January-1-2026 by Bay Area Reporter

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Vol. 56 • No. 1 • January 1-7, 2026

LGBTQ laws take effect by Matthew S. Bajko

John Ferrannini

A rave was held in Chinatown last January 8 to celebrate Mayor Daniel Lurie’s inauguration.

Lurie bets on events to revive SF by John Ferrannini

hen Daniel Lurie became mayor of San Francisco on January 8, 2025, he invited the city not to an inaugural parade or ball – but to an inaugural rave. For Mary Conde, a straight ally who is a senior vice president at concert promoter Another Planet Entertainment, it was a labor of love. In about a two-week timeframe, Conde put together a show headlining San Francisconative electronic music producer Zhu for a free event on Grant Street in Chinatown. “There’s always this fear, ‘Is anyone going to show up?’ when you throw a free party,” Conde told the Bay Area Reporter. “It quickly became apparent we were the party of the year. The mayor and his family were out in it. It was crazy. He’s in the middle of 25,000 people.” The inaugural rave was just one part of a strategy to get people on the streets of San Francisco, particularly downtown – a strategy Mission Local columnist Joe Eskenazi described as leaning “heavily on getting young people drunk.” And not without reason. Early on, Lurie co-sponsored legislation by gay state Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) to create 20 new liquor licenses downtown. Governor Gavin Newsom, a former San Francisco mayor himself, signed the bill into law in October. Wiener has been working for years at loosening rules around liquor sales for outdoor consumption. Senate Bill 76 in 2023 and SB 969 in 2024 gave the city the ability to define particular times and places for outdoor parties. Older events such as the Castro Street Fair joined newer ones – particularly night markets in the Castro and elsewhere that had been sponsored by the Civic Joy Fund (a venture co-founded by Lurie before his mayoral run) – in taking advantage, and drawing San Franciscans out of their homes for liquor, but also for merchants plying their wares, arts and crafts, food trucks, DJs, and drag performances. One of those events, Downtown First Thursdays, drew 300,000 people in 2025 and had an estimated $27.9 million in economic impact, Civic Joy Fund announced. West Walker, a gay nightlife promoter, has been involved in producing aspects of the event. He told the B.A.R. he’s glad the city’s government has been so supportive. “You can’t help but feel that San Francisco is healing,” he stated. Lurie, in turn, provides these events with visibility by featuring them on his social media platforms, much as with restaurants. Nate Bourg, a gay man who is president of the Castro Merchants Association, likes that Lurie has been around the Castro. “His presence at Castro community events – including the Castro night markets, and the recent holiday tree and menorah lightings – has also stood out to me as a genuine sign of his allyship with our LGBTQ+ community, and an understanding that showing up truly matters,” Bourg stated. See page 6 >>

mprovements to transgender, nonbinary, and queer Californians’ health care privacy and access are coming in the new year due to a number of bills taking effect as of January 1. New protections are also being implemented for providers of gender-affirming care, while safeguards for LGBTQ youth are being bolstered. Most are due to laws passed in 2025, though a trio of bills signed by Governor Gavin Newsom in 2024 had implementation dates in 2026. Senate Bill 1491 by now termed out lesbian state Senator Susan Talamantes Eggman (D-Stockton) requires the California Student Aid Commission to provide, beginning with the 2026-27 school year, written notice to college students who receive state financial aid if their postsecondary educational institution has an exemption from either the Equity in Higher Education Act or Title IX on file with the commission. Often, religious-based colleges will seek exemptions in order not to comply with providing protections covered by the rules to LGBTQ students on their campuses. The state commission had only been required to post which schools have exemptions online. Due to Assembly Bill 3161 by Assemblymember Mia Bonta (D-Oakland), as of January 1 hospitals will need to analyze patient safety events by sociodemographic factors, like race, ethnicity, language, sexual orientation, and disability status.

Courtesy the Assemblymember’s website

Assemblymember Mia Bonta’s Equity in Health Care Act: Ensuring Safety and Accountability goes into effect January 1.

Dubbed the Equity in Health Care Act: Ensuring Safety and Accountability, it aims to bring to light the disparities in health that communities of color and LGBTQ communities are facing. Additionally, AB 3161 requires hospital safety plans to include a process for addressing racism and discrimination and its impacts on patient health and safety. And AB 1899 passed by lesbian state Senator Sabrina Cervantes (D-Corona) when she was in the lower legislative chamber requires jury questionnaires used by state courts as of January 1 to

allow “a juror the ability to express their gender identity or gender expression, if applicable.” It is meant to make the jury selection process more inclusive for gender-nonconforming individuals. The state’s Judicial Council has until July 1 to develop forms and rules to implement SB 59 by gay state Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) and known as the Transgender Privacy Act. After that date, court records related to the gender transitions of transgender and nonbinary adults in California will be sealed in order to protect their privacy, similar to the protections afforded trans and nonbinary youth under the age of 18 by a state law that took effect in 2024. “This bill ensures the confidentiality of court records related to gender transition, providing a life-saving layer of protection for transgender and nonbinary adults and youth against the harassment and hostility that currently seeks to track and endanger our community members. Every time we codify dignity into law, we establish a stronger foundation for the future,” noted California LGBTQ+ Health and Human Services Network Director Dannie Ceseña, who is TwoSpirit and Native. Wiener’s SB 59 does not apply retroactively, so those individuals who already went through the judicial process to change their name, gender, and/or sex need to file a petition with the courts requesting their records be kept confidential. See page 6 >>

SF, long a queer safe haven, remains competitive for homebuyers by John Ferrannini

The latest available data from The Urban Institute reveals that the homeownership rate for individuals identifying as LGBTQ+ stands at 51%, in contrast to 71% for those who identify as both straight and cisgender. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, at least 1.3 million same-sex couples reside in the U.S., meaning a significant number of LGBTQ people in this country do not own their own homes.

GBTQ people have a variety of housing options when they’re lucky enough to be able to afford property. In San Francisco – long considered a safe haven for the queer community – individual needs have to be weighed both against the city’s chronic housing shortage and a competitive but often lucrative job market. After a lull of several years, the city’s real estate market has heated up in recent months, driven by the city’s economic recovery post-COVID lockdowns and the artificial intelligence boom. For Rick Page, 68, and Anthony Farace, 57, both gay men, the job market was a top reason to move back to the city after they’d left the Bay Area five years ago. Page said the couple had left behind a “huge home in a town called Oakhurst, on the way to Yosemite.” When moving back to San Francisco they wanted to balance suburban and downtown vibes, Farace said, leading them to settle in Diamond Heights, a tiny neighborhood built atop three hills above Noe Valley, that has suburban sensibilities but isn’t too far from downtown. “In the summer it’s a little foggy but it’s nicer up here the rest of the time, and where it felt like you aren’t downtown where it’s just concrete and buildings,” Farace said. Added Page, “It sounds goofy, but if there’s a tsunami, it won’t get all the way up here.” Page said that in the spring the couple initially bought a relatively small studio in Diamond Heights. But they found that it didn’t meet their needs and purchased a second studio unit nearby that did. They closed on the larger condo unit in October. “It just didn’t have any kind of patio or outdoor thing for the dog,” Page said of their first studio, “so we saw something upgraded with a kitchen redone, nice hardwood floors, a fireplace, a sunny patio, so it was much nicer. We bought that one, now we have to figure out what to do with the first one.” The first unit was $450,000 and the second $520,000, they stated.

Close to the Castro Rick Gerharter

San Francisco’s LGBTQ Castro neighborhood is seeing an uptick in home purchases, local real estate agents said.

The couple also mentioned a lack of some of the downtown, South of Market, and Mission District street disorder that garnered negative headlines in the past several years. The couple also noted that Diamond Heights is more affordable than traditionally high-priced Russian Hill, which is closer to downtown. Nevertheless, “The employment, the social life is better” in San Francisco, Page added. Federal data shows many LGBTQ people want to own a home. Fannie Mae, the government sponsored enterprise that buys home loans, does have some LGBT data, according to research from 2023 that was published in 2024. The data is the result of sexual orientation and gender identity identifiers in the National Housing Survey. It did not ask about queer representation. According to the report, 8.6% of respondents identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender – similar to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey. The survey included responses from a weighted total of 12,363 people 18 years and older, with a weighted total of 1,059 identifying as LGBT. The research found the LGBT homeownership rate to be 46%, which is much lower than the overall U.S. homeownership rate of 65%.

In San Francisco, the Diamond Heights neighborhood is just a half-hour walk from the Castro, and even shorter on the bus. Charlie Mader is a gay man who has been a Realtor in San Francisco for “just under 25 years,” with a particular emphasis on Diamond Heights, the Castro, and Noe Valley. He said that while many LGBTQ people want to live relatively close to a queer neighborhood, such as the Castro, “It’s not like it used to be.” Even in spite of a recent backlash to LGBTQ equality in the mid-2020s, leading to a number of federal policies largely targeting transgender and gender-nonconforming people, Mader said that since marriage equality, “You hear ‘There’s no need for us to live together in a gay ghetto,’ and we’re interspersed throughout the community and the country.” Marriage equality became legal in California in June 2013, two years before the U.S. Supreme Court made same-sex unions legal nationwide in 2015. Mader said marriage equality helped incentivize more LGBTQ home-buying due to an old Clinton administration tax law that gave married couples favorable tax incentives versus single homebuyers. But even within the City-by-the-Bay, the distinction between neighborhoods is not as stark. “I hear the Mission is just as gay as the Castro is, and the food is better,” Mader said. “I can’t argue with that.” See page 7 >>

<< Community News

2 • Bay Area Repor ter • January 1-7, 2026

Hearing for alleged killer of reality TV star Xol delayed by Ed Walsh

he preliminary hearing for the alleged killer of gay reality TV star Edwardo Xol has been delayed until March 17. The hearing was supposed to take place Tuesday, December 16, but a continuance was granted at the request of the Riverside County District Attorney’s office because of a scheduling issue. Xol’s alleged killer, Richard Gonzales, 35, appeared in court on Tuesday but stood in a doorway out of the view of courtroom spectators, next to his attorney, Riverside County Deputy Public Defender Devon Pratt. The presiding judge granted Pratt’s request to allow Gonzales to dress in civilian clothes for the March 17 hearing because of the publicity in the case. The judge noted that the attorneys expected the preliminary hearing to last three hours. The hearing may reveal an alleged motive for the September 10, 2024 stabbing death of Xol, 58. Prosecutors say Gonzales stabbed Xol more than 20 times at an apartment in Palm Springs. He died in the hospital 10

Ed Walsh

Riverside County Deputy Public Defender Devon Pratt, left, stood next to the doorway, shielding his client, Richard Gonzales, from view during a hearing December 16 in Riverside County Superior Court.

days after the stabbing. Xol, a former San Francisco resident, was an actor, singer, and a star of the ABC reality TV show “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.” He was a Los Angeles native and was living in Palm Springs at the time of his death. Gonzales is being charged with

first-degree murder and has pleaded not guilty. He remains in custody. The Riverside County Coroner’s report stated that Gonzales had confessed to the stabbing but it didn’t say whether Gonzales had said he acted in selfdefense. As a Bay Area Reporter investiga-

tion into the case previously reported, the Riverside County Coroner’s office said that routine postmortem toxicology tests were not done on Xol’s blood because blood taken when he was admitted to the hospital was destroyed by Desert Regional Medical Center. Palm Springs Police told the B.A.R. that they would normally do their own blood testing, rather than rely on a hospital sample, but that testing was never done. A hospital spokesperson told the B.A.R. that there is no legally mandated time for a hospital to save the blood of an admitted patient. The lack of toxicology testing could play a role in Gonzales’ case if his defense attorney argues that Xol was intoxicated and that contributed to his death or if they allege that Xol’s toxicology level caused him to act in a way that was a threat to Gonzales. A Riverside County Coroner’s death report obtained by the B.A.R. stated that Xol had a history of poly-substance abuse. Greg Woods, J.D., a senior lecturer at San Jose State University’s Department of Justice Studies, told the B.A.R. by email, “Toxicology reports are generally performed on victims of crime.

Especially by the request of investigators, family, doctors, etc. However, such reports are not compulsory. “In this case, unless the cause of death is due to ‘... an abnormally high concentration of illicit drugs,’ other evidence will be used to support an argument in self-defense,” Woods added. “The defense may argue it is relevant to show Xol’s state of mind at the time of death. That he was aggressive, violent, and injurious.” Woods stated to the B.A.R., “This case reminds me of the 2023 stabbing death of Cash App founder Bob Lee in San Francisco, resulting in a seconddegree murder conviction of Nima Momeni under similar circumstances ... I predict an outcome similar to that of Nima Momeni.” In that case, toxicology tests on Lee found that alcohol, cocaine, and ketamine was present in his system at the time of his death. Momeni’s attorney, Paula Canny, argued that Lee’s drug use was relevant to the events leading up to the murder, implying that a person under the influence of such substances might act erratically.t

Combination immunotherapy may help T cells fight HIV by Liz Highleyman

n experimental HIV vaccine plus broadly neutralizing antibodies and an immune-stimulating drug helped control HIV for several months after patients stopped antiretroviral treatment, according to results from a small study on World AIDS Day. “Is this a cure? No way. But this is a first step, sort of like those early, very complicated, partially effective combination antiretroviral regimens we were using back in the 1990s,” study coauthor Dr. Steven Deeks of UCSF told the Bay Area Reporter. “With proof that we can actually at least partially make the immune system do what it really should do routinely, we now have a pathway to optimize the approach, just like we have done and continue to do with antiretroviral drugs.” Antiretrovirals can keep HIV replication suppressed as long as treatment continues, but the virus inserts its genetic blueprints into the DNA of human cells, establishing a long-lasting reservoir that makes a true cure nearly impossible. Only 10 people with HIV are known to have been cured after stem cell transplants for cancer treatment. But experimental approaches

may help delay or limit viral rebound after treatment interruption, known as a functional cure. Deeks and colleagues, with support from amfAR: The Foundation for AIDS Research and the National Institutes of Health, designed a complex functional cure trial that aimed to induce long-term remission in people who stop antiretrovirals. Participants received a therapeutic vaccine, two broadly neutralizing antibodies (101074 and VRC07-523LS) and lefitolimod, an immune-modulating drug known as a TLR9 receptor agonist that may coax HIV out of hiding. At the 2023 Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections, study co-author Dr. Michael Peluso of UCSF reported that seven of the 10 participants experienced delayed rebound to lower-than-expected virus levels after antiretroviral treatment interruption. Six of them eventually saw their viral load rise after several months – compared with a typical rebound time of a few weeks – and one remained off treatment for more than 18 months. According to Deeks, this person went back on antiretrovirals for personal reasons for a period but is now

Liz Highleyman

UCSF researcher Dr. Steven Deeks

back off treatment four years later and maintaining viral control. The researchers are still following the participant and “trying to figure out exactly what happened,” Deeks said. Tom Perrault, a former board member for the San Francisco AIDS Foundation who now splits his time between the Bay Area and New Orleans, was one of the participants who experienced delayed viral rebound. He started to get his hopes up after a few months of remission, but his viral load started to rise again about five

months after stopping antiretrovirals. “No one ever said this was going to work – in fact they told me it probably wasn’t going to work,” Perrault told the San Francisco Chronicle. “I have a chance to try to cure this thing. Of course I’m going to do it. They don’t cure this thing unless people do what I did. To have a chance at a cure, and to know that my participation could lead to it – that’s spectacular.” In the December 1 Nature paper, the researchers reported that robust expansion of activated CD8 killer T cells early in the response to rebounding virus was associated with lower virus levels. Strong HIV-specific CD8 Tcell response is a hallmark of so-called elite controllers who naturally control the virus without treatment. “It turns out the controllers had T cells that were able to expand dramatically once they ran into the virus,” coauthor Dr. Rachel Rutishauser stated in a UCSF news release. “It’s like they were hanging out waiting for their target, kind of like a cat getting ready to pounce on a mouse.” While delayed viral rebound is expected until the broadly neutralizing antibodies wear off or the virus becomes resistant to them, the slower

rebound rate and the ability to sustain a low viral load for several months seen in this study suggest the immunotherapies had an additional effect, Rutishauser explained. While these findings are promising, the study authors said more work is needed to figure out why some people were able to achieve at least partial viral control. What’s more, this trial required some 50 study visits over two years, and a more streamlined regimen would likely be necessary for wide practical use. Many experts fear, however, that federal budget cuts will curtail this kind of research. “This study is not the endgame, but it is an important step in showing that we can make progress toward overcoming one of the biggest challenges in HIV research – helping a person’s immune system to control the virus without the need for life-long medication,” Peluso told the B.A.R. “The clinical results are exciting, but even more important is that we uncovered the biology that may explain them – that CD8 T cells became poised to respond earlier and more aggressively to HIV in those who went on to control the virus at low levels.”t

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January 1-7, 2026 • Bay Area Repor ter • 3

LGBTQ leaders argue for resistance by John McDonald

he numbers alone convey the scale of the moment. Since 2022, more than 1,900 anti-LGBTQ bills have been introduced across the country; 231 have become law in 27 states. It is not simply a hostile political season – it is a sustained campaign, advocates believe, one that has left LGBTQ leaders searching not just for tactics, but for an entirely rethought strategy, even as a largely unsympathetic U.S. Supreme Court looms in the background. Against that backdrop, executives from four of the nation’s most prominent LGBTQ organizations convened December 4 for a virtual forum hosted by Horizons Foundation, an LGBTQ philanthropic nonprofit based in San Francisco. Moderated by Roger Doughty, a gay man who is Horizons’ president, the discussion – titled “Fighting Back, Pushing Forward” – did not offer comfort. What it offered instead was clarity, and at times, an unsettling reckoning. A Horizons spokesperson said that over 120 people attended. Kierra Johnson, a bisexual Black woman who is president of the National LGBTQ Task Force, opened with a warning aimed squarely at the country’s liberal strongholds. The long-held belief that blue cities and progressive states function as safe havens, she said, is increasingly illusory. She pointed to the Trump administration’s recent deployment of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to cities like Chicago, Los Angeles, New Orleans, and Washington, D.C. as evidence that no place is impermeable. “Stop thinking you’re safe, because you’re not,” Johnson said. “Authoritarianism is taking root across our democracy as a whole, and they’re going to come for us in any way that they can.”

