SOMA Second Saturday!
Holiday Market!
Saturday, December 10, 2022
12 Noon – 5 pm
Multiple Locations!

Welcome to the SOMA Second Saturday! Holiday Market, a multi location indoor holiday market on Saturday, December 10, 2022.

We are moving indoors during the winter weather and are pleased to partner with PantherProwls Enterprises’ San Francisco Fetish Flea to bring you the best of local artists, craftspeople, and businesses for your holiday shopping and celebration.

We’ll even have a free, hop on/hop off shuttle on a continual loop to get you to all these South of Market destinations (shuttle hours noon to 5 pm).

If you have kinky arts or queer crafts you would like to show and sell at the Art and Artisan Fair, Please Complete This Form

	Art and Artisan Fair 12 noon – 5 pm SOMArts, 934 Brannan Street Free admission, optional donations accepted •  Gift Wrapping Station     ·  Free wrapping for gifts bought at all Holiday Market locations!     ·  Donations benefit Exiles (12 – 3 pm) and ONYX Northwest (3 – 5 pm) •  Naughty Santa!     ·  Have your picture taken! •  Leather/Kink Gear Swap     ·  Bring your items to sell!  Click here for info. •  Ambient bondage performances by Twisted Windows rope artists:     ·  Shay & Angel,     ·  Dual Demons,     ·  Alicia T-Corn & KleineVosje, and     ·  Mooooo & Tiny Teddy •  Fun Surprises!
	San Francisco Fetish Flea 11 am – 5 pm Wicked Grounds Annex 289 8th Street •  $5 admission • More info here.
	Leather Etc. 1201 Folsom Street Hours: 11 am -5 pm •  10% off when you mention “Holiday Market”
	Mr S Leather 385 8th Street Hours: Noon – 7 pm Specials TBD
	Wicked Grounds 289 8th St 10 am to 8 pm •  Coffee, kink, and community!
	Azúcar Lounge 299 9th Street Hours: 11 AM – Midnight •  Special TBD
	SF Eagle 398 12th Street Hours: Noon – 2 AM
	Free Shuttle •  On continual loop to these South of Market destinations:     ·  SOMArts     ·  SF Eagle     ·  Azúcar Lounge     ·  Wicked Grounds / Fetish Flea / Leather Etc.     ·  Mr. S Leather •  Hop on / Hop off •  Noon to 5 pm •  Look for the colorful “Hippie Bus”!
	The Indigo Project While at SOMArts, stop in and see this landmark multidisciplinary exhibition centering Black artists and their stories.  The exhibit runs from December 10 through February 5, 2023.  Details here.
	Other Event Locations! Watch this page for updates!

STAY TO PLAY IN SOMA

Heron Arts 7 Heron Street “Resonance in Light” Aaron Taylor Kuffner An exploration of sound and light with artists JoeJoe Martin, John Taylor, HYBYCOZO, and Mark Slee. Opening:  6 -10 pm
Cat Club SF 1190 Folsom Street Club Gossip A David Bowie & Queen ‘80s new wave dance party Hours: 9 PM – 2 AM
Oasis SF 298 11th Street Princess Presents: SHREK! Doors Open: 10 PM
SF Eagle Frolic  We dance, we rejoice, we celebrate being puppies and bunnies. Cover is $12 ($8 if you dress as the animal you know you are. Hours: 10 PM – 2 AM
Powerhouse 1347 Folsom Street Hours: 4 pm – 2 am CUIR A Night in Black Leather A QTPOC dance party. Douse yourself in the scent of Leather and twirl your skimpy little jocks off. Leather lewks encouraged but not required. 9 pm – 2 am
Lone Star Saloon 1354 Harrison St San Francisco, CA 94103 4 pm – 2 am Baradise A party for Gaymer Otters, Anime Cubs and Hipster Bears. 9 pm – 2 am
20th Annual Parol Lantern  Festival Saturday, December 10, 2022 3:00 pm – 8:00 pm Yerba Buena Center of the Arts 701 Mission Street Get into the holiday spirit with specialty parols made by Filipino artists and creators, free samples of traditional Filipino holiday treats, live music, and a parol lighting ceremony.

Find out who else is going and join the chat with Bloom!

The next online meeting of our Diversity and Membership Committee is set for Thursday, December 1, 2022, from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. Join via Zoom here, or call 1 408 638 0968 and use Meeting ID: 878 6588 4248.  RSVP is not required.  More info is here, or contact manager@sflcd.org.   We hope you can join us!

The next online meeting of the Communications Committee is set for Thursday, December 8, 2022 from 6:00 to 7:00 pm.  Join via Zoom here.  More info is here, or contact the committee chair,  Bob Brown!

We now host our Erotic Storytelling Hour on the second Thursday of each month.  Our next one is Thursday, December 8, 2022, from 8 to 9 pm.

Come hear some provocative, graphic, sexy, titillating, and funny stories (and more) from selected writers of our community, hosted by award-winning author Sumiko Saulson. 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+!)

After serving the SF Bay Area community since 1986, the Golden Gate Guards “rolled up their banner” and dissolved the club at their 36th Anniversary Party at the SF Eagle on Saturday, November 19th.

