June 14, 2012 edition of the Bay Area Reporter by Bay Area Reporter

HRC gala lawsuit settled

Sneak peek for binational film

Frameline 36 opens

The

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Serving the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender communities since 1971

Senate panel holds ENDA hearing O by Lisa Keen

pposition to the Employment NonDiscrimination Act was all about bathrooms in the last congressional session. This time around, it’s about religion. National Religious Broadcasters Association spokesman Craig Parshall told the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Craig Parshall Tuesday, June 12 that ENDA would impose a “chilling effect” on religious organizations that would be monumental. He said ENDA poses a “substantial unconstitutional burden” on religious organizations that would “interfere with their ability to pursue their missions.” Parshall was the only one of five witnesses at the hearing to testify against ENDA. He said the language of the bill would prohibit a religious employer from firing an employee who did not share the organization’s religious tenets. The employee, said Parshall, could sue under ENDA and claim he or she was fired, instead, for being gay or transgender. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employers from discriminating based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin. It exempts “religious organizations” and “religious educational institutions” from the mandate concerning religion, enabling such organizations to give preference to employees who share their religion. But it doesn’t allow religious organizations to discriminate against employees based on race, sex, or the other covered categories and claim that as religiously-based. Parshall claimed that ENDA Section 6, concerning “Exemption for Religious Organizations,” would create “huge problems” for courts by failing to provide a “clear” definition of who gets the exemption and in what circumstances. Section 6 is a one-sentence paragraph stating: “This act shall not apply to a corporation, association, educational institution or instiSee page 13 >>

Vol. 42 • No. 24 • June 14-20, 2012

New HRC prez visits the Castro by Chris Carson

tarting his new job a day early and outside of Washington, D.C., Human Rights Campaign President Chad Griffin made a quick stop in San Francisco last weekend, where he met with friends of the late Supervisor Harvey Milk and toured Milk’s former camera store, now the site of HRC’s store and action center. While in the Castro Sunday, June 10, Griffin offered a glimpse of his agenda as he starts his tenure at the country’s largest LGBT rights organization and has made it clear that LGBT youth will be near the top of the list. Milk, for example, had known he was gay since he was 14. It wasn’t until he was nearly 40 however, that he decided to leave New York City to begin a new, open life here. He was like thousands of other gays and lesbians who flooded San Francisco at the time, all believing that in order to flourish; they would first need to escape the communities in which they grew up. Fast forward to 2012, and many LGBT youth apparently still believe the same thing. Through a recent survey of 10,000-plus teenagers between the ages of 13 and 17, titled “Growing Up LGBT in America,” HRC discovered that even though a majority of LGBT youth are optimistic about their future, they also “believe to a greater extent than their [non-LGBT See page 12 >>

Jane Philomen Cleland

Cleve Jones, third from left, joined new Human Rights Campaign President Chad Griffin, screenwriter Dustin Lance Black, and old Harvey Milk colleagues Frank Robinson, Anne Kronenberg, and Wayne Friday in front of HRC’s store in the Castro (Milk’s former camera shop) Sunday, June 10.

Debate shadows Israeli films at Frameline by Heather Cassell

ro-Palestinian activists are calling foul on Frameline, which opens today (Thursday, June 14), and are attempting to increase pressure on the international LGBT film festival to ditch Israeli government funding. The festival, which runs through June 24, will present two Israeli films, one about Palestinians, but no Palestinian films were submitted this year to the festival committee, said K.C. Price, executive director of Frameline. Earlier this year, Palestinian supporters got a hold of an internal document leaked from the Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco. The 20-page report that outlines how to counteract protesters at the festival was published in March 2011. It demonstrated a collaborated and organized effort between Frameline, the Israeli Consulate, and programs within the JCF, critics claim. JCF is a multi-million dollar organization, according to its 2010 IRS filing, and supports a variety of organizations and programs within and outside of the Jewish community in San Francisco, San Mateo, and Sonoma counties. Neither of the two other Bay Area Jewish organizations located in the East Bay and Silicon Valley is currently working with Frameline, said Price. JCF helps promote Israeli films and filmmakers shown at Frameline, Price said. The release of the document came two months before Frameline’s announcement

Jane Philomen Cleland

Pro-Palestinian protesters demonstrated outside the Castro Theatre during last year’s Frameline film festival.

of its 2012 season, but it hasn’t gained much traction in the media beyond a few blogs and articles, including an April article on the blog Mondoweiss. Community leaders on both sides of the issue were reluctant to speak about the leaked

{ FIRST OF TWO SECTIONS }

document – a compilation of media coverage, mostly in the Bay Area Reporter, of proPalestinian protests by Israeli and Jewish supporters of Frameline along with internal emails between Frameline, the Israeli Consulate, and See page 12 >>

<< Community News

2 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 14-20, 2012

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HRC protester settles case by Matthew S. Bajko

woman who sued after being ejected from the Human Rights Campaign’s 2008 gala dinner in San Francisco settled the case out of court for an undisclosed amount. Catherine Cusic, 67, told the Bay Area Reporter that she had received a “big six figures” settlement in return for dismissing the lawsuit against host hotel the Westin St. Francis and a local security firm hired for the event. She left last week with her grandson for a two-week vacation to Australia. “I don’t think it was worth it but I am glad the truth came out. They still shouldn’t have yanked my shoulder out of its socket,” Cusic, an out lesbian and former leader of the Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club, said in a brief telephone interview last week. HRC spokesman Paul Guequierre stressed that the national LGBT rights group was not a party to the suit. “Our insurance company made the decision to make a payment to Ms. Cusic on behalf of the hotel pursuant to an indemnity agreement. We consider the matter behind us,” Guequierre wrote in an emailed response. According to San Francisco Superior Court records, Cusic filed her lawsuit July 7, 2010 seeking unspecified monetary damages against the Westin’s parent company, Westin Hotel Management, and Surveillance, Protection and Investigations Group Inc., based in Rancho Cucamonga. In it Cusic claims that the hired security guards “physically and without consent assaulted and battered [Cusic] in an effort to remove her from the ballroom, then dragged her down a stairwell toward a fire exit and threw her on to Post Street, all of which caused [her] physical and emotional harm.” According to a statement emailed to the B.A.R. this month, Cusic required shoulder surgery due to the injuries she sustained. She stated

Steven Underhill

Catherine Cusic was hauled out of the Human Rights Campaign’s San Francisco gala in 2008.

that her goal in disrupting former HRC President Joe Solmonese during his speech at the fundraising dinner four years ago was to distribute leaflets about transgender exclusion. At the time HRC was embroiled in a controversy over its decision to support federal legislation in 2007 that would ban workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation but not gender identity. Congressional leaders, including gay Massachusetts Representative Barney Frank, insisted the House would not pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act if it covered transgender employees. Due to HRC’s embrace of the strategy, transgender activists and their allies boycotted HRC’s galas across the country in 2008. Having bought a discounted ticket to the San Francisco dinner, Cusic attempted to walk toward the stage while Solmonese was talking. Security, however, quickly approached her and dragged Cusic out of the room. Photos she circulated the following day showed bruises on her arms, and the incident received coverage on LGBT news sites with articles detailing how “security goons” roughed up Cusic.

HRC issued its own statement shortly after the dinner in which it defended how security handled Cusic and claimed her description of events was contradicted by guests at the dinner. “As with every dinner, it is our policy that if a person is being disruptive they’ll be escorted from the room,” read the statement. “[Cusic] was asked to stop and leave the ballroom by security personnel. After she refused to follow instruction, she was escorted from the room and continued yelling all the way to the hotel exit.” In a deposition filed in the lawsuit, one of the security guards discounted claims that Cusic was shouting and running toward the stage. Instead, he testified that Cusic was walking silently when he stopped her. Court records show that the case was dismissed in December. According to her emailed statement last week, Cusic is “relieved to be compensated for the severe injuries suffered as a result of brute-force that was never necessary, but it is still disgusting to think that anyone would attempt to justify causing injuries in response to an attempt to distribute leaflets disagreeing with their point of view.”▼

No runoff in East Bay judge race compiled by Cynthia Laird

akland family attorney and out lesbian Tara M. Flanagan will not be in a runoff for judge after all. Unofficial final election returns released by the Alameda County Registrar of Voters Monday, June 11 had Flanagan winning Courtesy Flanagan the open Alfor Judge campaign ameda County Alameda Superior Court County Judgeseat outright elect Tara M. with 50.75 per- Flanagan cent of the vote. She will therefore avoid a runoff with attorney Andrew Wiener, who placed second with 29.87 percent. A third candidate, attorney Catherine Haley, was out of the running last week with 18.61 percent of the vote. In an email statement late Monday afternoon, Flanagan thanked her supporters who “helped me through this great, amazing adventure.” She also thanked the people of Alameda County who talked with her during the campaign and those who voted for her. “I look forward to serving you all as your judge.”

Flanagan also thanked her two opponents.

B.A.R. editor wins Lammy Award Bay Area Reporter assistant editor Jim Provenzano won first place in the gay romance category at the recent 24th annual Lambda Literary Awards in New York City. The June 2 sold-out event saw Provenzano take the prize Courtesy Lambda for his new Literary Foundation novel, Every Lammy AwardTime I Think of winning author You, which was Jim Provenzano released last December. Provenzano said he was surprised when his name was called. “It was amazing to win,” he said. “I truly wasn’t expecting it, and although my acceptance speech was a bit flustered, I’m told that people enjoyed my enthusiasm.” B.A.R. publisher Thomas E. Horn praised the author. “We are very proud of Jim and his well deserved honor,” Horn said. As an independently published author, Provenzano said the award is important. “Winning a Lambda Literary

Award means a lot to me,” he said. “But also, many independently published authors said that it’s a good sign; a historically traditional organization is seeing the merit in selfpublished works.” The awards in a variety of categories are presented by the Lambda Literary Foundation. This year’s event also honored San Francisco author Armistead Maupin and feminist writer and activist Kate Millett.

Nolan hired for LGBT seniors initiative The city has hired Project Open Hand’s former executive director to help oversee a working group that will examine issues affecting LGBT seniors. Tom Nolan, 67, is working parttime for the Department of Aging and Adult Services as it convenes the new LGBT Seniors Task Force, expected to begin meeting this fall. He started work June 11 and will earn approximatley $54,000. The openly gay Nolan is a former San Mateo County supervisor and currently chairs the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency’s board of directors. He stepped down from Open Hand in January. At its meeting Tuesday the Board of Supervisors signed off on the creation of the 11-member LGBT seniors panel, which will be given 18 months to draft a plan on how the See page 13 >>

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Community News>>

June 14-20, 2012 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 3

One year later, SF murder case moves forward by Seth Hemmelgarn

year after the burned body of Freddy Canul-Arguello was found in San Francisco’s Buena Vista Park, the case against the man accused of murdering him is moving forward. The gay Tenderloin district resident’s body was discovered at 4:39 a.m. June 10, 2011. David Munoz Diaz, 23, who faces murder and other charges, is set to face a preliminary hearing August 30 in San Francisco Superior Court. Deputy Public Defender Alex Lilien has said that Canul-Arguello, 23, and Diaz had been having consensual sex. He said last week there appears to have been “some choking involved during the sex.” Diaz was arrested July 22. Days later, he pleaded not guilty to felony counts that included charges of murder and robbery. He also pleaded not guilty to a misdemeanor count of destruction of evidence. In a phone interview last Friday, June 8, Lilien called Diaz a “sweet kid.” “I really do believe in this guy, and I firmly believe it was a terrible accident,” Lilien said Diaz, who’s in custody in San Francisco County jail on $5 million bail, seemed at ease Friday as he appeared at the brief court hearing. He wore the customary jail uniform of

an orange shirt and pants, but he didn’t appear to be wearing handcuffs when he walked in. He wore black-framed glasses, and his black hair had been styled into a slight spike toward the front. Lilien said, “I think I know what happened,” on that morning last June, “but I’m not prepared to discuss all the details now.” The medical examiner’s report, which was completed in November, reveals some hints about what happened. The document says a burned recycling bin was near Canul-Arguello’s body, which was charred in several places. His underwear had been pulled down to his knees, and there was melted blue plastic on his face and other parts of his body. Burned, crumpled newspaper was in his “tightly flexed” left hand, the report, which the Bay Area Reporter has examined, says. The cause of death was listed as asphyxia due to strangulation. Evidence of strangulation included fractured cartilage at his throat. Lilien said last week that Diaz had “sort of tried to draw attention” to Canul-Arguello’s death, “and it just didn’t go that well.” He said Diaz tried to summon help, but he did it “sort of in a strange way.” Asked whether Diaz had tried to get assistance by making a phone call or setting a fire, Lilien said,

‘Many shades’ campaign urges HIV testing by Seth Hemmelgarn

an Francisco AIDS Foundation, the city’s health department, and others have released a multimedia campaign encouraging gay and bisexual men to test regularly for HIV. The Many Shades of Gay campaign launched Tuesday, June 12. Not to be confused with the bestselling book, 50 Shades of Grey, about erotic straight sex, it features a website that allows people to create avatars, or digital versions of themselves, by choosing from a variety of hairstyles, clothes, body shapes, and accessories from tattoos to shoes. Once an avatar is created, it informs the user about the importance of regular HIV testing and helps them to find the nearest testing location. The site also includes a channel for HIV-positive men that provides health information and resources to connect them to HIV treatment and care. SFAF spokesman James Loduca

said that he and others involved in the campaign “want to focus on how wonderful and diverse our community is, and communicate that regardless of who you are, where you come from, what you look like, or what you’re into, there’s many ways to be gay, but you need to get an HIV test every six months.” Tracey Packer, the acting director of HIV prevention at the health department, said in a statement from SFAF that her agency and others have “worked hard in the past year to scale up the number of HIV tests offered throughout San Francisco, and Many Shades of Gay is the kind of bold, attention-getting campaign we need to increase demand for those tests.” The advertising agency ATTIK is providing pro bono creative development for the campaign, according to SFAF. To see the campaign and create an avatar, visit www.ManyShadesOfGay.org.▼

Man in Badlands incident acquitted by Seth Hemmelgarn

man who had been charged with theft after an incident at Badlands bar in the Castro was recently acquitted. A San Francisco Superior Court jury found Ricardo Delaguardia, 48, not guilty on a misdemeanor charge of grand theft from a person. The jury returned the verdict May 22. According to a report from the San Francisco Police Department, Delaguardia was accused of taking another man’s wallet at Badlands, 4121 18th Street, on February 12. Delaguardia, of San Jose, denied taking the wallet, but he allegedly had handed it to David O’Neil, 58, of San Francisco. O’Neil has denied wrongdoing. Police reported that they arrested Delaguardia, O’Neil, and Zonya Sisto, 33, of Las Vegas, in connection with the incident, in which $100 was

allegedly taken from the wallet. Alex Bastian, a spokesman for the district attorney’s office, said last week that Delaguardia had faced a felony grand theft charge, but it was reduced to a misdemeanor over the prosecution’s objection. Delaguardia had also been charged with felony possession of Norco, a controlled substance also known as acetaminophen and hydrocodone, without a prescription. But Deputy Public Defender Anita Nabha said that that charge was dismissed because he had a valid prescription for the medication. No charges were filed against O’Neil or Sisto. After a motion from the public defender’s office, the court found Sisto had been detained, but not arrested, Bastian said. Delaguardia is “very much relieved to have his name cleared and have this nightmare ended,” Nabha said.▼

Courtesy Canul-Arguello family

Freddy Canul-Arguello was murdered just over a year ago in Buena Vista Park.

“Both,” and that Diaz had called 911. Lilien declined to discuss the details further. Diaz’s supposed call couldn’t be confirmed with city

emergency management staff for this story. As for the notion that Diaz had called 911 and set the fire in order to summon help, Alex Bastian, a spokesman for the district attorney’s office, said, “Let’s see what the testimony shows at the preliminary hearing.” Such a session is typically when a judge determines whether there’s enough evidence to proceed to trial with the charges. Eduardo Leon, 27, a close friend of Canul-Arguello’s, said last week that he misses him, and that recently he and others were recalling “when we used to go out and have fun, but he’s not here any more with us.” Leon said he’d never met Diaz, and had never heard Canul-Arguello talk about him. He said that he hopes Diaz spends the rest of his life in jail. “My friend, he didn’t deserve to do die like that,” Leon said. “Nobody deserves to die like that.” Last year, Leon told the B.A.R.

that he’d seen Canul-Arguello at the Cafe bar in the Castro just hours before he died. Others have also said they saw Canul-Arguello there that night. But last week, Leon said that he hadn’t gone to the Cafe that Thursday night. He said that he’d last seen Canul-Arguello that Wednesday in the Mission neighborhood. Asked in a subsequent interview about the discrepancy, Leon called it “a mistake.” Lilien, who declined a request to interview Diaz, said the pace of the case is “not unusual.” He cited the magnitude of the charges and the amount of evidence involved, among other factors. Bastian made similar remarks. “The discovery in homicide cases tends to be voluminous, and for that reason, at times the cases move slower,” he said. Assistant District Attorney Heather Trevisan is prosecuting the case.▼

<< Open Forum

4 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 14-20, 2012

Volume 42, Number 24 June 14-20, 2012 www.ebar.com PUBLISHER Thomas E. Horn Bob Ross (Founder, 1971 – 2003) NEWS EDITOR Cynthia Laird ARTS EDITOR Roberto Friedman ASSISTANT EDITORS Matthew S. Bajko Seth Hemmelgarn Jim Provenzano CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Dan Aiello • Tavo Amador • Erin Blackwell Roger Brigham • Scott Brogan Victoria A. Brownworth • Philip Campbell Heather Cassell • Chuck Colbert Richard Dodds • David Duran Raymond Flournoy • David Guarino Liz Highleyman • Brandon Judell John F. Karr • Lisa Keen • Matthew Kennedy David Lamble • Michael McDonagh David-Elijah Nahmod • Elliot Owen Paul Parish • Lois Pearlman • Tim Pfaff Jim Piechota • Bob Roehr • Donna Sachet Adam Sandel • Jason Serinus • Gregg Shapiro Gwendolyn Smith • Ed Walsh • Sura Wood

ART DIRECTION Kurt Thomas PRODUCTION MANAGER T. Scott King PHOTOGRAPHERS Jane Philomen Cleland Marc Geller Rick Gerharter Lydia Gonzales Rudy K. Lawidjaja Steven Underhill Bill Wilson ILLUSTRATORS & CARTOONISTS Paul Berge Christine Smith GENERAL MANAGER Michael M. Yamashita

More junk science W

ith all the good news about increasing support for marriage equality and growing alliances between the African American and LGBT communities, social conservatives increasingly find themselves on the outside looking in. It should be no surprise, then, that the latest “research” by the right wing shows – gasp – that same-sex parenting is bad for kids. What BS. Studies and research going back 30 years show that same-sex parents are just as capable of raising children as their heterosexual counterparts. And mainstream media outlets would be wise to look into the background of not only the researcher, but also the groups funding his study, before writing another round of “Gay parents are bad” headlines. The paper, “New Family Structures Study,” will be published in the July issue of Social Science Research. The author, Mark Regnerus, of the Department of Sociology and Population Research Center at the University of Texas at Austin, is known for his ultra-conservative ideology. The paper was funded by the Witherspoon Institute and the Bradley Foundation – two groups commonly known for their support of conservative causes, according to a joint statement from the Human Rights Campaign, the Family Equality Council, Freedom to Marry, and the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. There are about 2 million kids being raised by 1 million gay parents in this country, noted Evan Wolfson of Freedom to Marry. Those kids “are doing great,” he said, “and would do even better if their parents didn’t have to deal with legal discrimination such as the denial of the freedom to marry, and ongoing attacks such as this kind of pseudo-scientific misinformation and the disinformation agenda that’s funding it.” So what are the problems with Regnerus’s study? The paper is fundamentally flawed and intentionally misleading: Most of the children examined in the paper were not being raised by parents in a committed same-sex relationship – whereas the other children in the study were being raised in two-parent homes with straight parents.

