Do as the locals do, and as none of our friends were going to the main parade of the San Francisco gay pride, we skipped the event. Important note: Sahar and Rutvica should stop insinuating that this had something to do with the parade taking off (kind of) early (to me, at least…) in the morning. We were first enjoying the good company of Lydia and Sandrine (et de nouveau on se retrouve dans un endroit on parle francais…) in the magic house where now Giulia wants to move in, and then we were meeting MarÃa in a hipster cafe on Valencia street – things clearly more urgent than the main parade. When later during the day we went to Civic Center, where the parade had arrived and a bunch of activities took place, we were up for mixed surprises. So this is what it looks like when the LGBT movement becomes mainstream… sure, enough examples of that back in Europe, but somehow the picture here gets enlarged (as for so many other things.) In terms of visibility: the way in which the rainbow flag flies above the city is impressive, signs of solidarity everywhere, a giant pink triangle on one of the Twin Peaks, the sheer number of people in the streets for the dyke march. But also in terms of integration into structures of oppression. Like two of the stalls we came across at the Civic Center:
No pride, no pride in this at all… unfortunately i wasn’t in the “let’s go up to them and strike a pseudo-naive conversation” mood, always worth to try out what little poking here and there can bring about…