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SF urged to backfill HIV cuts by Matthew S. Bajko
S
an Francisco officials are once again being urged to backfill millions of dollars in federal funding cuts to HIV and AIDS services. Due to planned reductions in the city’s share of Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Modernization Act funding, the city will see a $2.1 million cut to its AIDS programs and the loss of $1.88 milRick Gerharter lion in HIV prevention dollars from the Supervisor Centers for Disease Scott Wiener Control and Prevention in the fiscal budget for 2013/2014, which begins July 1. It is hoped that the city can absorb the $4 million loss with local resources. “I believe it is doable,” said gay District 8 Supervisor Scott Wiener, who worked with his board colleagues, AIDS advocates, and Mayor Ed Lee’s administration last year to restore nearly $7.5 million in federal HIV/ AIDS funding cuts. “We are going to be working closely with the mayor’s office to really try to make that happen. But nothing is guaranteed.” In late January Wiener called for a special hearing before the board’s budget committee, which will take place the last week of March, to discuss this year’s pending HIV cuts. The mayor has until May 1 to present his proposed budget to the board, with the final version due June 3. The board has until July 31 to adopt the budget. Last year, during the two-year budget process, the city backfilled 50 percent of the federal HIV/AIDS funding cuts, or roughly $3.5 million, for the upcoming fiscal year. A $500,000 reduction in the current fiscal year in Ryan White Part D funding for Larkin Street Youth Services’ HIV program was also backfilled with half of that amount added to the 2013/2014 budget. The city is being asked to restore the remaining $250,000 in funding this year. The full amount of the budget hit this year to the city’s programs for people living with HIV and AIDS, as well as its HIV prevention programs, remains unclear due to the enactment of the federal sequestration cuts that took effect Friday, March 1. “We all have to work very hard to build the political support for backfilling that amount,” said Wiener, who sits on the extended five-person budget committee as one See page 12 >>
Vol. 43 • No. 10 • March 7-13, 2013
Porn company faces new barebacking complaints by Seth Hemmelgarn
via Treasure Island Media
Complaints have been filed against Treasure Island Media alleging its porn performers don’t wear condoms in barebacking films such as Liam Cole’s Overload.
A
San Francisco-based porn company known for its barebacking videos is facing formal complaints that it’s endangering the health of its actors.
In complaints filed in February, AIDS Healthcare Foundation is asking a California safety agency to investigate Treasure Island Media Inc., headquartered at 351 Ninth Street.
As a visit to http://www.treasureislandmedia.com demonstrates, the company makes no secret that many of its videos show men having sex without condoms. See page 6 >>
First cases seen under nudity ban
by Seth Hemmelgarn
P
eople who choose to be naked in public are finding out that when San Francisco officials passed a new law banning most open nudity in the city, they meant it. Police have cited a handful of people who refused to put clothes on in recent weeks. An April 23 trial date has been set for some who refused to pay the citations and pleaded not guilty. Supervisor Scott Wiener proposed the ban, which the Board of Supervisors passed by a 6-5 vote and Mayor Ed Lee signed into law in December. The law became effective in February after a federal district judge denied a request from four urban nudists seeking an injunction against it. Among other provisions, Section 154 of the police code states that a person “may not expose his or her genitals, perineum, or anal region” on public places including sidewalks and parklets. Children under 5 are exempted, and the restrictions don’t apply to a woman’s breasts nor ban such things as chaps or other ass-bearing clothing. The legislation allows for exemptions of the policy at “permitted parades, fairs, and festivals” such as the gay Pride festival or the Folsom Street Fair. A first offense would come with a $100 fine, while repeat offenders could face a $500 fine or a year in county jail. Any convictions due to the ordinance would not constitute a sex offense for purposes of the state sex offender registry. Four activists are seeing firsthand how the antinudity law is being implemented. Police cited Rus-
Rick Gerharter
Attorney Christina DiEdoardo, center, talked to her clients, urban nudists George Davis, left, and Russell “Trey” Allen III, following a hearing in their case.
sell “Trey” Allen III, 30; George Davis, 66; Dan DeVero, 25; and Oxane “Gypsy” Taub, 43; for refusing to put on their clothes outside City Hall February 1, the day the law went into effect. Allen said police put them in a van, took them to a nearby police station, and held them in the vehicle for about 45 minutes to an hour. Officers gave them blankets to wear, cited them, and released them, he said. (Taub said she put on clothes
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that she’d brought with her but accepted a blanket.) Allen and Davis appeared in San Francisco Superior Court Friday, March 1 (clothed this time) with attorney Christina A. DiEdoardo and entered pleas of not guilty. DiEdoardo also pleaded not guilty on behalf of Taub, who didn’t appear in court. It’s not clear what the status is for DeVero, See page 9 >>