Created in 1982, the Safety Committee philosophy and training has served as the model for many other LGBT events both local and international.
#Gay pride week san francisco 2014 full
The festival is traditionally held in the last full weekend in June. On the Sunday of the parade, an area of the festival called Leather Alley features fetish and BDSM oriented booths and demonstrations. It is a collection of booths, dance stages, and vendors around the Civic Center area near San Francisco City Hall. It is common for them to decorate a flatbed truck or float, along with loud dance music, or create a colorful contingent that carries a visual message out to the bystanders.Ī two-day (Saturday and Sunday) festival has grown up around the Sunday morning parade. Nonprofit community groups and LGBT-oriented local businesses contribute more than half of the contingents.LGBT-affirming religious groups of many denominations contribute several dozen contingents.Politicians frequently participate in the parade, as a way of making themselves visible to LGBT prospective voters.This contingent is notable for the emotion it generates along the route. It is common to see signs from all over Northern California. Many carry signs indicating where their PFLAG chapter comes from. These are typically the parents or family members of LGBT people, mostly straight, sometimes marching together with their LGBT relatives. Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG), is usually one of the largest contingents, featuring several hundred people.There's one more first that San Francisco wants to acquire: to be the first to achieve a program called "Getting to Zero," which promotes the goal of zero new HIV infections and zero preventable HIV deaths.PFLAG contingent at San Francisco Pride 2004 "Gilbert would always say (the flag) represents the freedom, the freedom to be who you are, to live without labels, to be able to love whomever you want to love in whatever way you want to love them," said Sheehy. The flag was created by San Francisco artist and activist Gilbert Baker, who died in 2017 at the age 65. "The rainbow flag, you know, is now a global symbol of our movement that happened for Pride in 1978," said Sheehy. This is what America looks like," Plante laughed as he recalled the scene.Īnother first: the rainbow flag, created in San Francisco. "These aren't drag queens, these aren't people in leather! This looks like they are overweight, they don't even go to the gym. He remembers thinking how they looked like everybody else in America. Plante recalled how the line outside San Francisco City Hall defied media stereotypes of the LGBT community. KPIX assigned Hank Plante to cover the rush by same-sex couples to get married.
Under the direction of mayor Gavin Newsom, San Francisco city and county officials defied California law and began issuing wedding licenses to same-sex couples.
"It dramatically changed the conversation between corporate America and the courts on same sex marriage," said Sheehy.Īnother historic first took place in 2004. Tens of thousands of companies have complied. San Francisco's Equal Benefits Ordinance passed and took effect in 1997.īottom line: If you wanted to do business with the city, you had to give same-sex couples the same benefits you offered to straight, married couples.