The pink triangle atop Twin Peaks will revert to a canvas-only display for 2023, after having special LED lighting the past three years, and volunteers are needed ahead of the installation, co-founder Patrick Carney stated in a news release.
Volunteers can sign up for several jobs. Site cleanup will take place Saturday, June 10. On Friday, June 16, the display layout and installation of the outline will take place. That will be followed by the main installation Saturday, June 17, starting at 7 a.m., followed by the ceremony and program at 11. Finally, help is needed to take down the installation on Saturday, July 1.
The pink triangle will be up for two full weeks, Carney stated. Last year the display was up for all of Pride Month, but in years past it has just been up for Pride weekend. Carney stated that volunteers are especially needed for the takedown, which typically draws the fewest people.
Carney said that new materials have been obtained.
"New canvas and sailcloth border materials were ordered many months ago and have arrived," Carney stated.
He thanked Illuminate and Ben Davis, its founder and chief visionary officer, for help during the COVID year of 2020 with the LED lighting when people couldn't gather to volunteer, Carney explained.
"And then that system was used for an additional two years — a beautiful bonus for sure," he added. "For all that I am forever grateful."
In an email, Carney, a gay man who was appointed last year as a city arts commissioner, didn't rule out lighting the pink triangle in the future.
"It may be lit again someday in a manner to be determined," he wrote. "It depends upon many factors including of course money and operating costs, but most importantly on how it serves the goals of the project."
Carney noted that the pink triangle is a reminder and a warning. It was originally used to brand suspected homosexuals in Nazi concentration camps. It was revived in the 1970s as a symbol of protest against homophobia, and has been used to symbolize LGBTQ+ Pride ever since.
"The pink triangle fits in well with the theme of Pride 2023, 'Looking Back and Moving Forward.' The pink triangle has always been doing that," noted Carney, "because part of appreciating and celebrating any Pride is understanding where we have been, and the pink triangle illustrates how bad things can get — as pointed out during the history portion of the program."
To sign up for a volunteer shift, click here.
To make a donation, click here.
Community Boards to honor 'peacemakers'
Community Boards, a nonprofit that works on mediation with city residents in all manner of disputes, will honor individuals at its Peacemaker Awards Friday, June 9, from 10 to 11:30 a.m. While the in-person event is sold out, people can watch a livestream for free, said Darlene Weide, executive director.
Additionally, there are still spots available for an online workshop Thursday, June 10, from noon to 1:30 p.m. The virtual session, "The Magic of Mediation," will be led by Kenneth Cloke. The cost is $65 for Community Boards members and $85 for non-members.
Weide, a lesbian who used to work at the Stop AIDS Project, became executive director at Community Boards in 2008. The agency itself started as an experiment back in 1976 in Visitacion Valley and Bernal Heights, she said. The idea was to train people in the art and skill of mediation and problem-solving in neighborhoods without the intrusion of institutions such as the police. It became so successful that today the model is replicated in 500 cities in the U.S. and around the world, Weide said.
Today, the agency offers conflict coaching to those who call for help, and can do a three-hour mediation session if agreeable to both sides in a dispute. Weide said sessions have been held to resolve landlord-tenant issues and other disagreements that can involve businesses, schools, or neighbors.
Services are offered in English, Spanish, and Chinese, she added.
This year's Peacemaker event will honor Susan Stone, who has worked as a mediator and caseworker inside juvenile halls in the Bay Area; California Lopez, a junior at Mission High School who has trained in communication and conflict resolution skills; and Brava! for Women in the Arts, which has been an anchor organization in the Mission district for over 37 years and owns and operates the Brava Theatre Center.
To learn more about Community Boards, including how to be a mediator, go to communityboards.org.
To sign up for the online workshop, click here.
To watch a livestream of the Peacemaker Award event, go to https://communityboards.org/in-the-community/sfpeacemakerawards/ or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6cwW6XGkMc
Pride in Pinole
The East Bay city of Pinole will celebrate its 120th birthday, LGBTQ Pride, and Juneteenth at a festival Sunday, June 11, from noon to 3 p.m. at Fernandez Park, 595 Tennent Avenue.
