I can frame the hardest month of the year for me by the dates of Nov. 20 and Dec. 25. For me, it’s a month punctuated by anniversaries, holidays and the sun’s low position in the sky that contribute to feelings of depression. Each year, the Transgender Day of Remembrance (Nov. 20) begins my hard…
Well over a year ago in this column, I wrote about the financial mismanagement going on at Auntie Helen’s. I reported how the County Board of Supervisors had demanded their government grant back because of mismanagement fraud; how Auntie Helen’s executive director was caught using this AIDS agency’s money at casinos for personal dinners and…
Last week, President Obama used executive power to provide legal status to approximately 5 million undocumented immigrants. Now that the details are known, we can start scoring the winners and losers for this round of the immigration debate. Losers: Immigrants not covered by the action. Unfortunately, it’s hard to imagine a more inclusive immigration reform…
This week saw me putting up my Christmas tree. For years I’ve had rather ironic Christmas trees, and this year’s tree is no different. Three years ago I had a four-foot, self-lit, tinsel tree; last year it was a spindly, five-foot stick tree with mini, lit yellow and red maple leaves, and this year it’s…
One of my recent passions over the past couple of years has been 1940s music. Mostly I like big band music with vocals, but blues, country, “piano bar” and novelty music from the era are rotating through my iPod playlists. Singers like Fred Astaire singing about dancing cheek to cheek, Fats Waller singing about “feets”…
Dear Republicans of 2008 and 2012: I thought I’d give you a week or so to savor your progeny’s big wins before throwing a wet blanket over your victory party in the form of a reminder about your unfulfilled promises from the presidential campaigns of 2008 and 2012. I know ‘08 and ‘12 didn’t really…
Internationally known gay, labor and AIDS activist Cleve Jones will be in San Diego Dec. 6 when the Human Dignity Foundation will be honoring him at their annual gala. Cleve is the founder of the Names Project/AIDS Quilt and was the historic consultant for the Oscar-winning film Milk about his good friend Harvey Milk. (Actor…
Strategy and campaigning has already started for the 2016 elections. Locally, rumors continue that our beloved and super-popular Congresswoman Susan Davis may not seek re-election and if she decides to retire the top two names being mentioned are Todd Gloria and Toni Atkins, who will both be termed out of office in 2016. Republicans have…
The votes have been counted, and we now know that former City Councilmember Carl DeMaio failed in his bid to oust freshmen Rep. Scott Peters in California’s 52nd District. It’s time to move on and start to heal some of the rifts left in the wake of a largely negative campaign. In that spirit, I…
“I have always been more for celebrating accomplishments and victories and I have never really loved the Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR), to be honest,” said Helen Kramer, author of My Husband Betty, to LGBT Weekly. “I know so many vibrant, interesting, awesome trans people, and it upsets me that there are so many people…
