San Francisco Bay Times - June 25, 2026

About Our Cover: How to Build Something That Endures

“It’s about seeing each other and showing up for each other and carrying each other, when we’re weary or faltering or losing faith. That’s how you build something that endures.”

—Michelle Obama, from her “Hope Is All We Have” speech at the Obama Center grand opening ceremony, June 18, 2026

The Pride 2026 cover of the San Francisco Bay Times reflects just some of the many individuals who help build and strengthen the Bay Area’s LGBTQ+ community. Still more merit inclusion, given that nearly half a million openly LGBTQ+ people live in the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area, according to the Horizons Foundation.

Those featured on the cover include Mark Abramson, Dr. Marcy Adelman, Tita Aida, Andrea Aiello, Tom Ammiano, Sophia Andary, Billie Joe Armstrong, Race Bannon, Selisse Berry, Brian Boitano, Aaron BootHaury, Nate Bourg, Kate Brown, Dr. Hossein Carney, Patrick Carney, Jen Chan, Margaret Cho, Peaches Christ, Cecilia Chung, Lenore Chinn, Tim Cook, Dominique Crenn, Juan Davila, Angela Davis, Roger Doughty, D’Arcy Drollinger, Bevan Dufty, Angel Fabian, Tisha Floratos, Kin Folkz, Suzanne Ford, Stuart Gaffney, Moisés Garcia, Bob Goldfarb, Marga Gomez, Jewelle Gomez, Roma Guy, Alex U. Inn, DJ Christie James, Janetta Johnson, Joe Hawkins, Robert Holgate, Crystal Jang, Cleve Jones, Rebecca Kaplan, Leslie Katz,

Kate Kendell, David Landis, Mark Leno, Tom LeNoble, Marsha Levine, John Lewis, Janice Li, Madeleine Lim, Evan Low, Rachel Maddow, Honey Mahogany, Rafael Mandelman, Kippy Marks, Liam Mayclem, Gary McCoy, Michelle Meow, Paul Miller, Jeff Myers, Juanita MORE!, Michael Nguyen, David Perry, Donna Personna, Nguyen Pham, Hank Plante, Rebecca Prozan, Alex Randolph, Mark Rhoades, Morey Riordan, DJ Rockaway, Sister Roma, Imani Rupert-Gordon, Aria Sa’id, Donna Sachet, Greg Sarris, Amy Schneider, Dr. Tim Seelig, Devlin Shand, Per Sia, Megan Smith, Janie Spahr, Sparks, Jake Stensberg, BeBe Sweetbriar, Susan Stryker, Amy Sueyoshi, Kara Swisher, DJ Olga T, Olga Talamante, Danielle Thoe, Dr. Tyler TerMeer, Linda Tillery, Jennifer Valles, Sister Dana Van Iquity, Gary Virginia, Scott Wiener, Lisa Williams, Manny Yekutiel, Sara Yergovich, and Judy Young.

This issue of the Bay Times, as for all other issues, includes countless more such accomplished individuals, along with allies who also enrich life here in the Bay Area. The Bay Times is “about seeing each other” and is “grounded in our stories,” in the way that former First Lady Michelle Obama meant this month as she advised how to “build something that endures.”

The San Francisco Bay Times is an official San Francisco Legacy Business that, in September 2026, will receive the Legacy Award from the NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ+ Journalists. This award recognizes, at a national level, media outlets that have “exhibited innovative, high-quality, and sustained news coverage of the LGBTQ+ community over an extended period of time.”

The Bay Times later this year will also officially be added to the LEATHER & LGBTQ Cultural District. More information about both of these honors, including related

Castro Street Cam Nears 5 Million Views

The Castro Street Cam https://bit.ly/4xUD7SW, produced by the San Francisco Bay Times, is an educational service in celebration of the rainbow flag at Harvey Milk Plaza and other points of interest in the Castro, such as the rainbow crosswalks. This Pride Month, the Castro Street Cam is nearing 5 million views. These include vistas that show up and down Castro Street, Harvey Milk Plaza, Jane Warner Plaza, and The Castro Theatre.

Cam #5, highlighting The Castro Theatre, was introduced earlier this year to mark the theater’s reopening after it was closed for two years for the theater’s $41 million restoration and renovation. From the daytime crowds for festivals such as Frameline50 to night views showing the theater’s glowing colorful blade and other lights, this cam is fast becoming one of the most popular in the system.

The highest number of views so far, however, are for Cam #4, showing Jane Warner Plaza. The plaza also recently received a refresh, with footage from Cam #4 revealing some of that effort along with before and after scenes: https://bit.ly/4fRhGLT

Through June 28, be sure to check out Cam #2, which captures the Pink Triangle atop Twin Peaks. The rainbow crosswalks, also seen from this cam, add a striking counter-

point to the Pink Triangle. With the rainbow flags, also captured by this cam, three of the Castro’s most powerful and iconic symbols are in a single view.

While the system last month showed a hitand-run suspect literally running down Castro Street ( https://bit.ly/43MlPtm ), the Castro Street Cam is not a security camera nor is it affiliated with a security system. Its five cameras are carefully positioned to show the overall landscape, similar to systems highlighting other landmark neighborhoods such as New York City’s Times Square and New Orleans’ Bourbon Street.

Since its launch in 2017, the Castro Street Cam has become one of the city’s most popular live webcam systems. The highest number of public cam views overall in the city, though, go to the Pier 39 Cam: https://bit.ly/4oCjpXT

This was especially true when the 2,000pound Stellar sea lion Chonkers visited San Francisco starting in March. He hauled out on K-Dock in full fleshy view of the cam. Chonkers left in May, but marine mammal experts say he could be back. Sea lions regularly display homosexual behavior, so we hope this stellar Stellar will be back later this Pride Month.

events, will be detailed in future issues.

For now, as many of us celebrate Pride and the first weeks of Summer 2026, we also hold onto hope during what for many in the LGBTQ+ community and beyond is a very challenging and disheartening time in this country. Michelle Obama said, “[H]ope is the essential spark that lights the fire of change. But hope is a choice. Whether or not we use our voices to speak up is a choice. Voting is a choice. Being a decent human being is a choice. Believing that we still hold the power to build a country that reflects us all is a choice.”

Coming out and publicly acknowledging Pride are also almost always very personal choices. Thinking again of Michelle Obama’s words, the leaders of San Francisco Pride—like the stewards of the Obama legacy—have “protected and proclaimed the hope that beats within the heart” of the LGBTQ+ community. Thank you to them and to all the allies and LGBTQ+ individuals who have made the often-difficult choice to live and love authentically with pride; and courage and support to those in the community who feel isolated, alone, and afraid. The always free and fully accessible Bay Times and San Francisco Pride Parade and Festival remain here for you, meeting you where you are and striving to nurture hope.

(right) LGBTQ+ community leaders and friends of the San Francisco Bay Times, including Sister Roma and Terry Asten Bennett of Cliff’s Variety, joined in a ribbon-cutting ceremony on October 31, 2025, to commemorate the soft launch of Cam #5 of the Castro Street Cam system. Cam #5, which highlights The Castro Theatre, was permanently launched on February 7, 2026, to coincide with the reopening of the theater. A pub crawl throughout the Castro district to celebrate the launch took place on that day and was hosted by the San Francisco Bay Times and led by Donna Sachet and Gary Virginia.

Another popular cam in the city belongs to the San Francisco Conservatory of Flowers. It goes live during important moments, such as the rare bloom of the conservatory’s corpse flowers. “Scarlett” is doing just that, right in time for Pride: https://gggp.org/corpseflower/

The Castro Street Cam, though, is 24/7, every day of the year.

The San Francisco Bay Times thanks partners Cliff’s Variety, Orphan Andy’s, and SoulCycle, along with many other sponsors and partners. Check those out, along with all of the cams of the system, at https://bit.ly/4xUD7SW

All Issues of the San Francisco Bay Times From the 1970s to the Present Are Now Available Online

Every issue of the San Francisco Bay Times, from its founding in the 1970s until the present, may now be viewed in their entirety online at Digital SF (historic issues) and at the Bay Times website via ISSUU ( https://sfbaytimes.com/ ).

The complete digitization of the Bay Times was a multi-year effort made possible by the San Francisco Public Library (SFPL), Cristina Mitra and Dee Dee Kramer of The Hormel LGBTQIA Center, California Revealed, and the publishers of the Bay Times. It has been a longstanding goal of the publishers to preserve the paper, especially its earliest issues, for present and future generations.

The digitization process is laborious, at times involving high-resolution cameras and pageby-page scans of fragile existing rare hard copies. Some of these rare issues are archived at the Marjorie G. and Carl W. Stern Book Arts & Special Collections Center of the SFPL.

It has therefore taken several years to complete the digitization of the San Francisco Bay Times. Progress concerning the work has been shared in previous issues, including in last year’s Pride Week issue. We are grateful that, for Pride 2026, we can announce the project’s completion.

Support From Local and National Leaders

Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, a longtime reader and supporter of the Bay Times, said: “LGBTQ+ history is American history, and the preservation of the San Francisco Bay Times archives is an invaluable contribution to that shared history. For decades, the Bay Times has chronicled the voices, struggles, and triumphs of the LGBTQ+ community in San Francisco and beyond—often when those stories were neglected and devalued. This record of mobilization is evidence of the deep patriotism of the LGBTQ+ community, and, by digitizing it, we ensure that future generations can learn from the

1970s–1980s LGBTQ+ Radio Show Hosted by Randy Alfred Airing Again

The Gay Life, a popular radio program hosted by San Francisco Bay Times Founding News Editor Randy Alfred, aired on commercial rock and roll station KSAN in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Alfred was working with the Bay Times then, and KSAN was an advertiser. The program explored pivotal moments in San Francisco’s LGBTQ+ history, such as the rise of Harvey Milk and the early days of what would later be called HIV/AIDS.

Now, KALW Public Media in collaboration with Alfred and the GLBT Historical Society is re-airing the program as part of a special 12-episode series. Revisiting The Gay Life premiered on June 18 and will run every Thursday at 6 pm through September 10. The episodes are also archived at https://www.kalw.org/

courage, resilience, and advocacy that helped move our nation closer to equality.”

Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, President of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and a former Bay Times columnist, added: “From the AIDS crisis to marriage equality, the San Francisco Bay Times has chronicled some of the most defining moments in our city’s LGBTQ+ history. Digitizing this archive ensures those stories are preserved, accessible, and available to future generations who deserve to understand both how far we’ve come and what it took to get here.”

State Senator Scott Wiener echoed that sentiment, and congratulated the Bay Times. He and his team have worked extensively with

organizations like the GLBT Historical Society and other queer advocates in San Francisco to secure spaces and funding for preserving LGBTQ+ history and culture.

Key Contributors Then, and Now To mark the completion of the Bay Times digitization, the publishers additionally reached out to Bay Times Founding News Editor Randy Alfred, who is now in his 80s and still going strong. Alfred said, “When my co-founders and I started the Bay Times in 1978, we established a new communication resource for our overall community and our varied communities. The publication has

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Reyna Yokoyama Loya Sparks and Generation Beta

The digitization of the San Francisco Bay Times means that future generations will be able to access all issues of the paper, ensuring that LGBTQ+ history and culture in the Bay Area and beyond over the past six decades will not be lost. The latest generation, Generation Beta, includes Reyna Yokoyama Loya Sparks. She is the daughter of Castro residents Sparks and Sierra. Sparks is a board member of The National Center for LGBTQ Rights who helps run the Masto Foundation ( https://mastofoundation.org/ ). Sierra is the Associate Director of Development for Open Door Legal ( https://opendoorlegal.org/ ). The family continue to read and support the Bay Times and other efforts dedicated to beneficial grassroots social change.

What Really Matters: Why Pride Matters to All of Us

By Dan Ashley

Every June, rainbow flags appear in storefronts, on city streets, in neighborhood windows, and across social media feeds. For some, Pride Month is a celebration. For others, it is a political statement. For many people outside the LGBTQ+ community, it may simply feel like someone else’s event, meaningful, perhaps, but distant from their own lives.

But Pride is not just about one community. Pride is about all of us.

At its core, Pride is the story of human dignity. It is the belief that every person deserves the freedom to live honestly, love openly, and walk through the world without fear. That idea should never belong to only one group of people. It belongs to everyone.

The history of Pride is rooted in struggle. It emerged from years of discrimination, silence, rejection, and violence directed at people whose only “offense” was being themselves. Long before corporate logos turned rainbow-colored every June, countless LGBTQ+ Americans faced losing their jobs, their homes, their families, and even their lives simply because of whom they loved or how they identified. And yet they stood up. They marched.

They insisted that their humanity be recognized.

That courage changed America.

It is easy now, decades later, to forget just how isolating life once was for many gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender Americans. I often think about a friend I had in middle and high school named Doug. Doug was different and, more often than not, he would sit alone at lunch or keep to himself during recess. One day, I went over to say hello and we became friends. It broke my heart even then that he didn’t have very many friends. Sadly, Doug died of AIDS in his twenties. No one really talked about why Doug was different back then, but he was ostracized because of it. These days, younger generations have grown up in a world where openly LGBTQ+ actors, athletes, journalists, musicians, and public officials are part of everyday life. That visibility matters enormously. But it did not happen automatically. It happened because brave people risked everything to make it possible.

Pride honors those people.

But Pride also serves another purpose. It reminds us that progress is never guaranteed. Rights can advance, but they can also retreat. Acceptance can grow, but division can reemerge. History has shown us repeatedly that fear and finding scapegoats often return during difficult cultural moments. That is why Pride still matters—

not because equality is a special interest, but because equality is the foundation of a healthy society.

When any group is told they are less worthy of respect, less deserving of opportunity, or less entitled to safety, every one of us should pay attention.

Because history teaches something important: prejudice rarely stays contained.

And that is why Pride should matter to those of us who are straight as well. It should matter to conservatives and liberals. To parents and grandparents. To people of faith and to those with no religious beliefs at all. It should matter to anyone who believes basic humanity is not negotiable.

For me personally, this understanding deepened profoundly through more than three decades of involvement with the San Francisco AIDS Walk.

When I first became involved with AIDS Walk in the mid-90’s, the AIDS epidemic was devastating communities across America, especially in San Francisco. At the time, fear was everywhere. So was misinfor mation. So was stigma.

People were dying, not only from disease, but also often from abandonment.

Families sometimes turned away from loved ones and the sick sometimes suffered alone. Many Americans were uncomfortable even speaking openly about AIDS, much less con fronting the humanity of the people most affected by it.

But something extraordinary also happened during those years. People showed up.

Not just members of the LGBTQ+ community, but neighbors, nurses, clergy mem bers, business leaders, straight allies, volunteers, families, and complete strangers. Thousands upon thousands of people came together because they recognized something funda mental: compassion matters more than fear.

That lesson has stayed with me ever since.

AIDS Walk was never simply about raising money. It was about refusing to let people disappear. It was about visibili ty. About dignity. About stand ing shoulder to shoulder and saying, “You matter. Your life matters.”

In many ways, that is also what Pride says. You matter.

And when society sends that message clearly, lives change.

Young people feel less alone. Families find understanding. Mental health improves. Suicide rates decline. Communities become stronger. Innovation flourishes and creativity thrives. People stop wasting emotional energy hiding who they are and instead invest it in contributing to the world around them.

That benefits everyone.

One of the great misunderstandings about Pride is the idea that inclusion somehow takes something away from others. It does not. Human rights are not pie charts. Expanding dignity for one group does not diminish dignity for another.

That does not mean everyone will agree on every political or cultural question surrounding gender and sexuality. In a diverse democracy, disagreement is inevitable. Honest conversations are healthy. But there is a profound difference between

believe LGBTQ+ people deserve safety, fairness, and respect.

That principle feels especially important right now.

We live in a time when outrage often dominates public discourse. Social media rewards conflict. Cable news amplifies division. Political rhetoric increasingly encourages Americans to see one another, not simply as opponents, but as enemies.

Pride pushes against that instinct.

Pride is about visibility, resilience, joy, and shared humanity. It is about creating a society where fewer people feel forced to hide.

And, honestly, isn’t that something almost all of us want in our own lives? To be accepted, to be seen, to be loved as we are.

The rainbow flag itself is a powerful symbol because rainbows contain many colors. No one color diminishes another. Together they create something brighter than any single shade could alone.

America has always been strongest when we embrace that truth.

Not perfect. Not finished, but always striving to widen the circle of opportunity and

That is the larger meaning of Pride. It is not simply a parade or a festival. It is a reminder of the unfinished work of empathy. A reminder that democracy requires more than elections and laws. It requires acceptance of one another, even when it would be easier not to.

Pride matters profoundly to the LGBTQ+ community, and it always will. But it also matters to every parent raising children in a complicated world. To every young person searching for belonging, and to every family hoping that love will overcome fear. what really matters is we recognize the dignity in one another despite our differences.

That is the promise of Pride. And that is something worth celebrating

Dan Ashley is a lead news anchor at ABC7 (KGO-TV), where he has coanchored the top-rated evening newscasts since 1995. Over his distinguished broadcasting career, he has earned numerous Emmy, DuPont-Columbia, and Edward R. Murrow awards for his high-profile interviews and dedicated investigative reporting. Beyond the news desk, Ashley is a passionate philanthropist and musician who supports AIDS Walk San Francisco, fronts his own band, and founded the annual “Rock the CASA” benefit concert to support children in need.

CELEBRATING PRIDE

2026

Let’s Move From Conviction to Practice at Pride 2026

By Suzanne Ford

I want to welcome all corners of the LGBTQ+ community and its allies who have shown such tremendous support to the 56th annual San Francisco Pride.

For decades, our community has gathered to be seen and to insist on its own joy. Our 2026 theme, “Resistance in Action!” is what comes next: organizing, showing up, doing the tangible work of protecting one another. We’re moving from conviction to practice, and we invite you to move with us.

After years of uncertainty post-pandemic, we’re transitioning into building mode, taking on the mantle of making sure SF Pride is around for the next 56 years.

Pride remains a celebration of family, and, this year, our corporate partners, community members, and neighbors are joining together to stand up for each other, like any family would. Against a backdrop of oppressive and anti-trans legislation, uniting is itself meaningful. It’s what makes Pride feel both joyful and necessary.

“Resistance in Action!” is resistance made concrete.

It looks like Built This City at the legendary Castro Theatre, honoring the people who made queer San Francisco possible.

It looks like Runway of Pride at GLIDE, where fashion, pride, and social justice collide.

It looks like 96-year-old Dolores Huerta delivering the keynote at the Human Rights Summit at the Commonwealth Club, proving what a lifetime of action is.

It looks like the Party at the Asian Art Museum, where panels of the AIDS Memorial Quilt and Nina Katz’s larger than life portraits hold our grief and our visibility in one room, and where Mayor Lurie and I will honor the National AIDS Memorial CEO John Cunningham with the Teddy Witherington Award.

It looks like marching in the inaugural Trans Ally March, retracing the historic route down Market Street.

And, for me, it looks like leading the parade on Pride Sunday, right behind the Dykes on Bikes®

This Is Resistance in Action!

By Joshua Smith

The 56th annual San Francisco Pride is here, and I want to extend a warm welcome to the LGBTQ+ community, allies, and everyone who has shown support over the years.

This year’s Pride is different. Our 2026 theme—”Resistance in Action!”—is resistance made concrete. We’re organizing, showing up, doing the tangible work of protecting one another.

In a year defined by attempts to make this community smaller and quieter, showing up loudly and visibly is itself a form of action, and it tells every queer person watching, especially young people, that they belong and are not alone. We want everyone who joins us at Pride to leave with three things: Connection, knowing the community is organized and within reach. Equipment, gaining concrete ways to plug in beyond the weekend. And lineage, a felt sense of standing on the shoulders of those who came before and a responsibility to the generation coming next.

