LeatherWalk 2021!

No one reading this needs to be reminded of the importance of being vaccinated against COVID-19.  It’s essential for your personal health and safety, it’s essential to our community, and now it’s essential if you want to get a drink.

Throughout SOMA (and elsewhere), bars, clubs, private parties and others are increasingly requiring patrons to provide proof of vaccination, or extremely recent negative COVID-19 test results.   (See the SF Eagle’s detailed page on the subject.)

So when you visit SOMA, please bring proof of vaccination.  The original paper vaccination record will do, but for faster service (and to make life easy for the door personnel), consider getting an official State of California Digital COVID-19 Vaccine Record right on your smartphone.

And if you aren’t yet vaccinated, please click here for info on how you can get it.  It’s free, it’s easy to get, it’s safe, and, oh yes, it might just save your life.

---

We host an Erotic Storytelling Hour every other Tuesday, and our next one is Tuesday, August 3, 2021, from 8 to 9 p.m. Come hear some provocative, graphic, sexy, titillating, and funny stories (and more) from selected writers of our community.

 It’s fun, it’s naughty, it’s online.  Click here or here for more details and Zoom link, and click here to see videos of some of our past evenings!  (Be 18+!)

---

The next online Walking Tour Subcommittee Meeting is set for Wednesday, August 4, 2021, from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m.  Join at https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88470691792 or call 1 408 638 0968 US (San Jose) and enter Meeting ID: 884 7069 1792..  Help us create an Internet-based Walking Tour of noteworthy past and present locations in our South of Market neighborhood.   RSVP here, or view the agenda here. 

---

The next online meeting of our Diversity and Membership Committee is set for Thursday, August 5, 2021, from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. Join via Zoom at https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87865884248 , or call 1 408 638 0968 and use Meeting ID: 878 6588 4248.  RSVP is not required.  More info is here, or contact the committee chair, Gene Edmond! We hope you can join us!

---

The next online Land Use Committee Meeting is set for Tuesday, August 10, 2021, from 7:00 to 8:00 pm. Zoom into the meeting here. More info is here, or contact the committee co-chair.

---

A special LEATHER & LGBTQ Cultural District Candidates Night will be held online on Wednesday, August 11, 2021, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. The entire community is invited to attend, to meet the candidates for our Board of Directors, and ask them questions.  ASL interpretation provided if requested ten days in advance.
please join this Zoom meeting at https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85090268093 , or call  +1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose) and enter Meeting ID: 850 9026 8093

Online Voting opens at the end of this meeting, and continues until 5:00 p.m. on Monday, August 16, 2021.  All eligible voters are urged to vote during this five-day interval.  For more details, visit https://sfleatherdistrict.org/nominations/.  

---

The next online meeting of the Communications Committee is set for Thursday, August 12, 2021 from 7:00 to 8:00 pm.  Join via Zoom here    More info is here, or contact the committee chair,  Bob Brown!

---

The next meeting of the LEATHER & LGBTQ Cultural District Board of Directors will be held on Wednesday, August 18, 2021, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. As always, all are welcome to attend, and time is reserved for public comment.  ASL interpretation provided if requested ten days in advance. To participate, join the Zoom Meeting  here, or call 1-408-638-0968 and use Meeting ID: 847 8906 0820 and Passcode: 972086.  More info is here.  Please contact manager@sflcd.org if you have questions. Minutes of past Board meetings can be reviewed here.

---

The next online meeting of the Arts and Culture Committee is set for Thursday, August 19, 2021, from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. Info at Facebook post. Join with Zoom at: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89554242702 or call 1 408 638 0968 and use Meeting ID: 895 5424 2702.  We have lots of work to do:  organizing murals, planning the next “SOMA Second Saturdays!” and other events, and more.  The full agenda will be posted soon.  Please contact the committee chair, David Hyman, to get on the mailing list for  this Committee, or for more info!

---

LeatherWalk 2021 is September 19, 2021.  Learn about it and make a donation here.  Sign up to be a fundraiser here.  Then join us at the steps of San Francisco City Hall at 11:00 a.m. and walk with us to celebrate leather, kink, family and community, to raise funds for the LEATHER & LGBTQ Cultural District, and to kick off San Francisco’s Leather Week, which culminates one week later at the Megahood 2021 Street Fair on Folsom Street.

---

We send out a newsletter each month, right before our Board Meeting.  Do you get it?
If not, view a recent newsletter here, then sign up to get it monthly here.

---

Do you own or manage a building or business in our Cultural District?  Does it have some history relevant to our queer and kinky communities?  Do you want to learn more about it?  Look here.

