Barrera, Mark

I met Mark the first weekend I arrived in San Francisco in the spring of 1982. I had just turned 20. He was the first man I fell in love with and in the brief time we were together he taught me many things about being a man. He was kind AND evil. He could read a queen at a hundred paces and could make the coldest person laugh…and he had a great laug! I still hear it echoing down all these years. Having moved back to New York within a few years I was lucky to see him during a visit the year he passed. He was in the same apartment. I sadly reminisced I had a key to that apartment once. In obvious pain, his features highly distorted due to his illness, he sill managed to enjoy the tiny chocolates I bought him that we used to buy for a few pennies each at the little store on Guerrero and Market. He, of course, made me laugh. He will live forever in my heart and as I prepare to visit SF for Pride 2022 I will make the pilgrimage to his apartment building and say goodbye one more time.