Whether you join us at Runway of Pride at GLIDE, the Human Rights Summit, the Party at the Asian Art Museum, the inaugural Trans Ally March, or the Parade and Celebration weekend—all of it is “Resistance in Action!” We want people to arrive welcomed, leave activated, and feel the spirit of celebration the whole time.

More than any single event, what I’m looking forward to the most is the joy on people’s faces as we unite all month long. It’s seeing that knowing look people share that says, “We got this.”

You’ll see us out in the community all month long resisting, and we hope you’ll be there resisting too. Seeing each other, sharing joy, standing defiantly together is what will carry us from this Pride to the next.

To find the full lineup and plan your Pride,visit https://sfpride.org/ Suzanne Ford is the Executive Director of San Francisco Pride.

“Resistance in Action!” tells us that Pride must be more than an event. Our words now have to move into practice.

We must fight for policies that save LGBTQ+ lives. We must continue to build coalitions between communities because our freedom is tied up in one another.

San Francisco Pride is committed to that work. We are grounded in unity and in building a world of profound belonging. That means ensuring that Pride remains accessible, intersectional, and community-driven by those who are represented. It means keeping the voices of those most marginalized at the center: our Black and Brown siblings, our trans community, our elders, our youth.

As we move forward, let us take strength from those who have come before us and struggle towards a future where queer people are not just included but celebrated, elevated, and safe.

You’ll see us out in the community all month long resisting, and we hope you’ll be there resisting too. Seeing each other, sharing joy, standing defiantly together is what will carry us from this Pride to the next.

To find the full lineup and plan your Pride, visit https://sfpride.org/ Pride is protest. Pride is joy. Pride is resistance. Joshua Smith is the President of the Board of Directors at San Francisco Pride.

CELEBRATING PRIDE

Welcome to San Francisco Pride 2026

been providing that service for almost five decades now. I am delighted to learn that the online archive will now make the Bay Times a resource for LGBTQ people worldwide and for historians here and everywhere.

Columnist Ann Rostow, who still regularly writes for the Bay Times, joined the team over three decades ago. News of the digitization got her reminiscing about those years in the paper’s history:

By Mayor Daniel Lurie

Dear Readers of the San Francisco Bay Times,

It is a privilege to address you as we celebrate Pride Month and the LGBTQ+ communities that help define San Francisco.

Every June, our city comes alive. Pride flags line Market Street from the Ferry Building to the Castro. The Pink Triangle returns to Twin Peaks. Together, we send a powerful message: San Francisco is a place where you can love who you want to love, be who you want to be, and live freely.

That legacy was built by generations of leaders and everyday San Franciscans who fought to make our city what it is today.

Today, our LGBTQ+ neighbors, small business owners, and public servants carry that legacy forward. Our three LGBTQ+ cultural districts—the Transgender District in the Tenderloin, the LEATHER & LGBTQ Cultural District in SoMa, and the world-famous Castro—bring energy and creativity to our city every day. They remind us that San Francisco’s strength comes from our communities and the people who make them special.

But Pride Month is not only about celebration. We must also recognize where the fight for equality continues.

LGBTQ+ rights are under attack as the federal government targets trans health care, cuts HIV and AIDS funding, and turns its back on vulnerable communities. San Francisco is sending a different message: our LGBTQ+ community is welcome, seen, and safe. We will continue to stand with this com-

munity and invest in its future.

After the federal government cut HIV and AIDS funding, we backfilled it as we have. No one in this city should lose access to health care because Washington turned its back. The San Francisco Community Health Center and the San Francisco AIDS Foundation are making a difference for San Franciscans every day—and, with their work, we can get to zero new infections.

We will continue to support the organizations that strengthen and uplift San Franciscans. That includes restoring funding for TGIJP, El/La Para TransLatinas, and the San Francisco LGBT Center, because culture, community, and access to services are essential—especially for our trans communities. And we will continue to invest in LYRIC, so LGBTQ+ youth have a place where they are seen, supported, and able to thrive.

Pride is a celebration, but it is also a commitment—a commitment to ensuring that future generations inherit a city that is welcoming to everyone.

Happy Pride, San Francisco.

Daniel Lurie is the 46th Mayor of San Francisco.

flimsy luggage, Kim required a wheelchair, and I wheeled her around LAX while she muttered and yelled at me, reeking of stale alcohol. She refused to believe these stories whenever I brought them up.

“I joined the Bay Times as the business manager over 30 years ago, when the paper had just moved into their 7th Street offices, and when I was very cute, if I say so myself. After a few years of doing anything and everything at the behest of my friend, the tyrannical Kim Corsaro, I added writing to my many assignments, taking over the news column and starting the satiric ‘Straight Talk’ column that featured a fictional Marin housewife trying hard to understand the homosexual ‘community,’ I guess you’d call it, even though I’m not sure why it’s really a ‘community’ because you don’t have ‘straight communities,’ and, as far as I can see, all you homosexuals are very different! Anyway!

I was also given responsibility for most of the paper’s political endorsements, an incredibly time-consuming task that required in-depth research on, let’s say, arcane insurance regulations, bond specifications, and all sorts of special interests that had nothing to do with GLBT issues. Kim would interview and write up the top candidates, but I was in charge of the dozens of random propositions and ballot measures. It was a period of time, however, when the Bay Times endorsements were given weight and taken seriously. Let’s not forget that Kim Corsaro was, in many ways, responsible for the election of Nancy Pelosi to Congress in the special election of 1987. Pelosi, with her history of Democratic Party activism, ran against Harry Britt, a gay man with limited legislative experience and (to simplify) Kim’s two lengthy pre-election articles, gave Pelosi half the gay and lesbian vote in a primary that she won by four points.

Our location was around the corner from a seafood restaurant, which paid for its advertising with steamed lobsters, served with corn and bread in a lovely alley. My labors were partly compensated by fabulous lobster lunches, and, once, Kim somehow traded ad space for a trip to France. She carried with her a giant prescription for Xanax, and took too many, rendering herself belligerent and loopy, at one point lighting a cigarette, forgetting it, and dropping it on the floor of the plane while I was in the john. On our way back, we broke several bottles of wine in our

I loved 7th Street back in the day, particularly the Folsom Street Fair right next door, with its crazy lascivious and sweet atmosphere. Pride Day was another highlight, although Kim was raising twins at the time, a boy and a girl, and the scene wasn’t always appropriate. I was taking them to get ice cream one year when we passed a bunch of guys having sex on top of a van, and both kids, maybe 8 or 9 at that point, asked me repeatedly what the men were up to. Nothing would distract them from the intriguing spectacle, and I had a brief sympathy for the church ladies whom I loved to condemn for their delicate sensibilities.

The lesbians in our group were also determined to give the kids gender-bending gifts for birthdays and Christmas—Easy Bake Oven for Chris and tool kit for Camille ... you get the picture. After a year or so, Chris wanted guns and Camille wanted dolls, and we all abandoned our politics to please these adorable and much-loved children.

That was one of the best things about the San Francisco Bay Times. It was not politically correct as the term was used in the 1990s. It placed our community in the context of larger issues, and it made no effort to twist news or opinion into the expected framework. Just because someone is gay doesn’t mean they’d

be the best representative in Congress. Just because a gay person is fired doesn’t mean they have a Title VII case for wrongful termination. They might be bad at their job. And, we had a sense of humor. I remember late nights putting the paper to bed, writing photo captions, and positioning them by hand. I wrote the captions, and, at times, made everyone laugh so hard their hands would shake as they tried to place the line of text. On one shot of a dismal-sounding feminist art project I wrote, ‘it’s the waiting that’s the hardest part,’ which held up production for a good 15 minutes of hilarity. We were bad.

Kim Corsaro died of kidney failure in February 2022, but, well before that, she entrusted the paper to the present publishers. From the late 1970s, through AIDS, into the 21st Century, and through the Supreme Court decisions that gave us marriage equality, the Bay Times has witnessed and reported our progress and setbacks, creating a reflection of our civil rights movement, our heroics, and our failures. Its archives contain an essential part of GLBT history and they tell that history in a remarkable way.”

San Francisco Bay Times at Digital SF https://bit.ly/4w1UHm9

San Francisco Bay Times Website https://sfbaytimes.com/

Bay Times Archive at ISSUU https://issuu.com/sfbt

San Francisco Bay Times Pride Parade Contingent 2026: Love Makes a Family

A longstanding media sponsor of San Francisco Pride, the San Francisco Bay Times has had a presence in the city’s Pride Parade for decades. Bay Times lead photographer

Rink has photographed every Pride Parade in the city, even before “Pride” was part of

the name. He will be back for 2026’s parade, where the Bay Times contingent theme will be “Love Makes a Family.” Several families associated with the paper will be participating. The contingent’s featured guest this year will be columnist and Check, Please! Bay Area host Leslie Sbrocco, who is also known for her work on the Today show, the national series 100 Days, Drinks, Dishes & Destinations, her best-selling books, and much more. Joining

her will be her daughter Grace, who is a proud member of the LGBTQ+ community. With them in the contingent will be other family members and friends. Leslie and Grace will be among those in a convertible driven by Don Berger of Regency Limousine. Berger over the years has driven seemingly every celebrity and VIP in San Francisco, from Tony Bennett to Madonna, and is a local star in his own right.

Also joining the Bay Times contingent will be Patrick and Dr. Hossein Carney. The couple each year lead the installation of the Pink Triangle on Twin Peaks; Patrick is the founder of that iconic project. John Lewis and Stuart Gaffney, Bay Times columnists and world leaders of the marriage equality movement, are also planning to join the contingent, as are the mother and sister of Nguyen Pham, who is the President of the Mensa Foundation and the Director of Sponsorship at San Francisco Pride. Pham will be among the broadcasters covering the parade for ABC7.

Popular digital creators “Megan married Meagan,” presented by Olivia Travel, will also be featured guests in the Bay Times contingent. They are known for their often-humorous videos sharing what life is like for a

“masc4masc” lesbian couple. They have amassed a following of over half a million people across their social channels and they will be filming along the Parade route!

Yet another couple, Warren Alderson and Steve Scheitlin, will be among the dedicated volunteers and additional supporters who each year make the Bay Times contingent possible. Others will include Juan Davila, Leticia Lopezz, Karen Bardsley, Sally Ann Nichols (who hopefully will bring her talented stiltwalker nephew!), Carol Steinkamp, Monette Shirley and her daughter Savannah, Jimmy Consos and his daughter Eleni, Jade Martner, Linda Schomaker, Miguel Vasquez, Brent Hensley, and Frank Marx.

Riding with us will be drag legend, tireless fundraiser, and Bay Times columnist Donna Sachet, Sister Dana Van Iquity (who is one of the longest serving members of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence), Beth Schnitzer of Spritz, several other columnists, and the Bay Times publishers.

This year’s photography team, in addition to Rink, will include Bill Wilson, Michael Kirschner, and Jerome Parmer. The DJ will be Olga T of Mango fame and more.

Sponsors—many of which will have representatives participating in the contingent— include 1800 Tequila, V. Sattui Winery, Big Bus Tours, Boichik Bagels, Sparky’s Balloons, Brady’s Pedicab, and Grubstake. Thanks also to columnist and best-selling book author Tom LeNoble, who is helping sponsor the contingent.

Pride calls to mind those who were longstanding volunteers in the contingent who are no longer with us, yet memories of them

live on and especially at this time of year. They include charismatic Grace Floyd (some of you might remember her megaphone as she organized the contingent with gusto), Antonio Morales (who often quietly walked at the head of the contingent, always intent on helping others), and elegant Helene Wenzel (the longtime partner of former Bay Times designer Abby Zimberg; Abby remains active in the arts and is closely connected to the Bay Times team).

Bay Times contingent themes in previous years have included celebrating the 45th and 50th Anniversaries of Women’s Music, Flower Power (with the Asian Art Museum), Kiss for the Bay Times (that was proceeded by a photography exhibit of couples and friends kissing at Pride), 100 and Proud (with featured guest Betty Reid Soskin, the oldest known VIP ever to participate in the parade), a jubilant celebration of the legalization of same-sex marriage, the 10th Anniversary of same-sex marriage, and much more.

From our extended family to yours, Happy Pride! We hope to see you on Market Street on June 28.

https://sfpride.org/

Sincere appreciation to Andrew Smith, Nicole Ritthaler, and the entire team of drivers and customer service representatives! The San Francisco Bay Times’ year-round partnership with Big Bus Tours means so much to us and is truly indicative of the company’s commitment to the LGBTQ community.

Please consider enjoying their tours of San Francisco and the Bay Area any time you have guests coming from out of town or if you want to see the sites of our fabulous city while celebrating any occasion. www.bigbustours.com

SAN FRANCISCO BAY TIMES

Pride Weekend and Beyond

In Case You Missed It

This year’s Pride Weekend seems designed to counter the drumbeat of hatred coming from around the country with a nonstop expression of solidarity and joy. From the Human Rights Summit to the San Francisco premiere of Hunky Jesus at Frameline50, to the Trans March, Pride Night at the Opera and the Valkyries, the Trans Ally Rally, the Dyke March, then, of course, the San Francisco Pride Parade, it’s a marathon. Whew! And that’s just a small sample of events; the whole city will be rocking.

A clear theme throughout these events is the fierce determination to stand up—loudly and proudly—against the bigotry and hatred directed at the LGBTQ+ community, and especially trans people. Meanwhile, local and state legislatures across the country con-

tinue to introduce increasingly hateful, often nonsensical, and frequently unconstitutional bills, while the current-temporary-residentof-the-White-House flatly and falsely claims that trans people do not exist, and orders his minions to erase them from public life.

Pride Weekend is the culmination of a month-long fabulous, over-the-top, very public affirmation of a community’s right to exist. And once the party is over and the glitter has been swept away, it is up to all of us to keep that momentum going. Pride doesn’t end on June 30, and neither should we.

‘Dear Mayor Lurie ... ‘ 2026 Version

Budget battles in San Francisco are not new. It seems that every year we are told, “It’s a difficult budget year.” But, this year, many local organizations that serve our city’s most vulnerable citizens are already reeling from seeing their federal funding disappear. Further cuts from the mayor’s budget could be devastating.

During his campaign for office in 2024, Mayor Lurie made this direct promise: “I commit to backfilling federal funding cuts to maintain San Francisco’s HIV safety net. Access to culturally competent health care is a fundamental right. This includes robust funding for HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment. As mayor, I will continue to backfill any federal funding cuts driven by Republican agendas.”

But the budget proposed by the Mayor on June 1 doesn’t appear to keep this promise.

This month, advocates have been at City Hall urging the Board of Supervisors to resist budget cuts that would devastate health care services, neighborhood clinics, and vital services to the most vulnerable people in our city, including queer youth, trans people, our elders, and people living with HIV. Citizens have been lining up to give testimony to the Board of Supervisors about how these community clinics and welcoming health care services have saved their lives. They have been begging the supervisors to find other ways to balance the city’s budget without destroying the fragile safety net of services that provide the only access to health care for so many of the most vulnerable people in our city.

Activists are working hard to mitigate the damage, but they need our help to avoid catastrophic collapse of the network of services that support this community. City Hall needs to hear our voices. The Board of Supervisors must officially adopt the budget by July 28, so the time to act is now. Call your supervisor ( 415-554-5184 ), or email them ( board.of.supervisors@sfgov.org ).

AIDS Walk Turns 40

On Sunday, July 19, 2026, AIDS Walk will return to Golden Gate Park for its 40th anniversary—a significant milestone that honors four decades of community action in the face of HIV/AIDS.

AIDS Walk was born out of necessity, at a time when there was no funding, no (continued on page 42)

The Power of Pride Under Pressure

6/26 and Beyond

Stuart Gaffney and John Lewis

Imagine you’re at home having lunch on a Saturday afternoon when you hear a knock on the door. Not expecting anyone, you answer the door, part of your lunch still in hand, to find yourself confronted by two police officers, one of whom is recording your every move with a video camera in your face. The police officers force you to go to the station with them, not explaining why, and, a short time later, you find yourself being interrogated by the state security police.

That’s exactly what happened to a gay man who is a good friend of ours—for purposes of this column, we’ll call him Chris—who lives in a country where being gay has long been legal, but LGBTIQ rights are severely limited and gay freedom is increasingly under attack.

Inside the police station, Chris was, of

course, anxious about why he was being detained and what was going on. Even though government repression of the LGBTIQ rights movement in his country had been increasing in recent years, gay people were not subject to mass arrests or sweeps at bars or clubs. Thus, he was taken aback by his interrogator’s simple initial query:

“Are you a homosexual?”

Chris paused for a moment, not knowing for sure why he was being interrogated and wanting to consider the implications of his answer for himself and others. He needed to think strategically in responding to the security police. He chose an equally simple and straightforward answer: “Yes.”

Despite feeling nervous and intimidated by the interrogation that was only just beginning, Chris experienced something else surprising as he answered: a palpable sense of pride well up from within him. Even though he had not come out to his family and his employer, he had just done so to the powerful state security police.

To us, Chris’s confidence and clarity at such an unexpected, tense, and vulnerable moment—and his complete embrace of himself as a gay person—embody the essence of Pride that we celebrate every year this month.

The entire exchange also reminded us of the stunning September 8, 1975, cover of Time magazine emblazed in massive bold type with the words of Sergeant Leonard Matlovich “I Am a Homosexual,” along with a photo of him in military uniform. Earlier that year, Matlovich had taken the bold step of writing those words in a memo to the Secretary of the Air Force to create the foundation for his ultimately unsuccessful legal challenge to the exclusion of gay people from the U.S. military.

The 1975 Time cover story substantially elevated the gay rights movement in America’s consciousness. It explored many different aspects of queer life and the movement 50

years ago, although, unquestionably, it was a product of its time. One quote that stood out to us was that of renowned lesbian and queer activist Barbara Gittings: “What the homosexual wants, and here he is neither willing to compromise nor morally required to compromise—is acceptance of homosexuality as a way of life fully on a par with heterosexuality.”

Today, we no longer refer to ourselves as “homosexuals” and don’t use the generic “he.” We seek, not just “acceptance” but embrace, and we strive to live on our own terms without heterosexuality as a referential norm. But the essential force of Gittings’s

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San Francisco LGBTQ+ Timeline – Part Two

From Repression to Pride: A Timeline of LGBTQ+ San Francisco From 1901 to 1970

Faces from Our LGBT Past

Dr. Bill Lipsky

It was the worst of times and the best of times for San Francisco’s temperamentals (then the most common term for lesbians and gay men). Starting in the 1910s, around the time homosexuality was considered to be a pathology, not a behavior, California’s State Legislature began passing more and increasingly severe laws against all expressions of same-sex intimacy. Eventually San Franciscans, among others, fought back, winning their first great success in 1975, when state government, after decades of increasing oppression, repealed the laws against consensual same-sex intimacy. The city’s LGBTQ+ community entered a golden age.

1901

The city boasted any number of places where men met each other for intimacy, including Union Square, Ocean Beach, Land’s End, the Embarcadero, and Lower Market Street.

A gift to the street, Douglas Tilden’s Mechanics Monument, dedicated by Mayor James Phelan, featured five nearly nude machinists, a fashion choice not recommended for actual foundry work.

1904

Julia Morgan, the first woman to be registered as an architect in California, opened her office in San Francisco.

1906

Built after the earthquake, the Sultan Baths (originally known as the Burns Hamman Baths, and not to be confused with the Sutro Baths) became the city’s earliest known “gay-friendly” business, where likeminded men could bring or meet new friends.

1908

City officials closed the Dash, the city’s first known homoerotic dance hall, because of its “degenerate female impersonators.”

1915

The California State Legislature proclaimed “acts technically known as fellatio and cunnilingus are hereby declared to be felonies.”

Famed anarchist Alexander Berkman gave

what was possibly the city’s first public lecture defending homosexuality. (With fellow anarchist Emma Goldman, Berkman lived at 569 Dolores Street while they published the subversive periodical The Blast, which was later shut down by the federal government. More information, including photos, is at: https://bit.ly/4ahmgQ2 )

1918

Without legal authority, the Army instigated a raid on two Baker Street flats, leading to the arrest of more than 30 men for homosexual acts and creating the city’s first same-sex scandal.