Pinole Mayor Devin Murphy, a gay Black man, wrote in a Facebook post that it will be the city's first-ever Pride celebration. The city raised the Pride flag June 1.
At the festival, which is free to attend, there will be musical performances, food vendors, and activities for children.
For more information, click here.
Presidio Tunnel Tops queer field day
Presidio Tunnel Tops, the new attraction within the Presidio National Park, will hold a queer-centered Fantastic Field Day Sunday, June 11, from noon to 4 p.m.
According to a news release, the all-ages inclusive event is part of Queer Athletic Futurity and challenges how people look at conventional forms of athleticism. Activities include dance performances and stunts from FACT/SF, a contemporary dance company, and CHEER San Francisco, the primarily LGBTQ pep squad, as well as workshops from coaches from a variety of sports. The aim is to show that anyone, inclusive of orientation, ability, and experience, can be athletic.
The event is free. RSVPs are not required but can be made here.
Rainbow Honor Walk raises $45K
The Rainbow Honor Walk, the nonprofit that highlights the contributions of deceased LGBTQ pioneers with sidewalk plaques in San Francisco's Castro district, recently announced an exhibit of art by the late acclaimed artist Beth Van Hoesen raised $45,000 for the project.
The exhibit, "Beth Van Hoesen: Punks and Sisters," ran January 17-February 25 at the city's Altman Siegel Gallery, the release stated. Van Hoesen, a longtime Castro resident who died in 2010, and her estate donated a significant number of her works to the Rainbow Honor Walk for sale to benefit its work.
"Thank you Beth Van Hoesen," stated Donna Sachet, board president for the Rainbow Honor Walk. "Thank you to Diane Roby, who administered her artistic estate. Thank you, Altman Siegel Gallery and especially thank you, Peter Goss, our longtime supporter and board member who helped to facilitate the sale of the Rainbow Honor Walk's Beth Van Hoesen artworks."
To date, the honor walk, working with San Francisco Public Works, has installed 44 plaques along Market, Castro, 19th, and Collingwood streets.
As the Bay Area Reporter has previously reported, the first 20 plaques were installed in 2014 with additional plaques added in 2017, 2019,and last year. In February 2022, the next 24 honorees were announced with design of their plaques commencing this year, as the B.A.R. reported. One of the inductees is B.A.R. founding publisher Bob Ross.
All funds for manufacture of the plaques are raised privately, with each plaque costing approximately $6,000, the release noted.
For more information on the Rainbow Honor Walk, including a map of the plaques, go to rainbowhonorwalk.org.
Panel recalls 1973 Coors boycott
The Coors boycott and beer strike of 1973 will be remembered at a panel discussion and organizing workshop Saturday, June 24, at noon at the Teamsters Local 2010 Hall, 7739 Pardee Lane in Oakland.
The local aspect of the boycott started in 1973, when Allan Baird, a straight ally, took charge of a union strike against Bay Area distributors, including the Coors Brewing Company. Baird reached out to his neighbor, gay future supervisor Harvey Milk, to build a coalition. Coors also had a 178-question employment application form, as Nancy Wohlforth explained in 2017 on the International Brotherhood of Teamsters' website.
"One question demanded: 'Are you a homosexual?' If you answered 'yes,' that terminated your application," she stated. "Another demanded 'Are you pro-union?' If you answered 'yes,' that terminated you, too."
Even after Teamsters Local 888's boycott of Coors ended in 1975, Baird continued to work with Milk — both against the anti-LGBTQ Briggs initiative in 1978 that would have banned queer people and their supporters from teaching in California's public schools, and for LGBTQ equality in the labor movement. Milk was elected the city's first openly gay supervisor in 1977 and was assassinated in November 1978.
The event is free. To register, click here.
0
Help keep the Bay Area Reporter going in these tough times. To support local, independent, LGBTQ journalism, consider becoming a BAR member.