High LGBT Culture for Black History Month

Marvin K. White, Jewelle Gomez, and Brian Freeman

Three masters of this era’s Black LGBT culture appeared at the San Francisco LGBT Community Center for a Black History Month event on Feb. 18. Jewelle Gomez, Marvin K. White, and Brian Freeman are accomplished writers and performers who were on stage for a full house of mostly African Americans on a rainy night. Over 100 people from local groups enjoyed “Generations: Black LGBT Experiences” to celebrate those who came before and paved the way for our present society and the ads promised “food, art, entertainment, and much more.” There was artwork that featured popular Black LGBT icons such as Sylvester and Angela Davis along the wall where a buffet at such events is usually provided. Instead of a buffet there was a sparse food offering for people who depend on such meals and for others who work hard and sometimes forget to eat lunch.

Jewelle Gomez performed a scene from her book “The Gilda Stories” that entranced the audience. The book is celebrating its 20th anniversary in print and is the only black lesbian vampire character in the world of literature. Gomez is a writer and activist and was a litigant with her wife Diane Sabin, who attended the reading, in the Proposition 8 court case that ended successfully in marriage equality. Gomez has also taken on the enormous tasks of President of the San Francisco Library Commission and dispersing much-needed grants at the Horizons Foundation.

Marvin K. White is a playwright, poet, visual artist, performer, and community arts coordinator. He is a former member of Pomo Afro Homos troupe, who performed at the Castro’s Josie’s Cabaret and Juice Joint and all over the U.S. He powerfully read from his spine tingling and affirming spoken word poem “I Want to Make Black History with You” and it drew resounding yells of approval from the audience.

Brian Freeman is a co-founder and director of Pomo Afro Homos. His work “Civil Sex” is based on the life of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s openly-gay strategist Bayard Rustin and is highly regarded. He assumed the voice of Rustin’s event piano accompanist to tell a hilarious story about Coretta Scott King’s attempt to sing at a rally.

All three of the evening’s performers are fine actors and they convincingly portrayed the characters from their work and mesmerized the crowd, drawing rounds of applause.

Free rapid HIV and STD tests were available and the event was sponsored by Black Brothers Esteem of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, African American Health Disparities Project, AfroSolo Theatre Company, Black Coalition on AIDS, HIV Prevention and HIV Research Sections of the SFDPH, Our Love of the Stop AIDS Project, the San Francisco LGBT Community Center, Shanti, Trans:Thrive of the Asian Pacific Islander Wellness Center, and Walden House.

Activist Steve Ibarra, who works at City College battling HIV/AIDS and STDs, said that he was at the party to represent Blatinos. It was an extremely successful event and next year’s Generations is bound to be even bigger.

Two-Spirits Native American Tribute to Two Worthy Leaders

Ruth Villaseñor, Miko Thomas, Dakota Kyber, and Derek Smith

Two worthy leaders of the Bay Area American Indian Two-Spirits (BAAITS) group received tributes from their fellow members on Jan. 29 at the San Francisco LGBT Community Center. Chickasaw Indian Miko Thomas, who performs in drag as the outrageous Landa Lakes, and Chippewa Indian Derek Smith were stepping aside as group co-chairs after four years so that an intergenerational duo could take over the coordination of social and political activities. Thomas and Smith were given lavish, well-deserved praise and luxurious ceremonial blankets at a meeting that included a spiritual greeting, a craft class, and welcome refreshments.

Miko Thomas receives his ceremonial blanket

Thomas’ partner was there, and he performs as Miso Hornay when in drag in the Native American drag troupe The Brush Arbor Gurlz. The troupe has given much-needed visibility to LGBT Native Americans and funds have been raised when they perform at the Powerhouse bar and other venues.

Derek Smith

Smith’s partner of ten years, Lucius Bishop, was there and joined in when the group constructed drum sticks to encourage future drumming at events.

