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6 Feet Tall Dick

6 feet tall and god knows how big around. These dick mascots will grace San Francisco at parades, street fairs and other public events around the city over the coming year. Actually, there are three of them, and they'll make their reappearance at noon Friday at the corner of Castro and Market. The characters will appear with a fourth, much-less-attractive buddy, Phil the Syphilis Sore.

Controversial when they debuted in 2002, the characters became popular and appeared around the city until 2006 to encourage gay and bisexual men to get tested for syphilis. Syphilis cases dropped over those years, and the penis costumes were borrowed by other cities to promote testing for sexually transmitted diseases. But now the Department of Public Health is bringing them back because syphilis cases are again on the rise, up 50 percent from 2007 to 2008. Inside the costumes are public health staffers.

You can meet all 3 cocks, their names are Clarke, Bryon and Pedro. Their website is at http://www.healthypenis.org

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Tuberculosis hits the Castro

San Francisco health officials have traced several cases of tuberculosis to patrons of Castro gay bars, with one of the people infected a bartender in the area. This story is being reported by the Bay Area Reporter. The discovery has prompted them to ask 140 employees of businesses in the gay neighborhood who may have been exposed to an active case of TB to get screened for the potentially deadly disease. To handle the large number of people being asked to cooperate with the request, the health department has set up a special screening site at Magnet, the gay men's community health center in the Castro, that will be open over the first two weeks of January. Those screened will be given an advanced blood test for TB, and people who are HIV-positive, and particularly at risk for TB, will also be given a chest X-ray.

The screenings are meant to identify anyone who is at risk for developing TB and provide them with follow up treatment necessary to control the disease. More than 50 people have reportedly already been tested. "What we are trying to achieve is 100 percent participation from the bars in getting all staff who have face-to-face relations with the public screened. Without all data, we can't come to accurate conclusions," said Dr. Masae Kawamura, director of the health department's tuberculosis control section. "TB can affect anyone. It is an equal opportunity disease. You don't have to be HIV to get infected."

This week the health department also notified service providers with gay and HIV patients in the city to be on the lookout for signs of TB infections.  The screenings were prompted after health officials last month were able to link the same strain of TB found since 2007 to five men in their early 20s suspected to be gay or bisexual who frequent Castro bars. One of the cases was found last summer in an employee at a Castro bar, which they declined to name due to privacy issues.

According to a fact sheet handed out to bar owners, obtained by the Bay Area Reporter, the health department is concerned that the "cluster of highly infectious TB cases" may be "working its way through the SF gay community." As detailed in the fact sheet, the first two cases to emerge were linked to a retail commercial establishment in the South of Market neighborhood where one individual worked and the other was a patron. After testing 32 employees at the site, a total of five were infected with TB, "despite a low-risk, indoor gymnasium-like setting with good ventilation," stated the notice.

Then last January, a third case of TB was discovered in a patient who lived near the commercial business, but had no physical link to it. In the summer, a fourth case emerged in a person who works at "a popular nightclub" in the Castro and had no connection to the SOMA business.  In late November a fifth U.S.–born patient was hospitalized with a cough, night sweats and a 40-pound weight loss, stated the fact sheet.  In early December, the state's genotyping laboratory notified the health department that it had matched all five cases of TB to the same strain.

Four of the five cases were in openly gay men in their 20s, with three HIV infected. All but one of the individuals were U.S. born and would not be considered at risk for TB by "usual standards," stated the fact sheet. "After repeat interviews, contacts of the fifth and third case admitted to going to bars in the Castro and named the bar/club employing the fourth index patient. All three of these individuals frequented many of the bars in the Castro during their infectious periods," according to the document. "This outbreak in young gay men who are highly social is a cause for concern for the community."

In interviews this week, health officials stressed that, to date, they have found no evidence to suggest that other patrons of Castro bars are at risk. And they also noted that, if discovered early, TB is a preventable and curable disease. "We don't want to cause panic in the community. We are targeting staff of the bars because they would have the most exposure than patrons," said Kawamura. "TB takes quite a bit of exposure to catch it." TB is an airborne disease and is easily spread when a person who is infected coughs, sneezes, or spits. Due to the poor ventilation in many bars, employees are more susceptible to TB exposure, said Kawamura. "You don't get it from sex or sharing food or beer bottles. It is spread by someone who has it in their lungs who either sneezes or coughs," explained Kawamura. "Bars are notorious sites of transmission. There is a higher risk of breathing in contaminated air."

