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Vol. 53 • No. 34 • August 24-30, 2023
Silicon Valley Pride is ready to shine Courtesy Law Offices Mayor Joseph L Alioto and Angela Alioto
San Francisco Fire Department Rescue Captain Ronnie Jones has settled his discrimination case with the city.
One of 3 SFFD LGBTQ bias cases settles
See page 12 >>
by Heather Cassell
S
ilicon Valley Pride is ready to shine in the South Bay this weekend. Festivities culminate with the Pride parade marching down Market Street to the celebration at Plaza de Cesar Chavez Park in the heart of San Jose Sunday, August 27.
Silicon Valley Pride organizers anticipate about 15,000 Pridegoers will fill the heart of Silicon Valley throughout Pride weekend to “Live Out Proud,” which is this year’s theme. Nicole Altamirano, chief executive officer of the Gay PRIDE Celebration Committee of San Jose, which produces Silicon Valley Pride, said the theme takes her “back to the root of what
Pride was and what Pride is.” “Pride was started not out of a need to celebrate being LGBTQ+. Pride was started out of the need to live authentically, with freedom from persecution and judgment, and harassment and penalty,” Altamirano, a 41-year-old lesbian, said, pointing to the record number of anti-LGBTQ bills in state legislatures across the United States.
Courtesy Silicon Valley Pride
T
he Black transgender San Francisco Fire Department paramedic who filed a discrimination suit against the city alleging discrimination, harassment, and retaliation has settled the case. Two other discrimination cases filed against the city by out fire personnel remain pending. The Board of Supervisors voted to approve a $149,000 settlement in the case of Ronnie Jones v. the City and County of San Francisco on May 9. San Francisco City Attorney spokesperson Jen Kwart stated to the Bay Area Reporter August 16, “We believe the settlement approved by the Board of Supervisors is an appropriate resolution given the inherent costs of continued litigation.” Angela Alioto, Jones’ attorney and a former Board of Supervisors president, told the B.A.R. she “can’t discuss” the Jones case because the terms of the settlement, other than the dollar amount, are confidential. Jones could not be reached for comment. The B.A.R. first reported on the suit in February 2021. Jones has worked for the SFFD since 2006 and came out as transgender in 2015. After that things weren’t the same, Alioto previously said. For example, according to the initial complaint, Jones was told to switch to using the men’s locker room and other facilities at the station – but without the other people who work there being informed of the transition, which created confusion and discomfort. “Mr. Jones expressed his concerns with being put into a situation where he would just show up one day and walk into the men’s locker room after using the women’s locker room for the preceding 11 years,” the complaint states. “Mr. [John] Christy [of EMS leadership] agreed that the concerns were valid but was clear that [the department of human resources] refused to allow or sanction a communication to the members of Station 49.” Jones faced critical comments from co-workers after moving his locker at the station, located near the city’s produce market in the Bayview. For example, one stated, “Oh, fuck this shit. Now she has a locker in here now.” According to the complaint, another co-
Pride marchers filled the streets of San Jose for Silicon Valley Pride.
See page 2 >>
Gay San Jose Councilmember Torres ready for South Bay Pride by Matthew S. Bajko
“Please remember we have relived an era once again, where trans rights, gay rights, OUR rights are under attack. We can’t just celebrate every June or August! We must celebrate all year long because we are LOUD & PROUD,” wrote Torres in a Facebook post with video and photos from this week’s flag-raising ceremony. Since his swearing in earlier this year as the first gay person of color to serve on the San Jose City Council, and only its second out councilmember, Torres has been making it a point to celebrate the LGBTQ community. Due to the passage of bans on drag performances in public spaces, Torres in March invited drag queen Woo Woo Monroe to be the first drag artist to perform during a San Jose City Council meeting. He has also invited drag queens to join him at the Pride flag raisings and has promoted drag story time hours. “I have told folks I want to be a councilperson for everyone but especially for our LGBTQ community,” said Torres, 41, who represents the council’s District 3 that covers downtown San Jose, including his alma mater San Jose State University, and the Japantown, WashingtonGuadalupe, and Spartan Keys neighborhoods. “It is one of my identities.” While this won’t be his first time participating in Sunday’s Pride parade through the streets of downtown San Jose, Torres said his doing so will have special significance for him this year.
T
uesday night gay San Jose City Councilmember Omar Torres raised the Progress Pride flag in the plaza in front of San Jose City Hall. Joining him were his fellow council members and Mayor Matt Mahan for the annual flag-raising ceremony ahead of Silicon Valley Pride. The August 22 event was tinged with a bit of déjà vu, as the South Bay city’s leaders had also gathered in the plaza in front of the government building in June to also raise the inclusive pride flag in honor of it being Pride Month. The city also flies the transgender pride flag on the adjacent flagpole. “Only in San Jose do we celebrate Pride twice,” quipped Torres during a recent video interview with the Bay Area Reporter. He is now eying a third such ceremony this year. “I also want to raise the flag for National Coming Out Day,” which is annually observed on October 11, Torres told the B.A.R. There is a need for the multiple celebrations of the LGBTQ community, explained Torres, due to the oppressive tidal wave of anti-LGBTQ legislation and policies being passed across the country, whether by Republican-controlled legislatures or conservative majorities on school boards in Southern California. Amid the political assaults on LGBTQ rights has been an uptick in hate incidents against LGBTQ individuals, the
Courtesy Torres’ Facebook page
San Jose City Councilmember Omar Torres, second from left, joined other officials in raising the Progress Pride flag August 22.
desecration or stealing of publicly displayed Pride flags and, most tragically, the murders of LGBTQ people and their allies, such as the killing last week of a Southern California storeowner over her Pride flag display.
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