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

The program is led by Eddie Tang, 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.

Attend a 30-minute introductory session on Thursday, June 30, 2022, at either 1 pm or 7 pm.  Zoom in at https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87273634835.

Click here for more info!

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.

SOMA Second Saturday — Summer Edition!

July 9, 2022, 1:00 to 5:00 pm
12th Street (between Folsom and Harrison), in San Francisco
Hosted by LEATHER & LGBTQ Cultural District, Folsom Street,
and Soma West CBD

Enjoy brunch at the SF Eagle Bar starting at 8:00 am. Then attend the first weekly Eagle Plaza Farmers Market , from 9:00 am to 12:30 pm, Come shop with local queer and kinky artists, artisans, and craftspeople from 1:00 to 5:00 pm. Join in the Rough Trade Leather & Gear Swap!  (Sign up here!) Return this page often for updates.

Enjoy a Saturday Beer Bust at the SF Eagle, from 3 to 7 pm! Dine nearby at local restaurants like Willows and Manora. Free! Donations welcome. This is a smoke-free event. Applicable COVID-19 precautions enforced. Contact manager@sflcd.org to volunteer.

Find out who else is going and join the chat with Bloom!
Do you have kinky arts or queer crafts you would like to show and sell?
Click here for more info!

Sunday Streets SF has returned in 2022 with six big, beautiful routes in historic neighborhoods throughout the Spring and Summer, including Sunday Streets SOMA on August 21st.

For Sunday Streets SOMA, Folsom Street will be free of traffic from 9th to Main, from 11:00am to 4:00pm, to give neighbors and visitors over 1.5 miles of fun for the whole family.

The LEATHER & LGBTQ Cultural District will be helping to host the westernmost block or two, offering slightly more adult (but still family-friendly) attractions, including both free activities and entertainments and (new this year) arts and crafts in our “Market Square”.

We particularly invite queer and kinky organizations and businesses to participate in this event.  It is a great way to reach out to both the locals of SOMA, and to those who visit the area.  Offer engagement and entertainment this one day, and make friends / members / customers for life!   

Exhibitors and Vendors can sign up now at https://www.sundaystreetssf.com/exhibit/.  Deadline to sign up is July 25th.  Here are the details:

Exhibitors (e.g. organizations wishing to offer free activities, information booths, etc.):
Register here, and remember to use “LEATHER” as your “referral code”, to be sure you are placed in the “Leather & LGBTQ” area near 9th Street. 

Vendors (i.e. those selling arts, crafts, or services):  Register here, and remember to use “LEATHER” as your “referral code”, to be sure you are placed in the “Leather & LGBTQ” area near 9th Street.   

Volunteers are also needed, of course: 

Sign up to help with Sunday Streets events here, and remember to mention “LEATHER” as your organization affiliation.   More info for volunteers is at https://www.sundaystreetssf.com/volunteer/

We will also be recruiting for volunteers for our own Cultural District booth, etc.; you can sign up here now to get on our LEATHER & LGBTQ Cultural District Volunteer team, or contact manager@sflcd.org.:

Need more info?  Have questions?  Attend a planning meeting, held every Thursday from 10am-11am via Zoom.  Or email sundaystreets@livablecity.org or manager@sflcd.org.

Mark your calendar now, for Sunday afternoon, August 21st, 2022,
or for a full summer full of Sunday Streets in San Francisco!  

The monthly SOMA Second Saturday event on July 9 (from 1 to 5 pm, in and around Eagle Plaza) will once again feature our fun new “Rough Trade” Gear Swap!

The Gear Swap is your chance to clear out the closet, and earn some money for your used leather boots, fetish attire, kinky toys, bondage gear and…  who knows what else!

You can let us sell your items for your stated price, OR hang out at the Gear Swap booth, so you can negotiate and haggle with potential buyers.

If you have a Venmo account, you can send us the account name or QR Code to make payment easy.

You’ll be reducing clutter, raising cash, and getting gear into the hands of folks who might not otherwise afford it.