Supervisor Bevan Dufty, who was notified of the TB concerns last month, helped coordinate a meeting of Castro bar owners at Magnet prior to the holidays to alert them to the situation. He said customers should not be concerned about patronizing the bars in the Castro, noting he spent New Year's Eve at various locations in the neighborhood. "We are going to move fairly quickly. Members of the public are at extremely low risk and there is nothing to demonstrate there are additional cases generating with connections to Castro bars," said Dufty. "I was at the bars on New Year's and I will continue to go out and I encourage people to continue to go out."

Bar owner Greg Bronstein, who has been spearheading an effort to formally organize Castro bar owners into their own association, said he assigned one of his managers to facilitate the screenings of his employees at his businesses. "We are doing the best we can to work with city officials," said Bronstein. "We want to protect our staff and make sure everyone is safe but not overplay it." Kawamura said she has been impressed with the cooperation her staff has received from Castro bar owners in responding to the situation.

"We are getting full cooperation from the community, which is really refreshing. Often we get a pushback or people feel stigmatized or concerned about their business," she said. "We didn't get any of that from this situation." But the screenings have raised concerns among some bartenders in the Castro, one of whom contacted the Bay Area Reporter to complain about the invasiveness of the screenings and to question why only employees at gay businesses were being targeted. "Why are the bartenders in the Castro being FORCED to take TB tests, and not the rest of the SF service industry?" asked the bartender, who preferred to remain anonymous. "Along with the tests there are many many personal questions we are to answer."

Health officials described the screenings as "business as usual" for the TB control section, noting that in 2008 they conducted similar testing for the disease in schools, on college campuses, a hospital, restaurants, and retail stores. The questioning is also part of the protocol the health department uses to pinpoint patterns of transmission. Depending on their risk for exposure, some friends and family members of the Castro employees are also being screened, said Kawamura. Once the test results come back later this month Kawamura said she would then have a better picture on if the TB outbreak in the Castro is widespread or isolated to a few cases.

"If we find high rate of infections that shouldn't be there, then we would have to take it from there and determine what sites we feel transmissions have occurred and if there is any pattern," she said. "After that we would begin targeting HIV-positive individuals who frequent bars in the Castro if transmission is found."

HIV is the biggest risk factor for not only contracting TB but for perpetuating and amplifying transmission, said Kawamura. It can also be deadly for HIV-positive individuals if the TB goes untreated. "Our big concern here, and certainly we do not want to stigmatize the community, but the Castro is most vulnerable because of high rates of HIV among workers and patrons who go there," said Kawamura. "For the public there is no need for alarm, not yet anyway."

Last year there were 118 TB cases reported in San Francisco. It marked the lowest number of active TB cases recorded in the city since health officials started tracking the disease. In 2007, there were 143 TB cases.  The majority of cases are found in foreign-born individuals coming to the U.S. from countries with severe TB outbreaks. Kawamura said the city has rarely found a cluster of TB cases among gay or bi men, and among people living with HIV, the number of cases has been steadily dropping. Last year marked an all-time low of cases among individuals with HIV, with only 11 people, almost half of whom were homeless, contracting TB. The number presents 7.7 percent of the total cases.

The cluster of TB cases in the Castro should therefore be a red flag for gay and bi men, Kawamura said.  "Another big concern for the gay community, with the rise in syphilis and unprotected sex, is we are going to see a rise in HIV among young men. What we are seeing now is HIV and TB, and we shouldn't be seeing it in this population, the Castro population," she said.

Symptoms most associated with TB include chronic cough, unexplained weight loss, night sweats, and low-grade fevers.  "If they have any of these symptoms, especially if they are HIV-positive, or a chronic cough that is not improving after three weeks, they should see their doctor," said Kawamura.

For more information about TB, the health department has set up a fact sheet online at www.sfdph.org.

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More Gay Hate Painted

Most Holy Redeemer Catholic Church, in the heart of San Francisco’s gay Castro community, was vandalized over the weekend by opponents of Proposition 8, the California resolution passed by voters in November that rejected gay marriage. Swastikas were painted on the church and the names Ratzinger (referring to Pope Benedict XVI) and Niederauer (the San Francisco Archbishop) were scrawled besides the Nazi symbol.

