Serving Sincerity
Our gayborhood is a land of plenty, whether it’s plenty of parties or plenty of pressure. Striking the right balance to survive and thrive is plenty of work and WERQ. “Bringing it” seems more open to interpretation these days, and requires no small amount of effort. Release is more readily available than reflection, beyond the [...]
Love Don’t Pay The Rent
Embracing the wild and crazy is at the heart of pride in our gayborhood, but taking care of our community’s mental health is serious business. So many of us struggle to escape the strife of narrow minds “back home” when we follow the rainbow to San Francisco in search of a better life. But “getting [...]
Living is Winning
Competition is a funny thing. Maybe it’s just human nature, but it’s not my nature. Contests make me uncomfortable. Titles, pageants and awards can certainly bring out our very best performances, but they can also appeal to our worst instincts. Maybe it’s because I’m a dancer at heart, living for the collective bliss of a [...]
It’s a Small Leather World
Exploring Melbourne, Australia, with new friends made aboard the Atlantis Auckland-Sydney Mardi Gras cruiseA term used in verb form to refer to checking out another gay man, perhaps in a sexually predatory way, but primarily characterized by nonverbal signals for sex. Also can be used in noun form to refer to the person being cruised, [...]
Out With the Old, In With the New
The concept of a “circuit” party can have so many interpretations. For those of us lucky enough to live our lives around parties, it’s easy to blur the details and lose sight of what initially inspired our obsession with the disco ball. What I try never to lose sight of is the freedom, expression and [...]
Donna Sachet: The First Lady of San Francisco
She’s the first lady of San Francisco, the woman in red, a tireless socialite and an elegant, eloquent champion of LGBT causes. Donna Sachet is in a category all her own, a “legit” drag queenA gay man. Can be used interchangeably as a term of endearment or as a derogatory term, depending on context. Often [...]
Nothing Lasts Forever
Time flies when you’re having fun, which makes it challenging to be mindful about living in the moment. Especially when you’re having fun all the time. #sanfranciscoproblems The universe has made all too clear to me of late that nothing lasts forever. It’s human nature to assume that good times will continue indefinitely, and that [...]
For the Love of Tod Epperson
For all the ways we Love Our Gays, there was one special soul who taught us that it’s possible to love and hate in equal measure. Tod Epperson was the embodiment of ying and yang. He had deep darkness and stunning light, in every dramatic day of his young life. One minute he would read [...]
Under the Big Top
A year in the making, among a diverse group hand-picked from AIDS Emergency Fund staff and supporters, a challenge was issued and a call for commemoration was answered, inside a gorgeous tent on a rainy night in the majestic National AIDS Memorial Grove on World AIDS Day. While it is painful to remember how this [...]
Tales of the City
If Manhattan is the city that never sleeps, San Francisco is the city that never ceases to inspire. Just when I think I can’t be surprised, or that I couldn’t possibly be any more addicted to San Francisco, a new discovery unfolds and my rainbow heart beats faster. Like when I recently happened upon the [...]
