By Sister Dana Van Iquity–
Words of Wisdumb from a Fun Nun – Guide to Pride 2020–
Sister Dana sez, “Welcome to the official 50TH ANNIVERSARY of the SF LGBTQ PRIDE CELEBRATION & PARADE! It’s a whole lot different on June 27 and 28 this year because we are sheltering in place. But we are no less proud to be queer— just stuck inside with our pride.”
And yes, I will miss the yearly PARADE privilege being perched high atop the San Francisco Bay Times cable car gaily traveling down Market Street dressed in full-on rainbow nun drag. I will miss blowing kisses and sending peace signs to the joyful crowd, and joyously receiving them back. That is gone for now. But it will return one day. Meanwhile quarantine-while, some of us have to celebrate online as best we can. We can do that, because we are proud LGBTQs and our allies. WE HAVE PRIDE!
The mission of the San Francisco Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Pride Parade & Celebration Committee is to educate the world, commemorate our heritage, celebrate our culture, and liberate our people. Go to the SF PRIDE PARADE website for all the info you need to proudly properly participate virtually at home: http://www.sfpride.org/
SAN FRANCISCO PRIDE is partnering with KPIX 5 News to produce PRIDE 50: GENERATIONS OF HOPE, a three-hour special on June 28 from 5 pm–8 pm on KPIX sister TV station KBCW/Cable 12, as well as live streamed at the SF Pride website and https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/
The Board and Staff of SAN FRANCISCO PRIDE states, “We are outraged by the acts of anti-Black violence. We acknowledge that all of these deaths happened because of a culture of policing that encourages extra scrutiny and policing of Black bodies. We stand firmly against all of these actions—and in the names of Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, we stand in solidarity with the protestors who say, ‘No more!’ to this terror that is repeatedly visited upon Black people. As Will Smith stated, ‘Racism is not getting worse. Racism is being videotaped.'”
Sister Dana is an old nun and just can’t risk protesting in person with hundreds of demonstrators gathering in Dolores Park on Pride Sunday noon for PRIDE IS A RIOT. This is separate from and not sponsored by the SF Pride Committee.
Sister Dana sez, “We can be proud that the Supreme Court ruled on June 15 in favor of LGBTQ rights in the landmark decision, 6–3, stating ‘an employer who fires an individual merely for being gay or transgender violates Title VII’ of the Civil Rights Act!”
Witness the glorious global grand lighting of EssEff’s PINK TRIANGLE streaming live on June 27, 8 pm with 2,700 pink lights! (For more information on the 2020 Pink Triangle, see pages 16–17.) https://illuminatethepinktriangle.org/join-us/
Hosts Gary Virginia and Donna Sachet will bring their legendary PRIDE BRUNCH to your home as they get saucy and battle it off in the kitchen, competing for the title of Pride Brunch Top Chef. Featuring Parade Grand Marshals. All proceeds support PRC’s integrated legal, social, and health services for those affected by HIV/AIDS, mental health issues, and substance use. https://app.mobilecause.com/e/yQ7OXg?vid=95ghk
ART + PRIDE 2020 was a fabulous Virtual Kickoff Party for HARVEY MILK PHOTO CENTER streamed on June 19, hosted by Peaches Christ, Sister Roma, and STUD Bar. Check out the Center GALLERY. http://www.harveymilkphotocenter.org/
LGBTQ VICTORY FUND reminds us that it might feel odd, at a time when America is reeling and bleeding from more violent assaults on Black lives, to contemplate celebrating PRIDE. It may seem there is so little to celebrate and so much to grieve. But remember that the first Pride was a riot. The modern LGBTQ civil rights movement was born when Black and Brown trans people, drag queens, and queers had enough. Enough of the police raids and abuse, enough of homophobic and transphobic leaders who had no desire to protect their constituents. Days of justified anger boiling over against a system that devalued and erased LGBTQ lives is the origin of PRIDE. We see the same anger right now from Black Americans—including LGBTQ Black Americans—and their allies.
FRAMELINE44 PRIDE SHOWCASE—LGBTQ films that are usually in local movie theaters—is now only online: https://www.frameline.org/festival
The mission of EQUALITY CALIFORNIA is to create a world that is healthy, just, and fully equal for all LGBTQ people. This is only achievable when we also unite to create a world that is healthy, just, and fully equal for all Black people. LGBTQ people will not achieve full, lived equality until Black people achieve full, lived equality, too.
The latest GLBT HISTORICAL SOCIETY online exhibition, LABOR OF LOVE, follows the first 10 years of PRIDE in San Francisco, as activists, organizers, and community members negotiated what this annual gathering would mean. https://www.glbthistory.org/labor-of-love
Born out of protest, the SAN FRANCISCO LESBIAN/GAY FREEDOM BAND stands in solidarity with our community in the call to end violence against Black people. They grieve for the loss of George Floyd, whose name joins far too many others: Eric Garner, Breonna Taylor, Philando Castile, Ahmaud Arbery, Nina Pop, Tony McDade, Rayshard Brooks, and more.Theirs are just a few names of countless others lost from over four hundred years of systemic, violent racism.