In the wake of Proposition 8, innocent persons have been assaulted, churches have been vandalized, a white substance resembling anthrax was sent to the Knights of Columbus and to Mormon temples, supporters of traditional marriage have been branded Nazis, African-Americans have been called the ‘N-word,’ houses and cars have been trashed, etc. Unfortunately, most of those in the gay community have been silent about these acts.

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"Milk" Premiere

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Randy Shilts

Author and AIDS Journalist

Randy Shilts was the first openly gay journalist to cover GLBT issues in the American mainstream press. He held positions at The Advocate and the San Francisco Chronicle and is the author of three books. Shilts came out at age 20 and was head of the Eugene, Oregon Gay People's Alliance. After working as the northwest correspondent for The Advocate, he moved to San Francisco to become a staff writer. He covered gay issues and city politics at San Francisco area television stations. Shilts wrote “The Mayor of Castro Street: The Life and Times of Harvey Milk” (1982), when a biography about a gay political figure was groundbreaking.

His New York Times best seller, “And the Band Played On: Politics, People and the AIDS Epidemic” (1987), was the first major book about AIDS. It chronicles the first five years of the epidemic and exposes the infighting and inaction that led the virus to become a pandemic. The book earned a nomination for the National Book Award and was translated into seven languages. It was adapted into an Emmy Award-winning HBO film starring Alan Alda, Anjelica Huston, Steve Martin, Matthew Modine and Lily Tomlin.

While suffering from AIDS-related causes, Shilts dictated the last chapters of “Conduct Unbecoming: Gays and Lesbians in the US Military: Vietnam to the Persian Gulf” (1993). The work examines homophobia in the military and is based on more than 1,000 interviews.

Shilts never compromised his professional integrity. In 1993, a year before he lost his battle with AIDS, he was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association.

"History is not served when reporters prize trepidation and propriety over the robust journalistic duty to tell the whole story."

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Prostitution May Be Legal In San Francisco

San Francisco may decriminalize prostitution

(San Francisco, California) In this live-and-let-live town, where medical marijuana clubs do business next to grocery stores and an annual fair celebrates sadomasochism, hustlers and female prostitutes could soon walk the streets without fear of arrest.

San Francisco would become the first major U.S. city to decriminalize prostitution if voters next month approve Proposition K - a measure that forbids local authorities from investigating, arresting or prosecuting anyone for selling sex.

The ballot question technically would not legalize prostitution since state law still prohibits it, but the measure would eliminate the power of local law enforcement officials to go after prostitutes. Proponents say the measure will free up $11 million the police spend each year arresting prostitutes and allow them to form collectives. “It will allow workers to organize for our rights and for our safety,” said Patricia West, 22, who said she has been selling sex for about a year by placing ads on the Internet. She moved to San Francisco in May from Texas to work on Proposition K. Even in tolerant San Francisco - where the sadomasochism fair draws more than 400,000 tourists and a pornographic video company is housed in a former armory - the measure faces an uphill battle, with much of the political establishment opposing it. Some form of prostitution is already legal in two states. Brothels are allowed in rural counties in Nevada. And Rhode Island permits the sale of sex behind closed doors between consulting adults, but it prohibits street prostitution and brothels. In 2004, almost two-thirds of voters in nearby Berkeley rejected decriminalization. But proponents of Proposition K say their proposal has a better shot in San Francisco, which they believe is more sexually liberal than the city across the bay. After all, the world’s oldest profession has long been established here. During the Gold Rush, the neighborhood closest to the piers was a seedy pleasure center of sex, gambling and drinking known as the Barbary Coast. These days, on certain corners, prostitutes sell their bodies day and night, ducking into doorways and alleys when police pass by. One recent afternoon in the Mission District, six prostitutes were plying their trade on a single block. Police made 1,583 prostitution arrests in 2007 and expect to make a similar number this year. But the district attorney’s office says most defendants are fined, placed in diversion programs or both. Fewer than 5 percent get prosecuted for solicititation, which is a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in jail. Proposition K has been endorsed by the local Democratic Party. But the mayor, district attorney, police department and much of the business community oppose the idea, contending it would increase street prostitution, allow pimps the run of neighborhoods and hamper the fight against sex trafficking, which would remain illegal because it involves forcing people into the sex trade. The San Francisco Chronicle editorialized against the measure, saying it could make the city a magnet for prostitution. If the the proposal passes, “we wouldn’t be able to investigate prostitution, and it’s going to be pretty difficult for us to locate these folks who are victims of trafficking otherwise,” said Capt. Al Pardini, head of the police department’s vice unit. “It’s pretty rare that we get a call that says: ‘I’m a victim of human trafficking’ or ‘I suspect human trafficking in my neighborhood.’” The proposition would also prohibit police from accepting federal or state funds for sex trafficking investigations that involve racial profiling. Such investigations often arise from raids on brothels that advertise as Asian massage parlors. “We feel that repressive policies don’t help trafficking victims, and that human rights-based approaches, including decriminalization, are actually more effective,” said Carol Leigh, co-founder of the Bay Area Sex Workers Advocacy Network and a longtime advocate for prostitutes’ rights. But San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris said the ballot question mistakenly assumes prostitution is a victimless crime. “The crime of prostitution does not exist by itself,” Harris said. “Along with it come pimps, johns and other crimes that really impact the safety of neighborhoods.” If the measure passes, supporters say, prostitutes would not feel the need for pimps as protection. But opponents insist it would embolden pimps who trap drug addicts into prostitution by plying them with drugs. “The proponents usually paint a fairly rosy picture of two consenting adults and a monetary exchange at the end,” Pardini said. “They don’t factor in the people that are being exploited and people that are being controlled, the ones manipulated both physically and chemically.”