The study also ignores overlaps in its subpopulations because it fails to distinguish between particular subpopulations of gay parents, according to Media Matters For America, a progressive research and information center. Media Matters also noted that in order to maximize the size of the group of gay and lesbian parents, Regnerus lumped together divorced families, step families, single parent families, and a number of other varying family structure groups into the child of a lesbian mother (LM) or child of a gay father (GF) categories. In reality, some of those children were the products of failed heterosexual unions. Less than 1 percent of the kids in the GF sample were planned by an already-established gay parent or couple, noted Slate’s William Saletan. “In short,” he wrote, “these people aren’t the products of same-sex households, they are the products of broken homes.” He also pointed out that if some of the kids are still struggling 20 to 40 years later, does that reflect poorly on gay parents? Or does it reflect poorly on the era of fake

heterosexual marriages? To his credit, Regnerus acknowledges that the study does not establish causation between same-sex parenting and negative outcomes. Unfortunately, many on the right, such as the Family Research Council, National Organization for Marriage, and others likely will trumpet the study’s findings as an indictment on same-sex parenting. But as Truth Wins Out Executive Director Wayne Besen astutely noted in his report on the study, “There are two things we know about the religious right: They have no faith in science, and they critically distort science to justify their faith.” Research over the decades by respected bodies like the American Psychological Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the National Association of Social Workers have all confirmed that LGBT parents make good parents. This latest dubious research is one more example of the religious right ignoring standard protocols in order to put forth a lazy, incomplete, and incorrect characterization of same-sex couples who raise children. Much like junk food on store shelves, this junk science belongs in the trash.▼

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f you are asking yourself, “Who is Bayard Rustin?” chances are, you are among good company. While Rustin was an openly gay lifelong champion for civil rights, his heroics are often missing from historical retellings. This absence hits hard in the context of a significant public discourse of our time: discussions about the African American perspective on LGBT rights. Rustin, the openly gay organizer of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom and trusted adviser to Martin Luther King Jr., is long overdue for recognition. A review of Rustin’s activism presents a picture of a fierce commitment to protecting human rights for all persons and economic justice. From defending the property of Japanese Americans imprisoned in internment camps to his work to strengthen labor unions to his leadership on ending South African apartheid and his lifelong commitment to pacifism and nonviolence, Rustin has a legacy that should make all Americans proud, particularly African Americans and LGBT Americans. Ten years before he was to organize the most defining civil rights moment of our time, Rustin was arrested in Pasadena, California for participating in a homosexual act. He later pleaded guilty to a charge of “sexual perversion” and spent 60 days in jail, creating a public record that, like for many Americans with arrest and conviction records, would haunt him throughout his professional career. However, in spite, or perhaps in part because of this experience, Rustin became a skilled strategist, passionate orator, and tireless advocate for justice.

Courtesy SF Human Rights Commission

Bayard Rustin, left, talks to a man about the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.

I offer this brief synopsis of Rustin’s history to honor his legacy and perhaps reframe the consistent and false assertions that “African American” and “LGBT” are at odds and/or mutually exclusive. When Proposition 8 passed in California, news media were flooded with stories about the allegedly critical role the African Americans played in legalizing discrimination. Most recently, in North Carolina, many news outlets reported on the significant role African American churches played in galvaniz-

ing voters for a measure to ban same-sex marriage. This controversy received more media attention than the NAACP’s historic endorsement for the freedom to marry. When, the day after the North Carolina vote, President Barack Obama announced that he supported the rights of same-sex couples to marry, allies and activists argued about the president’s missed opportunity to sway the African American vote. Given Rustin’s unwavering commitment justice and acute political intelligence, his perspective would greatly enrich these discussions. As a woman who is proudly African American and lesbian, I know that many in the black community struggle with LGBT rights. As in all types of communities across the country, this struggle results in strained relationships and difficult conversations with relatives, coworkers, friends, and loved ones. Rustin himself struggled with colleagues within the civil rights movement who helped obscure his central role in conceiving and executing the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. In honor of Pride 2012, I invite you to join the San Francisco Human Rights Commission in celebrating Rustin’s legacy. Marching under the theme “Pride in African American Contributions to LGBT Rights,” the SFHRC Pride contingent will carry signs commemorating Rustin, whose 100th anniversary of his birth was earlier this year. Moreover, it will mark the kick off of SFHRC’s campaign to reframe the race and sexual orientation dialogue and bring African American LGBT people and allies out of invisibility. It’s fitting justice for a hero who relentlessly sought justice for us all.▼ Susan Belinda Christian was appointed to the San Francisco Human Rights Commission by Mayor Ed Lee in 2011.

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Letters >>

And now a word from the Pride board On behalf of the board of directors of San Francisco Pride we are excited to welcome you to participate in this year’s LGBT Pride celebration and festivities throughout the month of June; or as we call it, Pride Month. We want to thank so many of you for supporting us with your time, your donations and most of all, your energy and enthusiasm; SF Pride would not have attained such world class status without your continued contributions. This year’s theme, “Global Equality,” will showcase floats and entertainment that represent our diverse communities across the continents and acknowledge the great strides made in every corner of the world for civil rights and LGBT equality. Despite setbacks such as the recent voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage in North Carolina, we have other major news to celebrate – President Barak Obama has come out publicly to support marriage equality. These successes give us the chance to pause and celebrate what we have done as a community united to stand against discrimination of any kind. As board members of SF Pride, we are frequently asked, “How is Pride doing?” We are very happy to report that we have paid down more than 70 percent of our $225,000 outstanding debt and have aggressive plans to fully retire this debt by the end of this year. We kept our promise to stabilize the organization by hiring Brendan Behan as executive director, retained the talent of the hard-working board of directors, and more importantly, focused on the fiscal health of SF Pride by cutting expenses and waste, developing new revenue streams and keeping a close eye on budgets and financial details. Through all of this, we have never abandoned our core objective – to educate the world, commemorate our heritage, celebrate our culture, and liberate our people. We ask every person who watches the parade or enters Civic Center Plaza to please contribute $5 to the bucket-wielding volunteers; this donation is not an admission fee, but goes directly to help the many local LGBT and nonprofit organizations that participate in our Community Partners Program and are recipients of significant grants from SF Pride. Last year we gave back a total of $167,789 to 78 organizations; for some of these small groups, this represents a lifeline without which they could not survive. Last year, this board made a commitment to participate in fundraising and outreach; with the help of many contributors, we have organized multiple events and programs to increase revenue for SF Pride. We ask for your support and participation in the SF Pride events and programs that are brought to you by the board: the VIP Rotunda party at City Hall and the Pride Pass. We hope that through these board-led initiatives, we can further strengthen the fiscal well-being of SF Pride. Come celebrate with us this year – we have so much to be thankful for but the fight for full inclusion and equality is far from over. Please accept our invitation to participate in Pride Month and the festivities of SF Pride over the weekend of June 22-24. Drink responsibly, be safe, respect everyone, and help us raise money for the organizations and nonprofits that do so much for our community and need our support. San Francisco Pride Board of Directors Lisa L. Williams, President; Davace Chin, Vice President; Bill Hemenger, Treasurer; Lou Fischer, Secretary; Reggie Johnson, Member; Lord Martine, Member

What have gays done to deserve Pride? Here we go again. San Francisco is readying itself for that most sacred of sacred cows, our yearly triumphal march: the gay Pride Parade. For the entire month of June rainbow flags wave along Market Street from the Castro all the way to the Embarcadero to prepare us for this most glorious occasion. On the anointed Sunday even the main library closes in strict observance, as the vast crowd cheers and roars and the media slobber and fawn. For over 40 years Gayworld has been the recipient of sustained, rapturous applause. I think it’s high time we get a grip on things. As a gay man I must ask myself: what unparalleled contributions have we fags actually made to human civilization to deserve – and expect! – such an unprecedented level of adulation? The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence? Naked men in the Castro? Dykes on Bikes? A sing-along Sound of Music? How crushingly embarrassing. How stupefyingly bombastic. Who could possibly live up to such fantastic public adoration? No other group receives such a grotesquely inflated reception year after year, decade after decade. Next to the gay parade the Chinese New Year’s Parade resembles a paltry, undernourished second cousin. Some people make the unctuous claim that the gay parade’s a kind of compensation for all the tremendous suffering we poor sissies have endured over the centuries. Phooey! If that were the case our African American brothers and sisters should be granted a parade every week. I think it’s high time we ask some very inconvenient questions. Will somebody, anybody, please tell me: why should we queers be showered with these outsized, spectacular civic honors? I’d really like to know. A big parade was surely in order, absolutely in order, when Harvey

June 14-20, 2012 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 5

Milk got elected supervisor, but the whole celebration should have been mothballed decades ago, or at least relegated to the Castro district itself. After all, the Hispanics are quite happy to keep their Carnival in the Mission. I’m stunned by the obsequiousness and uncritical attitude of our city government, not to mention the gullible public at large, who apparently love the illusion that we fags are the greatest, most fun things civilization has ever seen. Dear Straight Folk, where is your backbone, where are your brains? I’m truly, truly no big deal. Immensely average. Please save your frenetic and fanatical energy for the next time the Giants win the World Series. Michael Biehl San Francisco

MUMC’s march to irrelevance? On Thursday, June 7 real estate developer Angus McCarthy brought an abbreviated dog and pony show to the Merchants of Upper Market and Castro membership meeting regarding his plan to install a Bank of the West branch at his proposed building at 2299 Market Street [“Retail politics hit the Castro,” Political Notes, Online, June 11]. The plan, long on request and short on details, was rightly met with questions and concerns; especially regarding proper notification of the neighborhood groups and other stakeholders. Mr. McCarthy cited his being on the Planning Commission agenda on June 14 as the reason for the quick vote. But, why the lack of notice? Developer McCarthy side-stepped that issue along with the repeated question of whether or not Bank of the West was in any way funding his proposed development. Immediate MUMC past president Steve Adams; in what can be characterized as either breathtaking political naivete or downright complicity, successfully steered the conversation to one of Building Inspection Commission President McCarthy’s being a “good guy, small businessman, and dues paying member of MUMC” from the “how come no one knew about this plan?” reaction. The result being a rather Kafkaesque vote in favor of his proposed tenant. Thus, fellow city commissioner Adams convinced a majority of the members present, including much of the current MUMC leadership, to vote on the man rather than the plan. Wow. What a precedent! This opens the door for any other person or company wishing a change of use for any place in the Upper Market and Castro commercial districts to circumvent – where possible – a discussion on the merits of the plan in favor of a vote on the popularity of the person coming before a group asking its support. At best this hands over the neighborhood to any special interest or formula retail conglomerate with the “right person” at its head. At worst, it signals MUMC’s quiet march to irrelevance. Patrick Batt San Francisco

Gays and taxes Since gay Americans are not equal citizens of those states that ban same-sex marriage, gay Americans should be exempt from paying state income taxes, sales taxes, property taxes, and any other taxes or fees that states, counties, and cities levy. If gay Americans do not have equal rights, why should they be treated the same when it comes to taxes? Let the people who can get legally married in those states pay extra taxes to make up for the taxes that gay Americans would not have to pay. The churches that fight marriage equality can start paying taxes to make up the taxes the gay Americans would be exempt from paying and the right-wing conservatives can pay double taxes. Gay Americans could register in the city/county/state they live in and be exempt from taxes. Gay Americans are treated as second-class citizens but pay the same taxes as everyone else and that is not fair. Darrel Fimon Portland, Oregon

Liked book review Thanks for “Miraculous Barbara” [May 31], but does Dan Callahan’s book cover Barbara Stanwyck’s popular and Oscar best actress nominated performance in Stella Dallas? If so it wasn’t mentioned in your review. Keep ‘em coming in future issues of the B.A.R. Jack Rengstorff San Francisco

[Critic Matthew Kennedy responds: Does Callahan mention Stanwyck’s performance in Stella Dallas? You bet your sacrificing mother he does – for 17 pages.]

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<< Politics

6 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 14-20, 2012

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AIDS foundation’s Giuliano pens memoir by Matthew S. Bajko

n an intensely personal memoir published this week, San Francisco AIDS Foundation CEO Neil Giuliano opens up about his struggles to accept being gay, contemplating suicide while at college, and how he finally escaped the shackles of the closet while serving as the elected mayor of Tempe, Arizona. Talking to the Bay Area Reporter by phone from his home in Tempe, where he conducted two days of interviews with local reporters to promote his book, Giuliano discussed not only the revelations in The Campaign Within (Magnus Books, $24.95) but also about his future ambitions. “Most people who have served in public life are pretty guarded about their personal life. I wanted to put it out there and wanted to tell my full story and that is what I did,” he said. “I am in a position where I can tell mine and tell it fully without holding back.” His is the first memoir to be written by an openly gay elected official. “Telling our stories is what changes hearts and minds. There have not been many stories of openly gay elected officials that have been fully told,” he said. Giuliano, 55, is graduating next Thursday from the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce’s Leadership San Francisco training. The program aims to develop what the chamber calls “community trustees” who are concerned with the well being of San Francisco. Asked if he was interested in running for political office, either in San Francisco or back in Arizona, Giuliano did not rule it out. “I could get elected to anything I wanted to in Tempe, but I wouldn’t want to do that. I have a wonderful job,” he said. “Being mayor of San Francisco is a great gig, I wouldn’t mind that.” Yet when told Mayor Ed Lee won’t be termed out until 2020 (should he seek and win re-election), he doubted he would seek the seat at that time. The single Giuliano moved to San Francisco in late 2010 after being hired to lead the AIDS foundation. While he remains registered to vote in Arizona and will serve as an alternate Obama delegate from the state at the Democratic National Convention later this summer, Giuliano spends the majority of his time in the Bay Area. “I am down here once a month for a long weekend to check on the house,” he said of his visits to Tempe. “The vast majority of my time I spend in San Francisco.” As for continuing to maintain his permanent residency in Arizona, Giuliano said it is a political consideration. “No one needs me to vote in northern California. My political influence is pretty nil there,” said Giuliano, who was a Republican while an elected official in Tempe but later switched to being a Democrat.

Book delves into the personal Giuliano grew up Catholic in a large Italian American family in Bloomfield, New Jersey, the second oldest of four siblings. His youngest brother, John, is also gay and now lives in Key West. His sister, Kim, and her adopted daughter, Jia, live in San Ramon, while the third brother, Gregory, lives with his family in Rancho Santa Margarita in southern California.

Rick Gerharter

SFAF CEO Neil Giuliano

Giuliano was fascinated with politics from an early age and worked on his father’s successful campaigns for city council as well as a losing bid in 1971 for mayor. The elder Neil Giuliano was a former Marine and a moderate Republican. An unpopular student in high school, Giuliano writes that his peers never hazed him and credits joining Key Club as his saving grace. In 1973 he won election as a district treasurer for the statewide Key Club organization. Shortly thereafter his family ended up moving to the Phoenix area while he stayed behind and lived with his grandmother. He would head west in 1974 after graduation to attend Arizona State University. There, distraught over his attraction to men, Giuliano contemplated taking his own life. He writes of one evening standing at a busy intersection in Tempe ready to walk in front of oncoming traffic. It would be decades later, following the death of a friend to AIDS, that Giuliano would finally come to terms with his sexual orientation. After a string of jobs on campus at ASU, Giuliano decided to run for city council and won his seat in 1990 at the age of 33. Four years later he ran for mayor and ended up serving in the post for a decade. But he was living in a glass closet. During his first mayoral run Giuliano received threatening letters and phone calls from people he believed knew he was gay. It wouldn’t be until after he ran for re-election unopposed in 1996 that his being gay would begin to bubble up publicly. That summer, wanting to handle his coming out on his own terms, Giuliano would make history when he finally acknowledged the truth a month after then Republican Arizona Congressman Jim Kolbe’s coming out. He gave the hometown paper the exclusive, which ran a banner story under the headline “Mayor Says He’s Gay – Feared Inquisition.” The revelation didn’t hinder his political career, as he won reelection to a third term as mayor in 1998. And that June he marched with the Log Cabin Republicans in San Francisco’s Pride Parade. In 2001 he even survived an attempt to recall him from office that was whipped up by Giuliano telling a local reporter that the Boy Scouts should not receive city money due to their anti-gay policies. Nor could his opponents harm him through a court challenge on Tempe lengthening mayoral terms

to four years. He briefly sought being hired to lead the Human Rights Campaign, which in 2003 was looking for a new president. Yet he did not want to leave office early. Instead he landed the job of president of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation in 2005, in which he served until 2009. He first started work on his book while mayor, then returned to it after he left GLAAD. He finished it last October. “The reason for the book is to help people see you can just be yourself, let it go, and embrace change,” he said. All of the proceeds from his book will benefit agencies Giuliano has worked for or supported in his career: SFAF, GLAAD, the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund, and an ASU scholarship program. Giuliano is working with Books Inc. in the Castro on a book reading for sometime in July.

