left to Right: Loving Highsmith’; ‘Salvatore: Shoemaker of Dreams’; Jalyn Hall as Emmet Till in ‘Till’; Daniel Radcliffe in ‘Weird: The Al Yankovic Story’

Above: Elizabeth Banks and Sigourny Weaver in ‘Call Jane’

Middle: Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan in ‘She Said’

Lower Middle: Steven Spielberg’s ‘The Fablemans’

Below: ‘Peter von Kant’

Hammer to fall The

by

Victoria A. Brownworth

Fall is the most exciting time on TV as a veritable tsunami of new and returning series debut on the four major networks (ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC), the cable channels and the streaming services. We’ll do deep dives in the ensuing weeks, but here is a brief peek at some shows we are looking forward to with potential for queer intrigue.

This fall vampires are back, baby! “What We Do in the Shadows” returns for its 4th season. Will Guillermo and Nandor mix it up–but will they finally consummate their relationship?

“Vampire Academy,” based on the bestselling series by Richelle Mead, is debuting as beloved “The Vampire Diaries’” show runner Julie Plec’s latest in the genre. Be prepped for hotter vamps, queerer vamps, more diversity and lots more blood. (September 15, Peacock)

“Quantum Leap” returns with

Raymond Lee, Caitlin Bassett, Mason Alexander Park and Ernie Hudson. The new series is set 30 years after the original, with Lee’s Dr. Ben Song trying to learn about the Quantum Leap machine. Big Dr. Who vibes here.

(September 19, NBC)

Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) is TV’s longest running prime time character, as “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” enters its 24th season. She and the series keep changing it up, and Hargitay has never been better as she navigates life with her young bisexual son, her former partner and the worst crimes in New York City. (September 22, NBC)

We fell in love with Anne Rice’s “Interview with the Vampire” and its characters when we were at school and welcome a new iteration of it.

Starring Jacob Anderson (“Game of Thrones”) as Louis and Sam Reid

(“The Newsreader”) as the vampire LeStat. Bailey Bass is Claudia and Eric Bogosian is phenomenal as reporter

Daniel Molloy. (October 2, AMC)

FX announced that “American Horror Story” will return this fall, date TBA. This will be the 11th season of Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk’s long-running and always queer horror anthology. What will the plot twists be this season? We can’t wait.

We also can’t wait for “Wednesday,” Tim Burton’s new horror comedy series for Netflix based on Wednesday Addams of the “Addams Family” franchise, starring Jenna Ortega in the title role, with Catherine Zeta-Jones as Morticia, Luis Guzmán as Gomez. “Smallville” alums Alfred Gough and Miles Millar are the show runners.

Court and sparks Serena Williams has left the court. We watched her play her final tennis match at the U.S. Open. We sobbed as she lobbed. It’s impossible to imagine tennis without Serena at its epicenter. Yet the player who was ranked world No. 1 in singles by the Women’s Tennis Association for 319 weeks, winner of 23 Grand Slams, is retiring at 40, moving on to her next chapter.

In a heartbreaking three-set loss to Ajla Tomljanovic of Australia, Serena was unable to nab that 24th Grand Slam title. But as she left the court she said, wiping away tears, “It’s been the most incredible ride and journey I’ve ever been on in my life.”

It was a journey Serena Williams took us all on: a journey that over 27 years taught the world that women athlete’s bodies are not all white, that Black women can excel in sports outside track and field, to succeed in sports historically perceived as “white.”

It’s impossible to fully articulate all Serena did to sunder restrictive norms about women’s bodies and how women are allowed to play tennis. Nor how she rendered the color barrier that had still kept women’s tennis nearly all white null and void.

We love Serena. We will miss her on our TV, with her iconic twirl. But we look forward to her next chapter, and to all the Black women and girls coming up through tennis for whom she opened –and held open– the door.

House of Hammer

Docuseries have become a streaming staple in recent years and the latest hyped series is “House of Hammer.” The Discovery+ doc goes beyond the sexual assault allegations against Call Me by Your Name star Armie Hammer, tracing the Hammer family tree of to reveal the violent and abusive men who came before the latest scion of the billionaire Armand Hammer. Be advised that the series includes raw discussion of extreme sexual and other violence and sadism.

The three-part docuseries directed by Elli Hakami and Julian P. Hobbs tells the story of the Hammer men who came before Armie: great grandfather Armand Hammer, uncle Julian Hammer, and father Michael Hammer. And it is controversial, with the Los Angeles Times quoting one of Hammer’s purported victims accusing the directors themselves of abuse in a Sept. 3 story on the series.

