This weekend has been a transformative experience for me to say the least. I knew I would be celebrating Pride when I came to SF, but I had no idea it would be on such a historic weekend, and I certainly didn't expect to be spending it with some of my best friends in the world.
In preparation for Pride on Saturday morning, I watched a YouTube documentary about Harvey Milk and his work in this city as the first openly gay individual elected to public office in California. I remember seeing the movie Milk when I was still in the process of coming out and coming to terms with my own sexuality; for whatever reason, it did not stick with me as strongly as it should have, and I found myself floored as I revisited the story of this incredible man.
My friends Jordan and Alexa, both of whom are working for production companies in LA, decided to celebrate this momentous occasion by spontaneously road-tripping to SF for our Pride festivities and to spend time with Braden and I as well as our friend Michael who graduated early this past December and Nico, a rising sophomore in Wig. Billy had to leave for the weekend to fly home to NY for his brother Bobby's graduation from high school (congrats, by the way!), so he left his apartment key with me so Jordan and Alexa could have a place to crash. Braden and I decided on a whim that we would sleep over there as well so we could all celebrate together.
After meeting up at the Wharf, we got lunch at Chipotle and ate on the steps by the waterfront outside Ghiradelli Square. The weather was the most beautiful it has been since I have been here, as if nature was giving us the perfect environment in which to celebrate. After lunch, we ran back to my dorm to grab Billy's key and so I could get a change of clothes and a box of snicker-doodles my grandma had baked for me and mailed here. (They were amazing!!!) We then drove toward Billy's place, but got stuck in a ridiculous traffic jam of people trying to get into the city for Pride festivities. We passed the time by playing "Never Have I Ever" and people-watching as tons of tourists passed our car decked out in head-to-toe rainbows like a leprechaun's wet dream.
After parking in a nearby lot (where an attendant conspicuously warned us that cars get broken into there frequently, much to Jordan's chagrin) and saying goodbye to Nico, we dropped our stuff in Billy's room. He has a bunch of paraphernalia that he got during Google orientation, so we took some selfies with it and sent them to him to make him jealous and potentially anxious. I can totally picture Billy sitting in the auditorium of his brother's school with his head in his hands, just muttering "What have I done?" under his breath as "Pomp and Circumstance" chimes in over the loudspeakers.
We were not hungry for dinner since we had just gorged ourselves on Chipotle and cinnamon-sugar cookies, so we instead went to buy some goodies for the night. We went to a local convenience store next to the Sunnyside Hotel (which made us laugh as, on top of its sign, it appeared that someone had thrown their weave). We then spent a few hours chilling in the Clarke Complex, having good conversation and cracking open some white wine. (We are all of age, and none of us are co-workers, so this is fine.) The funny part about the wine was that Billy's cabinets contained exactly four glasses, all intended for wine; two were normal size, and the other two... well, I guess the best word to describe them would be goblets. Braden and I volunteered to take the larger glasses as we are taller and so they would not be as awkward for us to hold.
As the sun began to set, we discussed our plans for the evening. Jordan really wanted to visit the Castro district, and everyone was game for it, so after finishing off our bottles, we walked over along with a substantial crowd of queers flocking to the city's metaphorical Mecca of the gay rights movement to partake in the celebrations of this amazing moment in history. We saw a lot of crazy things there, including MANY naked people, crazy costumes, and sidewalks that put the "litter" in "glitter". We saw a crowd of people leaving the Castro where Larry Kramer (author of The Normal Heart) was speaking, and we passed by Harvey Milk's camera shop (now an HRC building). We were not looking to get too crazy, so we picked a casual-looking wine bar and settled down. We had some serious discussions about whether or not we thought we would move to California when we graduated; I found myself surprised to say, as some had predicted I would before I left, that I could totally see myself living here, at least in the short-term.
Around midnight, the police started to clear people out of the streets and the bars began to close. Not wanting our night to end so abruptly, Braden, Alexa, Jordan and I walked over to Dolores Park where the trashy remnants of the day's festivities remained. We spent a moment enjoying the view, then walked back to Billy's where we crashed pretty quickly. (Funny story: we ordered Domino's, having not eaten dinner, and then fell asleep only to be awoken by a phone call from the delivery guy two hours later. In fairness to us, two hours is WAY too long to wait for a pizza delivery. They'll be hearing from my lawyers, don't worry. ;-P)
We woke up this morning around 10 AM. Braden had already left because he was marching with the Gap (where he is interning) float. Luckily, the Pride Parade route went right past Billy's building, so after waking up and being met by Michael, we walked down to the street. The Parade was indescribably overwhelming for lack of a better word. For context, the very first portion was a series of half-naked lesbians riding motorcycles who referred to themselves as "Dykes on Bikes". From there, things got even crazier as one major group after another brought their employees and cool floats out to celebrate this event. The streets were flooded with LITERALLY millions of people (Jordan said the news gave 3 million attendees as an estimated figure), most of whom were wearing either a complete rainbow outfit or something otherwise totally fierce with glitter, feathers, leather and a lot of body paint. In fact, some people were just wearing nothing at all.
I was blown away by many of the groups I saw in the parade. The PFLAG float in particular struck a chord with me; it was filled with parents, uncles, siblings, friends and other relatives of LGBTQ+ individuals showing their unconditional love for their families, the kind of love that I am so blessed to have from my family. As I stood there watching floats from the SF Police and Fire Departments, cheerleading squads, major companies like Apple (who had thousands of employees and their families walking with rainbow flags), and more, I reflected on this event. As I applauded people marching in outlandish costumes who anywhere else in the world would be considered bonkers, I realized that none of our individual identities mattered. Yes, of course, we were celebrating equality, but I did not think about to whom the people marching were attracted or with what gender they identified, if any. We in that moment were all just purely human, stripping off our skin together to expose our barest souls, showing each other the love that we have so long sought for ourselves but struggled to find. We were a collection of people of every age (newborn through elderly), creed (atheist through hardcore evangelist), race, ethnicity, class (I see you, Nancy Pelosi) and more, united in our belief that love is not between any two specific types of people. Love is like a poorly-manufactured puzzle; its pieces that fit differently every time, but they show the same beautiful picture.
Pictures (to be sorted):
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| How breathtaking is this city? |
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| Quaker Sighting! |
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| Lunch on the beach! Nico, Alexa, Jordan, myself and Braden <3 |
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| I got scared by the famous SF Bushman on the way to lunch. |
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| Our evening in the Castro |
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| The Historic Castro Theater |
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| Apple employees marching... There were literally thousands of them. |
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| The coolest balloon costumes I have ever seen |
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| Nancy Pelosi |
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| An Irish Bagpipe Ensemble wearing rainbow costumes |
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| Alexa and Michael jumping in on an impromptu dance contest on the street |
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| SF City Hall (where Milk and George Moscone were killed) |
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| My first ever gay wedding! |
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| The happy couple <3 |
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| Dolores Park during the day (AKA a "Where's Waldo?" of drug paraphernalia) |
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| Jordan leading us to dinner at a Pakistani restaurant |
--POST UNDER CONSTRUCTION--
Still to write:
trying to find BT friends, Burger King
stumbling upon gay wedding
catcalls and "I hope you find your prince charming"
back to Dolores Park
Indian food for dinner
lesson planning
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