SF City Hall to go pink Next weekend San Francisco City Hall will be bathed in pink and lavender lighting in conjunction with the city’s annual Pride celebration. In May the Political Notebook had floated the idea of seeing the city’s historic governmental center awash in pink or the colors of the rainbow as another way to celebrate the annual LGBT event. A citizens committee in Los Angeles had a similar notion, as last weekend vodka company Ciroc sponsored having pink lights on the city’s City Hall during its Pride weekend. The pylons at the city’s airport also were given a nighttime purple hue. According to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s office, it is the first time the building has been bathed in “Lavender Lights,” as the project was dubbed, in honor of LGBT Heritage Month. This week Lee’s office confirmed that the nighttime lighting color scheme at San Francisco’s City Hall will sport pink and lavender for the first time in honor of Pride. The switch will go live Friday, June 22 (coincidentally the same night L.A.’s lights will be turned off) and remain through Sunday, June 24, the day of the Pride parade and festival in the Civic Center. Next Monday, June 18 the mayor’s LGBT Pride flag raising will take place. The public is encouraged to gather in front of City Hall’s Polk Street steps at 4:45 p.m. for the annual ceremony. A speaking program will follow on the mayor’s balcony inside of City Hall.▼ Web Extra: For more queer political news, be sure to check www. ebar.com Monday mornings at noon for Political Notes, the notebook’s online companion. This week’s column reported on the fight heating up again in the Castro over chain stores. Keep abreast of the latest LGBT political news by following the Political Notebook on Twitter @ twitter.com/politicalnotes. Got a tip on LGBT politics? Call Matthew S. Bajko at (415) 861-5019 or e-mail m.bajko@ebar.com.

On the web Online content this week includes the Bay Area Reporter’s online columns, Political Notes and Wedding Bell Blues; the Transmissions and Out in the World columns; an article on Netroots Nation; and a photo from the SF Pride fundraiser. www.ebar.com.

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June 14-20, 2012 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 7

<< Business News

8 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 14-20, 2012

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A new Castro landmark, just in time for Pride by Raymond Flournoy

hen the scaffolding came down from the newly renovated Fork Cafe (469 Castro Street) last month, a newly commissioned mural celebrating the Castro was unveiled on the building facade. The work by local artist Bill Weber is the brainchild of cafe owner Sam Sirhed. “As I was preparing to open, I wanted a mural to celebrate the neighborhood,” said Sirhed. “Since I own the building, I am not paying rent, so this artwork is sort of my way of paying rent and giving back to the neighborhood.” Sirhed teamed up with Patrick Rylee – both previously served on the board of Under One Roof – to sketch out a design for the artwork, and they finalized the design together with the artist. “The six letters of the word ‘Castro’ each have an iconic image representing San Francisco, the Castro neighborhood, or the gay community,” explained Rylee. The six images include the Golden Gate Bridge, the Castro Theatre marquee, the rainbow flag, a red AIDS-awareness ribbon, a disco ball, and an F-line streetcar. Across the top of the mural is the quote, “Together We Can Make A Better World,” which Sirhed claims as his personal philosophy. Inside the restaurant, other elaborate design elements can be found. The patio features a “living wall” of plant life. The floor is made from antique wood reclaimed from barns. And the ceiling boasts a gargantuan fork running the length of the eatery. “Before I came to the United States I was an architect, but I never worked as an architect here. So this is my way of being my own ‘eccentric architect’ and adding my own eccentric touches to the space,” said Sirhed. Beyond the mural, Fork Cafe will give back to the community in other ways. Rylee is currently working on a program where a portion of sales on every Monday and Wednesday will be given to a rotating list of charities. Although details are still being worked out, Rylee reports that the goal is to launch in July, with the first two recipient charities being the National AIDS Memorial Grove (www.aidsmemorial.org) and Project Inform (www.projectinform.org). In addition, Rylee and Sirhed are discussing the possibility of partnering with charities to devote the occasional Tuesday to private events. The charity would sell tickets to dine at the cafe and would pocket all of the proceeds, with Fork Cafe donating the food and staffing. Rylee is currently working out details for this program. The eatery is managed by Sasha

Steven Kasapi

A new mural welcomes visitors to the Castro, courtesy of Fork Cafe owner Sam Sirhed and artist Bill Weber.

Dekelaita, an out lesbian. Dekelaita hopes that more women will come out to support Fork Cafe, and she is helping Rylee reach out to lesbianfocused charities. “There aren’t many places in the city that women can hang out which aren’t centered around alcohol, so I’m hoping that Fork can become that place,” said Dekelaita. The restaurant is currently in a multi-month soft opening, with a grand opening celebration to come. To see menus and to read more about the mural, visit forkcafesf.com.

Gay baggage San Francisco-based Rickshaw Bags has teamed up with drag performer Juanita More to create a limited-edition messenger bag benefiting the San Francisco LGBT Community Center (1800 Market Street). The bag, which is manufactured entirely at Rickshaw’s San Francisco factory, features an image of More straddling a cable car, shooting out a rainbow trail and soaring over the SF skyline. The image is by San Francisco artist Jim Winters. Rickshaw has pledged to donate 25 percent of the sales from the bag to the SF LGBT center. The price of the bag is $99. To see images and to order, visit www.rickshawbags.com/more.html.

Happy anniversary, P.O. Plus This month P.O. Plus (584 Castro Street) celebrates its 30 years in the Castro with a wine and cheese reception and an auction benefiting the AIDS Emergency Fund. Owner Paul Moffett, former president of the Merchants of Upper Market and Castro and an out gay man, welcomes the public to the celebration where the winners of a recent postcard design contest will be presented. The original works by winners Laurence Srinivasan and Daniel Gaines will be auctioned, and all proceeds will go to AEF. The HIV/AIDS agency provides emergency financial assistance to its clients. In addition, two of Gaines’s designs have been turned into postcards to be carried by P.O. Plus. The event will be held on Saturday, June 16, from 6 to 8 p.m.

More anniversary wishes Across the street from P.O. Plus, Bryan Roberts Salon and Color Bar (561 Castro Street) is celebrating its first year with a Pride weekend celebration. The event will be held June 23 from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the salon, which is on the second floor above the Wells Fargo Bank branch. The event will feature hair and make-up demonstrations, as well as food, drink, and door prizes. For details, visit www.bryanrobertssalon.com. See page 13 >>

Frameline 2012 >>

▼ Film dramatizes plight of gay binational couples by Matthew S. Bajko

film partly financed by individual donors that dramatizes the plight of gay binational couples will have a sneak peek screening as part of this year’s Frameline lineup. The movie, the first non-documentary to focus on immigration issues LGBT couples in America struggle with, will have its world premiere July 18 at Los Angeles’s LGBT film festival. Called I Do, it stars Jamie-Lynn Sigler, of Sopranos fame, and Alicia Witt, who’s starred in various TV shows, including Cybil and Friday Night Lights. The movie is written by David W. Ross, who shot to fame in Britain in the 1990s as a member of the boy band Bad Boys Inc. Ross plays the lead role of Jack Edwards, a gay photographer’s assistant living in New York City. Through a tragic turn of events Ross’s character finds himself helping to raise his niece. But when his work visa renewal is denied, he marries his lesbian best friend, played by Sigler, in order to remain in the country. The story takes off from there, with several legal twists and romantic turns along the way. At times comical, others tearful, the film is an entertaining look at an all too serious situation that can tear loving couples apart. “I really wanted to write a romantic drama rather than a romantic comedy,” Ross, 38, told the Bay Area Reporter following a screening of the movie at George Lucas’s Skywalker Ranch in Marin, where he has been editing the final cut. The script derives from Ross’s own life story, as a relationship

June 14-20, 2012 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 9

he was in eight years ago came to an end when his boyfriend had to move back to England. The issue has taken on more relevance, said Ross, as many LGBT people do not fully understand that most gay binational couples still lack a legal way to citizenship for the foreign-born partner despite a handful of states adopting same-sex marriage. “It still boggles my mind,” said Ross, who had a breakout role in the 2006 Indie hit Quinceanera. “There are 1,300 federal rights you don’t get on the state level. Immigration is on the federal level.” Ross’s film has caught the attention of advocates pushing Congress and the Obama administration to adopt federal legislation allowing LGBT Americans to apply for citizenship for their foreign-born partners. Amos Lim, with Out4Immigration, will address the discrimination faced by same-sex binational couples prior to the special screening at Frameline Friday, June 15. “I am hoping the movie’s release will create more awareness. That is something we have been trying to raise for a couple years already,” said Lim, whose been assisting Machu Latorre, the godmother of his daughter, with the development of her documentary on the subject called Entry Denied. “It is just a bigger platform, I guess, for people to discuss and understand what the issue is about.” Accepted at several LGBT film festivals, I Do has yet to be picked up for theatrical release, something Ross hopes will happen due to the spotlight it will receive at Frameline and Outfest. The movie was shot in 16 days last October in Los Angeles, with two additional days of filming

Courtesy Dave Bryant

Actor and screenwriter David W. Ross and Jamie-Lynn Sigler in a scene from the film I Do.

exterior shots in New York City. It may never have been made in the first place were it not for individuals donating $53,000 in response to an appeal Ross posted on the website Kickstarter. To raise the film’s profile further, Ross publicly came out as gay last year and granted an interview to gay British magazine Attitude. He was able to raise another $25,700 on the website Indiegogo. And a tweet he sent out about the movie made its way to Stuart McCowan, who works for Skywalker Sound and invited Ross and his production team to edit their movie at the Marin facility. A former reporter for the BBC, McCowan recalled interviewing Ross during his days as an European pop music sensation. Gay

ebar.com

Rick Gerharter

10-year annversary of officer’s passing N

ickie Cook, mother of San Francisco Police Officer Jon C. Cook, announces that Liza Brusman and Killian Fa are the recipients of the 2012 Jon Cook Scholarship, given to high school students with a GPA of 3.0 or higher and the child of an LGBT parent or is the child of a SFPD officer. The fund is overseen by the SFPD Pride Alliance, which held its reception June 12, the 10-year anniversary

of Cook’s death. Cook was the first openly gay San Francisco police officer killed in the line of duty when his patrol car collided with another patrol car en route to a call. SFPD Officer Lenny Broberg, left, emceed the program, which also included the unveiling of a plaque, right, honoring Cook that will be installed in the lobby of the Mission District police station, where Cook worked.

himself, McCowan said the film’s story resonated personally, as some friends suggested he marry a woman in order to obtain a green card in America.

“Friends said it would be easy to do, but I didn’t want to cheat the system,” said McCowan, adding that helping engineer the sound on I Do has been “a little bit emotional, for sure.” He remains hopeful that America’s anti-gay immigration policies will be rescinded. “It’s just a matter of time where people wake up and realize it is just idiotic,” said McCowan. “It doesn’t make sense.” The film ultimately cost $1 million to make, and those attending the sneak peek at the Victoria Theater will see the final version. Similar to how the 1979 movie Kramer vs. Kramer changed Americans’ views on divorce, Ross hopes his movie will similarly impact the debate surrounding same-sex marriage rights. “The more people wake up the better,” he said. “I just pray it is emotionally effective.” To learn more about the film, visit www.idothemovie.com/. It will be featured on the Pride episode of CBS5’s Eye on the Bay airing at 7 p.m. Thursday, June 21.▼

<< Sports

10 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 14-20, 2012

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There’s Magic in the air by Roger Brigham

ebar.com

e have a few minor events to get through in mainstream sports this week: the U.S. Open kicks off today (Thursday, June 14), with the seductive tease that Tiger Woods may be back in championship form after winning the Memorial Tournament; the NBA finals opened two days ago to the delight of I-Hate-LeBron diehards to cheer for another fail by the ego-fueled Miami Heat; and the Euro Soccer championships opened last week, with gay soccer fans traveling to Ukraine being warned to keep a low profile (translation: act straight) despite the sport’s publicized efforts to become a more tolerant form of virtual warfare. But those are just minor preludes to the epic battle that looms in 10 days: the annual renewal of the greatest inter-city rivalry since Sparta smacked Athens. Yep, the Los (boo) Angeles (boo) Dodgers (boo) are coming to town to play the San Francisco Giants. As it should be, the Dodgers and Giants are vying for supremacy in their division. The Dodgers started this week with the best record in all of Major League Baseball; the Giants were second in both the division race and in the wild card standings. And so, just as in the best of times, playoff prospects are at stake along with urban pride. This year, however, there’s a new kid in the game – and it’s somebody who won’t even be suited up to play. Magic Johnson. Perhaps it was destiny that Johnson, who burst into national prominence with an electrifying smile and

Magic Johnson is the first openly HIV-positive owner of a professional sports team in the U.S.

an eye-popping passing game while leading the Michigan State Spartans to the NCAA Division I men’s basketball title, and then powered the Los Angeles Lakers to five NBA titles before turning the sports world blue with his announcement that he had become infected with HIV, would wind up as a champion for the Dodger blue-boys. Earlier this year, Magic became part of an investor group that bought the comically beleaguered franchise for an obscenely breathtaking $2 billion. One more groundbreaking step for the world’s most famous poz athlete. He was the first major sports athlete to disclose his HIV status in 1991, in 1992 he overcame initial prejudice from among some of his fellow super-star athletes to star on the Dream Team that won the Barcelona Olympics, and now he is the highest ranking out HIVpositive individual in U.S. professional sports. Decades after first working his magic in the Forum, it’s still show time for Johnson. Over the past two decades, Johnson’s fame has become far more global than it ever was in sports. He’s an outspoken advocate for the HIV community, a major fundraiser, and heavily involved in such charitable works as the Magic Johnson Foundation. So if you’re a gay baseball fan who supports the fight against AIDS but have always rooted against the Dodgers, you’ve got a muddle of mixed emotions when Johnson’s new team comes rolling into town. Must be like the emotions of the Athenians and Spartans when the brilliant general Alcibiades switched sides not once, but twice, during the Peloponnesian War. Neil Giuliano, CEO of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, and a former mayor of Tempe, Arizona, said that he’s “very much a fan” of the NL West rival Arizona (boo) Diamondbacks. “Since Magic revealed his HIV status a couple of decades ago, it’s gone a long way to reduce the stigma,” Giuliano told the Bay Area

Reporter. “His partnership [in the Dodgers ownership group] will continue that and escalate that. I think it’s important for us to remove further the stigma. The sports world, especially ownership, is a very closed fraternity of high wealth individuals. I think it’s tremendous that he’ll be part of that fraternity. I think he has a very strong reach to the African American community, a very strong reach in the area he works in.” Doug Litwin, a member of the Lesbian/Gay Freedom Band and the person who coordinates efforts in the LGBT sports community for the Giants’ LGBT Night, moved to San Francisco in the summer of 1978 from his hometown of Chicago where, as he put it, he was “one of the rare fans who supported both the Cubs and the White Sox.” He said he was blessed to live in an area with two professional baseball teams and was delighted that when he got here, “the Giants had the best record in all of baseball, and the Oakland A’s led their division.” Now a diehard Giants fan, he has owned season tickets since 2000. Thus, he has been despondent about the turnaround in fortunes for the Dodgers in 2012. “I have a friend who’s a diehard Dodgers fan and we ride each other through email a lot,” Litwin said. “This year he’s really rubbing it in. Magic has had a magical life and he seems to be bringing his magic to the team.” So, do you root now for the enemy, turn your back on your friend, or accept all things in a blissful state of kumbaya? “Magic Johnson has certainly done a wonderful job of raising visibility of HIV-positive people in the world in pro sports, and he’s a wonderful role model,” Litwin said. “It seems so far in the current season, he has brought some of his ‘magic’ to the team he now owns. It is definitely at the expense of our beloved hometown Giants. Given how great the Giants’ record is right now, you could say that if he hadn’t somehow instilled his magic in the Dodgers, the Giants would be in first right now.” Which gives me a final thought: the Giants played the Colorado Rockies last month on their Until There’s A Cure Game. They just might want to hold it during a Dodgers series next year. Then they’d pack the place not just with those who cheer the players in orange or the players in blue, but the players wearing the red ribbons. For this year? Go Giants. Oh, and Timmy: you might want to rub Magic’s head for good luck. It couldn’t hurt.

AIDS/LifeCycle A reported 2,225 riders from 16 countries raised more than $12.6 million for AIDS services for the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center during the 545-mile AIDS/LifeCycle that ended over the weekend in Los Angeles. Registration is now open for next year’s event. Information is available at http://www.aidslifecycle.org.▼

▼

Pride 2012 >>

June 14-20, 2012 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 11

Bill Wilson

Pride Party host Mark Rhoades, left, congratulates PG&E spokesman Brandon Hernandez on the occasion of Brandon Hernandez Day in San Francisco in 2010.