1919

In Re Lockett, the State Supreme Court overturned the law prohibiting oral sex because it used terms that were not in an English dictionary.

1921

The California State Legislature passed a new constitutional amendment, written entirely in English, that made oral sex illegal for both women and men.

Without including specifics, a second statute banned “any act ...

which openly outrages public decency,” giving police permission to arrest people for virtually anything.

1924

Ending its unstated policy of essentially ignoring homosexuality unless it received complaints about such goingson, the Police Department formed a Parks and Squares Detail, which, for the first time, actively monitored, entrapped, and arrested gay men in public places.

1929 Finocchio’s opened as a speakeasy near Union Square, then moved to North Beach in 1936, where it showcased female impersonators until the venue’s closing in 1999.

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GLBT Fortnight in Review

By Ann Rostow

Tough Times

There’s no doubt that the GLBT community is better off today than it was two decades ago, let alone three. But, as someone who remembers the Pride weekends of an earlier time, it doesn’t feel that way. There was an underlying strength and exhilaration in a fight for civil rights that was bringing us all together and making progress. The March on Washington in the spring of 2000 was a celebration. That is because, while we were still subjected to sodomy laws, still far from the right to marry, still banned from military service for being gay or lesbian, we were moving in the right direction. We could feel it.

Now, we are much further along, but we are slipping backwards. It’s not only the transgender community that’s under attack. According to Gallup, the percentage of Americans who approve of marriage equality has stopped rising and has begun to slide. A 65 percent majority now supports samesex marriage, down six points in the last four years. Only 62 percent think that same-sex relations are “morally acceptable,” the pollsters say. That’s the lowest it’s been since 2016. As for our transgender brothers and sisters, only 38 percent think transitioning is morally acceptable, down eight points over five years.

As Gallup looks back, only 27 percent of our countrymen and women approved of marriage equality in 1996, (coincidentally, the year when I started writing news reports for the San Francisco Bay Times). Twenty-five years later, in 2024, 71 percent approved, an astonishing improvement and the high-water mark for this poll. Most of the recent drop off has come from Republicans; since 2022, for example, Republican support for gay relationships has dropped 21 points, from 56 percent approval to 35 percent. Independents, by contrast, dropped 8 points to 64 percent, while Democrats stayed at 81 percent.

But enough of the numbers and polls. This is what happens when bigotry is unchecked and encouraged. This is what happens when cruel caricatures meet ignorance, when brute strength meets fear. By brute strength, I refer to the bellicose ravings of men who lack the brains to hold onto power without force or tricks. By fear, I refer to those who shrink in front of strangers; those who seek protection from things they don’t understand. With cowards on both sides, we have to fight until they self-destruct and then slowly build our country back. Meanwhile, let’s try to enjoy ourselves again.

Their

Private Idaho

The end of June is not just Pride, of course; it’s also the end of the Supreme Court’s session, and the release of the most difficult or controversial opinions of the year. There’s usually a GLBT case, and this year is no different as we await the verdict on whether or not Idaho and West Virginia can ban transgender girls from joining their high school or college sports teams.

As you recall, we’ve lost all our recent GLBT cases. Last year, the Court gave the green light to states that wish to ban hormone and

other treatments for transgender minors. We also saw a victory for an anti-GLBT counselor in Colorado, who successfully challenged the Mountain State’s law against so-called conversion therapy. Before that one, we had the website designer who wanted to refuse gay and lesbian clientele in violation of Colorado’s anti-discrimination code. The Court thought that was hunky dory. Then there was the ruling from the shadow docket, allowing Hegseth to fire transgender troops, and the red-carpet rollouts for the Christian Right, allowing anyone with a hint of a faith-based claim to run ragged over the First Amendment. Where once we all looked forward to the Court’s pronouncements, now we dread them.

But the lower courts, on the other hand, have often claimed the high ground. On June 16, U.S. District Court Judge Amanda K. Brailsford ruled that Idaho cannot enforce the worst parts of its draconian anti-transgender bathroom bill, which was set to go into effect July 1. The Spud State enacted the harshest bathroom bill in the entire country, a law that effectively banned the use of both public and private facilities for transgendered men and women. Unlike other laws of this ilk, this one had no option for an officer to ask the person to vacate the bathroom. Instead, an “offender” would be arrested on the spot. There was no accounting for how someone’s birth sex would be determined, and who would be making that determination. The law bizarrely applied to one-room bathrooms in addition to those with stalls—and repeat offenders could be charged with a felony and face up to five years behind bars.

Exceptions to the law included “dire need” and situations where no other bathroom was “reasonably available.” Although the plaintiffs challenged the law on several grounds, Judge Brailsford ruled that the law was unconstitutionally vague. After all, who decides if a person was in “dire need” to use the john? When is a bathroom “reasonably available” or not? Since the six plaintiffs (along with the American Civil Liberties Union and Lambda Legal) only raised the portion of the law that applied to bathrooms, Judge Brailsford issued a preliminary injunction against part of the statute, allowing transgender Idahoans to use a single room bathroom of any designation, and use a multi-person bathroom of their lived gender if a single was not around. Got that?

Note that Idaho already prohibited transgender residents from using public school bathrooms and locker rooms, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit refused to issue an injunction against that law, deciding last year that the plaintiffs in that case were unlikely to win a claim against the changing room ban. The lower court promptly upheld the law, and, according to a release from the Attorney General’s office, the case was eventually dropped.

It appears that this original challenge to the public schools’ bathroom law has now been supplanted by the current litigation, which targets the new state-wide felony. Judge

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10th Anniversary of the Pulse Nightclub Tragedy Commemorated in the Castro

On June 12, 2026, the 10th Anniversary of the Pulse nightclub mass shooting in Orlando, Florida, was commemorated in the Castro with a community vigil at Jane Warner Plaza followed by a march. Orlando native and SF Pulse Memorial event founder Christopher Vasquez was among the speakers who also included Per Sia, Stephen Torres, Alex U. Inn, and others. The Castro LGBTQ Cultural District hosted the commemoration, which included a “Remember the 49” banner and the placing of flowers in tribute to the victims. The SF AIDS Foundation, Galeria de la Raza, and Acción Latina were among the participating organizations. More information about Pulse is at https://www.pulseorlando.org/

Legally Changing Your Name: What Your Financial Life Needs to Know

Money Matters

Your name is the very first piece of property you ever own.

But, for a lot of people, there comes a day when that name stops fitting. Maybe you got married and decided to share a last name with your favorite person. Maybe you and your spouse decided to smash your last names together into a trendy, customized portmanteau. Maybe you’ve spent three decades answering to a name that never quite felt like yours, or you’re transitioning and choosing a name that finally matches the human looking back at you in the mirror. Every single one of those reasons is completely valid. What nobody tells you during those beautiful, deeply personal milestones, however, is that the administrative aftermath

is a total pain. What a Legal Name Change Looks Like

Financially, the whole circus usually runs between $150 and $500 in filing and publication fees. Your time is typically the bigger investment. Start to finish, you’re looking at roughly two to four months of bureaucratic waiting rooms.

You begin by filing a name change petition with your local court. Depending on where you live, you might have to publish a notice of your new name in a local newspaper. Then you wait for a hearing date. Once a judge finally signs off on your new moniker, you get a court order approving the change. Ta-da.

The Barista vs. The Bank

Now, you might be wondering if you can just skip the courtroom entirely. In the United States, you can actually go by whatever name you want in your daily social life without a single form or filing fee. For example, Brio’s own CEO goes by Jake because a barista called him that one random afternoon twenty years ago and he decided it sounded way sexier than his legal name. He didn’t file a single document, and, for everyday life, that’s completely fine. Still, problems can show up when you try to do something legal or financial. That is because the underwriting department at a bank—also, the IRS, the Social Security

Administration, your mortgage lender, and your employer’s HR department—doesn’t care what that barista called you twenty years ago.

The Hidden Risks of Mismatched Accounts

The absolute worst version of this story is where you make the legal change but don’t update all your documents. Imagine someone changes their name, updates their driver’s license, gets distracted by life, and suddenly passes away. Their grieving family is left sitting with an estate where the checking account is under one name, the brokerage account is under another, and the beneficiary designations reference a human being who doesn’t legally exist anymore.

Yes, a court order proving that your old self and your new self are the same person will eventually get the money to the right place, but you’re handing your loved ones a date with a probate judge when they should just be allowed to mourn. Keeping your records completely consistent across every single institution can be a highly unromantic, yet incredibly profound, act of love.

Your Name Change Checklist

When a client changes their name, we help build a checklist of everything that needs updating: brokerage and investment accounts, beneficiary designations, insurance policies, estate planning documents, checking and savings accounts, 401(k) and employer benefits, and any accounts held outside

what we manage.

You shouldn’t have to hold all this in your head. We help ensure everything gets a task, a deadline, and follow-up from us until it is done.

If you’ve recently changed your name or you’re thinking about it, let’s talk through your situation. And if you’re navigating something big (coming out, a new family structure, building wealth in a way that doesn’t fit the traditional playbook), we’re the kind of advisors who see the whole picture.

Book a complimentary Make It Happen meeting to learn more: https://www.briofg.com/contact

This material presented by Brio Financial Group (“Brio”) is for informational purposes only and is not intended to serve as a substitute for personalized investment advice or as a recommendation or solicitation of any particular security, strategy, or investment product. Facts presented have been obtained from sources believed to be reliable, however, Brio cannot guarantee the accuracy or completeness of such information, and certain information presented here may have been condensed or summarized from its original source. This information may contain certain statements that may be deemed forward-looking statements. Please note that any such

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Message from Leadership

This Pride, We Are Building the Next Chapter

By Aaron Boot-Haury

Happy Pride, San Francisco!

In April, I used this space to tell you what we were building toward on June 2: our first annual LGBTQ+ Business Expo, our expanded Business of Pride partnership with the San Francisco Business Times, and the unveiling of a refreshed Golden Gate Business Association. I’m thrilled to report back: It all came together, and then some. Our relaunch is complete. By now, I hope you’ve had a chance to explore our new website and experience our new brand and voice. If you haven’t yet, go take a look. We are proud of what we’ve built.

And what a way to step into Pride season. The LGBTQ+ Business Expo, presented alongside the Business Times’ Business of Pride celebration, was a tremendous success. We sold out of tables, and the room buzzed from the first handshake to the last goodbye. Best of all, we are hearing the stories of connections made that day that have already turned into real business getting done. That is the entire point. It is what this chamber has done for more than fifty years, and it is exactly what we intend to keep doing. We

cannot wait to make this event bigger and better next year.

I’ll be honest with you, as I always try to be in these columns. This Pride Season feels a great deal better than the last one. Longtime readers will remember that, last fall, in these pages, I described the attacks on our community as the most severe I had seen in my lifetime. I am an eternal optimist (it is practically in the job description), and I won’t pretend the headwinds have disappeared. This political environment still asks a great deal of us. But things feel less chaotic than they did twelve months ago. Corporations are rediscovering their courage, or rediscovering that alienating LGBTQ+ people and our allies is simply bad for business. (Personally, I’ll happily take either.) Diversity-focused business organizations are finding their footing within the new “anti-DEI” executive orders. And, as so many of my fellow LGBTQ+ organizational leaders and I keep telling one another lately, we have made the shift from survival to building the next chapter. It just feels better.

So, here is my ask: Enjoy your Pride celebrations. Have fun. Be safe. Soak up every bit of joy this city has to offer. And, then, on July 1, let’s get back to work.

(Speaking of Pride: Keep your eyes peeled out there. At San Francisco Pride, you’ll be treated to a very healthy dose of the new GGBA look.)

What then does “getting back to work” mean for us? I am so glad you asked!

Now that you have all seen our new look and heard our new voice, we are simply going to keep building. With the incredible support of several new corporate sponsors, and the tireless work of our board of directors and volunteers, we are on the verge of launching a whole slate of new programs: mentoring and one-on-one coaching, supplier readiness workshops, industry-specific events, and new strategic partnerships with fellow organizations, just to name a few.

We are also thrilled to be a pilot NGLCC affiliate chamber rolling out the new Allied Business Certification Program. This one matters on two levels. First, it helps protect the legal standing of the existing LGBTE certification (see my aforementioned note about those executive orders). And, second, it gives the many non-LGBTQ+-owned businesses here in San Francisco, of which there are plenty, a meaningful way to show their support: by joining their local affiliate chamber, and by plugging directly into the

GGBA Member Spotlight Ken Lew Photography

Ken Lew Photography, established in 2005, has a perfect 5-star Yelp rating. Here is just one comment from a former client: “My partner and I worked with Ken Lew for our 20th anniversary photoshoot a few months ago. Ken has the ability to tune into who his clients are, provide a lot of ease to be themselves, and capture the true beauty in each person. Ken magically captured the essence of our love—silly, playful, supportive, and loving.”

In an era when most of us can whip out a cell phone to take any number of photos, Lew reminds what a difference skill and experience can make—and also consideration and care for others that reflect back in what the lens captures. Those last two qualities are too often missing, even among trained photographers, and help lift Lew’s work to the 5-star level.

GGBA: Please tell us more about your photography businesses, sharing its mission and values.

Kew Lew: Ken Lew Photography specializes in corporate headshots, event photography, and branding in the form of visual storytelling for businesses and organizations throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and

resources of the NGLCC and its national corporate partner network.

And we are growing our team. Calls for applications to the GGBA Board of Directors open July 1, so keep an eye out. If you have ever wanted to help shape the next chapter of the original LGBTQ+ Chamber of Commerce, this is your moment.

At the GGBA, we remain deeply committed to fostering innovation, collaboration, and economic empowerment within our community. More than fifty years ago, Harvey Milk stood beside the GGBA booth at Pride and reminded us, “Hope is never silent. Rights are won only by those who make their voices heard.” That hope is alive in every member, sponsor, volunteer, and ally who has carried us into this new chapter.

So, to all of you: thank you. Thank you for showing up, for building with us, and for believing that history, connection, and growth still belong in the same sentence.

Happy Pride, San Francisco. Now let’s go make some more history.

Aaron Boot-Haury is the President and CEO of the Golden Gate Business Association.

beyond. My mission is to help people feel seen, valued, and represented through photography that reflects who they truly are from the inside out.

At the heart of my work is the belief that a photograph can do more than document a moment; it can help someone recognize their own value and feel more confident in how they represent themselves to the world. I strive to create an experience where people feel comfortable, safe, respected, and empowered, resulting in images that

strengthen both personal confidence and company branding. My values are centered around human connection, representation, inclusivity, service, and helping people show up as their best selves.

GGBA: Why did you decide to create Ken Lew Photography?

Kew Lew: I started my business because I saw how transformative photography could be. Over the years, I witnessed people arrive

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The 2026 San Francisco Business Times Selisse Berry Legacy Leadership Award

Acceptance

Speech

Aging in Community

Dr. Marcy Adelman

(Editor’s Note: Marcy Adelman, PhD, is the 2026 recipient of the Selisse Berry Legacy Leadership Award presented by the San Francisco Business Times. She received the award during the Business of Pride held on June 2, 2026, at The Westin St. Francis. The following is her acceptance speech from that evening.)

Thank you for this wonderful recognition. I

am truly honored to receive the Selisse Berry Legacy Leadership Award and to be here with all of you today.

I have to tell you, I love reading the San Francisco Business Times. It gives me the real inside story of what is happening in our city—from who is buying or selling which building, to the latest tech gossip and financial news. It has long been one of my favorite reads. So, to now be receiving an award from this publication is incredibly special. This is really cool.

I am also thrilled to share some exciting news with you today. Openhouse, the LGBTQ+ housing and senior services non-

profit that I co-founded more than 25 years ago, is teaming up once again with Mercy Housing. Together, they are building a new 15-story development at 1939 Market Street.

This building will provide 187 affordable studio and one-bedroom apartments, primarily for LGBTQ+ older adults aged 62 and older. These additional apartments will double Openhouse’s current housing capacity and will make San Francisco home to the largest collection of LGBTQ+ friendly affordable senior housing in the whole damn country.

Groundbreaking is targeted for late this year or early 2027, with construction expected to take about two years. And, of course, Openhouse will be right there on-site, providing wellness programs and social activities.

I know that so many of you in this room champion our city’s nonprofits by donating and/or serving on boards. You have my deepest gratitude for your incredible generosity of time, treasure, and expertise. My hope today is that you will team up with Openhouse once again, just as you did when you helped us build our housing and service campus on Laguna Street.

Thank you again for honoring me with this very special award. I look forward to seeing you all at the groundbreaking.

Marcy Adelman, PhD, is the Co-Founder of Openhouse, the only San Francisco nonprofit exclusively focused on the health and

well-being of LGBTQ+ older adults. She is a longtime LGBTQ+ aging policy advisor who is a member of the Dignity Fund Oversight and Advisory Committee for the City and County of San Francisco, the Advisory Council to the San Francisco Department of Aging and Adult Services, and was a former board member of the Alzheimer’s Association of Northern California and Northern Nevada. Previously, she also served as a psychologist in private practice for nearly 42 years.

Marcy Adelman, a clinical psychologist, LGBTQ+ aging consultant, and policy advisor, oversees

Protecting Your Chosen Family: Estate Planning as Resistance in Action

Trust Essentials

Jay Greene, Esq., CPA

This Pride Season, as San Francisco celebrates Resistance in Action, many in the Bay Area LGBTQ+ community are thinking about real protection. War, immigration shifts, and market swings create uncertainty. For LGBTQ+ households, the risks are higher. Without a strong estate plan, California’s default laws may ignore your chosen family and your wishes. Pride means celebration—but it also means protection. Planning ahead is a meaningful act of resistance.

Building an Estate Plan That Honors Your Chosen Family

A properly funded revocable living trust is the foundation. It keeps your assets out of California’s probate system. Probate can take 12 to 18 months or longer and rack up

significant court and attorney fees. Assets in the trust pass privately and directly to the people you name.

Supporting documents are equally important. A durable power of attorney for finances and an advance health care directive let your chosen partner or family member make decisions if you cannot. A HIPAA authorization gives them quick access to medical records. These tools are especially vital for unmarried couples and chosen families who may not be recognized under default state rules. Delaying these protections can leave your

worst possible time.

Common Questions This Pride Season

Many wonder if a simple will is enough. For most Bay Area homeowners, the answer is no. A will still requires probate. A living trust avoids probate and offers faster, private transfer of assets to the people you choose.

Another common question is when to update documents. Review your plan after any major life event such as marriage, divorce, a new home, or significant asset changes. At minimum, check it every few years. Pride Month is an excellent time to ensure your paperwork truly reflects your relationships and values, before life’s uncertainties make changes more difficult or even impossible.

Taking Action During Pride Month

Resistance in Action includes building lasting protections for your legacy. A complete estate plan ensures your home, savings, and wishes are honored exactly as you intend. It brings peace of mind in uncertain times. With 2026’s shifting landscape, the window to act is narrowing. Once health issues or cognitive changes arise, your ability to create or update these protections can be lost forever.

The process starts with a consultation to understand your goals. Documents

are then drafted, reviewed, and signed. The final critical step is funding the trust by retitling assets into it. Acting now keeps control in your hands while you still have full legal capacity. Waiting until tomorrow could mean leaving your chosen family unprotected when they need it most. Contact Greene Law Firm, P.C., today. Call 415-905-0215 or email info@greenelawfirm.com for a free initial assessment.

Statements in Compliance With California Rules of Professional Conduct

The materials in this article are for educational purposes only and are not legal advice. Consult an estate planning attorney for personalized guidance.

