Dennis Peron Memoir

Dennis Peron Memoir

Well known as a determined medical and recreational marijuana activist for decades, Dennis Peron was also a gay activist, a civil rights activist, and a patron of the arts.

This journalist met Dennis when he had left the US Air Force, and had moved into a Haight-Ashbury commune where my boyfriend Monte also lived. Dennis was ecstatic to meet an openly-gay couple who did not hesitate to hold hands on the street and kiss in theaters and restaurants. This was risky behavior in 1969, even in the Haight, and we liked being joined by Dennis and friends.

 

Dennis invited us to a party, and we noticed an intense man playing a guitar and serenading some young women. We found out later that the intense man was Charles Manson, and that his "family" was also at the party.

 

Two women coordinated the commune and a food conspiracy, and we found Dennis in the kitchen many times, watching them load bright green marijuana into gelatin capsules. Dennis asked them many questions, which later helped him in his restaurant and club enterprises. Communal dining was a major attraction for the commune, and for other nearby linked communes, which belonged to the Kaliflower Collective. The collective promoted vegetarianism, sex without shame, expanding consciousness, altruism, and love.

Dennis climbed into bed with Monte and I sometimes, but there was not much climbing, since beds were actually king-size mattresses on floors, with Indian bedspreads for sheets. There was a communal consciousness and the hope that the counterculture could create a better world. Studying Hinduism was popular, since it offers reincarnation. The feeling was that maybe our families and friends would be more supportive and caring in future lives. We wore clothing and sandals from India, but we could not figure out Indian wrap-around underwear, which is now explained in online videos. Everyone knew not to knock on bedroom doors if they heard sitar music or George Harrison's "Inner Light." That was code for sex was Happening, so do not disturb. Dennis was shocked one afternoon, after we voted him off the bed. He had tried to bring a kitten with him.

Dennis, Monte, and I and about a dozen LGBTs  joined a crowd of over 200 counterculture Love-In celebrants in June 1970, to enjoy our own first Gay Pride party on Hippie Hill in Golden Gate Park. It was a first San Francisco event to mark the Stonewall Riots that started on June 27, 1969 in New York City, the year before. My boyfriend Monte and Dennis and some lesbian and gay couples were in the midst of the throng on blankets, and on alert for very possible harassment. Instead young men who passed by said, "Cool."  One of the lesbians in my photographs said that she  thought that  they wanted to impress their girlfriends with their liberal attitudes.

Dennis and I met to discuss the organizing of a San Francisco Gay Liberation Front group, and he was excited to hear about Black Panther Party women and men appearing at a small gay meeting in 1971 in Oakland, to invite us to a Black Panther convention in Washington DC. He also enjoyed hearing about a large Berkeley Gay Liberation Front meeting that was hosted by women from the Symbionese Liberation Army. We spoke later, and Dennis said he was too busy with his business interests and romances, but that he would support gay groups, and he did.

Dennis and I had a connection even before we met. One of his jobs while serving in Viet Nam was shipping coffins back to the US. Unlike many of my friends and cousins, I was not spoiled and had to buy my own car, so I worked at Federal Express until coffins arrived from Viet Nam. 

Dennis owned a series of marijuana clubs, where he combined a welcoming presence with a quality product. He also endured a series of law enforcement raids, and he was shot in the leg in one incident. When I complained that people were pressing him to sell them marijuana while we spoke at Café Flore, with him still in pain and leaning on a crutch, with a Long Island accent similar to Harvey Milk's he let me know that he wanted to sell them the contraband, and that he had a stash under his bed in the hospital, and made sales there.

 

Dennis instantly bonded with Harvey Milk, since they had similar politics and a need to help people. Dennis financed Harvey's political campaigns, and also his successor Harry Britt's, and many other LGBT candidates and allies' campaigns.

The multi-floored Peron home on 17th Street was a fine TV viewing spot to watch Lyndon Johnson announce that he would not run for re-election and see Richard Nixon take his last official helicopter ride from the White House lawn. The home was a hotbed of anti-Viet Nam War organizing and anti-conservative Nixon legislation politicking, and the crowds at such special events felt like real San Francisco progressive values in action.