It’s chilling. Accusations of increasingly over-the-top nonconsensual S/M by Armie Hammer to relentless texts to women about his cannibalistic urges and desires to completely obliterate the personhood of his partners are stomach churning. The texts and the women are right there on the screen, but Hammer denies there were any non-consensual acts. Armie’s aunt Casey Hammer reveals a lot here, as well.

Effie, the 26 year old former partner of Hammer’s whose allegations against him last year led to other women coming forward told The Times that she declined to be interviewed for the docuseries, responding, in part: “It is extremely inappropriate of you to exploit such a tragic, vulnerable time in many people’s lives, with no regard whatsoever for our healing process and privacy.”

Despite the fact that she did not participate in “House of Hammer,” Effie’s experience is detailed thoroughly in the series. She alleged that Hammer raped her over four hours in April 2017 as she “tried to get

away but he wouldn’t let me.”

Entertainment Tonight reports that “Armie is trying to prepare himself as much as he can for the ‘House of Hammer’ documentary. He has an idea about what’s coming. Despite this, Armie has been trying to move forward as much as possible emotionally speaking and in terms of his career.”

House of Hammer premiered September 2 on Discovery+.t

Read the full column, including a scathing takedown on CNN’s rightward shift, on www.ebar.com.

Jacob Anderson and Sam Reid in the new “Interview with the Vampire” series ‘What We Do in the Shadows’

t Fine Arts>>

Paint, print, power

Fall Arts museums & galleries, part 2

literati; the occasional Cockette, and predominantly male, usually nude, friends and lovers such as David Wojnarowicz, a younger artist, former hustler and Hujar’s partner for a spell. The 50 photographs chosen by Sir Elton, who acquired his first Hujar image in 2011, include portraits of Stevie Wonder, Peggy Lee, Edgar Winter, Ethyl Eichelberger and other drag performers, stars from Warhol’s stable as well as animals and stark landscapes.

Sept. 8-Oct.22. Free. 49 Geary St. www.fraenkelgallery.com

Undoing Time: Art and Histories of Incarceration

@ BAMPFA

The team behind Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive’s group show took a novel approach, collaborating with prison activists to generate works about mass incarceration. Archival pictures of imprisonment are shown alongside specially created installations by a dozen emerging and veteran artists from the U.S. and Latin America. A companion film series runs Sept.1Nov 16, along with screenings of Pier Pasolini’s films (see Fall Arts films). Through Dec. 18. Free/members, UCB students, 18 & under/$14. 2120 Oxford St., Berkeley. www.bampfa.org

Luke Butler: Overture @ Jessica Silverman Gallery

Reflecting his love of television, 20th-century movies and the world of illusion, Butler’s chromatic acrylic paintings, painstakingly detailed in silvery tones, incorporate realitybased, staged imagery of San Francisco’s architecture and moody urban landscapes, its rain soaked streets and roiling coastlines. He tips his hat to noir and movies shot in the city, specifically Hitchcock’s “Vertigo,” rendered in color, and “Bullitt,” sometimes making cameo appearances a la Hitch in the imaginary scenarios he concocts. Free. Sept. 16-Oct. 29. 621 Grant Ave. www.jessicasilvermangallery.com

Into View: Bernice Bing & Lost Kingdoms of Ancient China @ Asian Art Museum

Born in San Francisco’s Chinatown in 1936 and orphaned at the age of five, the abstract painter Bernice “Bingo” Bing was raised in a succession of orphanages and foster homes. She turned to art in her twenties, studying with Richard Diebenkorn and Saburo Hasegawa. But her outsider status as a Chinese American woman and a lesbian stymied her career.

