SOMA Second Saturdays
is Back on 12th Street!

June 10, 2023, noon to 5 pm
Vendors!  Entertainment!  Surprises!

Presented by:
the LEATHER & LGBTQ Cultural District,
Folsom Street,
& the SOMA West Community Benefit District

Vendors include A.B.O. Comix, Babygirl Inc., Cauldron of Oddities, Downtown Armor, Mauskaveli, skin on skins, and Wicked Grounds. Wicked Grounds will offering mini-classes TBA Chair yoga with Mukunda Studio Bootblacking by boy zander Food and beverages available at the SF Eagle.

MPX vaccines! We will have up to 300 free first or second doses but you must register at https://bit.ly/MPXPopup Puppy Play space open before the Team Friendly Pup Contest begins at 3 pm at the Eagle. 1:00 pm – Erotic Storywriting Workshop with Sumiko Saulson 2:00 pm – Erotic Storytelling with members of BABKA This is a no-smoking event. Free!  Donations welcome.

Exhibitors (including Vendors, Artists, and Community Organizations) are Welcome!  Click here to apply!

Volunteers Needed!
Contact manager@sflcd.org to sign up!

Chat about it, meet your friends, compare notes on Bloom!

Pride Pop-Up Art Show

at Heron Arts
7 Heron Street
Exhibition Dates: June 2nd- June 14th, 2023
Opening Reception: June 2nd, 6-9 pm
Gallery Hours: To be announced
Facebook Page is here

Heron Arts, in collaboration with The LEATHER & LGBTQ Cultural District and Oasis Arts is pleased to announce the group exhibition Pride Pop-Up Show.

The exhibition will be a salon style show featuring artwork by local LGBTQ artists and will be a celebration of the beginning of Pride month, as well as a celebration of the cultural heritage of the LGBTQ+ community in the SoMa neighborhood where Heron Arts is located.

The exhibition will be on view at Heron Arts from June 2nd until June 14th, 2023. The opening reception for Pride Pop- Up Show will feature DJ Trevor Sigler and Oasis performer Kochina Rude.  The reception takes place on Friday June 2nd, 2023, from 6-9 pm and is free and open to the public.

Participating Artists:

Adam Caldwell, Aleckzander Anthony, Alex Prestia, Diego Gomez, Dorian Katz, Elliott C Nathan, Favianna Rodriguez, Gloria Polo, J Manuel Carmona, Johnny Botts, Jonesy, Josh Katz, Justin Hall, Kegan Marling, Luke Andahazy, Phil Chanin (Glitter Moonbeam), Serge Gay Jr., and Tanya Wischerath.

The LEATHER & LGBTQ Cultural District is proud to partner with Heron Arts and Oasis Arts in creating this event, with invaluable assistance from Soma West CBD.

Heron Arts was founded in 2013 by Mark Slee, an active member of San Francisco’s creative community, organizing events since the mid-2000s. He is joined in 2015 by director Tova Lobatz, who is pursuing ambitious programming that encompasses installations and experiential, interactive environments, alongside traditional gallery exhibitions. Collectively they hope to provide San Francisco with a fresh outlook on contemporary beauty in the arts.

Oasis Arts supports artists through collaboration, development, and mentorship by providing tools, venue space, resources and equipment to enable LGBTQ and BIPOC artists to create innovative and diverse art.

Partnering with Oasis Nightclub and leveraging the seven year history of the queer arts scene. Oasis Arts will elevate diversity and bring vibrant art to the community by embracing participation across generations, cultural backgrounds, and individual expressions.  They are committed to uplifting the voices of the historically suppressed, disenfranchised, and forgotten LGBTQ and BIPOC community by providing a platform to present artistic expression.

Heron Arts is located at 7 Heron St, off of 8th Street near Harrison, in South of Market San Francisco.

The Leather Contingent for the 2023 pride Parade on June 25 is now being organized by Robert Makowka, taking over from Jason Husted who has coordinated it for many years.

As always, all members of the kink community will be invited to join the contingent and march in the Parade in their proudest gear.  Volunteers to act as Contingent Monitors will also be recruited.

