Bay Area Reporter - April 24, 2008
Cynthia Laird, c.laird@ebar.com

The event is free and open to the public. The health fair will feature hepatitis B education and screening. Hepatitis B is more infectious than HIV and is the most common liver infection. It is a major cause of cirrhosis and liver cancer. According to the World Health Organization, over 350 million people are infected with chronic hepatitis B worldwide, with over 50 percent of U.S.-based infections occurring in Asian American populations.

For more information, call Jason Kwong, testing clinic specialist, at (415) 292-3420, ext. 349.

Cyber Center opens at Hayward LGBT center

The Lighthouse Community Center will hold a grand opening of its David Bohnett Foundation Cyber Center on Saturday, April 26 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The center is located at 1217 A Street (at Second Street) in Hayward.

Patricia Kevena Fili, executive director, said that at the opening, the Lighthouse Center and Lavender Seniors of the East Bay will discuss the beginning of monthly computer workshops where members of the center's youth groups will work with seniors to help them with computer skills.

The event is open to interested people; refreshments will be served. For more information, call (510) 881-8167 or e-mail mailto:pk@lgbtlighthouse.com.

LifeCycle benefits

AIDS LifeCycle riders Valdez Hill and Blaine Gorman will host the final concert of the AIDS LifeCycle concert series Saturday, April 26 from 7:30 to 9:45 p.m. at Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda in Berkeley.

Featured artists include GQ Wang, the jazz quartet Gemini Sou, and jazz soloist Morris LeGrande. Other performers include soprano Yolanda Harden and tenor Carlo Delconte, baritone Steve Wedgwood, and gospel singers Wanda Goree and Camille Hudson and jazz pianist Sara Klotz de Aguilar.

Panels from the AIDS Memorial Quilt will be on display, and there will be a raffle.

Hill and Gorman plan a closing gala concert Saturday, May 17 from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. at St. Dominic's Catholic Church, 2390 Bush Street in San Francisco. Emceed by Fernando and Greg of Energy 92.7, the concert will feature pianist Davide Verotta, the Temsecal Trio with John Burke, the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus Lollipop Guild, and many more. The event also will feature a silent auction.

Tickets for either show are $25 for adults, $15 for students and can be purchased by calling (510) 449-4402 or e-mailing mailto:stng21@yahoo.com.

Dignity/SF to honor Episcopal bishop

Dignity/San Francisco, the organization for LGBT Catholics, will honor the Right Reverend Marc Andrus, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of California, at its 25th annual Pax et Bonum gala Saturday, April 26 at the Parc 55 Hotel, 55 Cyril Magnin Street in San Francisco. A reception begins at 7 p.m., followed by dinner and awards at 7:45.

Andrus is being honored for his pastoral care to LGBT people in the Episcopal Church. He has encouraged his diocese to assemble rites of blessing for same-sex couples and voted for the consecration of Bishop V. Gene Robinson several years ago.

Also being recognized is Brendan Fay, a gay man who was most recently in the news when Polish President Lech Kaczynski used a video from the Canadian wedding of Fay and his partner Tom Moulton to illustrate his contention that gays "challenge the moral order of Poland." The incident created an international uproar. Fay co-produced the documentary Saint of 9/11 and is a member of Dignity New York.

Dignity/SF also will honor Co-Chair Brother Richard Jonathan and the emergency room nursing staff at San Francisco General Hospital.

Tickets to the event are $85. For more information, call the Dignity/SF office at (415) 681-2491

Pet loss workshop

A workshop for people who have lost or are anticipating the loss of a pet will be held Saturday, April 26 from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. at St. Aidan's Episcopal Church, 101 Gold Mine Drive in San Francisco.

Betty Carmack, RN, a pet loss counselor, researcher, and author of Grieving the Death of a Pet, and Lois Roach, a pet loss counselor with the Association for Pet Loss and Bereavement, will lead the adult workshop, "Missing Our Pets, Creating Our Healing." People are encouraged to bring their own mementoes to use in creation of their memorial tributes.

A children's workshop for those ages 4 and older will take place simultaneously and be led by the Reverend Deacon Diana Wheeler, an early childhood educator, and Judy Bley, a retired child and family therapist and social worker.

A $15 donation is requested; scholarships are available. Attendance is limited. Pre-registration is required and can be made by calling Wheeler at (415) 285-9540, ext. 5.

Lambda Legal gala

Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund will hold its annual spring reception Tuesday, April 29 from 6 to 9 p.m. at the St. Regis Hotel, 125 3rd Street in San Francisco. The evening will include private access and viewing of the Museum of Africa Diaspora.

The evening's special guest will be Lorenzo Taylor, the plaintiff in a federal court challenge to the U.S. State Department's refusal to hire anyone who is HIV-positive. As previously reported, in February, on the eve of the trial, the Foreign Service established new medical clearance guidelines, effectively lifting the blanket ban on hiring Foreign Service officer candidates with HIV, and the lawsuit was settled. Taylor now resides in San Francisco, where he works for a federal public health agency.

