Queer activist Stephen Torres received the recommendation of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors' Rules Committee for a seat on the influential Entertainment Commission. The committee members, headed by District 3 Supervisor Aaron Peskin, voted unanimously for Torres, who also serves on the advisory board of the Castro LGBTQ Cultural District.
The full board is expected to soon take up the nomination.
Torres' application to fill Seat 2 on the commission almost put him head to head against Casey Lowdermilk, an executive with Another Planet Entertainment, the concert promotion company that assumed management of the Castro Theatre in January. The cultural district, for which Torres serves as executive board co-chair, has been strongly critical of APE's proposed renovations to the movie house. However, Peskin announced at the beginning of the Rules Committee hearing that Lowdermilk had withdrawn his application without stating why. Five other people applied for the position.
Speaking before the committee at its October 17 meeting, Torres said, "I am a 22-year veteran of the San Francisco entertainment and nightlife industry," and that he had experienced "its challenges and inequities."
As a member of the commission, he said he would represent the city's nightlife workers and would expand the commission's focus.
Seat 2 on the commission represents the interests of entertainment associations or groups. Torres is a bartender at the historic Twin Peaks Tavern in the Castro, according to his Facebook page.
Torres has a wealth of public service experience on his resume, including work on the executive board of the Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club, and as an administrative associate with the Drug Policy Alliance, which promotes alternatives to current drug policy such as harm reduction. He has also worked as a journalist for a number of San Francisco publications including the old San Francisco Bay Guardian and BrokeAssStuart.com.
Supervisor Connie Chan (District 1) was the first to vote for Torres, citing a conversation she had had with one of her constituents, a bar owner. Having asked the bar owner about his feelings about gay state Senator Scott Wiener's (D-San Francisco) ultimately unsuccessful effort to extend the city's bar closing times by two hours to 4 a.m., he told her it wasn't helpful in the face of the staffing shortages currently dogging many of the city's restaurants and bars.
Torres' emphasis on the city's nightlife workers, Chan said, "would be a unique, much needed perspective on the commission."
Gay District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman had praise for another candidate, Jonathan Larner, whom he commended for his work in keeping the popular Castro music venue Cafe du Nord open despite the challenges of the COVID pandemic, but he had equally high praise for Torres. Mandelman said he had worked extensively with Torres and had "seen his grace under pressure in sometimes very challenging circumstances."
"I think the balance breaks for Mr. Torres," said Mandelman, although he added he hoped Larner would reapply in the future.
A couple of members of the public addressed the commission in favor of Larner as well, including Lowdermilk. Commissioners heard, too, from three of Torres' supporters including Corey Fusco, the other co-executive chair of the Castro LGBTQ Cultural District advisory board, and Rosa Hernandez, who told commissioners Torres had a long history helping to organize Black, Indigenous, people of color, or BIPOC, and LGBTQ communities.
After the hearing, Torres told the Bay Area Reporter restoring the city's nightlife meant enhancing opportunities for the industry's workers.
"I was glad that what I shared resonated with the committee members, especially Supervisor Chan," Torres wrote in a text. "I really do feel that if [we] want to restore our vibrant nightlife industry to its word class status, we need to do so through equity, accessibility, and inclusion for our diverse workforce so that our vibrant business community can survive."
David Perry, a spokesperson for Another Planet, told the B.A.R. that he hadn't been aware Lowdermilk had applied. He said he would check on why Lowdermilk withdrew from consideration.
If approved by the full board, Torres will serve until July 1, 2026. He would succeed Steven Lee who, since his term ended in June, has been appointed by Mayor London Breed to the Port Commission.
The nightlife oversight body already has three out members: Cyn Wang, a queer lesbian mother who is the chief legal officer at her family's insurance company; Laura Thomas, a queer woman who is the director of harm reduction policy for the San Francisco AIDS Foundation; and Al Perez, a gay man and marketer who is president of the Filipino American Arts Exposition.
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