In the News: Bay Area Reporter

Pot pioneer Peron remembered at celebration

NEWS

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Published 03/15/2018

by David-Elijah Nahmod

	Tony Serra, longtime attorney for Dennis Peron, was one of several speakers at Peron's memorial and celebration of life March 11 in the Castro. Photo: Rick Gerharter

Hundreds gathered in the Castro Sunday, March 11, to remember medical cannabis pioneer Dennis Peron.

Peron, 71, died of lung cancer January 27. He dedicated his life to the legalization of medical cannabis after he saw the positive effects marijuana had on the lives of people with AIDS during the 1990s.

Peron's memorial and celebration of life took place in a tent that was erected on Noe Street next to Flore cafe. In addition to hundreds of supporters and friends, Peron's husband, John Entwistle, and Jeff Peron, his brother, were in attendance. Several people said they had traveled from as far away as Florida and New York in order to be there.

"Dennis would have loved this," Entwistle told the Bay Area Reporter.

Entwistle pointed out that Flore, formerly known as Cafe Flore, was where Peron co-wrote the ballot measure that became Proposition 215 and led to the legalization of medical cannabis in California in 1996. He ate lunch at the cafe a few days before he died.

"He loved Cafe Flore," Jeff Peron said. "This is where it began and ended."

Florida resident Danny Loveland recalled rolling joints for Peron for $50 a day. "Thirty-five years later he offered me a room in his house," Loveland said. "His legacy is the positive effect he had on so many people. All the things he did for us changed society. The proudest moment of my life was walking around with Dennis."

District 8 Supervisor Jeff Sheehy, a gay man who uses medical cannabis to treat his HIV, also attended the celebration.

"The thing I most remember about Dennis is that he saved lives, countless lives," Sheehy told the B.A.R.

Peron led a varied life. In 1991 he fought for the passage of San Francisco's Proposition P, which called upon the state to allow for the use of medical cannabis – the measure received 79 percent of the vote. That same year he co-founded the San Francisco Cannabis Buyer's Club, the first medical marijuana dispensary. The club was raided by the police.

In 1996 Peron co-authored Prop 215. The proposition passed, allowing Peron's dispensary to reopen. In 1996 Peron ran for president as a member of the Grassroots Legalize Cannabis Party. In 1998 he ran for governor in the California primary as a Republican, against his nemesis, then-state Attorney General Dan Lungren.

The celebration began with Fantuzzi, a friend of Peron's who is known by a single name. "When I'm gone I hope to see a crowd like this celebrate my life," Fantuzzi, who flew in from New York, told the audience. "I can see Dennis smiling from wherever he is."

Fantuzzi then led the crowd in a Buddhist-styled chant. "Take a moment to connect with our brother and give him thanks," he said.

Sheehy talked about the importance of medicinal cannabis on the HIV/AIDS community.

"I am the first openly positive medical marijuana patient in office," he said. "I remember when apartment buildings were emptied out because everyone died. Dennis gave cannabis to his sick lover, that's where the medical cannabis movement began. His cannabis club kept hundreds of people with AIDS alive."

Jeff Peron recalled the childhood home he shared with his brother on Long Island in New York.

"We would argue about whether we should watch 'The Three Stooges' or the news," he said. "Later, he brought a lot of reefer home during visits. His legacy is compassion and compassion is not selective. He was a kind and compassionate man. He helped the homeless, he was generous."

Jeff Peron told the crowd that he did not want the event to be a memorial.

"So have a good time," he said.

Singers of the Street, a group comprised of homeless people, formerly homeless people, and homeless advocates, performed several songs, including "Over The Rainbow" and "Stand By Me."

In addition to Sheehy, several gay leaders spoke, including former Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, state Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), and mayoral candidate Mark Leno, as did many of Peron's friends. All of the speakers remembered Peron's compassion for people living with AIDS and for the homeless, and his medical cannabis advocacy.

The Reverend Megan Rohrer, a trans person who is pastor of Grace Lutheran Church, volunteered to help run the celebration.

"As a queer person I am grateful for Dennis' work during the dawn of the AIDS epidemic," Rohrer said. "His care for those experiencing the side effects of experimental medications and preventing wasting was heroic."

Others remarked that he ushered in a new way of thinking about cannabis.

"His legacy is that he changed the conversation on how people view medical marijuana," added District 5 Supervisor and mayoral candidate London Breed.

