Crisis line training starts
09
Oasis saved!
ARTS
New City College trustee
ARTS
05
02
09
SF Sketchfest
The
www.ebar.com
Serving the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer communities since 1971
Vol. 56 • No. 2 • January 8-14, 2026
San Francisco enters year 2 under Lurie by John Ferrannini
Courtesy the supervisor’s office
Alan Wong turned to greet a supporter after his inauguration December 1.
Supe Wong talks Great Highway, PG&E by John Ferrannini
N
ewly-appointed District 4 Supervisor Alan Wong is calling out some supporters of the Sunset Dunes Park who claimed he had not meaningfully engaged with them before announcing his support of a potential ballot measure that would return the question of the future of the upper Great Highway to San Francisco ballots. The new Sunset District supervisor, a straight ally, also discussed Pacific Gas & Electric Co. power outages that have impacted his district, and demurred on an LGBTQ issue expected to soon come before the Board of Supervisors during a phone interview late last month with the Bay Area Reporter. Great Highway dominates D4 issues The future of the Great Highway continues to dominate District 4, even after the recall of gay former supervisor Joel Engardio, whose support for the roadway’s closure led to his early exit from office. Wong said he is honoring his pledge to talk to both sides. “I met with the Sunset Dunes folks more than any other group,” Wong told the B.A.R. He also posted pictures of the various meetings to Facebook. After Wong’s December 19 announcement that he’d support returning the contentious issue to the ballot, Lucas Lux, the president of the Friends of Sunset Dunes, blasted him in a statement. “We are deeply disappointed with Supervisor Wong,” Lux stated. “We believed that he was serious when he said he wanted to help restore trust after a divisive few years in the Sunset. Instead, he’s doing the opposite: claiming he’d listen to constituents while actively turning his back on them. This is unacceptable and we, along with thousands of Sunset Dunes volunteers and supporters in District 4 and across the city, will do everything we can to protect the park we love.” According to Lux, Wong had promised that “he would participate in a public process to hear from District 4 residents,” and that he had not done so. But Wong tells the story differently. “When I was about to enter this office, I stated I would listen to everybody and meet with everybody, and I had different ideas about how to do that, and I expressed different ideas. Ultimately, I did it in the format I did it – going to different community groups and listening to them, so I think I did my part in listening to all these See page 6 >>
E
xactly one year into the Daniel Lurie administration, San Francisco’s mayor is going to be tested in ways he wasn’t in 2025. One big question mark is the impact of potential federal budget cuts to HIV/AIDS services, and whether the city will be able to backfill those cuts as it has in recent years. “Over the coming months, the mayor’s office will work closely with department leaders, the Board of Supervisors, and community partners to deliver a responsible budget that prioritizes core services and protects the health and safety of San Franciscans,” mayoral spokesperson Kate Poltrak stated January 6. “Although we haven’t seen proposed federal cuts yet, we have always made our best efforts to backfill federal cuts related to HIV/AIDS and we will continue to do whatever we can to support those with HIV/AIDS.” The extent of potential federal cuts won’t be known for months, but the mayor’s office has already met HIV/AIDS advocates to discuss potential impacts. Tyler TerMeer, Ph.D., a gay Black man who is CEO of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, stated January 6, “We are aware that San Francisco city budget cuts are coming and may impact the work of public health and social service organizations. SFAF, through the HIV/AIDS Provider Network (HAPN), is advocating for the preservation of critical HIV and AIDS prevention, services, and care, and we will
John Ferrannini
Mayor Danile Lurie likely will have to contend with cuts to close a budget deficit this year.
continue to urge San Francisco to prevent funding cuts that will impact our communities.” Asked at a roundtable discussion with journalists – including the Bay Area Reporter, at City Hall on December 16 – Lurie said he was worried about the impact of President Donald Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill on health care. “The health care cuts that are coming to our city are going to just be incredibly devastating,” Lurie said. “How do we make sure we keep as many people enrolled in a more onerous process that is going to be coming down from the federal government?”
TerMeer, who is living with HIV, echoed those concerns. “The federal administration’s cuts to Medicaid and other health services will severely impact HIV and other health programs across the nation – now is not the time to make additional cuts to health services,” he stated. “SFAF continues to be in conversation with our elected officials and looks forward to finding ways to preserve networks of care that serve the thousands of people living with and affected by HIV in our city.” See page 6 >>
Historic site of transgender resistance up for local landmark status by Eliot Faine
T
he San Francisco Historic Preservation Commission later this month will hold a public hearing at City Hall regarding the proposed historic designation of several local LGBTQ landmarks, including the site of the Compton’s Cafeteria Riots in the Tenderloin. Ultimately, it will be up to the city’s supervisors and mayor to grant local landmark status to the properties under review. Local activist group Compton’s x Coalition initiated the community-sponsored nomination for the property that housed one of the earliest recorded acts of transgender defiance to police brutality in the nation. Made up of Tenderloin residents, scholars, and historians, the coalition is working through San Francisco’s appeals processes to oust current facility owner, private prison operator GEO Group from the building. The Florida-based company currently operates a reentry facility at 111 Taylor Street, the site of the former Gene Compton’s Cafeteria. A city designated landmark affords safeguards under Article 10 of the San Francisco Planning Code, which declares the protection and perpetuity of culturally significant sites. For example, it protects the facade of a structure deemed a local landmark but does allow for substantial changes to its interior spaces to be brought before city
Cynthia Laird
The site of the former Gene Compton’s Cafeteria, at 111 Taylor Street, will be considered for city landmark status by the San Francisco Historic Preservation Commission.
oversight bodies for approval. “Landmark expansion at 101-121 Taylor prevents demolition despite [state senator Scott] Wiener’s recent CEQA reform Demolition of an Article 10 landmark requires discretionary approval and findings (including Certificate of Appropriateness for major changes),” architectural historian Shayne Watson, a lesbian, wrote to the Bay Area Reporter. She was
referring to which waives regulations for state and local governments to review the state’s environmental law before approving projects. Despite the building’s recognition on both the California and National registers, those classifications don’t offer protection like a city landmark would. See page 3 >>
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
12/18/25 11:01 AM