Pink Saturday Street Party May See Significant Changes In 2015

The annual Pink Saturday street party in the Castro has been a regular feature of Gay Pride weekend in San Francisco for many years.  Pink Saturday has its roots in the AIDS/HIV activism of the 1990’s.  It began in 1990 during the VI International Conference on AIDS which coincided with Gay Pride weekend. Thousands of activists were in town for the conference and they took over the Castro on the evening before the Pride Parade.  Initially police were resolute in not wanting to close the streets to traffic, but faced with thousands of activists and members of the public who were in town for Pride, they eventually relented, erecting barriers and allowed the party to take place.

The following year Pink Saturday became an official SF PRIDE event, enjoyed by the community as a pre-parade event and fundraiser for many years.  The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, Inc. officially took over the organization of Pink Saturday in 1998.  The event became a permitted and officially calendared event for the community, growing in size and reputation each year.  As the fight for LGBT equality advanced, and society become more accepting of the LGBT community, so awareness of the annual street party increased and the demographic of attendees changed with significantly more straight people attending and enjoying the event.

 

Unfortunately, as with Halloween, Pink Saturday has suffered from an unruly and violent element who have infiltrated the party, intent not on celebrating LGBT Pride, but rather on targeting members of the LGBT community.  The shooting murder of 19 year old Stephen A. Powell Jr. in 2011 brought a sharp and critical focus on safety and security for the burgeoning street party, and prompted a significant increase in security for subsequent events including making the event a “dry” party and requiring all attendees to pass a metal detector to enter.

With crowds estimated conservatively at 75K plus, the event is actually very safe on the whole, with the noted exception of the murder of Mr. Powell which police believe was not LGBT focused, but rather the result of two rivals meeting by chance in the middle of the event.  Each year however, the community and residents in the Castro neighborhood have become increasingly uneasy, if not out rightly opposed, to the event.  Citing violence, homophobic conduct and language, vandalism, drunkenness, and a feeling that the event is no longer focused on the LGBT community or LGBT Pride, but seems to have morphed into an excuse for excessive drinking, violence and homophobic conduct in the very heart of the LGBT Castro Community, calls for changes or the complete abandonment of the event have grown louder and more insistent recently.

To their credit, the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence have made significant adjustments in the planning, structure and organization of each successive Pink Saturday since 2011, with input from the City and County of San Francisco, the San Francisco Police Department and the safety and security entities they work with to produce the event, including Castro Community On Patrol.  Despite collecting roughly the same in gate donations each year, they have increased the number of paid private security officers who man the entry gates. They have introduced mandatory metal detector checks for everyone entering the event. The applied a no-alcohol policy and worked with SFPD to help enforce this during the event.

Despite these changes, this year saw a perceptible change in the mood of some parts of the crowd once darkness fell, and sadly one of the Sisters who was working to help produce the event and her husband was attacked and battered in what police believe may constitute a hate crime based on comments made prior to the attack. This was one of a number of anecdotal reports of homophobic taunts and attacks that CCOP is aware of in, and around, the 500 Block of Castro Street and the 18th & Castro Street intersection.  Unfortunately these incidents remain anecdotal as they were reported by third parties to the incident, and those assaulted have yet to come forward and make a formal complaint or report to police.

 

The battery of their Sister however, allied to growing concerns from the community and their production safety and security partners, has prompted the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence to seriously re-consider their role and willingness to continue to host the annual event. Should the event continue, it will undoubtedly be in a significantly modified form.

At present the Sisters are considering some changes which may include:

• Significantly reducing the footprint of the event, to include only the 400 and 500 blocks of Castro Street and the 4000 and 4100 blocks of 18th Street.
• Beginning the event much earlier in the afternoon.
• Closing the event by 8:30 pm at the latest, before darkness falls.

As posted on the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, Inc. web site, they will host a public meeting to allow all invested individuals to provide them with feedback and suggestions regarding Pink Saturday.

“In the last several years, the demographics and size of the crowd have changed dramatically, and the impact on the neighborhood and the event goers has become increasingly negative.

We are working with the City to explore whether the Sisters will produce the event in the future and, if so, to address the substantial changes that will be needed to ensure the safety of the Castro residents, event goers, and the surrounding neighborhoods before, during, and after the event.

A community meeting will be held in mid-September that will be open to the public, with the date and time TBD. We welcome all to attend and look forward to an exchange where we can hear the concerns, challenges, and issues surrounding Pink Saturday. Once we combine that feedback with the information we already have, we can draft a plan of action surrounding the future of Pink Saturday.

Castro Community On Patrol has been involved as a safety partner in helping the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence produce the Pink Party for more than five years.  We recognize the important historical context of the Pink Party, and the value and commitment the Sisters have brought to producing the event from 1998 on.  We remain committed to supporting the Sisters, whatever their ultimate decision with regard to Pink Saturday and we are in close communication with the SFPD and the Sisters regarding our observations and recommendations for Pink Saturday 2015.