Petrelis Files

S.F. Protest for Global Gay Solidarity Day, August 4 Photos

(Please feel free to use any of the photos, but give credit to this blog. Thanks.)

Over the course of one hour, more than twenty LGBT activists staged a solidarity vigil and speak out today at the Flood Building on Market Street, where the consulates of Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama are located. Hundreds of shoppers walking by and people entering the Flood Building took our supply of 500 leaflets explaining the problems gay citizens face in those countries. We held a beautiful fabric banner, made by George Duvoisin, using a diverse array of materials and colors, symbolic of the global LGBT community. Each letter was a separate design with its own block, spelling out S-O-L-I-D-A-R-I-T-Y.


Just one of the many clusters of tourists who passed by our event, which was spread out across the entire front of the building, with the permission of the building's security force because we didn't block anyone from entering or leaving. During the action, activists spoke with people from around the world who wanted more information about the human rights abuses of LGBT people everywhere on our planet. There was also much approval for our public display of activism.


This gay black man stopped and gave an impromptu speech about respecting all people from every background. He also thanked us for being in the streets for queer political reasons on such a beautiful sunny San Francisco day.



We spent the final half of our demonstration displaying our Global Gay Solidarity signs and waving the good old rainbow flag, even though we ran out of flyers and couldn't give tourists and shoppers some information to learn about our LGBT issues.

An enormous shout of thanks from me to all the folks who turned out for our fabulous action today, and all the folks who couldn't make it but nevertheless supported and/or contributed to the San Francisco action on August 4 for Global Gay Solidarity Day.