Saturday afternoon in San Francisco, several Asian and Queer community organizations kicked off the first-ever QTAPI Week in the United States. Organizers are presenting a week of events dedicated to queer, trans Asians and Pacific Islanders.

The day began with a press conference in Jane Warner Plaza, in keeping with the spirit of the late Supervisor Harvey Milk, whose 91st birthday — which was on the same day — seemed the perfect day for a rally.

Like a human tide, every 12 minutes or so saw the crowd move on and off the tracks as the F-Train, bound for Fisherman’s…

If you’ve been to almost any pride event since 1980, you have likely seen nuns decked out in over-the-top habits and clown makeup, each with a unique campy drag persona floating about, taking selfies and making noise. These nuns are members of a charitable organization called “The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence’’. Set up in chapters — called “houses” in grand drag tradition — across twenty six states in eight different countries, on four continents — the Sisters have been serving the LGBTQIA community since 1979.

Much of their work is in contributing direct grants to under-funded projects and smaller organizations…

Misinformation, digital and language barriers, economic issues, and general distrust of the government are keeping members of the Native, LGBT, Asian and communities of color in Sacramento County from getting vaccinated.

NOTE: This piece was written for, and originally appeared in Outword Magazine.

For street-level organizations working to vaccinate under-served communities in Sacramento County, vaccine availability isn’t the biggest hurdle they face. Misinformation, digital and language barriers, economic issues, and general distrust of the government are keeping members of the Native, LGBT, Asian and communities of color in Sacramento County from getting vaccinated.

“Faggots,” I heard the man say as he approached us near Market and Church St. in San Francisco.

I heard but ignored the man. For me, being called faggot by a hateful, lesser-evolved creature is nothing new. I came out in high school in the south, and as I approach 40 years old — I am more apt to roll my eyes and keep walking, than to chirp back.

“You’re faggots!” the stranger said, louder this time. My boyfriend Reagan heard him this time, replying loudly,“Yes we are faggots!” The hateful man kept walking.

We continued to the Muni, then…

Like most performing arts, there have always been queer people in professional wrestling. Visibly queer people, that’s a different story.

Professional wrestling — to generations of Americans — calls back memories of greats like Hulk Hogan, The Ultimate Warrior, Andre “The Giant“ and “Macho Man” Randy Savage. Only one of those people is still alive (Hogan), and that might make you think — who still watches wrestling?

The better question is, who doesn’t watch wrestling?

Historically, when San Franciscans mourn, some sort of action is taken.

San Francisco’s LGBTQIA community gathered Sunday in solidarity with Asian community members, days after a white man murdered eight in a rampage targeted at Asian businesses in Atlanta.

The queer community in America has a long history of activism. In San Francisco, that spirit of protest is often tied to tragedy. Like the White Night Riots in 1979, when 5,000 people marched on City Hall from The Castro, San Francisco’s gay neighborhood, in response to a lenient sentence for Harvey Milk’s murderer.

Historically, when San Franciscans mourn, some sort of action is taken.

The first week of March 2020 was the last “normal” week here in San Francisco and much of the world. It will go down in history as one of those “remember where you were?” moments, like 9/11 or the Kennedy assassination. The Saturday night before the region-wide shelter-in-place orders, my boyfriend Reagan and I stayed up later than usual. My best friend Todd invited us out to dance at The Stud, San Francisco’s oldest and arguably most iconic queer bar.

I’d never been to the bar before. We arrived around 10 p.m., excited for the experience. The sidewalk outside the…

I was walking by City Hall Sunday morning when I saw it — the statue of the 16th president, Abraham Lincoln had its face painted red. The letters of his last name were also painted red. As of yet, we don’t know who vandalized the statue, but history may give us a clue as to why.

In school we were taught that Honest Abe freed the slaves, signed the Emancipation Proclamation, and delivered the Gettysburg Address. Those, and other positive impacts of his presidency have been widely celebrated since Lincoln’s death by assassination in 1865. …