Ruth Villaseñor leads the group in making drum sticks

Two-Spirits are described in the BAAITS brochure and website as a balancing of both genders, but then there are the ultra-masculine brute men and feminine women who favor pink clothing that are not featured in that brochure. BAAITS was inspired by Gay American Indians, which was founded by activists Barbara Cameron and Randy Burns in 1975. Gatherings are sponsored throughout the year and they draw large crowds of LGBT Native Americans and their friends.

The event began with a passing around of burning sage in an oyster shell, meant to reach out to a higher power, and as a bonding ritual. New co-chairs Apache Indian/Mexican Ruth Villaseñor and Choctaw/Cherokee Indian Dakota Kyber were introduced and they thanked Thomas and Smith throughout the afternoon for their attention to detail and time while coordinating the group. Villaseñor was the greeter and Kyber was a server at the Native American AIDS Project Thanksgiving Dinner, which is just blocks from the LGBT Center. Both of the new chairs are high energy and resourceful, which is a good sign for the group in the years ahead.

Ruth Villaseñor (right) and friend

Ruth Villaseñor, Dakota Kyber, Miko Thomas, and Derek Smith

Tammy Faye Bakker’s Son Jay and His New Book: A Punk Preacher’s Inclusive Message

Jay Bakker

Tammy Faye Bakker Messner’s and Jim Bakker's son Jay introduced his new book "Fall to Grace" at Borders Bookstore near San Francisco’s Union Square on Jan. 24, and almost every seat was filled by eager fans and curious book fanciers.

Jay Bakker is the charming and dynamic minister of the Revolution Church based in Brooklyn, New York, after its move there from other American cities. Some LGBT fans of his mother were there to exchange stories about how much she meant to them in overcoming adversity, and others were there to thank him for basing his message on nonjudgmental inclusiveness. Bakker revealed that he joins Mel White’s Soul Force to visit conservative religious schools to dialogue with students and faculty because he feels that the current extreme antagonism against LGBT rights must be dealt with by ongoing communication.

Bakker’s family scandal erupted when he was a pre-teen. He turned to alcohol and drugs to deaden the pain and then cleaned himself up and began to serve the ignored and despised when he founded the Revolution ministry.

Bakker was entertaining when he spoke about seeking to discuss inclusion with major evangelical ministers all over the country. He even believes enough in liberal goals to conduct a gay marriage. Bakker is against mixing politics with religion because he thinks subjects such as abortion and homosexuality are too divisive to discuss civilly with a religious aspect attached to them.

His publicity photograph resembles the close-up portrait style of artist David Hockney. Bakker said that he has been mistaken for a young bear and that he has attracted primal gay bears. In reality he is a gay ally who has a tattooed-and-pierced punk look and thinks he has Marlon Brando’s mystique from the film "The Wild One."

Jay Bakker

Borders Union Square is a huge, handsome four-story book palace with someone reading or computing in every lounge chair. Seattle’s Best has a café in the store and two attractive, cruising young men at a front table could have also been seen at the Castro’s Café Flore.

Sales Manager Jason Jeffries introduced Bakker with the fine sound system and he encouraged the guests to join in on the Q&A and to buy a signed book.

The Evangelical Network’s Ed Ness, who is gay, had a crew with him to interview Bakker, and they spoke about their experiences at the recent Marriage Equality rally on the San Francisco federal courthouse steps.

The bookstore audience gave Bakker a loud, enthusiastic reception and made it clear that his practice of welcoming and offering unconditional love to a subculture of people rejected elsewhere because of their appearance and personal lives struck a chord with them. There was a long line to buy books and Bakker was generous with his time when he spoke to each person even though he was exhausted after a long book tour that ended in San Francisco.

