By Sister Dana Van Iquity–
Sister Dana sez, “Happy MEMORIAL DAY 2025 to everyone! This will be a solemn occasion dedicated to honoring the men and women who gave their lives while serving in the U.S. military—but Trump has called these heroes ‘suckers and losers’! Remember that during your observance on May 26!”
“And Happy HARVEY MILK DAY!” On July 30, 2009, the White House posthumously honored Harvey Milk with the Medal of Freedom for his work and leadership in advancing LGBTQ civil rights. HARVEY MILK DAY is May 22. Honor our queer hero! https://milkfoundation.org/
Today, May 22, 4:30–6 pm, come enjoy the HARVEY MILK DAY CELEBRATION & RALLY at Jane Warner Plaza (Castro & 17th Street) to celebrate Harvey’s birthday. This event will feature live musical performances from Opera Parallèle’s Harvey Milk Reimagined, the Sacred and Profane Chamber Chorus, and the San Francisco Pride Band. Then walk to the Roxie Theatre to watch THE TIMES OF HARVEY MILK. Rob Epstein, the film’s director, is expected to be in attendance for this special event. https://roxie.com/
Since May is ASIAN/PACIFIC AMERICAN HERITAGE MONTH, come march with GAPA at the first-ever CHINATOWN PRIDE PROCESSION on May 24, 6 pm, 800 Grant Street, with GAPA headlining and leading the parade. Featuring GAPA Royals and Rice Rockettes, this vibrant procession will visit Chinatown’s queer landmarks—teaching dance moves at each stop before culminating in an Immortal Runway performance at Portsmouth Square Pedestrian Bridge. The celebration will continue through the night with art activities, fabulous performances, and a Silent Disco at the Chinese Cultural Center. https://www.gapa.org/
CARNAVAL SAN FRANCISCO is a free, two-day family festival held annually in San Francisco›s Mission District over Memorial Day weekend. It›s a large multicultural celebration featuring global cuisine, international music, dance, arts & crafts, and entertainment. The festival is located on Harrison Street between 16th and 24th Streets. The 46th annual CARNAVAL PARADE is on Sunday, May 25, starting at 10 am. The parade route runs from 24th and Bryant Streets toward 15th and Mission Streets. This year’s Carnaval theme is “AfroMundo,” celebrating the strength, unity, and pride of people of African descent in the Americas.
Trump has made it clear that refugees aren’t welcome in America—unless they’re white. Despite suspending all refugee admissions into the country as soon as he was sworn in this past January, the prez and his butt-smooching State Department made an exception when welcoming a plane full of 59 white Afrikaners on May 12, many of whom are farmers of Dutch descent who settled in South Africa. Why this exception? Because the false narrative claims that white settlers in South Africa have been enduring racial discrimination and even violence from the government and Black South Africans. Sister Dana sez, “Tell another lie, Trump, and keep going with those marvelous mass deportations of people of color—who are obviously gang members because they are not white! As if.”
On May 17 at Strut in the Castro we attended the “COLLECTING CREATING & CURATING” artist talk and a Q&A session with Oscar Zamora Graves. His clever collage art (now on display all May at 470 Castro Street) embraces the bold spirit of the 1960s by placing scantily clad beefcake models and vintage drag queens in vibrant, psychedelic, fantasy fairytale settings.
