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    Rink Remembers 1.16.25

    Allan Baird with Harvey Milk in a photograph by Richard Weiss taken at Island
    Restaurant in 1974. Photo: JAMES C. HORMEL LGBTQIA CENTER, SAN FRANCISCO PUBLIC LIBRARY

    Alan Baird

    The passing on January 8, 2025, of labor leader Allan Baird, age 92, touched the hearts and minds of LGBTQ+ community members who recalled his role in the uniting of the labor and gay rights movements starting in 1973. That year, he led a boycott of Coors beer due to the company’s homophobic stances at the time. The boycott made national and even international headlines. It also helped forge the friendship between Baird and Harvey Milk, and led to Baird’s subsequent involvement as an ally of the gay community in the fight against the Briggs Initiative in 1978 that would have banned LGBTQ+ individuals from working in California schools.
    LGBTQ+ activist and San Francisco Bay Times founding contributor Cleve Jones and colleagues organized a celebration honoring Baird in June of 2021 that included a rally at Harvey Milk Plaza and march through the Castro to Baird’s home, where he received a commendation presented by District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman.

    San Francisco Bay Times photographer Rink, who met Baird in the 1970s, captured images on Castro Street during the 2021 march in his honor. Photo: PHOTO BY RINK
    Cleve Jones, accompanied by Teamsters Tizoc Arenas and Ruben Bustillos, were photographed with Baird at his home in June of 2021 following a march in his honor through the Castro. Photos: FACEBOOK/FRIENDS OF ALLAN BAIRD

    Richard Bolingbroke

    Close friends and chosen family of Richard Bolingbroke are grieving his loss following his unexpected death on December 28, 2024. He was a beloved friend, leather community member, and accomplished artist. A member of Artists Guild San Francisco, Bolingbroke was a former board president at ArtSpan and held key leadership roles at other nonprofit organizations.

    His husband, Steve Gaynes, announced that a celebration of Bolingbroke’s life is planned for 1 pm on Saturday, March 1, 2025, at his studio (#1508) at Building 101, Hunters Point Shipyard.

    During his regular Castro stroll on January 3, 2025, Rink photographed the memorial for Richard Bolingbroke, artist and leather community member, on the memorial grill at Hibernia Beach. Photo: PHOTO BY RINK

    Anita Bryant

    The first issues of the San Francisco Bay Times in the 1970s highlighted the anti-LGBTQ+ efforts of singer and Christian activist Anita Bryant (1940–2025). At a time when LGBTQ+ individuals were fighting damaging ballot measures such as the Briggs Initiative, Bryant fueled homophobia via organized campaigns such as through her leadership of the Save Our Children coalition.

    Although her anti-gay efforts were later mocked and resulted in dramatic career loses, she remained undaunted. In 2011, she defended her “activism,” saying: “I did the right thing,” and, “I never regretted what I did.”

    Anita Bryant’s image was captured by Rink in his iconic Market Street photograph from the 1977 San Francisco Gay Parade where she was included adjacent to Adolph Hitler, Joseph
    Stalin, the Ku Klux Klan, and Ugandan Idi Amin in a poster protest. Watch “The Downfall of
    Anita Bryant” at https://bit.ly/3PzrJGT Photo: PHOTO BY RINK

    In Memoriam
    Published on January 16, 2025