From Zoom

Clockwise from top left, Roger Doughty, Shelby Chestnut, Kevin Jennings, Kate Kendell, and Kierra Johnson discussed the state of the LGBTQ movement during a virtual discussion hosted by Horizons Foundation.

Her point was not merely geographic. Johnson stressed that LGBTQ rights are not local entitlements but collective ones – interdependent and fragile. Gains not secured in places like Alabama or Kansas, she warned, are not truly won in blue states like California or New York. The community’s fate is symbiotic; erosion anywhere threatens stability everywhere, she said. That reality is now playing out in Colorado, a reliably blue state whose ban on conversion therapy on minors appears poised to be struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court along with those enacted by other states. Kate Kendell, a lesbian who is CEO of the Den-

ver-based Gill Foundation, described the oral arguments held before the nation’s highest court in October as grim. “The argument did not go as we had hoped,” said Kendell. “It is very likely the court will strike down these bans, and that will be devastating.” Conversion therapy is an umbrella term to describe efforts to change a person’s sexual orientation, same-sex sexual activity, or gender identity from LGBTQ to heterosexual. Kendell knows the terrain intimately. As the longtime former executive director of the San Francisco-based National Center for LGBTQ Rights, she spent years pushing states to pro-

hibit conversion therapy for minors. Today, 27 states, including California; the District of Columbia; Puerto Rico; and more than 100 municipalities have enacted bans – protections that now hang in the balance. “This is about protecting young people from a dangerous and ultimately soul-crushing practice,” Kendell said. “It tells them they are not OK as they are. The evidence of harm is overwhelming. It does not work. Sexual orientation is immutable – it cannot be changed or altered by any kind of therapy.” In fact, major medical associations have discredited the practice. Another case that will soon be before the justices involves West Virginia’s attempt to bar transgender athletes from playing on sports teams that align with their gender identities. At its center is a transgender girl, Becky Pepper-Jackson, seeking to compete on her middle school cross-country team. Shelby Chestnut, a transgender TwoSpirit queer person who is executive director of the Oakland-based Transgender Law Center, said the organization is preparing nationwide actions. Oral arguments are set for January 13. “No matter the decision,” Chestnut said, “our communities have consistently pushed back to claim equal opportunities to participate in public life.” But resistance, Chestnut emphasized, requires resources – and here the imbalance is stark, panelists said. Opponents of trans rights, they noted, command a war chest exceeding $300 million. “We became the next target almost overnight,” Chestnut said. “And we didn’t even have five minutes as a movement to ask: what’s the strategy?” That asymmetry was a recurring theme. Kevin Jennings, a gay man who is CEO of Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, urged patience by invoking history. The first effort to over-

turn sodomy laws failed in 1986, he reminded the audience. But it seeded the legal reasoning that would eventually prevail in Lawrence v. Texas in 2003. “We don’t always win at first,” Jennings said. “Today’s dissent is tomorrow’s majority opinion.” Still, Jennings offered a bracing assessment of external allies. Corporate support, he warned, is fleeting, and mainstream philanthropy has rarely stepped up when it mattered most. Lambda Legal, he said, has survived – and thrived – largely because of the LGBTQ community itself, securing more than $285 million in donations, much of it through individual estates. “Let’s be honest,” Jennings said. “Corporations are fair-weather friends. And mainstream philanthropy couldn’t care less about LGBTQ causes.” Even before President Donald Trump returned to the White House in January, companies like Target dramatically scaled back LGBTQ merchandise in stores. Trump issued an executive order against diversity, equity, and inclusion policies and, as a result, many companies and universities have scaled back or eliminated such DEI programs. By the discussion’s end, consensus emerged around a central recalibration. Rights and representation remain essential – but they are no longer sufficient. With health care access, housing insecurity, food affordability, and economic survival pressing so urgently, the movement’s focus must expand. “We have to shift toward a more holistic movement,” Chestnut said. It was less a rallying cry than a sober conclusion. The fights ahead will not be contained to courtrooms or legislatures alone, speakers noted. They will be fought in neighborhoods, clinics, schools, and homes – where the question is no longer just visibility or dignity, but whether people can live safely and fully, at all.t

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<< Open Forum

4 • Bay Area Repor ter • January 1-7, 2026

Volume 56, Number 1 January 1-7, 2026 www.ebar.com

PUBLISHER Michael M. Yamashita Thomas E. Horn, Publisher Emeritus (2013) Publisher (2003 – 2013) Bob Ross, Founder (1971 – 2003) NEWS EDITOR Cynthia Laird ARTS & NIGHTLIFE EDITOR Jim Provenzano ASSISTANT EDITORS Matthew S. Bajko • John Ferrannini CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Christopher J. Beale • Robert Brokl Brian Bromberger • Philip Campbell Heather Cassell • Eliot Faine Michael Flanagan • Jim Gladstone Liz Highleyman • Brandon Judell • Lisa Keen Philip Mayard • Laura Moreno David-Elijah Nahmod • Mark William Norby JL Odom • Paul Parish • Tim Pfaff Jim Piechota • Adam Sandel Jason Serinus • Gregg Shapiro Gwendolyn Smith • Charlie Wagner Ed Walsh • Cornelius Washington • Sura Wood ART DIRECTION Max Leger PRODUCTION/DESIGN Ernesto Sopprani PHOTOGRAPHERS Jane Philomen Cleland Rick Gerharter • Gooch Jose A. Guzman-Colon • Rudy K. Lawidjaja Georg Lester • Rich Stadtmiller Christopher Robledo • Fred Rowe Shot in the City • Steven Underhill • Bill Wilson ILLUSTRATORS & CARTOONISTS Christine Smith

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Remain vigilant amid Bondi’s crackdown

resident Donald Trump’s continued policy attacks on people and things he doesn’t like extends throughout his administration. It is on visible display at those cabinet meetings he holds, which are merely hourslong lovefests where secretaries try to outdo each other in their praise for the president. They are sickening to watch. But we expect this and more in 2026, as the president flails about trying to skirt blame for the lousy economy that’s largely the result of his own actions on tariffs. Whether it be threats to other countries or warnings to Americans, the president doesn’t care. The only things that matter to him are 1) increasing his personal wealth at the expense of the American public; and 2) believing he’s the greatest president ever. On that score, he is deluded. As a result, the LGBTQ community must continue to remain on alert. We’ve explored the awful anti-trans policies the administration unleashed in 2025. Now that the new year is upon us, the community needs to cast its eyes more widely. In December, following up on a Trump memorandum, Attorney General Pam Bondi issued a memo of her own December 4 to federal prosecutors and law enforcement agencies: it’s the intention of the Department of Justice to draft a list of “domestic terrorists.” Apparently, this could include nonprofits and other organizations that promote what Bondi calls “radical gender ideology,” which, in our view, translates to agencies that support the LGBTQ community, particularly transgender and nonbinary people. It also wants to root out “anti-Americanism,” “anticapitalism,” and “anti-Christianity.” Trump’s memo was issued in September, immediately following the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. The Los Angeles Times recently reported that the memo “gave civil rights groups pause over the potential targeting of political activists, donors and nonprofits opposed to the president.” Domestic terrorism is not an official designation in U.S. law. But the Times noted that the memo cited over two-dozen existing laws that could be used to substantiate charges. Bondi’s memo also outlines what it says are causes of domestic terrorist activity, including “hostility towards traditional views on family, re-

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U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi

ligion, and morality,” the paper reported. “Federal law enforcement will prioritize this threat. Where federal crime is encountered, federal agents will act,” the memo states. And, in what is truly Orwellian, the Times noted that the memo “directs the FBI online tip line to allow ‘witnesses and citizen journalists’ to report videos, recordings and photos of what they believe to be suspected acts of domestic violence, and establish a ‘cash reward system’ for information that leads to an arrest.” This is a frightening escalation that could pit neighbors against each other, or lead anti-LGBTQ online trolls to target organizations, like trans nonprofits, with the goal of severely affecting their operations. The memo focuses on what it calls antifa-aligned extremism, and the president defines antifa as “a militarist, anarchist enterprise that explicitly calls for the overthrow of the United States Government, law enforcement authorities, and our system of law,” as an executive order stated. Naturally, Bondi’s memo says nothing of groups that promote violent white supremacy. All of this is scary, and the LGBTQ community is right to be concerned. We can envision a number of scenarios whereby federal agents or prosecutors target queer nonprofits because of what they do, simply because Trump and his administration have worked to omit diversity, equity, and inclusion from the federal government,

businesses, and universities, and sought to erase transgender people. Attorney General Anthony G. Brown (D) of Maryland spoke on behalf of a coalition of 10 state attorneys general last fall, pointing out that Trump’s memo also includes “a threat to investigate ‘institutional and individual funders, and officers and employees of organizations, that are responsible for, sponsor, or otherwise aid and abet’ causes, policies, or ideas that Trump opposes.” “Among the rights Americans cherish most are our freedom of speech and freedom of association, which the Constitution has guaranteed for more than 200 years, and one of the important ways Americans express those freedoms is through supporting, belonging to, and volunteering for nonprofits and charitable organizations,” stated the coalition, which includes California Attorney General Rob Bonta. “Charities and nonprofits are woven into the fabric of American society, in every state and community. Any attempts to target nonprofits for simply fulfilling their missions, no matter their beliefs or worldview, is a gross violation of their and all Americans’ First Amendment rights to free speech and free association – which the U.S. Supreme Court recently held ‘is especially important in preserving political and cultural diversity and in shielding dissident expression from suppression by the majority.’” In the Bay Area, with its proactive queer community, we expect people to stand strong and defend any federal pressure concerning nonprofit organizations. Many groups have already started to diversify their funding streams, as federal grants dried up last year, especially in the arts and health research, not to mention HIV/AIDS prevention. In the latter case, some of that funding was restored after the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, San Francisco Community Health Center, the GLBT Historical Society, and other nonprofits filed a federal lawsuit, which is ongoing. Different actions will likely be necessary in the new year. With local governments like San Francisco experiencing budget deficits, it’s crucial that city officials recognize the important role nonprofits play in providing direct services to many residents. They, too, need to stand with the nonprofit community as the federal government continues its witch hunt against beliefs it doesn’t like.t

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ear Community, To be honest, it was never a goal of mine to become an executive director. It was never a goal of mine to be anything specific in this world, really, other than a force for good. Looking back, I’d say my first act of activism was when I was 12 years old. On Earth Day, a childhood friend of mine and I ran around our local park hugging trees until people asked us what in the world we were doing – opening up an opportunity to start a conversation about land stewardship and environmental justice. Even as a child, with just a tiny window into the universe’s great complexities, I knew my actions could make a difference – and that possibility, that passion, sparked a fire inside my chest. Thirty-four years later, that fire is still burning bright. While pursuing an education in social service work, I carried those learnings out of the classroom into the community with years of anti-oppression work addressing gender-based violence, environmental justice, and LGBTQ+ liberation. My contributions evolved and transcended any one role: I was a community organizer, a radical cheerleader, a crisis worker, a peer counselor, a community mediator, an anarcha-feminist, and essentially every level of nonprofit worker. I won’t try to sugar-coat it: I was ANGRY. Both terrified and somehow still fearless, I spent my time trying to dismantle oppressive systems – smashing, breaking, screaming, and crying. (I send all of my gratitude and fortitude to those still screaming and smashing – don’t be surprised if you find me in the streets marching next to you one of these days.) And yet, a while ago, I began to wonder what we were building. Yes, it’s true that so much of how this world works is not for us, and there is so much to change, to demand, to dismantle. Is there a better way? And how do we build it? After all these years of organizing and deep

Sarah Deragon of Portraits to the People

Jennifer Valles is the new executive director of the San Francisco LGBT Community Center.

engagement in movement work at all levels – all these years of fighting – this is what I’ve learned: The most radical thing we can do is find each other. Systems of oppression strengthen their power by isolating and dividing us; building and creating community rooted in radical welcome is an act of resistance. Sometimes it seems this simple truth got lost somewhere along the way, but we can still return home to it. At the core, that’s what community is – a home, for all of us. When I think about home, I remember that as a child, I felt the weight of my parents’ financial struggles, yet also the quiet everyday miracles they created for my brother and me. Born from the projects of Chicago, their love and tenacity, interlaced with the compassionate hands of community, held us.

Despite all the hardships, whatever we had, we shared; whatever we needed, we received. There were times we should have been evicted from our apartment, but community kept us sheltered. And had we lost our home, I didn’t fear the fall – because I knew we would land in the warmth of an aunt’s, an uncle’s, a family friend’s small apartment, crowded, sure, but still together, still safe. Even then, I knew what remains true now: our community would always hold me, feed me, love me, and lift me back into the light. With the support of my community – the steady heartbeat of hidden embers – that fire in my chest will never go out. And that is the power of us. I believe with every fiber of my being that we can build a community that, with all its messiness and differences, is whole, is connected, and lifts each other up – not in spite of our nuances, but because of them. A community that works every day at practicing kindness, empathy, and connection with each other. Radical welcome in these times is an act of resistance, and it is the only thing that will lead us to collective liberation. This is what we do best at the San Francisco LGBT Community Center. From the moment you walk through our doors, you will be greeted with warmth and empathy, love and curiosity, support and gratitude. We can only do this together, and all it takes is for each of us to show up with open hearts and open minds. If there is one thing I want you to take away from this, it’s to show up – this year and every year. Give your community the gift of your presence and give yourself the gift of becoming a part of something bigger. The gift of someone who will always have your back, who will meet you where you’re at, however you show up, who sees you and cares about you just because you’re you. We’ll be here, ready to share this moment with you.t Jennifer Valles, a queer femme, officially started as the executive director of the San Francisco LGBT Community Center January 1. She will see her first day on the job Monday, January 5. For more information, visit sfcenter.org.

