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Fernando Ventura (right in photo) and Greg Sherrell, the out duo that used to host the morning drive time show on the now-defunct Energy 92.7 FM, will return to the local airwaves next week on Movin’ 99.7 FM.

The pair is set to join KMVQ on Thursday, November 12, from 5 to 9:30 a.m. The station is owned by CBS Radio.

Ventura and Sherrell were dropped from Energy in September, when the radio station was sold and the format was changed. At the time, both men hoped to return to broadcasting in the Bay Area.

“It is fantastic to be back on the air in th Bay Area and with Movin’ 99.7. After five years, I am excited to have the opportunity to finally get a chance on a big signal,” Sherrell said in a statement.

Energy’s signal was much weaker, meaning the station didn’t reach as many listeners.

By a 2-1 vote Thursday, November 5 the Board of Supervisors’ Rules Committee selected former assistant district attorney James Hammer, an out gay man, for a vacancy on the city’s Police Commission. Hammer’s nomination for the post now goes before the full board for final approval.

The vote split the committee’s two progressive members who normally side with each other: Supervisor Chris Daly backed Hammer, whom he said would provide “gravitas” to the police oversight panel and would be a “game changer” from day one of his term, while openly gay Supervisor David Campos favored giving the seat to Robert Retana, an out gay Latino who works as an attorney for the state court system.

Campos stressed his vote was not meant as a knock against Hammer, rather he felt Retana’s connections to immigrant and LGBT communities were what was needed as the city has become embroiled over police policies relating to immigrant communities.

“I think this is the right choice for where we are right now with what San Francisco is dealing with,” said Campos, who illegally entered the country as a teenager. “I really believe he is the best choice.”

Providing Hammer with the deciding vote was moderate Supervisor Michela Alioto-Pier, who said she liked Hammer’s history of being “very vocal for women rights” and felt his background of having worked once as a police officer and later as an attorney would provide “unique perspective” on the Police Commission.

Speaking in support of his application were Steve Adams, president of the Castro merchants group, and one of the women who witnessed De Anza College baseball players rape a woman at an off campus party and denounced how law enforcement authorities handled the case.

He told the panel that should he be selected, “I can make a difference.”

Should Hammer be approved by the full board he would be the only openly LGBT person on the Police Commission. Campos resigned last December after winning his seat to the board, and this summer, the commission’s former transgender president, Theresa Sparks, stepped down to head the city’s Human Rights Commission.

Hammer would serve the remainder of Sparks’s term, which ends April 30, 2011. A likely candidate for district attorney, should that seat open up next year if Kamala Harris is elected as the state’s attorney general and resigns from the position, Hammer said should he enter the race and felt it conflicted with his role as a police commissioner he would resign from the panel.

He said he would have no qualms about standing up to the powerful Police Officer’s Association and does not support seeing the Police Commission’s oversight of officer complaints be watered down. He also pledged to oppose any move to have police officers act as immigration officials.

“If a whiff of it gets out there then witnesses would dry up and they would run away. Then we would all be unsafe,” said Hammer, a former Fox News cable channel legal analyst who has his own private practice in the city.

A South Bay lesbian couple credited for convincing Congressman Mike Honda (D-Campbell) to add rights for binational same-sex couples to his comprehensive immigration reform bill has left the country.

San Jose resident Judy Rickard, on the right in the photo, and her European-born partner, Karin Bogliolo, will board the Queen Mary II Thursday, November 5 and set sail for England. Bogliolo’s six-month tourist visa expired this month and was forced to jump the pond again until she can re-apply for entry to the United States.

“We thought we would treat ourselves to a fashionable crossing of the Atlantic,” said Rickard in a phone interview from the Denver airport this week.

It is the first time that the couple, together four years, has left the country together for an extended period of time. In the past Rickard had remained stateside, apart from a days-long visit overseas, while awaiting Bogliolo’s return to the Bay Area.

“No law allows me to sponsor her” for American citizenship, said Rickard, who found a housemate to take care of her home and cat while she is away. “I did apply to sponsor her through Mike Honda’s office, of course it was denied when it went to the next step.”

The women, whose story was picked up by the national media this summer, have rented an apartment in the south of France for two months and then plan to travel throughout the Iberian Peninsula. Bogliolo, who was born in Germany and has British citizenship, could not say for sure if the women would return to America sometime next year.

“I don’t know if I will ever be back there. The likelihood is they will grant me a new visa but there is no guarantee,” she said. “It is hard seeing friends and family and saying goodbye. Right now I am okay today.”

The couple attended a community forum that Honda held in the South Bay and related their struggle to remain together on American soil. After pondering the women’s predicament, Honda instructed his staff to incorporate rights for binational same-sex couples into the Reuniting Families Act he is pushing through Congress.

The legislation faces an uphill battle and has been put on hold as lawmakers in Washington struggle to pass health care reform. It is unclear if Democrats will make it a priority in 2010 when House members will be up for re-election.

“I have hope, I am not sure about confidence, of seeing laws for binationals passed. We will see how things work in Washington,” said Bogliolo. “I am not sure I have real confidence but I do have real hope. I do think it will happen one of these days but not sure how quickly.”

