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Isak Lindenauer, left, and Allan Baird display a mock-up for the proposed Rainbow Honor Walk plaques to be installed on Castro sidewalks. Photo by Rick Gerharter

The Board of Supervisors’ City Operations and Neighborhood Services Committee is expected to vote Monday, March 8 on a project that would create a walk of fame for LGBT historical figures in the Castro district.

Dubbed the Rainbow Honor Walk, the project envisions laying rainbow-colored plaques inscribed with the names of famous LGBT figures with some connection to the city’s gayborhood or LGBT community into the sidewalks on Castro and Market Streets as well as several side streets.

The project is the brainchild of storeowner Isak Lindenauer, who has been pushing for approval of the gay stepping stones to history since March of last year, when the Bay Area Reporter first wrote about the project. Since then he has convinced both the Castro merchants group and community benefit district to back the project and has teamed up with David Perry, a Castro resident who owns his own PR firm.

“We want to show the richness and diversity of LGBT people by placing their names on plaques in the sidewalks of the Castro community. We hope to educate and bring pride, as well as added commerce, to our streets,” write Lindenauer and Perry in a prospectus explaining their idea.

Since the city has also signed on to the project, which has the backing of District 8 Supervisor Bevan Dufty, is is expected to win approval. The final costs for buying and installing the plaques has yet to be raised, and there is no clear timeline for when the first one – expected to bear the name of gay icon the late Supervisor Harvey Milk – would be installed.

The project backers intend to seek the public’s input on which figures in LGBT history to include. The plan is to roll out the plaques in groups, with the first 20 to go in on both sides of Castro Street, followed by another 10 along 19th Street in front of the Harvey Milk Civil Rights Academy.

Another set of plaques, anywhere from 10 to 20, would be installed on 18th Street, with a final batch of up to 20 on Market Street.

For more info, email raiinbowhonorwalk@gmail.com.

The meeting takes place at 10:30 a.m. Monday, March 8 at Room 250 inside City Hall.

The Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club is set to give an an early endorsement to Theresa Sparks in the race to replace District 6 Supervisor Chris Daly on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.

Sparks, a transgender woman who led the powerful police commission prior to being named executive director of the city’s Human Rights Commission, is one of 22 people who have declared their intent to seek Daly’s seat in the fall election.

The more progressive Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club has already endorsed its former president Debra Walker, an out lesbian artist and member of the Building Inspection Commission, in the D6 race.

Other out candidates running to replace the termed out Daly, who represents the South of Market and Tenderloin neighborhoods, include Entertainment Commissioner Jim Meko; drag queen Anna Conda, aka Glendon Hyde; AIDS activist Jeff Gustavson, who is HIV positive; and gay activists James Keys and Gary Converse.

Alice club members will vote at their meeting Monday, March 8 on whether to suspend the club’s by-laws to give an early endorsement to Sparks, its former co-chair. The vote is largely a formality as the moderate group’s political action committee already voted last month to give Sparks the nod. The club rarely rejects the decision of its PAC when it comes to endorsements.

Also expected to receive Alice’s endorsement are District Attorney Kamala Harris for her June primary bid to be the Democratic nominee for California attorney general and Supervisor Carmen Chu for her re-election campaign in District 4 this November.

The endorsements will become final when the club votes again on the early nods at its April 5th general meeting. The Alice Club meets from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at the LGBT Community Center, 1800 Market Street.

Today the backers of the effort to repeal California’s ban against same-sex marriage this November assailed comments made earlier this week by newly appointed state Assembly Speaker John A. Perez (D-Los Angeles), who told LGBT news outlets Tuesday, March 2 that the Restore Equality 2010 campaign was essentially a bust.

Signature gatherer Eric Ross, right, holds a clipboard as David Lubensky, left, signs a petition to repeal Proposition 8 in 2010 last fall in the Castro. Photo by Jane Philomen Cleland

The openly gay state lawmaker said because of the group’s lack of money and problems collecting enough valid signatures from state voters, so far, to meet an April deadline, “there is no practical way to get it on the ballot in 2010. That window has already closed.”

Asked to respond to Perez’s assertions, neither John Henning, the executive director of Love Honor Cherish, the group overseeing the 2010 repeal effort, nor Eugene Hedlund, the campaign manager for Restore Equality 2010, responded to the Bay Area Reporter ’s requests for comment by press time Wednesday.

But early this morning (Friday, March 5) Restore Equality leaders issued a statement in which they called Perez’s assessment of the campaign “greatly exaggerated.” And they called on Perez to wait until April 13 for a final assessment of their effort to win back marriage equality this fall.

