With the naming of Rachele Sullivan Park, San Francisco is believed to be the first U.S. city to name a public park after a leather leader. Sullivan played instrumental roles in the establishment of the city's district celebrating leather and LGBTQ culture and space for women at its leather street fairs.
A cis straight ally and native San Franciscan who was a traditional Filipino healer, Sullivan died in 2022 at the age of 54. On Thursday, the San Francisco Recreation and Park Commission voted 4-0 to christen the planned greenspace at Natoma and 11th streets in her honor.
Having heard from Sullivan's family and friends, Commissioner Vanita Louie told them she sounded like she was "a very beautiful person."
Commissioner Joe Hallisy noted that Sullivan didn't just play an important role in the South of Market community but had "touched so many other neighborhoods in this city" having lived and gone to school in various parts of San Francisco.
"She was a woman of the city," he said.
While the SOMA park space falls outside the boundaries of the Leather & LGBTQ Cultural District, whose establishment in 2018 Sullivan had advocated for, it is a short walk away from a leather-themed public parklet that Sullivan had also supported. Eagle Plaza on a stretch of 12th Street celebrates the local leather scene and is named after the adjacent gay-owned bar that caters to a leather and LGBTQ clientele.
Sullivan also served on the board of Folsom Street, the nonprofit entity that produces the city's two leather and kink street fairs. She helped launch Venus' Playground, the women's space at the Folsom Street Fair held annually in late September, as the Bay Area Reporter had noted in her obituary.
Numerous leather community members, SOMA residents, and local leaders had called on park officials to name the new recreational facility set to be built in 2025 after Sullivan. As the B.A.R.'s Political Notebook reported this week, voters overwhelmingly favored naming the park after Sullivan in several surveys conducted this year.
Manager of policy and public affairs for rec and park Barbara Swan Chami, in her report to the city agency's oversight body regarding the proposed name, had noted that Sullivan "worked at the intersection of the Disability, Leather, and Filipino communities in the SOMA district and beyond, so it is fitting that her communities have nominated her to be the namesake for the park."
In urging the rec and park commissioners to adopt the park name at their July 18 meeting, Sullivan's son, Sebastian, noted his mother dedicated her life to helping various communities, from the Indigenous and Filipino communities to the leather scene.
"She helped a lot of people and she touched the hearts of a lot of people," he said.
Sullivan's sister recalled how much their family loved parks and that Sullivan was a "tree hugger." One of her nieces called Sullivan the "most loving godmother" she could ever have wanted.
Erica Waltemade, with the SOMA West Community Benefit District, led the naming committee for the park. She also noted the various roles Sullivan had played in advocating for SOMA's various communities.
Due to the "deep community organizing ties and a history of activism" in the SOMA neighborhood, Waltemade pointed out it was clear from the start that the new park should be named after a community member and not, for example, a bird.
"It became pretty obvious she was the right choice for this community," noted Waltemade to the commissioners.
Speaking to the B.A.R. earlier this week, Bob Goldfarb, a gay man who is executive director of the Leather & LGBTQ Cultural District, had said the park naming would be "a fitting tribute and a definite honor" for Sullivan.
The district's manager, Cal Callahan, a gay man who served on the park's naming committee, urged the oversight body to affirm it carry Sullivan's name.
"She knew how to move communities forward," he said.
Other sites of significance to LGBTQs
The new park site will join more than a dozen public gathering spaces scattered across San Francisco that either memorialize the LGBTQ community or are named after individuals of significance to it. It is also now the third outdoor space with ties to the city's leather scene.
In addition to the greenspace and nearby plaza there is also the San Francisco South of Market Leather History Alley. Located on Ringold Alley between Eighth and Ninth streets parallel to Harrison Street, the roadway features a number of art installations and historical markers honoring leather leaders, nightlife venues and businesses that played a role in the creation of the leather, kink, and LGBTQ scenes in Western SOMA.
It also becomes the ninth public open space or park facility in the city to be named after someone of importance to the LGBTQ community. Three sites honor the late gay Supervisor Harvey Milk, the first out person to hold elected office in San Francisco and the state of California.
In Duboce Park is the Harvey Milk Recreational Arts Center at 50 Scott Street. The building also houses the Harvey Milk Photo Center, which is the oldest and largest community wet darkroom in the U.S., according to the rec and park department.
A short drive away is Harvey Milk Plaza, the public parklet above the Castro Muni Station at the corner of Castro and Market Streets. On the opposite side of the intersection is Jane Warner Plaza on a segment of 17th Street. It is named after a lesbian San Francisco patrol special police officer whose beat included the historic LGBTQ neighborhood and lost her battle against ovarian cancer in 2010.
At the nearby Eureka Valley Recreation Center on Collingwood Street, the gymnasium is named in honor of Mark Bingham, the gay rugby player who lost his life fighting the hijackers on United Flight 93 during 9/11. The rec center's outdoor baseball diamond at 19th and Collingwood streets is named in honor of Rikki Streicher, a lesbian who owned several bars catering to queer women in the city beginning in the 1960s.
Streicher also helped to launch the Gay Games. She, too, lost a battle to cancer and died in 1994.
At Corona Heights Park, which overlooks the Castro district, is the Bill Kraus Meadow and Pathway. A gay man and congressional aide, Kraus played an instrumental role in organizing the city's LGBTQ community politically in the 1970s and 1980s until his death at age 38 in early 1986 after contracting meningitis.
In North Beach can be found Jack Kerouac Alley. The pedestrian walkway that runs between Grant and Columbus avenues honors the bisexual Beat Generation writer who was a frequent visitor to the bohemian neighborhood in the 1950s.
Two other sites in the city memorialize LGBTQ people. Pink Triangle Park at Market and 17th streets in the Castro honors those individuals killed during the Holocaust of World War II.
In the city's Golden Gate Park is the National AIDS Memorial Grove. The federally recognized glen commemorates those killed by the disease.
Construction of Rachelle Sullivan Park is scheduled to begin next summer. Among its features will be a garden area, active use area, play area, and small nature exploration area. Along its main entrance on 11th Street will be a multi-use court, adult fitness area, drinking fountain, dog relief station, and seating for park users.
Never miss a story! Keep up to date on the latest news, arts, politics, entertainment, and nightlife.
Sign up for the Bay Area Reporter's free weekday email newsletter. You'll receive our newsletters and special offers from our community partners.
Support California's largest LGBTQ newsroom. Your one-time, monthly, or annual contribution advocates for LGBTQ communities. Amplify a trusted voice providing news, information, and cultural coverage to all members of our community, regardless of their ability to pay -- Donate today!