And while we have your attention, building owner/manager:  Would you like a mural on your building?  We would like to make it happen for you!   Decorate The Streets

---

Another queer and kinky street fair is coming to town next fall.! The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence and the Bears of San Francisco will host the Bearrison Street Fair on Saturday afternoon, October 23, 2021, at and around the corner of 11th and Harrison Streets. Learn more details at their web site and their Facebook page.  You can also sign up to volunteer here!

---

If you just learned about San Francisco’s LEATHER & LGBTQ Cultural District…. Welcome!

Please explore below for information about the Cultural District.  If you are not already receiving email from us, please click here to be kept informed about our meetings and activities.

---

Threats to our South of Market businesses and institutions can arise quickly, and may require a quick community response.  Sign up here to join our SOMA Action network.

---

Do you have opinions?  Sure you do, but we mean specifically do you have opinions about SOMA and kink and the future of the LEATHER & LGBTQ Cultural District?    Please share your opinions using our Community Input form!

---

If you have not yet seen it, please read our Statement of Solidarity, and consider what you personally can do to fight racism, injustice, and abuse of police power.

---

SF Catalyst is expanding to better serve leather, queer, and kink organizations and individuals!  But it will need your help. Find more details and donate to ensure SF Catalyst remains a thriving community space here.

---

A Governance and Legislation Committee meeting will be scheduled shortly. Please contact the committee chair, Bob Brown, to sign up, or for more info!

---

The next meeting of the Board of the Friends of Eagle Plaza is scheduled for Wednesday, August 11, 2021, from 6:00 to 7:30 pm.

To be added to the “Friends of Eagle Plaza” mailing list, click here.  To make a donation to the Friends of Eagle Plaza, click here,  To stay up to date, like and follow them on Facebook.  To learn more about the Plaza’s design, construction and stewardship, click here or write to info@eagleplaza.org.

---

       

Nominations are now open for three seats on the LEATHER & LGBTQ Cultural District Board of Directors.  But they close on July 31, 2021.  So act now if you would like to be elected to help run our Cultural District.

Being a Director of the LEATHER & LGBTQ Cultural District means having a voice in the future of our South of Market neighborhood: helping it to thrive during current challenges and become the vibrant, safe, and uniquely kinky space we all love and enjoy.

Read all about it here.  And throw your hat into the ring today!

The LEATHER & LGBTQ Cultural District
Folsom Street
& the SOMA West Community Benefit District
present
SOMA Second Saturdays!

 

Saturday, August 14, 2021
12:00 noon to 5:00 pm
New Location!
12th Street, from Eagle Plaza to Folsom
Saturday, August 14, 2021
12:00 noon to 5:00 pm.

(Subject to final City approval)

 

A safe, fun afternoon with queer art, kinky crafts, local artisans, fun vendors, clubs and organizations Optional donation requested COVID-19 protocols enforced

Enjoy beverages at the Eagle, and food at Willows, Manora, DNA and other local restaurants! Event subject to weather, city guidelines, etc.

Organizations, and Vendors:  Apply Here for A Booth! 

Volunteer Here!

Volunteers Needed!
Help out!
Greet people at the entrance barricades
Two shifts, 11:30 to 2:30 or 2:00 to 5:00
You’ll be with another volunteer
Chairs and shade umbrella provided
Some standing required
Contact manager@sflcd.org to sign up!

With the planting of the landscaping on the eastern side of 12th Street, Eagle Plaza now appears virtually complete.   A variety of trees and flowering shrubs now populate the space, and a reinforced Leather Pride Flag flies overhead.

Chairs and tables will soon be available on the Plaza during daylight hours, and it is expected to be converted to a pedestrian zone.   After that, expect to see more frequent programming bring activity and interest to the Plaza, perhaps including art shows, farmers’ markets, celebrations and other events.

One small construction project remains, a “curb cut” and ramp in the middle of the Plaza.   We also await the installation of additional plaques to honor and thank the generous donors who made Eagle Plaza possible.

Perhaps most welcome of all is the fact that the SF Eagle bar is now open on a regular schedule (Fridays 2PM – 2AM, Weekends: 11AM – 2AM), with a full range of events (including its legendary Sunday Afternoon Beer Bust).  [Note that the SF Eagle, along with many other local bars, is now requiring patrons to present proof of CV-19 vaccination, or a very recent CV-19-Negative test result.  See details here.]

We hope the entire community will take advantage of this civic amenity!

 

As reported in the  Bay Area Reporter, San Francisco Democrats have elected city native Honey Mahogany as the first transgender and first Black chair of the local party. The first trans person in the U.S. to chair a local Democratic Party, Mahogany is now one of the party’s highest-ranking transgender officials in the state and country.