Attorney Jay Patrick Greene, Esq., CPA, founded Greene Law Firm, P.C., which is licensed in California, Alabama, and Florida. He has over 15 years of experience concerning wills, trusts, probate, elder law, and asset protection. For more information, visit: https://assetprotectionbayarea.com

Openhouse Executive Director Morey Riordan Advances Health Equity and Social Justice

The Philanthropic Mindset

Each month, The Philanthropic Mindset explores how we contribute to the lives of others. Philanthropy is not defined by wealth or recognition. It is found in a conversation, an act of kindness, or a moment of encouragement. These simple expressions of care strengthen communities, restore hope, and remind us of our shared humanity.

Morey Riordan has spent his career advancing health equity and social justice for marginalized communities. In 2025, he became Executive Director of Openhouse, a San Francisco nonprofit serving LGBTQ+ older adults through housing, services, and community.

Previously, he served as CEO of Mind Share Partners and founded the Transgender Strategy Center. Earlier leadership roles included overseeing national HIV-focused grantmaking at AIDS United, directing HIV/AIDS service organizations in Oakland and Santa Cruz, and leading The Sperm Bank of California.

Morey serves on the boards of the National Center for LGBTQ Rights and ETR (Education, Training, and Research), and previously served on the Openhouse Board of Directors.

Tom LeNoble: What first opened your eyes to the issues your organization works on?

Morey Riordan: My journey into LGBTQ community work began during the AIDS epidemic. As a young queer person coming of age in the early

1980s, I was discovering community and embracing who I was when friends around me began getting sick. AIDS changed everything.

While those years were heartbreaking, they also revealed the extraordinary strength of community.

Lesbians, gay men, allies, and advocates stepped in because no one else was coming to save us. Whether serving as a buddy to someone living with AIDS or later working within AIDS service organizations, I always felt I received more than I gave.

Tom LeNoble: Who modeled generosity for you when you were young?

Morey Riordan: My parents did. My mother was a nurse, and both of my parents were involved in the farm worker movement. Growing up in the Santa Cruz area, I was surrounded by conversations about fairness, justice, and standing up for people whose voices were not always heard. They taught me that, when people are mistreated, it matters.

Tom LeNoble: What motivates you to keep showing up and doing this work?

Morey Riordan: A friend once told me that, while they might feel exhausted when it came to their own challenges, they never lost energy when fighting for someone else. That has always stayed with me. At my core, I still react strongly when I see people being left behind or treated unfairly.

Today, LGBTQ older adults face significant challenges, including housing insecurity and isolation. Recently, we brought a group of LGBTQ elders to a city budget town hall. They wore shirts that said, “LGBTQ Elders Built This City.” Many were in their seventies and eighties, yet they were determined to advocate for their future and for the generations that follow. Seeing that determination inspires me every day.

Tom LeNoble: When you hear the word “philanthropy,” what does it mean to you personally?

Morey Riordan: I spent nearly a decade working in philanthropy and philanthropy-adjacent organizations, which gave me a unique perspective. At its best, philanthropy provides the resources and stability that allow mission-driven organizations to serve communities and address urgent needs. Many nonprofits would not exist without it. While philanthropy is not perfect, I view it as an essential force that helps communities tackle challenges and create meaningful change.

Tom LeNoble: What keeps your optimism alive when things get really difficult?

Morey Riordan: The AIDS epidemic taught me that communities can accomplish extraordinary things when they come together. During those years, we faced stigma, indifference, and unimaginable loss, yet people organized, cared for one another, and fought for change.

Activists transformed how medications were developed and approved, proving that even marginalized communities can influence systems and create lasting impact. Whenever times feel difficult, I remember those lessons. Collective action remains one of the most powerful forces for change.

Tom LeNoble: What moment reminded you that Openhouse is truly making a difference?

Morey Riordan: One moment stands out from my first month at Openhouse. I attended a gathering of transgender elders and someone asked whether the blinds should be closed. The group immediately said no. They explained that this was a place where they gathered openly, shared meals, told their stories, and lived authentically. They refused to hide. That moment captured everything Openhouse represents. It was about dignity, belonging, visibility, and community.

Tom LeNoble: What has this work taught you about humanity?

Morey Riordan: After decades in community work, I continue to be inspired by the generosity shown by people who have very little. I meet individuals facing housing insecurity, food insecurity, and countless other challenges who still find ways to care for others. Those moments remind me that there is tremendous goodness within people and that our role is to create environments where that goodness can thrive.

Tom LeNoble: What is unique about doing this work in San Francisco?

Morey Riordan: San Francisco has a remarkable LGBTQ history. It has long been a place where people could come to live openly, build community, and create change. At the same time, we are seeing increased hostility toward LGBTQ people, particularly transgender individuals, even here. We are also welcoming more people arriving from states where they no longer feel safe, often at a time when resources are becoming more limited. The city’s proud history and today’s realities are intersecting in complex ways.

Tom LeNoble: How has this work changed you personally?

Morey Riordan: This work has expanded my vision of aging. Watching LGBTQ people thrive in their seventies, eighties, and nineties has shown me what is possible. It has reinforced my belief that our later years should be celebrated and supported.

Our elders carry wisdom, experience, and history that deserve recognition. The more I witness their resilience and vitality, the more committed I become to ensuring they have the dignity, support, and opportunities they deserve.

Tom LeNoble: If someone wanted to begin developing a philanthropic mindset, what is one small step they could take?

Morey Riordan: Volunteer. Many of Openhouse’s donors first connected with us through volunteer opportunities. They served meals, attended events, and spent time with community members. Volunteering allows you to see impact firsthand and discover how your time, talents, and resources can make a difference.

Tom LeNoble: What would surprise people most about you outside of work?

Morey Riordan: I identify as transmasculine and have a wonderfully unique family experience. I gave birth to my oldest child, who is now graduating from college. My children call me “Mo.” I am not quite mom and not quite dad, but something that incorporates elements of both. I continue to embrace the nurturing parts of myself, and family remains at the center of my life.

Tom LeNoble: If you had a completely free day in San Francisco, how would you spend it?

Morey Riordan: I would spend it

(continued on page 40)

Practice Makes Love Easy

Kippy Marks

John Weber enters this month’s PMLE column, not just as the 17th individual to be spotlighted here, but as one of the beating hearts of San Francisco’s LGBTQ+ community. This year, he stands in a well deserved spotlight as a 2026 San Francisco Pride Community Grand Marshal, a role that reflects decades of service, leadership, and unwavering devotion to the people who make this city shine.

John’s community work is not loud, but it is powerful. He has been a bridgebuilder, a mentor, and a steady hand in moments when others faltered. His advocacy spans generations—supporting queer youth, uplifting elders, strengthening organizations, and reminding us that community is not an event, but a practice. He has served on boards, guided initiatives, and shown up for countless individuals in ways that never make the headlines but always make the difference.

For me, this recognition is deeply personal. John has been one of my mentors—one of the people who held space for me, guided me, and reminded me of my own strength during my liver transplant journey. When my world narrowed to hospital rooms, uncertainty, and the slow work of healing, John showed up with the kind of love that PMLE is built on: intentional, patient, and rooted in compassion. He didn’t just check in; he walked with me. He reminded me that community is a lifeline, not a slogan.

For 2026 San Francisco Pride Grand Marshal John Weber, ‘Community Service Is a Part of My DNA’

John Weber: I have been actively engaged with PMLE for about 15 years. I want to thank you for introducing me to this concept in its modern form.

Not digesting poison in my body is a smart practice. The same applies to my mind and consciousness. By poison, I mean toxic thoughts—self-doubt, feelings of unworthiness, or being unseen and unappreciated. I practice love by infusing my mind with positive thoughts, confidently walking into any room. I carry the energy of my ancestors— those who fought for the gay and Black communities—bringing their strength, dreams, and experiences into every conversation and interaction. This is how I make love easy and natural.

Kippy Marks: Who or what motivated you to become the community activist you are today?

John Weber: I think my greatest influence was my mother, and also an event—the Hurricane Katrina

selling hot meals—plates of fried chicken, potato salad, and red beans. I would take orders in high school and sell these to-go plates to my teachers, faculty members, administrators, and other families. My mother would deliver them on the scheduled delivery date.

The money she earned helped people pay their rent. This experience helped me understand community and the importance of being a public steward.

During the Katrina disaster, I personally witnessed communities fighting for each other firsthand. When I arrived here from New Orleans, my gay community rallied around me and encouraged me. They donated frequent flyer miles to help the rest of my other family members travel to San Francisco. My family has since rebuilt and moved back home, but the entire gay community—with all its diverse tapestries— is the community I hold most dear. I am proud to

That is who John Weber is: a man who practices love the way some people practice music—daily, deliberately, and with a devotion that transforms everyone around him.

As a 2026 Community Grand Marshal, John carries our stories, our struggles, and our triumphs with him. In this column, he joins a lineage of individuals who understand that love is not a theory; it’s a discipline. And, as my mentor, he is a reminder that healing is never done alone.

John Weber doesn’t just represent PMLE. He embodies it—one act of service, one moment of grace, and one life touched at a time.

Kippy Marks: How long have you been involved with the practicing of PMLE values in your work?

disaster, which struck my hometown of New Orleans. Both of these things truly impacted me in a significant way, shaping me into someone who sees himself as a community servant rather than just a social activist.

I watched my mother at a very young age in New Orleans host parties for people who couldn’t afford their rent, because, back in the South in the late ‘60s when I was growing up, times were very hard for many people. The only way to survive was to support each other as a united community.

My mother was very resourceful and philanthropic. Even though my family had little more money and resources than others in my neighborhood, my mom would notice how other families couldn’t make ends meet. She often organized rent parties by

Gay SF, the first Black Elected-Emperor, and five years later, the first Black Board Chair of the Imperial Council of San Francisco.

Kippy Marks: How old were you when you made the decision to dedicate much of your life to community service?

John Weber: I was exactly 8 years old when I made the decision to become a community servant—and I’ve literally been serving my community in some way, shape, or form since that time. Community service is a part of my DNA and pedigree.

Kippy Marks: What advice would you give to others on how to practice love on the daily?

John Weber: In our community, I see survivors. I see leaders. I see people who have created community when the world didn’t always make space for us.

As a Black man, a gay man, and someone who has dedicated years to philanthropy, leadership, and community service, I have learned a crucial truth: If we don’t tell our stories, someone else will—and they won’t always tell them accurately. Too often, people want only parts of our truth. They seek celebration without acknowledging struggle; the success without understanding sacrifice; the Pride without recognizing the protests.

be a Black and gay man in San Francisco.

The first organization I encountered was Krewe de Kinque (KdK), a San Francisco-based Mardi Gras crew that helped Katrina victims and survivors. The founder of this organization is Gary Virginia, who is still active in the community fundraising today.

I also credit Michael Petri, my drag mother and Absolute Empress 31, who brought me into the Imperial Court System here in San Francisco. As you know, I later became King 7 of the KdK organization, and Mr.

Our communities have been built through resilience, especially in Black, immigrant, and trans communities, and especially within LGBTQ+ communities. This is particularly true for those of us living at the intersection of two or more of these communities. That’s why mentorship is essential.

To our elders and mentors: Share the full story. Speak openly about joy and love—also address loss, rejection, racism, HIV/AIDS, survival, and perseverance. To our young people: Ask questions. Listen intently.

Kippy Marks: If you were granted two universal wishes, what would you wish for?

John Weber: I would make a wish to give every gay person a superpower: the ability to instantly see an individual and change their hateful thoughts, intentions, acts, or deeds into loving ones. This would certainly make the world a better place if gay people had this superpower.

My second wish would be to have the chance to speak directly with Martin Luther King, Jr., Harvey Milk, James Baldwin, and Marsha P. Johnson within 48 hours. I would invite them all to dinner, where we could have a deep conversation and I could learn from their insights. I’d ask what we can do today to navigate the challenges facing our community, with all its diversity. I would listen intently to every word they share and

(continued on page 40)

Brailsford also granted the case class-action status, meaning the outcome will flow to all transgender people living in or visiting the state. Idaho may have enacted the cruelest anti-trans law, but it wasn’t alone. Some 20 other states have their own restrictions and several other lawsuits are underway around the country.

Me Too!

Speaking of good rulings, Maine Superior Court Justice Deborah Cashman has invalidated a petition drive that aimed to put a ban on transgender girls’ sports on the November ballot. The petitioners, a group called “Protect Girls’ Sports in Maine,” initially passed muster, submitting some 71,300 signatures to the Secretary of State in March. But the number of signatures was contested and, armed with new information, the Secretary took a second look, dropped some 3,883 names, and found the group short by 532. Justice Cashman evaluated the four categories of the, um, bad signature collecting, and agreed with Secretary of State Shenna Bellows’ final tally.

I read the justice’s 13-page explanation, but please don’t ask me to describe it. You’re just lucky I can’t cut and paste from the pdf file because I’d love to charm you with some of the impenetrable legalese that appears to govern the initiative process in Maine. You remember, of course, that Maine is where Donald Trump insisted he would hold back federal funds unless the state took transgirls off the sports field. “I’ll see you in court,” Governor Janet Mills told him during a public soirée of some sort. I vaguely recall that Trump was obliged to drop his threat, but I don’t feel like looking that up. Now Janet Mills has dropped out of her bid for a Senate nomination, leaving our chances in the hands of oddball oyster fisherman Graham Platner.

I applauded Janet Mills and was happy she decided to contest the Senate nomination until I read that she was born in 1947. Not only is it time for Baby Boomers to get off the stage, but how the hell is the frigging Silent Generation still fumbling with the levers of power? Meanwhile, Mr. Platner with his Nazi tattoo, the unpleasant combat persona he has since abandoned, and now his creepy sexting history, is hardly the paragon of Blue State Politics we’re all looking for. Still, I’m definitely rooting for him. That sexting stuff was back in the day. Plus, I was just as bad in my own time except we didn’t have sexting back then. We only had plain old sexual harassment, or what I liked to call “persistence.”

Plus, oysters! I love a man who loves oysters. Money Grubbers

I just got really annoyed by the Equality PAC, a political action committee run by GLBT allies, aiming to elect more GLBTs to office and promote community goals in Congress. That’s all fine and dandy, even though we also have the Victory Fund and the Human Rights Campaign serving both those purposes. But I’m sick of various gay fundraisers who pitch unlikely or even impossible doomsday scenarios as a way to

separate us from our hard-earned cash. “Heart-wrenching News,” they announced in an email. “’Supreme Court formally asked to overturn landmark samesex marriage ruling.’”

First of all, this statement was given in quotations, without a citation. A note later on says that “Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito have both called for Obergefell v. Hodges, the historic case that legalized samesex marriage, to be OVERTURNED,” which seems to be the rationale for the quotes, although one, it’s not a quote, and two, the neanderthal opinions of Thomas and Alito are not formal requests to the Court. Further, the Court has been petitioned to overturn marriage equality, and hasn’t taken such a case. Plus, Alito himself said that the abortion reversal had no implication for marriage equality (not that we necessarily put our faith in Alito).

But, let’s go on. “Now extremist Republicans are commanding the Supreme Court to send marriage equality back to the states (just like abortion),” we’re told. Who? What do you mean “commanding” the Supreme Court?

And here’s their plan: “So we’re starting a massive petition to demand the Supreme Court protect marriage equality from farright attacks—because it’s the law of the land.” A signature petition has no impact on the High Court whatsoever. This is nonsensical. It infantilizes GLBT voters and it preys on low-information readers who may be legitimately frightened by these remote possibilities.

Could the High Court repeal Obergefell? Well, yes, technically. I suppose the High Court could announce that Donald Trump will be President for Life, using a legal rationale concocted out of thin air and magic. Many of the seemingly unconstitutional conclusions of the recent past would have seemed impossible a few years back, so it’s not unfair to ask why anything should be considered “too far” for these justices.

But the fact is that some things are too far, even for these guys. It’s flat out wrong to speculate on the end of marriage equality, but the Court will surely continue to whittle away at our status. As previously mentioned, the justices recently ruled that a wedding website creator can refuse to serve gay men and lesbians. There’s a chip out of marriage equality right there, and more will come.

So say that! Don’t make up a story. Tell the truth. It’s just as bad as the ridiculous exaggerations, but it’s honest. Marriage equality is safe, but we are still under threat.

Forget the fake “massive petition” that you claim to be planning. I don’t see any line items for “signature gathering” on your financial accounts, and, when I clicked to sign up, there was a bit more blah blah blah and a donation screen at the end. Anyway, I unsubscribed.

I have my pride!

arostow@aol.com

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CONTRIBUTORS

WRITeRS

Rink, Sister Dana Van Iquity, Ann Rostow, Patrick Carney, Leslie Sbrocco, Kate Kendell, Gary M. Kramer, Joanie Juster, Robert Holgate, Eduardo Morales, Dennis McMillan, Tim Seelig, Rafael Mandelman, Jewelle Gomez, Rebecca Kaplan, Bill Lipsky, Beth Schnitzer, Rowena Brown, Kippy Marks, Ian Fullmer, Donna Sachet, Gary Virginia, Derek Barnes, Marcy Adelman, Jan Wahl, Stuart Gaffney & John Lewis, Brandon Miller, Howard Steiermann, Fernando Camino, Honey Mahogany, David Landis

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LGBTQ+ Organizations Unite to Oppose City Cuts to Queer, Trans, and HIV Care

(Editor’s Note: Eleven organizations, outlined in the below, provided this joint statement via a press release to the San Francisco Bay Times.) Eleven LGBTQ+ service providers on June 18, 2026, released a joint statement calling on San Francisco to fully fund the queer, trans, and HIV care infrastructure the city has spent decades building, after a budget season that restored some organizations’ funding for a single year while leaving others facing deep cuts. Signatories include the SF LGBT Center, Castro LGBTQ Cultural District, El/La Para Trans Latinas, Lyon-Martin Community Health Services, LYRIC, Openhouse, QWOCMAP (Queer Women of Color Media Arts Project), San Francisco AIDS Foundation, San Francisco Community Health Center, San Francisco Pride, and The Transgender District.

The statement follows Mayor Daniel Lurie’s decision to reverse a percentage of planned cuts to eight LGBTQ-serving organizations, including the SF LGBT Center. The coalition welcomes this partial reversal and thanks the community members, advocates, and city leaders who fought for it. But a reversal for some cannot mean silence for the rest: nearly $3 million in confirmed cuts to coalition organizations remains unrestored in the proposed budget. The organizations whose funding was restored, including the center, are standing in solidarity with the organizations still facing significant cuts.

The partial reversal also comes with an expiration date. San Francisco budgets two years at a time, and the restored funding appears only in the budget’s first year; in year two, this money disappears. The coalition agrees we need to protect our backbone LGBTQ+ service providers, and that is exactly why one year of

funding is not enough. Without ongoing investment, the organizations the mayor himself described as essential will face the same fiscal cliff twelve months from now. One-year funding also leaves these organizations in limbo—unable to responsibly hire staff or plan service delivery.

The remaining cuts come as federal attacks on LGBTQ+ communities are escalating and demand for local services is rising. They would unravel decades of progress, destabilize community anchors that have built trust over generations, and put thousands of LGBTQ+ San Franciscans at immediate risk, disproportionately those who are trans, BIPOC, immigrant, and low-income.

As first proposed, the budget cut millions from LGBTQ+ programming citywide and threatened the elimination of critical trans-specific programs in San Francisco. Even after the mayor’s partial reversal, coalition organizations still face over $2.7 million in confirmed cuts, a significant loss for the LGBTQ+ San Franciscans who rely on these services. Restoring every remaining dollar remains a reasonable ask given the context, even in a deficit year.

The coalition is urging the Board of Supervisors to restore the remaining cuts in full before it adopts the budget this summer, and Mayor Lurie to carry every restoration through both years of the budget. Keeping these organizations whole costs the city almost nothing; losing them would cost San Francisco something no budget can buy back and leave thousands of LGBTQ people in need without critical social safety net services.