The Censorship Forum and Emergency Screening at SF Camerawork: Another Clash in the Culture Wars

Coordinators Alison Maurer and Julia Haas, speaker Robert Atkins, organizer Rudy Lemcke, and QCC's Pam Peniston

Another salvo was released in the culture wars that started with the National Education Association’s (NEA) funding of photographer Robert Mapplethorpe’s work in the late 1980s. Mapplethorpe's thought-provoking "Self portrait With Bullwhip" was published on a show invitation to San Francisco’s 80 Langton Street Gallery in 1987, and was shocking even for the ’80s. To San Francisco and the gallery’s credit, that “Censored” exhibit had been barred from Manhattan galleries, but when it opened here a large enthusiastic crowd attended, and this journalist was there. The notation on the invitation that the NEA, a federal agency, was funding his work was more shocking and it resulted in a virtual tidal wave of controversy that continues to 2010.

It is astounding that federal money has not been spent on widely-promoted displays of LGBT artwork since then and until co-curator Jonathan David Katz was able to get permission to display the current “Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture” at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., there has not been a major American museum exhibit of same-sex desire in portraiture. Censorship of a film from that exhibit was the subject of the forum packed with artists, photographers, curators, and activists on Friday, December 10.

The San Francisco censorship forum drew a surprisingly large crowd of over 160 people to SF Camerawork, and many of them were glad a film included in the Smithsonian show was censored because they feel that it will lead to a push-back by activists that will restore the film to the show and advance the cause of uncensored art across the country. Others were agitated because the national mid-term elections had brought anti-intellectual and anti-LGBT politicians to new positions of power and they fear that a hornets’ nest of censorship could be instigated that will set back proposals for public displays of LGBT-oriented artwork for decades.

The event was called an "Emergency Screening" and the film was artist/photographer/filmmaker/AIDS activist David Wojnarovicz’s “A Fire in My Belly,” an experimental effort that encompasses political, religious, cultural, sexual, and deeply personal themes. [To watch the film online for free, click here.]

What is remarkable about the sequence of events is that the show was approved, and that when the film was removed, religious offense was given as the reason. As Katz pointed out on a large screen in the front of the gallery space live on Skype from Washington, D.C., queers have become so accepted that to censor the film for being queer could not be attempted in the current era, so the image of ants crawling on a crucifix in the movie was used to object to the video art. Katz and others mentioned that the real offense was the intense close-up masturbation scene, but since times have changed from the ’80s and ’90s, there had to be some diverting of attention.

Katz and his co-curator David C. Ward deserve lots of credit for mounting the historic exhibit at the National Portrait Gallery and for continuing to defend it. Katz suggested that activists contact their Congressional representatives to demand that the film be restored to the exhibit, and that the rest of the exhibit remain on the gallery’s walls through the end of its run in February.

Writer Robert Atkins, who wrote an arts column in the Village Voice and who was the final speaker at the forum, seemingly taunted the throng to organize a protest march similar to the march being planned in New York City. Other activists jokingly spoke about one-upping New York activists by planning civil disobedience, as seen in the recreation of the 1968 Paris art riots in filmmaker Bernardo Bertolucci’s erotic thriller “The Dreamers” (2003).

The censorship forum was conceived of by multimedia artist Rudy Lemcke, and event coordinators Julia Haas and Alison Maurer spoke while Lemcke filmed them and others with assistant Mic Sweney. Jennifer Sichel assisted co-curators Katz and Ward, and she added comments to the discussion, as did SF Camerawork’s Chuck Mobley. The Queer Cultural Center’s executive director Pam Peniston greeted artists and photographers, and she was happy to join SF Camerawork in sponsoring the successful event. The forum had national significance, as does the exhibit at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery, and it was obvious that another key moment of LGBT history is developing around the portrait show in Washington, D.C.

The San Francisco LGBT Community Center’s Pride Party: A Fifth Anniversary Blowout on Four Floors

Sisters flank the Academy of Art's David Lynam and Sue Rowley, and The Center's Rebecca Rolfe

The Academy of Art University sponsored the San Francisco LGBT Community Center’s fifth annual Pride Party on June 19 — and they supported The Center in a big way. Sue Rowley, the Academy’s Executive Vice President of Education and International Admissions/Services, resoundingly spoke about her honor to speak at the celebration.