Stars, crowds expected at Pride Party in SF by David Duran

ark Rhoades is going all out for his fifth annual Pride Party, where everyone’s a VIP for a night at a swank benefit for the Gay and Lesbian Victory Institute, the education and training arm of the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund. An estimated 500 Bay Area LGBT leaders have been personally invited by Rhoades. Politicians, activists, top executives, socialites, and many nonprofit and business owners are scheduled to attend the pre-pride event. But the party is open to the public too, with advance tickets available. The party is being held at the iconic Bently Reserve Thursday, June 21, just as Pride weekend festivities get under way. “This is a thank you to the many people who spend their time and money making our community a better place to live in,” said Rhoades about his guest list. Rhoades, who loves event planning, has managed to grow the Pride Party over the years, and has brought on corporate sponsors that want to be affiliated with the LGBT community. PG&E is the presenting sponsor, as it has been since the event’s inception. “Mark is a respected and dedicated leader in the LGBT community and has been a wonderful partner these past five years,” said Brandon Hernandez, director of public affairs for the utility company. Hernandez also talked about his company’s support for the community. “PG&E was one of the first compa-

nies to publicly oppose Proposition 8 and has worked to advance marriage equality and other key issues by supporting LGBT organizations locally and nationally, including this year’s beneficiary, the Gay and Lesbian Leadership Institute,” said Hernandez, referring to the state’s same-sex marriage ban that voters passed four years ago. “We are proud to see that in just five years this celebration has become one of the premiere Pride events bringing together a diverse group of business and community leaders.” The party’s budget has increased significantly in the past five years and Rhoades has worked to bring on more sponsors to help with event expenses, including an open bar. The budget for this year is $65,000 Rhoades said, up from $45,000 last year. “Every year I have improved this party and made it better and better, therefore my sponsors are happy to give me more money so that I can outdo the previous year,” said Rhoades. This year it’s all about “more,” he said. “More food, more alcohol, staff, decor, lighting and entertainment, more extravagant in a nutshell,” he said. Joining as a Gold level sponsor this year is Banana Republic. “Banana Republic is proud to be a sponsor of San Francisco’s Pride Party 2012,” said brand president Jack Calhoun. “San Francisco is our home town, and we’re excited to be supporting Pride weekend through See page 13 >>

<< From the cover

12 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 14-20, 2012

HRC

From page 1

peers] that they must leave their communities to make their hopes and dreams for the future come true.” The survey also found that compared to their non-LGBT peers, LGBT youth are twice as likely to be verbally harassed, physically abused, ostracized by peers, and use drugs or alcohol. With comparatively few adults to confide in, LGBT youth more often find support through online communities, as opposed to neighborhood programs or school clubs, like gaystraight alliances. “What Harvey talked about so often was that young kid who’s isolated and without a safe place to go, and with no safe home,” Griffin said. Griffin, 38, grew up in southern Arkansas. He said that even though “we are now being able to see the fruits of Harvey’s labor,” with support of marriage equality from a majority of Americans as well as President Barack Obama, a vast majority of LGBT youth in this country “still aren’t happy.” “Adults should be their mentors

Frameline

From page 1

JCF program executives. The report apparently serves as a blueprint of how to proactively respond to pro-Palestinian activists’ attacks and accusations of so-called pink washing against organizations receiving Israeli government support. Palestinian supporters claim the document is evidence of a convoluted relationship and is an example of a well-funded, organized campaign that is putting rose colored glasses on the queer community. “It’s hugely problematic. It’s one thing to applaud very real advances for the LGBT folks in Israel, and those should be applauded, but it’s another thing entirely, essentially, for gay cultural organizations and outfits to get into bed with the Israeli government and allow themselves to be used as a pawn for Israeli foreign policy,” said Cecilie Surasky, the out lesbian deputy director of Jewish Voice for Peace, an Oakland-based organization. Surasky pointed out that Israel has been condemned by human rights organizations, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, for human rights violations against Palestine, including discrimination and use of force. Some of those same groups, however, have also condemned the Palestinian Authority for not respecting freedom to assemble and beating up protesters. Harris Kornstein, who worked for Frameline from 2008 to 2011, and who spoke out about the organization receiving support from the consulate, also expressed concerns. “It fits in line with what I see as a very organized strategy on the part of the Israeli Consulate and related Jewish Zionist organizations to get the LGBT community in San Francisco ... to play up Israel’s support of certain LGBT issues as a way of ‘pink washing’ Israel’s abuses toward Palestinians,” said Kornstein, a 28-year-old queer Jewish anti-Palestine occupation activist. “By taking the money Frameline is clearly aligning itself with the government,” added Kornstein, pointing out that the issue isn’t about a few thousand dollars to cover travel and lodging expenses, but about a “very deliberate campaign.” It’s a “no brainer” to reject that money from a government that perpetuates human rights violations and “wants to use your institution as a marketing vehicle,” added Surasky, 46. She said the same should be true for China, Syria, and any other country with atrocious human rights records. In 2005, two different public relations firms found that Israel’s global public image was at an all-time low. That was the beginning of Israel’s branding campaign, reported Sarah

and institutions should be their protectors. It’s our job to make that happen,” Griffin said. “I am so honored and humbled to be here at this spot,” he said of being at Milk’s former camera store. Griffin was joined by Academy Award-winning Milk screenwriter Dustin Lance Black, former Bay Area Reporter political editor Wayne Friday, Milk confidante Cleve Jones, Milk’s former aide Anne Kronenberg, and the prolific science fiction novelist and former Milk speechwriter, Frank M. Robinson. Black talked about the history of gay men in San Francisco, going back to the end of World War II when “all these gay men who were given the blue slip after being kicked out of the military for being gay” settled here. Gay men who were discharged from the service also gravitated to San Francisco. HRC critic Michael Petrelis was there, among the small crowd. The day before, he pointed out on his blog the irony that Griffin would be in town to discuss a survey described by the HRC as “groundbreaking” for collecting

Schulman, who documented the history of the campaign in an article published by www.Prettyqueer.com. One piece of that campaign is waving the rainbow flag, said Schulman. Schulman, an academic, activist, and author, has been speaking out against Israel’s pink washing campaign. She also organized an LGBT Palestinian tour of the U.S. in 2011 and a delegation of U.S. LGBT academics and community leaders to Palestine earlier this year. The bottom line is that the antiIsrael occupation activists don’t care about how much money Frameline receives from the consulate; one penny is too much. They simply want the organization to stop accepting funding and colluding with a government they contend silences people’s voices, violates human rights, and uses the queer community in Israel’s rebranding campaign.

What’s the big deal? Queer Jewish, Israeli, and Frameline leaders’ response has been somewhat nonchalant. In interviews they all have brushed off the report as being nothing out of the ordinary between organizational leaders. “I am actually proud of the way in which the Jewish community – especially the queer Jewish community – and people who are supportive of the queer Jewish community in the Bay Area are well networked and the way in which they collaborated on this matter,” said Donny Inbar, Ph.D., associate director for arts and culture at the Israel Center housed at JCF. Akiva Tor, consul general of Israel in San Francisco, disapproved of “private emails” being published, but said he, “didn’t see anything wrong in the published communications.” Price expressed fascination with the controversy, but maintained the same position he has all along – that Frameline is an arts and cultural organization and doesn’t take a political position. “As an arts and culture organization we just don’t take political points of view,” said Price, pointing out that many of the films the organization screens are highly critical of their own countries. To exclude one country’s films, filmmakers, or funding turns into a slippery slope, he added. “I find it really fascinating that Frameline is a lightning point for this more so than other film festivals, which is curious to me,” said Price, who estimated the consulate provides up to $4,000, depending on the number of Israeli films selected for the season. Frameline doesn’t receive support from the consulate every year, he said. It is a common practice for foreign consulates and the U.S. State Department to pick up artists’ travel and lodging expenses for cultural orga-

Jane Philomen Cleland

New Human Rights Campaign President Chad Griffin, right, with screenwriter Dustin Lance Black, gets a quick tour of the Castro from guide Cleve Jones, left, during a short visit to San Francisco Sunday, June 10.

“the largest known sample of LGBT youth from every region of the country,” yet not have “a single gay youth, trans person, or person of color,” with him. But other critics of the organization lauded Griffin’s hiring, which was announced in early March. Jones said he, too, has “a lot of issues with HRC,” but, he is hopeful and confident “that at 57, I’m going to live long enough to see equal protection

Rick Gerharter

Israel’s Consul General Akiva Tor

nizations such as film festivals, said Price, Tor, and other film festival representatives. The funding doesn’t impact organizations’ programming because the films are already selected by the time the consulates get involved, Hilary Hart, director of publicity of the San Francisco Film Society, which produces the annual San Francisco International Film Festival, told the B.A.R. Protesters haven’t demonstrated at SFIFF for the festival accepting support from the Israeli Consulate, she said.

Desert gold Israel’s film industry is producing interesting, quality films, said Hart, Price, and Inbar. Unfortunately Palestine doesn’t have a strong film industry “for obvious reasons,” Hart added. “There is a lot of really powerful LGBT cinema coming out of the Middle East and Israel right now,” said Price. “There are a lot of voices that need to be heard in the Middle East and Israel. These films are being made and we are screening them because they are high quality, important works that are coming from that region.” Many of the films are critical of Israel and the executives said they would welcome films from Palestine. “God, of course! Absolutely! We not only welcome them we are always actively seeking them out,” said Price. “We would be just thrilled to find high quality queer Palestinian films. I can assure you if we had a Palestinian submission about queer Palestinians we would be thrilled with it.” “If there are LGBT Palestinian films they should be showing them, no question,” Tor agreed.

Seeing pink Israeli leaders are miffed by antiIsrael occupation protesters’ assertions of pink washing. Tor complained that claims of pink washing are absurd. Anything Israel does “positive is negative,”

in all 50 states,” and see a day “that the kids on the street, when they grow up, aren’t even going to imagine a time when we weren’t equal.” Jones said Griffin is “such a big part of the incredible acceleration toward equality” in the last few years that he and others who have been around a long time “have never seen anything like it.” Black said that he also had criticisms “of a certain organization.”

according to critics, he said. He wondered if Israel supported jazz artists or clean technology that would be labeled “jazz washing” or “clean tech washing.” “It’s absurd. They’ve created a situation that anything that is good is a crime,” he said, questioning where critics are when it came to opposing cultural artists’ works from known repressive regimes like China, Cuba, or Iran. This year’s Oscar-winning foreign language film was from Iran, a country with a highly questionable human rights record, but the same outcry from protesters has been silent, Inbar pointed out. “I’ve never heard a word about it, so Israel being singled out by these people, accusing us of pink washing – it’s pernicious,” Tor said. It is the job of a “decent state” to support its films and “help our creators export” their work, Tor said, as well as being Israel’s job to “do its best to explain itself to other liberal democracies.” A “good way to do that is by showing our culture,” he said. The consulate supports 14 cultural festivals from the Bay Area to Portland and Seattle as part of its cultural program, said Tor. Frameline is only one of those festivals. Tor praised Frameline and the B.A.R. for resisting protesters’ demands, adding it will continue supporting queer Israeli films long after the conflict. Last year the paper published an editorial supporting Frameline’s decision to accept the support of the Israeli Consulate and urged readers to support the LGBT film festival. The paper was not contacted in advance by Frameline, the Israeli Consulate, or JCF, said news editor Cynthia Laird. The editorial was discussed at the paper’s regular editorial meeting, she said. “I’m very, very happy that both the B.A.R., in its editorial, and Frameline have resisted it because we’ve run into a situation that is really over the top,” Tor said. “Frameline has really, I think their heads are screwed on right. They understand these things exactly as they are,” said Tor, believing Price accepts the reality of Israel as a state and place for art. “Therefore, there is a place for these films to be shown. They are not allowing themselves to be bullied.”

Not angry enough, yet Leaders and artists from both sides of the issue agree that the situation hasn’t gotten to the point that it did at the Toronto International Film Festival where a successful anti-Israel occupation campaign motivated artists to boycott the festival in 2009. Yet the message artists and activ-

▼

But, Black said, Griffin is “unlike anyone I’ve ever met, he has been able to be a uniter in this community. To find a way to get the grassroots to work with the establishment. To build coalitions and to never accept crumbs.” Prior to heading up HRC, Griffin founded the American Foundation for Equal Rights, which brought the federal lawsuit against Proposition 8, California’s same-sex marriage ban. Griffin told the B.A.R. in March, shortly after his selection was announced, that he wanted to look forward rather than at the past. “My job is the future,” Griffin said at the time. Griffin is taking over an organization that has an annual budget of $40 million. Following his visit to San Francisco, Griffin stopped in Arkansas on Monday, where he held a forum at the Clinton Library. On Tuesday he was in Omaha, Nebraska, where he met with religious leaders and on Wednesday he was in Baltimore where he attended a marriage equality campaign meet and greet. He’s expected at the Washington, D.C. HRC headquarters later this week.▼

ists sent to Toronto’s film festival is the “same message that is being sent to Frameline,” said Surasky. Activists and leaders from both sides of the issue said they want an open and honest dialogue. Boycotting Frameline at this point isn’t beneficial to the artists or the cause. Yet they continue to point fingers at each other, claiming the other isn’t honest. Attempts at a constructive dialogue haven’t happened for a variety of reasons. To accommodate protesters on both sides of the issue Price has made room for demonstrators in front of the Castro Theatre in recent years. Kornstein agreed with Price that Frameline has been “relatively judicious leaving space for protesters” at the film festival, but he was critical that the organization wasn’t as “generous with time and meeting with individuals.” “I was disappointed to see how closely K.C. Price was communicating with Donny Inbar and Lisa Finkelstein and some other folks [while], at the same time, [he] didn’t actually meet with some of the other groups,” said Kornstein. Price isn’t deterred, and acknowledged that the next step is facilitating “civil, ongoing dialogue around the situation.” Tor also extended an invitation. “I invite them to the consulate when they want to come or organize a discussion or debate,” said Tor. “I don’t see any willingness on their side whatsoever.” Surasky was skeptical about a balanced conversation hosted by Frameline because the internal email exchange between the consulate and JCF showed how “enmeshed” the organizations are. “Clearly, just in the fact that publication was created at all is telling; these are battles that are starting to happen all over the country,” she said, referring to a younger generation questioning Israel’s actions and policies toward Palestinians. Lesbian filmmaker and antiIsrael occupation activist Barbara Hammer, 73, who has been a part of Frameline since its beginnings and plans to continue to participate in the festival, said she hopes the organization would decline the consulate’s support. At the same time, she believes, “Frameline would have an exciting festival if they opened the doors to this discussion. This does not have to be an argument where we lose our humanity toward one another.”▼ To read the document, visit http:// www.scribd.com/doc/86363022/ Israeli-Consul-General-and-Frameline. To read the Mondoweiss article, visit tinyurl.com/7j2bb7l.

▼ <<

Community News>>

Business Briefs

From page 8

Straw raises funds for Openhouse Hayes Valley eatery Straw Restaurant (203 Octavia Boulevard) has announced that throughout the month of July, every Monday 10 percent of tabs will be donated to Openhouse (http://openhouse-sf. org), which provides programs for LGBT seniors. To see Straw’s menu, which is de-

Pride party

From page 11

our participation in this event. Consistently advocating for equality for the LGBT community is an important issue for our brand, for our employees, and for our customers and also the right thing to do.” AT&T also is billed as a Gold sponsor. “Jack Calhoun of Banana Republic and Ken McNeely from AT&T were both prior attendees, so they knew firsthand what a big following the event has,” said Rhoades. “They were happy to jump on board.”

ENDA

From page 1

tution of learning, or society that is exempt from the religious discrimination provisions of title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ...” Samuel Bagenstos, a professor of law at the University of Michigan, took issue with Parshall’s complaint, saying that the religious exemption is quite broad – so much so that the American Civil Liberties Union has objected to the language. “Once [courts] decide that this is a religious corporation, a religious association, educational institution, or society, for example, that’s the end of the matter. That institution gets an exemption under ENDA,” said Bagenstos.

News Briefs

From page 2

city can meet the needs of a growing LGBT seniors population. After Mayor Ed Lee approves the measure – he has 30 days to do so – the board’s Rules Committee later this summer will vet applicants interested in serving on the panel. It is hoped the task force’s first meeting will take place by October. In addition to staffing the task force, Nolan is also assisting the aging agency with the creation of a 10year plan to address Alzheimer’s and dementia. He will also work on a new initiative aimed at older church parishioners the agency wants to roll out.

AHP to hold open house Six months after undergoing a name change, the UCSF Alliance Health Project: Services for the LGBTQ and HIV Communities, will hold an open house Friday, June 15 to celebrate its collaborations and the community. The event, at 1930 Market Street (at Laguna) in San Francisco, begins with a reception at 4:30 p.m. followed by a program at 5:30. Dr. James Dilley, executive director of AHP, will be honored by the Levi Strauss Foundation for his 28 years of leadership. AHP, formerly the AIDS Health Project, decided to change its name late last year in a nod to the fact that the agency has expanded its services to people with substance abuse and mental health issues. Those expanded services started in 2010 when AHP started seeing patients of New Leaf: Services for Our Community, which closed.

June 14-20, 2012 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 13

Macy’s department stores are

partnering with the Human Rights Campaign to celebrate Pride Month. During the month of June, Macy’s stores in San Francisco, Boston, Los Angeles, St. Louis, Minneapolis, and Columbus will be carrying HRC merchandise, with all proceeds going to the national gay rights organization. Locally, the Macy’s on Union Square will feature the HRC items. To see the full selection of HRC merchandise, visit the HRC Action Center and Store at 575 Castro Street or go online to http://shop.hrc.org. ▼

upscale cocktail party, a red carpet event.” “Also, most of us stay home or go out of town that weekend, so I thought I would host a party during the week to kick off the weekend,” he added. All the proceeds from the ticket sales will benefit the Gay and Lesbian Victory Institute. The institute holds trainings and professional development programs for LGBTs who want to run for public office. It is a nonprofit, tax-exempt organization. Headlining the Pride Party are two of the comics from the popular TV show, Chelsea Lately. Heather

McDonald and Loni Love have both been booked to perform their stand up for the guests. Rhoades couldn’t decide who he wanted this year, so when it came time to make a decision, he just booked them both. “Hands down, San Francisco is one of my favorite cities,” said Love. “I can’t think of a better way to celebrate San Francisco Pride.” When asked about her gay fans, Love said, “I love all my fans equally, however, the gay community has always been near and dear to my heart.” McDonald, who most recently was in Los Angeles working the prePride circuit, told the B.A.R. about

the gays in LA, “the amount of colored skinny jeans at this party was beyond any gayest dream ever.” McDonald, who was just in town doing a sold out three-day run at Cobb’s Comedy Club, is “thrilled” to be spending time with Love on stage at the event. Tickets to the public are on sale and are priced at a modest $50 in advance or $75 at the door. Rhoades wanted to keep the party affordable for guests while providing an overthe-top venue and event. To register, visit www.glli.org/about_us/events/ id:133. The party takes place from 7 to 11 p.m. at the Bently Reserve, 301 Battery Street.▼

Bagenstos also emphasized the need for ENDA, noting that while some courts have ruled that discrimination based on sex stereotypes is considered prohibited by Title 7, courts have not extended that to discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. “There is a need for a comprehensive, clear federal standard that applies across the country,” said Bagenstos. Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), the chair of the committee, held his tongue until the very end of the 90-minute hearing, then made clear what he thought about Parshall’s claim. “I want to be as protective as anyone of religious liberty in this country,” said Harkin, “but I’d also remind people that, in 1964, when we passed

the Civil Rights Act, arguments were made that this would violate the religious liberty of employers – to ban discrimination on the basis of race. So we’ve been through this before.” “This [discrimination] has no place in our society,” said Harkin. Harkin noted that Tuesday’s hearing marked the first time that a transgender witness testified before the Senate. Kylar Broadus, founder of the Trans People of Color Coalition, from Missouri, told lawmakers his personal story. He noted that his driver’s license indicated he was a female, but HE was thrown out of women’s bathrooms because of his male appearance. When he chose to begin living as “the real me,” he was harassed by his employer who refused to allow him to dress as a man.