The entire press release, including statements from leaders of the nonprofits, is at https://bit.ly/4eW0e7V

Maitri’s 2026 Heels for Hope

Maitri’s signature variety show fundraiser Heels for Hope took place on June 6, 2026, at the Marine’s Memorial Theater in San Francisco. This year’s headliner was Ginger Minj, the iconic winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race All-Stars Season 10 The event raised $100,000 that will go directly into Maitri’s programs, including BRANCH Aftercare, the Maitri Affirmation Center (MAC), and HIV/AIDS Residential Care.

Maitri CEO Michael Armentrout shared a powerful reflection on the devastating early days of the AIDS epidemic in the ‘80s and ‘90s, highlighting how those exact challenges shaped Maitri’s enduring mission to provide unconditional, compassionate care. Part of that speech may be heard at https://bit.ly/44mMyg9 https://www.maitrisf.org/

WBy Donna Sachet

e’ve been to our share of Pride events this month and over the course of the past 30-some years, but one stands out as a triumph in every way: Built This City, produced by Peaches Christ on June 10, 2026, at The Castro Theatre. We left this cavalcade of talent and treasure trove of memories with more Pride than we’ve felt in quite some time. We don’t stop often enough to look back and look around at what’s happening within our beautiful LGBTQ+ community, especially here in San Francisco, where so many things started and so many things continue to lead the nation and the world.

The evening started with a VIP reception complete with a step-and-repeat backdrop out front and complimentary cocktails and light refreshments in the upstairs lobby. Yes, it was crowded and hot, but this was a historic gathering of so many friends and faces that have dominated the SF scene for decades, including Mark Leno, Tom Horn, Reigning Emperor John Brett and Regent Empress Queen Cougar, Alexis Miranda, J.P. Soto, Tom LeNoble, and Lisa Williams. Once inside the theatre, which provided another jaw-dropping visual feast of historic and artistic elements so beautifully restored, we joined Gary Virginia and Moxie Penn on the third row, anxious with anticipation. Some of us had expressed concerns when reviewing the long list of performers. Would this be an overly long evening, packed with performances, testing the stamina of even the heartiest? But this show was beautifully organized, segmenting various kinds of entertainment, giving us a glimpse at different contributors to all that is the SF community and those who truly “built this city.” Peaches was joined by Honey Mahogany as co-emcee, both looking gorgeous and proudly guiding us through the program. With excellent visual images projected on the backdrop, various groups were recognized and performed on stage, including the Imperial Court, the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, Trannyshack, the Cockettes, Baloney, members of the cast of Compton’s Cafeteria Riot, Rice Rockettes, and more. Solo performances included Elvis Herselvis, BeBe Sweetbriar with a salute to Sylvester, Breanna Sinclairé, Jason Brock, and a moving appearance by Pippi Lovestocking, truly a manifestation of positive energy and humor conquering adversity. Performances by the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus and Dear San Francisco added to the professionalism of the entire night. There was something for everyone on stage from comedy to music to beefcake to nostalgia.

Speeches were kept to a minimum, but included San Francisco Pride’s Executive Director Suzanne Ford, GLBT Historical Society’s Roberto Ordeñana, and the introduction of several of this year’s San Francisco Pride Parade Grand Marshals, including John Weber, Marcel Pardo Ariza, Imani RupertGordon, Ms. Bob Davis, and Roger Doughty.

As you celebrate Pride in your own way this weekend, we remind you of three things. First, realize that you live in a place where so much is possible that is frowned upon or downright illegal elsewhere. Never forget it! Secondly, even in San Francisco, there are those who will be unable, for whatever reason, to join the celebration. Call them, wish them well, and share some of your joy with them. Thirdly, please continue to read the San Francisco Bay Times and this column for the most up to date information on your community and the people who are making a difference. Your patronage is greatly appreciated and every personal compliment encourages us all. Happy Pride!

“Come out, come out, wherever you are!”

Harvey Milk and the Good Witch in The Wizard of Oz

Donna Sachet is a celebrated performer, fundraiser, activist, and philanthropist who has dedicated over two decades to the LGBTQ Community in San Francisco. Contact her at empsachet@gmail.com

Thursday, June 25

Bay Times 6th Annual Pride Weekend Kickoff Party

Emcee Donna Sachet Russell Deason and Martuni’s singers Co-hosted with The Academy SF on Co-owner Nate Bourg’s birthday! With additional co-hosts Golden Gate Business Association, Bayard Rustin Coalition, and Soul of Pride The Academy SF, 2166 Market Street 6–10 pm $20 https://bit.ly/3QtD7Zd

Friday, June 26

SF Opera Pride Concert

Robert Mollicone, Melody Moore, Nikola Printz, Reginald Smith, Jr. Hosted by Sapphira Cristál Rainbow flag decor Post-show dance with Juanita MORE! 6:30 pm: Outside exhibit 7 pm: Pre-show happy hour 8 pm: Concert 9:30 pm: Dance $30–$229

https://www.sfopera.com/

Saturday, June 27

San Francisco Pride Celebration Civic Center https://sfpride.org/

Sunday June 28

San Francisco Pride Parade Market Street https://sfpride.org/

at a session feeling nervous, self-conscious, not feeling worthy or unsure of themselves, only to leave feeling confident and proud of who they are. Those moments inspired me to build a business focused, not just on creating great photographs, but on creating positive experiences that encourage healing, building self-worth and self-love.

I wanted to help individuals and organizations present themselves in a way that feels genuine and meaningful. In a world where first impressions matter, I believe everyone deserves to be represented in a way that reflects their value, expertise, and unique story.

GGBA: Who are some of your role models, and especially those who helped to influence your business?

Kew Lew: Many of my role models are people who lead with kindness, service, and authenticity. I am inspired by my husband, my family, close friends, courageous business owners, community leaders, and mentors who focus on lifting others up and creating opportunities for those around them. Everyone I grew up with and spend a majority of my time with are people who are selfless, loving, supportive, and encouraging.

Professionally, I admire people who understand that success is about more than financial growth; it is about the impact we have on the people we serve. The clients, colleagues, and community members I have met throughout my journey have also shaped my perspective and reinforced my belief that meaningful relationships are at the center of every successful business.

GGBA: Why did you decide to join the GGBA, and how long have you been a member?

Kew Lew: I joined the GGBA because I wanted to be part of a community that supports LGBTQ+ professionals, entrepreneurs, and allies while creating opportunities for

LENOBLE (continued from pg 30)

outdoors with friends. I love exploring the Presidio and Golden Gate Park on my electric bike, stopping for a picnic and taking in the beauty of the city. Most of all, I would spend the day laughing, because laughter is one of life’s greatest gifts and one of the best ways to recharge.

Tom LeNoble is an international speaker, confidential advisor, and resilience strategist who works with leaders navigating meaningful inflection points in life and leadership. He has held senior leadership roles at MCI, Walmart.com, Palm, and Facebook, and high growth startups. He is the author of the award-winning memoir “My Life in Business Suits, Hospital Gowns, and High Heels.” Through speaking, coaching, and writing, he explores resilience, leadership, and the choices that shape how we show up for others and for the communities we serve.

connection and growth. It has always been important for me to surround myself with people who value inclusion, diversity, and helping lift others as we keep climbing the mountain to personal success. Since becoming a member two whole months ago, I have found the GGBA to be wonderfully welcoming, supportive, and genuinely invested in helping members succeed. It has been a wonderful way to build relationships and become more involved in the community. With the direction and enthusiasm of our current GGBA president, Aaron Boot-Haury, I see nothing but opportunities of promising collaboration, success, continued innovation and growth. These are very exciting times for the GGBA and I’m honored to be a part of it all.

GGBA: How has being a member of GGBA helped your business so far?

Kew Lew: The GGBA has introduced me to an incredible network of professionals, business owners, and amazing people who have the courage to pursue their dreams and visions of how they can serve the community. Through those relationships, I have been able to learn from them, expand my network, and discover opportunities to collaborate with organizations that share similar values.

Beyond business opportunities, the GGBA has helped me feel connected to a community that believes in supporting one another. Those connections are invaluable to me and are contributing significantly to both my professional growth and my sense of belonging as a business owner. I now have business-minded colleagues with whom I can exchange business-related ideas.

GGBA: Do you go to the GGBA monthly Make Contact networking events? Have they benefited you and your business, and would you recommend them to others?

MILLER (continued from pg 24)

Kew Lew: Yes, I try to regularly attend the Make Contact networking events and have found them to be undoubtedly valuable. They provide a welcoming environment where genuine relationships can be built without pressure. I would absolutely recommend them to anyone looking to grow their network, learn about the local business community, and connect with people who genuinely want to support one another. Whether you are a new member or a long-time business owner, there is always something to gain from attending.

GGBA: What other advice would you give to someone who is thinking of starting their own business?

Kew Lew: I would say, focus on serving people, not just selling to them. Ask yourself the question, “Using my strengths, experience, and skills, what can I do to help others?” The most successful businesses are built on trust, relationships, and a true desire to help others. Take time to understand the needs of your clients and look for ways to create value and trust. It’s important to be generous and give of yourself, but it’s equally important to recognize your own worth. Your knowledge, skills, and experience have value. People see that value. Accept it! Believe in it! And don’t be afraid to receive the rewards of the work you do!

I would also encourage new business owners to be patient with themselves. Building a business is a journey filled with learning opportunities, challenges, and growth. Stay connected to your purpose, remain open to feedback, and continue investing in relationships. Often, those relationships become your greatest source of support and opportunity.

GGBA: How do your images contribute to a company’s culture and brand?

Kew Lew: Photography is often one of the first ways people experience a company. My

statements are not guarantees of any future performance, and actual results or developments may differ materially from those discussed. No investor should assume future performance will be profitable or equal the previous reflected performance. Any reference to an index is included for illustrative purposes only, as an index is not a security in which an investment can be made. They are unmanaged vehicles that serve as market indicators and do not account for the deduction of management fees and/or transaction costs generally associated with investable products. The S&P 500 Total Return Index represents U.S. stock returns. This includes 500 leading companies in the U.S. and is widely regarded as the best single gauge of large-cap U.S. equities, where dividends are reinvested. The holdings and performance of Brio client accounts may vary widely from those of the presented indices. Brio does not provide legal or tax advice, and nothing contained in these materials should be taken as legal or tax advice. Advisory services are only offered to clients or prospective clients where Brio and its representatives are properly licensed or exempt from licensure. No advice may be rendered by Brio Financial Group unless a client service agreement is in place.

Brandon Miller, CFP®, is a financial consultant at Brio Financial Group in San Francisco, specializing in helping LGBT individuals and families plan and achieve their financial goals. For more information: https://www.briofg.com/

images communicate a company’s values, culture, and commitment to its people. When employees are represented thoughtfully and professionally, it sends a powerful message that they are valued. Strong visual representation helps organizations build trust with clients, attract talent, strengthen their brand, and create a sense of pride and belonging within their teams.

GGBA: Is there anything else that you would like to share?

Kew Lew: One of the things I love most about photography is its ability to change how people see themselves. A great photograph can remind someone of their strengths, their accomplishments, and their worth. Whether I am photographing a CEO, a recent graduate, a nonprofit leader, or an entire company, my goal is always the same: to help people feel confident, proud to represent themselves out in the world, and proud of who they are. When we feel love for ourselves, that positive energy spreads and inspires others to feel love for themselves.

As a member of the LGBTQ+ community, I believe that Pride Month serves as an important reminder of the value of visibility, representation, and belonging. Throughout my career, I have seen how powerful it can be when people feel comfortable showing up as their authentic selves. Whether in front of a camera, in the workplace, or within our communities, feeling seen and accepted can have a lasting impact on confidence and selfworth, and can encourage and promote healing within our community and beyond.

I am grateful to be part of a community that values inclusion, connection, and supporting one another’s success. It is an honor to be featured, and I look forward to continuing to serve and celebrate the people and organizations that make the Bay Area such a vibrant place to live and work.

https://www.kenlewphoto.com/

KIPPY MARKS (continued from pg 32)

then develop a strategic plan to implement their suggestions and recommendations.

Kippy Marks: Please share any current practices that our readers may find useful, and update us on what you are doing now.

John Weber: Keep your dreams’ size firmly in your own hands and refuse to let others define them or you. Be cautious of anyone who says, “You belong here,” “Stay in your lane,” or, “This space isn’t for you,” as these are subtle forms of control disguised as restrictions. Society can confine us with cages or even teach us to build them ourselves. Don’t settle for decorating your cage; leave it behind. As someone who identifies as Black and gay, I understand what it’s like to navigate multiple realities with strength and resolve. Intersectionality isn’t a burden; it’s evidence of the beautiful complexity of human beings. Dubbed San Francisco’s “King of Strings”, Kippy Marks is a spirited solo entertainer whose shows are permeated with an infectious joy. His distinctive sound arises from his heart, through his 1822 violin consort, Izabella. Marks› rare talent, broad smile, and radiant warmth will brighten any event to create lasting impact. He is also Grand Duke XL of The Grand Ducal Council of San Francisco. He is the first ever elected AfricanAmerican Grand Duke.

government support. It was up to the community to pull together to raise money for local organizations. Unfortunately, we find ourselves in a similar situation now, as funding from the federal, state, and local governments is being cut, and private funding is drying up.

Since its inception in 1987, AIDS Walk San Francisco has become the largest and most visible HIV/AIDS fundraising event in Northern California, raising over $100 million for HIV/AIDS organizations in seven Bay Area counties. For this 40th anniversary walk, join us once again in showing the world how San Francisco supports our local organizations that help our community survive and thrive. Register to walk, or donate to a walker or team at https://tinyurl.com/AWSF261

Happy Birthday, America?

Independence Day can bring up many conflicting feelings. As a kid, the flag-waving and parades and fireworks filled me with uncomplicated patriotic feelings for my country. Coming of age in the era of Vietnam and Watergate

was eye-opening, so my feelings about my country became more, shall we say, nuanced. And, over the decades, even though I have become aware of so many ways in which our country has failed to live up to its lofty founding principles, I still love this country and so much of the goodness and potential it still exhibits.

This July we are celebrating the 250th anniversary of the birth of the United States of America, in a time when the people in power in Washington, D.C., are actively working to dismantle all the best parts of our country. Each day we wake up to find our leaders hellbent on dismantling democracy, actively harming the people who live here, and destroying the physical country itself. I do not pretend to understand the naked greed and powerlust that motivate these people who claim to be patriots to destroy all the best parts of this country. All I know is that this country is still worth fighting for, and I am inspired each day by those who have not given up the fight.

Joanie Juster is a long-time community volunteer, activist, and ally.

articulation of our collective commitment to ourselves and to our aspirations as a community continues to resonate today. It lies at the heart of Pride. Chris, even under interrogation by his country’s security police, was unwilling “to compromise” who he was as a queer person.

Chris was released from custody after the security police determined he was not a threat, and the police have not knocked on his door since. But the experience was traumatic, and he now knows he is subject to active surveillance.

Chris’s refusal to compromise who he was as a queer person also did something else important—it denied the state the power to control more broadly who he was as a human being, even as they detained him. It also enabled Chris to refuse to compromise his capacity to see the police and security officers who detained and interrogated him as his fellow human beings. Throughout the ordeal, Chris reflected on how, apart from their jobs, the police officers, like him, had personal lives and loved ones. He saw no evidence the police officers harbored malice against him personally and viewed them as simply doing what was required of them in their positions.

Chris saw the police officers as neither better nor worse than him, and he chose not to hate them. The resulting equanimity that arose with-

in him amidst the anxiety enabled him to respond to their questions, not in anger, but with presence, thoughtfulness, and care to make sure crucially that he told the police nothing that they did not already know. As such, he did nothing to put any other queer people or allies at risk.

And who knows what other positive effects Chris’s actions that day may have had for himself or others? After all, one or more of the police officers may have been gay themselves, and Chris’s coming out may have inspired them. Or some of the officers might have become straight allies because of Chris. Without question, coming out is not always the best response in all circumstances, but, as Chris and myriad other courageous members of our community have demonstrated, Pride under pressure is powerful.

John Lewis and Stuart Gaffney, together for over three decades, were plaintiffs in the California case for equal marriage rights decided by the California Supreme Court in 2008. Their leadership in the grassroots organization Marriage Equality USA contributed to making same-sex marriage legal nationwide in 2015. Today, they continue to educate and advocate for marriage equality and LGBTIQ+ rights worldwide.

(Finocchio’s star Holotta Tymes is still going strong and is the co-owner of Club 1220 in Walnut Creek.)

1933

When police invaded Tait’s Café to close down “Frisco City’s first pansy show,” the raid was inadvertently broadcast live on local radio.

1934

Mona’s, San Francisco’s first lesbian bar, “where girls will be boys,” opened on Union Street, then moved to North Beach two years later.

1944

Poet Robert Duncan published The Homosexual in Society, one of the first works of explicitly out writing in modern American history.

1949

Black Cat owner Sol Stoumen sued the State Board of Equalization to overturn its policy of revoking the licenses of bar owners who served drinks to homosexuals.

California passed legislation that allowed indefinite detention of “sexual psychopaths.”

1952

The American Psychiatric Association updated its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) to define homosexuality as a sociopathic personality disturbance and mental disorder.

1954

Lovers Douglass Cross and George Cory wrote “I Left My Heart in San Francisco.’’

1955

Del Martin, Phyllis Lyon, and six other women formed The Daughters of Bilitis, the first lesbian civil rights organization in the United States.

1957

The Mattachine Society, the first national gay organization, relocated its corporate

offices to San Francisco.

1959

The “Gayola” scandal rocked the Police Department after LGBTQ+ bar owners accused officers of taking bribes to avoid being raided.

1960

The Why Not, San Francisco’s first leather bar, opened in the Tenderloin.

1961

Female impersonator José Sarria became the first openly gay man to run for public office in the United States, receiving enough votes to prove that a bloc of LGBTQ+ voters existed in the city who could decide a close election.

The League for Civil Education (LCE), created to develop a political voice for LGBTQ+ individuals in the city, began publishing the LCE News, San Francisco’s first gay newspaper and the first in the country.

Police arrested 89 men and 14 women in the largest—although not the last—vice raid of a gay bar in the city’s history.

The Tool Box, which featured Chuck Arnett’s murals of masculine men, opened as the city’s first South of Market leather bar.

1962

Lesbian and gay bar owners formed the Tavern Guild, the first LGBTQ+ business association in the United States.

The Wild Side West, San Francisco’s longest-lasting lesbian bar, opened in in Bernal Heights.

1963

The Missouri Mule opened at 2348 Market Street, the first gay bar in Eureka Valley, now called the Castro, where “Vivacious Vivian played the honky-tonk piano as all order of Gay men gathered round.”

1964

Life magazine named San Francisco the “homosexual capital” of the United States.

The Big Glass, the city’s first Black gay bar, opened in the city’s Western Addition.

The newly founded Council on Religion and the Homosexual (CRH) sponsored a costume ball on New Year’s Eve at California Hall, where police took photographs of revelers entering and leaving the event before they raided it. The next day, ministers associated with CRH denounced the officers’ actions as “deliberate harassment and bad faith.”

Community activists launched the Society for Individual Rights (S.I.R.), whose stated goals included public affirmation of lesbian and gay identity and creation of a sense of a lesbian and gay community; within four years, it was the largest homophile organization in the country. Vector, its monthly magazine, was available at newsstands throughout the city.

1965

Crowned “Queen of the Beaux Arts Ball,” José Sarria, arguing that, because he was already a queen, declared himself “José I, Empress of San Francisco.”

Citizens Alert began operation as a 24-hour hotline that responded to incidents of police brutality against lesbians and gays.

1966

S.I.R. opened the first LGBTQ+ community center in the United States.

Gay activists rallied on the steps the Federal Building in San Francisco’s Civic Center to publicly protest the exclusion of homosexuals from the military.

Maud’s Study, which became one of the country’s most influential lesbian gathering spaces, opened in the Haight at a time when women could not be hired as bartenders.

With cross-dressing still illegal, transgender

people rioted when police harassed them once again at Compton’s Cafeteria in the Tenderloin.