Politics >>

January 1-7, 2026 • Bay Area Repor ter • 5

LGBTQ history matters await SF supervisors by Matthew S. Bajko

GBTQ historical matters await the San Francisco Board of Supervisors when it returns from its holiday hiatus next week. City leaders still must finalize the lease for a new LGBTQ history museum before it can open in the LGBTQ Castro neighborhood. And a number of sites not far from the new home for the GLBT Historical Society will come before the supervisors this year to designate as local landmarks. Among them is the onetime residence of the late Bay Area Reporter founding publisher Bob Ross, who died in 2003 at age 69, located at the corner of Castro and 20th streets. Gay District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, who is board president, is seeking to have 16 properties across his district, from Cole Valley to the Mission, be deemed city landmarks. During LGBTQ History Month in October, the supervisors approved moving them forward. But first a city oversight panel tasked with reviewing historic preservation issues must weigh in on the nominated properties. It is expected to take up the matter later this month. “We are planning for the Historic Preservation Commission public hearing on January 21 for this batch of landmarks,” Richard Sucré, the deputy director of the city’s planning department and its historic preservation team lead, told the B.A.R. Once it does, the landmarks will return to the supervisors, whose land use committee will first need to vote on them. Following the panel’s hearing, the full board will cast votes to finalize landmarking the properties, which should occur sometime in March, providing some protection to their facades and requiring greater scrutiny of any redevelopment plans for the sites. Less certain is when the supervisors will cast votes on the LGBTQ museum lease. Mandelman in the summer had told the B.A.R. he wanted to introduce it in October so it could be finalized before the end of 2025. But that timeline has now come and gone. Nailing down the lease has faced repeated delays, as it was initially expected the supervisors would vote on it during the first quarter of last year. In September 2024, the city purchased the Market & Noe Center at 2280 Market Street for $11.6 million to serve as the permanent home for the GLBT Historical Society’s museum and archival center. Ever since, the city’s Real Estate Division housed within the City Administrator’s office has been working out a lease agreement with the historical society and the Community Arts Stabilization Trust. Known as CAST, the community-centered, arts and culture focused real estate organization works to secure and steward affordable spaces for nonprofit arts and culture organizations in San Francisco. While CAST initially was floated to be the master leaseholder and enter into a sublease with the historical society, city officials in August had told the B.A.R. the historical society would be the master leaseholder. CAST was to be contracted to serve solely in a property management and asset management role, with its fee for doing so expected to be 10% of the total gross revenues for the building, which would be covered by any lease payments made by the historical society in addition to the current two commercial tenants in the shopping center. City Administrator spokesperson Angela Yip told the B.A.R. in midDecember she hoped to have “a better sense” after the new year for when the museum lease will be introduced to the supervisors. It isn’t expected to

Bill Wilson

Supervisor Rafael Mandelman spoke outside the 2280 Market Street site of the proposed LGBTQ history museum September 27, 2024. Now as board president, Mandelman will shepherd the lease agreement that supervisors need to approve.

be ready in time for Mandelman to do so at the first 2026 meeting of the full board on Tuesday, January 6. “We are still working on it but don’t have firm dates yet unfortunately,” said Yip. The shopping center is prominently located at a main entry point into the historic Duboce Triangle neighborhood that borders the Castro. The plan is for the historical society to first move into the vacant second floor, with build out of the space for its museum installations to be covered by $5.5 million in state funds and additional money raised by the nonprofit via a capital campaign. Gay state Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) had secured the state funds for the museum project in 2022, and as chair of the Senate Budget Committee, had inserted language into California’s 2025 state budget that the unused funds were to be used by June 30 next summer. With the lease negotiations dragging on, however, he had told the B.A.R. in the fall that state officials would administratively change that language in order to give the GLBT Historical Society more time to access the funding. As for the current tenants of the building’s ground floor commercial spaces fronting Market Street, they will need to move out when their leases expire to allow for the historical society to expand into those spaces and become the sole occupant of the roughly 11,000 square foot structure. Barry’s Bootcamp is subleasing its storefront from CVS and can remain through 2040, while UCSF HealthGoHealth Urgent Care has a lease for its clinic through 2036. Under terms announced last year by city officials, the city was to retain 10% of the monthly $58,000 in lease payments from the commercial tenants and put the rest of the money into a separate reserve account to be used by the historical society for capital improvements and possibly programming. The city’s long-term goal is to eventually transfer ownership of the property to the GLBT Historical Society.

Proposed landmarks run the gamut

As for the batch of local landmarks Mandelman is sponsoring, seven directly correspond to the city’s LGBTQ history. Not far from where the new LGBTQ museum is going is the historic former site of LGBTQ synagogue Sha’ar Zahav (1983-1998) at 220 Danvers Street. Mandelman selected it for landmarking along with the LGBTQfriendly Most Holy Redeemer Roman Catholic Church’s buildings at 100117 Diamond Street. Included is the hospice building where the religious congregation had cared for its parishioners and others diagnosed with HIV soon after the start of the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s.

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The Catholic Church sites are a short walk from where the current GLBT History Museum is located in a storefront subleased from Walgreens www.SchneiderLawSF.com at 4127 18th Street. And nearby to the jewel-box of a museum just off the intersection of 18th and Castro streets is *Certified by the California State Bar where a plaque was recently installed honoring Ross, a gay man and chef 315 Montgomery St., Ste. 1025, San Francisco, CA 94104 who for a time had lived two blocks away at 4200 20th Street. The residential property is proposed to be landmarked due to its period of significance in the 1970s, though Ross lived there until the 1990s, when he moved to Clinton Park, according to gay B.A.R. publishCome and see Dignity/SF, which affirms er Michael Yamashita. Also under and supports LGBTQ+ folks. consideration for landmark status are Catholic liturgy Sundays at 5pm, 1329 7th Avenue the San Francisco AIDS Foundation’s (Immediately off the N Judah line) inaugural site at 514-20 Castro Street and the building at 582 Castro Street that once housed the Castro Rock Steam Baths from 1971 until 1977. Also on the list are locations of several pioneering but now defunct lesbian-owned businesses. They are the former site (1966-1989) of Maud’s Come for the service and stay for the fellowship. bar at 929-41 Cole Street and the fordignitysf@gmail.com for more details mer site (1974-1977) of the Full Moon Instagram @dignitysanfrancisco † Facebook @DignitySF Coffeehouse at 4416 18th Street. The other properties Mandelman wants to see become city landmarks include St. Paul’s Church at 1660 Church Street (Roman Catholic), which was the exterior used for the Serving the San Francisco Bay Area LGBTQ+ Community Since 1999. film “Sister Act;” St. Matthew’s Church (Lutheran) at 3281 16th Street; and • Probate • Wills/Trusts St. Nicholas Cathedral (Russian Or• Trust Admin • Estate Planning thodox) at 2005 15th Street. Two FLAT FEE! locations related to the city’s fire department – Hose Company No. 30, Flood Building, 870 Market St, Suite 420 located at 1757 Waller Street and EnBy Appointment only! 415-421-1893 gine Company No.13, 1458 Valencia Street – are also on the list. www.ShelleySFeinberg.com • trust@shelleysfeinberg.com Three additional residential properties would also become landmarks due to their architectural significance: 102 Guerrero Street, 361 San JoseShelley_S_Feinberg_2x2_032025.indd 1 3/13/25 7:45 PM Avenue, and the Chautauqua House located at 1451 Masonic Avenue. The latter, built in 1909, was where the American Indian Historical Society had its headquarters from 1967-1986 and would be the first city landmark related to American Indian history. The last building on the list is the Bank of Italy Branch Building, located at 400-410 Castro Street at the intersection of Market Street. It sits at the entrance to Harvey Milk Plaza and the Castro Muni Station, considered to be the front door into the neighborhood and set to see a new elevator go into service later this winter and a reimagining of the public parklet break ground this fall.t

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Political Notes, the notebook’s online companion column, returns Monday, January 12. Keep abreast of the latest LGBTQ political news by following the Political Notebook on Threads @ https://www.threads.net/@ matthewbajko and on Bluesky @ https://bsky.app/profile/politicalnotes.bsky.social. Got a tip on LGBTQ politics? Call Matthew S. Bajko at (415) 8298836 or email m.bajko@ebar.com.

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<< From the Cover

6 • Bay Area Repor ter • January 1-7, 2026

Tourism up

The narrative change couldn’t come fast enough for the city’s beleaguered tourism industry. The B.A.R. reported back in 2023 how the “doom loop” narrative of San Francisco’s decline was impacting tourism. Two and a half years later, tourism is on the rise in 2025. Forecasts suggest 23-24 million visitors by year’s end, nearing pre-COVID annual levels, though they skew domestically as international tourism is down across the board amid the second term of President Donald Trump. Travel Weekly reports that the number of hotel rooms booked per night per convention attendee are expected to rise from about 400,000 in 2024 to 650,000 in 2025, hitting 700,000 in 2026 – though this is still below the 2019 average of 850,000. Lurie said that there are 35 conferences scheduled for 2026 – up 10 from 2024. San Francisco International Airport in November recorded its busiest Thanksgiving holiday on record, with 1.8 million customers, exceeding prepandemic levels. Alex Bastian, president and CEO of the Hotel Council of San Francisco, is happy about that. “There’s magic right now in the air,” said Bastian, a straight ally. “All of us as San Franciscans are working together to put our city first. If we engage with common sense and civic pride, we’re unstoppable.” Bastian worked for Lurie’s mayoral campaign in 2024 before moving to the hotel council. Lurie, Bastian said, “is also selling the city, across the board,” and “when I compare it to where we were three to five years ago, there’s no question we’re seeing real improvements in San Francisco.” Key to Lurie’s selling of San Francisco is his social media activity, in particular his Instagram page with its 192,000 followers. It’s also a way to change the narrative around San Francisco. “I think people really like it, and they really like seeing him out promoting different businesses and neighborhood activities,” said gay Board of Supervisors President Rafael Mandelman, who represents the Castro, Diamond Heights, and Noe Valley as District 8 supervisor. “People have been doing impressions of him.

lutely would be a focus of ours coming forward, not just because it’s the buzzword now. … I’m not saying the city’s affordable. It’s not affordable.” Lurie continued that permitting reforms free up money for small businesses, and that at the beginning of the new year, his office is planning an educational campaign on what resources are available to working families.

For former District 5 supervisor Dean Preston – a straight ally and democratic socialist who was ousted by Lurie ally Bilal Mahmood in the 2024 election – the amount of influence big business has in Lurie’s administration is more than concerning. Segal is a former chief financial officer at Twitter. Sam Altman, a gay man who is the CEO of OpenAI, was on Lurie’s transition team. “There are serious policy issues in terms of the impact of AI on our society, on labor, and he’s just surrounded by folks who want a full embrace of AI,” Preston said in a phone interview, referring to artificial intelligence. “It’s totally appropriate for the mayor to be more of a cheerleader for San Francisco, and to do fun events. My concern is how much is just focused on downtown, to the neglect of the neighborhoods, and without any attention being paid to the many ways San Franciscans are suffering under his leadership. It’s all being swept under the rug, in service to real estate speculators and big tech.” Preston said these connections with private capital “can be helpful in raising some money for the city at times,

but also there’s an agenda that comes along with it, and it shows a disconnect with the struggle of working class people in the city.” Tom Ammiano, a gay former state assemblymember and member of the Board of Supervisors, shared a similar perspective. He told the B.A.R. of the rules loosening behested payments, “It just opens us up to more corruption.” While some have credited the AI boom for the city’s economy heating up again, Preston noted that’s partly to blame for the fact the city’s median rent for a one-bedroom apartment rose faster than any other U.S. city from September 2024 to September 2025. While San Francisco saw a 12% increase in rental prices, the nation at large saw rents go down 1%. “One year into his term, we now have rents soaring and the highest eviction rate in 10 years,” Preston said. Indeed, for the 2024-2025 fiscal year, the city saw 3,470 residential eviction cases – the highest figure recorded for any 12-month timespan in at least 10 years, according to court records. One company betting big on the AI boom is Blackstone Realty, the real estate arm of Blackstone Inc. At an event celebrating San Francisco Travel, Lurie praised Blackstone COO Jonathan D. Gray. “When you have the head of Blackstone, the largest real estate firm on the planet, and you have their CEO run along our wharf telling everyone into this camera, this selfie, saying, ‘Buy real estate in San Francisco,’ you know that this group, this crew in here is doing something right,” Lurie said, mistakenly calling Gray a CEO instead of COO. But Blackstone has been criticized for jacking up rents significantly after acquiring properties. One of the world’s largest corporate residential landlords, Blackstone has been accused by the United Nations housing adviser for contributing to the global housing crisis due to its business practices. Preston recounted the episode. “For those of us who have worked with tenants for years, and seen the policies of Blackstone play out, it’s the last CEO any of us would be praising,” Preston said. “Urging real estate speculators to come to San Francisco is an absolute disaster.” Asked about rising rents and evictions, and if he plans to tackle the city’s affordability crisis in the next year, by the B.A.R. at a December 16 roundtable with journalists, Lurie said, “I think that’s absolutely the right question. We’ve been addressing it.” “I think family zoning is a huge issue that’s going to allow for more building,” Lurie continued, referring to legislation that he signed in December increasing building height limits. “Obviously, not in the quick timeframe we had hoped, but that is absolutely part of what we’ve been doing and it abso-

and public safety officers had to make out-of-state criminal arrest warrants for such parents their lowest priority. Now, with the Trump administration ratcheting up its attacks on the rights of trans youth and adults, California will require warrants for law enforcement requests through the state’s health care database. (A week before Christmas Trump’s Department of Health and Human Services released a pair of rules to prohibit federal Medicare funds paying for the medical care for transgender youth under the age of 18 nationwide. LGBTQ advocates are waging a campaign to stop implementation of the rules, while in California, they have warned hospitals and other providers that state law makes refusing or restricting care based on gender identity unlawful discrimination.) Due to SB 497, accessing and knowingly sharing health data from a state database without a warrant to unauthorized parties will be punishable as a misdemeanor. Health care providers are also now prohibited from complying with subpoenas requiring the disclosure of medical information related to gender-affirming health care. “Families of trans and nonbinary

kids come to us with real, urgent fears about safety and privacy when seeking affirming care,” noted San Franciscobased Our Family Coalition, one of the LGBTQ groups that supported Wiener’s bill. “We pushed for this policy because parents should be able to get their children the healthcare they need without fear of being targeted, exposed, or criminalized.” Because of AB 82 by gay Assemblymember Chris Ward (D-San Diego), the staff and volunteers at genderaffirming health care services facilities can seek to ensure their residential address isn’t disclosed via public records requests to state agencies. It is also now a crime to share online the images of and the personal information for such individuals, commonly known as doxing a person. And health providers cannot report certain medications taken by trans patients to an electronic database that monitors the prescribing and dispensing of certain controlled substances. The state’s Department of Justice has until January 1, 2027, though, to remove certain existing records related to the dispensing of testosterone or mifepristone to patients from the Controlled Substanc-

es Utilization Review and Evaluation System it oversees. Noting in a recent email to his constituents the various “meaningful steps to protect privacy and civil rights” state lawmakers took during the 2025 legislative session, Ward noted that, “AB 82 strengthens safeguards for sensitive health data, especially for those seeking and providing legally protected and gender-affirming care.” Lastly, LGBTQ+ parents in other states whose children were born in California can now access the state’s courts to protect their parentage rights through adoption proceedings. It is due to the enactment of SB 450 authored by lesbian Senator Caroline Menjivar (D-San Fernando Valley), which Our Family Coalition also had sought to become law. “Parents in our community have expressed fear that crossing state lines could jeopardize their legal parent status, especially in the current political climate,” noted the nonprofit advocacy group. “Families asked us for more security and protection. We advocated for this bill because every child deserves legally recognized parents, no matter where life takes their family.”t

Lurie

From page 1

Said Conde, whose employer produces the annual OutsideLands music festival in Golden Gate Park and is renovating the historic Castro Theatre, which is expected to reopen in February, “The ‘doom loop narrative’ – those of us who know and love San Francisco saw through that – but it was sad, and it’s a sincere effort on his part to change the narrative.”

LGBTQ laws

From page 1

To help people navigate the process, California Rural Legal Assistance Inc. created a toolkit that can be accessed online at crla.org/programs/lgbtqjustice and includes fill-in-the-blank sample forms downloadable for free. LGBTQ advocacy groups also have been hosting seminars to answer people’s questions about SB 59. As Craig Pulsipher, the legislative director for Equality California explained in an email last month focused on SB 59’s implementation, the records of adults who file a name and/ or gender marker change before July 1 “will not be made confidential automatically. SB 59 creates a simplified process to request confidentiality.” Some minors may also need to file a request to ensure their records are sealed. Only petitions filed by people under the age of 18 “on or after January 1, 2024 are already confidential,” noted Pulsipher. “However, any minor petitions filed before January 1, 2024 still require a request to make the records confidential.” The process to legally change one’s name to conform with their gender

John Ferrannini

Emanuel “Manny” Yeukitel, center, who served as executive director of the Civic Joy Fund until stepping down to run for District 8 supervisor in 2026, welcomed Mayor Daniel Lurie, right, to a Downtown First Thursdays event, as Katy Birnbaum, left, a queer woman who founded Into the Streets, looked on.

I saw Halloween costumes of people dressed as ‘Lurie on Instagram.’”