ENDA, he said, would go a long way to protect people who suffer employment discrimination based on gender identity. Other witnesses included M.V. Badgett, a demographic researcher at the Williams Institute for Sexual Orientation Law and Public Policy at UCLA Law School; and Ken Charles, vice president of diversity and inclusion of the General Mills Corporation. Senator Jeff Merkley (D-Oregon) introduced ENDA in the current session of the Senate (S.811) and Representative Barney Frank (DMassachusetts) introduced it to the House (H.R. 1397). While the legislation received hearings in both chambers during the last congressional session, it did not get a com-

mittee vote in either. That is the likely fate of the legislation again this congressional session, as Republicans continue to hold the majority in the House. The Senate bill this session currently has 41 co-sponsors, including Illinois Senators Dick Durbin, a Democrat, and Mark Kirk, a Republican; California Senators Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, both Democrats; Michigan Senators Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow, both Democrats; Massachusetts Senator John Kerry, a Democrat; Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey, a Democrat; and Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown, a Democrat. The House bill has 165 co-sponsors. For a list, see http://tinyurl. com/78hxv3c ▼

Physicians’ group presents awards

AIDS service organizations in the East Bay for education, testing, and treatment. According to walk organizers, over 8,000 people in the East Bay are living with HIV/AIDS. Free HIV tests will be offered at the walk. People can walk as individuals or join a team. Registration begins at 8:30 a.m. and the walk starts at 10. People should go to the Gazebo. For more information or to join a team, visit www.eastbayaidswalk.org.

Eureka Valley Recreation Center, 100 Collingwood Street in the Castro. The free seminar is presented by Ken Craig of Community Patrol USA and will include helpful information so that people safely enjoy all the festivities associated with Pride weekend. In related news, Craig received a special Pride award from San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón during a June 13 ceremony. Craig is involved with Castro Community on Patrol and the Stop the Violence Project.

momentous year in city politics that included the inauguration of Harvey Milk as a member of the Board of Supervisors, the defeat of the anti-gay Briggs initiative, and Milk’s assassination just 11 months after he took office. The suggested donation for Baker’s talk is $5. For more information and a calendar of museum activities, visit www.glbthistory.org.

scribed as “carnival-inspired comfort food,” visit http://strawsf.com.

trict, both at the art show or online at http://www.castrocbd.org.

Basket benefit

Edge-y entertainment

Hearth Real Estate (555 Castro Street) is hosting an art show benefiting the hanging flower baskets that decorate the Castro. The event runs from 5:30 to 8 p.m. on June 15, and features works by over a dozen local artists. Donations to support the baskets can be made via the Castro/Upper Market Community Benefit Dis-

At the June Merchants of Upper Market and Castro meeting, the membership voted unanimously to support a proposal by the Edge bar (4149 18th Street) for an entertainment permit. Co-owner Tim Eicher presented the proposal. According to Eicher, the bar currently has a “limited live entertainment” permit, but in order to allow microphone

McNeely, who is openly gay, has worked within his company to be more active in giving to LGBT organizations; it has sponsored Equality California galas in recent years as well. Kimpton Hotels and Restaurants will be catering with top-notch hors d’oeuvres, Rhoades added. Rhoades hit upon the idea of holding the event prior to Pride in order to do something for the local community. “Pride is so big that it is more for the out of towners and I thought five year ago, why not do something just for the leaders here that make our city great, and make it a very

Bay Area Physicians for Human Rights has announced that five awardees have been selected for honors that will be presented to them at a Pride celebration Friday, June 15 at the LGBT Community Center, 1800 Market Street in San Francisco. The reception runs from 6:30 to 9 p.m. Individual honorees include Dr. Bill Owen, who will receive the Visionary of the Decades Award for recognizing problems and the leadership to bring about changes benefitting the health of LGBTQ people, and Dr. Steve Follensbee, who will receive the Educator of the Decades Award for his long-standing contributions to education. In addition, three organizations will be honored: Project Open Hand will receive the Humanitarian of the Decades Award for service to the community, especially underserved populations; the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association will receive the Impact of the Decades Award for actions that have improved the health and wellness of the LGBTQ community; and the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus will receive the Healer of Hurting Award that honors the special skills the chorus has to identify the many types of hurt within the community and to create healing changes. Each honoree will be presented with a plaque and be granted $1,000 that they can give to the nonprofit of their choice.

Fundraiser for housing group Hearth Homes, an organization that works to address the urgent need for inclusive, green, universallydesigned affordable housing for all, is having a bingo (Building Inclusivity Now Generates Opportunity) fundraiser Saturday, June 16 at First Unitarian Universalist Church, 1187 Franklin Street (at Geary) in San Francisco. Doors open at 2 p.m. Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation-award winner Marilyn Pittman will serve as emcee of this unique benefit. Her award-winning solo show, “It’s All the Rage,” is currently on a national tour. Tickets are $65 plus online fee ($35 plus fee for students with valid ID). Snacks will be provided and there will be a cash bar on site. There will be special prizes for bingo winners. For more information, visit www.hearthhomes.org. To purchase tickets, visit hearthhomesbingo.eventbrite.com.

East Bay AIDS Walk Saturday

Pre-Pride safety seminar

The sixth annual East Bay AIDS Walk will be held Saturday, June 16 at Lake Merritt in Oakland. The walk is an all-volunteer effort where every dollar raised by walkers is donated to

The San Francisco Safety Coalition has announced that interested people are welcome to attend a pre-Pride safety seminar Saturday, June 16 from 1 to 4:30 p.m. in the main gym at the

use during fundraisers a full entertainment permit is necessary. “We also don’t want to have to send our go-go dancers home at 10 p.m., which we have to do with the limitedlive permit. Our customers don’t want that either,” Eicher added. The permit application goes before the Planning Commission on June 14 and before the Entertainment Commission on June 26.

Macy’s partners with HRC

Castro Lions drag-a-thon The Castro Lions will hold its ninth annual drag-a-thon Sunday, June 17 from noon to 8 p.m. at Marlena’s, 488 Hayes Street (at Octavia). Additionally, Castro Lions President Troy Brunet wants to remind people that the group’s annual dinner and installation of officers is coming up on June 20. That event takes place at Patio Espanol, 2850 Alemany Boulevard in San Francisco. Cocktails begin at 6 p.m., followed by the dinner and program at 7. The cost is $65. To RSVP, call (415) 90-LIONS.

Rainbow flag creator returns to SF Gilbert Baker, creator of the rainbow flag and a longtime gay rights activist, will be back in San Francisco next week to do a living history talk at the GLBT History Museum. Baker, who will be receiving a special award this year from the San Francisco LGBT Pride Celebration Committee, will be in conversation with Cleve Jones on Tuesday, June 19 from 7 to 9 p.m. at the museum, 4127 18th Street in the Castro. Baker created the flag for the San Francisco Pride Parade in 1978 – a

Stonewall Dems to host movie night The East Bay Stonewall Democratic Club will hold its general membership meeting Wednesday, June 20 from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at the Organizing for America office, 1714 Telegraph Avenue in Oakland. In celebration of Pride Month, the club will host a special screening of Jumpin’ the Broom: The New Covenant. This 30-minute documentary shares the stories of four black couples and analyzes their views on love, commitment, relationships, marriage, and religion. Award-winning filmmaker Debra A. Wilson will be on hand for questions afterwards. Light refreshments will be provided. For more information about the club, visit www.eastbaystonewalldemocrats.com.

Memorial for SF activist A memorial for Larry Wisch, who died May 5 after a long battle against AIDS, will be held Saturday, June 23 at 3 p.m. at Three Stone Hearth, 1581 University Avenue in Berkeley. Mr. Wisch, who was 59, was a cofounder of Three Stone Hearth. He is survived by his partner and caregiver Giamcarlo (John) Calabrese. Friends are welcome to attend the memorial.▼

Serving the LGBT communities since 1971

14 • Bay Area Reporter • June 14-20, 2012

Classifieds

Legal Notices>>

The

Legal Notices>> FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034339500 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ISABELLA ANTIQUES LTD., 210 Post St. #918, SF, CA 94108. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Robin Chesler. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 02/12/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/11/12.

MAY 24, 31, June 7, 14, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034348600 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: PURE SWEETS & SAVORY, 1448 Pine St. #204, SF, CA 94109. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Leonor R. Santos. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/17/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/17/12.

MAY 24, 31, June 7, 14, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034346900 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: MARIO LEGAL SERVICES, 868 Lassen St., Richmond, CA 94805. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Mario I. Gomez. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 04/17/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/17/12.

MAY 24, 31, June 7, 14, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034342700 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: KAREN’S MAINTENANCE, 4064 Westridge Ct., Antioch, CA 94509. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Karen Navarrete. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/14/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/14/12.

MAY 24, 31, June 7, 14, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034300600 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: H & S LIMOUSINE, 4681 Myrtle Dr., Dublin, CA 94568. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Naqibullah Sayed Saadat. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 04/25/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/25/12.

MAY 24, 31, June 7, 14, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034346700 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: JULIUS’ CASTLE RESTAURANT; JULIUS’ CASTLE, 302 Greenwich, SF, CA 94133. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Paul D. Scott. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/16/12.

MAY 24, 31, June 7, 14, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034345800 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: THE INN SAN FRANCISCO, 943 South Van Ness Ave., SF, CA 94110. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed Inn S.F. Enterprises Inc. (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/05/90. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/16/12.

MAY 24, 31, June 7, 14, 2012 notice of application TO SELL alcoholic beverageS Dated 05/14/12 To Whom It May Concern: The name(s) of the applicant(s) is/are: UNX ENTERPRISES LLC. The applicants listed above are applying to the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control at 1515 Clay Street, Suite 2208, Oakland, CA 94612 to sell alcoholic beverages at 800 Post St., SF, CA 94109. Type of license applied for

48 - ON-SALE GENERAL PUBLIC PREMISES MAY 31, June 7, 14, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034367500 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: WAITAPP; MOBULLY, 300 Brannan St. #610, SF, CA 94107. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed CRM Text Solutions Inc. (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/24/12.

MAY 31, June 7, 14, 21, 2012

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034362500

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file 034383500

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: S&S BROTHERS COMPANY, 101 UTAH ST. #130, SF, CA 94103. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed S&S Brothers Jewelry Inc. (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/23/12.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: S.F. AUTO DETAIL, 715 Banks St., SF, CA 94110. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Ana Hernandez. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/01/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/01/12.

MAY 31, June 7, 14, 21, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034366900 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SAMYS LIQUOR, 2847 24th St., SF, CA 94110. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Shaya M. Shaibi. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/15/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/24/12.

MAY 31, June 7, 14, 21, 2012 Statement of abandonment of use of fictitious business name FILE A-032947500 The following persons have abandoned the use of the fictitious business name known as: S & S BROTHERS COMPANY, 101 UTAH ST. #130, SF, CA 94103. This business was conducted by an individual and signed by Rabinder Maheshwari. The fictitious name was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/03/10.

MAY 31, June 7, 14, 21, 2012 notice of application TO SELL alcoholic beverageS Dated 05/21/12 To Whom It May Concern: The name(s) of the applicant(s) is/are: HECTOR VICENTEALCARAZ OROZCO. The applicants listed above are applying to the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control at 1515 Clay Street, Suite 2208, Oakland, CA 94612 to sell alcoholic beverages at 2312 Market St., SF, CA 94114. Type of license applied for

41 - On-sale BEER & WINE Eating place JUNE 7, 14, 21, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034373400 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ATLAS MASSAGE CENTER, 2305 Van Ness Ave. #F, SF, CA 94109. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Henry Oyharcabal. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/25/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/29/12.

June 7, 14, 21, 28, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034374900 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: STUDIO B B R, 43 Franklin St., SF, CA 94102. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Rodney Duncan. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/30/12.

June 7, 14, 21, 28, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034377500 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: BACCHUS FLOWERS, 1265 Dolores St. #6, SF, CA 94110. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Spencer Peterson. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/30/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/30/12.

June 7, 14, 21, 28, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034379200 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: BAY CLEANERS, 350 Bay St. #12, SF, CA 94133. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Nolmart A. Gimeno. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/31/12.

June 7, 14, 21, 28, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034379700 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: CENTRAL PARK LIQUORS, 1900 Hayes St., SF, CA 94117. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Yong S. Park. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/31/12.

June 7, 14, 21, 28, 2012

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June 7, 14, 21, 28, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034383100 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: DIVORCE CENTER, 1630 Union St., SF, CA 94123. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Margaret Pendergast. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/31/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/01/12.

June 7, 14, 21, 28, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034385400 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: PHARAOH ENTERPRISES, 305 Hyde St. #501, SF, CA 94109. This business is conducted by a general partnership, and is signed Abdullah H. Sulaiman & Hussein A. Sulaiman. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/01/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/01/12.

June 7, 14, 21, 28, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034372800 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ESPECIALLY CATS VETERINARY HOSPITAL, 1339 Taraval St., SF, CA 94116. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed Buttar Inc. (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/29/12.

June 7, 14, 21, 28, 2012 Statement of abandonment of use of fictitious business name FILE A-033651900 The following persons have abandoned the use of the fictitious business name known as: PENGUINS ON HENRY, 45 Henry St. #1, SF, CA 94114. This business was conducted by state or local registered domestic partners and signed by David Geoffrey Stafford & Eric Lamart Dupre. The fictitious name was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/27/11.

June 7, 14, 21, 28, 2012 notice of application TO SELL alcoholic beverageS Dated 06/05/12 To Whom It May Concern: The name(s) of the applicant(s) is/are: DRAGORSE INC. The applicants listed above are applying to the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control at 1515 Clay Street, Suite 2208, Oakland, CA 94612 to sell alcoholic beverages at 500 Haight St., SF, CA 94117-3407. Type of license applied for

41 - On-sale BEER & WINE Eating place June 14, 2012 notice of application TO SELL alcoholic beverageS Dated 06/06/12 To Whom It May Concern: The name(s) of the applicant(s) is/are: HOME LOUNGE LLC. The applicants listed above are applying to the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control at 1515 Clay Street, Suite 2208, Oakland, CA 94612 to sell alcoholic beverages at 784 Geary St., SF, CA 94109-7302. Type of license applied for

41 - On-sale BEER & WINE – public premises June 14, 2012 Statement of abandonment of use of fictitious business name FILE A-031166700 The following persons have abandoned the use of the fictitious business name known as: LIFE WORK SYNC, 1045 Mission St. #258, SF, CA 94103. This business was conducted by a general partnership, and signed by Adele Maynes & Katherine Steele. The fictitious name was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/14/05.

June 14, 21, 28, JULY 5, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034401600

notice of application FOR CHANGE IN OWNERSHIP OF alcOholic beverage LICENSE

Statement of abandonment of use of fictitious business name FILE A-033412600

Dated 06/05/12 To Whom It May Concern: The name(s) of the applicant(s) is/are: TKA FINE DINING, INC. The applicants listed above are applying to the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control at 1515 Clay Street, Suite 2208, Oakland, CA 94612 to sell alcoholic beverages at 2150 Chestnut St., SF, CA 94123-2709. Type of license applied for

The following persons have abandoned the use of the fictitious business name known as: INNER CITY 2K; MARCELLIS EDWARDS, 67 Minerva St., SF, CA 94112. This business was conducted by an individual and signed by Marcel Wade. The fictitious name was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/11/11.

41 - On-sale BEER & WINE Eating place JUNE 14, 2012 notice of application FOR CHANGE IN OWNERSHIP OF alcOholic beverage LICENSE

June 14, 21, 28, JULY 5, 2012

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Dated 06/08/12 To Whom It May Concern: The name(s) of the applicant(s) is/are: CHARLIE THANH NGUYEN. The applicants listed above are applying to the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control at 1515 Clay Street, Suite 2208, Oakland, CA 94612 to sell alcoholic beverages at 239 Clement St., SF, CA 94118. Type of license applied for

41 - On-sale BEER & WINE Eating place JUNE 14, 2012 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME AND GENDER IN SUPERIOR COURT OF california, county of san francisco file CNC12-548719 In the matter of the application of: KALLIE ANN LEWIS for change of name and gender having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner KALLIE ANN LEWIS is requesting that his/her name be changed to KALEB WESLEY LEWIS. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Rm. 514 on the 16th of August 2012 at 9:00 am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

June 14, 21, 28, JULY 5, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034390800 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ARIABLARGTV, 595 John Muir Dr. #324, SF, CA 94132. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Aria C. Stinson. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/01/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/05/12.

June 14, 21, 28, JULY 5, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034388500 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: BRIKCOLLI DESIGNS, 770 Laplaya St. #401, SF, CA 94121. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Brian K. Collins. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/04/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/04/12.

June 14, 21, 28, JULY 5, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034396600 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: EMBRYONIC WEBSITE CREATIONS, 180 Beaver St. #3, San Francisco, CA 94114. This business is conducted by a general partnership, and is signed Richard William Mytton & David Wayne Mytton. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/07/12.

June 14, 21, 28, JULY 5, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034388000 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SALON SYSTEMS, 166 Geary St. #302, SF, CA 94108. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed MBI Distribution Inc. (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/04/12.

