The past 12 months were full of activity for Bay Area LGBTs. Here's a look at some news items that made it into the pages of the Bay Area Reporter in 2006. Issues from September 2005 to the present are archived online at www.ebar.com.

January

The new year brought in heavy rain that led to flooding in the Russian River area, leading to the cancellation of several events associated with promoter Pete King's New Year's bear weekend. Several resorts in the area sustained water damage from the storm. Many reopened later in the year.

Homeless queer youth conducted a survey and called on city leaders to provide more funding for housing and economic services.

Openly gay city Treasurer Jose Cisneros , who won election in November 2005, was sworn in to his first four-year term January 5. Cisneros had been appointed by Mayor Gavin Newsom in September 2004 to replace out lesbian Susan Leal, who took over as general manager for the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission.

Rebecca Prozan was elected co-chair of the Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club . Co-Chair Scott Wiener began his second year of his term leading the club.

A memorial was held January 14 for Scott Lofgren , a member of the Bay Area bisexual and sex-positive communities. Mr. Lofgren, an emergency medical technician, was killed December 2005 while assisting a motorist. He was 43.

Queer community member, filmmaker, and nightclub party founder Sarah Tucker died January 12 after she was the victim of a hit and run at Geary and Polk streets after a driver ran a red light and caused Ms. Tucker to be catapulted from her bike. She was 26.

The Edge bar ended 15 years of hosting benefits for local nonprofits and AIDS charities. Owner Don Martin cited city regulations, specifically the cost to acquire an entertainment license required for bars that provide live entertainment.

After numerous delays, the newly remodeled Eureka Valley Recreation Center in the Castro reopened. Local LGBT sports groups and queer youth were thrilled.

Father Tommy Dillon, 36, became the first openly gay priest at St. Aidan's Episcopal Church in Diamond Heights.

February

Michael Magidson, 25, Jose Merel, 26, and Jason Cazares, 26 were sentenced in connection with the murder of transgender teenager Gwen Araujo . Magidson and Merel received mandatory sentences of 15 years to life following their convictions of second-degree murder in 2005. Cazares, who entered into a plea bargain after a second jury hung in his case, received a six-year sentence.

Pioneering gay rights activist Betty Berzon died at her Southern California home January 24. She was 78 and died of cancer.

Chad Ferreira died January 30 after an apparent assault on Market Street. He was 27 and had worked at Club Papi.

Reportedly despondent following an ABC 7 News investigation into his work practices at the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department, employee Ken Bostock, 48, jumped to his death from the Golden Gate Bridge February 13.

The Catholic Archdiocese of San Francisco installed George Niederauer as its eighth archbishop.

March

Lesbian legal activist Tanya Neiman died February 27 following an eight-year battle with ovarian cancer. She was 56.

San Francisco police arrested Kyle Adams , 24, in the fatal beating of Chad Ferreira. Adams entered a plea of not guilty.

Gay U.S. Coast Guard cook Zackariah Gonzales , 19, was honorably discharged March 7 for "unsuitability due to homosexual conduct."

The Billy DeFrank LGBT Community Center in San Jose appointed transgender Aejaie Sellers as its new executive director.

A Presbyterian Church court ruled that Marin County minister Jane Spahr was not in violation of church regulations when she performed hundreds of weddings for same-sex couples over the past 30 years.

The Reverend Robert Goldstein, 61, was installed as pastor at St. Francis Lutheran Church. Goldstein came out as gay after being married for 19 years.

The Bay Area Reporter marked its 35th anniversary. The annual scholarship awarded by the Northern California chapter of the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association was named in honor of the late Bob Ross, founder and longtime publisher of the B.A.R.

Prominent gay political activist Dennis Collins died at the age of 65. He had reportedly been suffering from a long illness. His body was recovered from Stinson Beach in Marin County.

April

Trends in San Francisco predict declining HIV rates. Five years ago, health officials estimated a doubling in new HIV cases each year from 500 in 1997 to 1,084 in 2001. Now the city is estimating the number of new HIV infections will drop to 976, with gay men accounting for 772 of those cases each year.

Transgender Danielle Ryan, 44, filed a lawsuit against her former employer, the engineering firm Parsons Brinckerhoff, alleging discrimination and retaliation during her transition.

Berkeley's Gay Men's Health Collective celebrated 30 years.

Openly gay Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoe visited San Francisco and received an enthusiastic

Supervisor Bevan Dufty and co-parent Rebecca Goldfader were all smiles as they welcomed their daughter Sidney Maely Goldfader-Dufty, who was born Monday, October 2 in San Francisco. Photo: Rick Gerharter

welcome from politicos and socialites.