Endeavoring to correct that, the museum acquired the show’s 24 heretofore unseen artworks. They range from patterned canvases with a warm color palette reminiscent of Pierre Bonnard to vividly paintings influenced by the Bay Area Figurative movement and others that fuse Zen calligraphy and Western modernism.

the formidable Leonora Carrington, the French/Mexican poet and visual artist Alice Rahon was well received in the 1940s but overlooked as time wore on. The gallery’s solo show marks her first in San Francisco since 1953. Among the rarely seen early works on display: luminous oils and subtle sand paintings, sculpture, assemblages, examples of pictographs recalling cave paintings and magical landscapes, conjured with a combo of volcanic ash, crayons, snails, stones, feathers and graffito technique, the scratching of a canvas surface to expose subterranean colors. October 1-November 5. Free. 436 Jackson St. www.gallerywendinorris.com

The New Black Vanguard: Photography between Art and Fashion @ Museum of the African Diaspora

More than 100 arresting photographs and videos from an array of international fashion photographers, who grab the eye with provocative images of fantasy and elusive glamour, will fill the museum. These creative tastemakers, whose spreads have appeared in Vogue, Allure and glossy ad campaigns for big name designers –Dior, Jimmy Choo and Stella McCartney, take your pick– work at the intersection of race, gender, art, and the behemoth industry that is fashion, confronting conventional notions of beauty and concepts of Blackness. Quil Lemons’s autobiographical “Glitterboy” series, which tweaks traditional masculinity; Beyonce’s groundbreaking 2018 Vogue cover, and a portrait of rapper Lizzo from Playboy magazine are on tap. Oct. 5–March 5. Free/ Members-$12. 685 Mission St. www.moadsf.org

Joan Brown Retrospective @ SFMOMA

Brown, a much admired San Francisco artist, who died in a freak accident in 1990, never wanted to be marginalized as a female painter. “It’s such bullshit,” she once said. “You

couldn’t tell my paintings from any of the guys of my generation, except that in some cases mine were better.” She rose to prominence just prior to the advent of 1960s feminism. Bucking pressure to adhere to and espouse the ideological line, she staunchly remained apolitical and opted for the domestic sphere. That independent stance cost her. A trailblazer, not a true believer, she was excluded from the ranks of feminist art shows. Now, her body of work finally gets its due.

Nov. 19–Mar. 12. Free-$37. 151 Third St. www.sfmoma.org

Look for more fine arts in Part 1 in last week’s issue.

Strikethrough @ Letterform Archive

(Editor’s note) “Strikethrough:

Typographic Messages of Protest” continues its second exhibit of protest graphics. Curated by Silas Munro and Stephen Coles, the exhibition will feature more than 100 objects, including broadsides, buttons, signs, t-shirts, posters, and ephemera spanning the 1800s to today, including ephemera from ACT UP, Guerilla Girls and the Black Panthers. Upcoming events include guest lectures and workshops. 2339 Third St. www.letterformarchive.org t

by Sura Wood

One article simply was not enough to contain the eclectic cultural riches offered this season in museums and art galleries. So, here goes with a second chapter and a palette of shows, from an evocation of life behind bars to the hottest gay chronicler of 1970s New York, and a magical painter/ poetess who hung with the Surrealists and Frida Kahlo.

Peter Hujar

curated by Elton John @ Fraenkel Gallery

Hujar’s good friend, Fran Lebowitz,

who posed for an early 1974 portrait in her bed, recalled that he hung up on “every important photography dealer in the Western world.” Not a shock then he had only eight solo exhibitions in his lifetime. Though now considered one the greatest American photographers of the late twentieth century, Hujar was living in poverty when he died in 1987 from complications of AIDS at 53.

A quintessential New Yorker of a certain era and milieu, he was a wellconnected denizen and chronicler of the Lower East Side cultural scene of the 1970s and early ’80s. He photographed underground

In “Lost Kingdoms of Ancient China,” the Asian goes the full-on archaeological splendor route with recently excavated treasures from aristocratic tombs –ritual vessels, ornamental jade masks, musical instruments, ceremonial objects and yes, even a bronze water cooler–of the Zhou Dynasty’s Zeng and Chu kingdoms. The Bronze Age civilizations, which flourished 3,000 years ago along the Yangzi River, were conquered in 221 BCE.

“Into View: Bernice Bing,” Sept.30-May 1. “Lost Kingdoms of Ancient China,” Oct. 7- Feb. 7. Free/Members-$20. 200 Larkin St. www.asianart.org

Uncovering Alice Rahon @ Gallery Wendi Norris

Pals with Paul Klee, Joan Miro and Man Ray, for whom she modeled, and a contemporary of Frida Kahlo and

1. Ethyl Eichelberger as Auntie Belle Emme 1979, in ‘Peter Hujar curated by Elton John’ at Fraenkel Gallery, Xaviera Simmons

2.“Skin Hunger,” 2021, photographs, videos, animations, paintings; on view in “Undoing Time: Art and Histories of Incarceration” at BAMPFA

