Peninsula LGBTQ center update
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Jacob Ming-Trent
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Trans issues at forum
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‘Castro to Christopher’
The
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Serving the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer communities since 1971
Vol. 56 • No. 4 • January 22-28, 2026
Horizons prez Doughty to step down by Cynthia Laird
R Courtesy St. Mary’s College of CA
Diane Whipple, a college women’s lacrosse coach, was fatally mauled by two dogs 25 years ago.
Whipple recalled 25 years after death by Ed Walsh
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t was a quarter century ago but it remains one of the most notorious and horrific criminal cases in Bay Area history. The infamous San Francisco dog mauling case happened on January 26, 2001. Only the 9/11 terrorist attacks nine months later took the story off the front pages. Next month, the dog owner convicted of second-degree murder in connection with the mauling death of lesbian Diane Whipple, 33, will be up for parole. Marjorie Knoller, now 70, has spent more than 20 years in custody. She was denied parole after her last two parole hearings in 2019 and 2023. Knoller was with her two Presa Canario dogs in the hallway attack on Whipple, her neighbor, in their Pacific Heights apartment building. At the time, Whipple was the head women’s lacrosse coach at St. Mary’s College of California in Moraga and lived with her partner, Sharon Smith. Knoller’s husband, Robert Noel, was out of town at the time of the attack. Noel died of heart failure on his 77th birthday in a nursing home in La Jolla, near San Diego, in 2018. Noel, who was paroled in 2003, served more than two years in prison following his conviction of involuntary manslaughter. Knoller was convicted of second-degree murder. Prosecutors argued that the couple knew and encouraged their dogs to be aggressive but did little to mitigate that danger. In a “Good Morning America” interview two weeks after the killing, the couple appeared callous and unsympathetic. The interview helped cement a narrative that the couple was unremorseful, but in several subsequent interviews with the Bay Area Reporter, Noel and Knoller did express remorse for what happened. The presiding judge in the case, now-retired San Francisco Superior Court judge James Warren, threw out Knoller’s second-degree murder conviction in 2002, just three months after the conviction. See page 4 >>
oger Doughty, a gay man and the longtime president of Horizons Foundation, will retire later this year, the nonprofit has announced. The LGBTQ philanthropic organization serves as a grantmaking lifeline to queer nonprofits in the ninecounty San Francisco Bay Area, and Doughty has led it for decades. In a Zoom interview ahead of the formal announcement January 22, Doughty told the Bay Area Reporter that after 23 years at the helm, he felt it was time to step down. He will stay on through November to ensure a smooth transition, which the board of directors has already initiated, he said. “I wanted to give the board and organization a long runway to find the next leader and not be in a rush,” said Doughty. “The board has already put a search committee together and is about to go into contract with a search consultant.” A news release from Horizons noted that the organization has retained NPAG, a nationally known executive search firm. Doughty, 64, has led Horizons since 2002. He is one of the few remaining longtime leaders of an LGBTQ-focused nonprofit in San Francisco who have led their organizations for more than a decade. “Part of it feels it is time for me to move on,” Doughty said. “It’s been an incredible privilege to do this kind of work at Horizons. I know there’s more to life than working, and it’s time to enjoy some of those other things.”
Courtesy Onyx & Ash
Horizons Foundation President Roger Doughty spoke at the organization’s 2025 gala.
He stressed that just because he is retiring doesn’t mean he’s leaving the LGBTQ movement. “I’ve spent 40 years in the movement and I’m unlikely to disappear from the movement,” he said. “I’m not burned out but I’ll admit I’m a little tired.” One of those longtime remaining leaders is Lance Toma, a gay man who has been CEO of the
San Francisco Community Health Center since 2006. He has known Doughty for decades, starting when the two overlapped in the mid-1990s at the Horizons Community Services, an LGBTQ center in Chicago that later merged with the Center on Halsted, which is the city’s longtime LGBTQ center. “I’ve known Roger even before he took over at Horizons,” Toma said in a phone interview, referring to the San Francisco foundation. “I think Roger understands what it’s like to lead a LGBT and queer community organization.” Over the years, the San Francisco Community Health Center has received some community grants from Horizons, Toma said, though he noted the foundation tends to focus on smaller LGBTQ nonprofits, including those serving the trans and people of color communities. “It’s a testament to Roger and Horizons Foundation that they truly understand and invest intentionally in these communities,” Toma said. Toma also said Horizons stepped in to help the center, the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, the GLBT Historical Society, and six other nonprofits in their federal lawsuit against President Donald Trump. As the B.A.R. reported, U.S. District Judge Jon S. Tigar granted a preliminary injunction temporarily blocking the Trump administration from defunding nine LGBTQ and HIV organizations. The parties in San Francisco AIDS Foundation v. Trump are being represented by Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund. See page 2 >>
LGBTQ reaction mixed to SF mayor’s 1st State of the City by John Ferrannini
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an Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie’s State of the City address January 15 was long on initiatives but short on the queer community, as it did not explicitly mention LGBTQs. Afterward, Lurie answered some questions about the community but warned that the city’s tough budget year will make instantiating that commitment in policy more difficult. LGBTQ leaders had mixed reactions to the State of the City address that was held at Rossi Park Ball Field in the city’s Richmond district. Tyler TerMeer, Ph.D., a gay Black man who’s CEO of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, was among those in attendance. TerMeer was disappointed at the lack of a nod to the queer community. “We are dismayed to see that the mayor did not address the LGBTQ community or any issues facing queer and trans communities despite the political attacks we are currently facing, especially the attacks on gender-affirming care,” he stated. “He also did not address the issue of fatal overdoses, despite his many comments on improving safety, homelessness, and substance use in San Francisco. We agree that people who are struggling with substance use disorder need additional support and care, but disagree that the solution
John Ferrannini
San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie delivered his State of the City speech January 15.
will primarily involve increased policing, arrests, and forcing people into the criminal legal system and detox.” Final drug overdose death numbers from last year have not as yet been released. Preliminary data from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner shows 589 unintentional drug overdose deaths in the city through November 2025.
Lurie was adamant about the need to clean up public drug use on city streets and touted his new RESET program set to launch this spring. The RESET Center, which will be located next to the Hall of Justice, will offer an alternative to jail or hospitalization and allow people to get treatment, according to the mayor’s office.
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See page 8 >>