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June 14, 21, 28, JULY 5, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034350500 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: JACKSON PLACE SALON, 633 Battery St. #117, SF, CA 94111. This business is conducted by a general partnership, and is signed Suzette Hanson, Elizabeth Fracchia & Alla Roytman. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/01/91. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/18/12.

June 14, 21, 28, JULY 5, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034386300

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: GRISWOLD HOME CARE, 155 Clifford Terrace, SF, CA 94117. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed GSCCA Corp. (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/13/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/11/12.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: CHEMICAL BABY CLOTHING COMPANY, 67Minerva St., SF, CA 94112. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed Inner City 2K LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/01/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/04/12.

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Queer media activist Vito Russo at the Castro Theatre, in Jeffrey Schwartz’s documentary/biography Vito.

Vol. 42 • No. 24 • June 14-20, 2012

★ Lights, ★ ★

★

camera, ★ social★ ★ action!★ ★

★ ★

★

36th San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival by David Lamble

he 36th Frameline LGBT Festival (June 14-24 at San Francisco’s Castro, Roxie and Victoria Theatres, with selected screenings at the Elmwood Rialto Cinemas in Berkeley) offers an especially strong array of short films, some of which approach feature length and complexity. I’ve selected four to highlight among the features. Vito Jeffrey Schwartz’s documentary/biography of queer media activist Vito Russo for HBO is one of the rare politically constructed films with a strong emotional through-line, an undertow that sweeps you out into a sea of feelings normally verboten in the politically constipated world of American politics. The first emotional peak in the narrative is when Vito explains his peculiar reaction to Stonewall. “I was sitting in a tree in the park See page 29 >>

From the Collection of Sean Strub / HBO

People’s republic of opera Adams’ & Goodman’s ‘Nixon in China’ plays San Francisco Opera by Philip Campbell

here is almost as much history in the creation of composer John Adams’ and poetlibrettist Alice Goodman’s landmark opera Nixon in China as in the real events that inspired it. The oncecontroversial piece has finally returned to the San Francisco Opera after 25 successful years on the road, and the belated premiere coincides with the 40th anniversary of Tricky Dick’s bold diplomatic visit in February 1972. There are many more factoids to savor, but it is most important to remember that current SFO General Director David Gockley first jointly commissioned the work during his tenure at Houston Grand Opera, with the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Netherlands Opera and Washington Opera assuring production. The intriguing project originally sprang from the brilliant and revolutionary mind of director Peter

Sellars. It started a long and fruitful partnership. We first saw a workshop production of Nixon at the Herbst Theatre in San Francisco in 1987, performed at music stands in street dress with synthesizer and piano accompaniment. That run-through held enough thrilling promise to ensure the future success of the opera, despite an unpleasant surrounding atmosphere of intellectual superiority and youthful arrogance. There were some savaging reviews and a whole lot of hype at the time, but the Houston premiere was reportedly well-enough received to guarantee Nixon a much better future than most new works. After a PBS taping (with Walter Cronkite announcing!) brought the original production to national attention, it was inevitable that sooner or later the Met would step in. In 2011, Peter Sellars directed and John Adams

conducted the Metropolitan Opera premiere to great acclaim. Can there be any wonder why David Gockley and the SFO had to get Nixon in China back to the Bay Area on the stage of the War Memorial Opera House before any more anniversaries or milestones? The new staging comes to us by way of Vancouver Opera in a blast of dazzling stagecraft and dramatically amplified energy. Director Michael Cavanagh moves his almost mythological characters about the big stage of the SFO amid constantly shifting lighting designs by Christopher Maravich and the truly breathtaking projections by Sean Nieuwenhuis. It is interesting to note that director Sellars, never known for an unwillingness to test boundaries or even gleefully go overboard, originally treated the piece in a sober and visually understated way. His Met See page 20 >>

Baritone Brian Mulligan plays Richard Nixon in San Francisco Opera’s Nixon in China. Tim Matheson

{ SECOND OF TWO SECTIONS }

<< Out There

18 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 14-20, 2012

▼

Operatic flights of fancy by Roberto Friedman

ere’s a tip on an unusual offering coming next week to Davies Symphony Hall. Music director Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony’s semi-staged production of composer Bela Bartok’s macabre one-hour psychodrama opera Duke Bluebeard’s Castle is coming to Davies on June 21-23. These performances will star mezzo-soprano Michelle DeYoung as a curious bride poised to learn some very dark truths about her new husband, Duke Bluebeard, as portrayed by bass-baritone Alan Held. The production will be directed by filmmaker Nick Hillel of film company Yeast Culture (Nitin Sawney, Akram Khan, Beastie Boys), who has created evocative imagery and unusual staging to help tell the story. Pianist Jeremy Denk opens the evenings with Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 1, and following the concert on Friday

night, June 22, John Vanderslice & Magik*Magik Orchestra perform their own musical response to the concert during a Davies After Hours party in the second-tier lobby. From the SFS’ explication of the opera: “Duke Bluebeard’s Castle is based on Hungarian poet Bela Balazs’ version of the story of a young wife learning about her mysterious, considerably older husband and all his secrets, unaware that exposing these secrets will cause their relationship’s demise. This dark expressionist tale reveals his violent past through the opening of seven doors, behind which are bloodsoaked evidence of his torture chamber, armory, treasury, garden, kingdom and a lake of tears. The final door reveals Bluebeard’s previous wives, whom new wife Judith must subsequently join. “This production had its world premiere in the UK in October 2011 by the Philharmonia Orchestra. MTT has since conducted its U.S.

premiere at the New World Symphony in Miami in April 2012. Michelle DeYoung has performed the role of Duke Bluebeard’s wife Judith in all of its performances. It is sung in Hungarian with English supertitles.” While we’re on the opera beat, Out There was in the War Memorial Opera House for opening night of composer John Adams’ masterwork Nixon in China presented by San Francisco Opera, reviewed on this week’s arts cover. It made us recall a New York Times “Dining” feature last month, about the place of food and drink in the great art of opera. Adams’ Nixon “features one of the best-known feasts of modern opera, the banquet scene in which the character [Chinese premier] Chou En-lai and the American president toast each other during Richard Nixon’s groundbreaking visit in 1972. “But the historical nature of the subject would have made the details easy to provide. The Nixon Foundation has the official menu, which includes shark’s fin in three shreds (sooo un-p.c.), fried and stewed prawns (the Chinese had heard Americans like shrimp), mushrooms, mustard greens, steamed chicken with coconut, almond junket, pastries, and fruits.” Well, that’s a tall order to replicate onstage, but surely the banquet would be easier to stage than the state dinner in which the first President Bush threw up in the Japanese prime minister’s lap. In the press room on opening night, SFO General Director David Gockley graciously offered a toast to the press corps with flutes of Napa Schramsberg generously supplied by the winery, the very same sparkling wine that was used for those diplomatic toasts in Peking, all those years ago. Coming up in the summer opera season, Verdi’s Attila, and Japanese-American artist Jun Kaneko’s design for an all-new production of Mozart’s The Magic Flute. Right now you can see a pair of six-foot ceramic heads from Kaneko’s HEADS series installed in front of the Opera House. There they will remain until November 2012. Also, the Rena Bransten Gallery (77 Grant) is currently showing a selection of Kaneko’s work from his Dango series, through July 21. Info at www. renabranstengallery.com.

San Francisco Symphony

Mezzo-soprano Michelle DeYoung will star in San Francisco Symphony’s upcoming semi-staged production of composer Bela Bartok’s macabre opera, Duke Bluebeard’s Castle.

Tim Matheson

Cast including Chou En-lai (Chen-Ye Yuan), Mao Tse-tung (Simon O’Neill), Richard Nixon (Brian Mulligan) and Henry Kissinger (Patrick Carfizzi) in the San Francisco Opera premiere of composer John Adams and librettist Alice Goodman’s Nixon in China.

Coming up in the San Francisco Symphony’s Summer & the Symphony series, concerts featuring Ann Hampton Callaway with the San Francisco Symphony (July 3), the SFS 4th of July concert with fireworks (July 4, Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View), Smokey Robinson with the SFS (July 5), Cirque Musica with the SFS (July 6), SFS free at Stern Grove (July 8), Michael Feinstein and his Big Band (July 15), Tiempo Libre with the SFS (July 21; free in Dolores Park, July 22), The Wizard of Oz with the SFS (July 26, 27), Pixar in Concert (July 28, 29), and finally, Classical Mystery Tour: The Music of the Beatles with the SFS (August 2, 3). Then we’re impatient for the new music season to begin!

Star personnel 1. And now for something completely porn legendary: filmmaker KG Sherman has announced the launch of a hotline about late gay porn star Joey Stefano in preparation for the upcoming documentary project Joey Stefano (whatever you want me to be). Call (951) GOT-JOEY to leave messages sharing your thoughts, memories, feelings, confessions and stories about Stefano. “Even though Joey Stefano died in 1994, his legend has lived on,” Sherman said. “Director ChiChi LaRue has warned against the number of people who might have spent five minutes with him and think they knew him. But rather than ignore these many voices, we want to hear them. “In particular we want to hear from his fans. We want to show what it meant to be a porn star in that era,

Smokey Robinson has a date with the San Francisco Symphony in July.

and how Joey stood out with his particular kind of star quality. The voice messages will be used as part of an audio montage in the film. Calls can be anonymous, or people can leave their contact information if they wish. Anyone who may have any personal photographs or video of Joey just being himself (Nick Iacona) should contact us as well. People can e-mail photos to info@ karma2000.com.” 2. Heartfelt congratulations go to our fabulous B.A.R. colleague Jim Provenzano, whose novel Every Time I Think of You was awarded the Lambda Literary Award for Best Gay Romance, last week in NYC. 3. Correction: In our edition of June 7, 2012, in the review of the San Francisco Ballet School’s performances, the name of the dancer Kathleen Dahlhoff was misspelled. The B.A.R. regrets the error.▼

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June 14-20, 2012 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 19

Serving the LGBT communities since 1971

20 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 14-20, 2012

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Theatre>>

Fire Island beach house confessional by Richard Dodds

n Lips Together, Teeth Apart, playwright Terrence McNally pulls the rug out from under his characters, but he lets them hit the ground with grace. In this comedy, there is a tragic undertow that can literally and figuratively sweep lives out to sea. First staged in 1991 when AIDS was considered a death sentence and fear about its transmissibility had its own epidemic, Lips Together uses the disease not as a specific topic, but as the elephant in the room that largely goes unmentioned but that forces the characters to face their own fears in potentially hopeful fashion. Although McNally wrote the play under far different social circumstances, it feels neither like a dated issues play nor an artifact of more benighted times. I hadn’t seen the play in 20 years, but it feels more

potent now, whether because of cultural evolution, personal changes, or the illuminating production it is now receiving at New Conservatory Theatre Center. Set at a beach house on Fire Island, Lips Together is another McNally straight-gay fish-out-of-water story. In his farce The Ritz, a straight schlub who is wrongly fingered by the mob takes refuge in a gay bathhouse. In the newer play, two married straight couples are spending a weekend at a house completely surrounded by gay neighbors (whom we never see) who elicit a low-key queasiness. “The boys from Ipanema” is how one of the husbands describes the neighbors, whose efforts at friendliness are rebuffed. The house is an inheritance from the late brother of one of the wives, and she has never quite processed his gayness. “I’m glad I never saw my brother dance with another

man,” says the introspective Sally before lamenting, “and now I never will.” The gay milieu, and the foursome’s irrational fear that the swimming pool will give AIDS to anyone who enters it, become catalysts for each to strip away at the veneers hiding individual fears and resentments. Heavy duty some of these confessions may be, but McNally never waits too long before landing a knowing laugh. That one of the wives is a community-theater star provides multiple opportunities for stage references that all can share in. “I prefer her Mame better than Lucille Ball’s,” says the coarse Sam about sister Chloe, and when Chloe asks Sally if she liked her in A Little Night Music, Sally turns a simple “yes” into a hilarious negative that sails straight over Chloe’s head. The comic magic behind that “yes” is delivered by Marie O’Donnell, who finds exquisite depths in her portrayal of the seemingly bland, introverted Sally. Chloe is on the opposite side of the spectrum, a manic diva whose self-aggrandizing chatter provides a buffer against masked insecurities. Sarah Mitchell is a wonderful ball of nattering energy as Chloe, and expertly initiates much of the comedy. As her cynical husband John,

Lois Tema

Cameron Weston, Sarah Mitchell, Michael Sally, and Marie McDonnell play troubled married couples who find a happy moment celebrating Fourth of July fireworks in Lips Together, Teeth Apart at NCTC.

Cameron Weston effectively uses understatement to deliver his tart lines, making more dramatic his inevitable emotional explosion. Michael Sally doesn’t tamp down the broad strokes of rougher-hewn Sam, and what at first might seem like caricature becomes an ingratiating bluntness. Lips Together, Teeth Apart is a complicated play served well by Kuo-Hao Lo’s set and Christian Mejia’s ever-changing lighting design.

Director Dennis Lickteig has pulled it all together with his smart staging and obvious sensitivity to the material. NCTC has long been a champion of McNally’s plays, and this is arguably its finest representation of the playwright yet.▼ Lips Together, Teeth Apart will run at New Conservatory Theatre Center through July 1. Tickets are $25-$45. Call 861-8972 or go to www.nctcsf.org.

Cory Weaver

Baritone Brian Mulligan as Richard Nixon touching down in Peking, in San Francisco Opera’s Nixon in China.

Nixon in China

From page 17

production later pepped things up a bit, but Cavanaugh has surpassed all expectation with seemingly nonstop movement and color. It works well in the first two acts, and he allows the Nixons center stage for their two big arias, but the more meditative Act III gets confused by the debris of busy scenery and suddenly murky lighting. The cast is uniformly excellent though none possess particularly alluring voices. This is one opera where characterization matters more than pretty warbling, and the remarkable power and frequent poignancy of Goodman’s words are further helped by the use of supertitles. The jokes are disconcertingly telegraphed, but the singers ensure their impact. The Nixons are well-cast, with Brian Mulligan especially effective as the startlingly complex president. Soprano Maria Kanyova makes a star turn of Pat’s lengthy aria, “This is Prophetic.” Having her face projected in real time while she sings above her place on the prompter’s box makes the conviction of her acting very affecting. Here is Mother Courage in sensible shoes and a red cloth coat, and we can’t help but like her. Simon O’Neill makes his SFO debut as Mao Tse-tung, managing to make us ignore the wig that makes him look more like Curly of The Three Stooges than the legendary Chairman.

His early scenes with Mulligan are perfectly characterized, and he also puts some teeth into the pithy libretto. Chen-Ye Yuan, also making his debut here, has the plum role of Chou En-lai, and he gives an admirable performance. Unfortunately, he is repeatedly sunk by the director’s incessant stagecraft, and tends to pale by comparison to the other, more extroverted players. This is especially frustrating at the conclusion of the opera, when Chou En-lai gets the final word with a lovely and reflective concluding aria. The characters of Madame Mao and Henry Kissinger are usually portrayed with burlesque vulgarity, but Chou En-lai stands as symbol and enigma throughout the work. Robbing him of his most memorable statement seriously confuses Cavanagh’s vision. As the raucous and notorious Chiang Ch’ing (Madame Mao Tsetung), SFO debutante Hye Jung Lee screeches her way through the crazy coloratura of the role, and is often quite funny, not to mention more than a little scary. Patrick Carfizzi takes the already overly lampooned role of Henry Kissinger and literally runs with it. It isn’t his fault that the authors never made the part more than an extended and sophomoric joke. This is indicative of Cavanagh’s slightly overheated vision. The original charge of Nixon in China was marked by the surprising and sympathetic treatment of the

central characters, with Kissinger and the Madame providing some comic relief. In the current staging, they are allowed to minimize the essential seriousness and introspective qualities of the score. But what a score it remains. Despite unobtrusive body microphones for the principals and some curious imbalances in the pit, with conductor Lawrence Renes giving way too much emphasis in the chug-a-chug Philip Glass-style minimalist moments, Adams’ first opera still sounds fabulous. His score remains entertaining, bold and lovely. Niceties of orchestration and witty and effective musical allusions abound. When Mrs. Nixon mentions the Unknown Soldier, a muted trumpet steals into the orchestral blend; the Redemption motif from Wagner’s Ring is even transformed for a brief appearance. Adams has made a career of writing sympathetically for the human voice, and it is wonderful to hear once more where it all began. Nixon in China is an undeniably seminal American opera. Michael Cavanagh’s vision is a little more glitzy than we may have anticipated, but it still underscores the basic humanity of the work and emphasizes clearly the indestructible strength of a masterpiece.▼ Nixon in China plays at the War Memorial Opera House through July 3. Go to www.sfopera.com.

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Theatre>>

June 14-20, 2012 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 21

Anatomy in the courtroom by Richard Dodds

o decent person, unless a medical professional, should know what a clitoris is. If you do know what it is, clearly you are depraved. That was part of the testimony that Noel Pemberton Billing, a member of the British Parliament, offered in his defense in a libel suit brought against him by exotic dancer Maud Allan. And Maud Allan obviously knew what a clitoris was because it was a Billing-endorsed magazine article titled “The Cult of the Clitoris” that sparked her lawsuit. Billed as “the trial of the century,” it had faded into obscurity long before the century was over. But while Mark Jackson was preparing to director Oscar Wilde’s Salome for Aurora Theatre in 2006, he came across references to Allan and her Wilde-inspired dance Vision of Salome that brought her both international fame and notoriety. And like Wilde, she brought down her own career by suing for libel against a prominent public figure who suggested the plaintiff was homosexual. The more Jackson researched Allan’s career and trial, played out during the first World War, the more intrigued he became by not only its often outrageous details but also about its connections to larger societal issues. When Aurora’s Artistic Director Tom Ross offered Jackson a commission to write a new play, they quickly agreed on the Maud Allan scandal as its basis. The result, Salomania, begins performances this week at the Berkeley theater. “The transcripts from the trials are amazing,” Jackson said, “starting with the complete lack of understanding by every man in the courtroom of the female anatomy. Not even the judge or Maud’s own lawyer recognized the word ‘orgasm.’” But a village doctor had helped define “clitoris” for the gathering. It was an “organ that, when unduly excited ... possessed the most dreadful influence

David Allen

Madeline Brown plays Maud Allan, a notorious dancer in the early 20th century, whose ruin is examined in Mark Jackson’s new play Salomania at Aurora Theatre.

on any woman.” Jackson, who is directing his own play, wasn’t interested in creating a straightforward courtroom drama. “I knew it had to be the meat of it, but part of what was interesting to me was the entire society at the time,” Jackson said. “World War I was a completely unprecedented war, and took away any vestiges of romance about war.” The connections between life in the trenches that Jackson depicts in overlapping scenes from the trial and suggestions of Allan’s diaphanously costumed Salome performances emerged from conspiracy theories promoted by Billing and his col-

leagues. They claimed that Germany had converted tens of thousands of Britons into susceptible homosexuals who undermined the nation’s resolve in prosecuting the war. “A little black book,” Billing averred, held by a German prince in Albania, contained a list of names of the morally compromised that reached to the highest levels in British government. It was the result of German agents “who have infested this country for the past 20 years, agents so vile and spreading such debauchery and such lasciviousness as only German minds can conceive and only German bodies execute.”

