San Francisco Pride, 1970

The sixth and final poster, titled SAN FRANCISCO PRIDE, 1970, is purple to represent the sixth color of the rainbow flag. The first side depicts the origins of what would eventually become SF Pride, and the second is a single illustration honoring the march in its current form, along with inset panels of various Grand Marshals over the years.

I relied heavily on two online resources created by the GLBT Historical Society depicting the history and iconography of SF Pride: Labor of Love: The Birth of San Francisco Pride 1970-1980, curated by Gerard Koskovich, Don Romesburg, and Amy Sueyoshi, and 50 Years of Pride: A Photography Exhibition, curated by Lenore Chinn and Pamela Penniston.

The names of both the march and the organizing committees shifted quite a bit during the early years: Christopher Street West/SF, Christopher Street Liberation Day, Gay Freedom Day, Gay Pride, Lesbian/Gay Parade Committee, etc. I had to simplify the nomenclature in my poster in the interests of clarity.

Thanks to Susan Stryker for pointing me toward some of the juicier aspects of the history of SF Pride, such as the fascinating story of Reverend Ray Broshears. Check out the documentary short film about Broshears, That Was Ray: The Story of the Most Dangerous Gay Man in America, co-directed and co-written by Brenten Brandenburg and Jordan Gorman, with Kaustubh Singh as the third writer. As with other posters in this series, it was impossible to convey Broshear’s complexities in the space available. He clearly struggled with mental health throughout his life and has a mixed legacy in the history of LGBTQ civil rights.

Once again, I drew from written statements to create the dialogue. Thanks to Joey Stern for gathering the quotes from the Grand Marshals on the second side of the poster, as well as to Isaac Fellman of the GLBT Historical Society for providing helpful guidance. In hindsight, I see that the title of the poster makes it seem that the scene on the poster’s second side takes place in 1970, when it actually represents the modern incarnation of the Pride march.

The first march, which was down Polk Street, as well as the “Gay In” the next day in Golden Gate Park, were conducted by a mix of queer hippies and “hair fairies” (a non-pejorative term from the era that encompassed gender-nonconforming folks who would wear their hair long). As with Stonewall, the more radical and marginalized members of the broader LGBTQ community are often erased from the history of the civil rights struggles that they began.