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Cleve Jones

In 1983, Cleve Jones cofounded the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, making him among the first to respond to the epidemic. In 1987, he conceived the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt, which produced the world’s largest community artwork.

Born in Lafayette, Indiana, Jones studied political science at San Francisco State University. He began his career as an intern in the office of openly gay San Francisco City Supervisor Harvey Milk, who was subsequently assassinated.

He conceived the idea for the AIDS Memorial Quilt at an annual candlelight vigil remembering Harvey Milk. AIDS loomed over the gay community. At the vigil, hundreds of names of people who died of AIDS were written on cardboard scraps and taped to the San Francisco Federal Building. The cardboard reminded Jones of the pieces of fabric his grandmother quilted together.

The quilting of pieces of fabric memorializing loved ones became the world’s largest piece of community art. In 1987, 1,920 panels were exhibited on the National Mall in Washington, and were viewed by more than 500,000 people. The AIDS Quilt became a symbolic funeral service since many who died were denied memorial services.

Since 2005, Jones has spearheaded efforts to diminish homophobia in the hospitality industry with a project called UNITE HERE. He was instrumental in the Sleep with the Right People campaign, which encourages gay tourists to stay at hotels that respect employees’ rights.

Jones was awarded honorary doctorates from Haverford College and the Starr King School for the Ministry. His memoir, “Stitching a Revolution” (2000), was a best seller.

By 2006, the AIDS Quilt had  memorialized more than 44,000 lives.

Founder of NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt

b. October 11, 1954

"If AIDS had taught us anything, it was that we must be true to ourselves if we are to survive."

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Folsom Street Fair

On Sunday, September 28, 2008 celebrated its 25th anniversary. The Folsom Street Fair is a San Francisco original. Over 400,000 people attended the event spanning 13 city blocks. Folsom Street Fair is the best leather/fetish event in the world and the third largest, single-day outdoor event in the Golden State.

In addition to the main attraction of the 25th Folsom Street Fair, San Francisco Leather Week (September 20 - September 28, 2008) offered an expanded range of social, artistic, historic, and cultural attractions for the community to enjoy.

In 2009, the Folsom Street Fair will take place on Sunday, September 27, 2009. Remember the Folsom Street Fair is always scheduled for the last Sunday in September. Photog extraordinaire Darwin Bell (for The Sword) managed to make it to yesterday's sex-and-fetish gala, the annual Folsom Street Fair. Lucky You. But let's skip the innuendos, explanation, and body-odor hate, and just get to the good stuff: fellatio, fisty sex acts, Sarah Palin drag, mommy parts, butts, boobs, bits, beer, same-sex sex, porta-potties, leather, and family fun. (Need some more Folsom Street Fair imagery burned into your brain?

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