With help from urban ministers, anti-poverty organizers, and homophile activists, self-described “drug addicts, pillheads, teenage hustlers, lesbians, and homosexuals who make San Francisco’s ‘Meat Rack’ their home,” founded Vanguard as an organization for queer street youth.

1969

The Gay Liberation Front (GLF) protested the San Francisco Examiner’s insulting depictions of homosexuals on what became known as “Friday of the Purple Hand” after the newspaper’s employees dumped printer’s ink onto demonstrators.

1970

Thirty self-described “hair fairies” marched down Polk Street from Aquatic Park to City Hall to celebrate the first anniversary of the Stonewall Riots.

Several thousand revelers rallied at Speedway Meadows in Golden Gate Park for the “Christopher Street Liberation Day” Gay-In.

1971

Police arrested 20 trans people at the Cinnabar during a sweep of the Tenderloin.

1972

The Twin Peaks Tavern installed large plateglass windows, a first for an establishment whose customers in previous years typically desired anonymity and privacy from passersby. San Franciscans witnessed their first official Pride parade.

Bill Lipsky, Ph.D., author of “LGBTQ+ Trailblazers of San Francisco” (2023) and “Gay and Lesbian San Francisco” (2006), is a member of the Rainbow Honor Walk board of directors.

San Francisco Opera Pride Concert 2026

On Friday, June 26, 2026, the San Francisco Opera will celebrate the LGBTQIA+ community with the storied company’s second annual Pride Concert at the War Memorial Opera House. Ticketholders will also be able to interact with a Pride-themed altar of remembrance, listen to a pre-concert conversation with community partners, explore lobby exhibits, and keep the party going on the dance floor.

Sapphira Cristál, the classically trained opera singer, composer, and drag queen known for her theatrical lip syncs and six-octave range, will return as emcee for the evening. Conductor Robert Mollicone will lead the San Francisco Opera Orchestra and soloists Melody Moore, Nikola Printz, and Reginald Smith, Jr. in a concert blending opera, musical theater, and pop songs.

Cristál, runner-up and Miss Congeniality of RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 16, is renowned as a charismatic emcee who forges a special connection with her audiences. A guest artist in Madonna’s Celebration Tour, she debuted her original operatic production, Soundcake, with Monét X Change and Thorgy Thor at Lincoln Center and brought her one-woman show, The Cristál Ball Tour, across North America.

Moore’s appearances with San Francisco Opera include the title role of Tosca, Susan Rescorla in the world premiere of Christopher Theofanidis’ Heart of a Soldier, Mimì in La Bohème, and Mother Marie in Dialogues of the Carmelites. Versatile artist and mezzo-soprano Printz recently portrayed Jade Boucher in San Francisco Opera’s 25th-anniversary production of Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking and originated the role of Billie Jean King in Laura Karpman’s Balls with Opera Parallèle and in their London debut at the Royal Festival Hall. Grammy and Emmy Award-winning baritone Smith, Jr., will be returning to San Francisco Opera following his 2017 debut as Count Monterone in Rigoletto

The concert will also feature music by Michael Abels, Terence Blanchard, Brandi Carlile, Umberto Giordano, Charles Gounod, k.d. lang, Jacques Offenbach, Stephen Schwartz, Michael Tilson Thomas, Luther Vandross, Stevie Wonder, and more.

Here is the schedule for the packed night of entertainment:

6:30 pm - Rainbows All Around Us outdoor, interactive community altar by the Marigold Project in front of the Opera House on the Van Ness Avenue steps;

7–8 pm - Pre-show Happy Hour with discounted food and drinks;

7:05 pm - Pre-concert talk featuring Rainbow Pride Flag project creators Servane Briand, Bridget McGraw, and Dominic Riley, moderated by lead artist Insiya Dhatt; Educational exhibit by the GLBT Historical Society; The Rainbow Pride Flag Project exhibit by Hand Bookbinders of California; AIDS Memorial Quilts display by the National AIDS Memorial;

8 pm - Concert hosted by Sapphira Cristál featuring soloists Melody Moore, Nikola Printz and Reginald Smith Jr. with Robert Mollicone conducting the San Francisco Opera Orchestra;

9:30–11 pm - Post-show dance party with DJ Juanita MORE!

For more information and tickets: https://www.sfopera.com/pride

What to See During the Last Days of Frameline50

proud Eddie is of his body—he frequently displays it to everyone’s admiration—while masking a deep, internal pain. Eddie’s conflicts about his family, his faith, and his sexuality take a toll on him and Yorick artfully expresses his emotional body blows silently as Eddie grits his teeth, poses, and smiles. (The film only hints at ‘roid rage when Eddie self-harms). Director Sam McConnell’s film is at times hard to watch—it feels like a documentary—but Yurick’s riveting performance and his jacked body will keep viewers glued to the screen.

As Frameline50 draws to a close, there are still some worthwhile films to see before the festival wraps up with the closing night screening of Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma. Here is a guide to a dozen films playing now through Saturday.

Test (June 25 2:30 pm, Vogue Theatre) is a fascinating character study of Eddie (Brock Yurick), an up-and-coming bodybuilder. Eddie is a gentle giant who lives

with his alcoholic mother Joanne (Tammy Blanchard), who manages him and his competitions. He has never won first place and desperately wants to get his pro card. When Mike (Mike Edward) gives him a posing tip, Eddie asks him to be his coach. Eddie also gets support from his ex-girlfriend, Abby (Paloma Garcia-Lee), who teaches him some ballet moves to help him with his stability (a nice metaphor). But, just as Abby and Eddie may be rekindling their relationship, Eddie also becomes sexually involved with Mike. As Eddie tries to manage his mother’s jealousy, his inchoate feelings for his coach, and prepare for a state competition, he is racing to the bottom. Test is riveting because Yurick delivers an outstanding performance that conveys how outwardly

The Last Guest of the Holloway Motel (June 25, 3 pm, BAMPFA) is a candid and wistful portrait of Tony Powell. In the 1970s, he was a successful football (soccer) star for Norwich in the U.K. But, in 1984, he moved to West Hollywood, where he fell in love with a man named David, and eventually took a job managing the Holloway Motel. Directors Ramiel Petros and Nicholas Freeman capture Tony at a critical time in his life. The motel is being closed, and he starts reconnecting with family members he has not had contact with for nearly 40 years. In revealing interviews, Tony addresses his fear of being gay—both in football and with his family—as well as the freedom he found for himself in America.

The Last Guest of the Holloway Motel respectfully bears witness to Powell’s complicated emotions as this engaging, aging man reconciles the various facets of his life.

Out gay actor and writer John Early’s arch feature directorial debut, Maddie’s Secret (June 25, 3 pm, Roxie), has the title character (Early, in drag), as a recipe developer secretly struggling with bulimia. The film cleverly plays up the foodie influencer and TV show craze as well as the classic “woman’s picture” tropes. Early’s fabulous performance pays homage to women in TV movie-of-theweek issue dramas. It is amusing when Maddie lies to her husband Jake (Eric Rahill) that she is pregnant after he catches her vomiting, or when Maddie stares blankly at the camera after being triggered by a shocking past trauma. But Maddie’s Secret falters a bit in its second half when Maddie must confront her issue as well as her shrewish mother (Kristen Johnston). Early’s satire is earnest, but never campy, which is its greatest strength. Maddie’s Secret may be a little one-note, but it plays that note perfectly.

Montreal, My Beautiful (June 25, 5:30 pm, Vogue Theatre) is a gentle romantic drama about Feng Xia (Joan Chen), a married, menopausal Chinese immigrant in Montreal who has an affair with Lisa (Charlotte Aubin), a 30-year-old she meets

on a dating app. Feng Xia is shy about her same-sex desires, but, after a few meetings, including one where both women are honest with each other—Lisa confesses her real name is Camille—a strong bond develops between them. Their secret romance gives Xia a much-needed confidence boost, but it also strains her relationship with her husband Wang Jun (John Xu), who becomes more controlling and abusive. Chen gives a luminous performance, expressing deep emotions. Writer/director Xiaodan He’s film is pretty and a little slow, and it is sure to melt some hearts.

The intense Mexican drama On the Road (June 25 at 8:30 pm, Vogue Theatre) has the gay Veneno (newcomer Victor Prieto Simental in a phenomenal performance), asking the straight Muñeco (Osvaldo Sãnchez Valenzuela), a trucker, for a ride. Veneno offers Muñeco, an addict, drugs as well as a percentage of what they get from selling coke on the road. When their friendship turns intimate, it scrambles Muñeco’s circuits. Veneno is, indeed, trouble; he is on the run having crossed a powerful man. On the Road is compelling as the relationship between Veneno and Muñeco unfolds, and the actors have an excellent rapport. But writer/director David Pablos’s film, which won the Queer Lion at last year’s Venice Film Festival, is not a cozy romance. It features moments of grim, gritty realism and savage violence, as well as dreamlike

episodes that explain Veneno’s past. This tough, but mesmerizing, road trip is a helluva film for adventurous moviegoers.

Sparks (June 25, 8:30 pm, Roxie) is a modest little hangout film set in the titular Nevada town. “The Crop” consists of a group of friends who spend time together and participate in a monthly ritual at a reservoir they believe—or want to believe— is a portal that can send them back in time. When the Jean-Luc Godard-obsessed Cleo (Elsie Fisher) joins the group, she intrigues Antoine (Charlie B. Foster) and draws him away from his maybe boyfriend Max (Denny McAuliffe). Cleo also prompts Antoine to revise some of the Crop’s rules before she disappears. Writer/director Fergus Campbell’s film features amusing moments, such as the gang’s encounter with a group of older gay men, and Max and Kane (Thomas Deen Baker) share a sexy kiss in a bathroom, but Sparks never quite ignites despite its youthful exuberance.

Barbara Forever (June 25, 8:45 pm, Castro) is a warm, elegiac, and celebratory documentary about the groundbreaking lesbian avant-garde filmmaker Barbara Hammer, who passed away in 2019. Hammer documented herself and her lovers in her films, and “opened a space for queerness” as there was little to no visibility for lesbians in cinema. Her shorts, such as Dyketactics, were invitations to explore female bodies and pleasure. Hammer’s significant body of work has been sold to the Beinecke at Yale, and Barbara Forever shows her partner Florrie Burke managing that undertaking. The documentary also recounts Hammer’s claim that she “was born” when she became a lesbian. She lived and worked in San Francisco and New York City creating films that were as experimental as lesbian and queer lives. She had a breakthrough with her first feature film Nitrate Kisses in 1992, and continued to make shorts right up until her death from cancer. Hammer talks with candor about trying to find a work/life balance, and it is engaging watching her negotiate with a lover about filming her or meditating on horses and dying. Barbara Forever is an illuminating portrait of the pioneering filmmaker.

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(continued from page 46)

Skiff (June 26, 12:30 pm, Roxie) is a sensitive coming-of-age drama about Malou (Femke Vanhove), a teenage girl who likes to wear her brother’s clothes. Rowing provides Malou with purpose and an escape, but she is teased by her fellow female athletes. When her brother Max (Wout Vleugels) starts dating Nouria (Lina Miftah), Malou develops a crush on his girlfriend. As Malou and Nouria spend more time together, a secret romance blossoms. However, they are conflicted about Max—a situation that will inevitably come to a head. Skiff is an engrossing character study about a teen grappling with her gender and sexuality. Malou also navigates tensions with her mom (Natali Broods), who is trying to build a stronger relationship with her daughter. As Malou experiences the pleasure and pain of first love, and the need to make her own choices, Femke Vanhove makes viewers feel her every emotion. It is why Skiff succeeds.

Something You Should Know About Me ( June 26, 3 pm, Vogue Theatre) is writer/director Andy Fidoten’s cute enough romcom about Al (EJ Marcus), a trans cartoonist with low self-esteem who heads out to a queer comics intensive (not “gay cartoon camp”) with his trans bestie Jesse (Morgan Sullivan). At the program, however, Jesse forms a connection with Mason (Sydney Mae Diaz), which causes Al, who is secretly in love with Jesse, to become quite jealous. As Al tries to process his emotions in his drawing, he drinks too much, gets stoned with Fred (Julian Guerrieri), and participates in a literal penis-measuring contest against Mason. Something You Should Know About Me features a buoyant soundtrack that keeps the tone lively as Al suffers a series of humiliations. Viewers will hope the poor guy just catches a break. (Spoiler alert: He does!)

Hunky Jesus (June 26, 6 pm, Castro) is Jennifer Kroot’s celebratory documentary on the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence’s annual Easter event. (Kroot, along with the film’s Executive Producer Robert Holgate, are former columnists for the Bay Times.) Chronicling the 2023 contest in Dolores Park where the Sisters crown a Hunky Jesus and Foxy Mary, the film also charts the origins of the Sisters—activists who create joy and expiate stigmatic guilt, as well as raise money for charities and provide support for AIDS patients and organizations. While the Hunky Jesus event may be seen as blasphemous by some—and Kroot gives some screen time to the offended—the film shows the irreverence that answers the question, “What is sexy about Easter?” The interviews with co-hosts Sister Roma and Honey Mahogany are amusing and the winner definitely deserved his crown. The screening will be followed by a Pride Kickoff Party at The Chapel, 777 Valencia Street.

On the Sea (June 27 11 am, Castro) puts the familiar romantic drama about Jack (Barry Ward), a closeted married man, in the unfamiliar setting of a North Wales fishing village. The raw beauty of the landscape is matched by the rugged characters as Jack falls for Daniel (Lorne MacFadyen), a handsome skipper who has come to town to work. Daniel is largely ostracized by the community because he is gay, and Jack himself is wary of being seen in public with Daniel even for a pint at the local pub. However, the men carry on an intense romance in private. Jack struggles with more than his sexuality; he has a lingering health issue and a teenage son, Tom (Henry Lawfull), who does not want to participate in the family fishing business, which is starting to fall on hard times. On the Sea adds nothing new to the genre, but the film is absorbing because Ward and MacFadyen are both compelling characters, and the actors give lived-in performances.

Loves Company (June 27, 3 pm, Castro) is a woefully unfunny comedy about the gay Blake de Troy (Jack Plotnick), an egocentric former TV star, who is taken in by Antoinette Funk (Rachel Dratch) after a car accident. The film, written and directed by Jason Lauritis, spoofs Misery with Antoniette admitting twice to being Blake’s “num-

ber one fan,” and, yes, there is the expected sledgehammer gag, but it all feels painfully strained. Blake sees his situation as an opportunity for a comeback by blackmailing Antoniette into being his kidnapper. Then things get worse. Dratch and Plotkin give shrill performances. They—and viewers—deserve better.

© 2026 Gary M. Kramer

Gary M. Kramer is the author of “Independent Queer Cinema: Reviews and Interviews,” and the co-editor of “Directory of World Cinema: Argentina.” He teaches Short Attention Span Cinema at the Bryn Mawr Film Institute and is the moderator for Cinema Salon, a weekly film discussion group. Follow him on IG @garyemkramer

Proud of Pride

Off the Wahl

Jan Wahl

I am so lucky that my love for the LGBTQ+ community started with my earliest childhood memories. My mother was raised in Waukegan, Illinois, birthplace of Ray Bradbury, Jack Benny, and Jerry Orbach. My mother’s family rented out their top floor to two men who worked at the local church. Somehow, it being a small town, word got out that they were a couple. Eventually, they were forced out of town for being gay. My mother used that childhood trauma, since they were like uncles to her, to inform the way she felt about the rights of the gay community.

Mom made sure I had gay people in my life. She would drop me off at the Cherokee Book Shop in Hollywood while she went shopping, and I would hang out with the screenwriters, costume designers, and makeup artists. They would all take care of this little girl, and we would read old movie magazines while they told me stories about the stars.

Fast forward to my move to the Bay Area, where I spent about a month as a bad waitress at the old Castro Café when I was in college. The area was going from bland to beautiful at that time around 1970. I was a pretty young thing and straight guys and the owner would hit on me. My only refuge was found with the kind folks next door at Toad Hall. Once again, the LGBTQ+ community had my back.

I started thinking, how could I give back? I became determined to get as much of the community on television and radio with me. Anytime we needed to promote an LGBTQ+ event, from Trannyshack to Dykes on Bikes® to the great TV series

The LGBTQ+ community has continued to enrich my life in a hundred ways: the sheer exhilaration of riding as the celebrity Grand Marshal in the San Francisco Pride Parade one year, performing with Donna Sachet at The Castro Theatre in her wonderful Christmas show, and interviewing classic, aging Hollywood queens in front of a sold-out crowd of gays and lesbians, knowing that they love classic Hollywood as much as I do! Those productions put on by impresario Marc Huestis at the Castro were unforgettable.

As the years have gone on, the community has still had my back. For example, I once got into an on-camera disagreement with director Quentin Tarantino. It seemed to serve as a call to his fans to send me hate mail filled with homophobic threats. There was a lot of publicity about this, but I had committed to appear at an LGBTQ+ event a couple of weeks later. Donna Sachet set me up with Lenny Broberg, who worked for the San Francisco Police Department in the antihate division. He put together a team of bodyguards for me, and I have never felt so secure in my life.

There have been numerous comical times, too. The marvelous Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence found out that, as a Jewish girl, I had missed out on the experience of the confessional. While I was doing a fundraiser with these remarkable nuns, they surprised me with a functional confessional. I had a blast making up for lost time!

There are a million other examples, but all I can say now is: Happy Pride, from my heart to yours.

Jan Wahl is a Hollywood historian and film critic on various broadcast outlets. She has two Emmys and many awards for her longtime work on behalf of film buffs and the LGBTQ community.

Built This City: An SF Pride Variety Spectacular 2026

by Bill Wilson

San Francisco Pride launched June’s series of Pride events with the inaugural Built This City, an SF Pride Variety Spectacular at The Castro Theatre on June 10, 2026. Hosted by Peaches Christ and Honey Mahogany, the evening put the 2026 Community Grand Marshals center stage and brought together an extensive, diverse cast of performers, artists, and activists.

The program included the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus, Dear San Francisco, Haus Of Cream, Miss X & Phillip R. Ford, The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, The Rice Rockettes, The Cockettes Nouveau, BeBe Sweetbriar, the Cast of Compton’s Cafeteria Riot, Elvis Herselvis, Roryography, Media Meltdown, H. P. Mendoza, Jason Brock, Pippi Lovestocking, Jon Ginoli of Pansy Division, Dirty Carol, Breanna Sinclairé, and the Imperial Court’s Absolute Empresses: Mercedez Munro (LII), Juanita MORE! (LVI), Ehra Amaya (LVII), Linda Summers (LIX), and Afrika America (LX). The event was a fundraiser for San Francisco Pride: https://sfpride.org/

Castro Night Market Celebrating Juneteenth and San Francisco Pride 2026

The Castro Night Market on June 19, 2026, packed the streets as celebrants came out for Juneteenth and Pride. The five-hour free block party had a main stage featuring host Sister Roma. Performers included Angeria Paris VanMichaels, Kennedy Davenport, Lydia B. Collins, and Kori King. Deja Skye was among the DJs, who had guests dancing throughout the streets of the Castro.

There was also a drag show with performers such as Mx Kiki Krunch, Brenn Badd, Carlota Di Carlo, and Miss Bea Haven/Mr. Steelio Girl. A lineup of vendors, food trucks, and more rounded out the evening held on one of the longest nights of the year. (The Summer Solstice happened in the early hours of June 21.)

The Castro Night Market is presented by CG Events, The Castro Merchants Association, and the Civic Joy Fund. The next one will take place on July 17 from 5–10 pm. https://castronightmarket.com/

San Francisco Playhouse to Stage

Exuberant Broadway Favorite Hairspray

This Summer

Few musicals radiate joy as unapologetically as the mega-hit musical Hairspray, which gleefully takes the San Francisco Playhouse stage this summer, starting performances July 10, 2026.

