Welcome is the official title of the massive rainbow-colored laser artwork that illuminated the space above San Francisco’s Market Street during Pride weekend. The lights emanated from the landmark Ferry Building and continued for the length of the main thoroughfare and into the hills.
I particularly liked this view with the modernist Hilton Financial District hotel at Embarcadero Center.
You can see a bit of video of the installation from CatSynth TV.
Today marks one year since Trump took office and one year of resistance to current regime (which seems like a more appropriate word than “administration” under the circumstances). To mark the occasion and kick off another year of resistance and civic/political engagement, we at CatSynth took part in the Women’s March.
Thousands gathered on a chilly but clear day in San Francisco’s Civic Center for a YUGE rally, before marching up Market Street towards The Embarcadero. Here are a few scenes, including a few of the many colorful signs.
And here is our video documenting some moments from the event.
Marches like this of course just an initial step. The most important steps will be continued political engagement, especially but not limited to voting in a better set of leaders in 2018. We will see how things unfold.
It is pride weekend in San Francisco, and it is a particularly poignant one after the shootings in Orlando only two weeks ago. It is an extra mission for many of us to show up this year and be present, and be defiant. Before the main parade and event today, I wanted to share a report from the annual Trans March that opened up pride on Friday evening.
I met up with the march on Market Street in downtown San Francisco, not far from CatSynth HQ.
Here are some scenes moving forward with the march.
I particularly liked this moment with both the transgender pride flag and the kitty cat.
The march turned from Market onto Taylor Street and stopped at the corner of Turk and Taylor in the Tenderloin.
I have written about walking the entire length of Taylor in a previous article, including passing through this stretch. But it turns out to also be a very important spot in LGBTQ history, in particular for the history of transgender identity and rights. The corner of Turk and Taylor is the site of the Compton’s Cafeteria Riots in 1966 – three years before Stonewall. Compton’s Cafeteria at 101 Taylor Street was one of the few “safe” gathering places for transgender people in the city in the 1960s. You can read a brief account of the riot here. The history is not as well known as Stonewall, but this 50th anniversary commemoration was a step towards correcting that. The ceremony included veterans of the riots, and the unveiling of a new street name.
Immersing myself in this history is a relatively new things for me, as I have been mostly involved in my own process and in the larger LGBTQ community. But I am happy to be getting deeper into it, and to participate in events like this.
[Please click to enlarge photo. The details are an important element of this one.]
Note: you can always see more photos, including past Wordless Wednesday images, at my flickr site.