Anyone interested in planning and helping make this happen is invited to an open meeting of the Leather Pride Parade Contingent, this coming Saturday, May 27, at 1 pm, on the patio of the SF Eagle.

The LEATHER & LGBTQ Cultural District is launching the third 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.

Two cohorts of this program have now graduated; the third cohort will began on Thursday, June 22, 2023.

If you wish to apply for this program, please complete this application form.   Click here for full info!

The LEATHER & LGBTQ Cultural District and Kochina Rude offered a free and open-to-the-public Narcan Training & Overdose Prevention Workshop, on Wednesday, May 24, 2023 at the SF Oasis, 298 11th Street, in San Francisco.

The training was provided by Kochina Rude with support from Randy Maupin and taught the 45 attendees how to Identify an overdose, administer nasal naloxone (Narcan), and practice harm reduction in gay nightlife.

Free Narcan and fentanyl test strips were provided to attendees, along with “I Carry Narcan” badges.

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Our first walking tour, SOMA Origins: Bars, Bathhouses and Beyond, was offered on Sunday afternoon, May 21, 2023, and was very well-received.

Attendees were led around SOMA for 90 minutes, learning how SOMA (South of Market) began attracting leather bars in the ’60’s, about the raucous exploits of the ’70’s when motorcycles lined the streets outside popular bars, and about today’s bar and clubs.  The tour was free, and additional tours are being planned.  Watch for details.

As the LEATHER & LGBTQ Cultural District prepares to launch the third cohort of its Entrepreneur Training Program, we thought it would be nice to highlight the folks who completed the 9-week program in Cohorts numbers 1 and 2.

Cohort 1:
Graduated September, 2022

• Joseph Valliere — Downtown Armor — Rubber gear, ultimately boots and a kink consignment shop.  (facebook, etsy)
• James Strock — Recreating rubber gear from a new proprietary polymer
• Jordan Fickel / Patrick Stephenson — BEARPAD  — Art brand celebrating big bodies.  (art, store, instagram)
• Gloria Polo — Fire Dragon Photography — Leather/Kink photography (facebook, website)
• Anna Randall and Richard Sprott — TASHRA – The Alternative Sexualties  Health Research Alliance  — improving healthcare services to kinksters (website, facebook, instagram)

Cohort 2:
Graduated April, 2023

• Marcos victor de brito puglielli– House of Puglielli — Custom leather design, sculptural, wearble art (website, facebook, instagram)
• Dr. Zo Marcos Zotigh — Needle Play Acupuncture — Acupuncture Clinic (website, facebook, instagram)
• Sumiko Saulson — Mauskaveli — Hand painted wooden paddles, plus jewelry, books and clothing (website, books, facebook)
• Alejandra Bravo Ducey — Raptrix — Small batch bondage gear for every body (shop, instagram, facebook)
• Nate Boles — Wylde Honey Productions — Queer erotic artist promotion, production and reproduction
• Angela Wilson — Cognizant Healing — Intimacy coaching for therapists (website, facebook)
• Angeli [Daytona] Lata — Murder They Wore — Fetish fashion (website, facebook)
• Kangcheng Yin — Kuma Club SF –  Gay Bathhouse/Sex Club (facebook)
• Byrd Bannick — ByrdBeaks — Fabric based queer gear and accessories (website, facebook)
• Chris Hughes — Skunkheart — Queer and kinky TTRPG content (facebook, links)

The District is proud to be able to help leather community folk start and build their businesses.

For more information, or to sign up for Cohort 3, click here.

One of the delightful features of our recent “Audacious Anniversary” was the video montage, created by Richard Dupler and played on multiple screens, highlighting recent events and achievements of the Cultural District, along with coming attractions.

You can now view that silent video here.

The Third Annual Bearrison Street Fair will be held on Harrison Street at 11th Street, on Saturday, October 14, 2023, from noon to 6 pm

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 the Fair for the last two years, and we plan to be a Sponsor again this year.

Opportunities to sign up as a volunteer or vendor will be open soon.

