Changes at SFPD
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Marriage equality goes national
ARTS
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Drug wars
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Pride missteps continue
Vol. 43 • No. 28 • July 11-17, 2013
LGBT seniors struggle with suicide by Matthew S. Bajko
I
solated from family and largely living alone, LGBT seniors in San Francisco contemplate taking their own life at an
“alarming” rate, a new study has found. It is estimated there are anywhere from 18,000 to 20,000 LGBT seniors living in San Francisco, with the population increasing each year as the median age of the city’s resi-
by James Patterson
T
he missteps, mistakes, and miscommunications that plagued the San Francisco Pride board of directors in the past three months do not appear to have abated in the days following a successful Pride parade as abrupt decisions have led to further community Rick Gerharter tensions. The latest snafu Pride CEO from the San Fran- Earl Plante cisco LGBT Pride Celebration Committee took place Monday, July 8 when an email to members announced the abrupt cancellation of a regular membership meeting set for Tuesday, July 9. While Pride staff apologized for the short notice, it offered no explanation beyond “finalizing 2013 SF Pride programmatic and financial reports.” In closing, SF Pride informed members the next scheduled meeting would be Tuesday, August 13. Community members have been closely following SF Pride’s actions due to lingering concerns over its handling of the Bradley Manning grand marshal controversy, when the gay Army private was selected and then disinvited from serving as a community grand marshal. (Manning is facing a courtmartial over giving hundreds of thousands of classified documents to WikiLeaks.) Former Pride board member Joey Cain, an increasingly vocal critic of Pride’s governance, immediately fired off an email questioning the meeting cancellation, saying that it was not in keeping with the organization’s bylaws. “What about the nominations for the board of directors that the corporation’s bylaws requires to be opened at the July general planning meeting?” Cain asked in an email to Pride officials, a copy of which he provided to the Bay Area Reporter. According to Pride’s bylaws, the nominations for directors are opened at the July meeting and close at the August meeting. In another email, Cain cited the bylaws and informed Pride that its cancellations of required meetings were “violations” of the governance requirement. “As a member of San Francisco Pride Committee I need to point out to you that the canceling of the membership/general planning meeting for July 9 as well as the canceling/postponing of the membership/ See page 2 >>
Gay senior Hadley Hall, left, and his friend Jerry Brown attended the release of the LGBT Aging Policy Task Force report on LGBT seniors in San Francisco. Hall said that he wasn’t surprised at the report’s findings that 15 percent of those surveyed had “seriously considered” suicide in the last 12 months. Rick Gerharter
dents grows older. A survey of 616 LGBT city residents aged 60 to 92 years old, the results of which were released this week, found that 15 percent had “seriously considered” committing suicide within the last 12 months. While mainstream and LGBT media coverage in recent years has shed a national spotlight on LGBT teen suicides, leading to such efforts as the It Gets Better video project, the study findings show it is an issue many LGBT people grapple with well into adulthood. “I am surprised it isn’t higher,” said Hadley Hall, 80, a gay San Francisco resident. He has had friends commit suicide after they determined to take their own life to end their suffering brought on by failing health. “It was their decision to do it because they couldn’t get the palliative care they needed,” said Hall. Commissioned by the city’s LGBT Aging Policy Task Force, the study also found “relatively high rates of disability” in addition to “poor physical and mental health” among the participants. Previous research has shown that both health issues are associated with increased risk of depression, “which in turn can increase the risk of suicide,” noted the report. See page 12 >>
Supporters rally for City College
by Peter Hernandez
T
he anger, frustration, and exasperation of City College of San Francisco’s faculty and students were evident Tuesday as they gathered for a large rally in the wake of an oversight panel’s recent decision to strip the school of its accreditation next year. Last week the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges voted to revoke accreditation effective next July because City College hasn’t addressed several recommendations the panel made last year. The commission also stripped authority from the college’s elected board of trustees and now all power rests with a special trustee. The commission’s decisions are a blow to the 85,000-student community college, which has struggled for the last year to stave off having its accreditation revoked, the most severe sanction the ACCJC can impose. Emotions ran high at Tuesday’s rally, held near City College’s downtown campus and attended by several trustees and other supporters, including gay Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (D-San Francsico). “Hey ACCJC, don’t privatize me,” was shouted by many of the estimated 200 protesters, lambasting the ACCJC’s decisions, which means that City College won’t be eligible for public funds and students won’t be able to receive federal or state financial aid. Students’ diplomas from an unaccredited college would
Jane Philomen Cleland
City College Trustee Rafael Mandelman, now stripped of his power along with the other board members, speaks at a rally Tuesday.
mean little to prospective employers. The ACCJC said the college failed to meet 12 of 14 recommendations made last year, which included drastic adjustments like restructuring department administration, revising the college’s mission statement, and assessing the effectiveness of courses and programs. Financial reorganization was also required, including capital improvement planning and timely reporting of financial information. City College trustees, now without power, openly denounced the new administration,
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while a faculty member shouted expletives through an amplified microphone. A fervor and urgency was evident in the surrounding language and banners. “I’m not here to be angry or sad, I’m here to be empowered,” Trustee Chris Jackson said when the rally culminated off Market Street in front of the federal Department of Education office. After a year of frenetic administrative overhauls, two interim chancellors and a $67 milSee page 3 >>