Annette Semerdjian

State Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) called on legislators to push alcohol sales to 4 a.m. for California cities with Senate Bill 905 that recently passed to state assembly. The bill would affect seven major cities in California, three of which are in Los Angeles county: Los Angeles, Long Beach, West Hollywood, Sacramento, Palm Springs, San Francisco and Oakland. This would allow bars and nightclubs in these cities to sell alcohol at the same hours as places like New York City.

California bars have operated until 2 a.m. since the end of prohibition, this new bill could change not only the economy of L.A. but also the city culture. The bill’s advancement to state assembly has therefore been met with some opposition. California Alcohol Policy Alliance (CAPA), Alcohol Justice and Los Angeles City Councilmember Paul Koretz held a press event to oppose the bill in early August. Activists and the councilmember compared selling more alcohol to having more injuries and deaths.

“If this passes we can expect more DUIs, more drunk driving injuries and more alcohol related deaths,” Councilmember Koretz said. “No district is an island and it is outrageous to call this a local discretion bill when its impacts will spill over into adjacent jurisdictions that will be stuck with the very expensive public safety bill — the cost of life and death.”

The Pride L.A. spoke with the owner of Club Ripples in Long Beach, Larry Hebert, to get his take. In regards to his support of the bill, Hebert stated, “Give it a try.”

“If they’re going to get drunk at midnight, then they’re going to get drunk at four,” Hebert said. “Responsible people will use Uber or Lyft or have a designated driver. Irresponsible people will get drunk anytime — they don’t care. So I don’t feel that there’s going to be a big difference.”

He and his partner, John Garcia, have owned Club Ripples for over 40 years. They also own a liquor store behind the club that also sees a lot of the same customers.

“I see when people leave my club they run over to my liquor store in the back and get alcohol before we close so they can take it home and party some more,” Herbert said. “There are some, but not all. It’s going to be hit or miss for different people and different lifestyles.”

Hebert also stressed the importance of responsibility as a bar or club owner, saying that he or she must make sure that customers get home safely.

“I’ve driven customers home before and I’ve taken their keys from them, and they get mad but I don’t care,” he said.

He and his partner are known to have strict rules as bar owners, such as making sure people who walk in already under the influence are not permitted inside the club. Drugs and sex are also not permitted on the premises.

Although Hebert admits there are many other bars and clubs that operate otherwise, the vigilance and responsibility of bar, club and restaurant owners like himself can help create a safer community instead of fueling the dangers within it.

“The Long Beach police know that I run a tight ship,” Herbert said. “We’re more of a neighborhood place where straight and gay people come and everybody has a good time.”

If the bill gets signed into law, it will take effect in 2021 in order for bars, clubs and restaurants as well as each city to adjust to the new hours of operation. After five years, cities can decide how to continue or discontinue implementing the law.

California is one of the largest states in the U.S. It’s also one of the most diverse, with life in many parts of the state varying vastly from the preconception of what it means to be a Californian. From the beaches of San Diego to the farmlands of Fresno to the suburbs of Humboldt, California is not solely defined by its mega cities of Los Angeles and San Francisco. For the LGBTQ+ community, those differences are highlighted in L.A. and the Bay Area as some of the best places to live for queer people.

This upcoming November election will be a particularly crucial one for Californians as they decide whether the state should no longer operate as one and be split into three jurisdictions: California, Northern California and Southern California. This division is split in a strategic way that does not encompass drawing lines between northern, central and southern California. Three of the major cities in the largest blue state in the nation would have a place in their own divided California state. San Diego would be in Southern California, Los Angeles in California and San Francisco in Northern California. That means people living slightly out of L.A. county lines, where rent is more affordable, would then reside in another state entirely – that state of Southern California would also be the most conservative of the three, where over 40 percent of residents voted for Trump in the recent election, according to The Sacramento Bee.