Dennis' Island Restaurant was a boost to businesses near its location at 16th and Sanchez Streets, and more than 60 people were employed there. It drew a continuous stream of guests, and many also patronized the marijuana supermarket upstairs. My German relatives were astounded when they looked into the kitchen one afternoon to see that the stoned and bleary-eyed staff were naked and mixing main courses on a table. That explained our chili merged with lentil soup lunch, and coffee blended with tea.

Dennis' largest and most successful medical marijuana club was on Market Street at Van Ness Avenue, on 4 floors with a large elevator, that employed more than 80 people. The elevator made the club accessible to disabled and ill people, and it drew many wheelchair users. They are vulnerable on streets and in parks, while seeking pain relief, and the large club had greeters helping them on every floor. It was appreciated, as was Free Dope Day on Thursdays. Grateful guests fell at Dennis' feet and kissed his hands in gratitude while standing in that special line, and they helped him when he ran a campaign for governor as a Republican, to stir things up. Gagging sounds were heard in the background while I posed him in front of an American flag for the campaign promotions.

Dennis was the center of attention at many events, even at weddings and funerals, where mostly young people gathered around him. My lover Beau and I celebrated our 8th anniversary at the Valencia Rose nightclub. Jose Sarria performed "Madame Butterfly" on stage. In attendance was famous erotic film star Scott Anderson ("Boys of San Francisco"—the filmmaker thought it would be funny to include me in a parade scene, and I never asked Dennis how he knew so many of the film's stars). Owners Hank Wilson and Ron Lanza helped serve shark dinners and the large cake that we brought was served. All through the event Dennis was the center of the overflow audience's attention, even when Jose drew the film star Scott on stage to join the opera actors and be mauled. 

What drew people to Dennis was his promotion of freedom to indulge in marijuana and sexual freedom. He also gave away joints, sometimes throwing handfuls from stages into enthusiastic crowds.

A large encampment of tents welcomed friends at a Summer of Love anniversary near Ocean Beach, and as they walked closer to the tents they saw huge glittering carved marijuana leaves, and Dennis waving to them. He had a grand presence with activist followers at street fairs, parades, the Rainbow Gathering, and Burning Man.

 
Some of Dennis' TV appearances included his friend Jo Daly, the first lesbian police commissioner, appointed by Mayor Dianne Feinstein. Jo told multiple audiences that she lost her appetite during breast cancer treatment, and that medical marijuana had revived her interest in eating, and saved her life. Physicians and other caregivers recommended their clients to Dennis' clubs, and his warmth and caring was on view every day. He spotted people with gray or green skin tones, and others walking with difficulty, and he seated them, and brought service guides to them.

His large office at his Market Street club was a whirlwind of activity. Bay Times journalists joined CNN and CBS news crews on couches, watching giant duffle bags and suitcases of product hauled in the door, along with a huge man wearing a horned helmet and biker gear who carried THC-infused Rice Krispies squares. He introduced himself as a Hells Angels Motorcycle Club baker. 

Dennis dedicated himself to helping people with HIV/AIDS after his lover Jonathan died. Jonathan and I discussed his condition one afternoon, while Dennis placed morphine from an eyedropper onto Jonathan's tongue to alleviate the pain of Kaposi Sarcoma in his mouth. Rainbow flag creator Gilbert Baker stopped on his way to the hot tub, listened to us, and then dropped his towel to break the tension in the room and get a laugh. Then I saw that people seated behind Jonathan, including Dennis, were crying. 

Dennis sponsored my photography show at A Different Light Bookstore, which was also sponsored by James Hormel. Mayor Willie Brown spoke and gave me a proclamation for Rink Foto Day in San Francisco. Dennis asked to see it and spoke about his many awards over the years from thankful leaders in the political and art spheres.

 

Gilbert Baker was a longtime friend of Dennis' and was given a free hand to redecorate Dennis' home, clearing away macramé, hanging bedspreads, and potted plants. It was a lavender wonderland when Gilbert was finished, and guests said that it had a new feeling of joyousness. Dennis funded Gilbert's flag and costume creations, and his art work. Gilbert provided lavish decorations for many benefits for a variety of causes hosted by Dennis.

Dennis welcomed the founder of Gay Liberation Harry Hay and his lover John Burnside to live in the home, as refugees from Southern California. More than a dozen Radical Faeries stepped forward to serve as caregivers for the thankful couple.