May

The Tenderloin AIDS Resource Center and Continuum HIV Day Services merged, following months of negotiations. TARC Executive Director Tracy Brown heads up the new Tenderloin Health agency.

A fiery car crash in the Castro on April 27 killed Frederic Lee Carver, 58, of San Francisco.

San Francisco-based Project Inform announced a new management structure and dropped the executive director position. Leading the agency are Martin Delaney , founding director; Elisabeth Loeffler , development director; and Glen Tanking , finance director.

June

AIDS turned 25.

The Lighthouse Community Center in Hayward hired Patricia Kevena Fili, 55, as its first part-time director.

San Francisco Supervisor Tom Ammiano was inducted into San Francisco State University's Hall of Fame.

The Reverend G. Penny Nixon announced she would resign as senior pastor at Metropolitan Community Church-San Francisco.

Openly gay Joe D'Alessandro was named CEO of the San Francisco Convention and Visitors Bureau.

San Francisco held its massive Pride Parade, which featured grand marshals Marion Abdullah, Cecilia Chung, Robert Bernardo , Lancy Woo and Cristy Chung , Kathleen McGuire , Sal Rosselli, and retired police Sergeant Elliott Blackstone . The organization grand marshal was the Billy DeFrank LGBT Community Center.

John Manzon-Santos, the longtime executive director of the Asian Pacific Islander Wellness Center, announced he would step down in the fall.

University of California, Santa Cruz Chancellor Denice Denton jumped to her death from a 42-story apartment building in San Francisco Saturday, June 24. She was reportedly despondent over work and personal issues.

Author and activist Eric Rofes died June 26 of an apparent heart attack in Provincetown, Massachusetts, where he had been spending the summer. He was 51.

July

Gay journalist Joe Dignan died June 29 of an apparent heart attack. He was 49. Mr. Dignan wrote for the Bay Area Reporter and other publications.

Longtime LGBT community supporter Dr. Vern Bullough died of cancer June 21 at his home in Southern California. He was 77.

Queer youth services and transgender job services received $750,000 and $300,000 respectively in city funding approved by the Board of Supervisors.

Gay Games VII got under way in Chicago. Hundreds of Bay Area LGBT athletes attended. It was later announced that the event incurred a deficit of $35,000, which organizers hoped to make up from the sale of merchandise.

Metropolitan Community Church-San Francisco shuttered its Eureka Street building after engineering reports found it structurally unsafe. The congregation moved services to the LGBT Community Center.

Actor Dean Goodman died July 4. He was 86.

The Board of Supervisors approved groundbreaking legislation pushed by Supervisor Tom Ammiano that virtually guarantees access to basic healthcare for city residents.

Transgender activist Robert Haaland was named to the Board of Appeals.

District Attorney Kamala Harris convened an historic conference on combating "gay panic" defenses.

August

Montreal's Outgames took place and several Bay Area athletes attended. It was announced later that organizers had a deficit of $ 5 million and could not pay creditors.

The latest numbers for diagnosed AIDS cases in San Francisco showed a decline for the first half of the year. Health officials cautioned, however, that reporting delays by doctors and others likely mean the figures would increase in future reports.

The Reverend Chris Glaser of Georgia was named interim senior pastor at MCC-SF.

Pioneering sex researcher John Money died July 7 in Towson, Maryland of complications related to Parkinson's disease. He was 84.

Catholic Charities got out of the adoption business after the Vatican ordered a halt to adoptions by same-sex couples. The agency instead partnered with the gay-friendly Family Builders by Adoption.

Robert Rosenkrantz, 39, who shot and killed a schoolmate who attacked him at a high school graduation party in 1985 and later outed Rosenkrantz, was finally released on parole after spending 21 years in prison.

Jovida Guevara-Ross was hired as executive director of Community United Against Violence.

Former San Francisco Supervisor Sue Bierman , a longtime ally of the LGBT community, died August 7 following a car accident. She was 82.

Out lesbian Mirian Saez, 50, was named by Mayor Gavin Newsom to lead operations on Treasure Island.

The Reverend Gregory Stewart, 48, was named senior minister of San Francisco's Unitarian Universalist Church.

Jaron Nabors, 23, the star witness in the Gwen Araujo murder trial, was sentenced to 11 years in prison. The plea-bargain had been made in exchange for his testimony.

