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Landmarking A Historic Lesbian Space in SF

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The LGBTQ community lost a pioneer in April, when LGBTQ activist Phyllis Lyon (1924–2020) passed away at her house in San Francisco. Together with her partner and later wife of over 50 years, Del Martin (1921–2008), Lyon cofounded the Daughters of Bilitis in 1955, the first lesbian-rights organization in the United States. Just a few months after Lyon’s death, the Noe Valley house that Lyon and Martin shared for over five decades was sold and is now threatened with demolition. Community members are organizing to attempt to save this historic structure from erasure, establishing the group Friends of the Lyon-Martin House, for which […]

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California Passes 25,000 Deaths, Finds 3 More Variant Cases

California surpassed 25,000 coronavirus deaths since the start of the pandemic and officials disclosed Thursday that three more cases involving a mutant variant of the virus have been confirmed in San Diego County. The grim developments came as an ongoing surge swamps hospitals and pushes nurses and doctors to the breaking point as they brace for another likely increase after the holidays. “We’re exhausted and it’s the calm before the storm,” said Jahmaal Willis, a nurse and emergency room leader at Providence St. Mary Medical Center in Apple Valley. “It’s like we’re fighting a war, a never-ending war, and we’re […]

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Insurers Warned to Stop Refusing and Interfering with Young Trans People’s Treatment

Health insurance providers in California have been warned by an insurance commissioner they cannot deny gender-affirming surgery for young trans people based on their age. Ricardo Lara, California’s insurance commissioner, took the step to ensure that trans youth are not denied gender-affirming surgery after reports that insurance companies were using the age of trans patients to refuse treatment. On 30 December, Lara directed the Department of Insurance to issue a General Counsel Opinion Letter clarifying that under state law, insurance companies cannot refuse to cover gender-affirming top surgery based on a patient’s age. “For far too long, individuals diagnosed with […]

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California Now Has the Worst COVID-19 Spread in US

California is now reporting the highest number of new daily COVID-19 cases per capita in the country. Last week, the state reported the nation’s fourth highest number of daily COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents over a seven day period, but California jumped to first place when the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its case per capita tracker Saturday. According to the CDC update from Saturday, California has reported an average of 100.5 daily COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents over the past seven days, which places it comfortably ahead of second-place Tennessee, which saw an average of 89.6 daily cases per 100,000 […]

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SF GAY MEN’S CHORUS American Sign Language to Keep Holiday Spirit Alive

The San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus has gone virtual this holiday season and has added an inclusive twist to the Christmas classic “Silent Night.” During its annual holiday concert, which will be held on Christmas Eve, the 300-member chorus will perform “Silent Night” while using American Sign Language, so the deaf and hearing-impaired community can enjoy the performance. The chorus released a preview video of what’s to come during its 30th annual holiday celebration.https://www.youtube.com/embed/ycYIksZ5_nU The chorus’ annual holiday concert began in 1990 in an effort to bring cheer to those who had been impacted by the AIDS epidemic. As for the “Silent […]

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Remembering Lenn Keller, founder of Bay Area Lesbian Archives

Historian and archivist Lenn Keller died of cancer on December 16, according to an announcement posted by the Bay Area Lesbian Archives, an organization that she founded in 2014 to preserve the region’s diverse lesbian history. In a separate post, her friend Sharon Davenport noted that Lenn “was loved and cared for when she passed at home.” Keller, who described herself as “a proud butch lesbian,” lived a life of what she would later refer to as “prefigurative politics”—creating the world one wishes to see. Throughout the 1970s and 80s, she played a leading role in the Bay Area’s thriving community of Black […]

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California Sets Teachers, First Responders for next Vaccines

 Teachers, first responders, and grocery and restaurant workers were among those recommended Wednesday to get the next round of scarce vaccines in California, as were florists and sawmill operators who fall into the same broad category of those deemed essential workers. “We’ve got to figure who we’re going to prioritize,” said Dr. Oliver Brooks, co-chairman of a 16-member panel of medical experts recommending who makes the potential life-and-death cut after the first round of about 3 million vaccines began going this week to health care workers and those in long-term care facilities. They’re divvying up the next round of about […]

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Bay Area LGBTQ Nonprofits, Forced to Make Programmatic Cuts Amid Falling Revenue

Horizons Foundation, the world’s first LGBTQ community foundation, today released preliminary findings from its October 2020 survey, which was distributed to organizations on its mailing list to identify the effects of the pandemic on nonprofits. Thispreliminary analysis focused on a subset of respondents that included only Bay Area LGBTQ organizations, 61 of which took the survey.  ·       Due to the pandemic, more than half of LGBTQ orgs (52%) have needed to reduce programs already, with an additional 18% reporting it as a possibility in the next year. At the same time, 39% report an increase in demand for services, which rises to […]

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Los Angeles, San Francisco Counties Break COVID-19 Records

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The first shipment of COVID-19 vaccine has arrived in Los Angeles County, which again broke a record for coronavirus hospitalizations this weekend as San Francisco County reported its highest number of COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began. Statewide, more than 30,000 confirmed coronavirus cases were reported Sunday, making California’s total at 1,551,766. Millions of Californians in the majority of the state are under stay-at-home orders. In Los Angeles County, the nation’s most populous, more than 4,000 people were hospitalized for COVID-19, according to figures released Sunday afternoon. More than one-fifth of hospitalized patients are in intensive care units. The county’s new figures break the […]

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Order of the Health Officer C19-17: Implementing The Terms Of The Regional Stay At Home Order

Sonoma County on Saturday will join five other Bay Area counties that have issued stay-home orders to slow the spread of the coronavirus. The stay-home order will take effect at 12:01 a.m. Saturday, the county announced on its website Thursday afternoon, citing rising COVID-19 case numbers and hospitalizations. Under the order, residents will be directed to stay at home except for work, shopping, outdoor recreation or other essential activities, such as medical appointments, allowed under the state’s regional shelter-in-place order. All sectors, other than retail and essential operations, were ordered to close. The new restrictions will remain in place until […]

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