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Oaklash 2025

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Serving the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer communities since 1971

Vol. 55 • No. 20 • May 15-21, 2025

Pink triangle co-founder readies for 30th installation John Ferrannini

Mayor Daniel Lurie announced that San Francisco Police chief William Scott, fourth from left, was resigning and will be replaced on an interim basis by Paul Yep, right.

LGBTQs discuss wishes for new police chief

Pink triangle co-founder Patrick Carney, front row, second from left, and volunteers took a break before the ceremony in 2024.

by John Ferrannini

ith San Francisco Police Chief William Scott announcing his resignation last week, LGBTQ stakeholders have some ideas of what they’d like to see in a new leader for the department. San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie made the announcement May 7 at a hastily called news conference. The mayor said that he’ll be replaced on an interim basis by Paul Yep, a former police commander who is currently the city’s public safety czar. Community stakeholders are already discussing what they want in a new permanent chief, with an emphasis on staffing and a continued commitment to the city’s diverse population. In the selection of a new chief, gay District 6 Supervisor Matt Dorsey – who before then-mayor London Breed appointed him to the Board of Supervisors in 2022 was the SFPD’s head of communications and worked under Scott – told the Bay Area Reporter that, “The top priority for our new police chief must be to fully fund SFPD.” Dorsey pointed out that the department has had a staffing shortage in recent years. While Proposition E recommends 2,074 officers, the total number of all city sworn officers is 1,728, of whom 1,466 are full-duty officers, according to statistics cited by Dorsey. “We can’t afford to postpone fully staffing our public safety agencies any longer,” Dorsey stated, saying he wants a fully-funded force in “the next three years – four tops.” “We simply can’t sustain this level of short-staffing,” he continued. “The overtime alone is killing us.” Lurie announced his Rebuilding the Ranks plan May 13, saying he wants to do just that. The plan “outlines short-term actions to ease the burden on the current officer ranks and long-term strategies to build a sustainable pipeline of qualified officers,” according to a news release. The plan includes streamlining the hiring process in coordination with the Department of Human Resources to minimize administrative steps and eliminate bottlenecks, partnering with the private sector for outreach to potential new recruits, further collaboration between the police and sheriff’s departments, and finding ways to encourage lateral hiring from other law enforcement agencies. See page 8 >>

Hossein Carney, Ph.D.

by Cynthia Laird

n June 1996 under the cover of darkness, Patrick Carney and some friends staged a guerrilla art installation atop Twin Peaks. There, pink tarps were laid out in a triangle shape visible to the throngs of people descending on San Francisco for the annual Pride parade.

Some people didn’t know what it was, or why it was there. But Carney had a vision and is now preparing for the 30th installation of the pink triangle this Pride Month. Part art, part educational tool, the gigantic triangle is a tribute to a dark period of history even as it celebrates progress made by the LGBTQ community. Today, of course, that celebratory nature is tempered by the chaos unleashed

by Republican President Donald Trump and his administration, which is all the more reason to see the pink triangle on the hillside, Carney said. “Initially, it was to add a little color to the parade,” Carney, a gay man who sits on the San Francisco Arts Commission, said in a recent phone interview with the Bay Area Reporter. “I was surprised at how many people didn’t know what it was.”

Zoning appeal allowed for 2017 0transgender Media asite Kit historic SF

See page 8 >>

by Matthew S. Bajko

n oversight body is allowing LGBTQ advocates and historians to question the ability of a residential reentry facility for recently released prisoners to operate a transTheinLos Angeles Blade covers Los Angeles and California news, gender historic site in San Francisco’s Tenderloin politics, opinion, arts and entertainment and features national and neighborhood. international It is where one night in August 1966 an angry coverage from the Blade’s award-winning reporting team. Bespart drag queen patronizing Gene Compton’ Cafe- of this exciting publication serving LGBT Los Angeles from the team teria housed in a ground floor commercial space behind the Washington Blade, the nation’s ﬁrst LGBT From the freeway to the Beltway we’ve got you covered. reportedly threw a cup ofnewspaper. hot coffee in the face of a police officer as he tried to arrest her without a warrant. The exact date of the altercation has been lost to time. But the incident sparked a riot between trans and queer patrons of the 24-hour diner and cops, as detailed in the 2005 documentary “Screaming Queens” by transgender scholar and historian Susan Stryker, Ph.D. The building at 111 Taylor earlier this year Matthew S. Bajko became the first property granted federal landLGBTQ advocates want to evict a prisoner reentry facility from 111 Taylor Street, a mark status specifically for its connection to historic transgender site in San Francisco. the transgender movement in the U.S. It is also now on the California Register of Historical Recity’s 307th landmark also included portions For decades the building has been owned by sources. of the structure’s exterior walls containing the WBP Leasing Inc, a subsidiary of GEO Group In 2022, San Francisco officials had landcommercial space that had housed the CompInc., and operated as a halfway house for formarked the intersection of Turk and Taylor in ton’s eatery on both the Turk and Taylor street merly incarcerated people as they attempt to front of the building in recognition of the upfacades. rising by the LGBTQ Compton’s patrons. The See page 8 >>

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