As the celebration drew to a close, people were invited to help themselves to the potted marijuana plants that were set down in front of the podium.

In the News: Argus Leader

 Reposted from the Argus Leader

Jill Callison, jcallison@argusleader.com 11:18 a.m. CDT June 26, 2015

Within minutes of hearing that the U.S. Supreme Court had ruled same-sex marriage is legal in all 50 states, a Lutheran pastor sent out a tweet sympathizing with those who would be dismayed by the announcement.

"#Remember, we celebrate while others weep. Justice comes in pieces. We yearn for more and our hearts are also with those who mourn," wrote the Rev. Megan Rohrer.

What makes her remarkable is that Rohrer might have been expected to do nothing but celebrate. After all, she is the first transgender pastor ordained in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and stuck with her childhood denomination even when it was against church rules to be ordained. She was raised Lutheran in South Dakota, where she graduated from Lincoln High School and Augustana College.

In August 2009, however, the ELCA agreed to allow congregations to call pastor in "publicly accountable, lifelong, monogamous same-gender relationships." Rohrer was officially ordained in 2010. In 2014 her wife and she traveled to Hawaii and were married.

As a pastor, her first response to the Supreme Court ruling was excitement "because weddings are fun to do," said Rohrer, who returned to South Dakota last weekend to officiate at a cousin's wedding. "I was particularly excited for friends in South Dakota who have long been waiting to be married."

Then she thought of the November day in 2008 when the United States elected Barack Obama as its first black president. That same day, California voters banned same-sex marriage. There was cheering in the streets for Obama's victory and tears of sadness for those who lost the chance to marry.

Rohrer also thought about the funerals that are taking place in Charleston, S.C., where nine black people were killed by a single gunman who has expressed racist views.

"A large part of our community is deeply mourning racial injustice at the same time Pride (events) is happening," Rohrer said. "What is victory for one group means the other group feels it lost something."

Her attitude, Rohrer said, is shaped by growing up in South Dakota, living in a small community where your best friend might hold polar-opposite political or social justice issues.

Rohrer said she happily will return to South Dakota to perform same-sex unions, although people who don't want to wait could travel to states where it is legal, including Iowa and California. She doubts that South Dakota will be able to perform such weddings for some time.

"In San Francisco they had pre-ordered marriage licenses that say 'spouse and spouse' not 'husband and wife,' " she said. "I imagine South Dakota probably didn't pre-order them."

Rohrer also expects legislation to be proposed that will attempt to chip away at the Supreme Court ruling and other roadblocks before same-sex weddings can start in South Dakota.

"We've seen it happen in other states that already passed it," she said. "I think you'll get there. It might take longer."

***Update: South Dakota has revised its marriage-license software making the wording gender neutral. Pennington County has issued a marriage license to two women.

Living Lutheran: Roll Up Your Sleeves

The most unusual prayer I’ve ever written was a blessing for fertilizer. This was one of many prayers I wrote for the blessing of the Free Farm, where both Bishop Mark Holmerud of the ELCA’s Sierra Pacific Synod and Bishop Marc Andrus of the Episcopal Diocese of California declared the site a church.

Created from materials diverted from the San Francisco dump, on the site where St. Paulus Lutheran Church burnt down in the early ‘90s, the Free Farm is an assemblage of motley farm folk, hipsters, faith leaders, professors and hippies.

While the work that happens at the farm may not seem like typical church, the medical herb labyrinth created from the bricks of the old church and the fact that the farmers have grown and given away nearly 6,000 pounds of produce to local neighbors revives ancient Lutheran practices.

Read the rest at Living Lutheran

MLK Day Living Lutheran Post

The words and the life of Martin Luther King Jr have inspired millions. I imagine that tales, sounds and video of his life and ministry will be passed from generation to generation for centuries to come.

However, sometimes when we tell the stories of great leaders, prophets and priests, we remember all the qualities that are rare or vitally needed in contemporary society, but we forget all the bits that make that individual truly human.

In the days following the assassination attempt in Tucson, in our 10th year at war in Afghanistan, with racial disparity, racism and violence still an issue, King’s work to bring an end to the Vietnam war, his impassioned cries for racial justice and his example of how to live life to the fullest knowing that death is around the corner, are certainly things worth remembering today.

Read the rest of the blog.