The split would also even out Northern California with counties such as Santa Cruz and San Francisco that vote in the largest numbers for Democrats together with counties like Modoc that garner the highest percentage of Republican votes in California each election. What that could potentially result in is Northern and Southern California having more political tension as the prospect of conservative votes taking over the new jurisdiction’s legislation becomes more feasible within much smaller states. From the three split states, California would be the most liberal with Los Angeles, Monterey, San Luis Obispo, San Benito and Ventura counties that all vote Democrat.

This new cultural structure could result in more people moving into California and changing the other divided states into a more conservative position. The fight for California’s sparse water supply and how the new states would suffer in receiving fewer resources would also be a major issue of which the economic and environmental impacts could shift the states’ populations even more. The new dynamic can almost guarantee a change of population, one which may not be in the favor of minorities such as LGBTQ+ people who are already fighting to preserve rights against the Trump Administration. In the macro sense, the split would also take away California’s power to bring the most votes for Democrats every election as the state with the largest number of electoral votes. Thus, reversing the marriage equality act per the Trump Administration’s plans could become a more achievable prospect, especially with the future of democratic votes in the divided states being uncertain.

In the history of the U.S., the act of dividing a state occurred last during the civil war with the secession of West Virginia from the Confederate state of Virginia. The new plan to split California will be on the ballot after years of effort by Silicon Valley billionaire Tim Draper, garnering over 400,000 signatures deemed valid by election officials. His plan failed to qualify on the 2016 ballot with not enough valid signatures in his 2014 proposal, which initially planned to split California into six parts – which would have left much poorer parts of California to fend for their own while the richer parts prospered. This was the entrepreneur’s only real involvement with politics and he also remains as an unaffiliated voter.

“Three states will get us better infrastructure, better education and lower taxes,” said Draper to the Los Angeles Times. “Vast parts of California are poorly served by a representative government dominated by a large number of elected representatives from a small part of our state, both geographically and economically.” Yet Draper’s proposal that he has been working toward for years would not be as beneficial to the LGBTQ+ community as well as the average California voter since smaller states do not guarantee better functioning legislation. It is also a plan that does not consider the repercussions of such a division and does not supply a proper plan to execute three equally prosperous states, which begs the question of whether the intention of this proposal was ever in favor of serving all the communities within the state.

In the U.S., many hospitals either are not equipped for proper care for transgender patients or they do not address and handle them with respect and proper pronouns, which can make the already difficult experience of seeking healthcare and dealing with health concerns even more trying. With this in mind, Cedars-Sinai recently announced that they will provide transgender primary care in both Beverly Hills and Culver City.

Transgender care programs at Cedars-Sinai have expanded from being one of only two academic medical centers in the Western U.S. that offer gender-affirmation genital surgery to now include quality medical care for all aspects of their health. The hospital’s gender-affirmation surgery allowed many people who were refused care and coverage by physicians and insurance companies access to transition. For years, gender-affirmation surgery was limited to private clinics, which did not accept many medical insurance options. Now Cedars-Sinai has taken another step forward from providing some of the best care in gender-affirming surgery needs to include a more comprehensive set of programs for transgender patients.

According to a 2017 National Public Radio survey, 31 percent of transgender people in the U.S. say they have no regular doctor or form of healthcare, and that the fear of discrimination plays a major role in that.

“It is such a privilege to take care of the transgender community, which historically has had poor access to care,” said Carl A. Violano, MD, one of Cedars-Sinai primary care physicians with years of expertise in the field of transgender healthcare. “I feel a deep sense of responsibility to provide excellent care to our transgender patients.”

The medical center introduced a new interdisciplinary, research-based Transgender Surgery and Health Program headed by a leader in the field to ensure the team of specialist aid patients through every step in their journeys. Some of these comprehensive healthcare programs include vocal cord and speech therapy, HIV care, hormone management, fertility preservation and mental health services.

“It’s important to recognize that not all LGBTQ community members have access to quality medical care. We’re striving to meet a critical need,” said Mary Clare Lingel, vice president of Strategic Integration at Cedars-Sinai Medical Network.

The transgender community can now celebrate a more joyful Pride Month knowing hospitals like Cedars-Sinai are working to make the best care available.