Wonderful events were a part of Dennis' activism, including the time that he was invited to debate with Australia's prime minister. He staged impressive gatherings all over the world, with overwhelming press coverage.

My last visit to see Dennis was a Prop 215 anniversary party at his home, which is now a B&B, and it was filled with friends of many years smoking Dennis' dope and reminiscing about his generosity. Dennis was in his bedroom, and as he had said many times before, progress has been made in furthering civil rights, women's rights, LGBT rights, anti-war activities, and many other worthwhile causes, but marijuana was still seen as a threat instead of a national treasure in too much of the US.

 

Magnet Anniversary: Eight Years of Medicine and Culture in the Castro

Most of the Magnet staff made an appearance at the eighth-year anniversary party on July 9 at their beautifully designed space. On Magnet's inauguration day, Mayor Willie Brown exclaimed that it “looks like the W Hotel!” The design is a combination of blue and a shade of green not favored by many outside of art schools, with clear and colored plastic panels. The ceiling panels appear like they will fly out onto the street momentarily.

Steve Gibson, Magnet’s director, spoke about the clinic before it opened, and as he gathered support its importance became known when community activists realized that the San Francisco LGBT Community Center would not be hosting men and women’s health clinics. The Los Angeles and New York City centers provide HIV/AIDS, breast cancer, and other health services for people who would rather be at an LGBT center to receive those services. Those centers receive millions of dollars for those clinics, and millions more for youth services.

Initially conceived as the health place for 1,500 clients, now Magnet sees more than 9,500 clients yearly. There are special flu shot opportunities, and considering the city’s charges for Hepatitis A and B shots, Magnet is the preferred location for those all-important injections. STD and HIV/AIDS testing and treatment is the clinic’s main function, and its most noticed difference from other clinics is the friendly staff and volunteers. Many of the clients are agitated and distraught about a sudden change in their health, and the Magnet greeters and treaters are able to provide an educational and calming experience. An array of young men and more seasoned gay and bisexual men are sprawled daily on modern seating, and the tension level rises and subsides with the glances and the music.

There is a monthly art or photography display, and on the evening of each month’s first Friday there is an opening party that draws a varied audience of sometimes intense locals and also friends of the presenter.

Cupcakes from Luna Bakery, a mother-and-son business, were served instead of the traditional anniversary cake, and Steve Gibson’s eloquent comments about the future for the health center drew the attention of San Francisco Human Rights Commissioner Mark Kelleher and psychiatrist and sex therapist David Ortmann and three dozen other guests.

The Project Inform Spring Brunch at the Federal Building: A Dramatic Observation of AIDS at 30 Years

Project Inform is the non-profit agency that provides information for people with HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis C to keep them alive through awareness of drug treatments, monitor funding for health needs, and alleviate suffering. Their commemoration of the 30th year of AIDS was observed at the San Francisco Federal Building Sky Garden on May 22nd, Harvey Milk’s Birthday. The Sky Garden is a huge 3 floor maw of an opening in the structure that is keyed into the building’s green technology that uses natural light and solar power to use less fossil fuel than buildings of comparable size. The agency prefers to choose unusual and outstanding venues for their events, and the second annual Spring Brunch was at a dramatic locale with spectacular North and South views.

Project Inform’s Executive Director Dan Van Gorder and Deputy Executive Director for Development Henry Lucero greeted early guests in the immense lobby where the agency’s name and radiating spoons and forks party symbol was backlit on a wall panel. Development Manager Taylor Juel, who made a provocative fashion statement at the recent Suzan Revah-sponsored Nasty Party at the Powerhouse to benefit Project Inform, welcomed party-goers at the venue foyer.

The bright Sunday morning light combined with many of the guests’ memories of over-indulgence on Saturday night drew them to order stiff Bloody Mary cocktails. Global Gourmet Catering provided delicious made-to-order South of the Border cuisine that had diners coming back for seconds.

Executive Director Van Gorder spoke about the expansion of the agency’s mission from HIV/AIDS to include Hepatitis C and that the goal is not only to devise treatment for the two infections, but also find cures. This tied in with the people who were being honored at the event.

There was a surprise change in the program when Van Gorder introduced special guest Cleve Jones, who founded the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and co-founded the Names Project.

