Supreme Court decision fires up Pride celebrations
Supreme Court decision fires up Pride celebrations
Oakland resident Lara Foy, a 12-year veteran of the event, said this was the largest march she has attended and suggested that Friday’s historic Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage brought out an expanded heterosexual contingent.
A truck at the procession’s starting point at 18th and Dolores streets blasted hip-hop music for a dancing crowd awaiting the afternoon walk to the Castro, with Ophelia Stringer as DJ SoulOFlows shouting, “If you’re a dyke, and that’s what you like, let me hear you say, ‘Hey!’ If you’re happy about marriage equality, let me hear you say, ‘Hey!’”
Before the march, Linda Davis-Wolther and her wife, Carol, walked down Dolores Street hand in hand, in matching shirts from the club where they met.
Davis-Wolther, 61, said they had planned to do the march before Friday’s ruling, but the Supreme Court decision made their participation even sweeter.
In tutus or T-shirts or even nothing on top, they waved to the crowd as bystanders took video with their phones.
Earlier in the day, Pride revelers gathered to place a pink triangle on Twin Peaks, an event that has roots stretching back decades.
Scrambling down the steep incline, the group covertly outlined what would become one of the most recognizable symbols of Pride weekend.
The San Francisco Lesbian/Gay Freedom Band played as onlookers waved pastel-pink balloons and the speakers sprayed bottles of pink sparkling wine over the triangle.
The event is designed to remind people of what discrimination cost the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, both in the past and today.
The pink triangle — now a symbol of pride and liberation — was once used by the Nazis in concentration camps to identify and shame homosexual prisoners.
“This community has turned a symbol of oppression and hatred into one of positivity and pride,” he said before the event.
[...] at Civic Center Plaza, scores of people gathered in the warm summer sun, and the mood was festive as people young and old waved rainbow flags and sported colorful rainbow attire.
In front of the large stage before City Hall, dozens danced to music from a DJ while others sprawled out on the nearby lawn chatting with friends.