FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 24, 2021
Media Contact:
Peter-Astrid Kane (they/them)
Communications Manager, SF Pride
SAN FRANCISCO — The Board of Directors and staff of the San Francisco LGBT Pride Parade and Celebration are pleased to announce that #SFPride51 will take place throughout the month of June 2021. After a full year of physical distancing and other restrictions, the Bay Area’s LGBTQ+ communities will once again be able to gather at limited, in-person events while strictly adhering to current safety protocols.
The theme for this year is “All in This Together,” and #SFPride51 will be the best version of what is possible at this time, prioritizing public health while providing numerous opportunities for LGBTQ+ people and allies to experience visibility, solidarity, and joy. While SF Pride is unable to include a Celebration in Civic Center or a Parade down Market Street, the organization has expanded its programming from the last weekend of June to encompass the whole of Pride month.
“Our mission of connecting the LGBTQ+ communities of San Francisco and the Bay Area remains unchanged,” Fred Lopez, Executive Director of San Francisco Pride, said. “Knowing how deeply people miss being together, we’ve worked tirelessly with our partners at City Hall, the Department of Public Health, and elsewhere to ensure a number of incredible, safe experiences. SF Pride this year will be all about locals, from queer-owned small businesses to fellow nonprofits that have displayed true leadership over this past year. It’s truly a Pride for the people.”
“Pride is one of my favorite times of year, and I am so excited that we’ll have the opportunity to come together and safely celebrate our LGBTQ community this June,” said San Francisco Mayor London Breed. “While this year’s celebrations won’t look the same as they have in the past, SF Pride has done a great job creating events that will enable us to share our pride in our great City and stand united with our LGBTQ+ community. The events planned for this celebration of more than 50 years of Pride in San Francisco give me hope for the future of our city. Despite the challenges that remain ahead, we will keep finding creative ways to keep our San Francisco spirit alive and move forward safely, together.”
Earlier, this year, SF Pride launched SF Pride 365, an initiative designed to broaden the reach of the Pride movement and keep LGBTQ+ people connected during the rest of the calendar year through video conversations (Inside Pride), a Q&A series with local leaders and other prominent individuals (Community Partner Spotlight), and a podcast (The Queerness).
Building upon this effort, #SFPride51’s in-person programming now spans the entire month of June, a major shift from 2020’s event, which was largely online. SF Pride is excited to announce that 2021’s festivities consist of three major events: a Pride Expo, Pride Movie Night at Oracle Park, and a Black Liberation event surrounding Juneteenth.
Pride Expo
To support the city’s LGBTQ+ communities, SF Pride is working on producing a Pride Expo, a modified version of the annual Celebration in Civic Center. Instead of featuring entertainment on community-programmed stages and venues, the Expo will have the look and feel of a resource fair. Queer-run businesses and organizations have borne the brunt of the pandemic, and it is vital for an institution such as SF Pride to establish a safe forum for LGBTQ+ vendors, merchants, and nonprofits to reconnect with the community, engaging with potential volunteers, customers, and clients.
"I'm thrilled to see the plans that SF Pride worked hard to put together for 2021," says Senator Scott Wiener. "A Pride that's oriented toward locals, with renewed partnerships with LGBTQ+ businesses and organizations in the Bay Area, is the smartest way forward. I commend the staff and board for balancing public health with the need for our communities to gather."
"San Francisco Pride is back! After a year of terrible loss, I am delighted that our local queer community will be able to safely celebrate San Francisco Pride 2021 this June,” said Supervisor Rafael Mandelman. “We are not all the way back to normal, and this Pride season will reflect that reality, but we are moving forward, coming out in all the best ways. Interconnected, resilient and ready to create a queer post-pandemic Renaissance, we are indeed All in This Together.”
More information, including the dates and exact location, will be announced over the next few weeks.
Pride Movie Night at Oracle Park
SF Pride is very excited to collaborate on two evenings of film screenings at Oracle Park with Frameline and the San Francisco Giants (Friday and Saturday, June 11-12). This socially distanced and ticketed event, subject to state-mandated capacity limits, grows out of SF Pride’s longstanding relationship with the nation’s longest-running LGBTQ+ film festival.
