THE FIGHT SF/BAY AREA MONTHLY LGBTQ MAGAZINE OCT 2018

OCTOBER 2018 | THE FIGHT SF 1

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2 THE FIGHT SF | www.thefightmag.com

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FEATURES 

THECONTENTS 

12 LAY OF THE LAND 

THE CANDIDATES, 

THE CHALLENGES, 

THE DRAMA 

16 THE QUEEROCRACY 

SAN FRANCISCO’S 

MOVERS AND SHAKERS 

18 RAFI TAKES THE REINS 

DISTRICT 8 CANDIDATE 

RAFAEL MANDELMAN 

21 YES ON 10 

THE AFFORDABLE 

HOUSING ACT 

22 GOT TO VOTE 

THE SISTERS OF 

PERPETUAL INDULGENCE 

24 ANDRO FORWARD 

DAPPER BOI CLOTHING LINE 

28 SUMMER SCENES 

PHOTOS BY LEO HERRERA 

DEPARTMENTS 

06 THE EDITOR BRENDEN SHUCART 

08 THE TALK JOSIE TOTAH 

10 THE CITY DANA VAN GORDER 

11 THE STATE EVAN LOW 

26 THE ART AARON MCNALLY 

ON THE COVER 


COVER PHOTO AND TOC PHOTO 

BY LEO HERRERA 


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THEEDITOR 

>> IN THIS ISSUE

@calendow 


THETALK 

JOSIE 

TOTAH 

THE DAY 

“I can’t wait for 

the day we all 

can live without 

feeling like 

we’re different 

and excluded. 

A time where 

we don’t have to 

come out.” 

—27-year-old pro golfer 

Tadd Fujikawa coming out on 

Instagram last month. 

I MISS 

“What’d I miss?” 

—Disney star Josie Totah 

making a humorous reference 

to her recent absence 

from social media, upon 

sharing her first Instagram 

photo since coming out as 

transgender in August. 

>> WHAT THEY’RE SAYING


AN INDEPENDENT LEADER WITH THE 

EXPERIENCE TO GET THINGS DONE 

Endorsed by: 

* NANCY PELOSI, Minority Leader of 

the U.S. House of Representatives 

* SCOTT WIENER, State Senator, District 11 

* LONDON BREED, Mayor 

* HARVEY MILK LGBTQ Democratic Club 

* ALICE B. TOKLAS LGBT Democratic Club 

RE-ELECT RAFAEL MANDELMAN DISTRICT 8 SUPERVISOR 

PAID FOR BY RAFAEL MANDELMAN FOR SUPERVISOR 2018 (GENERAL) FPPC#1395950 

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Daddy’s Barbershop 

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THECITY 

>> BY GABRIEL VAN HORNE

THESTATE 

>> LOCAL NEWS > NEWS BRIEFS

AY OF 

HE LAND 

CATHERINE 

STEFANI 

CHRISTINE 

JOHNSON 

San Francisco is a small city with big 

politics. The intimate setting, high 

stakes (a $10 billion-or-so budget), 

diverse cast of larger than life 

characters, and city charter that boasts both 

a powerful Mayor and Board of Supervisors 

who wield exceptional authority within their 

own districts, makes for political theatre 

which can give the scheming on Game of 

Thrones a run for its money. And that’s not 

to say it isn’t serious—city budgets are life 

and death affairs—but it can also be incredibly 

entertaining. But for those new to the 

City, maybe also a little confusing. 

The first thing to understand is that 

San Francisco is a one Party town; all 

of the elected officials are card carrying 

Democrats. Instead of the usual 

Republican/Democrat divide, San Francisco 

has two hazily defined factions—the 

Moderates and the Progressives—and 

which one a given politician belongs to usually 

has less to do with ideology than what 

Democratic Club they came out of and 

which Unions back their candidacy. But as 

a rule, the Moderates tend to be more supportive 

of landlords and property owners, 

CONNOR 

KRONE 

friendlier to developers, and able to reliably 

count on Tech and Real Estate money to 

fund mailers and radio ads on their behalf. 

Progressives are usually more likely to back 

tenants, be more skeptical of market rate 

development, and more dependent on 

volunteers from Labor and neighborhood 

groups walking precincts and knocking on 

doors to get their message out. 

The recent special election which elevated 

Moderate London Breed to the Mayor’s 

office in Room 200 of City Hall also saw 

Rafael Mandelman ascend to the District 

8 Supervisor seat, shifting the balance of 

power on the Board to a 6/5 Progressive 

majority meaning Mayor Breed has to work 

across the aisle to govern. And with the 

coming election the Progressives see an 

opportunity to sweep the Board. 

