By Dennis McMillan
SF Lesbian Gay Freedom Band Marching & Pep Bands to Perform at Super Bowl City
Two performances are scheduled for Sunday, January 31. The SFLGFB Marching Band will perform starting at 11:30 am, marching through Super Bowl City. At 12:30 pm, the SFLGFB’s Pep Band will perform at The Fan Stage located in the Fan Energy Zone at Justin Herman Plaza.
Super Bowl City will be open from January 30–February 7, offering Bay Area locals and visitors a free way to enjoy the sporting world’s biggest annual event.Mike Wong, SFLGFB’s current Marching Director and Drum Major, has been appointed the Band’s Artistic Director of Marching & Pep Programs. Wong joined SFLGFB as a teenager and has provided leadership through hundreds of parades, performances and community events. He plays French horn in the Concert Band and also the mellophone. sfglfb.org
SF LGBT Center Readies for Major Renovation
The San Francisco LGBT Community Center will soon begin renovation of its building to ensure that the center is here for generations to come. Finding a job or accessing affordable housing is harder than it used to be—especially for LGBTQ youth and transgender people.
Nonprofits working to help the community are being priced out of the city today. The remodel, scheduled to begin in March, will include triple the amount of affordable nonprofit office space available, and will welcome new partner tenants, adding primary medical care, mental health, substance abuse, and legal services to the center’s existing programs. It will also create new community meeting spaces and upgrade the Rainbow Room, the largest multi- purpose event space. It will further create longterm sustainability by designing a more efficient floor plan that allows the building to pay for itself, and will build a capital reserve fund to support future building needs. During the remodel, center programs and services will continue to operate. Visit sfcenter.org for ongoing updates.
Terry Beswick to Join GLBT Historical Society as Executive Director
There continues to be progress at the GLBT Historical Society as the board welcomes Terry Beswick as Executive Director, starting in February. Beswick brings years of experience leading and building another Castro-based nonprofit, the Castro Country Club. He is a longtime AIDS activist, is enthusiastic about queer history and promises to bring a new era of growth and vision to the GLBT Historical Society. The public is invited to meet Beswick at the GLBT History Museum’s fifth anniversary celebration on Friday, January 29, 7–9 pm. glbthistory.org
HIV Testing Uncommon in Teens Despite
Recommendations by CDC Fewer than 1 in 4 high school students who have had sex get tested for HIV, a troubling low rate that did not budge over eight years, government researchers say. Young adults fared slightly better, although testing rates have declined in black women, a high-risk group. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and an influential preventive health panel recommend routine HIV testing at least once for teens and adults. They also advise at least yearly screening for high-risk patients including those with multiple sex partners, gay or bisexual boys and men and injection drug users. The American Academy of Pediatrics has similar advice targeting teens only. edgemedianetwork.com
Black Queer Liberation Collective
Shuts Down Bay Bridge For the second year in a row, the Anti-Police Terror Project (APTP) put out a call for 96 Hours of Direct Action to reclaim Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s radical legacy and to take a stand against anti-Black racism and terrorism. In a display of solidarity and the spirit of MLK, Black.Seed, a Black, queer liberation collective of 50 protesters, shut down the Bay Bridge as a show of resistance to a system that continues to oppress Black, Queer, Brown, Indigenous and other marginalized people throughout the Bay Area. About 25 were arrested at the demonstration that was peaceful, but which caused traffic to stop and then be delayed for several hours. twitter.com/hashtag/blackseed
Gay Widower Sues Union Pension Plan for Survivor Benefits
The widower of a hotel telecommunications engineer in San Francisco sued the IUOE Stationary Engineers Local 39 Pension Plan and its Board of Trustees for refusing to provide him with a spousal pension benefit required by the terms of the pension plan and federal law, solely because both spouses are men. Even though the couple was validly married, the plan refused to provide a spousal benefit by relying on the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which the U.S. Supreme Court struck down as unconstitutional in June 2013. NCLR Senior Staff Attorney Amy Whelan said, “While DOMA has been the source of extreme discrimination against LGBT people and their families, it provides absolutely no defense in this case.” nclrights.org