“With apologies to Paul McCartney, rumors of Restore Equality 2010’s death have been greatly exaggerated,” stated Sean Bohac, chair of Restore Equality 2010’s state advisory panel. “Our deadline is still more than five weeks away, and the support for our campaign continues to grow.”

Bohac argues in the release that there is plenty of time to collect the nearly 700,000 signatures needed to qualify a Prop 8 repeal measure on the ballot. And the group pointed out that, while the majority of LGBT rights groups are backing repeal in 2012, plenty of other groups support moving forward this year.

Among them are the Fresno County Democratic Party, the Southbay Democratic Club, Green Party chapters, and various LGBT and civil rights organizations, stated the release. On Wednesday, the San Diego chapter of Democracy for America announced its endorsement of the 2010 repeal effort.

“We urge Assemblyman Perez to allow California voters time to be heard,” stated Bohac. “If the Speaker wants to wait until 2012 to fight for marriage equality, certainly he can wait until April 13, 2010 to let all California voters have their say.”

Supporters of the 2010 repeal effort in San Francisco can attend a drag show fundraiser tonight (Friday, March 5) from 6 to 9 p.m. at Castro club Trigger, 2348 Market Street.  There is a suggested donation of $10 to attend.

The Bay Area representatives for Restore Equality 2010 will give an update at the event on where they are in their campaign efforts.

Already facing complaints from LGBT activists and rights groups over his handling of an immigration issue, San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera added more grist for his detractors to chew on today by backing a San Francisco Superior Court judge facing two gay lawyers who want his seat in the June primary.

Herrera (pictured at left) has endorsed Judge Richard Ulmer to be retained to his seat on the state court. In a release issued Thursday (March 4) announcing the endorsement, which did not quote Herrera, Ulmer thanked the city attorney for his support in the race.

“I want to thank the City Attorney for his endorsement and confidence in my ability to continue to serve as a San Francisco Superior Court Judge,” stated Ulmer.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed Ulmer to his judicial seat last summer. He now must go before the voters this June to retain his seat on the bench.

He faces two openly gay attorneys, however, who say the court lacks LGBT members and hope to win outright this summer or end up in a runoff election in the fall should none of the three candidates receive 50 percent plus one of the vote in June.

Both Michael Nava and Dan Dean are considered formidable candidates in the race against Ulmer, who was a registered Republican when he was appointed and moved back to San Francisco with his family once he was sworn onto the bench.

While Dean has promised to eschew attacking his opponents in the campaign, Nava has made Ulmer’s political affiliation and residency an issue, despite the fact he lives in Daly City outside the court’s boundary. [Judicial candidates are not required to live in the court district in which they are seeking a seat on the bench.]

In his press release Ulmer (pictured at right) addressed both points. He noted that not only does he reside in San Francisco but that his daughter attends St. Ignatius High School. Ulmer also mentioned that he is a founding member of the San Francisco Road Runners.

In terms of his GOP ties, Ulmer stated that he litigated pro bono in a suit brought by the Prison Law Office and Disability Rights Advocates that was aimed at changing the “horrendous conditions” in the California Youth Authority and juvenile halls.

The release stated that Ulmer was “unafraid to sue Governor Schwarzanegger” [sic] and “spent thousands of hours fighting for the rights of the voiceless and vulnerable.”  He was named “California Lawyer Attorney of the Year” in 2006 for his work, noted the release.

In addition to Herrera, Ulmer has the backing of  48 San Francisco Superior Court judges; Don Specter, executive director of the Prison Law Office; and Supervisor Sean Elsbernd.

Ulmer’s campaign Web site at www.judgeulmer2010.com is still under construction.

In his first press call with LGBT news outlets since becoming the state’s first openly gay Assembly Speaker, John A. Perez (D-Los Angeles) said that he has not yet decided if he will oppose the governor’s choice to fill the vacant lieutenant governor post.

But Perez said he does know for certain that, as of now, nominee state Senator Abel Maldonado (R-Santa Maria) has yet to secure the 41 votes he needs for the Assembly to confirm him.

Not only does Maldonado’s fate hang in the balance, but so does former openly gay state Assemblyman John Laird. The Santa Cruz Democrat has been preparing to jump into the race for Maldonado’s central coast Senate seat as soon as it becomes vacant.

Asked by the Bay Area Reporter during the Tuesday, March 2 call with gay media outlets on where he currently stood in regard to Maldonado, Perez said he was still mulling over whether to vote to confirm or reject the nomination. Last month Perez was among the majority of Assembly members who voted against Maldonado being given the position, which had been held by Democrat John Garamendi until he resigned after winning a special election for a U.S. House seat in the East Bay.