Featuring Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman’s upbeat tunes including “You Can’t Stop the Beat,” “Welcome to the 60’s,” and “Good Morning, Baltimore,” along with big bouffant hairdos, colorful costumes, groovy dancing, and exuberant energy, Hairspray is often remembered as a feel-good celebration of change. Variety lauded its “infectious jubilation,” and San Francisco Chronicle deemed the original Broadway tour: “Irresistible. A winner. A joyfully syncopated celebration.”

At its emotional core, however, Hairspray also tells a story of visibility, belonging, and embracing your truest self. This story has deeply resonated with the queer community since its inspiration first hit the screen: the cult-classic film of the same name created by gay icon John Waters and starring Waters alongside drag diva Divine and LGBTQIA+ advocate Ricki Lake. Though set in 1962 during the Civil Rights Movement, Hairspray remains apropos for our moment.

San Francisco Playhouse Artistic Director Bill English, who directs the Broadway musical hit, agrees. “In an era marked by polarization, Hairspray becomes more than a feel-good musical. It’s a defiant, joyful call to resistance, where dancing is protest and inclusion is revolutionary.”

Queer actor Ella Ruth Francis stars as Tracy Turnblad, a plus-sized teen who shakes up the system when she gets to dance on her favorite television show and inspires a movement that changes the face of television forever.

“I’m excited to tell a story that is so fiercely body positive in a time when GLP-1s are flooding social media,” said Ella Ruth Francis. “I am so happy to be a plus-size body onstage and show that you can be bigger as well as desirable, healthy, and a dancer.”

Raised by two gay dads and two lesbian moms, San Francisco native Francis returns to her hometown to make her Playhouse debut in this role. She grew up attending productions at San Francisco Playhouse; among her favorites was Camelot, also directed by Bill English.

Queer nonbinary actor Jonathan Chisolm additionally makes their Playhouse debut as Tracy’s mom, Edna, leaning into their femme energy while embracing this maternal role. Looking forward to performing in the city where queer liberation began, Chisolm has long been an admirer of the musical.

“Hairspray strikes a balance between making you laugh and making you think, all while simultaneously entertaining you and making you want to dance in the aisles!” said Chisolm.

Francis and Chisolm are joined by a talented cast to bring this story to life, including Trevor March , Jeffrey Brian Adams, Samantha Rich , Jordan Covington , Ken Brill , Mackenzie Macdonald, Alison Ewing, Jeannine Anderson , Rebecca Pingree, David Boyll , Sanaiya Johnson , Suleika Onia Patton , Kareem Jenkins, Kaila Dyson , Anese Jade, Cai Rodis, Sierra Bolar, Matt Letton , Gwen Tessman , and Hunter Yocom . Phaedra Tillery-Boughton serves as associate director, Dave Dobrusky as musical director, and Phoenyx Rose as choreographer.

Hairspray performs July 10–September 12, 2026, at San Francisco Playhouse, 450 Street, San Francisco. Tickets are available online ( https://sfplayhouse.org/ ) or by calling the box office at 415-677-9596

Sister Dana Sez: Words of Wisdumb from a Fun Nun

By Sister Dana Van Iquity

Sister Dana sez, “Welcome to the 56th annual SAN FRANCISCO PRIDE Parade and Celebration 2026! You don’t have to be QUEER to love it—but it sure helps!”

The yearly San Francisco Pride Parade and Celebration will take place on the weekend of June 27 and June 28, with the main parade kicking off at 10:30 am on Sunday, June 28. Anchored by the theme “Resistance in Action!,” the weekend will feature a vibrant street festival and multiple stages.

On June 9, Fabulosa Books, 489 Castro Street, presented “Mighty Real ” by awesome author Barry Walters —the history of LGBTQ music from Stonewall to RuPaul, and its impact on culture and American life, with a Q&A following an

incisive interview by 48 Hills publisher and arts editor Marke Bieschke. From the Seventies to the Nineties, veteran journalist Walters chronicled LGBTQ history as he honored the artists who redefined gender, defied tradition, and dared to challenge sexual norms. Drawing on his decades as a New Yorkand San Francisco-based music critic, Walters examined how LGBTQ musicians, music industry executives, and fans reshaped the mainstream. He examined David Bowie’s dazzling reinventions, Grace Jones’s androgynous glamor, Prince’s boundary-shattering sexuality, and the radical candor of the Indigo Girls to prove they’re all doing the same thing: fighting oppression. With exuberance, insight, and encyclopedic knowledge, Walters brought to life the songs and society that filled dance floors, bedrooms, and streets as he illustrated how yesteryear’s coded LGBTQ messages paved the way for today’s unabashedly queer hits. Mighty Real is a powerful love letter to the music that liberated generations. This is the rare and revolutionary music history told to help you laugh, cry, and then rally against lingering inequality. It is so perfect for Pride Month!

Did you enjoy Roman Emperor Trump’s 80th birthday Ultimate Fighting Championship on June 14 where a cruel cagefight enthusiastic crowd paid big bucks to watch people violently beating each other up in gladiatorial martial arts? I did not mostly because this costly (to us taxpayers) $60 million performance was just another grift for dastardly Donald, who holds major stock in UFC. Sister Dana sez, “This was hardly a celebration of America’s 250th Anniversary! Nope, more like a mockery of it!”

Meanwhile, on that very same June 14, THE COMMITTEE FOR THE FIRST AMENDMENT presented a joyful protest concert in NYC against UFC, “Rise Up! Sing Out!” featuring such stars as Bette Midler, Patti Smith, Rufus Wainwright, Peppermint, Wilson Cruz, Jane Fonda , and more.

Trump’s own Department of Labor has shown that prices since May have risen to a three-year high; energy costs are up 24% from a year ago; and wholesale inflation is its highest since 2022. And what is Trump’s response to these frightening statistics? Trump says, “Affordability is a hoax started by the Democrats”; “I don’t think about Americans’ financial situation”; and “I love the inflation.” Sister Dana sez, “This is what we get from a malignant narcissist!”

THE GOLDEN GATE PARK BAND (GGPB) is San Francisco’s Oldest Musical Organization— founded in 1882 . It has been designated as an official Legacy Organization by the City of San Francisco. The Band features over 30 professional musicians, and performs a wide variety of wind-band music that reflects the culture, traditions, and values of San Francisco and the Bay Area while delighting audiences of all ages and interests. There are FREE weekly concerts at the Spreckels Temple of Music aka “the Bandshell” in Golden Gate Park. Everyone is welcome. All concerts start at 1 pm Sundays. https://goldengateparkband.org/

The Justice Department’s public integrity section has been investigating for months potential crimes involving the tax filings of our California Governor Gavin Newsom’s wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom , and had teamed up with the U.S. attorney’s office in the Eastern District of California, based in Sacramento. Governor Newsom responded on June 15, “If they really want to find corruption, look no further than 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.” Newsom continued, “Donald Trump is selling the presidency. He’s running the largest cash heist in American political history, trading foreign tariff relief for approval of his golf courses, day trading reaping hundreds of millions of dollars in personal profit. And he’s doing it openly, on camera. He did it last night on the White House lawn.” Senator of California, Adam Schiff, and member of the Judiciary Committee, remarked that this was yet another in the series of Donzo’s retribution campaign. He said, “Governor Newsom was just the latest on the enemies list, and is part of what has just destroyed any semblance of the rule of law in the Department of Justice.” Schiff added, “You can’t tell me this was a pure coincidence that they decided to go after a likely Democratic candidate for president and his family. The President makes it clear that this was deliberate, and I think people are growing numb to this extraordinary abuse of the Justice Department. All of this is unthinkable that the President would be directing prosecutions from the White House!”

On June 21 at 470 Castro Street, we honored and celebrated ten years of STRUT, San Francisco’s home for queer healthcare, culture, and community. This free community open house was hosted by Honey Mahogany with Nikki Jizz. It featured live performances, DJs, queer art vendors, and more. Sister Dana sez, “Congratulations to Strut, and let’s see another couple decades MORE from the SF AIDS Foundation and Strut!”

HUNKY JESUS is a feature documentary and Frameline Film Festival’s perfect Pride kickoff by famed filmmaker and former Bay

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Top of your stack

Tata (fiction - hardcover) by Valérie Perrin, (translated by Hildegarde Serle)

Tata, the new novel from acclaimed French writer Valérie Perrin, begins with a woman named Agnes being called to identify the body of her Aunt Collette.

There’s only one problem: Aunt Collette died three years ago. As Agnes searches for answers about why Collette faked her death the first time, she uncovers secrets about her aunt’s life and her family’s past in this wild, ambitious, and suspenseful family saga.

The Intrigue (fiction - hardcover) by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Set in 1940s Mexico, The Intrigue is a gripping noir about desire, danger, greed, and seduction. The story follows Ulises, a handsome con artist on the hunt for the ultimate con. He believes he finds one in a woman named Perla, but soon finds that Perla and her family have secrets of their own. When nobody can be trusted, everything begins to fall apart in this novel that combines Mexican culture with the Golden Age of Hollywood, crime fiction, and comic books.

Recommendations from Book Passage

Sandy’s Sketches

By Sandy Morris

Sandy Morris has been making art for the last 60 years. She says, “My pen, ink, and pencil drawings usually start with no preconceived idea—just drawing a straight or curved line or two. From there, my imagination takes over. I build upon the piece. My works range from the whimsical to the political, to emotions, and everything in between.”

Emperor of Gladness (fiction - paperback) by Ocean Vuong

The paperback release of a brilliant novel by acclaimed writer Ocean Vuong has arrived. Emperor of Gladness begins as a story about a bereft and desperate 19-yearold named Hai who begins to look after the elderly widow who saved his life, and proceeds to follow the bond that develops. The story deftly explores the profound ways in which love, labor, and loneliness form the bedrock of American life.

Upcoming Events

Friday, June 26 @ 6 pm (non-ticketedCorte Madera store) Courtney Maum, Alan Opts Out

Funny, sexy, and poignant, Alan Opts Out is Courtney Maum’s most ambitious work yet, tackling the complexities of post-modern America with her signature wit and heart. Courtney will be joined by Alyssa Burgart, a physician-writer, podcaster, and singer/song-

writer. We invite you to arrive early to enjoy cheese and Prosecco before the event begins.

Wednesday, July 1st @ 1 pm (ticketed - virtual) Ann Patchett, Whistler

Experience a conversation between beloved author Ann Patchett and Book Passage founder and owner Elaine Petrocelli about Ann’s best-selling new novel, Whistler. Each ticket will come with a signed copy of Whistler.

Saturday, July 12 @ 4 pm (non-ticketed - Corte Madera store) Mac Barnett, Make Believe: On Telling Stories to Children

Recently appointed as the ninth U.S. Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, Mac Barnett has a new illuminating essay collection that invites us to approach children’s literature, not only as an art form worthy of deep study and criticism, but as a portal into the lives of the children. https://www.bookpassage.com

Pride, Progress & the Bay Area’s Sporting Future

twin sisters Sadie and Sophia Thompson, standout members of the track and field and cross-country teams. Listening to their story and learning about the commitment their family makes each day—including an hour-long commute to school—left us inspired and optimistic about the future.

A Legacy of Inclusion

For the second time, I had the privilege of returning to Union Catholic High School in New Jersey with my sister, Jaimie Westley, to present the Bette “S” Schnitzer Endowed Scholarship, established in honor of our mother, Bette Schnitzer.

Jaimie presented the inaugural scholarship in 2024, and this year it was especially meaningful for me to stand before students and families at the school that was such an important part of my mother’s life. For more than 35 years, she served as Athletic Director, Chair of the Physical Education Department, teacher, and coach. She believed deeply in the power of sports to build confidence, character, and community, and she made it her mission to ensure everyone felt welcomed, included, and valued.

That message feels especially meaningful during Pride Month.

The scholarship is awarded to a Union Catholic junior involved in athletics who aspires to pursue coaching, PE, sports business, or a related field. While my sister and I do not select the recipients, we had the pleasure of meeting this year’s honorees,

Wearing Union Catholic blue and my mother’s Hall of Fame pin, I felt her presence throughout the evening. It was heartwarming to reconnect with many of her former colleagues, who continue to carry forward the same spirit of encouragement and support that defined her career. Seeing young people pursue their dreams while surrounded by educators who believe in them reminded me that a lasting legacy is not measured by trophies or titles, but by the lives we touch along the way.

As I reflected on my mother’s impact and the opportunities being created for the next generation, I couldn’t help but see similar themes playing out across the sports world—from the Bay Area’s growing role on the global stage to the continued expansion of opportunities for athletes, fans, and future leaders alike.

World Cup Fever Arrives in the Bay Area

The World Cup has officially arrived in our backyard.

My World Cup journey began, not in a media workroom, but in the stands at San Francisco Bay Area Stadium, thanks to tickets purchased through an America SCORES fundraising event. While I had hoped to attend as credentialed media, experiencing the match as a fan provided a unique perspective—I was able to soak in the atmosphere alongside supporters from around the world.

My business partner Raghu Shivaram and I arrived early to fully experience the festivities surrounding Jordan’s match against Austria. As a veteran of the 1994 FIFA World Cup Organizing Committee, it was exciting to once again feel

World Cup energy more than three decades later.

Arriving early had its advantages. Raghu and I wandered the concourses, took photos, and soaked in the atmosphere alongside fans from around the world. It was clear this was more than a soccer match. Thousands of fans, many dressed in red and white representing both nations, filled the stadium grounds. Austrian supporters gathered in a spirited rally, complete with chants, songs, flags, and megaphones. Jordanian fans answered with enthusiasm and chants of their own, creating what often felt like a home match for Jordan as they were making their first-ever World Cup appearance. Raghu and I fully embraced the World Cup spirit. Both of us wore FIFA World Cup Trophy pins, and I proudly sported my official U.S. Men’s National Team red-and-white jersey, complete with my name on the back.

Then came an unexpected surprise—we suddenly spotted ourselves on the giant videoboard. We laughed and embraced the moment, a reminder that the World Cup experience belongs as much to the fans as it does to the players.

Outside the stadium, sponsor activations and fan experiences drew long lines,

creating a vibrant international celebration before kickoff.

Inside the stadium, the atmosphere was electric. We met fans who had traveled from New Mexico, Austria, and Germany. By kickoff, the venue was packed. Jordan struck first, sending its supporters into a frenzy before Austria responded and ultimately secured a 3–1 victory.

One of the most fascinating aspects of the experience was seeing FIFA’s “Clean Stadium” requirements in action. Levi’s Stadium as we all know it has temporarily become San Francisco Bay Area Stadium. Non-FIFA sponsor branding must be covered, including the iconic Levi’s logo. The massive exterior sign was wrapped in a tight white covering that cleverly preserved the recognizable silhouette while complying with FIFA regulations.

What made the situation especially interesting from a marketing perspective was how Levi’s embraced the challenge rather than fighting it. Through social media, they leaned into the conversation, turning a temporary restriction into a memorable branding moment—a masterclass in brand awareness. The coverage itself became the story.

Rather than diminishing the brand, the temporary transformation reinforced it. Everyone knew the stadium had to be renamed for FIFA, yet everyone was still talking about Levi’s Stadium. That level of top-of-mind awareness is remarkably difficult to achieve and serves as a powerful example of how smart brands can capitalize on moments they do not fully control.

For Raghu and me, that wrapped sign represented two things at once: a visible reminder that the Bay Area is welcoming the world, and a brilliant example of modern branding. As marketers, we appreciated how Levi’s turned a limitation into a clever branding opportunity, creating a moment that resonated with fans, generated conversation, and highlighted the global spotlight now shining on our region.

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Valkyries Fever Continues

Women’s sports momentum continues to grow across the Bay Area, and I recently had the opportunity to experience it from a completely different perspective.

On June 2, I attended the Golden State Valkyries’ Commissioner’s Cup matchup against Portland Fire. As someone who typically enters Chase Center as credentialed media, this experience was entirely different. A friend invited me to join a group of women in the Theatre Suite, allowing me to enter through a different entrance and experience areas of the arena I had never previously explored.

I loved the energy throughout the concourse and the number of sponsor activations celebrating the Valkyries. One of the highlights was a stunning recreation of Ballhalla, creating a unique gathering photo opportunity for fans. I was also impressed by the activation from J Vineyards & Winery, the official sparkling wine partner of the Valkyries.

The Sonoma County winery featured a beautiful tasting experience showcasing its Brut Rosé and Cuvée 20, with a steady stream of fans stopping by to raise a toast to the Valkyries. As a female-founded and female-led winery, J Vineyards’ partnership with the Valkyries reflects a shared commitment to empowering women both on and off the court.

From community events and watch parties to in-arena experiences, the partnership feels authentic and purposeful. The atmosphere throughout Chase Center reflected that same spirit. Everywhere I looked, fans were proudly sporting Valkyries gear, many dressed in sparkling, dazzling outfits that reflected the excitement surrounding this franchise and its continued run of sellout crowds.

J Vineyards will feature tastings at Pride Night June 26 and Pride Weekend on June 28.

While the game itself was an exciting W, what stood out most was the growing community surrounding this franchise. The enthusiasm, engagement, and support continue to thrive.

Pride, Progress & Opportunity

As I reflected on presenting the Bette “S” Schnitzer Endowed Scholarship, experiencing the excitement of the FIFA World Cup in the Bay Area, and witnessing the

sustained support surrounding the Valkyries, one theme continued to emerge: the power of sports to bring people together.

Whether it’s inspiring the next generation of student-athletes, welcoming fans from around the world, or creating new opportunities for women in sports, the Bay Area continues to demonstrate why it remains one of the most dynamic and inclusive sports communities anywhere.

With Major League Cricket arriving at the Oakland Coliseum later this month and Olympic excitement continuing to build toward LA28, the opportunities for fans to

experience global sports in the Bay Area continue to expand.

Signing off from the Bay, where passion meets the play.

Beth Schnitzer is the Co-Founder and President of Spritz and is the former President of WISE (Women in Sports and Events).

San Francisco Giants Pride Night 2026 at Oracle Park: Fireworks on and Off the Field

The annual San Francisco Giants Pride Night at Oracle Park took place on June 12, 2026, with the intention of celebrating the LGBTQ+ community. The game and subsequent events sparked a national debate when three pitchers—starter Landen Roupp and relievers JT Brubaker and Ryan Walker—wrote Bible verses on their specialized caps, while Sam Hentges opted to wear a regular cap without the Pride-themed logo. The verses from Genesis have been used by some conservative Christians to “reclaim” the rainbow as a religious symbol.

The Chicago Cubs decisively won the game 5–1, but with that and the controversy aside, the game and activations included a Vow Renewal Ceremony hosted by Peaches Christ, Guest DJ Juanita MORE!, a Ceremonial First Pitch presented by Gilead’s Ellie Shafer, The GLIDE Ensemble performing the National Anthem, and an appearance by Per Sia.

Throughout the evening, the stadium lit up in bold rainbow colors while Pride anthems played. Post-game fireworks were choreographed to additional Pride music and displayed rainbow colors as well. https://www.mlb.com/giants

Check, Please! Bay Area Taste & Sip 2026

By Leslie Sbrocco

The annual Taste & Sip, held at the San Francisco Design Center Galleria on June 8, 2026, celebrated the 21st season of Check, Please! Bay Area. This sold-out event featured some of my favorite wineries and more than 50 restaurants from the show —all with ample samples. We filled the galleria with so much flavor, flair, and fun. Thank you to all who came and to the entire KQED live events team for creating magic.

Beverages included offerings from Cattleya, Cellarmaker Brewing Co., Cobb Wines, Fox Tale Fermentation Project, Grgich Hills Estate, J. Lohr Vineyards & Wines, Laughing Monk Brewing, Mossed Juicery, Overshine Wine Co., Patent Wines, Peterson Winery, Priest Ranch Napa Valley, Rodney Strong Wine Estates, Starfield Vineyards, and Theopolis Vineyards.