Pop cappella by Richard Dodds

aise your hand if you remember the Swingle Singers. Not many raised hands out there, but in the 1960s, they were one epitome of musical cool. Providing both vocals and vocalized accompaniment, their repertoire ranged from Bach to the Beatles. I hadn’t thought in decades about the Swingle Singers (who still exist, if not so coolly) until the Voca People started their show with a cappella segues from “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” to the “Hallelujah” chorus to “Mr. Sandman.” Several other pop tunes get mashed into the opening medley, and while only a snippet of ABBA gets mid-medley applause – curious socio-musical datum – a roar of surprised delight erupted at its end. Unlike the Swingle Singers, made up of carbon-based terrestrials, the Voca People are from another world and look like it. The opening-night audience at Marines’ Memorial Theatre was understandably uncertain about what it was in for, as eight performers with ruby red lips who otherwise look as if they had been dipped in Wite-Out wandered onstage. The troupe is only three years old, conceived in Israel by Lior Kalfo and Shai Fishman, with initial fame coming in Italy because of a YouTube clip, and landing on our continent less than a year ago. But this 90-minute entertainment, goofy yet musically adept, quickly establishes a goodwill vibe in the audience. Ostensibly stranded on Earth when their spaceship runs

Leon Sokoletski

The Voca People are aliens who need human music to fuel their spaceship in the lighthearted entertainment now at Marines’ Memorial Theatre.

out of fuel, the Voca People need music to energize their transport. An audience member is brought to the stage apron, and with a layingon of hands, a mind-meld transmits the world’s entire musical library into these visitors. But earthling behavior remains a stuttering second language, exemplified in the choreography comically suggesting somewhat frantic efforts at replication. The mind-meld is just one of many moments of audience participation, both in group form and in dragooned individual involvement, and the Voca People spend a

good deal of time working from the theater aisles. On opening night at least, those plucked to contribute did so convivially. There is an innocence to the Voca People personae, born of amiability, anonymity, and their own often dithering reactions to the alien environment in which the plot has put them. “Plot” actually needs quote marks, for it is a thin excuse for the group’s impressive vocalizing on a repertoire that would otherwise be inexplicable. The theme from Pink Panther lives alongside Mozart’s Magic Flute, which also shares space with Little Richard’s “Tutti Frutti.” Some of the selections are vocalized instrumentals, some are beat-boxed rhythms, some are strictly vocals, and at times, I admit, I wasn’t sure what they were doing. While the identical costuming and makeup suggest a species without individuality, these creatures do have sexuality. When the male members show too much interest in chosen females in the audience, the women rebel with a medley that puts them on the prowl. It’s a welcome change of pace for a show that is pushing its limits at 90 minutes. The Voca People are happy to be able to go home, and the audience is happy to have made their acquaintance and to bid them a fond farewell.▼ Voca People will run at Marines’ Memorial Theatre through June 17. Tickets are $49-$75. Call 7716900 or go to www.marinesmemorialtheatre.com.

In Jackson’s staging, Madeline H.D. Brown plays Allan, while six other actors do onstage quick changes to play two dozen more characters, ranging from battlefield to courthouse to theater. Even Oscar Wilde, who died in 1900, makes an appearance, as does his onetime lover Alfred Douglas, better known as Bosie, who actually testified against Maud Allan while stating that Wilde was “the greatest force for evil that has appeared in Europe in the past 350 years.” Atop all this intrigue is a local connection that helped further turn the jury against Allan. Raised in San Francisco, she changed her name from Beulah Maude Durrant and moved to Europe after her brother had been found guilty of murdering two women in the Mission District and was executed. This was revealed in a surprise courtroom move that fed into the belief of hereditary depravity. “Her family and the incident with her brother were extremely painful to her, and became the inspiration

for her Salome dance,” Jackson said. “That dance was really about the guilt she felt for her brother and not being there for him. In public life, she was very proper, whereas onstage she’s wearing almost nothing but pearls. The cult of personality she created around herself was based on this dichotomy of a proud person with a very dark secret.” Jackson, whose previous Bay Area productions include The Death of Meyerhold and American $uicide, will next work on an adaptation of Woyzeck with music by Tom Waits for a fall production with Shotgun Players. While his subjects are eclectic, Jackson does have a unifying drive behind his choices. “I like work that needs to be done on the stage and can’t be done anyplace else,” he said. “I want to exploit what only theater can do.” Salomania will run June 15-July 22 at Aurora Theatre. Tickets are $34$48. Call (510) 843-4822 or go to www.auroratheatre.org. ▼

<< Music

22 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 14-20, 2012

▼

They play well with others by Gregg Shapiro

n Supernova (Girlyman.com), their first album since co-founding member Doris Muramatsu overcame cancer, Girlyman, now a queer quartet including drummer JJ Jones (ex-Po’ Girl), sounds healthy and ready to take on the world. Alternately burning brightly and flickering, the 13 songs on Supernova reflect the personal trauma and how they were able to transform the experience into art of a universal nature. Opener “Nothing Left,” written and sung by Nate, sets the tone for the record. Other emotionally powerful and revelatory moments occur on “Break Me Slow,” “Soul of You,” “Long Time Gone,” the twangy “Best I Could,” and the title cut, on which Doris takes the lead. The prolific trio Girl in a Coma, who have released three full-length discs in three years, return with Exits & All the Rest (Blackheart). Sticking with and refining their trademark blistering blues/garage-punk sound, Girl in a Coma rock it out on tracks “One Eyed Fool,” “Cemetery Baby,” and “Control.” GIAC also flirt with a commercial sound on “Smart” and soothe listeners in their distinctive fashion on “Mother’s Lullaby.”

Love at the Bottom of the Sea (Merge) marks the Magnetic Fields’ return to the label for which they made their groundbreaking 1999 three-disc set 69 Love Songs. Stephin Merritt, the Tom Lehrer or Stephen Sondheim of his generation, continues to thrill us with his unique turn of phrase, humorous and serious, on songs such as “God Wants Us to Wait,” “Andrew in Drag,” “Your Girlfriend’s Face,” “I’d Go Anywhere With Hugh,” “Goin’ Back to the Country” (containing the stunning example of wordplay: “I’m gonna fly/back to Laramie/Let Laramie take care of me till they bury me”), “The Horrible Party,” “My Husband’s Pied-a-Terre” and “All She Cares About is Mariachi.” It’s no 69 Love Songs, but Love at the Bottom of the Sea isn’t all wet either. Brit-folk band the Unthanks may be straight, but they have excellent taste when it comes to queer music. On Diversions Vol. 1: The Songs of Robert Wyatt and Antony & the Johnsons (Rough Trade), six of the 15 tracks are their interpretations of songs by Antony Hegarty. In the Unthanks’ capable hands with lead vocals by sisters Rachel and Becky Unthank, songs such as “You Are My Sister,” “Today I Am a Boy” and “Paddy’s Gone” make

the smooth transition to cover tunes. The Unthanks’ “go out and buy the originals” message also earns them a sizable dose of respect. In April, queer Brooklyn quartet the Shondes got an unexpected boost when their song “Are You Ready?” from their disc Searchlights (Exotic Fever) earned a plug from Entertainment Weekly in the mag’s Singles Swap column. They have a knack for writing songs as catchy as the ones that put the Gossip on the map, including the title cut and “Give Me What You’ve Got,” “Ocean to Ocean” (which sounds like Sleater-Kinney with strings) and “Coney Island Tonight.” Dragapella foursome The Kinsey Sicks is to smart and sassy parody lyrics what the Magnetic Fields and Stephin Merritt are to originals. The election-themed Electile Dysfunction (kinseysicks.com) couldn’t have come at a better time, what with everyone’s minds on the Presidential race. “Peoria” (to the tune of “Gloria”), “T’aint It Love?” (to the tune of “Tainted Love”), “Yahweh” (to the tune of “My Way”), “Toucha Touch Me (TSA Security)” (to the tune of “Touch-A, Touch-A, Touch Me”), “Love Child: Politician Edition” (to the tune of “Love Child”), “I Will Watch YouTube” (to the tune of “Every Breath You Take”) and “Bedroom Ants” (to the tune of “Bad Romance”) rank among the Kinseys’ finest and funniest work. Brava, divas! Brazilian dance act CSS provides one of the best soundtracks for your 2012 Pride party with La Liberacíon

(V2/Downtown). You and your guests will have no trouble shaking your LGBT booties to cuts such as “I Love You,” “City Grrrl,” the funky “Red Alert” and “You Could Have It All” (the disc’s best track), all the while nodding your heads to the songs’ queer and feminist empowerment messages. Landing somewhere between lesbian duos the Ditty Bops and the Indigo Girls, San Diego-based bandmates and soulmates the Lovebirds (Lindsay White and Veronica May) are as comfortable covering Snoop Dogg’s hip-hop (“Beautiful”) as they are Jimmie Davis’ old-time gospel (“This is Just What Heaven Means to Me”). In-between on their debut disc Nutsy Pants (thelovebirdsmusic.com) they demonstrate that they are equally adept at creating memorable original tunes, including “Love is All it Takes,” “Victim and the Villain” and “Love Letters.” The Bay Area’s folk-pop foursome Blame Sally continues to impress with Speeding Ticket and a Valentine (Ninth Street/Opus). The combination of exceptional musicianship, revolving lead vocalists and appealing songwriting makes this 10-track disc

a standout. “Living Without You,” from which the disc’s title is taken, exemplifies those qualities. Other highlights include “Big Big Bed” and “Wide Open Spaces.” Queer punk trio G.U.T.S. will knock the wind out of you (in a good way!) on their seven-song EP It Takes Guts! (tiik.com). An undeniable Patti Smith influence can be felt throughout the disc, most notably in lead singer Tiik Pollet’s amazing vocal performance style. “SuperSHE,” the bluesy “If U Don’t Like Livin’” and the brilliant “Kissed a Girl” are among the standouts. Be sure to say hello to Hi Tiger and their indescribable debut album i love music (hitigermusic.com). More theatrical than any of the other bands mentioned here, Hi Tiger occupies a space where spoken word (“Nukes”), hard-hitting punk (“Hey Dan”), dance-floor acrobatics (“20 Minutes”), experimentation (“The Feed”) and drama queen techniques co-exist on the prowl for an open-minded audience. Queer duo Hi-Fashion lives up to the claim of their song “Amazing!” on their six-track EP Sprechen Sie HiFashion? (theworldofhifashion.com). In addition to addressing the subject of sexuality on “Amazing!”, Hi-Fashion raps about style and glamour on “You Tuk My Luk,” being mistaken for someone else on “I’m Not Madonna,” and the right to dance it out on “Rumble.”▼

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Read more online at www.ebar.com

June 14-20, 2012 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 23

Books>>

My hero by Jim Piechota The Harvey Milk Interviews: In His Own Words, edited by Vince Emery; Vince Emery Productions, $31.95

conic, unrivaled gay rights activist Harvey Bernard Milk (1930-78) certainly needs no introduction, but a new book compiling 39 verbatim interviews deserves the red carpet treatment for anyone interested in absorbing unrehearsed, unfettered text in Milk’s own words. Collected by Vince Emery, a talented Bay Area editor who spent three years amassing (and obtaining the reproduction rights to) these interviews, the conversations begin in 1973, when Milk first ran for a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors (and lost, twice), and conclude with a final 39th interview printed in the December issue of the Noe Valley Voice in 1978, finding the politician “ebullient and talkative” at the Café San Marcos on Market Street, just a few scant weeks prior to his assassination.

Studded with photographs and front-page stills that further enhance Milk’s testimony, the book chronologically tells the emotional history of this unforgettable, one-of-a-kind gay advocate. In seven distinctive parts, Emery capitalizes on the fact that many of these interviews have never before been published, and the ones that have righteously merit repeated publication. Milk’s message is a strong one, and throughout these conversations his personality shines and often bubbles over with enthusiasm. Part Three, based in 1976, finds the unsuspecting Castro Street camera merchant appointed by Mayor George Moscone to the San Francisco Board of Permit Appeals, and commenting that his agenda was “to build bridges between the different communities. Sometimes the bridges are shaky, but they’re bridges that didn’t exist before.” After Milk was tersely dismissed from that position for his decision to

run against Art Agnos for State Assemblyman, Wayne Friday of the Bay Area Reporter caught up with Milk, who, while fully infused with political momentum, seemed to show no signs of slowing down. He commented that his shop, which became his political headquarters, was where the “magic takes over,” and reiterated to Friday

tthe significance and importance, tto the San Francisco homosexual ccommunity, of having a gay persson in political office. Emery includes a cavalcade o of intensive, eye-opening intervviews from esteemed publicattions like The Advocate, The New Y York Times Magazine, The San F Francisco Chronicle (where Milk w was featured in a lengthy, ramb bling late-night conversation with ccrime reporter Paul Avery), and B Boston’s Gay Community News (w (which reprinted a radio interview w where the outspoken Milk lashes o out about political alliances, “We d don’t need ‘friends’ to help the ggay movement. We can do it ourse selves.”) But it’s in the pages of San Francisco State University’s Zenger’s newspaper where Milk offers one of the book’s most beautifully nostalgic moments: an audacious, bird’s-eye tour of San Francisco gay life in the zesty late 1970s, where “most gays realize that you want to sleep with other people, so why hide it?” Perhaps the most intensive proof

of Milk’s drive and determination can be found in transcribed excerpts of debates held with then-California State Senator John Briggs in 1978. Briggs was the man behind the hateful Proposition 6, which, had it passed, would have banned gay teachers from all California schools. The fiery volley between Milk and Briggs is amazing to read and shows Milk as a hardheaded, quick-tempered defender of gay rights and human freedoms in general. With this edifying work, the author implores everyone to read and absorb Milk’s important message and to admire his tireless efforts, but also to react in the here and now, because Harvey Milk’s fight for gay freedoms is still being fought today. “This book is for us,” he writes. Don’t forget to remember our amazingly passionate hero, Harvey Milk. ▼

Screen actress Kim Novak.

Novak, “Marina darling, I see you not only kept your gorgeous figure, but added so much to it.” The cast included Rock Hudson, Tony Curtis, and Angela Lansbury as Miss Marple, but it wasn’t a hit. From 1986-89, however, she had a recurring role on television’s popular wine-country soap opera Falcon’s Crest, starring Jane Wyman. Her first marriage to actor Richard Johnson ended in a bitter divorce after little more than a year.

She moved to Carmel and dedicated herself to raising animals. In 1976, she married Dr. Robert Malloy, a union that has endured. They live in Oregon, raising horses and llamas. Novak was one of the final products of the classic Hollywood studio system. After a superb start, Columbia failed to use her properly. Fortunately, Picnic, Vertigo, and Bell, Book and Candle remind audiences of her luminous, sensuous, mysterious warmth.▼

Local authors, poets, editors and political activists will read from The Harvey Milk Interviews on Tues., June 19, 6 p.m. at the HRC Store at 575 Castro St.