Increased use of private funds

As the city faces a major budget deficit – in December, the mayor’s office announced that the projected twoyear city budget deficit for the next two years is $936 million – it has been seeking more and more private sector donations for city government work. The Board of Supervisors approved special waivers allowing department heads to solicit donations for city services – after rules on behested payments were tightened just a few years ago post the Mohammed Nuru scandal. (Nuru, the former head of the San Francisco Public Works, is in federal prison after pleading guilty to a fraud charge in a scandal that implicated over a dozen city workers and contractors on charges including fraud, bribery, and money laundering.) A behested payment is one suggested by a government official for an agreed-upon purpose. This year, the mayor’s office was pledged tens of millions of dollars in philanthropic donations for the 1,500 shelter beds Lurie promised during the campaign. Donors included Tipping Point Community, which Lurie started and once led, and billionaire Michael Moritz’s Crankstart. Ned Segal, a straight ally who is the city’s housing and economic development czar, said during an interview with Axios San Francisco’s Nadia Lopez, “Private capital can move faster and private entities can sometimes make decisions faster.” One example Segal gave that he cites as a success are the ambassadors near the Montgomery Street and Embarcadero BART stations. “There are ambassadors stationed there now paid for by donations to the Downtown Development Corporation,” he said. “911 calls in the last two months since those ambassadors have been there, from those stations, are down over 50%.” The corporation, formed in April and based on models in other cities such as New York, has already secured identity is being made easier for both adults and minors due to AB 1084 authored by gay Assemblymember Rick Chavez Zbur (D-Hollywood). No longer can someone file an objection to an adult petitioner’s change of name to conform to their gender identity. Courts now have to enter an order granting the petition without a hearing within six weeks of the petition’s filing. It will then be up to the California Department of Public Health to issue an amended birth certificate if it includes a request to change one’s gender, though a provision that it do so within a certain time was removed from the bill. With the enactment of Wiener’s SB 497, California is bolstering its status as a “transgender refuge state” first enacted in 2023 by state leaders in response to anti-trans laws being adopted by other states. As such, the Golden State instituted a policy rejecting any out-of-state court judgments removing trans kids from their parents’ custody because they allowed them to receive gender-affirming health care. It also forbade state health officials from complying with subpoenas seeking health records and any information related to such criminal cases,

$60 million in commitments, including from Amazon and San Franciscoheadquartered OpenAI. A corporation spokesperson stated to the B.A.R. it has donated $100,000 to the ambassador program, the cost for which by the end of the year is estimated to be $235,000. It referred a question as to how many ambassadors there are to the San Francisco Downtown Partnership, which stated it has 23 fulltime and 11 part-time ambassadors. Asked if the city was moving too fast and loose in eliminating safeguards against the influence of private interests, Segal told Axios, “There are all kinds of safeguards we have in place to make sure … that we’re really careful in how we do things, that we disclose them all, that people understand who’s involved in what. Those are really important rules. … At the same time it would be a shame if we didn’t take advantage of the opportunity to bring public and private capital.”

Problems ‘swept under the rug,’ critics warn

Immigration

Both Ammiano and Preston expressed positive views of queer freshman District 9 Supervisor Jackie Fielder, who carries the progressive standard on the board. Perhaps no issue has animated Fielder, who represents the heavily Latino Mission district, this year more than immigration. After Trump sent the National Guard and Marines into Los Angeles in the spring, now-Police Chief Derrick Lew made remarks at a town hall about the San Francisco Police Department’s need to protect Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents after he was asked about an online video posted by someone who characterized it as police facilitating an ICE operation against the city’s sanctuary city policies. Fielder sent a letter of inquiry to the department asking for clarity on its policies vis a vis ICE. She later blasted the city’s answers as being evasive. Lew had made those remarks at a town hall in the Castro. He stated, “We can’t just sit by and watch our fellow law enforcement agent or officer get hurt. … Just like if [the California Highway Patrol] were to get into some sort of a situation out on our streets off of some other traffic stop, for example, we would help them out of that situation.” Los Angeles police had implemented a policy requiring officers to try to verify the identities of masked ICE agents after multiple reports of kidnappings that turned out to be ICE operations. “San Francisco can’t call itself a sanctuary city if local law enforcement stands by while ICE operates unchecked in our neighborhoods,” Fielder stated. She added police are dodging “responsibility by saying it’s not within their authority to compel purported ICE agents to identify themselves – even though departments like LAPD have taken steps to do exactly that.” Fielder did not return multiple interview requests for this report. Fielder and Lurie joined forces more recently, with her support of a $3.5 million supplemental budget appropriation to expand coordinated immigration legal services and coordinated response efforts for immigrant communities across San Francisco that the mayor signed December 4.t This is part two of a series. The next article will look at what’s in store for 2026.

t <<

From the Cover >>

SF homebuyers

From page 1

Angel Carney, a lesbian Realtor, has also been in the Castro area for decades. She said the threshold of home ownership there has risen dramatically. “When I first started,” which was in 2002, she said, “I had teachers, I had nurses, I had a doctor … It was diverse in terms of who was buying. Everybody had a way to get into the market.” Now, “with tech, they blew out everybody,” she added, saying first-time homebuyers are sometimes competing with tech employees making sixfigure salaries from their early 20s due to their economic opportunities. Carney said that even so, “It’s mostly a two-income household who’s buying in the Castro,” largely people in their 30s. “LGBTQ is more of a rarity,” she added. “I’ve seen more non-LGBTQ, I would say, couples buying in the Castro.” One reason is because while it is such an iconic epicenter of the LGBTQ community, it is “definitely a transit hub, and it’s geographically central, so if you work on the Peninsula, you go over Diamond Street and you’re on [Highway] 280. You can get to BART, to the airport, it definitely is transit centric for work, for traveling, if you’re a tech worker.” Understanding that unhoused people are often part of San Francisco neighborhoods such as the Castro is also a factor, Mader said. “Because gays are so tolerant, it draws a magnet for people who you know are distressed and so you see

more antisocial behavior, begging on the street, people just getting high because they know they can get away with it,” he said. That can impact people’s desire to buy a forever home in one neighborhood or another. Indeed, the Castro has experienced fewer open-air drug scenes than other parts of the city, such as Sixth Street or the Civic Center Plaza, which are both near the downtown core. Such activity has, however, remained a persistent complaint of Castro merchants. In early December, Sophie Marie, a legislative aide to gay Board of Supervisors President Rafael Mandelman, who represents the neighborhood as District 8 supervisor, noted that “a lot” of unhoused people have recently moved into the Castro as they leave South of Market and Civic Center amid an increase in law enforcement activity and attention from city government there. The Castro is among those neighborhoods seeing building height limits increased as a result of Mayor Daniel Lurie’s family zoning plan that, after much rancor, passed the Board of Supervisors for the final time on December 9. The plan is intended to increase the city’s housing stock to meet state housing goals. San Francisco’s median home sale price rose nearly 6% to $1.85 million, its highest amount since 2022, earlier this year, as the San Francisco Standard reported. Mader said that nonetheless, “There are empty condos everywhere for sale,” and that market is down 20% from its peak.

January 1-7, 2026 • Bay Area Repor ter • 7 “Right now I’m selling for $625,000 – I’ve sold for $100,000 more than that,” Mader noted. Carney agreed that condos are very available right now. “If you’re thinking about entering the market, think about condos,” she advised. “When interest rates go down, prices will go up, so get in now on a condo. People say they’re waiting for the market to drop – well, the market dropped on condos. Those are a great buy right now.”

National trends

The Fannie Mae data showed that homeownership aspirations are high among LGBT consumers, with 83% saying they “would like to buy at some point” or “continue to own,” the report stated. This share is comparable to non-LGBT consumers, the report stated. LGBT consumers also believe there are more obstacles to owning a home than their non-LGBT peers. Those obstacles include that over 70% of LGBT respondents said it was difficult to get a home mortgage today, compared to only 55% of non-LGBT respondents, according to the research. LGBT consumers were more concerned about closing costs, credit score or history, current debt, and insufficient income for monthly payments. The Federal Reserve on December 10 lowered interest rates for the third time this year. The recent reduction was by a quarter of a percentage point, as the New York Times reported. The new range is between 3.25% to 3.75%. But CNBC noted that mortgage rates may remain higher because they are

less impacted by the Fed. The average rate for a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage is currently about 6.35%, the network reported December 10. Nationally, the real estate market is dealing with the same uncertainty as the rest of the economy, now almost one year into President Donald Trump’s second term. “Everyone is afraid of another Trump recession,” Mader said. “People are not buying houses especially in places like Florida, where they’re having all kinds of issues with insurance.” Florida is the nation’s most expensive state for home insurance due to natural disasters like hurricanes. California is also experiencing insurance issues, particularly in areas prone to wildfires, as the San Francisco Chronicle reported. Most of the Bay Area is not as affected as other parts of the state, though insurance premiums are rising for home insurance.

Looking elsewhere

Not everyone wants to live in a big city. Mark Kliem, who’s part of the LGBTQ Real Estate Alliance, focuses on the North Bay, encompassing Solano, Napa, and Sonoma counties. “Consumers can contact the alliance no matter where they live and connect with the nearest LGBTQ agent close to their area whether they are buyers or sellers,” Kliem, who is gay, said. Kliem lives in the Solano County city of Vallejo, where the real estate market took a dive during the Great Recession.

“A lot of investors swooped in and bought up as many of those places as they could, so there was a lot of investing in property through that, and a lot of flippers,” he said, referring to people who buy a property, fix it up, and then sell it for a profit. Now, the area is one of the country’s hottest real estate markets, he said, because it’s near San Francisco, has warmer weather and is more affordable long-term. “It’s a good place location wise – we’re on a bay, we have a ferry service to downtown San Francisco. We don’t have BART, so it’s a little problematic to get to the nearest BART, but our weather gets even warmer, less fog, than Oakland. Throughout the year, it’s a five-degree difference from San Francisco.” Ultimately, the Golden State and the Bay Area in particular are poised to remain competitive for buyers of all sexual orientations and gender identity – despite the fact that that leads to so many barriers to entry. Gay Realtor Anthony Waite, 30, explained why. “A lot of people who moved to Austin, Texas [during the COVID pandemic lockdowns] said there’s not a lot to do,” Waite said. “In San Francisco, you could find something to do every single corner every hour, day and night. Texas doesn’t offer that.”t This article is part of a national initiative exploring how geography, policy, and local conditions influence access to opportunity. Find more stories at economicopportunitylab.com/.

Legals>> ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO CASE NUMBER CNC-25560301 To all interested persons, the Petitioner BILLYBRUCE RONALD LAMBERT filed a petition with this court for a decree changing names as follows: present name BILLYBRUCE RONALD LAMBERT to proposed name BRUCE ALLEN NELMS and present name BILLYBRUCE RONALD LAMBERT JR. to proposed name ELIAS KORY NELMS. Any person objecting to the name changes described above must file a written objection that includes the reasons for the objection at least two court days before the matter is scheduled to be heard and must appear at the hearing to show cause why the petition should not be granted. If no written objection is timely filed, the court may grant the petition without a hearing. Notice of Hearing: JANUARY 13, 2026, 9:00 am, Dept. 103N, Rm. 103N, Superior Court of California, 400 McAllister St., San Francisco, CA 94102. DEC 11, 18, 25, 2025, JAN 01, 2026 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO CASE NUMBER CNC-25560303 To all interested persons, the Petitioner DAVID ANTONIO MARTINEZ filed a petition with this court for a decree changing names as follows: present name DAVID ANTONIO MARTINEZ to proposed name DAVIAN AMIR LIRA. Any person objecting to the name changes described above must file a written objection that includes the reasons for the objection at least two court days before the matter is scheduled to be heard and must appear at the hearing to show cause why the petition should not be granted. If no written objection is timely filed, the court may grant the petition without a hearing. Notice of Hearing: JANUARY 15, 2026, 9:00 am, Dept. 103N, Rm. 103N, Superior Court of California, 400 McAllister St., San Francisco, CA 94102. DEC 11, 18, 25, 2025, JAN 01, 2026 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO CASE NUMBER CNC-25560306 To all interested persons, the Petitioner JOHN DAVID WILKINSON filed a petition with this court for a decree changing names as follows: present name JOHN DAVID WILKINSON to proposed name JACOB MICHAEL HUNTER. Any person objecting to the name changes described above must file a written objection that includes the reasons for the objection at least two court days before the matter is scheduled to be heard and must appear at the hearing to show cause why the petition should not be granted. If no written objection is timely filed, the court may grant the petition without a hearing. Notice of Hearing: JANUARY 15, 2026, 9:00 am, Dept. 103N, Rm. 103N, Superior Court of California, 400 McAllister St., San Francisco, CA 94102. DEC 11, 18, 25, 2025, JAN 01, 2026 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO CASE NUMBER CNC-25560295 To all interested persons, the Petitioner DINH ETHAN XUAN TRINH filed a petition with this court for a decree changing names as follows: present name DINH ETHAN XUAN TRINH to proposed name ETHAN XUAN TRINH. Any person objecting to the name changes described above must file a written objection that includes the reasons for the objection at least two court days before the matter is scheduled to be heard and must appear at the hearing to show cause why the petition should not be granted. If no written objection is timely filed, the court may grant the petition without a hearing. Notice of Hearing: JANUARY 15, 2026, 9:00 am, Dept. 103, Rm. 103, Superior Court of California, 400 McAllister St., San Francisco, CA 94102. DEC 11, 18, 25, 2025, JAN 01, 2026 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO CASE NUMBER CNC-25560308 To all interested persons, the Petitioner KIMBERLY CELENIA MANCIA DE MARTINEZ filed a petition with this court for a decree changing names as follows: present name KIMBERLY CELENIA MANCIA DE MARTINEZ AKA KIMBERLY MANCIA to proposed name KIMBERLY CELENIA MANCIA VASQUEZ. Any person objecting to the name changes described above must file a written objection that includes the reasons for the objection at least two court days before the matter is scheduled to be heard and must appear at the hearing to show cause why the petition should not be granted. If no written objection is timely filed, the court may grant the petition without a hearing. Notice of Hearing: JANUARY 20, 2026, 9:00 am, Dept. 103N, Rm. 103N, Superior Court of California, 400 McAllister St., San Francisco, CA 94102. DEC 11, 18, 25, 2025, JAN 01, 2026 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO CASE NUMBER CNC-25560289

To all interested persons, the Petitioner MICHAL MICHELLE SOFER AKA MIKHAL MICHELLE SOFER filed a petition with this court for a decree changing names as follows: present name MICHAL MICHELLE SOFER AKA MIKHAL MICHELLE SOFER to proposed name MIKHAL SOFER WERBOFF. Any person objecting to the name changes described above must file a written objection that includes the reasons for the objection at least two court days before the matter is scheduled to be heard and must appear at the hearing to show cause why the petition should not be granted. If no written objection is timely filed, the court may grant the petition without a hearing. Notice of Hearing: JANUARY 13, 2026, 9:00 am, Dept. 103N, Rm. 103N, Superior Court of California, 400 McAllister St., San Francisco, CA 94102.

DEC 11, 18, 25, 2025, JAN 01, 2026

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO CASE NUMBER CNC-25560299 To all interested persons, the Petitioner CYNTHIA RACHEL ASHFORD filed a petition with this court for a decree changing names as follows: present name CYNTHIA RACHEL ASHFORD to proposed name LUNADAWN THADWELL. Any person objecting to the name changes described above must file a written objection that includes the reasons for the objection at least two court days before the matter is scheduled to be heard and must appear at the hearing to show cause why the petition should not be granted. If no written objection is timely filed, the court may grant the petition without a hearing. Notice of Hearing: JANUARY 13, 2026, 9:00 am, Dept. 103N, Rm. 103N, Superior Court of California, 400 McAllister St., San Francisco, CA 94102. DEC 11, 18, 25, 2025, JAN 01, 2026 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO CASE NUMBER CNC-25560312 To all interested persons, the Petitioner BRIAN K. CURTIS filed a petition with this court for a decree changing names as follows: present name BRIAN K. CURTIS to proposed name MAESTRO BRIAN K. CURTIS. Any person objecting to the name changes described above must file a written objection that includes the reasons for the objection at least two court days before the matter is scheduled to be heard and must appear at the hearing to show cause why the petition should not be granted. If no written objection is timely filed, the court may grant the petition without a hearing. Notice of Hearing: JANUARY 20, 2026, 9:00 am, Dept. 103N, Rm. 103N, Superior Court of California, 400 McAllister St., San Francisco, CA 94102. DEC 11, 18, 25, 2025, JAN 01, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 2025-0407926 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): STARTUP SMARTUP; PFL ACADEMY, 2380 CALIFORNIA ST #402, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94115. This business is conducted by an individual. Registrant/Owner(s): JUSTIN GHIGLIA. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 12/02/2025. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/02/2025. DEC 11, 18, 25, 2025, JAN 01, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 2025-0407912 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): CARRANZA TRANSPORT, 1951 QUINT ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94124. This business is conducted by an individual. Registrant/Owner(s): FREDYS H. CARRANZA. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N/A. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/26/2025. DEC 11, 18, 25, 2025, JAN 01, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 2025-0407940 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): BLUE BISON BUILDERS, 2156 MARKET ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94114. This business is conducted by an individual. Registrant/Owner(s): LUIS FERNANDO MAIRENA RIVAS. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/04/2024. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/03/2025. DEC 11, 18, 25, 2025, JAN 01, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 2025-0407885 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): CLARITY RESEARCH CONSULTING, 3023 FRANKLIN ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94123. This business is conducted by an individual. Registrant/Owner(s): MARIA VEDECHKINA. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/14/2025. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/25/2025.