Best of all, you can choose to keep 100% of the cash receipts, or donate some or all of them to Folsom Street!

So, if you have some items that no longer fit your lifestyle (or your body), sign up here, or read full details here.

Other reasons to join us for SOMA Second Saturdays can be found here.

Mercy Housing California (MHC) is seeking qualified artists residing in the state of California to submit their qualifications for the commissioning of multiple artworks for an 8-story, mixed-use, affordable housing development at 600 7^th  Street, in San Francisco.

This is an exciting  opportunity for artists to become involved in the early stages of the project. 

Check out the full “Request for Qualifications” here.

Apply for consideration of your qualifications before the deadline of June 27, 2022

Deadline for Submission: June 27, 2022
email to lynne@baerartprojects.com
Inquiries to: Lynne Baer via email lynne@baerartprojects.com.
For further information on Mercy Housing California; www.mercyhousing.org
Project website: https://www.7thandbrannon.org

The Second Bearrison Street Fair will be held on Harrison Street at 11th Street, on Saturday, October 15, 2022.

Now is the time to sign up for one of their volunteer teams.

If you would like to help staff their booth at the Pride Celebration this month, click here.

If you would like to be a vendor in October, you can do that now, here .

If your organization would like to be a Beverage Partner, the Priority deadline to apply is Monday, June 27, 2022. 

When it comes to corporate sponsorships, the sooner the better.  Start by dropping them a quick note here.

Soon, we will be recruiting you to be a volunteer to help out on the day.

Later, we will encourage you to buy your VIP tickets in advance.

Of course, any time is a good time to check out the photos of last year’s event on their web site.

Because the  Bearrison Street Fair is, above all, a good time!

A large, wrap-around-the-building mural has now been completed at the corner of 11th Street and Burns Place (between Folsom and Howard).

The mural, called “SHOWTIME“, decorates two sides of The Oasis, San Francisco’s home for Superstar Drag Shows, Fabulous Cabaret Performances and Unforgettable Events. It has been created by some of the city’s best-loved queer artists — Serge Gay Jr., Simön Malvaez, Elliott C Nathan, J Manuel Carmona, and Christopher McCutcheon — as a love letter to San Francisco.

Thanks to those of you who joined us on Thursday, June 2, at Oasis (298 11th Street) for the official unveiling of the mural, with honored guests Mayor London Breed and State Senator Scott Wiener, and for the party celebrating the five artists.

As reported in The Bold Italic, funding for the piece was secured through the Leather & LGBTQ Cultural District, in association with the SF Arts Commission, and the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence‘s “Queer Artists for Queer Spaces” initiative, with support from Soma West CBD,.  Of course, Oasis’ owner and creative director, D’Arcy Drollinger, is the impresario who made it all happen.

Se will be posting pictures of the dedication and the mural soon.  Meanwhile, here are a few pictures of the work in progress:

The Arts and Culture Committee meeting normally scheduled for June 23 is cancelled.  There is simply too much happening with regard to Pride this week.  Instead, we will have a joint meeting of the Arts and Culture Committee and the Walking Tour Subcommittee on Wednesday, July 6, from 6:00 to 7:00 pm.  Join at https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88470691792, or call 1 408 638 0968 US (San Jose) and enter Meeting ID: 884 7069 1792.  The draft agenda is here.  Please contact the committee chair, David Hyman, to get on the mailing list for  this Committee, or for more info!

The next online meeting of the Fundraising Committee  is set for Tuesday, July 5, 2022, from 5:00 to 6:00 pm..  Please contact the committee chair to get on the mailing list for  this Committee, or for more info!

The next Walking Tour Subcommittee Meeting is set for Wednesday, July 6, 2022, from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. This will be a joint meeting with the Arts and Culture Committee.  Join at https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88470691792 or call 1 408 638 0968 US (San Jose) and enter Meeting ID: 884 7069 1792..  This will be a joint meeting with the Arts and Culture Committee.  Draft agenda is here.  

