Time to Vote for the Best

Building on the success of last year's Bay Area Reporter readers' poll, the 2016 version is again full of nominees ranging from drag kings to LGBTQ youth activists.

Dubbed the Besties: The LGBT Best of the Bay, voting starts Thursday (January 28). People can vote online at http://www.ebar.com/besties2016 or complete the paper ballot that appears on pages 31-32 in the BARtab section. Voting ends March 2 and winners will be announced in the Bay Area Reporter's April 7 issue, which coincides with the paper's 45th anniversary.

This sixth annual readers' poll includes nominees in seven categories: arts and entertainment, community, nightlife, restaurants, services and shopping, sex, and weddings and destinations. As with last year's ballot, each nominee grouping includes an option for readers to write in their own suggestion.

The paper decided to stick with the format used last year because it generated the most responses in the history of the readers' poll. Readers seemed to like the choices of nominees, and almost everyone completed the entire survey.

Some of the new entries this year include best grocery store (chain and independent), best local getaway, best pet hotel, and best beach.

In the popular nightlife section, there are new categories for best drag king, best faux queen, and best live stage show in a bar or nightclub, along with favorites like best bartender and best DJ. Also new this year is a drinks category, where readers can vote for their favorite beer and other adult beverages.

In the community section, new this year are categories for best health-related nonprofit and best HIV/AIDS nonprofit, along with favorites like best LGBT event and best LGBT sports league. Also new is the best Realtor category, and best ride-hailing category, which includes the nonprofit Homobiles that serves the LGBTQ community and its allies, along with Lyft and Uber.

In the best LGBT youth activist (under 25), this year's nominees are Austin Padilla and Ruby Spies.

Padilla is a gay man and a founding member of the Getting to Zero committee, which is San Francisco's effort to drastically reduce HIV transmissions by 2020.

Spies is the current president of Bay Area Youth Summit, which holds an annual gathering created by and for youth. A sophomore at Berkeley High School, Spies is also co-president of the school's gender and sexuality alliance.

The arts and entertainment category has the popular best nature or science museum, best art museum, and categories for ballet and modern dance, to name a few.

Readers who complete at least 75 percent of the ballot will automatically be eligible for prizes. This year's grand prize is a three-night Maui getaway at Maui Sunseeker Resort, with round trip airfare for two. Other prizes include VIP tickets to the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus' "Tales of Our City, Our Lives, Our Heroes" show with featured guest Armistead Maupin; and two VIP tickets to see the San Francisco Giants, as they start their even-year quest for the World Series.

Readers should also save the date of April 7, when the B.A.R. will host its Besties party at Oasis, 298 11th Street, from 6 to 8 p.m. The evening will feature drink specials and light refreshments and is open to the public.