Depending on how long you ve lived in San Francisco, and by extension, how long you ve been reading the Bay Area Reporter, the name Howie Klein may be familiar to you. Klein, who wrote about music for the BAR 40 or so years ago, was a radio DJ who co-founded the legendary 415 Records label. 415 was home to important San Francisco bands including Romeo Void, Wire Train, Translator, The Nuns, Pop-O-Pies, and Pearl Harbor and the Explosions, to name a few.
In Los Angeles, Klein went on to work for major label conglomerate Warner Brothers/Reprise/Sire where he supervised artists including Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Depeche Mode, The Pretenders, The Smiths, Talking Heads, Green Day and others.
Michael Callen (1955-1993) is not as well remembered today as he deserves to be. But during the peak years of the AIDS crisis, Callen was known the world over not only for his AIDS activism, but for his music. Callen was a gifted singer-songwriter who made a name for himself both as a solo artist and as a member of the gay a cappella singing group The Flirtations. But it was his AIDS advocacy for which Callen made his greatest impact.
Callen loved being gay, and he loved sex, celebrating both unashamedly. In 1983, soon after his own AIDS diagnosis, Callen published
Beginning March 19 and running through July 3, the venerable San Francisco Art Institute will celebrate its 150th birthday with an extensive exhibition of a diverse array of alumni. There will be a particular focus on Black, indigenous people of color and LGBTQ+ artists at the exhibition, which takes place at the institute s historic Chestnut Street campus and online.
Titled
A Spirit of Disruption, the exhibit will include a large selection of artwork and archival materials which celebrate the ethos of the institution while highlighting the contributions of artists and individuals who have often been overlooked. There will also be a ten episode podcast which will supplement the exhibition.
In light of opposition from the new property owners, San Francisco officials appear set to landmark only a portion of the Noe Valley property where the late lesbian pioneering couple Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin lived for much of their 56-year relationship. Meanwhile, a city open space nearby the property could be renamed in honor of the women.
Preservation groups and LGBTQ historians had sought to see the entire Duncan Street property become a city landmark. They had argued that the adjoining garden plot to the cottage where the women lived should also be included in the landmark because the couple s cremains were interred and scattered on the undeveloped portion. The city s planning department had also recommended the entire property be landmarked.
A Senate hearing on the Equality Act, which would expand the prohibition on discrimination under federal law, put on full display March 17 the use of fear-mongering about women s safety and the integrity of women s sports as a tool to thwart attempted progress on LGBTQ rights, although more traditional objections based on religious liberty also played a role.
Senator John Kennedy (R-Louisiana) pulled no punches during the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing the first-ever hearing for the Equality Act in the U.S. Senate in heightening fears about threats to women in sex-segregated spaces.
When Abigail Shirer, a journalist who has built a career campaigning against gender transitioning for youth, was presenting testimony as an expert witness, Kennedy went straight to the locker rooms.