The next online meeting of our Diversity and Membership Committee is set for Thursday, July 7, 2022, 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 manager@sflcd.org.   We hope you can join us!

The next online meeting of the Land Use Committee Meeting is set for Tuesday, July 12, 2022, from 6:30 to 7:30 pm. (Zoom into the meeting here. More info is here, or contact the committee chair.

The next online meeting of the Communications Committee is set for Thursday, July 14, 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, July 14, 2022, from 8 to 9 pm, and will featured guests from the AIDS Walk “Team Goth”.

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 meeting of the LEATHER & LGBTQ Cultural District Board of Directors will be held on Wednesday, July 20, 2022, 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.  The draft agenda will be posted soon. More info is here.  Please contact manager@sflcd.org if you have questions. Minutes of past Board meetings can be reviewed here.

Plan ahead:  LeatherWalk is September 18, 2022,   It will start at City Hall, and end at the Leather Pride Celebration in Eagle Plaza.

These events mark the start of LeatherWeek in San Francisco, which of course leads up to the Folsom Street Fair on September 25. 

Watch for full details about all of these events!   

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

The Second Annual Bearrison Street Fair will be held on Harrison Street at 11th Street on Saturday, October 15, 2022.

Bearrison — a collaboration between the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, Inc., (SPI) and the Bears of San Francisco (BOSF) — is an inclusive event for all members of the adult LGBTI+ community, which promotes body positivity for all and builds a more supportive, welcoming, and inclusive bear scene by representing a diverse arena of cultures.

The LEATHER & LGBTQ Cultural District was proud to have been a Presenting Sponsor of last year’s Fair; pictures from that event are up on their web site. 

This would be a great time to sign up for one of their volunteer teams.

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.

Speaking of newsletters, the SOMA West Community Benefit District does a great one, highlighting events – both social and political — affecting our part of the City.  Check it out and subscribe here.

San Francisco has eight nine Cultural Districts, each supporting a unique aspect of the City’s cultural mosaic.  Links to each of them are here. For more in-depth coverage, you can subscribe to a newsletter, to be published quarterly by the Mayor’s Office of Housing & Community Development.  

The space formerly known as “SF Catalyst” is  now Transform1060!   You can help keep this important leather/kink/fetish community space open and thriving:  attend an event, volunteer at an event, or host an event now.  And, if you can, contribute to their Capital Campaign 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

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.

The next meeting of the Board of the Friends of Eagle Plaza is scheduled for Wednesday, May 17, 2022, from 6:00 to 7:30 pm.

Zoom into meeting at Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89493852487 or call 1-669-900-6833, and use Meeting ID: 894 9385 2487.  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.

The community came out to celebrate the LEATHER & LGBTQ Cultural District’s fourth birthday at an Audacious Anniversary party, held at Folsom Street Foundry on Saturday evening, May 7, 2022.  

Entertainments included The Rebel Kings, House of MORE!, suspension bondage by Ivy Limieux and Shay Tiziano with Sabriel Star, and kinky demos by ONYX Northwest and the 15 Association.  The event was DJ’d by Fawks, and MC’d by Lance Holman.

Food for the free party was catered by MamaBear’s Kitchen, SOMA Guardians provided the coat check, photography was by Gooch, and over a dozen contestants walked our first annual “Brazen Runway”, competing for prizes and raising money for the Cultural District.

Many folks stopped by the info table to learn about the LEATHER & LGBTQ Cultural District, sign up for the mailing list, or become voting members of the organization.

Below are just a few images to remind you how much kinky fun we all had.

PhotosByGooch.com

Many more pics can be seen at https://www.facebook.com/sflcd.org/posts/5199545363435534

Thanks to everyone who attended.  See you next year!

If you want to vote in the
LEATHER & LGBTQ Cultural District
Board Elections on 8/17/2022,
you need to become a full voting member in the next

Become a Member Today!

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!

