Men say they were drugged
09
Int'l Deaf Dance Fest
ARTS
Travel in the age of Trump
ARTS
03
02
09
Alec Mapa
The
www.ebar.com
Serving the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer communities since 1971
Vol. 55 • No. 31 • July 31-August 6, 2025
Courtesy the subject
San Francisco Supervisor Joel Engardio
Courtesy the subject
Engardio’s 1 for 2 in LGBTQ Dem club support ahead of recall
San Francisco Supervisor Matt Dorsey
Gay SF supe Dorsey’s call to end same-sex partners benefit law sparks shock by Cynthia Laird
G
by John Ferrannini
S
an Francisco’s two LGBTQ Democratic clubs have come out with their positions on the attempt to recall gay District 4 Supervisor Joel Engardio. One voted to oppose his ouster, while the other took no position on the matter that has embroiled Engardio’s constituents for months. Members of the Alice B. Toklas LGBTQ Democratic Club voted to oppose the recall of the moderate politician at their July 14 meeting. The following day, the more progressive Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club voted not to take a position. Voters in District 4, the Sunset, will decide whether to keep Engardio in office in a special election September 16. The recall backers only need to secure a majority of the ballots cast to remove him. In November 2022, when Engardio was first elected, the Alice club voted to support him and the Milk club backed his opponent, then-supervisor Gordon Mar. Engardio was the first supervisor to unseat a sitting elected incumbent since district elections were re-introduced in 2000. He is also the first LGBTQ board member to win a district centered on the city’s western neighborhoods. Having run three times prior for the District 7 seat centered around West Portal, Engardio found himself redistricted in 2021 into Mar’s District 4. He rose to prominence amid the 2022 voter revolt centered in the Sunset district that helped recall San Francisco district attorney Chesa Boudin and three members of the city’s school board.
Beachside park fuels backlash
The contentious issue that led to the recall was last year’s Proposition K, which permanently closed a portion of the Upper Great Highway to vehicle traffic. As the Bay Area Reporter previously reported, Engardio said during his 2022 campaign for supervisor that he supported a compromise that would leave the Great Highway open to cars on weekdays. See page 3 >>
ay San Francisco Supervisor Matt Dorsey says it is time to consider repealing the city’s landmark law that requires companies provide unmarried same-sex partners the same benefits as their married heterosexual colleagues. With the country marking the 10th anniversary of same-sex couples having the right to wed, and domestic partnerships largely anachronistic, Dorsey is questioning the need for city officials’ continued implementation of the law.
Rick Gerharter
Up Your Alley is more than a hug
T
he leather and kink-themed Up Your Alley street fair did not disappoint these fairgoers, or the thousands of others who attended the July 27 event in San Francisco’s South of Market neighborhood. In
addition to, uh, a warm welcome, participants enjoyed live entertainment, sexy demonstrations, and much more. The fair was a warm up, of sorts, for Folsom Street’s big Folsom Street Fair September 28.
See page 6 >>
SF supe calls for hearing on GEO Group by Eliot Faine
S
an Francisco Supervisor Bilal Mahmood has called for a hearing into the GEO Group and its reentry site at 111 Taylor Street after Melvin Bulauan, a resident who had been housed there, died on the same street as the facility. News of his death came the day after allowing the company to continue operating at the site. The facility is currently used as a halfway house, advertising reentry services for formerly incarcerated people. GEO contracts with Immigration Customs and Enforcement and the state of California, and has operated the site for 36 years. Fifty-eight years ago, 111 Taylor Street was the location of Gene Compton’s Cafeteria, where trans and drag patrons staged a protest against police in August 1966, three years prior to the Stonewall riots in New York City that marked the birth of the modern LGBTQ rights movement. Trans activists had filed an appeal seeking to end GEO Group’s presence in the building. At the July 22 Board of Supervisors meeting, Mahmood explained he plans to subpoena representatives from GEO Group and other officials to testify at the hearing, which is expected to be held in the fall. Bulauan was transferred from a state mental health facility in Atascadero to 111 Taylor Street on July 13. His family received a call from him on the same day. Anjru Jaezon de Leon, Bulauan’s son, spoke during public comment at the supervisors’ meeting and described his father’s voice cracking
and his shallow breath as he said he’d “rather go back to jail than stay” at the facility. On July 14, Bulauan would have turned 45 years old. Instead, one of his daughters received a call from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. According to the family, around 3:30 that morning, Bulauan had been found dead at 225 Taylor Street. “Just one block away from where he said he was too afraid to sleep,” de Leon said during public comment at the board meeting. The medical examiner’s office would not release information over the phone as the case is still open. The Bay Area Reporter sent an email with questions and is waiting for a response. Mahmood’s hearing request comes after last Wednesday’s Board of Appeals decision to uphold the legal use of the building, despite hearing from Mahmood and over 60 community members who spoke of their concerns of the alleged negligent and abusive conditions at the reentry facility. GEO Care’s Vice President of Communications Monica Hook stated via email that the company was not taking questions regarding Bulauan’s death, but provided the following statement. “We, like everyone, regret hearing the news of someone losing their life. However, the information contained in the referenced press release indicating Mr. Bulauan died at the Taylor Street Center is categorically false,” the email reads. In the July 22 release from Mahmood’s office, the headline states, “...following the death of Mel-
Eliot Faine
Anjru Jaezon de Leon, Melvin Bulauan’s son and eldest child, spoke about his father at the Board of Supervisor’s meeting July 22.
vin Bulauan at 111 Taylor Street facility.” An aide to the supervisor told the B.A.R. July 23 that Mahmood clarified at the meeting that Bulauan died “under their [GEO Group’s] care” but outside the facility. Furthermore, according to the statement from Hook, Bulauan left the facility without authorization on July 13. He was reported and discharged by GEO’s Taylor Street Center. The center was notified on July 15 that Bulauan had died, and they have no additional information. See page 6 >>
Explore San Francisco's premier retirement community at an upcoming Lunch & Learn. Register at TheSequoiasSF.org/lunch or call (415) 636-5218
Thursday, August 21st at 11:30am
A Nonprofit Life Plan Retirement Community. License No. 380500593. COA #097.