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Effort to recall Supe Engardio kicks off
by John Ferrannini
G
ay San Francisco District 4 Supervisor Joel Engardio is now in the fight of his political life, as Outer Sunset residents have begun collecting signatures to recall him. The effort is largely driven by his authorCourtesy the subject ing of last fall’s PropoSupervisor Joel sition K, which was Engardio approved by city voters and closed part of the Great Highway to vehicular traffic. Engardio and his supporters as well as recall proponents held dueling events last Saturday. A launch party February 1 at the United Irish Cultural Club kicked off the recall campaign’s quest for 10,000 signatures by May 22, now that the petition’s circulation has been approved by the San Francisco Department of Elections. The Bay Area Reporter first reported in December that Sunset residents were circulating a notice of intention to recall the first-term supervisor. Vin Budhai, who is straight, is the co-director of the Recall Engardio campaign. He told the B.A.R. that “folks are upset about the way he placed [Prop K] on the ballot.” “He wasn’t in conversation with community leaders and merchants,” before supporting Prop K, Budhai said. “That is what has people up in arms – to not give his constituents a say in the matter. … We’re not talking about the Great Highway. We’re talking about Joel Engardio.” The Great Highway runs three-and-a-half miles alongside Ocean Beach. In 2020, the middle section was closed to vehicular traffic to allow for physically-distanced recreation during the COVID pandemic. The following year, it reopened to vehicular traffic during weekdays but was closed to traffic on weekends as part of a compromise worked out by then-District 4 supervisor Gordon Mar. In 2022, Sunset residents kick-started a voter revolt in San Francisco against the city’s COVIDera policies on many levels, helping to propel three school board members and the district attorney out of office in recalls. They also swapped Mar for Engardio, who supported those recalls, and became the first person to defeat an incumbent, elected supervisor since district elections returned to San Francisco 25 years ago. Engardio had run several times for supervisor in the past in District 7. After the last redistricting in 2022, Engardio ended up in the new District 4. Last year, Engardio wrote the Prop K ballot measure, which was placed on the ballot by the Board of Supervisors. It closes the midsection of the highway to vehicles 24/7 to establish a new park. The proposition passed citywide in November, but failed in District 4. “He said it was a 50-50 in his district,” Budhai said. “We all know, as the results show, it wasn’t 50-50.” Indeed, it failed in almost every precinct west of 19th Avenue. For his part, Engardio acknowledges that Prop K isn’t his most popular initiative, but feels it’s one issue among many. “I’m humbled by the people who voted against Prop K, and I respect people who disagree about what to do with the Great Highway,” he said. “I’ve heard from folks saying they like a lot of other things I’ve done when it comes to public safety, education, and small businesses.” See page 12 >>
Vol. 55 • No. 6 • February 6-12, 2025
Student sees need for CA LGBTQ youth mental health campaign by Matthew S. Bajko
H
aving launched a group for LGBTQ students and their allies at their California middle school, Selby Price tries to keep up to date about the LGBTQ community by subscribing to different advocacy groups’ emails. Thus, after meeting the Central Coast Coalition for Inclusive Schools at a local Pride event, they started receiving its emailed newsletter. It was how the 12-year-old queer seventh grader first learned a state-funded LGBTQ youth mental health initiative was recruiting last summer community members for an advisory body to help with its development. Selby applied. “If I don’t apply, I had a feeling it was going to be just a bunch of adults on this LGBTQ youth advisory board. I am definitely accustomed to being one of the only young people in the advocacy work I do,” Selby told the Bay Area Reporter during an exclusive interview over the weekend at their home with their mother. “They need an LGBTQ young person on this LGBTQ advisory board.” Selected for it, Selby and the members got to work last September to begin hashing out what the campaign should look like. It was emotionally taxing at first, recalled Selby, as their first meetings delved into each person’s own mental health experiences in order to guide their discussions
Courtesy Selby Price
Selby Price, right, talked with state Senator John Laird in his office.