On May 13, 2022, Mayor London Breed signed an ordinance, introduced by District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman and adopted by the city’s Board of Supervisors, to clear up zoning issues and allow the reopening of traditional gay bathhouses and other adult businesses in designated areas of San Francisco.

The new ordinance will allow these “adult sex venues” to operate 24/7 in the Castro and on upper Market Street between Octavia Boulevard and Castro Street, and in key locations in SOMA and the Tenderloin.  “Conditional use” permits would be possible in several other  places.  Supervisor Mandelman posted the following message on Facebook:

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

The State of California has extended applications to the CA COVID-19 Rent Relief Fund to assist households in danger of eviction.  Funds are still available to help income-eligible households impacted by a COVID-19 related hardship to pay rent and utilities, both for past due and future payments. Apply now to help avoid eviction.   Detailed info is at sf.gov/renthelp,  Housingiskey.com or homeownershipsf.org. 

SICK? VULNERABLE? WORRIED ABOUT MISSING WORK?

San Francisco’s Right to Recover Program

The Right to Recover Program provides a one-time payment to adult residents of San Francisco who test positive for COVID-19, and anticipate experiencing financial hardship during their quarantine or isolation. There is no application process and the City will not ask or record any citizenship or immigration questions. Immigration status does not affect eligibility.  

You must be experiencing financial hardship because of being unable to work or are too sick to work during isolation for Covid.

You may eligible if you: 

• Are a resident of San Francisco 
• Are 18 years or older 
• Have a recent case of Covid confirmed by a positive test at a lab 
• Are not receiving paid sick leave or unemployment insurance benefits
   

If this is you, email sfvaxnow@sfdph.org. Use “Right to Recover” in the subject line, and include your name and contact number in the body of the email.

You can also call the Covid Resource Center at 628-217-6101 to ask about Right to Recover funds.

♡ Give2SF This program is funded by generous donations to the Give2SF COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund, a public-private partnership. Contribute here.

We are saddened to hear of the passing of Rachele Sullivan. Rachele was one of the founders of the LEATHER & LGBTQ Cultural District. She worked tirelessly to help launch the District and was the first chair of our Land Use Committee. She was active in both the leather and Filipino communities.

The photo below was taken at the District’s ribbon cutting to celebrate our official founding by the city Supervisors.

A nice tribute can be found here:  https://www.facebook.com/Folsom-Street-147246855245

The Bay Area Reporter article on her passing is here.

Transform1060 is a leather/kink/fetish community space at 1060 Folsom Street, formerly the social and educational space called SFCatalyst. It will be outfitted as you remember with upgrades in the works.

The space’s new operation team has finalized a new lease on the space, a crucial step the transition from its previous management by the San Francisco Bay Area Leather Alliance,.  The team is actively recruiting folks to host events there, as well as donations to their Capital Campaign. 

You can read more about the space — its history, the ongoing transition, the new management team, and the values that will guide its operations — at their new Web site, transform1060.org, or their Facebook page. A Press Release is also available, with with important details and quotes from team members Christopher Wood and Leigh Ann Hildebrand,.

The Transform1060 team is asking for active community involvement, urging folks to commit to attending an event, volunteering at an event, or hosting an event in the first 60 days of 2022.

They are also seeking donations to help retire the substantial back-rent debt, to begin making space and accessibility improvements, and to weather COVID-19 surges or other emergencies.  Learn more or make a donation at transform1060.org/home/donate/.

This fundraising campaign replaces the SFCatalyst Patreon campaign, which will no longer go towards operation of the 1060 Folsom space.

The survival of this space ensures that kinky folks from all of our communities will continue to have a safe space in SF to gather, play, teach, and learn.  The new team is committed to providing event facilities to a broad spectrum of the San Francisco Bay area’s fetish and kink communities, with an intentional focus on increasing services to and participation of historically excluded and under-represented people.  

Our monthly newsletter has just gone out to our email list.  You can view it here.

But click here to receive the next mailing!