The national lesbian-centered confab that has been the bane of some Castro merchants over the last two years it has been held in the LGBTQ neighborhood is heading to the Big Apple for this year's event.
Lesbians Who Tech announced in an email blast January 18 that its Lesbians Who Tech & Allies Summit this year will be in New York City.
The conference will be held September 17-19. The organization has not returned the Bay Area Reporter's request for comment as to whether this means the end of the summit's years in San Francisco, but that appears likely. Prior years' events had been held in the fall in the Castro neighborhood.
Late last year, Leanne Pittsford, a lesbian who is the CEO and founder of Lesbians Who Tech, conducted an online survey to gauge potential attendees' interest in having the summit in San Francisco or New York City, as the B.A.R. previously reported.
The apparent move comes after business owners in the Castro neighborhood voiced opposition to allowing the confab to take over Castro Street once again in 2024. Last year and in 2022 the conference closed down the thoroughfare for use as a gated gathering area for its attendees.
As the B.A.R. reported last year, the Castro Merchants Association voted preemptively to oppose future closings of Castro Street to the event after concerns members had brought up with the tech group went unaddressed. These included a barrier that Auto Erotica owner Patrick Batt compared to an "armed camp," and issues with garbage collection, street signage, and communications generally.
"I hope they treat New York City better than they treated San Francisco," Batt, a gay man, told the B.A.R. January 18.
The wording of the merchants' resolution was specific to the street closure, and several expressed support for the summit continuing in the Castro if it were indoors, as it was in its earlier years. But the association was not able to come to a consensus on that matter and so did not vote on it.
Another factor that may have played a role in Lesbians Who Tech's decision is that the Castro Theatre, which has served as the main venue for the summit, is expected to be closed for renovations this spring and will remain shuttered for a little over a year, according to Another Planet Entertainment, which manages the theater.
Asked about Lesbians Who Tech's move to NYC by the B.A.R., Terry Asten Bennett, a straight ally who is the merchants' president and co-owner of Cliff's Variety at 479 Castro Street, said simply, "We hope it is incredibly successful for them."
Pittsford told the B.A.R. in November, "There's a lot of opportunity for the Castro to be a safe space for women and queer, nonbinary leaders. ... There's literally nothing that centers us. There's a reason it's challenging for us to have space in the queer community, but my team works incredibly hard."
She did not return a request for comment Thursday.
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