The LEATHER & LGBTQ Cultural District congratulates Mahogany, who is also chief legislative aide for our District Supervisor Matt Haney, part of the Stud cooperative, a co-founder of the Transgender District, and a long-time friend of our community and organization,

The local queer and kinky community has been working over the past year to help protect the San Francisco Eagle Bar by having it designated an historic landmark.

On May 19, 2021, the Historic Preservation Commission voted, 7-0,  to recommend to the Board of Supervisors Landmark Designation of the San Francisco Eagle Bar as an individual Article 10 Landmark.  The matter now goes back to the Board of Supervisors and the Mayor for a final ok.

Many letters and emails of support for this designation were received by the Commission, and several folks also called into the hearing to endorse the action.

Thank you for your help!  Please consider joining our Save SOMA Action Network now, to be kept informed when we need you again.

It appears that someone posing as our Board President, Robert Goldfarb, is sending out emails asking people to buy gift cards and send pics of the cards with the code exposed.

This is a common type of scam.  No one associated with the Cultural District would ever ask anyone to do such a thing or wire money or anything of the sort.

If you’re getting these emails, please delete them.

The LEATHER & LGBTQ Cultural District’s leadership is deeply pained by the racist violence which continues in this country.

We stand in solidarity with Black and Brown people and their allies worldwide who are peacefully expressing their outrage at racism, injustice, and abuse of police power.

We stand in solidarity with the protesters engaged in powerful actions to demand justice, accountability, and systemic change.

Only by standing together will it be possible to put an end to the senseless brutality we have witnessed for too long.

The Leather and LGBTQ communities have a long history of collective strength in times of crisis and now we invoke that strength to call for freedom and fairness for all oppressed communities.

We call on the entire community to work together to dismantle ingrained systems of inequality wherever they are found.  It will be a long journey to the end of institutionalized racism, but our community will act with strength, purpose, and solidarity until we see that day.

Black Lives Matter.

---

Community members have encouraged contributions to some of the organizations listed below.  Although the Cultural District has not reviewed these suggestions, and cannot specifically endorse them, we do urge our community to support the hard work of achieving safety, freedom and fairness for all oppressed communities.

• • National Bail Fund Network
  • Bay Area Anti- Repression Committee Bail Fund
  • People’s Breakfast Oakland
  • San Francisco’s Transgender District Fund
  • Anti Police-Terror Project
  • The Bail Project™ National Revolving Bail Fund 
  • Protest & COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund for Community Bail & Bond Funds 
  • Minnesota Freedom Fund 
  • Reclaim The Block
  • Black Visions Collective
  • Transgender Gender-Variant & Intersex Justice Project
  • Center for Black Equity

Other Lists of Resources:

• • SF Queer Nightlife Fund
  • Northstar Health Collective
  • Tools For Fighting Racism In The Leather Community
  • Website Planet: List of Black-Owned Businesses

Hi.  Thanks for your interest in the “LEATHER & LGBTQ Cultural District”, created by the City of San Francisco to honor, support, and protect the unique and special culture that has flourished in the South of Market area.

We encourage anyone with an interest in the leather or kink community to learn about this project, and participate however they can.

There are lots of ways to get informed and involved:

• Read this brief introduction.
• View our brochure.
• Visit our “About us” page.
• Become a Member of the LEATHER & LGBTQ Cultural District – or at least get on our mailing list – to be notified of meetings and other events, join a committee, or volunteer your skills.
• Attend one of our semi-annual  Membership Meetings.
• Attend (as a guest) one of our monthly Board Meetings.
• Consider joining one of our important Committees, including the Arts and Culture Committee, the Communications Committee, The Governance Committee, the Land Use Committee, or the Diversity and Membership Committee.   
• Share your opinions about our community’s needs, and our organization’s priorities, either using one of our open surveys, or by participating in a Focus Group or personal interview. 
• Read the Resolution as approved by the Board of Supervisors, and signed by the Mayor on May 9, 2018, here.
• Read the Vision and Mission Statements for the Cultural District here.
• Read our full organizational Bylaws, here.
• See a list of our current Board of Directors, here.
• View a map of the Cultural District here.
• Check out our calendar of Cultural District meetings and events, here.
• Like and follow the SF LEATHER & LGBTQ Cultural District on Facebook.  
• Join our Group on Fetlife.
• Follow @sfleatherdist on Twitter or Instagram.  
• Write to our group’s elected President, Robert Goldfarb, using the email address president@SFLCD.org or more generally to info@SFLCD.org.  

Let’s see what we can do to make this happen, and make it happen right!