A Golden Girls tribute event planned for the Castro Saturday, November 14 has been canceled due to the hospitalization of actress Rue McClanahan, who played Blanche Deveraux on the campy NBC sitcom.

In a statement McClanahan apologized for having to miss her San Francisco appearance but said she had to be a no show on doctor’s orders.

“My darlings, I’m just devastated that I am going to have to miss my own tribute at the Castro Theatre,” stated McClanahan from her hospital room, according to the e-mailed statement. “Unfortunately, my doctor has laid down the law, and I’m currently having some maintenance on the old ticker. Trust me, I’d much rather be in San Francisco having fun and being adored by all of you.”

McClanahan, 75, is one of two surviving cast members from the beloved television series. Betty White, 87, who was the ditzy Rose Nylund on Golden Girls, is still acting.

Beatrice “Bea” Arthur, who played Dorothy Zbornak on the show, died in April at the age of 87. Estelle Getty, who played Arthur’s mother Sophia Petrillo on the show, died in 2008 three days shy of her 85th birthday.

Event producer Marc Huestis announced the sudden cancellation Wednesday, November 4. A VIP reception with the aging actress and Del Shores, who was to interview McClanahan on stage, had nearly sold out while tickets for the event were selling briskly, according to Huestis.

“I understand that many folk were excited to attend this tribute, and deeply and sincerely apologize for the inconvenience this unfortunate situation has caused,” Huestis stated. “Our collective hearts go out to Ms. McClanahan for a speedy recovery.”

Huestis said he hopes to reschedule the event. For now refunds can be secured through ticket vendors, and refund information is available at (415) 863-0611.

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, who made worldwide headlines when he ordered city officials to marry same-sex couples in 2004, abruptly bowed out of the 2010 governor’s race Friday, October 30.

“With a young family and responsibilities at City Hall, I have found it impossible to commit the time required to complete this effort the way it needs to – and should be – done,” Newsom said in a statement.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Newsom canceled a planned fundraiser in southern California, leading to speculation he was leaving the race.

Newsom, 42, had been lagging in public opinion polls and fundraising for months, trailing Attorney General Jerry Brown by as much as 20 points. Brown has not formally declared himself a candidate for governor – a job he held for two terms in the 1970s – but is widely expected to seek the office.

Newsom enjoyed support from many in the LGBT community because of his actions in 2004, just a few weeks after being sworn in as mayor, that allowed same-sex couples to marry. The weddings continued for a month, and the marriages were later invalidated by the state Supreme Court, setting he stage for the court’s ruling last year that legalized same-sex marriage.

However, the passage of Proposition 8 last November ended the nuptials.

[Updated: Openly gay San Francisco Supervisor Bevan Dufty said he was "stunned" by Newsom's announcement.

"I'm really stunned," said Dufty, who this month announced he is running for mayor in 2011.

Dufty said Newsom ran a good campaign, and inspired people, despite the fact that he was unable to parlay that support into campaign contributions.

"I think he was a great candidate," Dufty said.

In his statement, Newsom said that he would "continue to fight for change and the causes for which I care deeply – universal health care, a cleaner environment and a green economy for our families, better education for our children, and, of course, equal rights under the law for all citizens."]

Thom Lynch, the former executive director of the San Francisco LGBT Community Center, has stepped in as interim executive director for New Leaf: Services for Our Community, which helps LGBT people with substance abuse and mental health issues and provides senior services.

Lynch, 50, who started the job Wednesday, October 21, replaces Ann Harrison. He said that he expects to be in the position for six to nine months, as the agency goes through a strategic planning process.

New Leaf “has had tremendous success,” said Lynch, but it’s also “facing major changes in health insurance with Healthy San Francisco and whatever comes out of Congress this year, so it’s a great time for the organization to look at its strengths and challenges.”

Healthy San Francisco isn’t health insurance but was designed to make health care services accessible and affordable to uninsured San Franciscans.

Health care legislation is grinding toward the finish line in Congress.

Lynch said that insurance changes could include possible new limits on the number of times people can see a counselor.

“The organization’s in pretty good shape financially, but there are of course challenges,” said Lynch.

He said that he isn’t anticipating changes to services.

New Leaf’s not looking for a new permanent executive director right away, but the plan is to have a new head in place by the end of the planning process, said Lynch.

Lynch indicated he’s not interested in the job himself.

“That’s not part of what I’m looking at,” he said.

Since he left the LGBT Community Center in August 2007, Lynch said that he’s been consulting, and returned two months ago from Spain, where he’d been working for one company looking for venture capital and helping manage a data storage company.

Magnet, the gay men’s health center in the Castro, next week will play host to the first town hall with the major candidates running for District 8 supervisor.

All four of the well-known out candidates competing to succeed termed out Supervisor Bevan Dufty in 2010 have agreed to attend the event. Dufty, who is running for mayor in 2011, will also be on hand at the public’s first chance to meet and greet the wannabe supes contenders. The town hall will run from 7 to 9 p.m. Tuesday, October 27.