Jones had met with Van Gorder at Supervisor Harry Britt’s office in 1981 to tell him about a new disease that had been observed infecting gay men in Los Angeles, and that an alarm needed to be sounded. This was the beginning of the AIDS epidemic that has ended so many lives and dominated so many others for three decades. Shortly afterwards it was observed in San Francisco, and a Black Dawn bacchanal benefit was staged for GRID (what AIDS was called then) to help raise funds for men who had become ill with something that doctors knew little about.

Jones stated that Project Inform had kept him alive, and he thanked the agency’s founder Martin Delaney, John James and others, and said that his position at Leo McCarthy’s Sacramento office in 1981 helped him to access Centers for Disease Control documents to try to understand what was happening. Jones passionately described the huge number of deaths and the despair that it caused when the epidemic appeared to be a pandemic in the mid 1980s, and how men and women in the LGBT community and its allies rose to the occasion to help the suffering and try to treat the manifestations of the HIV/AIDS. People were falling to the ground with convulsions from brain tumors, dying days after a diagnosis of lung congestion in terrible pain, and making a last visit to a favorite café in a wheelchair while other coffee drinkers quietly noticed the Kaposi Sarcoma lesions on their faces and hands. He also said that after all of the horrors that the community has endured, no one should dare to deny equal rights of same-sex marriage and military service to LGBT citizens.

The honorees chosen by Project Inform were the San Francisco Hepatitis C Task Force and its members Alex Randolph, Dominique Leslie, and Emalie Huriaux.

Alex Randolph founded the Hepatitis C Task Force while he was Mayor Gavin Newsom's Special Assistant of LGBT Affairs. He is now the Deputy Director of Community Affairs in the San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department. Randolph brought his devoted lover Trevor Nguyen who is active with the Berlin and Beyond Film Festival and the Gay Asian Pacific Alliance.

Dominique Leslie is the Task Force’s co-chair and a secretary at their meetings. She has worked on a program for new inventive awareness and treatments for Hepatitis C.

Emalie Huriaux has worked for a decade as a public health educator and is an expert on reproductive and sexual health, HIV, drugs, and homeless needs. She is involved with street outreach to homeless women and she set up a needle exchange for women.

There was detailed information throughout the event for guests, and many are generous donors. The only factor that seemed to be missing was a mention of what is a leading cause of HIV and Hepatitis C infection, which is the continuing scourge of crystal meth addiction.

Project Inform’s Director of Public Policy Ryan Clary is greatly admired for his work. He spoke about the growing need to add Hepatitis C to HIV/AIDS as a target for better treatments and eventual cures. Many clients have both HIV and Hepatitis C and the combined treatments are a devastating anguish for many of them. There is to be a narrowing of focus with medical and research experts toward cures, though the results so far have been discouraging.

The non-profit’s Director of Health Care Policy Anne Donnelly recently received a well-deserved honor at the San Francisco AIDS Foundation Dinner and it was made clear that she is effective while drawing the best from her co-workers. 

Prominent guests included donor Bob Dockendorff, former San Francisco Supervisor Bevan Dufty with his mayoral campaign communications director Roby Chavez, Hothouse Entertainment’s Sister Roma and her smiling entourage, and the Drug Policy Alliance’s Laura Thomas who was a vision in a dress, jewelry, and buccaneer boots out of a Johnny Depp film in shades of bronze.

The next event to benefit Project Inform is A White Diamond Tribute to Elizabeth Taylor at the Castro Theatre on May 27. Taylor is being honored for her strong advocacy for AIDS awareness, funding, and compassion.

For more information: www.projectinform.org

San Francisco Commemorates 20 Years of the Ryan White CARE Act

Ernest Hopkins, Legislative Affairs Director for the San Francisco AIDS Foundation

More than 60 legislative aides, care-givers, executive directors, HIV Health Services Planning Council members, and clients gathered on the steps San Francisco City Hall to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency (CARE) Act on August 18.

Randy Allgaier, director of the San Francisco HIV Health Services Planning Council, acted as the MC and he began the event with introductory remarks. He mentioned the presence of executive directors Brett Andrews from the Positive Resource Center, Mike Smith from the AIDS/Breast Cancer Emergency Fund, and Bill Hirsh from AIDS Legal Referral Panel. Shanti executive director Kaushik Roy and Stop AIDS Project executive director Kyriell Noon were there, as was Maitri interim executive director Tracy Teraoka, with their former executive director Tim Patriarca.

