June is LGBT Pride Month- How will you celebrate?

[Ronyx]

At our Pride event this year, I saw more young people than ever before. Couples in their teens and early 20's were holding hands or in an embrace. Most were proudly wearing Pride attire. They get it- they understand the significance of what Pride is all about. Also to my surprise, I saw numerous straight families this year with their young children wearing rainbow shirts, hats and wristbands. I also noticed that during a popular drag show performance on Friday night, many children were watching and applauding as they stood before the stage with their mothers and fathers. This is the Midwest, not NYC or SF. As Bob Dylan wrote, 'The Times They Are A-Changin.' We have more support than I think we sometimes realize.

 

[MJ85]

7 hours ago, Sam Wyer said:

🌈And around here (UK) most people going to Pride events don't seem to have even the tiniest idea why such things happen, or what it is that they are 'celebrating'.

 

While the generational shift (noted above and on the previous page) is very much a thing, so too is the fact that Pride events (as we here in the States know them) have a very distinct US origin - seeing as they rose out of commemorating the Stonewall Riots and all.

 

Of course, the UK has also had their own LGBT hang-ups over the years; Section 28 (or Clause 28) comes to mind.

[Page Scrawler]

4 hours ago, Ronyx said:

At our Pride event this year, I saw more young people than ever before. Couples in their teens and early 20's were holding hands or in an embrace. Most were proudly wearing Pride attire. They get it- they understand the significance of what Pride is all about. Also to my surprise, I saw numerous straight families this year with their young children wearing rainbow shirts, hats and wristbands. I also noticed that during a popular drag show performance on Friday night, many children were watching and applauding as they stood before the stage with their mothers and fathers. This is the Midwest, not NYC or SF. As Bob Dylan wrote, 'The Times They Are A-Changin.' We have more support than I think we sometimes realize.

 

I might have mentioned this kid in an earlier post, but I thought it was worth bringing up again. His name is Desmond Napoles, more commonly known by his drag name "Desmond is Amazing". Very impressive resumé for a ten-year-old, I have to admit. Kids are understanding at an earlier age that it doesn't matter whether you're a boy or a girl, or something else in between, just so long as you stay true to yourself.

 

[Former Member]

A documentary called Growing Up Coy played at Frameline40 (2016). It was about a family with a child who is Trans. They fought their elementary school to force them to allow their child to use the appropriate restroom facilities. Dad is ex-military and they live in Colorado!

Edited June 14, 2018 by Former Member

[Former Member]

I’ll be seeing Man in an Orange Shirt tomorrow evening on the big screen, but you can see it on the small screen on PBS. KQED is showing it on Sunday evening. You can pretend you’re at the film festival with me too!  ;–)

[Ashi]

18 hours ago, droughtquake said:

BART has always been overwhelmed after the Pride Parade!  ;–)

 

CalTrain? I don’t want to visit my (biological) brothers in San José!  ;–)

 

I don’t really have a lot of choices for getting home in the East Bay. It’s Muni to BART to AC Transit (bus) or Muni to AC Transit (a very long bus ride). There are no other real options.  ;–)

 

That's true.  It's always overwhelmed, even if it's not Pride event.  (Warriors game can be pretty bad last few years)  But you do get to see more crazy dressed up people during Pride though.  LOL.  So I see you're in the East Bay.

[Former Member]

39 minutes ago, Ashi said:

That's true.  It's always overwhelmed, even if it's not Pride event.  (Warriors game can be pretty bad last few years)  But you do get to see more crazy dressed up people during Pride though.  LOL.  So I see you're in the East Bay.

When I used to go to the Parade (back in the ‘90s), the BART train used to be filled with LGBTQs staring with distrust at Jehovah’s Witnesses heading to the Cow Palace for their annual meetings. The JWs looked frightened by all the colorful clothes and personalities! Back when there used to be empty seats on the trains before the parade began!  ;–)

[Former Member]

The local ABC station had shots of San Francisco’s Coit Tower and City Hall all lit up in the rainbow colors in celebration of LGBTQ Pride since Friday will be the Trans March, Saturday will be Dyke March, and Sunday with be the Pride Parade!  ;–)

 

My own city was a couple days late when they started flying the Rainbow Flag on the 4th of June. I’m not sure when they first put it up this year, but as usual the neighboring city is flying the Rainbow Flag over their City Hall (visible from BART). I’m sure that Berkeley, Oakland, and San Francisco are flying the flag too. I don’t know if Oakland will light up its City Hall in rainbow colors this weekend or if they’ll do it when Oakland has its LGBTQ Parade and Celebration (or for both occasions).  ;–)

