Road work nears end
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Remembering Jill Sobule
ARTS
Wall of honor inductees named
ARTS
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NEA rescinds grants
The
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Serving the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer communities since 1971
Vol. 55 • No. 19 • May 8-14, 2025
Brothers’ Castro Street businesses fight for survival Fred Schilling, Collection of the U.S. Supreme Court
The U.S. Supreme Court issued an order that President Donald Trump’s ban on transgender servicemembers can go into effect, for now.
US Supreme Court allows trans military ban, for now
by Lisa Keen
T
he U.S. Supreme Court will allow the country’s armed forces to implement President Donald Trump’s ban on transgender servicemembers while the matter continues to be litigated in the federal courts. The 6-3 ruling Tuesday from the country’s highest court stays a national injunction against enforcing the ban until the constitutional issues can be fully litigated in the lower courts. By issuing the stay, the Supreme Court’s conservative majority is allowing the Trump administration to enforce its ban until the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and the high court can act on the constitutional issues involved. The order is an ominous sign for LGBTQ advocates suing to have the ban be struck down and a devastating setback for trans servicemembers who now face being drummed out. “The court has upended the lives of thousands of servicemembers without even the decency of explaining why,” stated Shannon Minter, a trans man who is vice president of legal at the National Center for Lesbian Rights, which has filed a different federal lawsuit challenging the trans military ban. “As a result of this decision, reached without benefit of full briefing or argument, brave troops who have dedicated their lives to the service of our country will be targeted and forced into a harsh administrative separation process usually reserved for misconduct. They have proven themselves time and time again and met the same standards as every other soldier, deploying in critical positions around the globe. “This is a deeply sad day for our country,” Minter added. As the Bay Area Reporter reported Tuesday morning, the plaintiffs NCLR is representing had filed an amicus brief asking the injunction against enforcing the ban remain in effect. If this feels like déjà vu, it is. During the first Trump administration, the Supreme Court also issued an order enabling a Trump directive – first announced through a tweet – to take effect, pending a 9th Circuit ruling on the constitutional issues. That vote, in 2019, was 5-4 (The late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has since been replaced with Trump appointee Amy Coney Barrett.) See page 8 >>
by John Ferrannini
T
wo longtime Castro Street businesses on the 400 block of the iconic thoroughfare told the Bay Area Reporter they don’t have much time if they want to stay in their storefronts. They’re asking the community for help even as the end of their leases loom and their commercial spaces are set to be taken over by Another Planet Entertainment. Brothers Ken Khoury, of the Castro Coffee Co. at 427 Castro Street, and Riyad Khoury, of the Castro Nail Salon at 431 Castro Street, both straight allies, flank the Castro Theatre, managed by APE and currently closed for renovations. As the B.A.R. first reported in March, they say that they have till the end of June to vacate their spaces because their leases are not being renewed. The brothers have petitions at their businesses, asking patrons to sign to convince the Nasser family, the longtime owners of the theater, and APE as the leaseholder of the three-unit building containing it and the coffee shop and nail salon to change their minds. A sign at the businesses also contains a QR code people can use to email the office of gay Board of Supervisors President Rafael Mandelman, who as District 8 supervisor represents the Castro, at mandelmanstaff@sfgov.org. Ken Khoury, 74, has had the coffee shop since
John Ferrannini
Brothers Ken Khoury, left, owner of the Castro Coffee Co., and Riyad Khoury, owner of the Castro Nail Salon, are unsure of their next steps once their leases end June 30.
1987. Riyad Khoury, 78, opened the nail salon in 2004. The B.A.R. sat down with them for an interview at one of the coffee shop’s outdoor tables May 1. “These businesses are essential,” Ken Khoury said. “You take these businesses out, this part of the 400 block would be totally dead. Is this what the city wants? You’re taking a thriving business that serves the community for so long and just basically throwing it out. … I have five employees with dependents.
How can I turn my back on them, and tell them to go away?” Riyad Khoury added, “You can’t evict an existing business that is successful and is serving the community. We’re part of the community. We are not like Walgreens. … We have relationships, stories we share together a long time.” See page 8 >>
SF LGBTQ nonprofits announce separate 2026 cycling fundraisers by John Ferrannini
T
hose wishing to take part in endurance bicycle rides will have ample opportunity next year, as two San Francisco LGBTQ and HIV/ AIDS organizations have each announced separate events both headed to Sonoma County. The news comes as the San Francisco AIDS Foundation bids farewell to its long-running seven-day AIDS/LifeCycle ride in June and embarks on a shorter event for 2026. It plans to host a three-day cycling ride in spring 2026. Meanwhile, LGBTQ sober space the Castro Country Club will host its inaugural Recovery Ride in September 2026. The organizations issued a joint statement May 1 announcing their events. The money raised by each event will support the programs and services of their respective nonprofits. Both have locations in the heart of the city’s LGBTQ neighborhood. The foundation’s Strut health center is on the 400 block of Castro Street, while a short walk away is the Castro Country Club housed in an old Victorian on 18th Street. The planned cycling fundraisers will launch in the wake of the last AIDS/LifeCycle, the 545-mile ride that leaves San Francisco June 1, held in conjunction with the Los Angeles LGBT Center. Its beneficiary agencies announced last September that
Courtesy SFAF
The San Francisco AIDS Foundation will offer a new, shorter bike ride fundraiser in 2026 to replace its long-running AIDS/LifeCycle, which ends after next month’s trek. The Castro Country Club will also hold a bike ride fundraiser next fall.
the 2025 edition, which ends in Los Angeles June 7, would be the last. SFAF and the LA center cited skyrocketing production costs in the aftermath of the COVID pandemic for the decision to end the ride and noted that AIDS/LifeCycle fundraising had been on the decline. The ride started in 1994 and
brought in $300 million to the two organizations for their HIV/AIDS services over three decades, according to the agencies. SFAF has more modest goals for its new ride, hoping to raise about $1.5 million, spokesperson Emily Land said. See page 2 >>