August 7 2014 by Bay Area Reporter

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Vol. 44 • No. 32 • August 7-13, 2014

Silicon Sisters, officials mull Pink Sat. changes Valley Pride faces C suit threat by Seth Hemmelgarn

by Heather Cassell

ilicon Valley Pride is just over a week away, but its festival director is threatening to sue the organization, and claims the festival might be locked out of its San Jose location due to its debt. Jo-Lynn Otto Gary Walker, the SVP interim longtime contract board President festival director of Thaddeus the South Bay’s an- Campbell nual Pride celebration, formerly known as San Jose Pride, is threatening to sue the organization and its current and past board members. In a July 29 email, Walker claims the new board breached its contract with him and failed to remit a partial payment for producing the event this year that was due in June. The Bay Area Reporter received Walker’s email last week. Walker said he finally went public after a month of receiving concerned emails and phone calls from city officials, community leaders, and others. The dispute between Gary Walker Productions and the SVP board has been ongoing since the spring and it isn’t the first time Walker has fought for his job. Previous Pride board president Nathan Svoboda also attempted to ditch Walker in 2012, only to have him return under his current three-year contract through 2015. “I need to say my piece and let everybody know my side of the story from my standpoint that I can back up factually,” said Walker. He said it’s not about the money, and said he has made $20,500 a year since 1998 producing the festival. Yet, he paid two full-time and five part-time assistants out of his earnings, he said. Instead, it’s about how he was treated. “No one from the board ever contacted me to tell me that I don’t have a job,” said Walker, who said he moved forward with planning this year’s event last fall. “The anger that I have and hurt I have is how they did this, this unconscionable way to treat someone who basically donated time for 16 years.” Thaddeus Campbell, interim president of the SVP board, would neither confirm nor deny the B.A.R.’s questions about Walker’s allegations. At the board’s July 31 meeting he skipped over the financial report on the agenda. “I’m not going to focus on this now, we are two weeks away from throwing the biggest festival that we’ve ever done and I’m not See page 9 >>

festival would happen in “a modified form next year,” but ity officials and organiz“that’s only if things come toers of San Francisco’s gether with the city and with annual Pink Saturday leadership within the order.” celebration, which brings thouSoul said, “The Sisters are sands of people to the streets of not making any decisions” unthe Castro the night before the til after the September meetLGBT Pride parade, are talking ing. She said the Sisters would about changes to the event after most likely vote at their genyears of violent incidents. eral membership meeting in This year, one of the Sisters of October on whether to have Perpetual Indulgence, the group Pink Saturday next year. of drag nuns that puts on the This year’s problems were street party, was attacked in an “typical” and included vioapparent hate crime. Other incilence, “overindulgence of aldents also were reported. cohol,” and “a lot of folks who So far, much of the focus is Pete Thoshinsky aren’t necessarily there to celon starting and ending the event Police officers detained a man at this year’s Pink Saturday in June ebrate Pride,” Soul said. earlier, but one Sister said shut- and responded to several other incidents. Soul, whose real name is ting down the event is one of the James Bazydola, said many considerations. problems seem to happen latvening the meeting along with Supervisor Sister Selma Soul has been in er in the evening, and that the Scott Wiener, whose District 8 includes the charge of the evening’s plans for the last three Sisters are thinking about starting the party years and is stepping down since she’s fulfilled Castro. The San Francisco Police Department earlier and ending it at 8 p.m. her commitment. Soul said canceling the is expected to be represented at the gathering. “That’s probably the biggest change that Concerns about safety have been especially party is “a possibility if we feel like we can’t we’re considering,” Soul said. “We would love strong since Stephen Powell, 19, was shot to manage it.” to work with a smaller footprint” and they’re death around the time the party ended in A community meeting to discuss Pink Satalso looking for increased police coverage, urday is tentatively set for September 10 at 6 2010. Soul added. “We’re definitely considering” calling off p.m. at the Eureka Valley Recreation Center, Soul said she didn’t know whether violence the party next year, Soul said. She said the 100 Collingwood Street. The Sisters are conSee page 10 >>

Syphilis cases stabilized in first half of 2014 by Matthew S. Bajko

635 such cases of syphilis recorded during the first half of 2013. uring the first six months In terms of early cases of of 2014, early syphilis syphilis, known as primary and cases in San Francisco secondary, there were 224 in the stabilized compared to the same first half of 2014, a 17.5 percent time period a year prior, accorddecrease from the 271 seen during to preliminary data released ing the first six months of 2013. in July. “We are happy it is not higher, If the trend continues through but it still remains to be seen what December, it would mark the first happens throughout the rest of time since 2008 that early cases of the year,” said Philip. the sexually transmitted disease The city has yet to release its fihad not increased in the city comnal report on STD cases for 2013. pared to the previous year. But based on preliminary numHowever, the public health debers, as the Bay Area Reporter repartment’s STD prevention chief ported in February, early syphilis cautioned that the number of casincreased last year by 13.9 percent es could swing upward in the fall, from 890 cases in 2012 to 1,014. a pattern seen in previous years. Syphilis has been on the rise And cases of chlamydia and gonacross California and the country Courtesy SFDPH orrhea show no signs of ebbing. since 2001, according to federal In terms of syphilis cases, “it San Francisco health department data show an increase in sexually health officials. Last month the looks like, overall, some stabiliza- transmitted diseases between 2009-2013; the first half of this year Centers for Disease Control and tion,” said deputy health officer has shown a stabilization in early syphilis cases. Prevention reported that in 2012 Dr. Susan Philip, the director of the national syphilis rate rose to 2014, she did say health officials “are encourdisease prevention and control 4.6 per 100,000 people after havaged” that early syphilis cases “are not higher at ing fallen to 4.5 in 2010. in the health department’s population health this point as it was last year.” division. “What we have to remember is we The California Department of Public Health According to the Department of Public Health’s reported that, in 2013, the Golden State saw more have been looking at several years of increases. monthly STD report released July 16, which inSometimes, in prior years, we see increases in than 3,500 cases of primary and secondary syphicluded data from January through the end of the fall or at the end of the year.” lis, almost 2,900 cases of early latent syphilis, and June, the city recorded 620 adult cases of syphilis. more than 3,600 cases of late latent syphilis. While Philip stressed it is “too soon” to determine what the overall STD outlook will be for The number marked a slight decrease from the See page 12 >>

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