DEC 11, 18, 25, 2025, JAN 01, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 2025-0407896 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): MACDONALD LAW, 100 PINE ST #1250, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94111. This business is conducted by an individual. Registrant/Owner(s): DUNCAN MACDONALD. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N/A. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/25/2025. DEC 11, 18, 25, 2025, JAN 01, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 2025-0407948 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): WINGIS SERVICES, 2199 TURK BLVD #4, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94115. This business is conducted by an individual. Registrant/Owner(s): ASHER ZELINSKY. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 12/05/2025. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/05/2025. DEC 11, 18, 25, 2025, JAN 01, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 2025-0407954 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): PAWS IN MOTION SF, 1035 DOUGLASS ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94114. This business is conducted by an individual. Registrant/Owner(s): PEDRO VASQUEZ. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 12/05/2025. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/08/2025. DEC 11, 18, 25, 2025, JAN 01, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 2025-0407957 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): ROBOTFITNESS, 201 HARRISON ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94105. This business is conducted by an individual. Registrant/Owner(s): ANITA CHUGANI. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/25/2025. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/08/2025. DEC 11, 18, 25, 2025, JAN 01, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 2025-0407812 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): ALL SMOG IN N OUT, 172 HARRIET ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103. This business is conducted by a married couple. Registrant/Owner(s): GULISTAN BORTUCENE & OKTAY BORTUCENE. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/12/2025. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/14/2025. DEC 11, 18, 25, 2025, JAN 01, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 2025-0407890 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): EXCEL PLUMBING SUPPLY & SHOWROOM, 659 S VAN NESS AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by a corporation. Registrant/Owner(s): TAMXL CORP (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 09/22/2010. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/25/2025. DEC 11, 18, 25, 2025, JAN 01, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 2025-0407956 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): NO BARRIERS COMMUNITY SERVICES, 447 SUTTER ST #506-1415, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94108. This business is conducted by a corporation. Registrant/Owner(s): NO BARRIERS COMMUNITY HOUSING (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/13/2025. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/08/2025. DEC 11, 18, 25, 2025, JAN 01, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 2025-0407821 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): BUS STOP, 1901 UNION ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94123. This business is conducted by a corporation. Registrant/Owner(s): LRJ VENTURES (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/05/2021. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/14/2025. DEC 11, 18, 25, 2025, JAN 01, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 2025-0407823 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): LEFT DOOR, 1905 UNION ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94123. This business is conducted by a corpora-

tion. Registrant/Owner(s): LRJ VENTURES (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/22/2023. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/14/2025.

DEC 11, 18, 25, 2025, JAN 01, 2026

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 2025-0407824 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): FINAL FINAL, 2990 BAKER ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94123. This business is conducted by a corporation. Registrant/Owner(s): LRJ VENTURES (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 07/04/2024. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/14/2025. DEC 11, 18, 25, 2025, JAN 01, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 2025-0407904 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): BLU ANGELS HEALTHCARE LLC, ONE SANSOME ST #1400, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94104. This business is conducted by a limited liability company. Registrant/ Owner(s): BLU ANGELS HEALTHCARE LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/25/2025. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/25/2025. DEC 11, 18, 25, 2025, JAN 01, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 2025-0407936 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): LITTLE LITTLE FLORAL PRODUCTION, 707 CAPITOL AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94112. This business is conducted by a limited liability company. Registrant/ Owner(s): LITTLE LITTLE FLORAL PRODUCTION (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/24/2023. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/03/2025. DEC 11, 18, 25, 2025, JAN 01, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 2025-0407932 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): FOGCUTTER TOURS, 124 BENTON AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94112. This business is conducted by a limited liability company. Registrant/Owner(s): SF ADVENTURE TOURS, LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 04/27/2020. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/03/2025. DEC 11, 18, 25, 2025, JAN 01, 2026 NOTICE OF PETITION TO ADMINISTER ESTATE OF JAIME LACANLALE ALAMARES IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO: CASE NUMBER PES-25-309047 To all heirs, beneficiaries, creditors, contingent creditors, and persons who may otherwise be interested in the will or estate, or both, of JAIME LACANLALE ALAMARES. A Petition for Probate has been filed by MICHELLE OAKLEY in the Superior Court of California, County of San Francisco. The Petition for Probate requests that MICHELLE OAKLEY be appointed as personal representative to administer the estate of the decedent. The petition requests authority to administer the estate under the Independent Administration of Estates Act. (This authority will allow the personal representative to take many actions without obtaining court approval. Before taking certain very important actions, however, the personal representative will be required to give notice to interested persons unless they have waived notice or consented to the proposed action.) The independent administration authority will be granted unless an interested person files an objection to the petition and shows good cause why the court should not grant the authority. A hearing on the petition will be held in this court as follows: JANUARY 12, 2026, 9:00 am, Dept. 204, Rm. 204, Superior Court of California, 400 McAllister St., San Francisco, CA 94102. If you object to the granting of the petition, you should appear at the hearing and state your objections or file written objections with the court before the hearing. Your appearance may be in person or by your attorney. If you are a creditor or contingent creditor of the decedent, you must file your claim with the court and mail a copy to the personal representative appointed by the court within the later of either (1) four months from the date of first issuance of letters to a general personal representative, as defined by section 58(b) of the California Probate Code, or (2) 60 days from the date of mailing or personal delivery to you of a notice under section 9052 of the California Probate Code. Other California statutes and legal authority may affect your rights as a creditor. You may want to consult with an attorney knowledgeable in California law. You may examine the file kept by the court. If you are a person interested in the estate, you may file with the court a Request for Special Notice (form DE-154) of the filing of an inventory and appraisal of estate assets or of any petition or account as provided in Probate Code section 1250. A Request for Special Notice form is available

from the court clerk. Attorney for petitioner: SRIJANA DHAKHWA (SBN 340899), ARYA LEGAL CALIFORNIA, 900 MISSION AVE #11C, SAN RAFAEL, CA 94901; Ph. (415) 488-5552.

DEC 18, 25, 2025, JAN 01, 2026

NOTICE OF PETITION TO ADMINISTER ESTATE OF DORIS JOHANNA MEHLER IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO: CASE NUMBER PES-25-309016 To all heirs, beneficiaries, creditors, contingent creditors, and persons who may otherwise be interested in the will or estate, or both, of DORIS JOHANNA MEHLER. A Petition for Probate has been filed by HOLLY MILLAR in the Superior Court of California, County of San Francisco. The Petition for Probate requests that HOLLY MILLAR be appointed as personal representative to administer the estate of the decedent. The petition requests the decedent’s will and codicils, if any, be admitted to probate. The will and any codicils are available for examination in the file kept by the court. The petition requests authority to administer the estate under the Independent Administration of Estates Act. (This authority will allow the personal representative to take many actions without obtaining court approval. Before taking certain very important actions, however, the personal representative will be required to give notice to interested persons unless they have waived notice or consented to the proposed action.) The independent administration authority will be granted unless an interested person files an objection to the petition and shows good cause why the court should not grant the authority. A hearing on the petition will be held in this court as follows: JANUARY 06, 2025, 9:00 am, Rm. 204, Superior Court of California, 400 McAllister St., San Francisco, CA 94102. If you object to the granting of the petition, you should appear at the hearing and state your objections or file written objections with the court before the hearing. Your appearance may be in person or by your attorney. If you are a creditor or contingent creditor of the decedent, you must file your claim with the court and mail a copy to the personal representative appointed by the court within the later of either (1) four months from the date of first issuance of letters to a general personal representative, as defined by section 58(b) of the California Probate Code, or (2) 60 days from the date of mailing or personal delivery to you of a notice under section 9052 of the California Probate Code. Other California statutes and legal authority may affect your rights as a creditor. You may want to consult with an attorney knowledgeable in California law. You may examine the file kept by the court. If you are a person interested in the estate, you may file with the court a Request for Special Notice (form DE-154) of the filing of an inventory and appraisal of estate assets or of any petition or account as provided in Probate Code section 1250. A Request for Special Notice form is available from the court clerk. Petitioner: HOLLY MILLAR, 1740 BROADWAY #701, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109; Ph. (415) 747-7296. DEC 18, 25, 2025, DEC 31, 2026 SUMMONS IN A CIVIL ACTION IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA. SCOTTSDALE INSURANCE COMPANY, AN OHIO CORPORATION, PLAINTIFF(S) V. REPAIRPAL, INC., A DELAWARE CORPORATION, AND AUBREY JACKSON SHELTON II, A CALIFORNIA CITIZEN, DEFENDANT(S). CIVIL ACTION NO. 25-CV-05094DMR To Defendant: AUBREY JACKSON SHELTON II, a California citizen, 2261 Market St #4705, San Francisco, CA 94114. A lawsuit has been filed against you. Within 21 days after the service of this summons on you (not counting the day you received it) - or 60 days if you are the United States or the United States agency, or an officer or employee of the United States described in Fed. R. Civ. P. 12 (a)(2) or (3) - you must serve on the plaintiff an answer to the attached complaint or a motion under Rule 12 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. The answer or motion must be served on the plaintiff or plaintiff’s attorney, whose name and address are: COZEN O’CONNOR, VALERIE D. ROJAS (SBN 180041), VROJAS@COZEN.COM, 601 SOUTH FIGUEROA ST #3700, LOS ANGELES, CA 90017. If you fail to respond, judgment by default will be entered against you for the relief demanded in the complaint. You also must file your answer or motion with the court. Date 06/17/2025, Mark B. Busby, Clerk of the Court. DEC 18, 25, 2025, JAN 01, 08, 2026 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO CASE NUMBER CNC-25560319 To all interested persons, the Petitioner TIFFANY JUANA FUNG AKA JUANA TIFFANY TERESA LAUX filed a petition with this court for a decree changing names as follows: present name TIFFANY JUANA FUNG AKA JUANA TIFFANY TERESA LAUX to proposed name JUANA TIFFANY TERESA LAUX. Any person objecting to the name changes described above must file a written objection that includes the reasons for the objection at least two court days before the matter is scheduled to be heard and must appear at the hearing to show cause why the petition should not be granted. If no written objection is timely filed, the court may grant the petition without a hearing. Notice of Hearing: JANUARY 22,

<< Classifieds

8 • Bay Area Repor ter • January 1-7, 2026

2026, 9:00 am, Dept. 103N, Rm. 103N, Superior Court of California, 400 McAllister St., San Francisco, CA 94102.

DEC 18, 25, 2025, JAN 01, 08, 2026

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO CASE NUMBER CNC-25560321 To all interested persons, the Petitioner JUDITH CLAIRE BREES filed a petition with this court for a decree changing names as follows: present name JUDITH CLAIRE BREES AKA J. CLAIRE BREES AKA CLAIRE J. BREES to proposed name CLAIRE BREES. Any person objecting to the name changes described above must file a written objection that includes the reasons for the objection at least two court days before the matter is scheduled to be heard and must appear at the hearing to show cause why the petition should not be granted. If no written objection is timely filed, the court may grant the petition without a hearing. Notice of Hearing: JANUARY 27, 2026, 9:00 am, Dept. 103N, Rm. 103N, Superior Court of California, 400 McAllister St., San Francisco, CA 94102. DEC 18, 25, 2025, JAN 01, 08, 2026 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO CASE NUMBER CNC-25560328 To all interested persons, the Petitioner RUI CHAO LI filed a petition with this court for a decree changing names as follows: present name RUI CHAO LI AKA JIMMY LEE to proposed name JIMMY LEE. Any person objecting to the name changes described above must file a written objection that includes the reasons for the objection at least two court days before the matter is scheduled to be heard and must appear at the hearing to show cause why the petition should not be granted. If no written objection is timely filed, the court may grant the petition without a hearing. Notice of Hearing: JANUARY 27, 2026, 9:00 am, Dept. 103N, Rm. 103N, Superior Court of California, 400 McAllister St., San Francisco, CA 94102. DEC 18, 25, 2025, JAN 01, 08, 2026 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO CASE NUMBER CNC-25560332

SUMMONS IN A CIVIL ACTION IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA. SCOTTSDALE INSURANCE COMPANY, an Ohio corporation, Plaintiff(s) v. REPAIRPAL, INC., a Delaware corporation, and AUBREY JACKSON SHELTON II, a California citizen, Defendant(s). CIVIL ACTION NO. 25-cv-05094-DMR To Defendant: AUBREY JACKSON SHELTON II, a California citizen, 2261 Market St #4705, San Francisco, CA 94114. A lawsuit has been filed against you. Within 21 days after the service of this summons on you (not counting the day you received it) - or 60 days if you are the United States or the United States agency, or an officer or employee of the United States described in Fed. R. Civ. P. 12 (a)(2) or (3) - you must serve on the plaintiff an answer to the attached complaint or a motion under Rule 12 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. The answer or motion must be served on the plaintiff or plaintiff’s attorney, whose name and address are: COZEN O’CONNOR, VALERIE D. ROJAS (SBN 180041), VROJAS@ COZEN.COM, 601 SOUTH FIGUEROA ST #3700, LOS ANGELES, CA 90017. If you fail to respond, judgment by default will be entered against you for the relief demanded in the complaint. You also must file your answer or motion with the court. Date 06/17/2025, Mark B. Busby, Clerk of the Court. SCOTTSDALE INSURANCE COMPANY’S COMPLAINT For its Complaint against Defendants RepairPal, Inc. (“RepairPal”) and Aubrey Jackson Shelton II (“Shelton”), Plaintiff Scottsdale Insurance Company (“Scottsdale”) states as follows: 1. This is an insurance coverage action seeking declaratory relief pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 2201, 2202, and 1332 and for breach of contract. PARTIES 2. Scottsdale is a corporation organized and existing under the laws of the State of Ohio with its principal place of business located in Scottsdale, Arizona. 3. RepairPal is a corporation organized and existing under the laws of the State of Delaware with its principal place of business located in San Francisco, California. 4. Shelton was a senior accountant at RepairPal and is a citizen of the State of California. JURISDICTION AND VENUE 5. The Court has jurisdiction over this action pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §1332(a)(1). There is complete diversity of citizenship between Scottsdale, on the one hand, and RepairPal and Shelton, on the other hand, and the amount in controversy exceeds $75,000 exclusive of interest and costs. 6. Venue is proper in this district pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 1391(b)(1) and (2) because Shelton resides in San Francisco and RepairPal is headquartered in San Francisco, and a substantial part of the events or omissions giving rise to the claim occurred in this district. FACTUAL ALLEGATIONS The Policy 7. Scottsdale issued Business and Management Indemnity Policy No. EKS3468389 to RepairPal (the “Policy”) effective for the period from March 1, 2023 to March 1, 2024 (the “Policy Period”). A copy of the Policy is attached hereto as “Exhibit 1.” 8. Subject to the Policy’s terms, conditions, limitations, exclusions, and endorsements, the Policy provides coverage under an Employment Practices Coverage Section and a Directors and Officers and Company (“D&O”) Coverage Section. (Ex. 1 at Declarations, Item 3.) 9. Insuring Clause A(1) of the D&O Coverage Section states that Scottsdale shall pay the “Loss” of the “Directors and Officers” for which the “Directors and Officers” are not indemnified by RepairPal and which the “Directors and Officers” have become legally obligated to pay by reason of a “Claim” first made against the “Directors and Officers” during the Policy Period or, if elected, the Extended Period and reported to Scottsdale pursuant to Section E(1) of the Policy, for a “Wrongful Act” taking place prior to the end of the Policy Period. (Ex. 1 at D&O Coverage Section § A(1).) 10. Insuring Clause A(2) of the D&O Coverage Section states that Scottsdale shall pay the “Loss” of the “Company” for which the “Company” has indemnified the “Directors and Officers” and which the “Directors and Officers” have become legally obligated to pay by reason of a “Claim” first made against the “Directors and Officers” during the Policy Period or, if elected, the Extended Period and reported to Scottsdale pursuant to Section E(1) of the Policy, for a “Wrongful Act” taking place prior to the end of the Policy Period. (Ex. 1 at D&O Coverage Section § A(2).) 11. “Directors and Officers” is defined in the D&O Coverage Section, in relevant part, as any person who was, now is, or shall become a duly elected or appointed director, officer, or similar executive of the Company, or a full-time or part-time employee of RepairPal. (Ex. 1 at D&O Coverage Section § B(4), as amended by Endorsements No. 25, 32, 40.) 12. “Claim” is defined in the D&O Coverage Section, in pertinent part, as “a criminal proceeding against any ‘Insured’ commenced by a return of an indictment or similar document, or receipt of filing of a notice of charges,” among other things. (Ex. 1 at D&O Coverage Section §§ B(1)(d), as amended by Endorsements No. 4, 30, 34.) 13. “Insured” is defined as the “Company” (i.e., RepairPal) and the Directors and Officers. (Ex. 1 at D&O Coverage Section § B(5); General Terms & Conditions § B(2); Declarations, Item 1.) 14. “Loss” is defined in the D&O Coverage Section, in relevant part, as damages, judgments, settlements, pre-judgment or post-judgment interest awarded by a court, and “Costs, Charges and Expenses” incurred by Directors and Officers under Insuring Clause 1, with several exceptions. (Ex. 1 at D&O Coverage Section § B(7), as amended by Endorsement No. 7.) 15. “Wrongful Act” is defined in the D&O Coverage Section, in relevant part, as: any actual or alleged error, omission, misleading statement, misstatement, neglect, breach of duty or act allegedly committed or attempted by: a. any of the Directors and Officers, while acting in their capacity as such, or any matter claimed against any Director and Officer solely by reason of his or her serving in such capacity; b. any of the Directors and Officers, while acting in their capacity as a director, officer, trustee, governor, executive director or similar position of any ‘Outside Entity’ where such service is with the knowledge and consent of [RepairPal] . . . . (Ex. 1 at D&O Coverage Section § B(9).) 16. “Costs, Charges and Expenses” is defined in the D&O Coverage Section, in pertinent part, as “reasonable and necessary legal costs, charges, fees and expenses incurred by any of the Insureds in defending Claims . . . .” (Ex. 1 at D&O Coverage Section § B(3)(a), as amended by Endorsement No. 34.) 17. The Policy states that it shall be the duty of Scottsdale and not the duty of the Insureds to defend any Claim. (Ex. 1 at D&O Coverage Section § F(1).) 18. The Policy states: “The Insureds agree not to settle or offer to settle any Claim, incur any Costs, Charges and Expenses or otherwise assume any contractual obligation to admit any liability with respect to any Claim without the prior written consent of [Scottsdale], such consent not to be unreasonably withheld. [Scottsdale] shall not be liable for any settlement, Costs, Charges and Expenses, assumed obligation or admission to which it has not consented” (the “Consent Provision”). (Ex. 1 at D&O Coverage Section § F(3).) The Underlying Action 19. On or about August 15, 2023, the United States of America