TRANS MARCH 2020 is only online this year on June 26, with details TBD. See: https://www.facebook.com/events/171091774218705/
MODERN MILITARY ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA comments that PRIDE is about celebrating authenticity and demanding equality for the LGBTQ community. And that demand for justice and change must include addressing the ugly reality of racism. LGBTQ people come from all walks of life and skin colors, and unless all of us are equal, none of us are equal.
GLAAD tells us that social change is often built on the pain and outrage of moments like the ones we are seeing in America today. It is important to remember that the revolutionary riots at STONEWALL in 1969 were spearheaded by many LGBTQ people of color, and that none of the progress made for the acceptance and equality of LGBTQ people over the past five decades would be possible if not for the action and courage of those protestors. This PRIDE, we queers will be centering and lifting up the voices of Black people. There can be no Pride if it is not intersectional. We are Together in Pride.
SF LGBT CENTER points out that this year we have an opportunity to return to the roots of PRIDE—a grassroots uprising protesting police brutality and harassment—and to build on those roots to address the injustices that we experience today. While we do not know what the future will bring us, we know that it will be brighter if we move forward together.
Senator Scott Wiener has a message regarding PRIDE: “Let’s never forget: even in our moments of celebration, massive work lies ahead to create a world of justice and equity for all. And, even in our deepest despair, there‘s a light at the end of the tunnel, as long as we’re willing to fight to get there.”
Governor Gavin Newsom stated, “We honor the resilience of LGBTQ Californians, and in this challenging moment for our nation, also recognize the struggles of so many of our state’s diverse communities. While COVID-19 is preventing PRIDE celebrations from happening as they normally would, we still celebrate the progress we’ve made toward equality, and commit ourselves to the important work that lies ahead.”
Sister Dana sez, “Once again, Presi-dense Trump did not issue a Pride proclamation to honor LGBTQ citizens; but that hasn’t stopped him from selling an ‘exclusive Make America Great Again’ RAINBOW T-shirt on his campaign website. As if!”
However, former Vice President Joe Biden, presumptive Democratic nominee, did issue a thoughtful PRIDE statement: “Fifty years ago, a group of courageous individuals took their first steps towards pride in the Christopher Street Day Liberation March. One year after Stonewall, the world’s first pride march was an act of rebellion, a protest for LGBTQ+ people to be treated as human beings, and a demand that America live up to its founding principles.”
“We’ve made remarkable progress towards LGBTQ+ rights in the decades since, from Harvey Milk’s historic election to the first openly gay major presidential candidate,” he continued. “During the Obama-Biden Administration alone, we signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act into law; repealed Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell; addressed the epidemic of bullying in schools; established the advancement of LGBTQ+ equality as a foreign policy priority; and the White House beamed bright with the colors of the rainbow to mark the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark decision recognizing marriage equality.”
Read the entire statement at: https://bit.ly/3hO68bQ
Eye Zen Presents announces the return of OUT OF SITE: SOMA, its performance-driven, queer history tour of San Francisco’s South of Market neighborhood, this time as a live-streamed but still interactive event. It will continue to run June 26, 27, and 28, 7 pm: https://www.eyezen.org/out-of-site
Senator Scott Wiener and Joseph Abbati, curator, welcome you to their online photographic exhibit celebrating fifty years of Pride. “SF PRIDE 2020 – 50 YEARS” features nine San Francisco Bay Area photographers and filmmakers with over 900 photographs and seven films spanning five decades documenting SAN FRANCISCO PRIDE parades and events. The photographers include many of my faves: Arthur Tress, Gooch, Ron Williams, Tommy Wu, Darryl Pelletier, Jim James, Rink Foto, Rich Stadtmiller, and Charles Roseberry. Each photographer brings a wealth of history to create a narrative about the celebration of LGBTQ+ lives at our SF Pride Parades from the 1970s to 2019. Check out this fascinating collection: https://sfpride2020.gallery/
For 30 minutes of the top 15 of Randy Rainbow‘s hilarious SONG PARODIES: www.youtube.com/watch?v=JiM-ODV_9ps
The historic AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) is still organizing and protesting for the rights of marginalized people and for accountability from the government and corporate America. In a statement reminding people that “PRIDE is a Riot,” ACT UP NY continued, “We are here to say that enough is enough. We are tired of seeing members of the Black community senselessly murdered by police.”
As the LGBTQ community marks the 51st anniversary of the STONEWALL REBELLION during this year’s PRIDE Month, gay bar owners and queer activists still find themselves being targeted by police amid the George Floyd protests. In fact, one attack by NYPD officers occurred following a rally at the Stonewall Inn, the historic site where the modern-day LGBTQ rights movement began after it was raided by police on June 28, 1969. This year on June 2, queer activists staged a peaceful rally outside the Stonewall Inn to highlight deadly violence targeting Black transgender people. Shortly after they left the rally, police brutalized and arrested them. https://tinyurl.com/y8xcv3hp
On Saturday, June 27, Pride organizations from across the world will celebrate GLOBAL PRIDE 2020 with musical and artistic performances, speeches from activists and campaigners, and addresses by public figures. They will stream 24 hours of content that reflects and celebrates the beautiful diversity of LGBTQ+ people everywhere. https://www.globalpride2020.org/
Sister Dana sez, “Have a safe and insanely fun Pride Celebration! Cheers, queers!”
Published on June 25, 2020
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