September

The Horizons Foundation and And Castro for All announced a fellowship program for LGBT people of color in an effort to build leadership. The foundation also received a $2.6 million donation from the estate of Dr. David Shupp.

Lesbian artist Tee Corinne died August 27 at her home in southern Oregon after a battle with liver cancer. She was 62.

Lucille Horn, the mother of B.A.R. publisher Thomas E. Horn , died August 29 in New Mexico of complications from Alzheimer's disease. She was 90.

The B.A.R. won the Best Bay Area Community Newspaper Award from the San Francisco Bay Area Publicity Club.

Tyron Garner, one of the plaintiffs in the historic Lawrence v. Texas case, died in a Houston hospital of meningitis. He was 39.

Macy's deemed work from clients at the Lavender Youth Recreation and Information Center too graphic for its "Teen Night" that was part of the Passport AIDS fundraiser.

Lou Enright, affectionately known as the "Mayor of Diamond Street" died September 10 of complications from esophageal cancer. He was 73.

Lesbian activist Aleta Fenceroy died September 23 after a battle with cancer. She was 57.

A memorial was held for former Church Street Bed and Breakfast owner Julie Bullard, 65, who along with her daughter Selby Bullard, 30, and two others were killed at the elder Bullard's Black Bear Bed and Breakfast in Newby, Maine.

October

San Francisco Supervisor Bevan Dufty and co-parent Rebecca Goldfader welcomed the birth of their daughter, Sidney Maely Goldfader-Dufty on October 2. Little Sidney was later verbally attacked by KGO radio host Pete Wilson , who characterized the family as "loveless" because Dufty and Goldfader are not in a romantic relationship.

Following reports of several assaults – including a reported rape – in the Castro District, community members organizer the Castro Community on Patrol.

Dennis Vercher, longtime editor of the Dallas Voice, died September 27 after a lengthy battle with AIDS. He was 53.

AIDS activist Jeff Getty died October 9 in Joshua Tree, California following cancer chemotherapy and a long struggle with AIDS. He was 49.

Mike Marshall, executive director of Under One Roof, announced his resignation.

Esperanza Macias was named executive director of Health Initiatives for Youth .

November

Shootings mar the Castro Halloween street party. A gunman injured nine people and a 10th person suffered injuries after being trampled in the melee.

The health department unveiled its new "Disclosure " HIV prevention campaign, which calls on men disclosing their HIV status as a means of prevention.

District 8 Supervisor Bevan Dufty easily won re-election. On the Peninsula, openly gay candidate Evan Low won a seat on the Campbell City Council. In the East Bay, openly gay Berkeley City Council member Kriss Worthington won re-election, and bisexual Rebecca Kaplan was re-elected to the AC Transit board.

After months of financial instability, the Jon Sims Center for the Arts closed its Mission Street site. Some of the center's programs moved to other venues.

Poet Assunta Femia died November 4 in Oregon from liver cancer, secondary to hepatitis B. He was 58.

Lancy Woo and Cristy Chung, lead plaintiffs in California's marriage case, announced that they have split up.

John Burnside, the widower of gay rights pioneer Harry Hay, celebrated his 90th birthday with a party at the LGBT Community Center on November 11.

Openly gay CBS 5 political editor Hank Plante was inducted into the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Silver Circle.

Retired police Sergeant Elliott Blackstone , an ally of the LGBT community, died October 25 after suffering a stroke. He was 81.

December

Assemblyman Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) reintroduced his gender-neutral marriage bill on the opening day of the legislative session.

State Senator Carole Migden (D-San Francisco) introduced legislation to expand the state's domestic partner registry to include heterosexual couples under the age of 62. The current registry is open to same-sex couples and opposite sex couples over the age of 62.

Doctor and activist Mike Alcalay died November 18 from a rare and aggressive leukemia after surviving AIDS for more than 20 years. He was 65.

Kathleen Meyer was named the executive director of the Academy of Friends.

Transgender woman Jessica Clark , a longtime employee of several Castro businesses, was found dead in her apartment December 9. She was 62 and friends said she was a diabetic.

LGBT community members Cecilia Chung and Rabbi Yoel Kahn were reappointed by Mayor Gavin Newsom to the city's Human Rights Commission.

Steve Kawa, Mayor Gavin Newsom's openly gay chief of staff, resigned after three years, saying he wanted to spend more time with his partner and their two young children.

The state Supreme Court agreed to hear the same-sex marriage cases. Oral arguments are expected sometime in 2007.