Welcoming the All-Gender Restroom Revolution
This week, San Francisco joins Washington D.C., Philadelphia, Austin, Seattle, Santa Fe and New York City in requiring all businesses and city buildings to designate single stall restrooms as all-gender. While transgender and gender nonconforming people have the legal right to use restrooms that correspond to their gender, this kind of legislation is still a relief for people with disabilities, trans and gender non- conforming people and families with small children—not to mention women simply tired of waiting in line for the women’s restroom while the single-stall men’s bathroom stands empty. transgenderlawcenter.org
Pope States Same-Sex Marriage Is the Only Union God Wants The Pope is widely perceived as being at least somewhat liberal. Yet as the Italian senate plans to continue debating a bill that would legalize civil partnerships for gay people in Italy, Pope Francis has released a reminder of just how much the Catholic Church opposes gay marriage. The pontiff told Vatican Judges, “There can be no confusion between the family God wants and any other type of union; the family, founded on indissoluble matrimony that unites and allows pro-creation, is part of God’s dream and that of his Church for the salvation of humanity.” Italy remains the only major western European state not to recognize civil partnerships or same-sex marriage. lgbtqnation.com
Supervisor Wiener Introduces Ballot Measure to Streamline Creation of Affordable Housing
The city’s Land Use and Transportation Committee held a public hearing on Supervisor Scott Wiener’s legislation to expedite the construction of affordable housing to address San Francisco’s housing crisis. The ordinance would exempt all 100% affordable housing projects from conditional use authorizations, which can add months on to the entitlement process and increase costs for projects, even if the project has no opposition. These projects would still be required to abide by existing height and bulk limits. Affordable housing projects are comprised of units affordable to people of low or moderate income, which is defined as 0–120% of area median income. San Francisco area medium income is $71,350 for a single person and $101,900 for a family of four.
February 1 Deadline for 2016 Equality Scholarships Approaches
The deadline for submitting applications for the Horizons Foundation 2016 eQuality Scholarships is fast approaching. It is on Monday, February 1. Again this year, eQuality expects to award one $12,000 scholarship, in addition to more than ten $6,000 scholarships, to high school graduates, community college transfer students, and nursing and medical students who have demonstrated service to the LGBTQ community. Applicants of all sexual orientations and gender identities are eligible to apply for scholarships to assist with post-secondary educational expenses. equalityscholarship.org horizonsfoundation.org
Secretary of Defense to Make Final Decision on Transgender Military Ban by Spring
The American Military Partner Association (AMPA), the nation’s largest organization of LGBT military families, responded to the news that the Pentagon is expected to announce its decision on whether to lift the ban on transgender service members by this spring. The secretary will take whatever time he needs to analyze, evaluate and discuss the Working Group’s findings with his immediate staff and the senior leadership of the department. There are an estimated 12,500 transgender service members currently serving in silence. militarypartners.org
Public Meeting Held to Discuss Crime and Safety in District 8
Over 100 residents of District 8 chose to forgo the Republican presidential debate to attend a safety meeting aimed at addressing concerns over crime and quality-of-life issues in the Castro, Duboce Triangle, Mission and Noe Valley. Organized by D8 Supervisor Scott Wiener, the panel included a trio of police captains: Dan Parea (Mission Station), John Sanford (Park Station) and Joe McFadden (Ingleside Station). Also in attendance were SFPD Chief Greg Suhr, representatives from the DA’s office and adult probation, and surprise guest Mayor Ed Lee. Both Suhr and Wiener noted that the SFPD is still operating at a 300-officer staffing deficit, though those numbers are slowly improving. According to Wiener, the meeting was convened to also address the fact that there is “too much crime [in the district], particularly auto break-ins and burglaries.” Mission Station’s Capt.
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