“I have not made up my mind. But I do not think he has the 41 votes,” said Perez, seen at right during his swearing in ceremony Monday, March 1. “I have given him some new advice to help him get those 41 votes. It is up to him to get those votes and it is up to him to convince me why he is deserving of my vote.

“He has made some progress on those lines,” added Perez.

The state Senate did vote last month to confirm Maldonado as lieutenant governor, but the Assembly twice voted the same day to reject him.

Perez’s comments this week are a significant softening his position from when he last spoke with the B.A.R. several weeks ago at an Oakland event February 11 only hours after the Assembly rejected the nomination. Then he said that Maldonado’s “nomination reflects the worst of what happens in government. We shouldn’t reward that kind of behavior by ratifying the worst back room dealing.”

Perez said he had warned Maldonado beforehand that he would not be confirmed by the Assembly.

“I told him he didn’t have 41 votes. He didn’t believe me and he put himself up for a vote,” said Perez. “He was turned down.”

After first threatening to swear in Maldonado anyway, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger instead opted to renominate him to the post.

The Legislature now has until May 17 to either confirm or reject the nomination, otherwise Maldonado will automatically be given the seat.

As for what advice Perez gave the nominee on how to secure his confirmation, Perez did not say. According to a blog post on the Sacramento Bee’s Web site, Maldonado said Pérez’s advice, which he agreed with, was to “let cooler minds cool down.”

“I really believe that as cooler minds cool down a little bit, I think we’ll have a vote soon and I hope we’ll have one that’s hopefully positive in my way, and a bipartisan one,” Maldonado told the paper.

He added that the only agreement between the two lawmakers  is that fixing the state’s budget problems “is more important than my confirmation.”

Maldonado predicted that once lawmakers wrap up work on the mid-year budget cuts then the Assembly would take up his confirmation vote. It could come as early as next week.

Former state Senator Carole Migden (pictured below) and others are  expected to appear Tuesday, March 2 at San Francisco’s LGBT Community Center to talk about community choice aggregation, which enables cities and counties to work together to procure energy.

Pacific Gas and Electric Co., the investor-owned utility that supplies power to San Francisco, is sure to be a main topic at the forum.

The Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club is hosting the community choice town hall, which starts at 6:45 p.m. The LGBT center is at 1800 Market Street.

Migden, an out lesbian who represented San Francisco as an assemblywoman before she became a senator, authored Assembly Bill 117 in 2002. That legislation facilitates the ability of communities to procure electricity directly from electricity suppliers.

According to the Milk Club, community choice aggregation – rebranded in San Francisco as “CleanpowerSF” – “is finally getting off the ground in San Francisco and PG&E wants to prevent this from happening anywhere in he State.”

According to a statement, the club wants people to be “prepaired [sic] to deal with false advertizing [sic] claims from PG&E and the monopoly’s sponsored ballot initiative, Prop. 16, this June.”

Among other things, Prop 16 would amend the state constitution to require local governments to get two-thirds of voters to approve providing electricity through a community choice program if any public funds or bonds are involved.

According to the Milk club, “PG&E will spend millions of dollars in the June election to take away local control and Community Choice regarding renewable energy.”

PG&E did not immediately provide comment.

Besides Migden, out gay Supervisor David Campos and Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi are among those who are also expected to appear at the forum, which is free.

Capleton, the raggae singer who’s called for the killing of gays and lesbians, is striking back at critics.

A statement from his Kingston, Jamaica-based management said the gay community and Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation “have once again used their strong arm tactics to intimidate concert promoters and venue owners putting misinformation in the public about the artiste to further their own agendas.”

Capleton’s (pictured at right) February 20 appearance in Oakland was cancelled days beforehand, despite little protest from the LGBT community there. Outcries from activists in other parts of the state had led to the singer’s shows being cancelled in other cities.

According to the Stop Murder Music campaign, Capleton’s lyrics have included lines that translate to “All queers and sodomites should be killed” and “All queers who come around here/This mama earth says none can survive.”Claudette Kemp, the singer’s manager, has denied Capleton’s called for gays and lesbians to be killed.

The statement said, “Capleton is very disappointed that his many fans (that cross all races and creeds) have not been able to see him at his scheduled shows in California … He has performed at the same venues and festivals over the past two years with no incident bringing a message of love for all through Reggae music.”

“Capleton will continue to spread a positive and spiritual message through music to the four corners of the Earth and continue to stand firm that universal love can unite all mankind,” the statement concluded.