I know we are all eagerly anticipating this annual Pride Month cultural event. The 49th San Francisco International LGBTQ+ Film Festival (FRAMELINE49) is almost here! This year, the festival will run June 18–28, welcoming audiences to attend programs at theaters in San Francisco, Oakland, and San Rafael. To be among the first to learn about Frameline49’s slate of programs, some of us were invited to a special launch event on May 13 at Oasis nightclub led by Allegra Madsen, Frameline’s Executive Director, and members of the Programming Team, including Frameline’s new Director of Partnerships & Development, Matthew Ramsey. They announced the full lineup for the largest and longest-running queer film festival in the world. The theme this year is: “The World Is Watching!” We got to view clips and hear vital background information about these 11 days of programming featuring nearly 150 films from 40 countries. There will be many notable premieres to the Bay Area, including 17 World Premieres, 2 International Premieres, 12 North American Premieres, and 11 U.S. Premieres, and numerous West Coast, California, and Bay Area Premieres. It’s gonna be fabulous! We were also privileged to see the gorgeous festival trailer that will air the whole month of June. I will have much more to say in my next June 12 column. “I want to emphasize how deeply I value the extraordinary work of our filmmakers this year. Their vision and courage are truly remarkable,” said Madsen. “All of us are weathering challenges that threaten our identities, our histories, and our everyday lives. Like many of you, I’m exhausted and angry. With Frameline49, I want us to examine our past of LGBTQ+ activism and art, and I want to honor the powerful stories of this moment—to remind us all that Frameline is both a celebration and a statement.” She assured, “We’ll still engage in difficult conversations and recognize the realities reflected in our films, but we’ll also create spaces where we can un-tense our shoulders and laugh together—without having to defend our existence.” https://www.frameline.org/
Offering LGBTQ+ mental health services, nonprofit counseling agency QUEER LIFESPACE (designed by queer people for queer people) will hold their annual fundraising gala, “PRIDE RENAISSANCE: CELEBRATING COMMUNITY RESILIENCE,” at the Swedish-American Hall, 2174 Market
Street, on May 30, 5:30–10 pm. It will feature Co-hosts Donna Sachet and Bobby Friday with entertainment by Kippy Marks, Carly Ozard, DJ Stanley Frank Sensation, Mahlae Balenciaga, Oliver Branch, and Keith Lawrence. https://www.queerlifespace.org/
Come to the iconic purple building for the SF LGBT CENTER’s 2nd annual kickoff to the 2025 PRIDE season, BUILDING THE BLOCK: HOUSE PARTY! This event at 1800 Market Street on May 31, 12–6 pm, will offer valuable resources and community connections through Queer & Well programming, live entertainment, a clothing closet, an art exhibit, and more. Following last year’s victorious Purple Pride Party, where they welcomed more than 1,500 community members into their space and on Waller Street, they’re excited to bring the event back with a House Party theme. Each floor of the Center will be activated to create an engaging space where the LGBTQ community can connect with essential resources, deepen connections with one another, and celebrate Pride! https://www.sfcenter.org/
Some departments fight waste, but fighting bad taste is the DEPARTMENT OF GAY EXCELLENCE (D.O.G.E). Inspired by Bob the Drag Queen’s iconic moment at the 2025 Queerties when she anointed herself the head of the Department of Gay Excellence, this satirical government agency is now a fully wearable act of resistance and representation. You can even buy the progressive rainbow- decorated t-shirt online.
A $400 million “palace in the sky” from Qatar is just “plane” awful, as is a cryptocurrency scheme that could bring billions in “tribute” to billionaires, and a lavish birthday parade complete with tanks on D.C. streets on the taxpayers’ dime. The scale of Trump’s corruption and lawlessness are astounding, so the scale of our resistance has to be even greater. We can still rebel, because June 14, Flag Day, will be NO KINGS DAY—the biggest mass protest yet. As Trump hosts his self-serving military parade in D.C., democracy-lovers are rising up everywhere else—at 650 protests and counting, all across America—to reject his tyrannical power-grab. No thrones! No crowns! No kings! It needs to be a reminder to every lawmaker, judge, civic leader, and private citizen that they are not powerless, that we carry on the legacy of generation after generation of Americans who fought tyranny before us, and now is our time to step up. https://www.nokings.org/
Sister Dana sez, “Trump and his Repugnican Congress keep trying to kick millions of needy people off Medicaid by passing the tyrannical ‘Big Beautiful Bill,’ which, in reality, is the ‘Bogus Billionaire Bonus’!”
Sister Dana Sez: Words of Wisdumb from a Fun Nun
Published on May 22, 2025
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