The get together comes one night after the board of the Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club is set to vote on a contentious proposal to suspend its bylaws and do an early dual endorsement for D8 candidates Rebecca Prozan and Scott Wiener.

The idea to split Alice’s nod between the two former co-chairs of the club is roiling the more moderate LGBT political group and has incensed the campaign of Laura Spanjian, another past Alice co-chair.

Along with shutting Spanjian out of the competition for Alice’s endorsement, the proposal would also block former Alice board member Rafael Mandelman from the endorsement process altogether. Wiener’s and Prozan’s backers say they have the votes needed to push through the dual endorsement, but Spanjian’s supporters have been hitting the phone lines to try to stop it in its tracks.

The Alice board meets behind closed doors, so it will be interesting to see if the internal club dispute spills out into the open Tuesday night.

That same evening the more progressive Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club is set to vote on whether to give its endorsement in the D8 race to Mandelman, its current president. Considering none of the other candidates plan to be at the Milk Club meeting, which starts at the same time as the town hall, it is a safe bet that Mandelman has the endorsement locked up.

Magnet is located at 4122 18th Street, while the Milk Club meeting takes place at the Women’s Building at 3543 18th Street.

After the Bay Area Reporter’s Political Notebook reported last week that a gay man who publicly opposed a change to the city’s sanctuary city policy received a homophobic phone message, liberal San Francisco Supervisor Chris Daly contacted the paper to denounce the hate speech.

The anonymous caller left the diatribe on the answering machine of Colin Gallagher, who had spoken out against legislation that would restrict city officials from reporting illegal immigrant youth who are arrested to federal immigration authorities until after they are convicted of their crimes.

The unidentified male caller contacted Gallagher at home and left him a message that both attacked Gallagher and praised Daly, who supports the policy change introduced by openly gay Supervisor David Campos.

Following the publication of the column in the October 15 edition of the B.A.R, Daly e-mailed to say he was surprised to see his name come up in the item and denounced the caller for using hate speech in a policy dispute.

“As you know, I have prided myself on my work on behalf of San Francisco’s LGBT community and immigrant communities. I truly believe that peoples’ liberation struggles are interdependent,” wrote Daly. “I also take this opportunity to denounce the homophobic comment reported in your column, as I denounce the many racist and anti-immigrant comments that I have received.”

At their meeting Tuesday, October 20 the Board of Supervisors passed Campos’ legislation by a mayoral-veto-proof majority of 8-2, with Supervisors Carmen Chu and Sean Elsbernd opposed. Supervisor Michela Alioto Pier was excused to attend a funeral, while openly gay Supervisor Bevan Dufty, a mayoral candidate in 2011, provided the vote needed to block Mayor Gavin Newsom’s veto threat.

But the mayor’s spokesman told the San Francisco Chronicle that the policy change is unenforceable and will be ignored by the mayor.

“The Campos bill isn’t worth the paper it’s written on – it’s unenforceable and he knows that,” Ballard told the daily paper. “We are not going to put our law enforcement officers in legal jeopardy just because the Board of Supervisors wants to make a statement.”

To read the rest of the Chronicle’s coverage of the policy dispute, visit http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2009/10/21/MNO61A8DTN.DTL.

Out and Equal Workplace Advocates, an LGBT-focused business advisory group based in San Francisco, has scored a major get for its annual summit this fall: John Berry, the openly gay director of the Office of Personnel Management.

Formerly the head of the National Zoo, Berry is the highest ranking person in President Barack Obama’s administration. He has been the White House’s most public gay surrogate of late as it battles against a sea of criticism from the LGBT community that the president has not been forceful enough in pushing LGBT rights.

At a Pride rally in Washington D.C. earlier this month, he reiterated the administration’s support for passage of hate crimes legislation, a fully inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act, the repeal of military’s anti-gay “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, and the repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act, which prevents married same-sex couples from receiving federal benefits.

Berry will oversee implementation of the memorandum Obama signed last week extending some benefits to the spouses of LGBT federal employees. And he has vowed to continue to advocate for the extension of heath care and retirement benefits, something the White House claims it can not do due to the anti-gay federal Defense of Marriage Act.

“Everyone should take part in this opportunity to hear directly from someone who is helping shape LGBT history,” Out and Equal Executive Director Selisse Berry wrote in an e-mail released Wednesday, June 24 announcing the news. “He is actively working to secure equal rights not only for federal employees, but for all of us by inspiring change and being a catalyst for equality.”

The 2009 Out and Equal Workplace Summit, a conference on LGBT workplace equality, will take place October 6-9 at Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort outside Orlando, Florida. Berry will deliver his keynote address during the summit’s Friday afternoon plenary.

For more information about the conference, visit http://www.outandequal.org/summit-2009.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today picked Ronald E. Albers for a judgeship on the San Francisco County Superior Court.

It is believed to be the first time the Republican governor has selected an openly gay person for a judge seat.

Albers, 60, of San Francisco, has served as a commissioner for the Superior Court since 2002. He will earn $178,789.

The Bay Area Reporter will have more on Albers’s selection in next week’s issue Thursday, June 18.