More than 100 guests at the roof deck margarita soirée listened avidly as Rowley mentioned that her girlfriend liked the word "elated" to sum up her joy in joining the tradition of diversity of San Francisco Pride and among the Academy’s students from over 100 countries. Rowley said that diversity makes some people uncomfortable and scares others, but that it is necessary for good changes to happen. She stated that the Academy stands with the LGBT community as neighbors and with a shared vision that people of all cultures and backgrounds should be given the opportunity for their contributions, artistic and otherwise, to be made to society. And she encouraged the community to reach out to the Academy for support in the future.

DJ Christopher Berini

The sound and music at the soirée was excellent thanks to DJ Christopher Berini, who is blonde and handsome and wholesome-looking in a field where that look stands out.

Hunky filmmaker David Lynam joined Rowley to represent the Academy of Art. His short film "Gay People's Court: Fashion Beat Down" was shown recently at the San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival.

Preceding Rowley’s talk at the event was The Center’s Executive Director Rebecca Rolfe, and the party’s co-chair Wes Freas and board chair Debbie Chau also spoke to the multitude who had mobbed the margarita bars.

Bob Michitarian, Paul and friend

Aaron and Taylor manning the Taylor’s Tonics booth

Aaron Dolson, who is well-known as the guy who mounts the fine Tingel Tangel shows at Café du Nord, was manning a Taylor’s Tonics soda booth at the event. "Strong flavors" as a description for these tonics does not even come close, and the caffeine level had one stud saying that he was going to drink a couple cupfuls and take a guy he spotted up the street to Beck’s Motor Lodge.

Jessica Ridge, Erin Smith, and Jerime Black

Jessica Ridge, Erin Smith, and Jerime Black were pouring at the Barefoot Wine & Bubbly booth and sharing a rainbow feather boa. Barefoot is celebrating 20 years of support with San Francisco Pride and their continuing generosity was appreciated on Saturday afternoon.

A couple of the friendly margarita booth workers

Comic Marga Gomez was the headliner of the entertainers, and she was again a big stage success. Unfortunately the Rainbow Room’s heat again turned some guests around at the door, so they missed the performances. The food, the raffles, and the open bars made for a successful fifth anniversary for The Center.

Sue Rowley, Rebecca Rolfe and David Lynam

More photos can be seen at flickr.com/rinkfoto.

Leather Alliance Dinner: 44 Years of Service With Leather and Fetish

Performer Clint and friend

On March 5–7 the SF Bay Area Leather Alliance presented a splendid Leather Bound Weekend. The March 5 kickoff dinner at the Hotel Whitcomb set the stage for a celebration of leather, motorcycle clubs, and fetishes. Community awards were bestowed upon worthy individuals and groups, and tables full of guests loudly applauded the honorees. The three Mr. San Francisco Leather contestants were presented and they impressed with provocative fantasies. There was an almost equal number of women and men at the dinner, and they freely mingled and caroused.

The SF Bay Area Leather Alliance is a volunteer organization that provides public service and grants for members who are recovering from motorcycle crashes and illness. There is bonding and camaraderie, and the members enjoy being with others who receive fulfillment from volunteering.

The Leather Alliance was formed when The Inter-Club Fund of San Francisco and The Leather Forum merged in 2008. The Inter-Club Fund was one of the earliest LGBT groups, dating back to 1966.

The dinner featured the Mr. SF Leather Contest, and it has been choosing a leader and a spokesman for the leather community for 32 years now.

One of the most outrageous events of the Inter-Club Fund was the CMC Carnival — a large, erotically charged bacchanal held in basements, cab garages, and warehouses. Now the group presents the Leather Alley at the annual San Francisco LGBT Pride Celebration, as well as group motorcycle rides and a holiday volunteer appreciation party.