3.‘Luke Butler: Overture’ at Jessica Silverman Gallery

4. ‘Into View: Bernice Bing’ at Asian Art Museum

5. ‘The New Black Vanguard: Photography between Art and Fashion’ at Museum of the African Diaspora

6.‘Lost Kingdoms of Ancient China’ at Asian Art Museum

7.‘Uncovering Alice Rahon’ at Gallery Wendi Norris

8. Joan Brown Retrospective at SFMOMA

9. ‘Strikethrough: Typographic Messages of Protest’ at Letterform Archive

Craig Smith

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SF Opera’s ‘Antony and Cleopatra’

Mezzo-soprano Elizabeth DeShong performed in Adams’ “The Gospel According to the Other Mary” with the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia with the composer conducting in 2018. She enacts Caesar’s sister, Octavia, who is married to Antony. Her voice has been described as possessing “contralto opulence with blazing top notes…”

Innovative designs

by Philip Campbell

Any production of a new opera is a big deal. The world premiere of an opera by American composer John Adams is an international event. A co-commission and co-production with the Metropolitan Opera and Barcelona’s Liceu Opera created especially for San Francisco Opera’s (SFO) 100th season, “Antony and Cleopatra” opens September 10 for seven performances through October 5 at the War Memorial Opera House.

Anticipation runs justifiably high for SFO’s fifth production with Adams, adapted from William Shakespeare’s tragic love story by the composer with consultation by director Elkhanah Pulitzer and dramaturg (editor) Lucia Scheckner. In her second season as SFO’s Music Director, Eun Sun Kim leads the Orchestra, Chorus and wellchosen cast. John Keene is Chorus Director.

Acclaimed for her directorial triumphs with West Edge Opera (formerly Berkeley Opera) Elkhanah Pulitzer is no stranger to John Adams. Staging “Nixon in China” for the Los Angeles Philharmonic and “The Gospel According to the Other Mary” at the San Francisco Symphony in 2017, Pulitzer understands the composer’s range of expression.

The innovative director updates the

Get

play’s political intrigues and romance to 1930s Hollywood. Newsreel footage shows Cleopatra, Antony and Caesar in their intimate private lives and glamorous over-the-top public personalities.

From the pageantry of politics to the stark urgency of passionate humanism, Adams’ music has evolved over a remarkable career span. At 75, he has become the most-performed living American classical composer. Miles from his stereotypical early labeling as a minimalist, the composer has proven his musical genius and flair for brilliant orchestration. More than that, his music has a unique and unmistakable beauty, nuanced and powerful.

There is a pleasing consonance to Adam’s latest association with SFO.

“Doctor Atomic” (2005) and “Girls of the Golden West” (2017) were commissioned by the Company and had their world premieres at the War Memorial Opera House (WMOH).

The highly controversial “The Death of Klinghoffer” (1992), a SFO cocommission, and “Nixon in China” (2012) have been staged there as well.

New and veteran vocalists

Of the cast, Soprano Amina Edris is facing a career-making opportunity as Cleopatra. Born in Egypt and raised in New Zealand, the talented

Lit Fall Arts books, part 2

by Jim Piechota

The second part of our Fall books roundup will give you an idea of what is coming to bookstores in the next several months. Highlights include memoirs from drag celeb Courtney Act and trans author River Halen; a queer opinion anthology on all things horror; a gay New Yorker assessing the Big Apple at the beginnings of the pandemic; and a triumphant and hotly anticipated return to the literary world for a local San Francisco author.

FICTION

Army of Lovers by K.M. Soehnlein, $20.95 (Amble Press)

After more than a decade-long hiatus, Soehnlein returns with this nostalgic, immersive, unforgettable coming-of-age novel about a young queer man who becomes entrenched in the unique AIDS activist community of ACT UP, a defiant world of passion and anger that swallows him whole and forces him to choose between his boyfriend and his allegiance to the cause. Vividly drawing from his own experiences in the 1980s and ’90s as a social justice activist, Soehnlein weaves a brilliant tapestry of love, pain, honor,

illness, healing, and the fight to stay alive in the face of homophobia, a decimating epidemic, and rampant inequality. This is a must-read. www.bywaterbooks.com

Luda by Grant Morrison, $28 (Del Rey Books)

Imagine an aging drag queen named Luci LaBang, a sequinstudded “Narcissus in middle age” who found stardom on the television screen but now that star is tarnished in her 50s and you’ve got the bawdy premise of comics writer Grant Morrison’s raucous debut novel. Luci begins her crawl back to the top by

young singer has been keeping busy on the international scene. With stops in France at the Paris Opera and the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, Edris is back in San Francisco where audiences first sat up took notice.

