Letters to the editor

Protested Log Cabin at SF Pride
I attended San Francisco Pride this year and spent nearly five hours protesting the Log Cabin Republicans’ booth – because people deserve to know who they are.

A small tent, it was set up next to the fire department and the sheriff’s department, looking like just another community group. But many passersby didn’t realize they were engaging with a group aligned with Republicans actively working to roll back LGBTQ+ rights, erase trans people, and censor queer books.

For hours, I loudly called out their connection to Trump Republicans – the same people who removed Harvey Milk’s name from a U.S. Navy ship and cheered on anti-trans legislation across the country. I redirected people away, made sure they knew the truth, and many thanked me. They just hadn’t realized what that booth really represented.

Pride isn’t just a party. It’s a space that grew out of protest and resistance. Letting a group like Log Cabin blend in without challenge does a disservice to the history and purpose of the celebration.

We don’t have to tolerate those who actively work against our survival just because they show up in rainbow gear. Visibility doesn’t equal solidarity. Sometimes, being out and loud means standing up to those who wear the flag while voting to burn it down.

John Hart
San Francisco

Ashamed of Dyke March
I am ashamed that the San Francisco Dyke March this year led with a huge Free Palestine banner that failed to denounce Hamas. And before the march started, I was greeted by group chants for the Intifada!?! I asked a number of participants, “Do you support Hamas?” I was met with blank stares and no answers. Only one person (a straight male participant) answered that he does not support Hamas.

Hamas is, unfortunately, somehow praised in this so-called humanitarian pitch. Many of the protesters think Hamas is a grassroots “for the people by the people” movement. Hamas is a wealthy political regime that would gun down the entire Pride event if it could.

How dare the Dyke March even slightly embrace a regime that supports enslaving women and girls, calls for genocide of the West, and does not recognize homosexuality. The Dyke March this year led with a slogan that has deep references to the genocide of Jews and the West. There’s a difference between opposing President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and supporting Hamas’ genocidal goals. But somehow the Dyke March failed to differentiate.

The free Palestine movement must clearly state its opposition to Hamas while opposing the U.S. and Israeli military actions. It’s sad and shameful that the march organizers failed to navigate this nuance, and instead chose to lead with a lack of intellect and engaged in anti-West, anti-gay, antisemitic rhetoric. The march this year alienated a lot of dykes.

Karen Handleman
San Francisco

 
What a year for the 30th annual pink triangle!
This year’s pink triangle was bigger than ever, with nighttime lighting for San Francisco Pride’s final weekend, plenty of foggy mornings and evenings yet mostly sunny days, a bit of poison oak – and more volunteers and enthusiasm than ever before, filling our hearts with gratitude.

Thank you to the over 1,100 people who signed up across 10 volunteer days to help with this year's display. An astounding 800 volunteers participated in the main installation day alone, Saturday, June 7. San Francisco remains the only city in the world with a giant pink triangle watching over its Pride celebration – and it’s all made possible by enthusiastic, dedicated volunteers. Thank you to Gay for Good and more than 60 others who helped with the take-down after the Pride Parade on Sunday, June 29.

The pink triangle is a symbol rooted in both tragedy and resilience. The giant display serves as a highly visible, yet silent reminder and warning of inhumanity and the atrocities committed over 80 years ago – and a call to vigilance today. The display on Twin Peaks is not just decoration; it’s a huge in-your-face educational tool about where hatred and discrimination can lead. The pink triangle commemorates one of the darkest chapters in human history, the Holocaust, and stood for over three weeks as a beacon of awareness. In a time when many are deeply troubled by the actions of the current presidential administration and its enablers in Congress, it’s more important than ever to stand up for personal freedom – and to resist.

Thank you to all who participated in the commemoration ceremony, including San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie, who proclaimed it “Pink Triangle Day in San Francisco.” British Consul General Tammy Sandhu, a proud and vocal straight ally, opened the event by sharing the history of the pink triangle and adding international perspective. As always, it was important to follow the historical context with a review of modern-day hate and persecution.