BubblinSugare was bestowed the Entertainer of the Year Award by hosts Lenny Broberg and Donna Sachet

Hosts Donna Sachet and Lenny Broberg expertly wove the scheduled events together and exhibited excellent repartee. Broberg warned the judges that Sachet lusted for them. Sachet denied it almost to the end of the evening, and then requested extra cocktails for the judges so that they would be immobilized. The audience hung on every clever sarcastic remark and sharp comeback. Hopefully Sachet and Broberg will host this year’s live San Francisco Pride Parade television broadcast.

Scott Peterson (left) and friends

Notable guests included Powerhouse Bar manager Scott Peterson, who not only bought a table for his employees, but he also generously served them drinks throughout the evening.

Contestant Robbie Leonard

Contestant Stefanos Tiziano

Contestant Lance Holman

Leather clothing designer and master stylist Troy Anicete prepared stunning Mr. SF Leather contestant Robbie Leonard, and youths Clint and Rachel took the brunt of contestant Stefanos Tiziano’s faux stage fantasy brutality. Striking contestant Lance Holman won the title and his stage fantasy of surprising a burglar during a shower and forcefully subduing, beating and sexually mauling the perp was being discussed in awe for days afterwards.

Dykes on Bikes secretary Soni Wolf described her two years of service on the San Francisco LGBT Pride Board, stressing the importance of a leather presence and her organizing experience.

Katie Brown accepted the Most Visible Community Organization Award for the San Francisco Dykes on Bikes

President Dahn Van Laarz with Seth Munter who was recognized with the Frank Benoit Award

A lot of hard work and time went into the weekend’s event, and much of the credit goes to Leather Alliance president Dahn Van Laarz, who intuitively drew the best out of group members, and to dinner program designer Bill Hollabaugh. Both have tirelessly worked for the betterment of the leather/biker/fetish community for years and they have the skill to coordinate popular future events.

This journalist has a connection to the Leather Alliance, attending many of the Inter-Club Fund events since the early 70s and having been voted a 2006 Motorcycle Awards "Man of the Year." Hopefully more members and groups will join the Leather Alliance so that its future will be assured by young acolytes.

HUD Town Hall Meeting on LGBT Housing Discrimination in San Francisco

Raphael Bostic, HUD Assistant Secretary, Ken Stram, Director of Economic Development at the SF LGBT Community Center, and Theresa Sparks, Executive Director of the San Francisco Human Rights Commission

More than 120 people gathered in the San Francisco LGBT Community Center’s Rainbow Room on March 1 for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Town Hall Meeting on housing discrimination against the LGBT community.

The attentive audience was drawn by the news that the HUD bureaucrats would be traveling to San Francisco to listen to citizens’ comments about the proposed national study on home sale and rental bigotry. HUD assistant secretaries Raphael Bostic and John Trasviña made it clear that because same-sex marriage is still not a national reality, the State of California and the City of San Francisco can provide expansive protection against unfair treatment. And they stated that since HUD is a landlord, they can work against housing discrimination toward LGBT citizens and people with HIV/AIDS in their properties.

The listening part of the meeting brought a convergence of some well known community activists to the microphone:

Melanie Nation of the County of Marin Human Rights Commission spoke about the shocking cases of discrimination she had encountered.

AIDS Housing Alliance executive director Brian Basinger said that he has been trying for years to get HUD and people with AIDS together, and he said that he wanted the reality of gay poverty and homelessness to be made known. He added that more government funding would then be possible because the need would be established.

Tommi Avicolli Mecca from the Housing Rights Committee of San Francisco backed up what Basinger said by describing in detail the myth of widespread gay wealth and its origins. And Avicolli Mecca said that sexual orientation and gender identity should be included in the HUD guidelines in receiving housing funding for tangible change. He told the harrowing story of a battered homeless queer youth and the need for more shelters and permanent housing for LGBT youth.

AIDS Legal Referral Panel (ALRP) executive director Bill Hirsh spoke about his organization’s work to provide legal advice to people with HIV/AIDS and how he hoped that HUD would support ALRP’s efforts in serving more than 2,000 clients a year.

