Queerness

Let’s support the USPS — one snarky piece of postage at a time. Republican Louis DeJoy has stepped down as Postmaster General after almost five years of trying to restructure the money-losing United States Postal Service. He faced much criticism, especially from Democrats, over his handling of election mail. And it sounds like his exit is what the orange-haired leader and his buddy Musky wanted anyway. Their goal is to privatize the postal service, which will significantly affect its services. I can't remember exactly when my fascination with the Post Office began. As a kid, when my family received holiday cards –– it was the envelope the card came in that I was obsessed with—the handwriting, whether blocky or elaborate script, said something about its sender. And the stamps! Those wh...

An SF march to fight against the gripping fascist regime in the United States is set to run down Market Street next month, hosted by local queer activist Juanita MORE! and Alex U. Inn. Fascism is here. It’s also brought along its older sister — oligarchy. (Unlike fascism, which experienced its (ostensible) peak in the middle of the 20th century, oligarchy dates back to Ancient Rome and became a means of policial arrest as the empire’s wealth gap widened.) Drawing a necessary gaze to stay vigilant on fascism’s tightening grip on the United States, the People’s March — a rally created by queer San Francisco-based activist Juanita MORE! and Alex U. Inn — will host an anti-fascism rally, called "People's March / Fight Fascism for Democracy," set to go along Market Street on April 12th,...

The Fitness SF location in the Castro — undeniably the city’s unofficial 'gay gym' — is shuttering its communal showers. Every city has one: an unofficial gay gym. It’s, for the most part, situated inside a city’s self-designateg gayborhood; it’s usually not too bougie (think a monthly memberhships somewhere in the low-$100s), but require ample mirror latitude; the locker rooms must have middle benches, though exist with enough space to avoid accidental grazes; it must be a reasonably clean space and have that one bathroom with above-average lighting, even if it’s overhead. Of course, there must be a communal showering option … for reasons obvious and not-so-obvious reasons … (the latter harkening back to the where “cruising” was the foremost means to find potential sexual partners amid a...

Opening up an inclusive, LGBTQIA+-forward fitness studio in an increasingly anti-queer state is, in and of itself, an act of radical defiance. The COVID-19 health crisis created a riptide in our day-to-day lives, stripping us of understood norms and introducing levels of solitude not seen in modern memory. We were all at the mercy of vaccine rollouts — social distancing practices, mask-wearing etiquette, and inordinate amounts of screentime. But bright spots emerged from the two years or so defined by the pandemic. (The idea of car-free street corridors finally had its watershed moment; al fresco dining experienced a resurgence — Beyonce, herself, released arguably her most cohesive album yet with RENAISSANCE; notions of community building and starting coalitions gained momentum ac...

There's no shortage of public street art in SF — and odds are, you've seen my face (and my dogs) painted across more than a few of them. I took on the title of "The Most Painted Drag Queen in San Francisco" after hearing Sister Roma scream her moniker — "I'm the most photographed nun in the world— repeatedly at me over the years. I've been doing drag for over thirty years, and I've been honored to have multiple artists create their visions of me across various mediums. I am an avid art collector, curating my first multi-group show at Space Gallery on Polk Street titled "Gold Plated" in 1996. It represented a rotating exhibition of works influenced by my personae. In 1997, Catharine Clark Gallery included me in a retrospective look at the couture of Mr. David titled "Out of the Closet"....