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Tom Goss
ARTS
‘Ken Jesus’ takes crown
Bummer: No 420 day
ARTS
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John-Andrew Morrison
The
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Serving the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer communities since 1971
Vol. 54 • No. 14 • April 4-10, 2024
Milk naval ship makes maiden voyage to San Francisco Robert “Bobby” DeTulio
From Facebook
Gay former SF resident killed in Palm Springs
Former San Francisco supervisor and current BART board President Bevan Dufty stood on the deck of the USNS Harvey Milk during a tour March 28.
by John Ferrannini
A
gay former San Francisco resident was killed in Palm Springs late Sunday, March 24, in what investigators said was a case of domestic violence. The Riverside County Coroner’s Bureau confirmed to the Bay Area Reporter on March 27 that Robert “Bobby” DeTulio, 68, had been apparently stabbed when he was discovered by Palm Springs police in the 500 block of Tiki Drive. DeTulio was transported to the hospital, where he later died. The Desert Sun reported March 25 that Evan Steele, 22, was arrested on suspicion of homicide after a 105-minute search that involved a sheriff ’s helicopter. Eyewitnesses heard an altercation and saw someone flee before the helicopter was deployed, police stated. “Eyewitnesses, including a vigilant neighbor, reported hearing an altercation and observing the suspect fleeing from the premises,” according to a statement. “Based on this information, PSPD officers, in collaboration with Riverside Sheriff ’s Office Star 9, combed the vicinity for the suspect.” Steele pleaded not guilty March 27 to murder, burglary and a sentence-enhancing charge of using a weapon in the commission of a felony. His next hearing is April 8. The Desert Sun reported that the two men are believed to have been romantically involved. Steele is being held without bail in Riverside County Jail in Indio. The Riverside County District Attorney’s and Public Defender’s offices did not return requests for comment. Lisa Middleton, a transgender woman who’s a member of the Palm Springs City Council and served as mayor from 20212022, stated that she did not know DeTulio. “The mobile home park where he was killed is in my district,” stated Middleton, who is running for a state Senate seat in November. “It is a lovely park with many wonderful people. They have held a vigil for the park residents. The population of the park is significantly LGBTQ. “This is a very tragic, terrible death. I do not want to speculate on what went wrong,” she added. See page 10 >>
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by Matthew S. Bajko
T
he Navy’s USNS Harvey Milk (T-AO 206) made its maiden voyage Thursday through the Golden Gate and sailed into San Francisco Bay 28 months after being christened in the San Diego
shipyard where it was built. It docked at Pier 30/32 at the Port of San Francisco and sets sail Saturday for its homeport in Norfolk, Virginia. Helming a ship under the Golden Gate Bridge for the first time was Captain James J. White, who served in the Navy three years on
active duty and has spent more than three decades as a Military Sealift Command civilian mariner. This is his first time back in the Bay Area since he came through Oakland during his time in the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy. See page 10 >> Matthew S. Bajko
SF supes begin process to landmark Castro flag by John Ferrannini
S
an Francisco supervisors agreed Tuesday to kickstart the process to grant local landmark status to one of the city’s most recognizable LGBTQ tourist attractions, the giant rainbow flag flying above the Castro Muni station. The Board of Supervisors approved a resolution at its April 2 meeting that asks planning and historic preservation officials to take up the proposal to landmark the rainbow flag installation, which consists of the oversized flag and its flagpole at Harvey Milk Plaza. The public parklet built atop the transit station is located at Market and Castro streets in the city’s LGBTQ neighborhood. Gay District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, who represents the Castro, had introduced the resolution March 26. It requests that the planning department “prepare a landmark designation report to submit to the Historic Preservation Commission for its consideration of the full historical, architectural, aesthetic, and cultural interest and value of Gilbert Baker’s Rainbow Flag installation at Harvey Milk Plaza,” it states. The resolution requests “that the Historic Preservation Commission consider whether Gilbert Baker’s Rainbow Flag installation at Harvey Milk Plaza warrants landmark designation and submit its recommendation to the board according to Article 10 of the Planning Code.” Per the city’s landmark
Rick Gerharter
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors has approved a resolution to begin the process of landmarking the oversized rainbow flag and flagpole at Castro and Market streets.
designation rules, a majority of the 11 supervisors would need to adopt an ordinance to officially add the flagpole to the list of local landmarks. Mandelman’s office told the Bay Area Reporter that the resolution only begins the landmarking process. The clerk will now refer the matter to the historic preservation commission, which will hear the request. At that hearing, the HPC will make a recommendation and an ordinance will be introduced at the board of supervisors after the language has been worked on by the city attorney’s office and the planning department. “In 1978, at the request of Harvey Milk, his
friend Gilbert Baker designed an eight-stripe rainbow flag as an image of pride for the queer community,” Mandelman explained to his board colleagues at last week’s meeting. “The flag was first revealed at the 1978 Gay Freedom Day Parade in San Francisco. Color shortages necessitated the removal of the pink and turquoise stripes from subsequent flags and the blue was changed to a different shade. The updated 1979 Gilbert Baker rainbow flag includes six colors and has since become an iconic, internationally recognized representation of freedom, equality and LGBTQ+ pride.” There’s a bit more to the backstory. As the B.A.R. previously reported, Baker co-created the flag with friends Lynn Segerblom, a straight ally who now lives in Southern California, and James McNamara, a gay man who died of AIDS-related complications in 1999. Baker came up with a rainbow flag design that had eight colored stripes, with one version also sporting a corner section of stars to mimic the design of the American flag. Baker would go on to eliminate the stars and reduce the number of colored stripes to six. “It really is a three person, not a one person, flag making. Everybody played their part and then some,” Segerblom told the B.A.R. in a 2018 phone interview from her home in Torrance, southwest of Los Angeles. See page 10 >>
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