The Progress Pride flag was raised in Japantown's Peace Plaza in San Francisco last weekend. During a program June 4, drag artist Kristi Yummykochi performed and remarks were made by District 5 Supervisor Dean Preston and others. The event marked the first time a Pride flag was raised in the neighborhood, Elena Nielsen told the Bay Area Reporter. Nielsen introduced the project in April 2021 to the San Francisco chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League, on which she serves as a board member. The project created the Japantown Rainbow Coalition, a group of Japantown community members organized to raise the Pride flag in the plaza, she added. The flag raising is not directly related to the YWCA/Issei Women's Building, which last year was designated a city landmark for its ties to LGBTQ history, as the B.A.R. previously reported, but Nielsen said it is an important building in Japantown.
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