SCOTTSDALE-2x11.5-LEGAL-122525.indd 1

To all interested persons, the Petitioner FELIX KERZHNER AKA FELIKS KERZHNER filed a petition with this court for a decree changing names as follows: present name FELIX KERZHNER AKA FELIKS KERZHNER to proposed name FELIKS KERZHNER. Any person objecting to the name changes described above must file a written objection that includes the reasons for the objection at least two court days before the matter is scheduled to be heard and must appear at the hearing to show cause why the petition should not be granted. If no written objection is timely filed, the court may grant the petition without a hearing. Notice of Hearing: JANUARY 27, 2026, 9:00 am, Dept. 103N, Rm. 103N, Superior Court of California, 400 McAllister St., San Francisco, CA 94102.

DEC 18, 25, 2025, JAN 01, 08, 2026

on 12/01/2025. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/15/2025.

DEC 18, 25, 2025, JAN 01, 08, 2026

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 2025-0407972 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): THE LOTUS PRACTICE, 28 GEARY ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94108. This business is conducted by an individual. Registrant/Owner(s): ANJNA CHAMPANERI. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N/A. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/10/2025. DEC 18, 25, 2025, JAN 01, 08, 2026

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 2025-0407975 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): ANTONIETA CONSULTING SERVICES, 222 TAYLOR ST #202, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102. This business is conducted by an individual. Registrant/Owner(s): MARIA A. JANDRES. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/13/2025. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/10/2025. DEC 18, 25, 2025, JAN 01, 08, 2026

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 2025-0407949 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): A B PLUMBING; A.B. PLUMBING; PRECISION FLOW PLUMBING: PRECISIONFLOW PLUMBING, 910 SILLIMAN ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94134. This business is conducted by a corporation. Registrant/Owner(s): AB PLUMBING INC. (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 12/03/2025. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/05/2025. DEC 18, 25, 2025, JAN 01, 08, 2026

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 2025-0407867 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): YVES NOIRE, 1518 UNION ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94123. This business is conducted by an individual. Registrant/Owner(s): LISA GONZALES. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/21/2025. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/21/2025. DEC 18, 25, 2025, JAN 01, 08, 2026

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 2025-0407968 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): GREPTILE, 50 FRANCISCO ST #130, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94133. This business is conducted by a corporation. Registrant/Owner(s): TABNAM, INC. (DE). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 07/23/2024. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/10/2025. DEC 18, 25, 2025, JAN 01, 08, 2026

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 2025-0407999 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): ACES PROPERTY SOLUTIONS, 91 ELLINGTON AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94112. This business is conducted by an individual. Registrant/Owner(s): FLORENCE LAUZON. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 2025-0408001 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): ERGOEROTICS; CENTER FOR SEXUAL HEALTH AND REHABILITATION; SUTHE; SUTHE PRODUCTS; PAMPERED PETAL; BLUSHING LOTUS; SOOTHE PRODUCTS, 28 GEARY ST #650, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94108. This business is conducted by a corporation. Registrant/ Owner(s): THE SQUARED H CORPORATION (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/01/2012. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/15/2025. DEC 18, 25, 2025, JAN 01, 08, 2026

filed an Indictment against Shelton, No. 3:23-cr-00258-JSC, in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California (the “Underlying Action”). A copy of the Underlying Action is attached hereto as “Exhibit 2.” 20. In the Underlying Action, the Government alleged that Shelton engaged in a scheme to defraud RepairPal by diverting money in RepairPal’s bank accounts for his own personal use. (Ex. 2 ¶¶ 6-7.) 21. The Government asserted that Shelton inflated his salary and bonus by representing that he was entitled to receive “executive loans” and “reimbursements” that he did not actually incur, provided false payroll documentation in furtherance of the scheme, and failed to disclose to RepairPal that he had improperly transferred money from RepairPal’s bank accounts to his personal accounts. (Id. ¶ 7.) 22. The Government asserted the following causes of action against Shelton: (1) bank fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1344(a); (2) wire fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1343; (3) tax evasion in violation of 26 U.S.C. § 7201; (4) aiding and abetting in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2; and (5) forfeiture in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 982(a)(2). (Id. at 1.) Scottsdale’s Coverage Position 23. After the Underlying Action was tendered to Scottsdale for coverage under the Policy, on or about October 2, 2023, counsel for Scottsdale sent a letter to counsel for Shelton indicating that Scottsdale would provide a defense to Shelton in connection with the Claim pursuant to its right and duty to do so under the Policy. A copy of the October 2, 2023 letter is attached hereto as “Exhibit 3.” 24. Pursuant to Scottsdale’s right and duty to defend under the Policy, Scottsdale appointed Theresa Kristovich of the law firm of Kabat Chapman & Ozmer to defend Shelton with respect to the allegations asserted against him in the Underlying Action. (Ex. 3 at 5.) 25. On or about October 6, 2023, counsel for Shelton sent a letter to counsel for Scottsdale disputing Scottsdale’s entitlement to appoint counsel to defend Shelton in the Underlying Action. A copy of the October 6, 2023 letter is attached hereto as “Exhibit 4.” 26. In the October 6, 2023 letter, counsel for Shelton stated: “Mr. Shelton requests that Scottsdale accept his appointment of Paul Hastings as counsel and cover Paul Hastings’ fees as they defend him in the criminal case.” (Ex. 4 at 3.) 27. On or about October 13, 2023, counsel for Scottsdale sent a letter to counsel for Shelton again stating that it was appointing Theresa Kristovich of Kabat Chapman & Ozmer to defend Shelton pursuant to Scottsdale’s right and duty to do so under the Policy. A copy of the October 13, 2023 letter is attached hereto as “Exhibit 5.” 28. Scottsdale has never consented, in writing or otherwise, to Shelton incurring any Costs, Charge and Expenses by any law firm or company other than Kabat Chapman & Ozmer in connection with the Underlying Action. 29. Shelton has refused to use Theresa Kristovich of Kabat Chapman & Ozmer to defend him in the Underlying Action. 30. Shelton retained Paul Hastings LLP to represent him in connection with the Underlying Action without Scottsdale’s consent. 31. Upon information and belief, Paul Hastings LLP incurred fees and expenses in connection with its representation of Shelton in the Underlying Action. 32. On or about February 29, 2024, Shelton filed a lawsuit against RepairPal, No. 2024-0197, in the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware alleging that RepairPal failed to advance to Shelton the fees and expenses that he allegedly incurred in defense of the Underlying Action in violation of the RepairPal Bylaws and a February 24, 2020 Indemnification Agreement entered into between RepairPal and Shelton (the “Advancement Action”). 33. On or about June 3, 2024, the court in the Advancement Action entered an Order directing RepairPal to pay two-thirds of the fees and expenses that Shelton allegedly incurred in defense of the Underlying Action. 34. On or about May 28, 2025, Scottsdale was informed that RepairPal believes that Scottsdale should reimburse it for the fees and expenses that it has been ordered to pay that were allegedly incurred by Paul Hastings, LLP on behalf of Shelton in defense of the Underlying Action. COUNT I – DECLARATORY JUDGMENT AS TO CONSENT PROVISION 35. Scottsdale hereby adopts by reference the allegations contained in paragraphs 1 through 34 of this Complaint as if fully set forth herein. 36. An actual, present, and justiciable controversy exists concerning whether Shelton violated the Consent Provision by failing to obtain Scottsdale’s consent to Paul Hastings, LLP incurring fees and expenses in connection with the Underlying Action. 37. Scottsdale requests that the Court declare that there is no coverage under the Policy for any fees or expenses incurred by Paul Hastings, LLP (or any other law firm or company to which Scottsdale did not consent) in connection with Shelton’s defense in the Underlying Action and, as a result, Scottsdale is not obligated to reimburse Shelton or RepairPal for any such fees and expenses. COUNT II – BREACH OF CONTRACT 38. Scottsdale hereby adopts by reference the allegations contained in paragraphs 1 through 37 of this Complaint as if fully set forth herein. 39. The Policy constitutes a valid and enforceable contract between Scottsdale and Defendants. 40. Scottsdale has performed all of its obligations under the Policy with respect to the Underlying Action. 41. Defendants breached the Policy by failing to obtain Scottsdale’s consent to use Paul Hastings, LLP to defend Shelton in the Underlying Action. 42. Defendants’ breach of the Policy was material and, therefore, excused any obligation on the part of Scottsdale to provide coverage under the Policy for any fees or expenses incurred by Paul Hastings, LLP in connection with the Underlying Action. 43. Defendants’ breach of the Policy was a substantial factor in causing Scottsdale’s damages. PRAYER FOR RELIEF WHEREFORE, Scottsdale prays that this Court enter an Order: 1. declaring that there is no coverage under the Policy for any fees or expenses incurred by Paul Hastings, LLP (or any other law firm or company to which Scottsdale did not consent) in connection with Shelton’s defense in the Underlying Action and, as a result, Scottsdale is not obligated to reimburse Shelton or RepairPal for any such fees and expenses; 2. finding that Defendants’ breach of the Policy was material and, therefore, excused any obligation on the part of Scottsdale to provide coverage to Shelton for any fees or expenses incurred by Paul Hastings, LLP in connection with the Underlying Action; 3. awarding Scottsdale its costs, expenses, and attorneys’ fees; and 4. awarding Scottsdale all other relief that the Court deems just and equitable. 5. Jury trial demanded.

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 2025-0407963 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): NEW ME, 3020 GEARY BLVD, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94118. This business is conducted by a limited liability company. Registrant/Owner(s): VERA BEAUTY BROW & LASHES LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 12/09/2025. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/09/2025. DEC 18, 25, 2025, JAN 01, 08, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 2025-0407966 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): FULL PROOF, 4126 13TH ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94114. This business is conducted by a limited liability company. Registrant/Owner(s): TIPPLE TOP INDUSTRIES LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N/A. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/09/2025. DEC 18, 25, 2025, JAN 01, 08, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 2025-0407767 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): BELLA, 316 11TH ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103. This business is conducted by a limited liability company. Registrant/Owner(s): BALUCA LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/03/2025. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/07/2025. DEC 18, 25, 2025, JAN 01, 08, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 2025-0407955 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): TOTO MELTS, 2235 3RD ST #E407, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94107-2105. This business is conducted by a limited liability company. Registrant/Owner(s): ETHIOROOT NATURALS, LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N/A. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/08/2025. DEC 18, 25, 2025, JAN 01, 08, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 2025-0407778 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): SANTOS DIVINOS, 934 VALENCIA ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by a limited liability company. Registrant/Owner(s): HOME ART N ARTIFACTS LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/10/2025. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/10/2025. DEC 18, 25, 2025, JAN 01, 08, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 2025-0407964 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): FOUR SEASONS HOTEL SAN FRANCISCO, 757 MARKET ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103. This business is conducted by a limited liability company. Registrant/ Owner(s): FRIAR PERCH LLC (DE). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N/A. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/09/2025. DEC 18, 25, 2025, JAN 01, 08, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 2025-0407907 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): GO BANANAS, 1671 YORK ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by a limited liability company. Registrant/Owner(s): F2 DESIGN LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/25/2025. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/25/2025. DEC 18, 25, 2025, JAN 01, 08, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 2025-0407985 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): CARGETGO, 1390 MARKET ST #200, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102-5404. This business is conducted by a limited liability company. Registrant/Owner(s): CARGETGO. COM LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/31/2025. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/11/2025. DEC 18, 25, 2025, JAN 01, 08, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 2025-0407987 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): WEROAST COFFEE COLLECTIVE, 1385 HARRISON ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103. This business is conducted by a limited liability company. Registrant/Owner(s): DABCO, LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 12/11/2025. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/11/2025. DEC 18, 25, 2025, JAN 01, 08, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 2025-0407977 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): DEKA FABRICATION, 1335 YOSEMITE AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94124. This business is conducted by a limited liability company. Registrant/Owner(s): ONE HAT ONE HAND LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 09/01/2025. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/11/2025. DEC 18, 25, 2025, JAN 01, 08, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 2025-0407930 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): AL-

DATED: June 16, 2025, COZEN O’CONNOR By: Valerie Rojas Attorneys for Plaintiff SCOTTSDALE INSURANCE COMPANY

12/19/25 9:02 AM

ICE, 343 CLEMENT ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94118. This business is conducted by a limited liability company. Registrant/Owner(s): CUORE MATTO LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N/A. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/02/2025.

