We're not even halfway through 2020 and we're ready for the year to die. Here it is June 1st, the first day of Pride Month in the 50th anniversary year of San Francisco Pride, and while we want to be all rainbows and sunshine, it's virtually impossible to summon our inner joy in the midst of so much violence and destruction across the country.
As if it weren't tough enough to be sheltering in place through a global pandemic with people sick and dying and all our livelihoods on thin ice, now we have looting and a curfew, too, which is further hurting already struggling small businesses. Our Pride parade and events have been canceled, and our local LGBTQ community is reeling from the loss and impending threat to its cultural landmarks; meanwhile our communities of color are wrongfully targeted and rightfully enraged as they continue in a struggle that's gone on far too long.
We need to protest. We need to be vigilant, peaceful, productive; to educate, and to learn how to get better at being antiracist, everyday, all the time. At 7x7, we are looking to our Bay Area community for inspiration and ideas on how to do all these things; we hope you will leave your suggestions in comments or messages on Instagram or Facebook. Please tell us how we can better provide you with the information you need now, and how our content can be more inclusive and more supportive of every Bay Area person.
As we prepared today to kick off our annual bonanza of San Francisco Pride content, the moment felt...wrong. The timing, it seemed, could be not be worse for a fabulous celebration, however virtual it must now be. But then again, Pride, in San Francisco and everywhere else, was born of a fight for liberation. In late June 1969, the Stonewall riots were a reaction to unjust police harassment of queer people. It was the beginning of a movement, and we've marked its historic occasion every June since. The Black Lives Matter movement got a similar start; SF author and activist K.M. Soehnlein wrote articulately and succinctly about the connection on Monday.
Here in SF, protest, commemoration, and celebration go hand in hand. We can raise our voices in outrage and sorrow, and we can also raise them to remember where we've all come from and what we have in common. We could all use a kumbaya moment.
We hope you'll take the time this month to celebrate and support our LGBTQ community, which has contributed so much cultural richness to our region. There will be no parade, no floats, so streamers, and glitter, but there are still plenty of ways to honor the occasion. 7x7 contributing writer Matt Charnock has put together a wonderful list of ways to engage, connect, reflect, donate and, yes, party just a little bit for this 50th anniversary Pride Month. Look out for much more Pride coverage soon on 7x7.com. —Chloé Hennen
- Shop with Pride to support local LGBTQ-owned businesses. // Launches June 3; shopwithpridesf.com
- Get your pre-party on. // June 5, eventbrite.com
- Zoom Mayor London Breed's SF Pride kickoff. // June 5, sfmayor.org
- Get to know trans author Daniel Mallory Ortberg, in conversation with 48 Hills publisher Marke Bieschke, during Litquake on Lockdown. // 6pm June 4, litquake.org
- Pick up a queer-themed read. // Dog Eared Books, 489 Castro St. (Castro); available for curbside pickup 11am to 7pm daily, dogearedbooks.com
- Take a self-guided tour of the Castro's street art. // 7x7.com
- While you're there, check out the murals brightening the neighborhood's shuttered storefronts. //paintthevoid.org
- See Seth Eisen and K.M. Soehnlein's "Out of Site," a virtual-live-street-theater project that explores SoMa's role as a stronghold for queer and activist culture. // June 19-21 and 26-28, eyezen.org
- Wander the Leather District. // SoMa, sfleatherdistrict.org
- Light up your night with rainbows. // June 27-28; SF City Hall (Civic Center), sfgov.org
- Catch Drag Alive! in support of The Stud's next act. // 6:30pm Saturdays, twitch.tv/dragalive
- Learn the fabulous history of San Francisco Pride. // GLBT History Museum's online exhibitions, glbthistory.org
- Eat a cookie dick, curbside. // Hot Cookie, 407 Castro St. (Castro), hotcookiebakery.com
- Let your heart sing along with the SF Gay Men's Chorus. // sfgmc.org
- Tune in to Commonwealth Club's Lavender Talks. // June 11 and June 25, sfpride.org/lavender-talks
- Read Alia Volz's Home Baked, and remember the role of cannabis in San Francisco during the AIDS crisis. // aliavolz.com
- Get stoned, courtesy of a lesbian-owned cannabis delivery service. // Sava, getsava.com
- Don your tutu for SF Ballet's free, virtual Nite Out, which kicks off with Björk Ballet. // 2:30pm, June 12, facebook.com/sfballet
- Volunteer. // Glide, 330 Ellis St. (Tenderloin), glide.org
- Sip mimosas during a Drag Queen Cook-Off. // June 15, eventbrite.com
- Stream Cal Academy's annual Pride NightLife. // 7pm, June 25; calacademy.org/nightlife
- Get ready for Porch Pride: A Bluegrass Pride Queerentine Festival. // June 27-28, bluegrasspride.net
- Join the Virtual National Memorial AIDS Walk. //aidsmemorial.org/aidswalk
- Celebrate SF Pride's golden anniversary. // June 27-28, sfpride.org
- Smell nice around the house. // ZGO Perfumery, 600 Castro St. (Castro), zgoperfumery.com
- Revisit Harvey Milk Plaza. // Castro and Market Streets (Castro), harveymilkplaza.org
- Cover your face to support HRC. // Human Rights Campaign, 575 Castro St. (Castro), shop.hrc.org
- Order takeout from a 40-year Castro landmark. // Orphan Andy's, 3991 17th St. (Castro), facebook.com
- Have your Pride cake in quarantine // Noe Valley Bakery, noevalleybakery.com
- See queer historian Gerard Koskovich's "Journal of a Pandemic." // facebook.com
- Tune in to "Poses: From the Memoir of Monique Jenkinson." // juanitamore.com/podcasts
- "March" for trans equality. // Online June 26, transmarch.org
- Crack a cold Gay Beach beer. // localbrewingco.com
- Live stream the lighting of the Pink Triangle. // 8pm, Saturday, June 27; illuminatethepinktriangle.org
- Visit Pink Triangle Park. // 454 Market St. (Castro), pinktrianglepark.org
- Order The Lookout's "drink bucket" of margs to go. // 3600 16th St. (Castro), lookoutsf.com, sf.funcheap.com
- Purchase a print of Hal Fischer's 1977 work Street Fashion: Basic Gay, to benefit First Exposures, a photography-based, youth mentoring program in SF. // June 8-14, photographersforourfuture.square.site
- Party with Pabllo Vittar. // Global Pride, June 27, globalpride2020.org
- Hunt for Pride-themed Honey Bears. // instagram.com/fnnch
- Stream four days of film during Frameline44 Pride Showcase. // June 25-28; frameline.org
- Support a neighborhood grocer. // Buffalo Whole Foods, 598 Castro St. (Castro), buffalowholefoods.com
- Connect with LGBTQ seniors. // openhouse-sf.org
- Order a takeout burger to pair with drag brunch or dinner. // Hamburger Mary's, 531 Castro St., #336 (Castro), hamburgermarys.com
- Take a virtual workshop or webinar. // SF LGBT Center, sfcenter.org
- Count the number of Bay Area women and nonbinary innovators on the Queer 50. // fastcompany.co
- Stay sober, and find a digital AA meeting. // Castro Country Club, 4058 18th St. (Castro), castrocountryclub.org
- Remember Larry Kramer. // nytimes.com
- Save Aunt Charlie's, the last queer bar in the Tenderloin. // gofundme.com
- Donate to the Freedom Fund. // lgbtqfund.org
- Find more original SF Pride content. // 7x7.com/lgbtq-pride