Food was provided by the Basque Cultural Center, Bhan Mae Vane, Creek House Dim Sum Restaurant, Curry Leaves Bistro, Daughter Thai Kitchen, Eggys, Falafel Boy, Farmhouse Kitchen Thai Cuisine, Gold Ridge Organic Farms, Hog Island Oyster Co., Julia’s Vegetarian Restaurant, Kahnfections Bakery, Luv’s Brownies, Lovejoy’s Tearoom, MAD Creationz, Marnee Thai, MOGUMOGU, Montesacro Pinseria, New Delhi Restaurant, New Eritrea Restaurant and Bar, One House Bakery, Pausa Bar & Cookery, Piglet & Co, Pizzeria da Laura, Raydiant Vybes, Rosalind Bakery, Routier, Smelly’s Creole, Smoke Soul Kitchen, Smokin D’s BBQ, Souvla, Stateline Road Smokehouse, Stockhome Restaurant, Sue’s Kitchen, That’s My Jam Company, The Laughing Monk Nopa, The Meatery, The Sarap Shop, Trifecta, Xies Sushi Rolls, Yosoyceviche, Zazie Restaurant, and more. https://www.kqed.org/checkplease

Author, speaker, wine consultant, and television host Leslie Sbrocco is known for her entertaining approach to wine and food. She has won multiple Emmy Awards for her work on PBS, which includes hosting the series “Check, Please! Bay Area,” which is now in its 21st season; “Check, Please! You Gotta Try This!” and the national series “100 Days, Drinks, Dishes & Destinations.” www.LeslieSbrocco.com

In Feathers and Fins: The Original Pride

Cocktails With Dina by Dina Novarr

There is a story I keep coming back to. It happened on the other side of the country, yet it feels like it belongs to our own history, starting in Central Park in 1999.

Two male chinstrap penguins at the Central Park Zoo, Roy and Silo, were observed trying to hatch a rock—not metaphorically, but an actual rock that was incubated with devotion and kept warm in shifts. When zookeepers replaced it with a dummy egg and the pair took excellent care of that too, someone had the presence of mind to give them a real one, from a mixed-sex couple who couldn’t manage two at once. Roy and Silo incubated it for 34 days. They raised the chick, a female named Tango, for two and a half months. The whole thing was documented in keeper notes the way you’d record any other penguin behavior, because that’s exactly what it was: penguins doing what penguins do, being devoted, raising a family, and figuring it out together.

Now that we are well into June, with additional flags up in the Castro and the city dressed in color again, I keep finding myself returning to the animals. This is not as a metaphor, or as an advocacy talking point, but as evidence—the oldest kind there is— that love in its full, improbable, inconvenient spectrum has always been native to this earth.

Same-sex pairing and bonding behavior has been documented in more than 1,500 species. Let that number sit for a second, as it includes mammals, birds, fish, and insects. It is not an aberration. It is not confusion. It is not a blip in the data. It is, to put it plainly, part of the natural world. It’s the oldest Pride parade on record, and it has been running for a very long time without our permission or our blessing.

Off the coast of Oahu, at a windswept reserve called Kaena Point, 31% of Laysan albatross nesting pairs are female-female. These are birds that mate for life. Nearly a third of the colony is made up of two females choosing each other, building a nest together, raising a chick season after season with quiet, unglamorous dedication. No legislature approved it. The trade winds just kept blowing and the albatrosses kept doing what they’d always done.

Biologist Lindsay Young, who has spent years studying these pairs, found that female-female pairs fledged fewer offspring

than male-female pairs, but it was a better alternative than not breeding at all, which tells you something about both the pragmatism and the persistence of love.

And then there are the bonobos.

If penguins represent devotion and albatrosses represent quiet commitment, bonobos represent something else entirely: radical, joyful, consensual inclusivity. Our closest primate relatives, sharing roughly 98.7% of our DNA, engage in same-sex affection and sexuality across the board, regardless of gender, as a form of social bonding, conflict resolution, and sheer apparent pleasure. “[S]ame-sex behavior is not something bizarre, aberrant, or rare,” biologist Vincent Savolainen noted. “It’s everywhere; it’s very useful; it’s very important.”

Let’s talk about black swans for a moment, because they are, frankly, iconic.

Male black swan pairs sometimes steal a nest from a mixed-sex couple, or one male mates briefly with a female, and once she’s laid her eggs, the two males raise the chicks themselves. Scientists believe this offers a biological advantage: Chick survival rates appear to be higher when raised by malemale couples, possibly because there’s an additional male defending the nest. There are then two dads, in the Australian Outback, unbothered.

Different species arrive at it for different reasons: partnership, parenting, social cohesion, pleasure, survival. The common thread is that it keeps showing up.

Pride Month, at its best, is this: the annual insistence that what has always been true deserves to be seen, that love in all its forms is not a deviation from nature. It is nature, written in feathers and fins and the patient warmth of two penguins in a zoo in Central Park who just wanted to raise their kid. The animals never needed a parade. But we do, because we are the only species on this planet that has ever tried to legislate love out of existence, and the only one that has ever had to fight in the streets to put it back. So, here’s to the ones who fight. Here’s to the ones who just quietly live. Here’s to Roy and Silo, and the albatrosses of Kaena Point, and every black swan who built a better nest. Here’s to June, which in San Francisco smells like fog and sunscreen and someone’s speaker playing something very loud from a very small balcony. Here’s to what nature knew all along.

The Naturalist

Butterfly pea flower is a botanical native to Southeast Asia. It brews into a tea that is a deep, improbable cobalt blue, until you introduce citrus. Add lemon and it shifts before your eyes: blue to violet to blushing magenta-rose, depending on how much acid you use. There is no dye, no trick; just the elegant mechanics of pH change. It felt right for this column. It is a drink that carries its color shift, not as performance, but as chemistry and as simply what happens when certain things come together.

It is paired here with St. George Spirits Botanivore Gin, made just across the bay in Alameda. It includes nineteen botanicals, such as coriander, cilantro seed, carrot seed, and black peppercorns. It is aromatic and complex in a way that reads as of the earth: foraged, considered, and entirely itself.

1½ oz St. George Botanivore Gin (or any botanical gin)

¾ oz butterfly pea flower tea, brewed strong and cooled

½ oz St-Germain elderflower liqueur

¾ oz fresh lemon juice

½ oz simple syrup (1:1)

2 oz sparkling water or dry tonic, to finish

Combine gin, tea, St-Germain, lemon juice, and simple syrup in a shaker with ice. Shake well and strain into a chilled coupe or over a large rock. Top gently with sparkling water or tonic. Watch the citrus work its way through, blue into violet, violet into rose. Garnish with a lemon twist expressed over the glass, then draped along the rim. No garnish is required. The drink is already doing something beautiful on its own.

San Francisco-based Dina Novarr enjoys sharing her passion for fine wines, spirits, non-alcoholic craft beverages, and more with others.

The Gay Gourmet

David Landis

Merriam-Webster defines pride as “the quality or state of being proud, (meaning) reasonable self-esteem, confidence, and satisfaction in oneself; or, pleasure that comes from some relationship, association, achievement, or possession that is seen as a source of honor and respect.”

But Pride in the LGBTQ+ community has come to mean so much more. It’s a true celebration—and one in which we invite everyone into the gate.

So, it only made sense during this year’s Pride that the Gay Gourmet asked some of our region’s best chefs, restaurateurs, and industry insiders what Pride means to them—and how to celebrate. The answers might just surprise you.

Annie Stoll, Delfina

To us, Pride is a celebration of love in all of its wonderful forms. Pride = love.

Ben Malmquist, Dirty Habit and Z Hotel Collection

For me, Pride is about belonging. San Francisco has always been a place where people come to be themselves, and Pride is a beautiful reflection of that freedom, joy, and acceptance. Across The Z Hotel Collection, we want our hotels to feel like an extension of that spirit, places

Cooking With Pride

where everyone feels welcome and comfortable being who they are.

Andrew Freeman, af&Co

Pride (for me) means celebrating the journey from being a young, closeted man growing up in New Jersey to becoming a proud gay man in San Francisco running two successful businesses. It means never hiding who you are, because standing firmly in your authentic self is ultimately what drives success at every level. True Pride is found in creating a culture where everyone is championed to bring their whole self to the table, while using that collective strength to give back to the communities we love.

Bex Pezzullo, Sincere Cider

Pride means showing up and putting my most authentic and best self into everything I do: making products I’m proud of, working with partners who respect the craft and effort that goes into those products, and sharing them with people who support the “little guy” in a time when businesses get bigger and less personal. (It also means glitter and disco balls!)

Brad Levine, Full Proof Bottles & Spirits

Pride is a very special time that we are lucky to be alive in. It just means inclusivity and acceptance. And to be able to, no matter who you are—as long as you have a good idea, not a harmful idea—to be in a place where you’ll be included and accepted.

Cicero Souto, Chotto Matte

Pride is about living openly, loving freely, and coming as you are without fear. At Chotto Matte, “Come As You Are” is a slogan we carry across all of our locations around the world. I believe that message perfectly reflects what Pride stands for by celebrating individuality, diversity, and self-expression, while creating spaces where everyone feels welcome exactly as they are. Nikkei cuisine, which brings

together different cultures, flavors, and stories in harmony, also reflects the beauty of diversity, and, as a chef and proud member of the LGBTQ+ community, I believe our differences are what make us stronger, more connected, and ultimately more creative together.

Bruno Chemel, Le Parc Bistrobar

Pride is understanding and embracing gender and racial diversity. Everyone deserves respect and freedom without judgment.

Francesco d’Ippolito, Poesia

Pride is that time of the year where people of all genders, sexual orientations, skin color, age, and nationality come together and feel free to be themselves, without the fear of being judged or discriminated against. It’s that time of the year where I feel proud of having chosen San Francisco and the Castro as my home!

Fairmont San Francisco’s Kevin Tanaka

San Francisco has always celebrated individuality, diversity, and self-expression, and I’m proud that our team here at Fairmont San Francisco reflects that same spirit. In our industry, the best teams are built from different backgrounds, perspectives, and personalities all coming together with a shared passion for hospitality. For me, Pride is about community, authenticity, and creating an environment where people feel supported and comfortable

being themselves—whether that’s a guest sitting down to enjoy a memorable meal or a colleague beside me during service. Food has always been about bringing people together, and I’m proud to be part of a team and a city that embrace inclusivity and creativity in all its forms.

Liam Mayclem, The Foodie Chap, KCBS Radio

Pride is about celebrating our fully expressed selves in all forms in our big, beautiful LGBTQ+ community. While celebrating, pause also to think about how far we have come, and have how far we have yet to go. The struggle continues, the fight now is on full throttle!

(continued on page 67)

(continued from page 66)

Mat Schuster, Canela Bistro Bar

Pride is about community, and, to me, there’s no better place to experience that than in the Castro. This neighborhood has been built on connection, support, and belonging in every sense of the word. During Pride, that spirit comes alive in a way that’s hard to describe but easy to see—it’s fuller, brighter, and more vibrant than ever. You can feel the energy all around you. This is the neighborhood where we have made our home and our business and have never regretted the choice.

Chef Mark Dommen from Hestan Napa sums it up best:

For me it’s pretty simple. Pride is all about love—accepting and not judging people because of whom they love.

So, in the words of Three Dog Night, let’s all “celebrate, celebrate (and) dance to the music” this Pride.

Bits and Bites

Revel in Pride this June with the new Stay with Pride Package from LUMA Hotels all month long. With properties in San Francisco’s vibrant Mission Bay neighborhood and New York City ’s bustling Theater District, LUMA offers easy access to two of the largest Pride events in the United States. For travelers booking a stay for Pride month, 10% of every package booking will be donated to a local LGBTQ+ charity while guests enjoy a Pride-themed treat and luxe accommodations in the heart of the celebration. In New York City, LUMA Hotel Times Square is partnering with The NYC LGBT Community Center, and at LUMA Hotel San Francisco, packages support the SF LGBT Center, providing community services, youth programs, and resources across the city.

And, while you’re celebrating Pride, be sure to patronize some of these queerowned restaurants and bars: Hilda and Jesse, Rikki’s, There/There, Canela Bistro Bar, Brenda’s

French Soul Food, Atelier Crenn and Bar Crenn, Manny’s, Hi Tops, Farmhouse Kitchen Thai Cuisine, and Dacha Kitchen and Bar —just to name a few.

Delfina: https://www.delfinasf.com/ Dirty Habit and Z Hotel Collection: https://tinyurl.com/2s3ufhax af&co: https://www.afandco.com/ Sincere Cider: https://www.sincerecider.com/

Full Proof Bottles & Spirits: https://www.fullproofsf.com/ Chotto Matte: https://chotto-matte.com/sanfrancisco/ Le Parc Bistrobar: https://www.leparcbistrobar.com/ Poesia: https://poesiasf.com/ Hestan Napa: https://hestannapa.com/ Fairmont San Francisco: https://tinyurl.com/4d4djks7

LUMA Hotels: https://www.lumahotels.com/

The Foodie Chap: https://www.bookliam.com/

Hilda and Jesse: https://www.hildaandjessesf.com/

Rikki’s: https://www.rikkisbarsf.com/ There/There: https://therethere.bar/ Canela Bistro Bar: https://canelasf.com/

Brenda’s French Soul Food: https://frenchsoulfood.com/

Atelier Crenn: https://www.ateliercrenn.com/ Bar Crenn: https://www.barcrenn.com/

Manny’s: https://welcometomanny s com/ Hi Tops: https://hitopsbar.com/

Farmhouse Kitchen Thai Cuisine: https://bit.ly/4xIjwoD

Dacha Kitchen and Bar: https://www.dachaprojects.com/

David Landis, aka “The Gay Gourmet,” is a foodie, a freelance writer, and a retired PR maven. You can email him at davidlandissf@gmail.com Or visit him online at: https://gaygourmetsf.com/

SISTER DANA (continued from pg 56)

Times columnist Jennifer M. Kroot that explores the legacy of the San Francisco chapter of us Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence—we queer nuns who combat guilt, shame, and exclusion through joy, humor, activism, and irreverence, serving our communities while challenging bigotry and redefining spirituality. Blending footage from “Hunky Jesus 2023” with sit-down interviews, highlights include a 1987 “exorcism” at Union Square during Pope John Paul II’s visit to San Francisco, shortly after he declared homosexuality an “intrinsic evil.” The SF opening of this Frameline favorite is showing at The Castro Theatre on June 26. Featuring a dulcet voiceover by the legendary George Takei and a haunting rendition of Depeche Mode’s “Personal Jesus” performed by the incomparable John Cameron Mitchell , this delightful documentary is a Pride Month necessity! https://www.hunkyjesusfilm.com

Circus Bella has returned for its 19th year of FREE Circus in the Parks! Step into the splendid silliness of AH HA!, a highspirited romp bursting with hijinks, hilarity,

and heart. This fast-paced, 60-minute performance puts a fresh spin on the classic one-ring circus, blending daring feats with playful mischief and Circus Bella’s signature sparkle. Audiences of all ages will be swept up in the magic as a vibrant troupe of acrobats, aerialists, jugglers, and clowns take the ring. Underscored by the LIVE music of the Circus Bella All-Star Band, “Ah Ha!” is a joyful, high-flying celebration of community, connection, and pure circus delight. And, best of all, it’s completely FREE. Attendees are urged to bring a blanket or folding chair, because there is no seating on the grass in the parks. It is happening now through July 26. Check which Bay Area park is available at https://www.circusbella.org/

Sister Dana sez, “Happy FOURTH OF JULY, and remember that we are celebrating 250 years of Independence—and that we do NOT have to bow down to a corrupt, would-be emperor! We are proud AmeriCANs!”

Assorted Silicone Rainbow Kitchen Tools

Brighten cooking prep time during Pride Month and beyond with these colorful, useful tools. $4.99–$7.99

Rhinestone Jewelry

Add sparkle to your look with this eye-catching costume jewelry set—necklace plus earrings— with the setting made from sturdy, shiny gold-hued brass. $27.99

Foam Party Wigs

Need to look fabulous in an instant? Our foam party wigs are easy breezy big fun! Shop early for the best selection of styles and colors before Pride. $52.99 for the wig shown

Keep up with Cliff’s Variety news at Facebook ( https://bit.ly/4qh1Xbb ) & IG @hilario_sf

Let’s Go Home!

A Pair of Popular Bonded Feline Sisters and a Cuddly Canine Who Is Equal Parts Entertainer and Companion

Here are two of the many pets now available for adoption at Oakland Animal Services (OAS):

Goofy, affectionate, and full of puppy fun, Buster is a 10-month-old pit bull terrier weighing 54 pounds with lots of playful energy and an even bigger heart. This wiggly, happy boy is equal parts entertainer and cuddle bug and brings enthusiasm and joy wherever he goes. Playful and self-entertaining, Buster loves toys and can happily keep himself occupied, tossing them around, shaking them, and showing off his impressive ability to catch them mid-air. He loves being close to his people, leaning hard into pets and neck scratches. He may even try to sneak in a few affectionate face licks. Smart and eager, Buster already knows “sit,” responds well to cues, and takes treats gently. He’d love to be your next BFF!

Pasadena and Seasides are playful, sweet, bonded sisters with a penchant for making new people friends. They’ve even attended a fun event at Oakland City Hall! With good looks and great personalities, they are uber-popular. These two babes are looking for a home where they can soak up lots of affection with a family of admirers. At a bit under 4 months old, they’re excited to meet you and be homeward bound!

The OAS adoption process focuses on matching you with a pet who is a good fit for you and your family. Come by during open adoption hours Thursdays 12–7 pm and Fridays/Saturdays/Sundays 12–3 pm to adopt your new best friend, or to learn more about the OAS adoption process. Please see the OAS website to learn more about how you can help by adopting, fostering, volunteering, and donating: www.oaklandanimalservices.org

FITNESS SF Trainer Tip

An Exercise to Help Maintain Your Strength and Independence

Deanna Pinkston - FITNESS SF Embarcadero

“One of the most important movement skills as we age is the ability to safely get up from the floor, a chair, or the side of the bed. A simple way to maintain this strength and independence is by practicing a supported static lunge. Start in a split stance and slowly lower the back knee to the ground with control. From the bottom position, use your legs—not momentum—to press yourself back up to standing. Use one or two sticks, dowels, or a stable support for balance as needed. The goal is to build strength, balance, coordination, and confidence in positions that directly translate to daily life. Train both legs evenly and focus on smooth, controlled movement rather than speed.”

Troy Macfarland at FITNESS SF shares monthly tips that he has learned from colleagues, fellow professional trainers, and more. For additional information: https://fitnesssf.com/

San Francisco Bay Times Designer Beth Greene Attends 2026 Utah Pride

Many Pride celebrations, both nationally and internationally, take place in early June. One of the most festive and family-friendly was the 2026 Utah Pride Festival, held June 6–7 at Washington Square and Library Square in Salt Lake City. It brought the community together under the empowering theme of “Pride Elevated,” reclaiming and reimagining the state’s well-known tourism slogan, “Utah: Life Elevated.” San Francisco Bay Times designer Beth Greene, family, and friends were among the estimated 75,000–100,000 guests who participated in the bustling weekend event that is Utah’s largest LGBTQ+ celebration. It was packed with live entertainment from more than 35 local performers and an expansive market showcasing over 220 local makers, businesses, and nonprofit organizations. Beyond the lively music and diverse food trucks, the festival featured deeply impactful spaces, including the Transgender Day of Remembrance Memorial— presented by the Glitter Foundation—and a dedicated Youth Zone to foster connection for LGBTQ+ youth and families.

The vibrant energy of the festival set the tone for a month packed with statewide festivities, keeping the momentum alive all the way through to the Salt Lake City Pride events that will take place this weekend, simultaneous with San Francisco Pride’s Festival and Parade.

https://utahpride.org/

As Heard on the Street

Faustina Ngo “Shredding paper”

Katie Gilmartin “Working in a parking garage during grad school so that I could study and be paid”

What

“Putting stickers on marijuana products”