San Francisco City Supervisor David Campos and Cecilia Chung, president of the San Francisco Human Rights Commission, eloquently spoke from the stage about the toll of discrimination on the community, and they welcomed the HUD listening tour to the event at The Center.

Raphael Bostic, HUD Assistant Secretary, Brian Basinger, AIDS Housing Alliance Executive Director, John Trasviña, HUD Assistant Secretary, and Cecilia Chung, President of the San Francisco Human Rights Commission

Physical and Mental Literary Exercises at the Library

Lucy Jane Bledsoe, Marvin K. White, and Jaime Cortez

Writer Marvin K. White hosted a writers’ workshop at the main branch of the San Francisco Public Library on Jan. 20, 2010. Most of the audience had seen a flyer advertising an “LGBT African American Writers Series,” but everyone stayed to get involved with the hands-on event. Others saw the writing workshop on a “be my friend” website and had anticipated the honing of their skills. The goal of published writers White, Lucy Jane Bledsoe, and Jaime Cortez was to enhance guests’ literary abilities through physical and mental exercises.

Lucy Jane Bledsoe writes novels for adults and children. Her interests include Antarctic kayaking and backpacking in the Rockies. She has written four novels for adults and five for children, and has received multiple awards.

Jaime Cortez produces graphic novels about immigration, AIDS, and gun violence. He is well-known for his HIV/AIDS prevention outreach work. His novel is about a transgender Cuban immigrant in a new culture.

Marvin K. White is the author of two poetry collections. He is also a performer, playwright, and visual artist. He is a dedicated and loved community arts organizer.

Karen Sundheim, of the James C. Hormel Gay & Lesbian Center, introduced host White, and he kicked off the event by stating that the evening was about the practice of writing. He said that guests should not despair if they felt the creative process was not flowing on the paper. He then led the guests through some exuberant standing aerobics exercises and asked them to write ideas inside and outside a circle on a piece of paper, all to clear their heads. A charged bonding ritual followed, as guests read what they had written. Bledsoe quipped that she called it speed writing.

Then White let it be known that he felt that the library was not seen as an LGBT space, and that the event was a claiming of queer space. Cortez had written “wounding, healing, and revelation” on a blackboard to explain his writing process.

Provocative author Lorenzo Herrera y Lozano, a personal guest of White, spoke about his book “Santo de la Pata Alzada: Poems from the Queer/Xicano/Positive Pen.” Audience members happily mingled and enjoyed the rush of literary creativity.

The event was sponsored by the James C. Hormel Gay & Lesbian Center and the African American Center at the San Francisco Public Library.

Funny Mondays Comes Out for Haiti

Lisa Geduldig, Natasha Muse, Tony Koester, Yayne Abeda, Casy Ley and Marga Gomez

MC Tony Koester greeted a sold-out crowd that filled every seat in the club, with guests lined up against the back wall, at the Stand Up for Haiti: A Comedy Series for Haiti Earthquake Relief  held on Jan. 18, 2010, at the Deco Lounge in San Francisco. Monday is the usual night for Funny Mondays at the high sexual tension Tenderloin hang out, and Koester creatively advertised the evening comedy show for an earthquake relief event and packed in the donors.

Besides Koester’s brand of sharp humor, there were short sets by Marga Gomez, Yayne Abeda, Casey Ley, Natasha Muse, and Lisa Geduldig. Gomez drew astonished laughter when she said Barack Obama’s name and then assumed a prayerful position, as if he is a godlike deity.

Koester did a rant about straight guys who come into the gay community and take bartender jobs, and then are offended when a gay guy sees their sexy outfits and gets close. A prime example of a straight faux pas was when a non-gay performer at the benefit brought three non-paying “groupies” who made so much noise in the bar that they drowned out the beautifully miked sound by DJ Lambchop.

Over $100 was raised when waiter Eric took off his shirt, and some guys wanted to see sultry comic Casey Ley shirtless also.