Randy Allgaier, director of the San Francisco HIV Health Services Planning Council

Allgaier lavishly praised Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representives, and her aide Dan Bernal spoke at the rally about future goals. California State Senator Mark Leno’s aide Reese Isbel and San Francisco Supervisor Bevan Dufty’s aide Alex Randoph also spoke. District 8 supervisor candidates Scott Wiener, Rebecca Prozan, and Rafael Mandelman joined the group near the podium to witness the event.

Ernest Hopkins, the San Francisco AIDS Foundation’s Legislative Affairs Director spoke emotionally about the momentous commemoration. Hopkins is also Chair of the Communities Advocating Emergency AIDS Relief (CAEAR), a vital national organization.

Ryan White client Hulda Brown spoke about how she was able to have a new life thanks to the services provided to her

Ryan White CARE Act client Hulda Brown bravely spoke about how she was able to turn her life around with funding support to alleviate her AIDS diagnosis. She said that she did not mind that people knew that she was infected and commented: “It’s not what you have, it’s what you do with it.” Sustained applause followed her remarks.

Past and present members of the CARE Council also spoke, including Cecilia Chung and Laura Thomas who referred to her ACT UP activism days. Council co-chair Steve Manley commented on his 22 years living with AIDS and he praised actress Elizabeth Taylor for shaming members of the U.S. Congress at hearings to provide funding in the early years of the pandemic. The final speaker, Shanti’s Mark Molnar, acknowledged the CARE Council members who are no longer alive.

Bigots and satirists facing off

Two anti-gay bigots, protected by barriers, kept up a steady irrational heckling of the event, but they were ignored. And two satirists stood next to them with kooky signs belittling their propaganda.

The commemoration was sponsored by the San Francisco HIV Health Services Planning Council and the San Francisco HIV/AIDS Providers Network. Further information is at http://www.sfcarecouncil.org/.

The Community Forum on the Vienna AIDS Conference: Tears and Applause in Vienna, Surprise and Questions in San Francisco

Dr. Grant Colfax, moderator Jen Hecht, Dr. Susan Phillip, Dr. Albert Liu and Matt Sharp

The poster advertising an August 11 community forum and discussion about the recent International AIDS Conference held in Vienna, featured what is popularly known as a Bear Millennium Clone — an idealized, handsome young white guy with short hair and a beard and a plaid Western shirt. No one with that look showed up for the forum on August 11 at the Bank of America building on Castro Street, but 50 people managed to get a chair and almost 50 more stood or sat on the floor at the unexpectedly well-attended event.

A large number of the participants were women and men engaged at jobs fighting HIV/AIDS at various organizations and they were from diverse cultures and backgrounds. A sizable contingent from Black Brothers Esteem, an organization of African American men that is funded by the San Francisco AIDS Foundation made their presence known, and they asked some of the most exacting and detailed questions of the panelists.

The event was entitled “Ask the Experts, A Community Forum and Discussion on the Topics of PrEP, Microbiocides, STDs, and Lubricants.”

The experts included:

• Dr. Grant Colfax, Director of HIV Prevention and Research at the San Francisco Department of Public Health (SFDPH)
• Dr. Susan Phillip, STD Prevention and Control Services at the SFDPH
• Matt Sharp, Director of Treatment and Prevention Advocacy at Project Inform
• Dr. Albert Liu, Director of HIV Prevention Intervention Studies at the SFDPH

The event was sponsored by the SFDPH’s HelpFightHIV.org project and the Stop AIDS Project, and it was masterfully moderated by Jen Hecht, Director of Education at the Stop AIDS Project. SFDPH’s Gavin Morrow-Hall was the event contact person and there was a well-placed large man who acted as a greeter, seating coordinator, and a deterrent to anyone who wanted to disrupt the forum.

Most people at the discussion were surprised at the news from the recent Vienna AIDS Conference that a lubricant had been developed that killed 39% of the AIDS virus in a study, and that there had been a spontaneous standing ovation in the Austrian capitol and that attendees had burst into tears.