The singer is scheduled to perform Saturday, February 27 in Miami at the annual Bob Marley Day/Caribbean Festival 2010 and will feature his new song “Haitians,” in tribute and support to earthquake victims.

Voters in District 8 curious to meet the latest candidate looking to represent them in City Hall can do so this weekend.

Bill Hemenger, who quit his job in January at Oracle to jump into the race, will have his official campaign kick-off event this Sunday, February 28 at Castro bar Blackbird on Market Street. The event takes place from 1 to 3 p.m.

The candidate had his public debut this week at a candidate’s forum Monday night. As the Bay Area Reporter noted in its coverage of the debate, Hemenger is one of three largely unknown male candidates vying for the District 8 seat against four well-known gay or lesbian Democratic Party activists.

Unlike perenial candidate Starchild, a bisexual sex worker whose platform heralds laissez faire government, and James Boeger, who seems to be more of a political jokester than serious candidate, Hemenger wants to bring his business acumen to bear on running San Francisco.

He could use his corporate ties to give the quartet of more established candidates in the race a serious challenge for the seat. His opponents are sure to be clamoring to see what sort of fundraising prowess Hemenger has when the next campaign finance reports are due later this year.

Two LGBT rights groups have announced events they are planning to correspond with the inaugural Harvey Milk Day this May 22 in California.

Equality California, the statewide LGBT lobbying group, and Equality Across America, a national grassroots group spawned from last fall’s LGBT march on Washington D.C., are both organizing celebrations for the first Harvey Milk Day.

The spring Saturday is Milk’s birthday; he would have turned 80 this year. But the former San Francisco supervisor (pictured at right) was gunned down in November of 1978 along with then San Francisco Mayor George Moscone in City Hall by former board colleague Dan White. Only the year prior had Milk become the first out person elected to public office in a major American city by winning his supervisor seat.

Last year Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed into law a bill pushed by openly gay state Senator Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) creating the first known state holiday for an LGBT person after initially vetoing the legislation the year before.

As the Bay Area Reporter earlier this month reported, the newly formed Harvey Milk Foundation is working with San Francisco officials to mount a weekend’s worth of events in honor of the slain gay rights leader, including an awards ceremony, street fair and diversity breakfast. Milk’s gay nephew, Stuart Milk, has been a driving force behind the plans.

Stuart Milk has now also signed on to appear at an EQCA event that Saturday afternoon at the Osbourne family estate in Hidden Hills for its inaugural Harvey Milk Day celebration. Matriarch Sharon Osbourne, the wife of rocker Ozzy Osbourne, will host a sunset cocktail party and reception to raise funds for EQCA from 3 to 6 p.m. that day.

In San Francisco that evening EQCA will host a 1970s themed party at Castro bar The Lookout. Attendees are being asked to wear bell bottoms and miniskirts for the 21 and older event.

The political group also is hosting a ladies party in Los Angeles the night of Friday, May 21 and a brunch at an undisclosed private home in Palm Springs Sunday, May 23 with Stuart Milk and EQCA Executive Director Geoff Kors.

“This May, let’s celebrate together and honor Harvey Milk’s legacy with actions that make a difference,” wrote Kors in an email sent to EQCA members Wednesday, February 24.

As for Equality Across America, it is calling for a week of local actions beginning May 17, the International Day Against Homophobia that would culminate on Milk Day. The group says it is organizing a series of regional conferences where “activists from Seattle to Gainesville will debate out political questions, discuss strategy and tactics of our movement and begin the process of developing a broad new leadership.”

A bit of musical chairs is being played out at City Hall as out District 8 Supervisor Bevan Dufty and Mayor Gavin Newsom are swapping aides with one another.

The mayor has rehired former staffer Nicolas King, who is straight, to be his policy adviser on criminal justice. King had worked as a policy associate in the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice prior to joining Dufty’s staff as one of two aides to the supervisor in 2008.

“It’s a great move, I’m happy for him and feel he’s rounded out his city experience working with me,” wrote Dufty in an email to the Bay Area Reporter, “and he will be a great asset for” the mayor and Police Chief George Gascon.

Replacing King in Dufty’s office will be Alex Randolph, (pictured at right) who was Dufty’s campaign manager during his re-election bid four years ago. Following that stint Randolph, a gay man, went to work for Newsom as his liaison to both District 8 and the LGBT community.

Newsom fired Randolph along with several other staffers in December as part of a cost-cutting move. Randolph’s first day working for Dufty will be March 1.

“I am extremely pleased that Alex will be with me as I finish my term and it’s been great knowing how loved Alex is by D8 and LGBT Community members who have enjoyed working with him in the Mayor’s office for the past two years,” wrote Dufty.