 

In a few days, volunteers will be laying out the huge Pink Triangle on Twin Peaks above The Castro…  ;–)

[Former Member]

Friday was Trans March. San Francisco City Hall was lit up with pink, white, and purple to match the Trans Flag! The Trans and Dyke Marches are deliberately not commercial and are much smaller than Sunday’s Pride Parade.  ;–)

 

It is my impression that they resemble the early Gay Pride Parades of the ‘70s. Much more intimate and a completely different mood! Definitely no Google, Apple, Macy’s, not even any bars or church groups! I doubt any politicians show up!  ;–)

[Ronyx]

This is an interesting read:  https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/LGBT-issues/2018/06/22/pride-parades-excuse-straight-kids-party/712068002/

Do you feel like we are losing what Pride is about? @Sam Wyer alluded to it in an earlier post. I, for one, favor diversity, but not to the point where we forget what is important.

[Former Member]

This is part of a larger trend. At events like LGBTQ film festivals, attendees are getting older. Part of it is that most younger people are working and older people can take time off to attend – and can afford to pay for the tickets! And part of it is that younger people have other ways of celebrating and expressing their LGBTQ identities.

 

They have other ways of distributing their creativity and they don’t necessarily feel the need to find or create LGBTQ-specific venues.

 

Only in a few places are young people taught LGBTQ history. California requires all public schools to include LGBTQ history and heritage in the curriculum. There is resistance in the more rural and less-populated areas of the state. Young people think they know about our history because they’ve seen a few movies in theaters, but they miss out on vast swaths of knowledge. As always, there is a white-washing of history with People of Color being marginalized or ignored. There is also a marginalization of the less mainstream expressions of gender and sexuality that is such an important component of major events like the Compton’s Cafeteria Riot or the Stonewall Riots – which is also an example of how events that don’t take place in NYC tend to be forgotten by mainstream media!

 

 

The other day, I saw Riot. an Australian movie depicting the origins of Sydney’s Mardi Gras celebration. While most of us know it as a huge street party and parade, it began as an LGBTQ civil rights celebration, being influenced by things that happened outside of Australia (especially in the US). It was a reaction to the violent and bloody police response to earlier, more political protests. And yet the Sydney Police, at the time, reacted by badly beating one of the organizers.

 

 

The war for Civil Rights has not been won. We’ve achieved victory in many battles, but the enemy is cunning and evil. When they see they are losing in one area, they shift tactics and fight somewhere else where the resistance is weaker. In the US, it’s bakeries. Outside the US, Canada, (Western) Europe, and Australia, it’s Africa, Asia, and Eastern Europe. It’s the Caribbean and Central America. It’s in the more rural parts of the advanced countries. LGBTQs represent everything they oppose, partly by our own definition, partly from their creative rebranding of what they want to misrepresent us as. We question what organized religion and other organizations support and believe, just by our mere existence.

[Tiger]

 

 

[TetRefine]

New York City Pride was absolutely epic and over the top, as always. For those of you who don't know, World Pride is coming to New York next year, which means it'll probably be the biggest Pride in New York yet, and that's saying something. Tickets for all the events are already on sale, so if you're interested in going get them now because they will skyrocket in price. 

 

Here's a little video clip I found of the Alegria Pride closing party from Sunday night-Monday morning. This is the annual marathon closing party that runs from 11pm Sunday night till Noon the next day. It was absolutely epic, from the guys to the performances to the DJs to the atmosphere of absolute happiness and bliss. Dancing for hours on end amongst a sea of other gay men and feeling like you completely and utterly belong really hammered home what pride means to me. 

 

Skip to about 2:00 for the good part. This queen killed it!

 

 

[Former Member]

I’m slowly adding to my thoughts on Frameline42. I’ve gotten halfway through the festival so far. I’ve also added the Award winners.  ;–)

[Carlos Hazday]

6 hours ago, TetRefine said:

Alegria Pride closing party from Sunday night-Monday morning

 

Damn! That brings back memories of Alegria w/Junior Vazquez as the DJ. Even with the aid of chemicals, I could never last the entire event. The latest I left one of those overnight parties was in 2000 at the Black & Blue in Montreal. I remember catching the metro at Olympic Stadium at 9:00 a.m. along with a bunch of fellow zombies. It was cold and we were all wearing VERY little but the smiles on our faces told the story. I wanna be 30 again although I'll settle for 40 LOL

[TetRefine]