“Frameline is very excited to be partnering with San Francisco Pride and the San Francisco Giants to host the largest film screenings in our 45-year history,” said James Woolley, Executive Director of Frameline. “We cannot wait to wow the audience by showing some great films on a jumbotron screen. Films are best enjoyed with an audience, and we are thrilled to be presenting a communal, but safe, event for the local community to enjoy."
“We are thrilled to grow our partnership with such an iconic San Francisco celebration that is so important to both our community and organization,” said Stephen Revetria, President of Giants Enterprises. “We have collaborated with San Francisco Pride on our annual LGBTQ Nights at Oracle Park, participated in the SF Pride Parade, and raised awareness for issues important to the LGBTQ community through many initiatives, including our annual Until There’s A Cure Day. Hosting these movie nights is a natural extension of our collaboration, and we are grateful to be included in such a fantastic slate of activities from San Francisco Pride in June. We are currently working closely with local officials to safely welcome fans and baseball back to Oracle Park, and we're committed to implementing these health and safety protocols across all events held at the park.”
This June, San Francisco Pride and The Giant Race will also be teaming up for the 2021RUN Virtual Fitness Series, creating a month-long, themed virtual run/walk challenge. Stay tuned for registration details and how to get an exclusive challenge pin and race bib.
More information on Pride Movie Night at Oracle Park, including the film title(s) to be screened, will be announced in April.
Black Liberation Event with AAACC
Pride will build upon its successful 2020 Marsha P. Johnson Rally with a similar event at the African American Art & Culture Complex. Tentatively scheduled for the evening of Friday, June 18 — the eve of Juneteenth — this event will celebrate the intersection of Black history and LGBTQ+ culture, uplifting a marginalized community in the heart of the Western Addition.
“The struggles for racial justice and LGBTQ+ equality are one and the same," said SF Pride Board President Carolyn Wysinger. "Last year, we brought Black Lives Matter back to the forefront of the Pride movement with a Marsha P. Johnson Rally. This year, we're working to center Black LGBTQ voices and culture even more strongly. I know how badly our communities want to be together after more than a year apart."
“The African American Art & Culture Complex is proud to partner with San Francisco Pride, as we create space to celebrate and honor the collective freedom of our Black LGBTQIA sisters, brothers and sibs,” said Melonie Green and Melorra Green, Co-Executive Directors of AAACC. “We are committed to activating and strengthening our relationship by being a safe space for our collective LGBTQ+ voices through visibility and community building. Last year in June, we proudly hosted the Marsha P. Johnson Black Trans Lives Matter Rally in our open-air gallery. It was a beautiful and much-needed beginning! It is our desire that our community embrace all our individual and collective displays of freedom! Join us as we celebrate the freedom to identify and love who we love, how we love.”
Full details on the Black Liberation event at AAACC will be made public in May.
Looking Ahead
Throughout the course of the pandemic, San Francisco has been a notable success story in keeping community transmission low. Vaccination rates are strong, and caseloads in Northern California have fallen substantially. SF Pride remains optimistic that the city will continue to move in the right direction, but the organization understands that changes to these plans may become necessary as new data and trendlines emerge.
“Pride is such a meaningful and galvanizing event for our city, and it is wonderful that we are now in a place where we can plan for some in-person activities. That said, we need to remain cautious as COVID-19 is still very much with us,” says San Francisco’s Acting Health Officer Dr. Susan Philip. “I look forward to working closely with San Francisco Pride and supporting our LGBTQ+ community to ensure the safety of this year’s events. In the meantime, I encourage everyone to stay vigilant and to keep following the public health guidelines so that we can celebrate together in June.”
Further, the safety of the Bay Area’s LGBTQ+ communities has always been Pride’s paramount concern, and San Francisco has come too far to jeopardize its hard-won progress. Therefore, #SFPride51 is essentially a celebration of, by, and for the people of the Bay Area. The CDC does not yet recommend leisure travel, and the organization’s leadership respectfully asks visitors from outside the region to reconsider their attendance. It is SF Pride’s hope that by keeping the focus local in 2021, San Francisco may welcome everyone back in 2022 and beyond.