It was announced at the finale that over $1,200 had been raised for the suffering Haitians. Jeff Cotter from the Rainbow World Fund was there to accept the much needed money. The fund works with CARE, which is on the ground in Haiti to provide help immediately. Rainbow World Fund is all about LGBT people responding to world need.

The next highly anticipated Stand Up for Haiti will be on Jan. 25, and will feature comics Mary Van Note, Chris Burns, Ronn Vigh, Veronica Porras, Sam Wilcke, Conrad Roth, Justin Simpson and Tony Koester.

Deco Lounge
510 Larkin St (@ Turk)
San Francisco

Donations to Rainbow World Fund can be made at rainbowfund.org.

[Photo caption: 1/18/2010 — Stand Up for Haiti: A Comedy Series for Haiti Earthquake Relief at the Deco Lounge in San Francisco. Comics Lisa Geduldig, Natasha Muse, MC Tony Koester, Yayne Abeda, Casy Ley, and Marga Gomez presented a fantastic show with outrageous humor for a packed room in the Tenderloin.

An Inspiring Event for LGBT Seniors on a Beautiful Day

Dr. Betty L. Sullivan with pioneering lesbian activist Phyllis Lyon

The grandeur of the St. Francis Hotel’s Alexandra Penthouse on the 32nd floor was the setting for openhouse’s 5th annual Spring Fling luncheon on April 19, 2009. Sixty-foot, floor-to-ceiling, French cut windows with magnificent San Francisco views and dramatic lighting to heighten the penthouse’s gold and cream art nouveau décor, were breathtaking. More than a few guests remarked on how the lighting (and wine) also heightened the looks of the other guests.

The Spring Fling luncheon began with co-chairs Laura Spanjian and Tim Wu warmly greeting the diners. Executive director Seth Kilbourn then welcomed everyone by thanking them for attending the event on such a beautiful Spring day. openhouse provides housing services and programs for LGBT seniors, and sets a standard on how LGBT seniors should be treated. Kilbourn discussed the current economic situation and said that the delveloper of 55 Laguna is determined to complete the project, which will house LGBT seniors.

Lesbian activist pioneer Phyllis Lyon was introduced and the sold out event’s diners erupted in applause. Other notables included Charlotte Coleman, who battled the police, the State Alcohol Beverage Control Office (ABC), and politicians to open the first lesbian-owned legal San Francisco lesbian and gay bars. She was joined by friends Robert Bobba and Mary Sager. Assemblyman Mark Leno and Supervisor Bevan Dufty stopped by to greet openhouse’s supporters, and the Sheriff Office’s Susan Fahey and political analyst Wayne Friday table-hopped to visit friends.

Honoree Carole Migden with Charlotte Coleman and Mary Sager

California State Commissioner and honoree Carole Migden was introduced and praised by executive director Seth Kilbourn for her work on behalf of seniors since she headed Operation Concern, which has evolved into New Leaf. And her efforts to strengthen domestic partnership laws were credited with the building of the same-sex marriage movement. Commissioner Migden accepted her trophy and pointed out other activists throughout the room, and how they had furthered LGBT seniors’ rights.

Founder Marcy Adelman spoke and early board members were also honored: Arthur Hurwith, Warren van Eck, Matile Rothschild, and Jan Faulkner (in memoriam). Their time and efforts in setting up tables for hours, speaking at hearings, and communicating with seniors to organize the largest survey of LGBT seniors’ needs, were appreciated.

Honoree Anne Kronenberg

Seth Kilbourn quoted Harvey Milk’s comments of contempt for people who did not respect seniors, and especially LGBT seniors, when he presented a trophy to Milk’s campaign manager Anne Kronenberg. Anne Kronenberg spoke about how much Harvey Milk cared about seniors and their rights, and how he spoke with them about their needs at community centers and nursing homes. And she playfully explained how her mother was not impressed by the stars she worked with and how she was portrayed in the “Milk” film, and how that may change with the openhouse honor and her upcoming NYC Pride grand marshal honor.

The event’s finale was a soft touch lesbian cruise fundraising auction and announcements of silent auction winners.