about the initiative’s messaging and approach to take. Selby shared how they have found support from their teachers at school but have had to deal with classmates heckling them in the hallways due to their androgynous look. “I’ve mostly been dealing with bullying at school and just feeling very othered,” said Selby. “My teach-
ers have been a huge help but definitely the kids at school – there is a lot of yelling in the hallways, stuff like that, offensive stuff.” Seeing their experiences reflected in the messaging concepts and brand ideas for the campaign “was cool,” said Selby. See page 9 >>
LGBTQ families, leaders decry Trump’s attacks on queer, trans youth by Matthew S. Bajko
S
urrounded by dozens of Bay Area political and civic leaders, LGBTQ families gathered Friday morning at the California State Building in San Francisco to denounce the executive orders Republican President Donald Trump has issued attacking the rights and health care of queer and transgender youth. Among them was nonbinary 15-year-old Kanoa Wilson. For the teenager, it was the first time they had so publicly come out to discuss their gender identity. While shocked that a plurality of Americans had elected Trump last November to a second term fully aware of his anti-LGBTQ stances and other discriminatory positions, Wilson said it was important for people not to be completely disheartened and remain silent. It was why they and their mom, Minda Murphy, a queer single parent, decided to speak out at the January 31 news conference. For Wilson, they wanted to serve as a role model to younger children questioning their gender identity or sexual orientation. “I am Kanoa Wilson. I use they, them pronouns. This is how it is going to be,” Wilson told a phalanx of journalists and community members in the audience. Murphy, 47, said the Oakland residents were fully aware their speaking out in such a manner would likely subject them to public harassment from those supportive of Trump’s actions. Nonetheless, she said she could not remain silent amid the White House’s attempts to deny her child access to their health care and diminish their humanity. “I would be foolish not to be,” Murphy replied when asked if she was scared about taking such a public stance against the president. “But my family is a direct target.” She called out Trump for not leading with compassion or valuing the rights of all Americans. “He leads with hatred, fear, and intimidation,” said Murphy. Another East Bay family with a transgender son in elementary school also spoke out against Trump’s anti-LGBTQ actions. Fearful of the reaction their family could receive, wives Sophia and Nikki declined
Rick Gerharter
Minda Murphy spoke in support of her nonbinary child Kanoa Wilson, left, during a January 31 news conference in San Francisco in support of trans students.
to provide their last names or the name of their child. “He is a bright light in this world, and I am in awe of him every single day,” said Sophia of their son. “I will never stop protecting that light, nurturing it, and ensuring it shines as brilliantly as it was meant to.” She called it “cruel” for Trump to try to prevent her child and others from accessing lifesaving health care affirming of their identities and to attempt to deny them the right to safely exist in the world. “I am terrified,” she said, “that my son’s light, the warmth, the joy and the confidence he has in who he is, will be dimmed by a world that refuses to see him. That these executive orders, these cruel policies targeting transgender youth will strip away the very things that make him feel safe and whole.” The executive orders issued by Trump are not “abstract debates,” added Sophia, but have “real devastating consequences” for her child and others like him. If they are carried out, she worries that her son’s “right to exist as himself to receive the medical care he needs to move through life without shame or fear will be taken away from him by people who have never met him … who do not know the weight of what they are doing.”
Earlier this week, Trump signed an executive order targeting federal funding of gender-affirming care for minors. It has resulted in a number of hospitals in various states pausing providing such care, as the Associated Press reported Thursday. On Wednesday, Trump released an executive order targeting affirmative actions that schools across the U.S. have taken to support queer and transgender students, from teaching LGBTQ curriculum and providing gender-neutral bathrooms to honoring students’ preferred pronouns and names and allowing them to play on athletic teams regardless of the sex they were assigned at birth. “My Administration will enforce the law to ensure that recipients of Federal funds providing K-12 education comply with all applicable laws prohibiting discrimination in various contexts and protecting parental rights,” wrote Trump. In response to questions from the Bay Area Reporter, the California Department of Education said the order from the White House has no bearing on schools in the Golden State teaching LGBTQ curriculum as required under state education codes. It noted the federal government has no legal right to dictate what local schools teach. “It is against federal law for the White House to dictate what educators can and cannot teach by threatening to defund essential public services for students,” stated Liz Sanders, the director of communications for the statewide education agency. Aiming to address the concerns of LGBTQ students and families in the San Francisco Unified School District, Superintendent Maria Su, Ph.D., sent out a districtwide email Thursday reiterating her support for queer and trans students. She said the district will move forward with its plans to celebrate LGBTQ Pride in April and is looking forward to partnering with its newly formed advisory council specifically for LGBTQ families. Su reiterated that support at Friday’s news conference, which was organized by gay state Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco). The need for it was “just ridiculousness,” she noted. See page 12 >>