Film>>

Enigmatic blonde by Tavo Amador

ess self-consciously seductive than Marilyn Monroe, not as patrician as Grace Kelly or as cheerful as Doris Day, beautiful Kim Novak was, for a time in the 1950s, their equally blonde rival in acclaim and popularity. Born (1933) Marilyn Novak in Chicago, she will make a rare public appearance to accept the San Francisco Cinematic Icon Award from Standing Ovations at a June 14 gala held at the Old Mint. After modeling as a teenager, she moved to Los Angeles, became Miss Deep Freeze for a refrigerator company, and landed an uncredited bit in The French Line (1953), starring Jane Russell. A talent scout got her a Columbia Studios screen test, a contract, a small role in Pushover, a minor noir starring Fred MacMurray, then a better part in Phiffft (54), a Judy Holiday-Jack Lemmon comedy. She had the lead opposite gorgeous Guy Madison in a B thriller, Five Against the House, then exploded to stardom in gay playwright William Inge’s Picnic (55), directed by Joshua Logan and starring a virile William Holden. As Madge, a small-town beauty, she triumphed in a role created on Broadway by Janice Rule. Tired of just being “pretty,” Madge longs for more than a dull marriage and children. Novak’s chemistry with Holden’s sexually charged drifter was potent. Their dance to “Moonglow” created an erotic sensation. Critics raved, and audiences crowded theatres. Columbia extended her contract and built her up. She scored again with Frank Sinatra and Eleanor Parker in Otto Preminger’s The Man with the Golden Arm (55), a graphic study of addiction, another smash. By the end of the year, she was among the top 10 box-office stars. She had little to do but looked stunning opposite Tyrone Power in The Eddie Duchin Story (56), a big hit, as the famed society bandleader’s wife. She was even more beautiful as Jeanne Eagles, based on the life of the celebrated stage star of the 1920s who died young from drugs and alcohol. Unfortunately, she was woefully miscast in the successful Pal Joey (57), filmed in San Francisco, and billed after Rita Hayworth and Sinatra, both at their best. It was Hayworth’s last for Columbia, and Novak replaced her as Queen of the Lot. Critics, however, carped. When pregnancy cost Vera Miles

the lead in Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo, Novak landed her best-remembered part. As the object of schizophrenic San Francisco detective James Stewart’s obsession, she played two roles. Filled with extraordinary location shots of Nob Hill, the long-gone Ernie’s Restaurant on Montgomery St., and the Golden Gate Bridge, the movie did well, but critical opinion was divided, both about it and her. Today, it ranks among Hitchcock’s finest. Critic/historian David Thomson hails her acting in it as “one of the major female performances in the cinema,” praising her directness. She was delicious in John Von Druten’s Bell, Book, and Candle (58) as a modern witch living in Greenwich Village who seduces Stewart, with unforeseen but delightful consequences. She was touching in Middle of the Night (59) as a divorcee in love with her much older workaholic boss (Frederic March), but the film flopped. She was good again as a suburban adulteress opposite Kirk Douglas in Strangers When We Meet (60), which didn’t ignite the box-office. Concerned, Columbia put her in two comedies, The Notorious Landlady with Lemmon and Fred Astaire, set in London with Novak unconvincing as a Cockney. In Boys Night Out (62), she was a sociology student researching the habits of middle-aged suburban men, single and married. Neither did well. She and the studio parted. She unwisely played Mildred in the third version of gay Somerset Maugham’s Of Human Bondage (costar Laurence Harvey was no help), and was trapped in Billy Wilder’s widely panned sex comedy, Kiss Me, Stupid (64), with Dean Martin. She lacked the necessary vulgarity for The Adventures of Moll Flanders (65), another flop, and was off the screen until Robert Aldrich made her The Legend of Lylah Clare (68), in which Peter Finch hires an unknown to portray a great, dead movie star. The film has hints of lesbianism, but reviews were poor and it failed, as did a comedy set in the Wild West, The Great Train Robbery (69), with Zero Mostel, billed first. She worked on television, then returned for the bizarre David Bowie vehicle Just a Gigolo (78), which featured Marlene Dietrich’s last screen appearance. In Agatha Christie’s The Mirror Crack’d (80), she and Elizabeth Taylor had fun as aging, rival movie queens spouting bitchy lines. Quips

Read more online at www.ebar.com

June 14-20, 2012 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 29

Books >>

Imperial teens by Jim Provenzano In One Person by John Irving; Simon and Schuster, $28 hardback King of Angels by Perry Brass; Belhue Press, $18 paperback

he recent rash of questionable memoirs that included a bit too much fiction reduces the idea of a “true” account to the debatable. Leave it to two rich memoir-esque novels to further the cause of inner truth and a search for identity by combining realistic stories with religious allegory and a Bardian repertory. Both prolific Perry Brass, a pinnacle of independent publishing, and John Irving, a major bestseller, have set their new novels in towns not unlike those of their own upbringing. Brass, from Savannah, Georgia, writes of 12-year-old Benjamin Rothberg, who’s moved to Savannah with his tender yet troubled mother and absent father at the moment of his awareness of being attracted to boys his age. Irving’s New England private school upbringing, like that of the fictional Garp and his nurse mother, returns us to a similar small school, where a young teenage Billy Abbott, like Benjamin, guards a precocious sexual curiosity.

While Brass’ rich descriptions verge on poetic, they remain specific to emotions and action. With Irving’s narrator, a 70-year-old Abbott, we’re more removed from the situation. But details are rich. Brass describes each sexual encounter as a journey between Benjamin and a series of flirtatious and duplicitous Catholic boys at the school, where, being Jewish, he’s more than differently treated. He’s bullied by a trio of boys until he fights back. That only sharpens his foes’ determination. The school life, a calamitous bar mitzvah, and a nearly gothic summer camp section, each build with a humid tension. Irving’s tale retains a comparative lack of melodrama as Abbott tumbles between fetishizing his friend Elaine’s training bra, to the two of them conspiring to figure out the desires of Jacques Kittredge, the ominously clever and gorgeous wrestler. Through Billy’s youth, community theatre draws his family, including grizzled lumber workers who don petticoats for Shakespeare and other classics. Wrestling and transgendered mentor/lovers, prominent in The World

According to Garp, return to Irving’s ensemble, yet from a different perspective. Compulsive water-spitting lightweights, and even the handsome Jacques, cross paths with Billy and his family in the play productions. But while a story of sexual exploration, there’s something a bit passionless to In One Person. Gender and masculine roles, both amorous, curious, and passionate, shift

tthrough Billy’s life, from his aattraction to a stern yet buxom llibrarian (who has the worstkkept gender secret in town) to tthe eventual fate of his friends aand lovers. There are parts tthat seem simply realistic, not o over- or under-played, which is w what makes the story so engagiing. But in between his many aaffairs, the span of his one gay m male relationship, with schoolm mate Arthur, is marred by its b brevity. Compared to Billy and E Elaine’s years-long obsession w with Jacques Kittredge, it at first sseems like an afterthought. The passage of time through V Vietnam and the onslaught of th the AIDS crisis are handled in su successive waves through Abb bott’s life story. Arthur’s traged edy, foretold several times in the b book, is preceded by their trip to Paris, where Arthur’s revulsion for Madame Bovary, which Arthur nevertheless demands Billy read to him, turns their garret-dreary summer from a honeymoon into a divorce. While not a family saga, Brass’ story builds to one moment of Benjamin’s youth. Brass’ florid allegory, albeit written in an almost flat syntax, deftly portrays the voice of an awkward teenage narrator. A pivotal

tragedy in King of Angels serves as both symbolic, surprising and inevitable. With his singular experience as “the other,” Benjamin finds his own identity, and defies the steeping hypocrisy of his Catholic instructors. The additional family drama plays out to add to Benjamin’s stress, leading to an epiphany moment, conveniently during a school Nativity pageant. In Irving’s book, theatrical spectacle also weaves through the engagingly written family and theatre scenes. All seems well. But in later productions, when aging crossdressing grandparents become passé and affairs become known, the play of the season reflects metaphorically on the family’s, and Billy’s story. We know this because the narrator explains it to us, cleverly. That’s the difference. Brass crystallizes small moments to stir passion. While Irving straddles a century of queer-dabbling well beyond a Kinsey scale, he tells of it in a remote tone, a level of presentation beyond the theatricals. He plays many people, none contented. The abrupt last chapter, an esprit d’escalier, set on the steps of a theatre, finds the elder Abbott still pronouncing his uncategorizable nature to an ironically met teenager. He is angry, resolute, and finally passionate.▼

Frameline

Scene from Stephen Cone’s serious ensemble piece The Wise Kids.

Frameline

Scene from writer/director Ira Sachs’ Keep the Lights On: a doomed alliance.

Frameline 36

From page 17

and watching what was going on. It didn’t do anything but scare me. I just thought these were bunch of crazy queens and they were going to get us all into a lot of trouble. None of this struck me in any way as political.” A young Argentine-born patron, fearing deportation, jumped from a window in the raided Snake Pit bar, and was impaled on a spike fence. “He was critical for three weeks, and somebody handed me a leaflet outside St. Vincent’s Hospital: ‘No matter how you look at it, Diego Vinales was pushed.’ It was the first time I made a political connection to what was happening to gay people, that in fact he was pushed by society.” (Castro, 6/14, opening night) North Sea Texas The Belgian “New Wave” continues to lap up onto our screens. Writer/director Bavo Defurne reworks the classic coming-of-age tale to reveal the cruel fate of a young boy, in an isolated seacoast community in the early 70s, who finds his true love at 15, only to have it ripped away by the fickle fate of his older chum’s belief that he has outgrown their backyard wrestling. Pim (Ben Van den Heuvel, as the younger boy, morphs into the gorgeous teen Jelle Florizo-

one) spends much of his spare time caught up in crossdressing reveries involving his absent mom’s wardrobe and jewelry. Defurne’s sumptuously photographed setting resembles some seaside Oz. Particularly striking is the Texas roadhouse bar from which the film derives its geographically paradoxical title. (Castro, 6/15) Keep the Lights On This story about a doomed alliance between a documentary filmmaker (Thure Lindhart) and a literary lawyer plagued by substance abuse (Zachary Booth) will spark intense feelings among gay men who feel at sea in a dating pool swamped by addiction issues. Writer/director Ira Sachs has wisely chosen to tell the nine-year affair from the point of view of the filmmaker Eric (Lindhart), although those in the recovery community may feel this unfairly stacks the deck against those, like Paul, for whom recovery is a lifetime journey. In a statement made during the film’s Sundance debut, Sachs acknowledged the story’s autobiographical origins. “I was in a relationship for 10 years in NYC, and on the day it was over I knew it was a story, there was a way to tell it that was different than other things I’ve seen out there. The two actors both give everything of themselves to these two roles. It’s a

very sexual performance, there’s nudity and an emotional nakedness that is really what’s exciting to me as a filmmaker.” (Castro, 6/20) Citizen Change “We wanted [power in] the left-wing Berkeley Citizens Action. There was no thought of [LGBT] people, and when I first proposed there be at least one openly gay person, old-time lefties said, ‘Oh, gay people represent 1/10th of 1% of the population, and are insignificant.’” Ex-student activist Leland Traiman recalls the bitter sectarian fights to secure the forerunner to gay marriage, domestic partners. James Chambers’ intimate oral history provides a detailed rebuttal to SF cynics who picture Berkeley LGBT activism in the New Age mantras of the Pacific “Passivity” Center. Gracefully aging East Bay activists celebrate days and nights promoting queer visibility in fabled venues like Oakland’s White Horse Tavern. (in Dearly Beloved program, Roxie, 6/20) Face 2 Face “Hello, is this Mary Lynne? This is your Facebook friend, Kat Brooks.” For Facebook fans, reality-TV queen Katherine Brooks’ search for 50 true friends she could visit for a day and bitch-slap into a new movie may seem the fulfillment of a Mark Zuckerberg wet dream. For the rest of us, this movie is a nightmare, conjur-

ing up visions of a nation of abominable entertainers, each hosting their own little show. Fans of her Wikipedia resume know the Baton Rouge native’s saga: Hollywood or bust, complete with living in her car until she got fast-tracked as an MTV diva director. In the movie’s hard-sell prologue we meet a newly humbled Brooks, fresh out the hospital and seemingly friendless. “I was sitting there on Facebook thinking, ‘How can I have 5,000 friends, and not one person has come to see me?’” Her solution was to post an SOS invite, which was quickly oversubscribed. Armed with Xanax and cigarettes and cursing her female-voiced GPS, Brooks arrives at the Grand Rapids, MI digs of “friend” Mary Lynne, a smiley soul caring for her friend Ilene, a terminal lung-cancer patient. “I promised Ilene she would not lie there in the hospital, and that I would be the last thing she sees.” (Castro, 6/19) The Wise Kids The photo in your Frameline guide shows a high school senior at the beach. What the photo doesn’t reveal is that Tim (Tyler Ross) has just received a mortifying rebuke from his brother, Braxton (Braxton Williams). What could be the beginning of an adult lifetime of estrangement for these siblings is jump-started when their loving dad confirms the 13-year-old’s suspicions about his bro, headed for New York film school. Stephen Cone’s serious ensemble piece, inspired by a real-life Charleston, SC church youth group, tracks the centrifugal forces unleashed when a church’s “good school citizen,”

its brightest, sweetest skinny young man, allows his heart to pull him off his faith. The earnest Laura (Allison Torem) starts to press Tim hard. “So, are you really?” “I think so. How do you feel about that?” “Well, I double-checked, and it’s definitely a sin, definitely wrong. I can send you the verses if you like.” “Hey, I’m still totally a believer in Christ. I’m still definitely a Christian, but I’ve just really got to pray about it.” “You should really get help, because you can’t be both. That’s like a paradox!” The minister’s daughter, Brea (Molly Kunz), returns home late from a queer-friendly club to discover dad asleep in his chair clutching his Carl Sagan; a sexually frustrated church woman resists confronting her closeted choir-teacher hubby; the teacher puts a hunky straight boy up on a cross; and Tim will mouth the words “He’s hot” to Brea as they rehearse the annual Nativity play. The Wise Kids straddles the uneasy divide between love and faith. (Castro, 6/16; Elmwood, 6/21) Shabbat Dinner In Michael Morgenstern’s observant short, it’s Oct. 1, 1999, and a mainstream Gotham family is entertaining an aspiring rabbi, his pregnant wife and their soccerplaying son Virgo. To the Shores, the Bernstein-Cohens are practically hippies, but as the liquor flows, the adults swap tips on how to keep their sons from marrying out of the faith. EmSee page 30 >>

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Scene from filmmaker Terracino’s Elliot Loves.

Frameline 36

From page 29

barrassed by his dad’s macho posturing, William (Chris London) ushers Virgo (Dan Shaked) into his Spartan bedroom, and the boys amuse themselves with a Morse code set. Suddenly, Virgo sends an SOS. “I’m gay.” “Why did you tell me?” “It felt good to say it.” “You hooked up with a guy? What did you do?” “Stuff.” “Have you told your parents?” “My mom cried, but she’s pretty crazy. My dad said God creates everyone equally.” “I don’t think I would have the balls to say it if I was.” Morgenstern and cinematographer Kris Layng’s handheld camera get uncomfortably close as the adults get drunk and argumentative, and William and Virgo get down. Gerardo Giraldo’s jazz score syncs with the camera’s jumpcut syntax to underline the nervous thrust and parry before a first jittery boy kiss. As a tipsy mom coos, “I hope Virgo rubs off on William,” in the bedroom William whispers, “Look man, I’m not gay,” and after another kiss, “Write down your number.” (Fun in Boy Shorts, Castro, 6/16, 24) My Best Day Erin Greenwell’s small-town slice of dyke mumblecore kicks off in a rundown refrigeration business. It’s the 4th of July, and the gal on duty gets an emergency call from a dude who seems suspiciously like her long-missing dad. Karen and her buddy Megan (Ashlie Atkinson) head out to discover an unplugged fridge and a house full of eccentric menfolk: dad’s 20something boyfriend, a stepbrother, a kleptomaniac sister, and dad himself. Whether your taste for hick weird runs to TV’s Northern Exposure or Napoleon Dynamite, you’ll get a hoot out of this hyperbolic spoof long before the climactic fireworks. (Castro, 6/20; Elmwood, 6/19) Fourplay Anthologies are a tricky call, and this one from Kyle Henry proves the rule. Skokie, Austin, Tampa, San Francisco: each of these bergs is assigned a specific kink. Gail is a jolly, middle-aged closeted lesbian who has an innocent crush on a married lady, Marcy. Given the keys to Marcy’s kingdom when she decamps on vacation, Gail finds herself time-sharing with an overly affectionate pooch. This black-comedy segment doubles down on what normally would be way too much information. In my Texas heyday, big-city adult bookstores functioned like queerboy U-Totems. 2012: a 30something straight couple gets to prowl the aisles and make a baby under the most improbable circumstances. A Tampa mall food-court restroom becomes the sticky gathering spot for boys of all sizes, ages, and urges. The attempt to mix humor and upchuck sex is, at best, a mixed bag. Just when you’re ready to flush, director Henry pulls off a moving and sexy segment between a cross-dressing rent boy and an elderly man tied to a respirator who has to signal his consent by blinking. (Roxie, 6/17) Elliot Loves The peripatetic adventures of a lovesick 21-year-old Dominican-American begin in flashback, as a nine-year-old, TV-raised kid breaks the fourth wall with a spoof of his mom’s favorite shampoo ad. Mom uses a break in The Price Is Right to

shout through a bathroom door at her precocious little monster. One of the tricks filmmaker Terracino pulls off, ping-ponging between Elliot as a man and as a man/child, is to show that even the smartest kids don’t necessarily mature as they age. Because his kid self is the man of the house, we mourn the social smarts that adult Elliot loses as he dumbs himself down for the queer-bar dating game. Terracino makes flashy use of parallel story structure to give us an Hispanic American queer-boy hero who finally transcends his ghetto-bound mom’s soap opera fantasies. (Victoria, 6/18; Elmwood, 6/20) I Do English-born gay boy Jack (writer David W. Ross) is in limbo for lack of a green card. In Glenn Gaylord’s compelling new queer family drama, Jack is stretched thin caring for his sister-in-law Mya (Alicia Witt), his young niece, his young fuck-buddy and an arranged marriage to his photo assistant, Ali (The Sopranos’ Jamie-Lynn Sigler). True love arrives in the form of Spanish hottie Mano (Maurice Compte). You’ll want to be at this sneak-preview screening to see if and how Jack retains his sanity, and on which continent. (Victoria, 6/15) Prora We first spy Swiss director Stephane Reithauser’s unlikely couple in a setting that combines breathtaking views with the terrible scars of history. Two beautiful lads, the German-speaking blond romantic Jan (Tom Gramenz) and cheeky French boy Matthieu (Swen Gippa), are on an all-night toot, feeling no pain. They walk on a deserted Baltic Sea beach by abandoned towers built as Nazi hideaways, later housing Stalin’s army. The ghostly towers cast a spell on Matthieu; Jan isn’t buying in. Reithauser’s provocation (there will be blood) connects the dots between the Weimer era and today’s partydown Euro youth. Director of photography Marcus Winterbauer lenses this intimate epic with aerial shots interspersed with languorous seminudity. (With:) Slow In Darius Clark Monroe’s absurdist reenactment of an on-line hookup, a young African American man snaps pasta in half before dropping it in a pot of boiling water. With dialogue that pops like vintage Tarantino, Carlton Byrd and Harvey Gardner Moore are so good as the year’s most out-of-kilter first date. Monroe’s synchronicity with his actors gives Slow resonance well beyond any obvious targets: the ironic meanings of the down-low, digital dating, comfort food, and the cliché that opposites attract. (both: Battlefield shorts program, Castro, 6/15) Coffee & Pie In the land of misguided love, there are several sad places: unrequited, non-reciprocal, and the crummy diner your beloved chooses to drop the “we’re now officially over” F-bomb. In Douglas Horn’s morose but witty diner comedy (writer: Andrew Stoneham), a young lady with thick glasses and a deceptively slow way of getting to the point meets her lover, a sarcastic Ann Coulter wannabe, who pulls the plug. A character devours everything on her plate, possibly including a no-longerex-girlfriend. (Fun in Girl Shorts, Castro, 6/16, 24)▼ www.frameline.org

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