DEC 18, 25, 2025, JAN 01, 08, 2026

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 2025-0407746 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): THE FUSION GRAIN EXPRESS, 1355 MARKET ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103. This business is conducted by a limited liability company. Registrant/Owner(s): PINOY EAT2 LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/05/2025. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/05/2025. DEC 18, 25, 2025, JAN 01, 08, 2026 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO CASE NUMBER CNC-25560335 To all interested persons, the Petitioner MATTHEW LAWRENCE SPRINGER filed a petition with this court for a decree changing names as follows: present name MATTHEW LAWRENCE SPRINGER AKA MATTHEW LAMBERT SPRINGER AKA MATTHEW L. SPRINGER AKA MATTHEW L SPRINGER AKA MATTHEW SPRINGER AKA MATT SPRINGER to proposed name MATTHEW LAWRENCE SPRINGER. Any person objecting to the name changes described above must file a written objection that includes the reasons for the objection at least two court days before the matter is scheduled to be heard and must appear at the hearing to show cause why the petition should not be granted. If no written objection is timely filed, the court may grant the petition without a hearing. Notice of Hearing: JANUARY 29, 2026, 9:00 am, Dept. 103N, Rm. 103N, Superior Court of California, 400 McAllister St., San Francisco, CA 94102. DEC 25, 2025, JAN 01, 08, 15, 2026 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO CASE NUMBER CNC-25560337 To all interested persons, the Petitioner DAVID SAMUEL WELCH AKA SAM JONES III filed a petition with this court for a decree changing names as follows: present name DAVID SAMUEL WELCH AKA SAM JONES III to proposed name SAM JONES III. Any person objecting to the name changes described above must file a written objection that includes the reasons for the objection at least two court days before the matter is scheduled to be heard and must appear at the hearing to show cause why the petition should not be granted. If no written objection is timely filed, the court may grant the petition without a hearing. Notice of Hearing: JANUARY 29, 2026, 9:00 am, Dept. 103N, Rm. 103N, Superior Court of California, 400 McAllister St., San Francisco, CA 94102. DEC 25, 2025, JAN 01, 08, 15, 2026 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO CASE NUMBER CNC-25560338 To all interested persons, the Petitioner CHARLENE ANN BALAGTAS LEODONES filed a petition with this court for a decree changing names as follows: present name CHARLENE ANN BALAGTAS LEODONES to proposed name JAMIE ANN BALAGTAS LEODONES. Any person objecting to the name changes described above must file a written objection that includes the reasons for the objection at least two court days before the matter is scheduled to be heard and must appear at the hearing to show cause why the petition should not be granted. If no written objection is timely filed, the court may grant the petition without a hearing. Notice of Hearing: JANUARY 29, 2026, 9:00 am, Dept. 103N, Rm. 103N, Superior Court of California, 400 McAllister St., San Francisco, CA 94102. DEC 25, 2025, JAN 01, 08, 15, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 2025-0407836 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): PAWPITOS PET SALON, 2264 MARKET ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94114. This business is conducted by an individual. Registrant/Owner(s): LUIS BENITEZ. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N/A. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/17/2025. DEC 25, 2025, JAN 01, 08, 15, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 2025-0408024 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): MATCH AND MELT CRAFT BAR, 1808 MCALLISTER ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94115. This business is conducted by an individual. Registrant/Owner(s): MOHAMMAD FEREYDOUNI. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 12/17/2025. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/17/2025. DEC 25, 2025, JAN 01, 08, 15, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 2025-0408025 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): CHINESE NEW YEAR PARADE MERCHANDISE; ARCADE & VENDING SERVICES; KNIGHT LIGHTS; KNIGHT LIGHTS ENTERTAINMENT; PHOTOBOX; 2295 17TH AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94116. This business is conducted by an individual. Registrant/Owner(s): CORBETT T. LEE. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 12/17/2025. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/17/2025. DEC 25, 2025, JAN 01, 08, 15, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 2025-0407969 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): JS CLEANING SERVICES, 625 S 33RD ST, RICHMOND, CA 94804. This business is conducted by an individual. Registrant/Owner(s): JOSE ISAAC SORIANO RODRIGUEZ. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/20/2024. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/10/2025. DEC 25, 2025, JAN 01, 08, 15, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 2025-0407960 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): THE NEW GARDEN CAMP, 333 BAKER ST #505, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94117. This business is conducted by a general partnership. Registrant/Owner(s): CHASON MAKSIM ALEXANDER IONOV & LILLY PEALL FERRIS. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N/A. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/09/2025. DEC 25, 2025, JAN 01, 08, 15, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 2025-0408016 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): BLOC REAL ESTATE & CONSTRUCTION, 2346 33RD AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94116. This business is conducted by a corporation. Registrant/Owner(s): BATSHON REAL ESTATE COMPANY (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N/A. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/16/2025. DEC 25, 2025, JAN 01, 08, 15, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 2025-0408014 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): MOMMY’S INDIAN GROCERY, 1138 FOLSOM ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103. This business is conducted by a corporation. Registrant/Owner(s): CHAAT DINER SAN FRANCISCO INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N/A. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/16/2025. DEC 25, 2025, JAN 01, 08, 15, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 2025-0408015 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): CHAAT DINER, 1140 FOLSOM ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103. This business is conducted by a corporation. Registrant/Owner(s): CHAAT DINER SAN FRANCISCO INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N/A. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/16/2025. DEC 25, 2025, JAN 01, 08, 15, 2026

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 2025-0408011 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): PHERO, 157 7TH AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94118. This business is conducted by a corporation. Registrant/ Owner(s): STYLIST ON STANDBY, INC. (DE). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N/A. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/16/2025. DEC 25, 2025, JAN 01, 08, 15, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 2025-0408013 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): FIREHORSE SALON, 659 HAIGHT ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94117. This business is conducted by a corporation. Registrant/Owner(s): STEINER PIERCE LIMITED (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 12/18/2009. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/16/2025. DEC 25, 2025, JAN 01, 08, 15, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 2025-0408036 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): PIER 70 TIME MACHINE, 1070 MARYLAND ST #2.35, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94107. This business is conducted by a corporation. Registrant/Owner(s): POTRERO HILL ARCHIVES PROJECT (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/01/2025. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 01/01/2025. DEC 25, 2025, JAN 01, 08, 15, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 2025-0408046 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): BAYSHORE GAS & FOOD, 319 BAYSHORE BLVD, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94124. This business is conducted by a corporation. Registrant/Owner(s): BAL STATIONS, INC. (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 07/12/2004. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/19/2025. DEC 25, 2025, JAN 01, 08, 15, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 2025-0407988 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): 3DGE MARKETING, 455 MARKET STE 1040 #846983, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94105. This business is conducted by a limited liability company. Registrant/Owner(s): 3DGE MARKETING LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N/A. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/11/2025. DEC 25, 2025, JAN 01, 08, 15, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 2025-0407997 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): NATION LINE LOGISTICS, 1875 MISSION STE 103 #565, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103. This business is conducted by a limited liability company. Registrant/Owner(s): LIMBRICK GLOBAL SOLUTIONS LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 12/15/2025. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/15/2025. DEC 25, 2025, JAN 01, 08, 15, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 2025-0407980 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): CEYORA HEALTH, 1020 MARIPOSA ST #1, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94107. This business is conducted by a limited liability company. Registrant/Owner(s): FINESSE FORCE LLC (DE). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N/A. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/11/2025. DEC 25, 2025, JAN 01, 08, 15, 2026 STATEMENT OF ABANDONMENT OF USE OF FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME FILE 2025-0407865 The following persons have abandoned the use of the fictitious business name known as MOMMY’S INDIAN GROCERY, 1138 FOLSOM ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103. This business was conducted by a limited liability company and signed by LALIT SAHA ESTATES LLC (CA). The fictitious business name statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/21/2025. The abandonment of fictitious business name statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/16/2025. DEC 25, 2025, JAN 01, 08, 15, 2026 STATEMENT OF ABANDONMENT OF USE OF FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME FILE 2025-0405221 The following persons have abandoned the use of the fictitious business name known as CHAAT DINER, 1140 FOLSOM ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103. This business was conducted by a limited liability company and signed by LALIT SAHA ESTATES LLC (CA). The fictitious business name statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/20/2024. The abandonment of fictitious business name statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/16/2025. DEC 25, 2025, JAN 01, 08, 15, 2026 STATEMENT OF ABANDONMENT OF USE OF FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME FILE 2024-0404243 The following persons have abandoned the use of the fictitious business name known as CITY LIGHTS PALACE, 706 SACRAMENTO ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94108. This business was conducted by an individual and signed by ALLAN NUTTALL. The fictitious business name statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/22/2024. The abandonment of fictitious business name statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/16/2025.. DEC 25, 2025, JAN 01, 08, 15, 2026 STATEMENT OF ABANDONMENT OF USE OF FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME FILE 2022-0397255 The following persons have abandoned the use of the fictitious business name known as EMERALD SPA, 441 STOCKTON ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94108. This business was conducted by an individual and signed by ALLAN NUTTALL. The fictitious business name statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/27/2022. The abandonment of fictitious business name statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/16/2025.. DEC 25, 2025, JAN 01, 08, 15, 2026

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Downtown gallery exhibits vibrant contemporary artworks. ‘Year of the Snake,’ a group exhibit of serpentine art curated by Seventh Son Tattoo; thru Jan. 16. 111 Minna St. 111minnagallery.com

African American Art & Culture Complex

Exhibits and events featuring Black artists; dance classes, art workshops and more. 762 Fulton St. www.aaacc.org

Asian Art Museum

Historic and contemporary works by Asian artists: ‘Gurjeet Singh: When Words Hurt,’ thru March 23. ‘Vikrant Bhise: Archival Historicity/ Dalit Panthers,’ works by the Indian contemporary artist inspired by the Black Panthers, thru Mar. 23. Also, ‘Qi Baishi: Inspiration in Ink,’ ‘A Billion Buddhas: The Awakened Ones in Himalayan Tradition,’ film screenings, community events, and other exhibits. Fri-Mon 10am-5pm. Thu 1pm-8pm. 200 Larkin St. www.asianart.org

Berkeley Art Museum/ Pacific Film Archive

Sony Pictures Classics

‘Matrix 288/Andro Eradze: Shifting Stillness,’ film/photo installations, thru Feb. 8. ‘Object Oriented: Abstraction and Design,’ thru July 12. ‘Lee

Going Out: museums & galleries

Rigo 23’s ‘Terra Nullius’ in ‘Bay Area Then’ at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts

Kick off the new year with art

ShinJa: Drawing with Thread,’ thru Feb. 1. ‘Art Wall/Stephanie Syjuco: Present Tense (Roll Call)’ thru June 28. Ongoing film screenings. 2155 Center St., Berkeley. www.bampfa.org

Bob Mizer Foundation

Exhibits of vintage male physique and erotica prints. 920 Larkin St. www.bobmizer.org

California Academy of Sciences

The fascinating science museum includes live creatures (aquarium, terrarium) and educational exhibits. ‘The State of Nature,’ specimens, cultural objects, models, interactive experiences, videos, and sculptural elements, and more. ‘The World’s Largest Dinosaurs,’ an exhibit about sauropods. ‘Living Worlds,’ a planetarium show. Mon-Sat 9:30am-5pm. Sun 11am-5pm. Monthly Nightlife Live parties 6pm-10pm. 55 Music Concourse Drive, Golden Gate Park. www.calacademy.org

for the Winter: Spotlight on Bobby Podesta,’ thru March 8. ‘The West Coaster: New Yorker Cartoons from the Other Side,’ thru Feb. 22. ‘Sunday Funnies,’ original panels from the permanent collection. A ‘ Treasury of Animation,’ production art from the 1920s-1990s. ‘I Left My Art in San Francisco,’ an exhibit of treasures from the museum’s archives. Ongoing: ‘The Batman Armory.’ Open daily (except Wed.) 11am-5pm. 781 Beach St. cartoonart.org

Chabot Space & Science Center

NASA Ames Visitor Center with 360-degree projection, exhibits, models and more. Art + Science first Fridays with pop-up galleries, open mic and scifi fun. Programs include live science programs each Wed. 10:30am, virtual telescope viewings each Sat. 9pm. $25 Adults 18+. Gen. Free-$30. 1000 Skyline Blvd, Oakland. www.chabotspace.org

Chinese Cultural Center

Exploratorium

Talks and demos with a science theme, including comet-cam and After Dark nighttime parties (6pm-10pm). Free/$23, Pier 15. www.exploratorium.edu

Galeria de la Raza

Arts center focuses on Latine art and events. Wed-Fri 12pm-5pm. 2779 Folsom St. www.galeriadelaraza.org

GLBT History Museum

‘I Live the Life I Love Because I Love the Life I Live: a Celebration of Trans People of Color,’ ‘Queer Past Becomes Present,’ the original Rainbow Flag, and ‘The Flag in the Map: Charting Rainbow Flag Stories.’ Online exhibits as well. $10/free for members. 4127 18th St. www.glbthistory.org

Cartoon Art Museum

Exhibits, programs and events at 750 Kearny St. and at the new Design Store, 41 Ross Alley. www.cccsf.us

See page 11 >>

‘Blue Moon’

‘A Nice Indian Boy’

‘Plainclothes’

Exhibits of fun cartoon artists’ works. ‘North

Magnolia Pictures

11 Minna Gallery

Blue Harbor Entertainment

s a remedy for holiday withdrawal, there’s nothing better than a pristine museum or intimate gallery to stroll through and soak up some visual art. Here are many of our recommendations for the new year. For a full roster, see the expanded list on ebar.com.

Best LGBTQ Films of 2025, part 2

‘Blue Moon,’ ‘A Nice Indian Boy,’ and ‘Plainclothes,’ are among our top picks

by Brian Bromberger

025 was a dismal year for queer films in several ways. While there were a few highprofile gay films, even in film festivals there were far less lesbian and trans movies. The trend for the past five years has been streaming platforms producing and featuring queer films. However, in the past two years, major platforms like Netflix, Hulu, and HBO Max have cut down their budgets on all the films they make and produce, with queer movies chief on the chopping block. So, in 2025 there were only a few LGBTQ films on those three platforms. Viewers are following the same trend as their straight counterparts and only paying to see spectacle event movies. However, if LGBTQ viewers don’t support queer films with their dollars, they won’t get made or pro-

duced by Hollywood, independent distributors, or streaming platforms. My five favorite LGBTQ films of 2025: 5. Hands down, the best biographical film of the year, “Blue Moon” (Sony Pictures Classics) deals with gay lyricist Lorenz Hart (1895-1943) whose straight musical composer was Richard Rodgers, brilliantly underplayed by gay actor Andrew Scott. They were the Lennon and McCartney of the first half of the twentieth century, writing such classics as “My Funny Valentine,” “Isn’t It Romantic” and the title song. The movie occurs at the opening night party at Sardi’s on Broadway in 1943 for his former partner’s landmark show “Oklahoma” with his new lyricist Oscar Hammerstein. Hart (an unrecognizable Ethan Hawke) hates the show but shows up to ingratiate himself before Rodgers in the hope they can continue their decaying partnership.

Hart is an alcoholic mess. He’s a closeted gay man but typical of the era, self-hating. The film is essentially one long monologue (it’s all talk) with lots of scathing wit plus a few minor interactions with supporting characters. Ethan Hawke gives the greatest performance of his career conveying the pathos, fierce talent, and bitter loneliness of Hart. 4. The gay-romcom of the year is the intercultural delight “A Nice Indian Boy,” concerning a shy, introverted gay Indian doctor Naveen (Karan Soni) who meets a gregarious white photographer Jay (Jonathan Groff) adopted by two now dead Indian parents. Even though Naveen is out to his parents, he talks about Jay as a friend rather than a boyfriend which upsets Jay. When Jay finally meets Naveen’s parents, it’s an awkward encounter since they thought he was Indian. This is an ‘opposites attract’ romance, but it’s really how immigrant families adapt to West-

ern/American morality and bridge the cultural divide as well as the trials of being in an interracial relationship. The chemistry between Soni (who in real life will marry the film’s gay director) and Groff (not his usual whiny performance, but charming) is sincere and palpable, maybe because they are both openly gay. This is the film to watch to cheer yourself up and maybe start believing again in fairy tales. 3. A gay period film that’s also a hyperkinetic psychological thriller, “Plainclothes” (Magnolia Pictures) is set in 1997 Syracuse, New York. A young closeted gay cop Lucas (Tom Blyth) cruises and entraps gay men at a bathroom in the local mall arresting them for lewd conduct. Problems ensue when he falls for one of his marks, Andrew (Russell Tovey), a closeted marSee page 10 >>

YOU BELONG

JANUARY 21-25, 2026 VIRTUAL Join us virtually for the largest political leadership and skills-building convening for the LGBTQ+ movement. WATCH THE MAINSTAGE ONLINE creatingchange.org/virtual CREATING-CHANGE-STRIP-2025.indd 1

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<< Music & Film

10 • Bay Area Repor ter • January 1-7, 2026

Dar Williams

Singer-songwriter on her new album

by Gregg Shapiro

“H

ummingbird Highway” (Righteous Babe) is the new album by beloved singer/songwriter, and longtime LGBTQ ally, Dar Williams. Her first new studio recording in four years, “Hummingbird Highway” ranks with the best of her musical work, from “Mortal City” through “Promised Land.” An amazing and varied sonic experience, ranging from the contemporary Americana of the title track to the stunning pop of “All is Come Undone,” the jazzy bossa nova of “Tu Sais Le Printemps,” the raucous rockabilly of Williams cover of “I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight,” and the exuberant “Maryland, Maryland,” this is a harmonic highway worth traveling repeatedly. Gregg Shapiro: Your splendid new album, “Hummingbird Highway,” is being released on Ani DiFranco’s Righteous Babe Records label. How did this come to be? Dar Williams: We were looking for a label. Even if Ani and I were as close as we are now in the ’90s, I never would have asked about being on the label because you don’t do that to your friends. You don’t put them on the spot. But the truth is, she has this wonderful relationship with her label, where she has a lot of artistic control and a lot of artistic say, but at the same time, a lot of the business and the day-

Dar Williams

to-day is run by a handpicked, fabulous team. My team could reach out to her team and, in case it wasn’t a fit; she and I didn’t have to have an awkward conversation [laughs]. It’s a very admired business team. But then, in my heart of hearts, I love everybody on the label. I love the ethos of the label, which is that we all kind of look out for each other, which is very much an echo of the music community that we’re part of. The idea that I’m a part of something where we all sort of check in with each other in terms of how we can share some frequencies was also really appealing. It felt like a homecoming when we got the thumbs up quickly that this was a fit. There’s a

part of me [laughs] that would like to say they’re really good business people [laughs]. There’s also Ani, and the love in the room, as people say. With the new record and new label comes, I dare say, a new Dar Williams. To my ears, you are doing things that feel super fresh, including the new single “Tu Sais Le Printemps,” which sounds like the jazziest tune you’ve ever written. Would you agree that, in some way, this album represents a new you? No, it’s the old me that’s always worked with people, like Righteous Babe, who say, “Whatever you’re doing, keep doing it. If you’re writing a jazzy song or a blues song or a disco song.” I lead a songwriting retreat, and it’s what I say to the retreaters. If you’re starting a song, and it’s interesting to you, and it’s new territory, just keep exploring the new territory. That’s something that I say to people creatively. The fact that I’ve been able to work with teams who encouraged me to do that professionally, at this point, it’s a habit. I thought, “I’m writing a song. It’s very bossa nova, and it’s in French. Let’s see what happens!” Then it was all in French, and I was like, “Girl, you have high school French. This isn’t working.” So, I just accented with French.

