San Francisco, CA
San Francisco transgender community celebrates progress, advocates for equality at march
SAN FRANCISCO — Over the past year, the transgender community has become a target of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation.
At the start of the 20th annual Trans March in San Francisco’s Dolores Park, participants talked about what’s at stake.
“It’s nice out here. The people. The entertainment. The good vibe and some of my friends are here,” said Cristina Gilmore, a drag entertainer who has delighted San Francisco audiences since 1995.
For her, this year’s Trans March rally held special significance.
“Just be out here, pushing out there to be a greater city — just be out there saying ‘hey, we have our rights too! We wanna live life the way we want to live,’” Gilmore said.
As the crowd gathered at Dolores Park Friday evening, Sweet Candi, a transgender advocate who first attended this march in 2008, shared her thoughts.
“Events like these are important because we raise our voices and we’re heard. We’re not gonna just take it. We’re gonna fight back for our rights to have a fair chance to live and be happy,” Candi said.
The organizers say this year’s program has a larger purpose.
“We are celebrating today and putting on intentional programming to validate some of that anger about the 500-plus anti-trans legislation bills that are in the country right now,” Niko Stornent explained.
Sweet Candi says the battle will continue.
“Trans rights are human rights so we have a right to be like everybody else. We’re not hurting anybody and we need to protect the trans youth, too, because they matter and they’re gonna have an opportunity to do things that the youth 20 years ago — when they were coming out — didn’t have,” Candi said.
For four decades, Ms. Billie Cooper has called San Francisco home.
“I’ve been at the beginning of all that and I can happily say that we have progressed so much within social justice and bringing communities together,” Cooper said.
She’s one of the dozens of transgender people that came together at the Women’s Building for a brunch that marked the beginning of the Trans March celebrations.
“Throughout the years, we’ve taken two steps forward, and we’re pulled back four steps, but today as we stand here, there are many positive laws for the LGTBQ+ community, but we’re still getting pulled back,” Cooper said.
Her sentiments echo the same frustration of Donna Persona, a 77-year-old transgender woman and activist concerned about the increasing number of anti-LGBTQ+ laws in the country.
“I was here in the 1970s.Today, in 2023, it seems almost worse than then. The girls didn’t get to live long, but now there’s this pushback,” Personna said.
Kathleen Sullivan, the executive director of Open House, emphasized their commitment to advocating for the rights of the LGBTQ+ community.
“Our community is under attack, nationally is under attack, so opportunities like these for our transgender community, young and older, to come together in celebration and get a little pampered helps to put fresh love in the soul of our community members,” Sullivan explained.
That’s why Ms. Billie Cooper offered up a special message to one politician in particular.
“Hey, Governor Ron DeSantis, my name is Ms. Billie Cooper, and I live in San Francisco. I’m a 64-year-old unapologetically black, transgender woman; a transgender woman that you are trying your hardest to shut down,” Cooper said passionately. “So why don’t you give me a call or send me an email so we can talk?”
San Francisco, CA
Game Day: Bay Area golfer making most of 2nd chance
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.
San Francisco, CA
Bay to Breakers brings thousands to San Francisco for race day
Colorful costumes, loud cheers and crushed tortillas marked the start of San Francisco’s zany Bay to Breakers footrace Sunday as thousands of runners surged off the starting line in a flurry of dizzying forward motion.
Participants—dressed as everything from cowboys to hot dogs with condiments—hit the streets early, with some donning race-issued pink T-shirts featuring the city’s iconic Painted Ladies houses. Others went all out in cartoon, comic book or spotted cow costumes and helmets.
The runners surged off the starting line in a flurry of colorful fabric and loud cheering, pounding hundreds of tossed tortillas into the tarmac beneath their feet.
From morning and well into the afternoon, it was prime time for people-watching.
Cowboys blurred into groups in orange prison jumpsuits or screenshot-perfect Oompa Loompa uniforms, with distracting touches like a little fluorescent green tulle here or a pair of inflatable chickens there.
As is so often the case in any public and free event, a hardy few joined the yearly rite by insisting on their right to wear as little as possible, with a few minor exceptions made for spandex or skivvies or by accessorizing with baseball hats, head coverings and race-appropriate footwear. Others mostly kept it moving and took it all in stride.
In addition to the spirits some spent valuable race time surreptitiously sipping on or openly guzzling, others’ spirits seemed to soar ever higher as the morning’s low clouds began to burn off, and thousands of people powered westward along closed-off roadways, accepting cheers and the odd orange slice or two from generous onlookers.
Showers of blown bubbles drifted into the air along Fell Street and came down equally atop a costumed swarm of bees, a walking watermelon slice, a spotted-cow-onesie sporting competitor.
By the time many reached the finish line, stiff breezes flew the state and U.S. flags and seemed to put wind into the sails of runners who powered across with uplifted arms and jubilant shouts.
San Francisco, CA
Date my friend? In SF, dating flyers are the new personal ad
Rather than doling out dates one by one, Wheeler and Kennedy decided to throw a party, and invite all the interested women, plus any of their single friends (both male and female) to join the festivities. It all led to last Saturday’s 50 First Dates-themed “I believe in a thing called love” party at Fort Mason, attended by around 100 people who came to flirt over White Claws, rub shoulders underneath a “compliment circle” (a large parachute, the kind you used to play with in pre-school), and test their compatibility over thumb wars and mural making.
“I can’t date over 100 people,” said Wheeler in a phone call ahead of the party, which also doubled as his 37th birthday bash. “The very least I could do is just throw a big mixer, and invite all my single guy friends, and just have a big party, so I can say thank you to everyone.”
The partygoers came with a range of expectations and intentions last Saturday—from wingmen and women lending their support for Wheeler to curious singles who wound up there after falling into an Instagram rabbit hole. Many found the quirky games and setups for possible meet-cutes preferable to the endless doom swiping of Tinder, Hinge and Bumble.
-
News1 week ago
Skeletal remains found almost 40 years ago identified as woman who disappeared in 1968
-
World1 week ago
India Lok Sabha election 2024 Phase 4: Who votes and what’s at stake?
-
Politics1 week ago
Tales from the trail: The blue states Trump eyes to turn red in November
-
World1 week ago
Borrell: Spain, Ireland and others could recognise Palestine on 21 May
-
World1 week ago
Catalans vote in crucial regional election for the separatist movement
-
Politics1 week ago
North Dakota gov, former presidential candidate Doug Burgum front and center at Trump New Jersey rally
-
Movie Reviews1 week ago
“Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes”: Disney's New Kingdom is Far From Magical (Movie Review)
-
World1 week ago
Ukraine’s military chief admits ‘difficult situation’ in Kharkiv region