Sign up now if you are interested in being a part of the Bearrison 2023 Traveling Sideshow.

If you are intersted in an organizational or corporate sponsorship, please drop them a note here.

Admission to the event is free, but VIP tickets will be cheap and have some important benefits, so order one as soon as they become available!

Three hundred friends of the LEATHER & LGBTQ Cultural District enjoyed the free “Audacious Anniversary 5” party on May 6, celebrating the fifth birthday of the District, which was created by the City of San Francisco on May 9, 2018.

The bash was held at the Folsom Street Foundry, the recently-renovated event space on Folsom near 10th Street.  For the first hour, guests enjoyed BDSM demos by The Exiles, ONYX Northwest, and the Service Pups of San Francisco, along with ambient suspension bondage by Twisted Windows. A video montage by Richard Dupler played on multiple screens, highlighting recent events and achievements of the Cultural District, along with coming attractions.

Guests were then welcomed by Cultural District President Bob Brown, who introduced State Senator Scott Weiner, who presented the District with a Senate Recognition Certificate, and San Francisco District Six Supervisor Matt Dorsey, who presented a Certificate of Honor to celebrate our birthday.

MCs Lance Holman and Alotta Boutté introduced dynamic performances by Ryan Patrick Welsh, Alotta Boutté, John Weber with Kippy Marks, and the Om Nom Nom Non-Binary Burlesque X Palace of Trash.  Throughout the event, music was provided by popular local DJ Fawks, and tasty treats by MamaBear’s Kitchen.  The Folsom Foundry bar featured special signature cocktails made with syrups from It’s Simple SF.

Many of the newly selected models for the 2024 Bare Chest Calendar showed off their new “man of the month” sashes, celebrating the Calendar’s 40th year of charity fundraising.  And the crowd was very excited to welcome the brand new Ms. SF Eagle Leather 2023, Nunca Sola.

A highlight of the event was the second annual presentation of the Brazen Runway, in which folks showed off their smutty selves to an appreciative audience, while competing for prizes, which included gift cards from local kink suppliers Mr. S Leather, Leather Etc., Wicked Grounds, and Byrd Beaks. First prize went to Sadyst Payne, second to the newly-sashed Ms. SF Eagle Leather 2023, and third to Rey Onyx.

In the foyer, guests received souvenir pins, and had a chance to purchase kinky merchandise, receive boot and leather care by boy xander, check any unneeded clothing with the SOMA Guardians, or become full voting members of the Cultural District with the help of David Hyman at the Outreach Table.  Cultural District Manager Cal Callahan and Program Associate Reika Faust kept everything flowing smoothly

Below are just a few images from the event, taken by Fire Dragon Photography.  A complete gallery of these images can be viewed here.

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And below are some selected Photos by Gooch; again, the entire gallery can be seen here.

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The Golden Dildeaux Awards!

The 2023 Golden Dildeaux Awards were a great success:  the awards raised over $18,000 for the PRC Emergency Assistance Fund, and the ceremony on April 22 was great fun for all.  See a full report (including picture galleries and winners’ list) here.

Here are a few important dates to mark in your 2023 calendar:

• LEATHER & LGBTQ Cultural District Board Meetings:  5/17, 6/21, 7/19, 8/16, 9/20, 10/18, etc.
• SOMA Second Saturdays:  6/10, 7/8, 8/12, 9/9, etc.
• Vote for Pride Parade Leather Marshals:  June 4
• Up Your Alley Street Fair:  July 30
• LEATHER & LGBTQ Cultural District Annual Meeting:  August 16
• Bay Area Cub Contest:  August 20
• Mr. San Francisco Bear 2024:  August 17-20
• SF Bay Area Leather Alliance Weekend: September 7-10
• Mr. SF Leather and Mx. SF Leather Contests:  September 9
• LeatherWalk 2023:  September 17
• Leather Pride Fest 2023:  September 17
• Leather Week:  September 17-24
• Folsom Street Fair:  September 24
• Bearrison Street Fair:  October 14

All dates are subject to change.

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.

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.

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.

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