Best LGBTQ Films

From page 9

ried man with children. He lets him go free and they meet in theaters and greenhouses for sex. Lucas falls in love with Andrew, but struggles with his inner shame, and can’t tell his mother or family the truth about himself. The charismatic, sexually fluid, visceral, gorgeous Blyth is on his way to becoming a major star. His chemistry with the openly gay Tovey (superb playing against type) is electric combining a potent fusion of longing, fear, and desperation. 2. We can thank lesbian comedian

Lionsgate

Alexandra Daddario and Corey Fogelmanis in ‘I Wish You All the Best’

Tig Notaro who urged Colorado’s nonbinary Poet Laureate and spoken-word favorite Andrea Gibson and her wife, poet Megan Falley to allow producer/ director Ryan White to film Gibson’s four-year battle with ovarian cancer affording him total access in the potent documentary, “Come See Me in the Good Light.” Even though Andrea died in July in Megan’s arms long after the completed film, that sad ending doesn’t detract from the movie’s life affirming message, to make the most of “the brevity of it all.” Gibson’s magnetic poetry is the film’s secret weapon, and reveals Gibson’s soul and avoids sentimentality. The film reveals the daily mundane

Coast to coast. Exactly, literally! She seemed to me to have the spirit of the song, and also her voice. We sang together on the road. Sometimes you can love a person, but the voices are not there. We were there, so I knew that would work.

You do have a lengthy history of recording with great guest vocalists, including Ani, Amy, Gail Ann Dorsey, Shawn Colvin, Suzanne Vega, Marshall Crenshaw, Patty Larkin, Alison Krauss, and others. How do you choose your guest vocalists, and how do you know that they are the right ones for the song? I do hear voices in my head, so as not to get too attached to one outcome or another. I hear a certain kind of voice in my head, and then I look at the Rolodex of friends and think, who will say “yes” [laughs]. I didn’t know John Popper (of Blues Traveler), but we became friends because he sang and played harmonica on a song, and it was fantastic. I wrote to Shawn (Colvin) and said, “There’s a voice that I’m hearing, of a person that I know, and I can ask this person, but I don’t think that they would get it. I just want you. Is that okay?” She said, “Sure!” and she did it. Basically, you ask and hope that people say yes. And if they’re busy, that’s cool, too. But these are all friends, and I just thought they would get it, and that our voices would go, too.t

Read the full interview, with music videos, on www.ebar.com. www.darwilliams.com

A new take on the queer coming of age story

by Gregg Shapiro

she was thrown out of the house for having an abortion after getting pregnant as a teenager. As an example of the parents’ fanaticism, they told Ben that Hannah was exiled for being a drug addict, not because she wanted to terminate a pregnancy.

love the way your voices complement each other. How did this collaboration come to pass? I always heard her voice there. I also, frankly, wanted the voice of a friend who has experienced all the excitement and ups and downs of a very fast-moving, beautiful career. Who also had a personal life. Down in Atlanta, there’s a whole community of friends and family that I know about around the Indigo Girls. I know that she has this very rich personal life. She and I have seen each other in Montana. We toured together down the West Coast. She has her own band, and we did co-bills with her band in 2024 that were astoundingly

The rousing title song, “Hummingbird Highway,” features guest vocals by Amy Ray, and I

‘I Wish You All the Best’ t’s hard to imagine a more suitable person than trans lesbian Tommy Dorfman to direct and write the movie adaptation of “I Wish You All the Best” (Lionsgate), based on the Y/A novel by non-binary writer Mason Deaver. Dorfman brings all the necessary sensitivity and perception to the project. Ben (queer actor Corey Fogelmanis) is a high school junior living with his religiously conservative mother (Amy Landecker) and father (Judson Mills) in Raleigh, North Carolina. When he comes out to them as non-binary, they throw him out of the house. Initially wandering the winter street in nothing but a hoodie and without shoes, Ben calls his older sister Hannah (Alexandra Daddario), whom he hasn’t seen in 10 years, and she comes to his rescue. Like Ben,

Ben learns this after moving in with Hannah, her high school teacher husband Thomas (Cole Sprouse), and their baby son Cyrus. Thomas enrolls Ben as a transfer student at the school where he teaches. He also introduces Ben to Nathan (out actor Miles Guti-

errez-Riley), an openly queer senior at the school. Through Nathan, Ben makes new friends, including Sophie (Lisa Yamada). He also meets art teacher Miss Lyons (Lena Dunham in a role she was born to play), who will come to be a mentor to him. Hannah arranges a job interview for Ben with her gay friend Chris (Brian Michael Smith) at Perennial Day, a day camp for senior citizens diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, dementia, and other memory function disorders. Suddenly, Ben’s life is full of positive influences, and he begins to put what happened with his parents behind him. That is, until they show up at Hannah and Thomas’ where Hannah makes it clear they are unwelcome. Further complicating things is a voicemail message from his mother on his birthday, leading to a confrontational meeting at a diner, which doesn’t go well. Fortunately,

Apple+

Left: ‘Come See Me in the Good Light’

activities of life and tense moments such as waiting for the results of blood tests showing whether current treatments are working. It’s about the joys and challenges of caregiving in all its unvarnished honesty as the couple attain a kind of transcendence. Much of the film concerns Andrea’s desire to perform her spoken word poetry (and she’s considered a rock star in that genre) before a crowd one last time. When she does appear on stage, it is this year’s most exhilarating moment of any film in 2025. The feature has made the short list for the Best Documentary Oscar and will assuredly be one of the five final nominees.

Nathan and Sophie tagged along just in case something like that happened. Despite some of the darkness, including a bout with severe depression, there is light in Ben’s life. He comes out to Nathan as NB. Ben and Nathan begin a romantic relationship. Hannah and Thomas file for permanent guardianship of Ben. At the school art fair, Ben’s artwork, including a portrait of Nathan, is well received. As Ben begins to embrace his true self, he changes his name to B and begins dressing in clothes that fit how he sees himself, including tights and a skirt at the roller rink, and a long flowing shirt (with Chuck Taylors) as he dances down the street over the closing credits. Propelled by strong performances, including Fogelmanis’ authentic embodiment of the lead character, “I Wish You All the Best” is a welcome addition to the canon of LGBTQ+ cinema. Rating: B+

K.A. Snyder Productions

Right: ‘The Librarians’

1. “The Librarians,” (K.A. Snyder Productions) it is unlikely you will see a more infuriating yet impactful movie this year. It begins in 2021 when Texas House Representative Matt Krause, also a candidate for Texas State Attorney General, issued a list of 850 books for schools to review for obscene and race-related content, then remove them. Of course, the majority of the books had queer and racial themes. We meet librarians in Texas, Florida, Louisiana, and even suburban blue state New Jersey, who are resisting these censorship efforts. One of these librarians is queer, but most are straights willing to fight off groups,

who police books available in public schools, then bombard school board meetings with intimidation, expletiveladen shouting and not-at-all veiled threats of violence. Banning books in most societies is a harbinger of approaching fascism and a way of preventing queer folk from discovering themselves and their history. What these librarians have to endure is terrifying, not only the prospect of being fired just for doing their jobs, but arrests and death threats, with some communities willing to close their public libraries rather than cede to demands they not censor books.t

Books>>

January 1-7, 2026 • Bay Area Repor ter • 11

Words: Mickie Kennedy

Poet on his life-affirming work

by Michele Karlsberg

ickie Kennedy’s “Worth Burning” marks the arrival of a poet who has already spent years earning his place. An award-winning writer, Pushcart Prize nominee, and the author of “Glandscapes,” winner of the Button Poetry Award, Kennedy’s work has appeared in many of the country’s most respected literary journals. Across books and poems, his reputation for emotional candor and meticulous craft has steadily grown. “Worth Burning,” Kennedy’s first full-length poetry collection, traces a boy’s journey from a violent and unstable Southern childhood through grief, abuse, secrecy, and queerness, and into adulthood shaped by the shadow of the AIDS crisis. These poems burn with confession and clarity, excavating family, desire, and survival without sentimentality or retreat. What emerges is a debut that feels both epic and intimate; brutal, unsparing, and deeply life-affirming. Michele Karlsberg: How did you approach writing about trauma that is both deeply personal and foundational to the narrative arc of the collection? Mickie Kennedy: I didn’t set out to write about trauma as a subject. I wrote toward pressure. Toward what kept resurfacing when I tried to write around it. I trusted the body first. Sensation. Scene. Small images, like folding blueberries into batter, that held gravitational significance. It’s difficult to translate sexual assault onto the page without its devastation overwhelming everything. That’s why I let the objects, actions, and settings do much of the speaking. I didn’t want the book to be de-

Museums/Galleries

From page 9

Jonathan Carver Moore

Contemporary art gallery features LGBTQ artists of color. Auudi Dorsey’s ‘What’s Left Never Left,’ thru Jan. 966 Market St. www.jonathancarvermoore.com

Loom+Ten Gallery

New intimate gallery focuses on queer artists. Wed-Sat 12pm-4pm and by appointment. 2323 Market St. www.loom-ten.com

Lost Art Salon

Intimate gallery exhibits small and unusual works of note by contemporary and early 20th-century artists, including LGBT artists, abstract Expressionist and figurative works. ‘Masters of Abstraction’ collection. 245 S. Van Ness. #303. www.lostartsalon.com

Poet Mickey Kennedy

fined by a single traumatic revelation. Frankly, I didn’t want the trauma to be a reveal at all. It’s just there, like the foundation of a building, but I’m more interested in the building itself. “Worth Burning” is a book of arcs, coalescing slowly, poem by poem, until the reader feels the cost of silence before the speaker ever admits it. I wanted the book to feel honest without feeling too exposed, or like a cry for sympathy. The goal wasn’t catharsis. It was clarity. “Worth Burning” moves across four decades of Southern life, queer identity, and the AIDS crisis. How did you balance the intimate, confessional voice with the broader historical and cultural backdrop? I never thought of history as something in the background. Whether you invite it or not, history is in the room. It is the room. When I write from my own specific history, the broader cultural

Museum of the African Diaspora

Exhibits include contemporary works by African and Black artists, and about Black culture; also, awardwinning films, talks and music performances. Reopening and 20th anniversary, with ‘Continuum: MoAD Over Time,’ a group exhibit thru March. Free-$12. 685 Mission St. www.moadsf.org

Museum of Craft & Design

Innovative art and design exhibits. Judith Schaechter’s ‘Super/Natural,’ stained-glass sculptures and other works, and ‘Wunderkammer: Thee Collection of Susan Beech, art jewelry, both thru Feb. 8. Free first Thursdays. 2589 3rd St. www.sfmcd.org

Oakland Museum

Intimate contemporary art gallery in the Castro. 3931 18th St. www.maggalleries.com

‘Black Spaces: Reclaim and Remain,’ thru Mar. 1. ‘Students on Strike,’ ‘Ancestral Visions,’ thru Feb. 1. ‘Black Power’ and ‘Dorothea Lange: Photography as Activism,’ both ongoing. Friday night interactive displays and live music, 5pm-9pm. Free/$25. 1000 Oak St., Oakland. www.museumca.org

Minnesota Street Art Project

Queer Arts Featured

MAG Gallery

Multiple galleries host different artist exhibits, including Di Rosa San Francisco, Anglim/Trimble, Rena Bransten Gallery, Jenkins Johnson Gallery, George Adams Gallery, Nancy Toomey Fine Art, Municipal Bonds, Re.riddle, Eleanor Harwood Gallery, Hashimoto Gallery, The Jones Institute, Thomas+Projects. 1275 Minnesota St. www.minnesotastreetproject.com

LGBTQ-owned gallery, shop, and community space set in the former site of Harvey Milk’s camera shop. 575 Castro St. queerartsfeatured.com

Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts

Rosie the Riveter Historical Park, Richmond

Exhibits of art by Latine artists, plus performances, films and events. 2869 Mission St. www.missionculturalcenter.org

Rosebud Gallery

Cabure Bonugli’s queer-owned art gallery and community space showcases local artists in monthly group exhibits. 839 Larkin St. www.rosebudgallery.com

Museum showcases the real women who built WWII planes, with films, events and talks; now in its 25th anniversary. 1414 Harbour Way. www. rosietheriveter.org

backdrop is already there, shaping the personal. A TV on in the kitchen. A church sign. A tractor rumbling through a tobacco field. I grew up absorbing certain rules before I had language for them. What you could say. What you couldn’t be. Who survived, and who didn’t. Gay boys didn’t. Not usually. The confessional voice stays grounded by staying specific. Particular bodies. A particular town. One moment. Another moment. I wanted to show how it felt to live through a particular set of circumstances, within a particular span of time. With the AIDS crisis especially, restraint mattered. I wasn’t trying to write a history lesson. I was trying to translate a pervasive atmosphere of loss. Trying to communicate the fear, confusion, and delayed understanding I experienced, coming of age inside that epidemic.

acceptance. What do you hope LGBTQ readers especially those from rural or religious backgrounds take away from this book? I hope they recognize themselves without being asked to perform bravery or resolution. Many queer stories emphasize escape or triumph. This book doesn’t. It stays with the messier truth of endurance. Of learning how to live inside conditions that don’t want you to exist, and doing so quietly, imperfectly, for a long time. For readers from rural or religious backgrounds, I hope the book affirms that harm can coexist with attachment. You can love your home and still be wounded by it. You can be shaped by faith and still need to refuse parts of its language. Those contradictions don’t cancel each other out. They are part of the in-

heritance. I also hope the book offers permission to tell the truth without cleaning it up. You don’t owe anyone a redemptive arc. You don’t have to forgive to be whole. You don’t have to turn pain into wisdom on demand. Sometimes self-acceptance begins not with understanding, but with refusing to disappear. If the book gives readers anything, I hope it’s a sense that their survival mattered. That staying alive under pressure is not a small achievement. And that naming what burned you is one way of finally stepping out of its heat.t

Read the full interview on www.ebar.com. www.mickiekennedy.com

“Worth Burning” is ultimately about resilience and the long, uneven path toward self-

Ruth’s Table

Intimate arts nonprofit showcases works created by elders, disabled people and LGBTQ artists, plus workshops and events. Tue-Fri 10am-5pm. 3160 21st St. www.ruthstable.org

SF Public Library

‘Living Tattoo Traditions: American Irezumi and Beyond,’ State of Grace tattoo shop owner Takahiro ‘Taki’ Kitamura’s exhibit of tattooed artist photo portraits, Jewett Gallery, lower level, thru Mar. 1. Lava Thomas’ ‘Portrait of a Phenomenal Woman,’ a large sculpture honoring author Maya Angelou. Book displays and exhibits at the James C. Hormel LGBTQIA Center, 3rd floor. Also, book exhibits on the 6th floor. 100 Larkin St. www.sfpl.org

Tenderloin Museum

New and permanent exhibits of neighborhood history; 398 Eddy St. www.tenderloinmuseum.org

Yerba Buena Center for the Arts

Unusual modern art exhibits and installations, film screenings, murals, and tours. ‘Bay Area Then,’ a group exhibit with multiple artists’ (Nao Bustamonte, Mike ‘Dream’ Francisco, Alicia McCarthy, Barry McGee and others) visions of local disasters, survival, and futures; thru Jan. 25. Also, ‘MAKIBAKA: A Living Legacy,’ a group exhibit, celebrates the culture, contributions, and presence of the LGBTQ Filipino community in the SoMa neighborhood and Bay Area. 701 Mission St. www.ybca.orgt

For more arts and nightlife listings, visit www.ebar.com

Proudly Celebrating our 49th Year! 1977 – 2025

3991-A 17th Street at Market & Castro (415) 864-9795

Our poll for our 15th iteration of our annual readers’ choice awards, BESTIES 2026: The LGBTQ Best of the Bay, is now open. Cast your votes for the best businesses, non-profits, people, events, places to go, and things to do in the San Francisco Bay Area. Vote once per day per device until midnight on January 1.

Vote online at www.surveymonkey.com/r/Besties2026 or scan the QR code above.

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