In observance of LGBTQ Pride, the Vallejo Naval and Historical Museum will exhibit "Doris Fish: Ego as Artform" during the month of June. A news release noted that this is the second mounting of the exhibition. It premiered last year at the GLBT Historical Society Museum in San Francisco's LGBTQ Castro neighborhood and proved so popular that it was extended twice and ran for 11 months.
Fish was the drag persona of Philip Clargo Mills.
In the 1980s, Fish and her gender-bending troupe, Sluts-A-GoGo, were San Francisco's reigning drag queens, the release stated. Fish was larger than life; so were her talent, her ego, and her ambition. She co-produced and starred in the camp underground classic "Vegas in Space," an outer space adventure musical comedy dealing with the glamorous irrational behavior on an all-female planet in the 23rd century, set in the 1960s.
Before coming to San Francisco, Fish, who died in 1991, trained as a visual artist in her native Sydney, Australia. The exhibit features her paintings, silk screens, drawings, and a glamorous table she created from objects found behind a shuttered furniture store.
Ms. Bob Davis, a trans woman who runs the Louise Lawrence Archives in Vallejo and knew Fish, is collaborating with the city's museum on the project. Davis, who will be at the opening, designed the sound for "Vegas in Space" and helped create the exhibition about Fish.
"I felt Doris deserved to be seen," Davis had told the Bay Area Reporter for a 2023 story about the exhibition and a biography about Fish.
An opening reception will be held Saturday, June 1, at 10 a.m., followed by a Pride flag raising ceremony. The museum is located at 734 Marin Street in Vallejo. Exhibition hours are Tuesday through Friday, noon to 4 p.m., and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is $5 for adults and $3 for seniors and students. Kids under 12 are free.
SF LGBT center to have Pride block party
The San Francisco LGBT Community Center is holding its inaugural Pride block party Saturday, June 1, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 1800 Market Street. The event is recognized by the San Francisco LGBT Pride Celebration Committee as the official launch of Pride season, according to a news release.
The block party will bring together dozens of local community resources, LGBTQ+ small business vendors, Black Indigenous and people of color-owned food trucks, drag performances, and live entertainment from Bay Area LGBTQ+ creators, the release noted.
Dubbed "Building the Block," the event will offer resource connections to LGBTQ+ community members through the center's programs and services inside the center, while the exterior of the building will offer community-building programming.
Entertainers scheduled to perform include Ms. Ruby Red Munroe, Afrika America with Drag Out The Vote, ASTU, Lalin St. Juste, Lovey, and more.
There will be free gender-affirming haircuts and styling offered by Headprint House, a free clothing closet, and a plus-size community flea market hosted by Fierce Fat Flea Market.
The event is free. To sign up and get a ticket, click here.
Magickal Market in Alameda
The Feathered Outlaw, a queer woman-owned shop in the East Bay city of Alameda, will host its Magickal Market Friday, May 31, from 5 to 9 p.m. on the 1500 block of Webster Street.
A news release noted the event has been going on since 2017 and seeks to build and grow community in the West End Arts District of the city. The market is expected to feature whimsical local artists, small businesses, holistic practitioners, and musicians
The event is free and open to the public. The release noted that the street will not be closed down. Instead, organizers encourage attendees to explore the surrounding area, enjoying the food, drinks, and shopping that the West End offers.
The Feathered Outlaw is located at 1506 Webster Street. The Magickal Market is sponsored by the West Alameda Business Association.
Pride in the Bayview
The San Francisco neighborhood of Bayview Hunters Point will hold Pride on Third Sunday, June 2, from noon to 4 p.m. at The People's Garden, 4101 Third Street.
Organizers stated the Sunday brunch concert series will feature a special performance by Madame Gandhi, an award-winning artist and activist known for her uplifting, percussive electronic music and positive message about gender liberation and personal power.
DJ NoSilence will open the afternoon set, followed by Oakadelic.
Food will be served by Smoke Soul Kitchen SF.
The event is free for all ages.
Sonoma library celebrates Pride
Queer book lists, LGBTQIA+-related events at various branches, and parade participation are just a few of the ways the Sonoma County Library will celebrate Pride Month.
A news release noted the library will have a parade contingent and a booth at Sonoma County Pride, which takes place Saturday, June 1, as the B.A.R. previously reported.
Sonoma County librarian and queer advocacy team chair Javier Morales stated that the library's motto of "Free People Read Freely" particularly applies to the queer community.
