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Phone thefts prompt hearing
Asylees call Bay Area home
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Vol. 43 • No. 07 • February 14-20, 2013
Pope to resign by Chuck Colbert
G Courtesy Mike Ruiz
An image from Mike Ruiz’s Pretty Masculine iPad app.
Masculinity, made mobile By Raymond Flournoy
O
n Valentine’s Day, why not allow celebrity photographer Mike Ruiz to deconstruct the concepts of masculine and feminine with his new iPad app, Pretty Masculine? See page 6 >>
Steven Underhill
Celebrating Mardi Gras!
K
rewe de Kinque’s 10th annual Bal Masque party was held a few days before Mardi Gras but the festivities were spirited in the tradition of New Orleans’ French Quarter. Ginger Snap, left, and Art Sanchez were among the nearly 200 people who attended the February 9 party at the ARC in San Francisco, said organizer Gary Virginia. This year the party benefited the Transgender Law Center. A new king and queen were also chosen. For the dish, see the On the Town column on page 24.
Pride CEO discusses plans by Seth Hemmelgarn
T
he new head of the San Francisco LGBT Pride Parade and Celebration Committee has a lot of ideas for making Pride a year-round event. “Pride is much more than just that weekend, that week, or that month,” Earl Plante, 40, said, referring to the annual June celebration. Ideas include a speaker series and discussions on topics Jane Philomen Cleland like marriage equality. Earl Plante But first, Plante, the openly gay CEO of San Francisco Pride, said the group has to get through this year’s festivities, which are planned for June 29-30. Officials are “on target,” Plante, who officially started the job December 17, said in a recent interview. See page 10 >>
Concord couple Kelly Whitney, left, and Trisha Pulido, shown with their cat Buddy, are participants in San Francisco State University’s same-sex couple study.
SFSU study seeks same-sex couples
by Elliot Owen
I
n today’s world belonging to a sexual minority population often means experiencing invisibility, marginalization, and discrimination, making day-to-day life challenging. Imagine taking on twice that burden, as is what happens when people enter into
Elliot Owen
same-sex relationships – your partner’s stresses often become your own, too. In partnership with the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University in Atlanta, San Francisco State University’s Health Equity Institute is spearheading Project SHARe:
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See page 12 >>
ay and lesbian Catholics offered measured reaction this week to the unexpected news of Pope Benedict XVI’s resignation and decision to step down at the end of the month. The announcement surprised, if not shocked, the one billion Roman Catholics worldwide. News of his resignation came during a meeting of Vatican cardinals Monday. “After having repeatedly examined my conscience Pope Benedict XVI before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry,” Benedict said, according to the English language text of his remarks from Reuters. Benedict’s departure marks the first time in six centuries that a pontiff has resigned. The 85-year-old pope spoke of his decision to resign as one of “great importance for the life of the church.” A March conclave, a meeting of the College of Cardinals, will convene to elect the pope’s successor, perhaps before Easter, March 31. Benedict, the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, was elected pope on April 19, 2005. From 1981 until his election, Ratzinger served as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the church’s doctrinal enforcement arm. In both roles as prefect and pontiff, he was a decidedly conservative theologian, crafting increasingly hardline doctrine against homosexuality. Nevertheless, Benedict’s resignation prompted muted reactions from some LGBT Catholics. “I think the pope’s resigning is one of the noblest things he had done in his papacy,” said Ernest L. Camisa, secretary of Dignity San Francisco. Another gay Catholic, Eugene McMullan agreed. “I can only feel a profound sense of relief, gratitude and renewed hope on hearing the news that Pope Benedict has resigned,” he said. “This should be good news for everyone,” added McMullan, who is a lead organizer with the advocacy group Catholics for Marriage Equality in California. Francis DeBernardo, executive director of New Ways Ministry, said in a statement that while members of his organization “are praying for the future of the church and for the pope’s health,” they “are praying, too, for LGBT Catholics and their families and friends, whose lives were made more difficult living under Benedict’s reign.” See page 13 >>