Lambda Legal Executive Director Kevin Cathcart also will be on hand. Cathcart has led the agency since 1992.

Tickets are $175 per person and can be purchased online at http://www.lambdalegal.org/sf2008.

AEF plans for 'county fair'

Out with the old and in with the new is the AIDS Emergency Fund's mantra this year. Fresh off its 25th anniversary last year, the agency has announced a new theme for its annual fundraiser - the county fair. Executive Director Mike Smith said this week that the event, slated for Sunday, June 1 in the San Francisco County Fair Building in Golden Gate Park, will feature country western dancing produced by Sundance Saloon, more than 20 classis carnival games, special AEF-created games like "Penny Pitch," mechanical bull rides, and much more. Special events include pie-baking and Marilyn Monroe look-alike contests.

Smith said the fair-themed gala will continue AEF's concept of past events: giving guests an interactive experience and multiple opportunities to participate in unusual activities. He noted that volunteers are needed, and that it will take more people than usual because of the larger nature of the event.

Information is online and volunteers can sign up at http://www.aef-sf.org. Tickets are $40 per person.

BCEF dinner

The Breast Cancer Emergency Fund, a sister organization of the AIDS Emergency Fund, is also gearing up for its annual spring event: Sandy "Mama" Reinhardt's eighth annual breast cancer survivors benefit dinner and awards. The gala, produced by Mark Paladini, will take place Saturday, May 17 at the War Memorial Building, 401 Van Ness Avenue. Cocktails start at 7, followed by dinner at 8. Tickets are $75 and can be purchased online at http://www.frantix.net. For more information, visit http://www.bcef-sf.org.

Human Rights Summit

San Francisco State University will hold its fifth annual Human Rights Summit next Thursday and Friday, May 1-2, on the campus, 1600 Holloway Avenue. This year's summit is entitled "Privileged Destruction: Examining Environmental Justice," and is being organized by the university's anthropology and human rights students of 2008, and the Students for Critical Anthropology at SFSU.

There is no cost for the summit, which will feature student and faculty panels, workshops, photo and film exhibits, and other activities aimed at educating the broader public about human rights violations across the planet.

Co-sponsors are the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences and the College of Humanities; the Global Peace, Human Rights, and Justice Studies programs; and the school's Public Research Institute.

The summit runs from 9 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Thursday and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday. For more information, e-mail mailto:sfsuhumanrights@yahoo.com or call Professor Mariana Ferreira at (415) 405-2467.

Anthology submissions sought

Longtime gay activist Tommi Avicolli Mecca is editing a gay liberation anthology for City Lights Books to coincide with next year's 40th anniversary of the Stonewall riots, considered to be the birth of the modern gay rights movement.

Avicolli Mecca would like personal articles that explore the movement and culture that the Gay Liberation Front created, including how or why you got involved with GLF or gay liberation, the actions, marches, and demonstrations GLF did, the problem with racism, sexism, ageism, etc., the philosophy of GLF, how art, performance, and street theater figure in the work of gay liberation, and much more. He is looking for people who have had first-hand experience with the anti-gay psychiatric institution at Atascadero State Hospital in California or with gay liberation's fight against its inhumane practices. He wants articles that explore consciousness-raising, and articles about the parties, radical drag, the orgies, and communes and communal living.

Payment will be $25 for articles up to 10 pages. Authors also will receive two copies of the anthology and retain all rights to their articles. The deadline for submission is June 1; it's preferred that the copy be pasted into an e-mail. Articles and all correspondence should be e-mailed to mailto:tommi@avicollimecca.com or mailto:avimecca@yahoo.com.

Castro group votes to oppose Walgreens

Members of the Eureka Valley Promotion Association, the residential group in the Castro, narrowly voted to oppose Walgreens' expansion plans for its specialty pharmacy on 18th Street. At a contentious meeting Thursday, April 17 EVPA members voted 11-8 against the project.

It is the second time Walgreens officials have come up short with Castro area residents. Members of the Duboce Triangle Neighborhood Association's land use committee have opted not to take a position on the plan.

Two business-backed groups, the Merchants of Upper Market and Castro and the Castro Community Benefits District board, voted to support Walgreens' application to expand its pharmacy into the vacant Laundromat space next door. At the urging of MUMC board member Patrick Batt, the company last week carpeted the Castro community meeting room space in the Bank of America building at the corner of 18th and Castro streets.

Todd Horton, the national chain's district manager for its specialty pharmacies in San Francisco and on the Peninsula, faced numerous objections from those EVPA members opposed to the project.

Their concerns centered on the company's expanding its already large footprint in the Castro; what they considered its lackluster giveback to the community; and a preference to see locally owned stores move into vacant spaces.

Supporters, on the other hand, said Walgreens' proposal to employ a dietician and nutritionist on site, provide private space for patient consultation, and create a community education room, would be a benefit to the neighborhood.

The company has not yet set a date to go before the Planning Commission for approval of its project. Horton expected it would do so sometime in the next few months.

Matthew S. Bajko contributed to this report.

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