"Sonoma County Library branches are spaces where the queer community will always be welcomed and celebrated — not just during Pride Month, but every day," Morales stated.
Interested people can visit sonomalibrary.org/pride for queer book lists, Pride Month-related activities at the branches, and more.
Members of the library's Here + Queer project will also be available at Sonoma Pride to chat with parade watchers. The project accepts digital content in the form of personal narrative essays, anecdotes, photographs, creative works, audiovisual material, and more. Anonymous submissions are supported, the release stated.
SFAF opens new SOMA space
The San Francisco AIDS Foundation announced it has relocated its main office to a single-tenant building at 940 Howard Street. The B.A.R. previously reported the foundation was set to leave its longtime home at 1035 Market Street when it signed the lease for the new space last November. The move keeps the AIDS foundation in the city's South of Market neighborhood.
SFAF's Strut health center at 470 Castro Street in the LGBTQ neighborhood is not moving.
According to a news release, services at the Howard Street location will reopen the week of June 3.
"As our lease at 1035 Market Street approached its end in 2023, and with a significant portion of our staff transitioning to a hybrid onsite/remote work schedule, we saw an opportunity to re-evaluate our spatial requirements and enhance our community service efforts while also realizing cost efficiencies," explained SFAF CEO Tyler TerMeer, Ph.D., a gay man living with HIV. "Our dedication to serving the community remains unwavering, despite the physical transition."
Ben Cabangun, MA, chief of staff, added, "We're eagerly looking forward to extending a warm welcome to our community at our new SOMA headquarters, offering improved accessibility, recently renovated facilities, and plentiful transit options."
The two-story Howard Street office is between Fifth and Sixth streets. It houses AIDS/LifeCycle; the Stonewall Project substance use treatment program; subsidies and financial benefits; community engagement programs Black Brothers Esteem, the Elizabeth Taylor 50-Plus Network, Healing & Uniting Every Sista (HUES), Programa Latino, and TransLife; and the administrative departments of SFAF.
The new building is less than half a mile from the previous main office on Market Street, the release stated. Operations at SFAF's Sixth Street Center, which provides harm reduction items and counseling, will continue unchanged.
South Bay Pride flag raising
The city of Santa Clara will hold its eighth annual Pride flag raising ceremony Friday, June 7, at noon in the quad area at City Hall, 1500 Warburton Avenue. The event will celebrate love, diversity, and inclusion.
There is no cost to attend.
Community Boards' Peacemaker ceremony
Community Boards, a nonprofit organization that works with San Franciscans to resolve a wide range of personal, residential, neighborhood, consumer, and public disputes, will hold its 14th annual Peacemaker Awards ceremony Friday, June 7, from 10 to 11:45 a.m. in the Grand Salon at San Francisco City Club, 155 Sansome Street.
Community Boards provides mediation and conflict resolution services to the public. The awards program acknowledges and honors the significant contributions of those making San Francisco a city of healthier, safer neighborhoods and communities.
"Community Boards' Peacemaker awards event recognizes that it takes a village of peacemakers and anti-violence activists to build a San Francisco that values dialogue and resolution over conflict, division, and disputes," stated Darlene Weide, a lesbian who is the agency's longtime executive director.
This year's honorees include David Brandon, who will receive the Raymond Shonholtz Visionary Peacemaker Award. Brandon has devoted his professional life to promoting the use of mediation and other collaborative approaches to address and resolve conflict. Since his admission to the California Bar in 1990, Brandon has worked in the alternative dispute resolution field in a variety of roles. For the past 10 years, he has served as managing director of the JAMS Foundation, which provides financial support for conflict prevention and dispute resolution initiatives across the U.S. and around the world, according to the release.
Oscar Rojas Lopez will receive the Gail Sadalla Rising Peacemaker Award. He is an 18-year-old San Francisco native and soon-to-be graduate of Mission High School. He began his journey as a peer mediator at the beginning of his junior year. He has led approximately 20 mediations for his peers at school; he has mediated disputes about family dynamics and cousin issues, friends getting in between romantic relationships, bullying, gossiping, and harassment, the release stated.
Peer Resources will receive the Community Boards Leadership Award. This organization began in 1979 after a near-fatal student-on-student altercation at Galileo High School, the release noted. The premise was that when young people have tools, support, and opportunities to lead, they make the best choices for themselves and their peers.
Tickets for the awards program and continental breakfast are $75-$95. For tickets and more information, click here.
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