The Guards’ board of directors decided that after 36 years of community service, fundraising for charities, and fellowship with the leather/Levi LGBTQIA community, it was best to retire the club and preserve its legacy as one of the longest active leather/Levi clubs in the San Francisco Bay Area.

The event was catered by long-time Guards supporter Don Ramon’s, and guests received pins, t-shirts, mugs and other classic Guards memorabilia.

There were presentations to the now-emeritus members, personal stories of past events, an a solemn reading of the honor roll of Golden Gate Guards who have passed away.

As part of the process of shutting down the guards, all remaining assets will be divided between their 2022 beneficiaries, the San Francisco Leathermen’s Discussion Group and the LGBT Asylum Project, with additional funds going to Tenderloin Tessie Holiday Dinners.

The Guards’ website. is being transformed into a lasting archive of facts and photos from the Guards’ history.

The LEATHER & LGBTQ Cultural District is working with the Guards to help them to find suitable permanent archives for their documents, and will take over ownership of the flags, to continue the Guards tradition of providing honor guards for LeatherWalk and other parades and events.

The Cultural District will also be taking on the famous Golden Dildeaux Awards, preserving another important historic (and fun!) community tradition. Please watch for updates about the Awards next Spring.

Special kudos to Oscar Macias at DPH for coordinating these efforts with us. We are also grateful to BayPLS, Mission Wellness Pharmacy, the SF Eagle, AGUILAS, and the volunteers working line control for their participation in this effort, and are pleased and proud to have contributed to the community effort to control MPX.

LGBTQ health-related resources can be found here.

The LEATHER & LGBTQ Cultural District is launching the second cohort of its Entrepreneur Training Program, a 9-week program to help leather community folk start and build their businesses.

The program is led by Eddie Tang of Above Consulting, a seasoned San Francisco business consultant, and features Zoom-based group sessions and one-on-one consultations.  At the end of the 9 weeks, participants will present their business plan to a panel of local business leaders, experts, and potential funders.  Those who complete the program will each receive a $500 grant to help with their startup costs.

Our first cohort of this program graduated in September of 2022; the second cohort will begin on Thursday, January 26.  If you wish to apply for the program, please fill out this application form.  We will send you an invitation to attend a 30-minute introductory session.

Click here for full info!

The Academy, a LGBTQ+ social club located in San Francisco’s Castro District, will be presenting its Legends Awards on November 12, and several leaders of our SOMA community will be honored.

The 2022 Legends Archive inductee will be Graylin K. Thornton, who will take his place in the pantheon of San Francisco LGBTQ+ Legends!

As part of the celebration, several other prestigious Community awards will also be presented:

• Diane Jones Solidarity Award: Race Bannon
• The Architect Award: J Manuel Carmona, Simón Malvaez, SERGE GAY JR., Elliott C Nathan, & Xtopher J. McCutcheon (the five incredible artists who created the “Showtime” mural at SF Oasis)
• The Exemplar Award: Kochina Rude

The event will be held at the Swedish American Hall, 2174 Market Street in San Francisco, starting at 6:30 pm on Saturday, November 12, 2022.  Find full information and make reservations to attend here.

Congratulations to all the award recipients, and we will see you on the twelfth!

Next month there will be a new event at Dolores Park by and for BIPOC & QTPOC community members and their allies.

It’s Takeover:  a BIPOC & QTPOC Meetup, offering music, a picnic, and good vibes, held in Dolores Park (Church Street & 19th Street), on November 13, 2022, from 1 to 5 pm, presented by MOCAASF.

Bring your food and drink of choice along with a blanket and a willingness to connect with QTPOC & BIPOC people outside the bar scene.

This event is a call to participate in a new and exciting community in which we can build new connections in a safe space.  As the poster says, “We are a vibrant, powerful and resilient BIPOC & QTPOC community. Let’s celebrate that!”

The event will be located in the area opposite the tennis court at Dolores Park. There will be a table set up if you would like to get a name tag and say hello to other community members and collaborators.

Find more info about about the event here, and more about MOCAA here.

Kink Is My Superpower, a multi-media project from Divine Deviance, highlights the honesty, freedom, and strength of kinksters who have found our way out of the shadows and live proudly and openly.

They exist to help others tell their stories, share their experiences, and celebrate the superpowers they have discovered in kink, through films, books, calendars, and social media.

They are now developing an exciting book and documentary project about kink called Kink Is My Superpower.

These folks are inviting kinksters, whether of the 24/7 or occasional bedroom antics variety, to complete a very brief survey to help inform their project.

Click on “Take Survey” on their site, or go directly to the survey.

Please educate yourself about Monkeypox. Start at sf.gov/monkeypox. Additional links are on our Resource page, here.

Thanks to some useful input we have received, we have been able to update our Leather & LGBTQ Resource Guide with new links to health-related resources, including new info on Monkeypox, and about recommendations for Meningococcal Disease vaccination.

See the new links at https://sfleatherdistrict.org/leather-and-lgbtq-resources/#health.

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 by using our survey, or by chatting with a member of our Board. 
• 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, Bob Brown, 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!

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
  • San Francisco’s Transgender District
  • 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: Antiracism Resources
  • Northstar Health Collective
  • Tools For Fighting Racism In The Leather Community
  • Website Planet: List of Black-Owned Businesses