Many of the physicians, clinicians and other health workers at the conference had battled the AIDS virus — a biblical plaguevirus — since the early 80s, and for them this was such a breakthrough that they became overwhelmed with emotion. Some had patients who had come into their offices with a few Kaposi Sarcoma (KS) spots, and then they agonized as dozens and then hundreds of spots spread across their bodies in a few months and then blocked their breathing and digestion as terrifying KS growths expanded within their bodies, as the helpless doctors looked on.

Others had tried to treat patients with limited immune systems only to have them fall down and die days later on Castro Street due to undetected pneumonia or brain lesions. Other patients became resistant to the new cocktail treatments and other medicines failed to alleviate their illnesses, a heart-rending situation for doctors who are dedicated to healing.

The importance of the virus-killing lubricant became clear when the panelists spoke about people who made a decision to not use a condom, or they did not have access to condoms. Incredibly even in San Francisco there are safer-sex instructors among the over 1,000 people who sero-convert to positive for HIV every year.

What could be missed by current safer-sex education is that it is more than common horniness, alcohol or drugs that impels someone to ignore condoms next to their bed or in their jeans. It is possibly a state of pre-orgasmic delirium, something that overtakes their common sense and suppresses virtually all of their upper brain. Delirium could explain dangerous sex with dangerous people in dangerous places.

Questions about the new lubricant poured out of the audience and they were told that it needed further study. The different conditions for lubricants for vaginal and rectal use were discussed, and a generally high level of optimism for the development of even more effective lubricants and other kinds of disease protection was a theme of the evening.

Many of the guests appreciated the sandwiches, bottled water and sodas provided at the forum, since they had missed their lunch or dinner because of tight work scheduling.

Readers can learn more about the HIV-killing lubricant here.

AIDS Relief Fund for China Celebrates Six Years of HIV/AIDS Work in China

The AIDS Relief Fund for China (AFRC) celebrated their six years of HIV/AIDS work at the Be My Guest Thai Bistro in San Francisco on Oct. 1, 2009. Every seat was taken and diners eagerly anticipated ARFC executive director Humphrey Wou’s latest videos of grantees and the sumptuous meal.

AIDS Relief Fund for China was founded by Roger Chow in 2003 when he realized that though the Chinese government had issued a document in 2001 about HIV/AIDS that stated that there would be free treatment, and that Premier Wen Jiabao had shaken hands with a person with HIV at the 2003 World AIDS Day, there was much that was missing from the top-down rulers’ plans. Many people would not be reached with education and there was nothing mentioned about the dangers of stigma. Many infected people had gone underground and there was rampant homophobia, which could spread the disease and lead to avoidance and denial of treatment.

ARFC was founded to reach out and educate, test and counsel, care and support, distribute condoms, and battle stigma. The targets of ARFC projects are mostly students, rural women, men who have sex with men (MSM), people with HIV, sex workers, and drug users. The conclusion that can be drawn is that ARFC complements the Chinese government’s efforts against HIV/AIDS, and that ARFC is an example to other countries’ activists.


The project videos shown by ARFC executive director Wou were short, high-tech with rich color, and highly personal. Wou was seen with grantees in China as they explained their accomplishments and future goals.

One of the strongest presentations was the Soymilk Station woman who pedals a tricycle to the homes of people with AIDS (PWAs) who subsist on only vegetables and rice, and she brings them soy milk for protein. The PWAs were introduced and they spoke about how their health had improved with her visits.

Another video was about the Migrant Women Sewing Class, where the women were shown learning how to use sewing machines and also receive information about safer sex and HIV.

A mother, Wu Youjian, was shown founding PFLAG China to help her gay son and other gays, lesbians, and their parents after Wou described PFLAG (Parents Friends and Family of Lesbians and Gays) in the U.S. to her.

Heart Talk Support Groups, similar to gay raps in the U.S., was shown as important discussion groups to educate about AIDS, broaden social circles, assist in personal growth, and relieve stress.

Other ARFC projects can be seen on the AIDSReliefFundChina.org website. They include the Five Household Co-Op Project to provide for increased income for PWAs, a Peking Opera troupe that hands out HIV pamphlets after performances, and Sunshine Doctors that brings volunteer medical professionals to rural areas.