A former Merola Opera Program participant (2015) and San Francisco Opera Adler Fellow (2016, 2017) she has since appeared at the WMOH as Juliette in Gounod’s “Romeo et Juliette”; Frasquita in “Carmen”; Annina in “La Traviata”; and Flower/ Lady-in-Waiting in Bright Sheng’s “Dream of the Red Chamber.”

Grammy-award winning Canadian bass-baritone Gerald Finley made his 2005 SFO debut and an indelible impression in Adams’ “Doctor Atomic” as J. Robert Oppenheimer. Finley’s commanding stage presence, voice and handsome looks augment

an already highly praised repertoire as Cleopatra’s second Roman lover Antony.

Tenor Paul Appleby made his Company debut in 2015 as stand-up Prince Tamino in Mozart’s “The Magic Flute.” In 2017, his terrifying portrayal of psychotic miner Joe Cannon in John Adams’ “Girls of the Golden West” proved his range. He will play the young Caesar, Octavius in his second Adams world premiere.

Bass-baritone Alfred Walker’s SFO roles include his debut in 2017 as Orest in a stunning production of “Elektra,” the Father in “Hansel and Gretel” (2019) and a role debut starring as Scarpia in “Tosca” (2021).

The production team includes Tony Award-winning set designer and MacArthur Fellow Mimi Lien, costume designer Constance Hoffman, lighting designer David Finn (gorgeous work on SFO’s 2019 “Rusalka”), projection designer Bill Morrison, designer of “Nixon in China” (Los Angeles Philharmonic) and sound designer and mixing engineer Mark Grey.

Performances of “Antony and Cleopatra” are scheduled for September 10 (7:30pm), 15 (7:30pm), 18 (2pm), 23 (7:30pm), 27 (7:30pm), October 2 (2pm), and 5 (7:30pm).

The Sunday, September 18 matinee will be streamed live at 2pm PT. The performance will be available to watch on-demand for 48 hours beginning on Monday, September 19 at 10am PT. www.sfopera.com/digital

All casting, programs, schedules and ticket prices are subject to change. For further information about San Francisco Opera’s 2022–23 Season, visit www.sfopera.comt

way of a silly stage production called “The Phantom of the Pantomime,” but along the way, readers will learn that Luci is a master of the dark arts, and when a former rent boy named Luda swoops in to replace her ailing co-star, the backstabbing and black magic shenanigans know no bounds. Morrison’s skills as a wordsmith are on fiery display here, even while the plot, the dialogue, and the book’s nearly 500 pages can become overly melodramatic. That being said, this is a novel about a drag queen with ulterior motives, so high drama and theatrics are perhaps a requirement. www.penguinrandomhouse.com

An authentically rendered 1990’s Castro’s Cuba lies at the heart of Ernesto Mestre-Reed’s epic historical fiction which, though a succession of its character’s entanglements, explores the underground aspects of the country’s gay and HIV-positive population. In his first fiction in several decades, the author presents the life of Rafa, an orphan in Havana who finds a boyfriend in Nicolas after he offers him a job at his mother’s restaurant. But Nicolas is HIVpositive and is sent to the “sidatorio,”

a sanitarium for infected individuals where he begins an activist group bent on infecting as many people as possible. Combining Cuban history and queer survival all wrapped in a compelling mystery, this enigmatic novel is a spellbinding success. www.sohopress.com

The

Fan favorite John Irving incorporates several queer women into his latest offering, though the result is

Sacrificio by Ernesto Mestre-Reed, $27 (Soho Press)

Last Chairlift by John Irving, $38 (Simon & Schuster)

Amina Edris as Cleopatra and Gerald Finley as Antony in an early rehearsal of John Adams’ “Antony and Cleopatra”

Cory Weaver/San Francisco Opera

Paul Appleby as Caesar (center) and members of the San Francisco Opera Chorus in an early rehearsal of John Adams’ “Antony and Cleopatra”

Cory Weaver/San Francisco Opera

Composer John Adams

Deborah O’Grady

Amina Edris as Cleopatra; Gerald Finley as Antony in John Adams’ “Antony and Cleopatra”

