The world lost a bright star, and I lost a lifelong friend, with the recent passing of my former TV news co-anchor Ginger Casey.

It's time for Bay Area Reporter readers to cast their ballots for the LGBTQ newspaper's annual Best of the Bay contest.

The obituary for Chris Nigoghossian, who served the homeless and worked as a community health worker. He enjoyed music and nature.

The obituary for Ronald Charles Agnew, who served in Vietnam and went on to work for the federal court system. He was also involved in drag royalty.

The obituary for Aldo Arias, who worked as a hair stylist/beautician for most of his professional career and lived in San Francisco for many years.

The obituary for Jon Bush, who was an electronic music composer and longtime member of the dance music collective Moontribe.

The obituary for Stephen Merrell Jull-Patterson, who wrote and performed one-man shows and later moved to Alameda where he and his husband raised their four children.

It's been more than a month since gay San Francisco cyclist David Sexton was killed in a hit-and-run crash in the East Bay city of Richmond, and his partner told the Bay Area Reporter that he's frustrated with the slowness of the investigation.

The obituary for Robert (Rob) Kevin Morrison, who retired from the California Department of Social services. He enjoyed traveling and searching for antiques.

The obituary for Jon P. Borset, an early gay activist who was arrested at the New Year's dance at California Hall in 1965.

The Reverend Albert Stephen Pieters, a gay man living with AIDS whose interview by televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker in the 1980s opened people's minds about the disease, died July 8 in Los Angeles.

Bruce St. John Maher, a gay man and glass artist, died peacefully in his sleep at his home in Monte Rio on April 9, Easter Sunday.

The obituary for Robert Neal Thornton, who owned The Cinch Saloon on San Francisco's historic Polk Street.

The obituary for Robert Wayne Starkey, aka the Truth Fairy, who was an LGBTQ activist, writer, and photographer.