Notable guests included founder Roger Chow, who received a Proclamation from San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom brought by aide Francis Tsang, Pangea Global AIDS Foundation board chair Joe Garrett, AIDS researchers and lovers George Ayala and Tri Do, dedicated volunteer Daniel Bao, playwright Charles Belov, and Chris “Donchawishyawasme” Young, who can be counted on to be the most outrageous Miss GAPA contestant at the annual GAPA Runway Pageant. Donors and longtime lovers John Gibbons and Neal Brengle spoke eloquently about how impressed they are with ARFC, and how they can clearly see how their contributions are utilized.

As in past years ARFC diners enjoyed the excellent meal at Be My Guest Thai Bistro on Clement Street in the Richmond district of San Francisco. The coconut soup, chicken and shrimp dishes, and the refreshing ice cream dessert drew smiles all around.

The dinner’s warmth and bonding was accentuated at the end of the event when ARFC board chair Teresa Spitzer carefully explained how continued support could increase the foundation’s alleviation of suffering in China, and ARFC executive director Wou thanked everyone for attending.

[Photo caption #1: 10/1/09 — AIDS Relief Fund for China executive director Humphrey Wou, board president Teresa Spitzer, and Pangea Global AIDS Foundation board president Joe Garrett.]

[Photo caption #2: 10/1/09 — AIDS researchers Tri Do and George Ayala, who are lovers that met at an AIDS conference, with ARFC executive director Humphrey Wou.]

Maitri Bliss: Compassionate Care Benefit in the Woods

Maitri hospice celebrated their 8th Bliss party and 22nd year as a model for compassionate care for HIV/AIDS patients at San Francisco’s historic Golden Gate Club in the Presidio on May 3, 2009. The earthy scent of eucalyptus groves surrounded the stylish setting for the event, and it was the site of the signing of the U.S. and Japan 1951 security treaty that instituted an alliance of friendship and peace in the Pacific. Bliss is known for its terrific cause, fine wines and cocktails, excellent cuisine, and spectacular entertainment. This year topped all the others and it drew a huge crowd of supporters into the well-preserved former military base.

Maitri is dedicated to the belief of its founder Issan Dorsey: that no one should suffer and die alone. The hospice is well known as an ideal resting place for those who at the later moments of their life. It is located near the corner of Church Street and Duboce Avenue, and it is a well-designed and comfortable mecca for clients and visitors. Caregivers and residents receive respect and caring that is dignified and follows personal choices. Unconditional love is a goal for employees, board members, and volunteers, with the belief that those who serve also receive a gift of caring.

The event began when Jana Drakka led a ritual procession of Issan’s Monks through the club porch for a blessing. The women of Heiwa Taiko sent rhythmic sound waves through the party and set the pace for the continuous array of tastes and sights.

The fashion highlight was cultural icon Juanita More in shimmering gold and ultra chic 60’s wig and makeup. Miss More brought three provocative Moreboys along to suggest tunes for her Beauty Bar DJ’ing endeavor. Elevations Salon sent a squad of talented artists to makeover women and men, and across the room massages were being applied. A woman was moving her elbows into a man’s back, and surprise — the man looked up and it was San Francisco City Supervisor Bevan Dufty with a satisfied expression on his face. Couples lounged on white Barcelona couches and rotated to a table where they could write messages to hospice clients on leaves and hang the leaves on a naturalist shrine.

A unique tea ceremony by Soko Omachi featured an interpreter who explained the tea preparation and the Japanese treats to a roomful of curious guests. Throbbing drums led the audience into a presentation of the Manuia Polynesian Review, with its gyrating dancers and South Seas tunes.

Executive Director Tim Patriarca greeted the guests and thanked them for supporting Maitri. Then he welcomed California State Senator Mark Leno to the stage, where a state proclamation was presented. Senator Leno praised Maitri and thanked them for their good work.

Event co-chairs Alan Ratliff and Georgia Fuller then introduced musician Joey Altman, who coordinated a wildly successful live auction of a week in Hawaii and in Paris, with the motivation that the bidding will help Maitri thrive. Gold donor Erich Pearson joined San Francisco Treasurer Jose Cisneros to welcome Maitri Treasurer Walter Parsley and MUMC President Steve Adams to the festivities.

The stage finale starred San Francisco’s premiere singer Paula West, who joined Joey Altman’s Back Burner Blues Band in an sublime “Fly Me to the Moon” as some guests danced, and others joyously gathered up their silent auction prizes.