Cory Weaver/San Francisco Opera

Fall Books

From page 18

arguably mixed. The novel chronicles the life of an illegitimate New England boy named Adam Brewster and his lesbian mother, Ray, who, despite having a female partner, Molly, marries Elliot, an English teacher, but goes on to eventually transition into a woman. There’s also Nora, his cousin, who is also a lesbian and is overcoming a sexual abuse ordeal. The main thrust of the story is of Adam finding out who his father is, but along the way Irving fills the pages with history, insight, opinion, and themes of family love and tolerance. Be warned, clocking in at nearly 1000 pages, Irving’s latest is an investment in time and patience, but die-hard fans of the author’s trademark homespun prose and delicate way with words will find much to savor here. www.simonandschuster.com

MEMOIR

Dream Rooms by River

Halen, $20 (Book*hug Press)

This deeply felt memoir from National Magazine Award-nominated Catalan and Danish descent trans author River Halen mines the emotional terrain of personal reinvention and rebellion. An amalgam of essay, poetry, and internal conversation, the book is set in the years prior to the author embarking on their transgender journey and utilizes everyday objects to capture extraordinary moments and feelings. Unique and mesmerizing, this memoir enchants as much as it educates and illuminates. www.bookhugpress.ca

Caught in the Act by Shane Jenek (aka Courtney Act); $26.95 (Pantera Press)

Australian entertainer Shane Jenek’s alter ego is Courtney Act, best known as a contestant on the sixth season of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” and for his ascent to stardom ever since with sold-out performances and stints on “Australian Idol” and “Big Brother UK.” Written with the star’s effervescent wit and personality, Jenek, 40, depicts his idyllic early years in a Brisbane suburb and how the electric sparks from his first same-sex kiss would change the trajectory of his life forever. Jenek covers his career, personal relationships, and life as a drag queen with style and humor, while never skimping on the gossipy party scenes or the insider backstage details of his life on the stage or ensconced in Sydney’s queer scene, which he remarks is slowly dwindling as gentrification marches on. Fans of this outspoken queen will revel in this impressive debut memoir. www.panterapress.com.au

Feral City: by Jeremiah Moss, $27.95 (W.W. Norton & Co.)

Moss, a psychoanalyst and Pushcart Prize-winning author, vividly shares his experiences living in Manhattan during the tumultuous and uncertain months during the initial onset of the COVID pandemic. The essays contained in this anthology reflect the author’s passion for the urban jungle and how the “New People” with their arrogant entitlement and self-serving perspectives have eroded the gritty

edge of New York City. These folks fled once the lockdown occurred, but Moss reflects on feelings of fear and uncertainty which took their places. Readers who love New York, warts and all, will adore and devour this exemplary chronicle of raw urban life, queer theory, the “weird magic” of the pandemic days, and the ways the quirky, unconventional people who live there make the city bloom.

www.norton.com

NON-FICTION

This Arab is Queer: Anthology by Elias Jahshan, $19.95 (Saqi Press)

Daringly titled, the stories contained in this collection reflect the unique reality of being queer and Arab. Told through a diverse assortment of personalities and perspectives, the taboo is shattered through the gorgeously liberated experiences of writers who have found their place in the world as a queer individual unafraid of the cultural chains that previously silenced their voices. Eighteen in all, the stories include a Saudi Arabian man describing his first same-sex kiss and the bittersweet feelings that followed, alongside many coming out stories of men and women who risked familial alienation in

favor of living an authentic life. This is a powerful, relevant, and necessary collection of urgent stories. www.saqibooks.com

It Came from the Closet: Queer Writers on Horror edited by Joe Vallese; $25.95 (Feminist Press)

An impressively diverse array of queer voices contributes their opinions on how and why particular horror movies made a personal and indelible impression on them. Participants like author Carmen Maria Machado, Vietnamese novelist Viet Dinh, poet Ryan Dzelzkalns, “queer ghost nerd” Bruce Owens

Grimm, and Jamaican American writer Prince Shakur, among many others, reflect on horror films with queer impact like “Jennifer’s Body,” “Jaws,” “Hereditary,” “Godzilla,” “The Blair Witch Project,” “Friday the 13th,” and “Dead Ringers.” This book also makes the perfectly grave companion piece to the Shudder network’s new four-part documentary series “Queer for Fear: A History of Queer Horror.” Fans of the dark and the deliciously sinister will quiver in anticipation for this upcoming book, which readers will recognize right away from the awesome cover art (a pink tilted wrist popping out of a gravesite).

www.feministpress.org t