I just got back from the San Francisco Pride weekend and am exhausted! A very nice weekend with good friends. Three full days en femme were spiritually uplifting but logistically exhausting.
I went down on Friday, checked into my hotel and headed over to the Trans March at Dolores Park. Estimates of attendance were from 3000 to 10,000 but in any case there were a lot of people there! Here is a random photo.
If you need something to recharge your batteries you MUST go to an event like this! Trans people of all stripes, families and friends just having a beautiful day in a sunny park listening to trans artists perform and trans speakers speak. Great music and great speakers. Two stand out. One was the woman that recently won a court victory regarding our right to work. Ex-soldier, ex-cop, and a ballistics expert, as the best qualified applicant for a job in a ballistics lab (“CSI” stuff) she fought and won her right to the job. The other speaker was a trans senior who fought for her rights in the bad old days. She had to be helped up to the mike, with her cane no less, and proceeds to holler, “time for us to get out of the f***ing closet!”Hey, even if you choose to stay stealth, IMHO you would get a lot from just doing a drive by of an event like this. “We’re here, we’re trans, we’re fabulous don’t F with us!”
The march itself was great with a lot of cheering allies on the sidelines. There was a contingent of ladies on choppers parked along the route that revved their engines in salute as we went by. Great motivation!!!
Saturday was just a day out with friends. Always fun!
Sunday was our transgender group’s, the fab River City Gems, participation in the SF Pride Parade. There were some logistical issues that made this a very long day (The SF Occupy group tried to hijack the parade because it was “too corporate!”) and there was a lot of standing around. Given the local “gold rush” history, we dress in period costumes – think southern belles. Again, the crowd was awesome and there was a lot of love from the crowd and fellow participants. I’ll post a photo or two when they are up. I do have to admit that the whole hoop skirt rig was hot, heavy, and hard to walk in! The wind screaming up Market Street didn’t help much either.
The City:
In a recent post someone asked about the “safety” of being out in SF. The hotel staff was great. Respectful, correct pronouns, etc. Most people don’t care, some of the tourists would gawk, but no negative experiences either. Of course “snowplowing” into the elevator in my hoop skirt did cause some commentary, in German I believe. Must have been commenting on how lovely I am. . .
Family Values:
Both the Tran March (primarily) and the much larger Pride Parade caused me to consider something. You hear a lot of stuff about “family values” from folks that don’t seem to know what the word means. Well at both of these events I SAW a lot of “family values!” Happy children, adults, seniors, parents, couples, all nationalities, colors, etc. Representatives of religious groups showing love and not hate and exclusion. To the best of my knowledge, there were no fights, murders, etc. No one was beaten into a coma for wearing the wrong sweatshirt, etc. Yes, there was some nudity and some overt sexuality but I would rather have my kids see that than take them to a “normal” event where they can watch two drunks fight, or any of the other “lovely” things that you are likely to see at a ballgame, fireworks display, or any other similarly sized mainstream event!