2 hours ago, Carlos Hazday said:

 

Damn! That brings back memories of Alegria w/Junior Vazquez as the DJ. Even with the aid of chemicals, I could never last the entire event. The latest I left one of those overnight parties was in 2000 at the Black & Blue in Montreal. I remember catching the metro at Olympic Stadium at 9:00 a.m. along with a bunch of fellow zombies. It was cold and we were all wearing VERY little but the smiles on our faces told the story. I wanna be 30 again although I'll settle for 40 LOL

 

Yeah, Alegria is absolutely crazy. We got there a little before midnight and didn't leave until a little after 10am the next morning. I wanted to stay until closing and keep dancing, but my friends were shot. Another friend who did stay said that when it finally ended the floor was still packed to the gills. It was rough when it finally did end, because I finally realized once I stopped that my feet were basically numb from dancing for 10+ hours and that it was full on daylight outside. Would I trade that experience of pure bliss for anything? Hell no. 

 

By the way, Black and Blue is on my list of parties I want to attend before I retire. 

[Carlos Hazday]

1 hour ago, TetRefine said:

By the way, Black and Blue is on my list of parties I want to attend before I retire. 

 

B&B was awesome but remember that was almost 20 years ago. The Recovery Party Monday night was the best, if I describe what went on on the dance floor, GA would ban me for life. I remember Manny Lehman <sp> was the DJ and after that year he took off as a star. It ended soon after dawn and when I walked outside it was snowing. Great experience.

[Former Member]

I am watching highlights of the SF Pride Parade on the local CBS station. The broadcast started live on a small independent station that was then owned by an Outed Gay man. It bounced around a few times on various channels and was eventually tape delayed (probably due to the difficulty making sure to avoid showing the occasional naked person). This was the first year KPIX was the Parade Media Sponsor.

 

Early on they talked to Senator Kamala Harris and that got me wondering about California’s other Senator – it turns out that she has never participated in any Pride Parades even when she was SF Mayor. Our recently retired Senator Barbara Boxer (Kamala Harris won her seat) was the first Federal official to participate in a Pride Parade in 1991’s San Diego Pride Parade. Lt Governor Gavin Newsom, former SF Mayor and almost certain winner of the California Gubernatorial election this fall, was also there. The current SF Mayor and the SF Mayor-elect were there too.

 

Oddly enough, the FBI had a contingent in the parade too.

 

@Canuk will be happy to find out that SFO was in the SF Pride Parade! He might also find it interesting that the Canadian and Mexican Consulates marched as a single contingent! (The Consulates of Brazil, Britain, Canada, France, Japan, Norway, and Switzerland were all official sponsors of Frameline42.)  ;–)

 

Corporate participants included local companies like Adobe, Apple, Chevron, Dolby Laboratories, Netflix, PayPal, Salesforce, Visa, and Zendesk. Pixar and LucasFilms were part of a larger Disney contingent. And two Social Media companies that I won’t mention, but all of those odd little icons clustered together on so many webpages seem to be based in the Bay Area and were present in the parade too.

 

 

One of the anchors of the presentation was Hank Plante, one of the first Openly Gay TV reporters (the other contender for the title is from the East Coast somewhere). Hank spent decades on as Political Reporter on KIPX, the SF CBS affiliate (now owned by CBS). Hank’s successors on air include two Out KPIX reporters (who did the roving interviews) and two KGO ABC7 personalities, a morning anchor and the weekend weather guy. KQED’s Politics Reporter is also Gay and I’ve spoken to him at both Frameline41 and Frameline42. I’m not aware of any on-air openly LGBTQ news people on the other three major TV news stations in the Bay Area.

 

 

Ironically, the show was followed by a televangelist.

Edited July 1, 2018 by Former Member

[Former Member]

I know it’s not June anymore, but there was a report on the news about the Santa Clara County Fair (Silicon Valley). The spokesperson mentioned that yesterday was Out at the Fair, their first LGBTQ day. Considering the recent increase in population, it’s not surprising that they will also be attempting to entice South Asians with an upcoming special day too.

 

Apple’s hometown, Cupertino is 63% Asian (29.3% white, 28.1% Chinese, 22.6% Asian Indian) with an Asian majority City Council – in Santa Clara County it’s still a very high 32% Asian.

 

Of course, I should mention that there has been a debate about the future of the Santa Clara County Fair. Fair attendance has been dropping for years, just as they have with all the remaining Fairs in the Bay Area. There have been proposal to replace the fairgrounds with desperately needed housing.