Additional speakers included: Suzanne Ford, a transgender woman who is executive director of San Francisco Pride, who expanded on the pink triangle’s history and current anti-LGBTQ+ legislation; Honey Mahogany, a trans person who is executive director of the San Francisco Office of Transgender Initiatives, longtime activist, and “RuPaul’s Drag Race” alum, who gave a rousing call to action; and drag artist “First Lady of the Castro” Donna Sachet, who linked anti-drag legislation to the goals of the Imperial Court System and introduced reigning Emperor of San Francisco Ashlé Blow.

Other elected officials who lent their voices included: gay state Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), gay San Francisco Board of Supervisors President Rafael Mandelman, Assemblymember Matt Haney (D-San Francisco), gay San Francisco Treasurer José Cisneros, San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu, gay Supervisors Matt Dorsey and Joel Engardio, San Francisco Assessor-Recorder Joaquín Torres, and gay City College of San Francisco board Vice President Luis Zamora.

Thank you to Mike Wong and the San Francisco Pride Band, who performed multiple times, and to musical theater star Leanne Borghesi, who sang beautifully during the ceremony and during the hour leading up to the ceremony.

Our fiscal sponsors, to whom we’re grateful, were: Kaiser Permanente Foundation, Gilead Foundation, the Bob Ross Foundation (via Thomas E. Horn for the massive volunteer T-shirt order), Levi Strauss & Co. (also a major volunteer presence), San Francisco Pride (for comprehensive support), the Robert Holgate Foundation, the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, Hodgkins Jewelers (25 years of support!), gay former state senator Mark Leno (D-San Francisco), Brian Gerritsen, Marcy Adelman, Ph.D. (a founder of Openhouse), Eye Gotcha Optometric on Castro, Loukas Farr-Lee of Starbucks (coffee and pastries), and Ryan Jones of Hot Cookie (for dozens of delicious cookies during take-down).

Thank you to Katie Hickox for founding and maintaining the pink triangle website https://www.thepinktriangle.com/ since 1999 – even after moving to England. Thanks also to Brian Busta for the bright pink banners along the fence across from the ceremony.

A very special thank you to my husband, Hossein Carney, Ph.D., my sisters Colleen Hodgkins and Shannon Gorden, our family friend Deborah Taylor, and longtime volunteers Joseph Mak and Chrissy Cronin. I couldn’t have made it to the 30th year without them.

Thanks to the SF Pride Board, including President Joshua Smith, and staff; the San Francisco Mayor’s Office and Martha Cohen for lighting City Hall pink; Mandelman’s office; the San Francisco Department of Real Estate; San Francisco Public Works for trimming the hillside; and the Recreation and Park Department rangers and San Francisco Police Department officers from Park Station for keeping the display safe and traffic under control.

On vandalism and resilience
During Pride Month, SFPD apprehended an individual allegedly in the act of vandalizing the pink triangle. They were arrested, though it's not yet clear if restitution will be required for the 26 damaged tarps that had to be retired. We deliberately left the damage visible – as a scar and a lesson – symbolizing the ongoing struggles the LGBTQ+ community faces. The vandalized panels stood as a badge of resilience, courage, and resistance for the remainder of Pride Month. If this can happen in LGBTQ+-friendly San Francisco, imagine what our community faces elsewhere. We will not be deterred. Their hatred only strengthens our resolve.

Light in the night
The pink triangle was illuminated on the evenings of Friday, June 27, and Saturday, June 28, to coincide with the debut of Illuminate’s 4.1-mile-long laser rainbow flag. Together, the pink triangle and the rainbow flag symbolize the yin and yang of LGBTQ+ history. One was forged in tragedy, the other in joy and hope. The late Gilbert Baker, co-creator of the rainbow flag and a frequent pink triangle visitor before he passed away, often said that the rainbow flag is the antidote to the pink triangle.

Thank you to Colin Bowring, Neal Strickberger, my spouse, the aforementioned Hossein Carney, Mak, Joshua Kehl, and many others who helped make the lighting display possible. It was a breathtaking addition to the nighttime celebration in the Castro.

Thank you to everyone who helped make the 2025 pink triangle a meaningful, powerful, and successful display and event. See you next year on Twin Peaks for the 31st annual pink triangle!

Patrick Carney, Co-Founder
The Pink Triangle
San Francisco