On November 6, San Franciscans from 

five districts (2,4,6,8 and 10) will go to 

the polls to choose new Supervisors, and 

of them the only elected incumbent is 

Mandelman in D8. If the Progressives can 

hold on to D6 and pick up two more seats 

they’ll have the eight votes needed to 

bypass a Mayoral veto. 

GORDON 

MAR 

JANICE 

LI 

EDUCATION 

Let’s start with the Board of Education, 

the independent body which oversees 

the San Francisco Unified School District, 

where 18 candidates are vying for three 

open seats. Five of those candidates are 

LGBTQ: Lenette Thompson, a lesbian 

mother of four and lieutenant in the SF Fire 

Department; two gay men, Phil Kim, a 

charter school advocate hoping to become 

the second LGBT Asian-American elected 

to public office in SF, and Connor Krone a 

former educator who runs Money Study, 

a nonprofit helps high schoolers develop 

financial literacy; Martin Rawlings-Fein, a 

father of two who would be the City’s first 

male transgender elected leader; and Mia 

Satya a community organizer and activist 

for social justice, youth, LGBT and transgender 

rights aiming to be SF’s first female 

transgender elected leader. 

Of the five, Satya likely has the greatest 

chance of winning in November. She is a 

charismatic and talented young activist with 

something of a national profile. And she 

has the backing of the Harvey Milk LGBT 

Democratic Club and nearly the entire LGBT 


On November 6, San Franciscans from five districts (2,4,6,8 and 10) 

will go to the polls to choose new Supervisors. The candidates, the 

challenges and behind the scenes drama. 

BY BRENDEN SHUCART 

JOHN 

DENNIS 

JOSEPHINE 

ZHOU 

elected establishment—with the notable 

exception of State Senator Scott Weiner. 

Now, even in San Francisco where local 

politics can often feel like intramural sports, 

elections to the Board of Education tend to 

be sleepy, below-the-radar affairs. But this 

year the race has been dominated by the 

ongoing drama surrounding the candidacy 

of Josephine Zhou, a moderate-aligned 

“public school mom and advocate” with a 

popular Chinese-language radio show. Zhou 

faced criticism recently when disparaging 

remarks she made regarding the SFUSD’s 

gender-neutral bathroom policy and the 

Trans community came to light. 

Zhou’s allies—including State Senator 

Scott Weiner and Mayor Breed—jumped 

to her defense, insisting that Zhou wasn’t 

transphobic. And Zhou herself apologized, 

saying that she had no intention of hurting 

the Transgender community and that 

her previous views had been a result of 

“the wrong information.” All better, right? 

Well... not quite. 

Zhou’s name was again in the headlines 

when posts made on the Chinese language 

app WeChat were obtained and translated 

LENETTE 

THOMPSON 

MARK 

FARRELL 

by Mission Local. In them Zhou assured her 

supporters she remains opposed to genderneutral 

bathrooms, calls the members of the 

Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club “Cow 

Demons and Snake Spirits” (apparently a 

popular phrase for dehumanizing undesirables 

during Mao’s Cultural Revolution) and 

said that the five LGBTQ candidates for the 

Board of Education were running to “spread 

ideology.” Then in a second batch of messages—obtained 

and translated this time by 

The Examiner—Zhou crowed that the recent 

controversy only served to make her “even 

more well known,” and told her supporters 

that would present two sets of messages: 

one for the English language press and 

another for the Chinese. 

After that she began bleeding endorsements, 

and was quietly pressured to withdraw. 

Sen. Weiner and Mayor Breed both 

wrote regretful statements supporting her 

withdrawal. And it should be noted, the 

deadline to have her name stricken from 

the ballot had already passed. She could 

still be elected, and Ms. Zhou has refused 

to answer whether she would accept the 

seat if she won. 

MARTIN 

RAWLINGS-FEIN 

DISTRICT 2 

If you ever wondered how the other 

half live, this is where you’d come to find 

out. Comprised of the Marina, Pacific 

Heights and Sea Cliff, District 2 is the 

wealthiest district in San Francisco—and 

its most conservative. This is where you’ll 

find the City’s greatest concentration of 

Republicans and they even have an honest-to-goodness 

Republican running for 

Supervisor: John Dennis, a self-described 

libertarian real estate developer who has 

unsuccessfully challenged Nancy Pelosi 

for her congressional seat on more than 

one occasion. Dennis commissioned a poll 

for himself in September that unsurprisingly 

showed him within spitting distance 

of City Hall, but few politicos think he has 

a serious chance of winning. Instead, most 

familiar with the district look to media 

startup founder Schuyler Hudak, BART 

Board Director Nick Josefowitz, and the 

current occupant, Catherine Stefani, who 

was appointed by Mark Farrell to replace 

him after he briefly occupied Room 200. 

Stefani served as aide to both Farrell 

and his predecessor, Michela Alioto- 


LGBTQ CULTURE

LGBTQ CULTURE

COVER INTERVIEW

LEO HERRERA, COLUMBINE DEMERS, BRENDEN SCHUCART

RAFI 

TAKES 

THE 

REINS 


RAFAEL MANDELMAN

RAFAEL MANDELMAN

PROP 10

The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence urge you 

to register and vote on November 6. 

PHOTO AND DESIGN BY MARK HARVEY/FLUXION MEDIA ©2018 


“ 

‘Got To Vote’ photo series came 

This out of frustration with the current 

state of the country,” the Los Angeles Sisters 

of Perpetual Indulgence tell THE FIGHT. “The 

goal is to use imagery and our humor as a tool 

to encourage our local communities to get out 

and VOTE! We thought we’d sass it up a bit, 

for everyone’s enjoyment. As stated by Sister 

Unity, ‘Sass is serious, it serves and catches 

the attention of people. It aligns us with those 

alienated Voters we are trying to convince.’ 

We drag nuns urge all Americans to register 

and vote! You want change? You want your 

voices heard? Then use your right as an 

American and VOTE your asses off!” 

*The midterm elections will be held on 

Tuesday, November 6, 2018. 


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Role of Family Support for LGBTQ Transitional Age Youth 

Meeting the Unique Legal Needs of LGBTQ Seniors 

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COVER INTERVIEW

LEO HERRERA, COLUMBINE DEMERS, BRENDEN SCHUCART

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MILKCLUB.ORG 

SAN FRANCISCO 

CANDIDATES 

District 4 Supervisor: GORDON MAR 

District 6 Supervisor: MATT HANEY 

District 8: RAFAEL MANDELMAN 

District 10 Supervisor: #1 TONY KELLY, #2 SHAMANN WALTON 

Public Defender: JEFF ADACHI 

District 8 BART Board: JANICE LI 

SF School Board: ALISON COLLINS, GABRIELA LOPEZ, & MIA SATYA 

SF Community College Board: BRIGITTE DAVILA, JOHN RIZZO, & THEA SELBY 

STATE WIDE 

CANDIDATES 

Lieutenant Governor: ELENI KOUNALAKIS 

Attorney General: XAVIER BECERRA 

CA Secretary of State: ALEX PADILLA 

State Controller: BETTY YEE 

Insurance Commissioner: RICARDO LARA 

Superintendent of Public Instruction: TONY THURMOND 

Board of Equalization 2: MALIA COHEN 

CA State Assembly 15: JOVANKA BECKLES 

CA State Assembly 19: PHIL TING 

32 THE FIGHT SF | www.thefightmag.com 

VOTE NOVEMBER 6TH 

Photo by Daniel Nicoletta 

BALLOT MEASURES 

Measure A (Seawall Bond): YES 

Measure B (City Privacy Guidelines): YES 

Measure C (Our City, Our Home): YES 

Measure D (Cannabis Business Tax): YES 

Measure E (Arts for Everyone): YES 

BALLOT MEASURES 

Proposition 1 (Veteran Housing): YES 

Proposition 2 (Homelessness Prevention): YES 

Proposition 4 (Children’s Hospital Bond): YES 

Proposition 5 (Property Transfer Tax): NO 

Proposition 6 (Gas Tax Repeal): NO 

Proposition 7 (Daylight Savings Time): YES 

Proposition 8 (Limits on Dialysis Clinics’ Revenue): YES 

Proposition 10 (Costa-Hawkins Repeal): YES 

Proposition 11 (Ambulance Workers On-Call At Breaks): NO 

Proposition 12 (Less Farm Animal Confinement): YES 

This ad was paid for by the Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club Political Action Fund. This advertisement was not authorized or paid for 

by a candidate for this office or a committee controlled by a candidate for this office. Financial disclosures available at sfethics.org.

THE FIGHT SF/BAY AREA MONTHLY LGBTQ MAGAZINE OCT 2018

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