Bay Area kicks off Pride celebrations with bike ride and telethon fundraisers
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Pride month has officially arrived in the Bay Area and while there are a variety of celebrations, the political climate is also affecting some plans and the messaging.
In San Francisco, thousands of participants showed off their Pride by pedaling 545 miles to Los Angeles in the AIDS LifeCycle, raising millions of dollars to help serve the LGBTQ+ community.
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"There's so many great stops along the way all of the food all of the people all of the fun, we've got drag queens on the ride we'll have fried artichokes on the ride, cinnamon rolls, so many amazing things," participant Jessica Fisher said.
"This has been quite a year for our community, there's so much confusion and fear, mixed messages, funding is being cut, so now more than rides like this, events like this, that raise money, are more important than ever." Sister Roma of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence said.
From the streets to the stage, Oasis Arts hosted a 10-hour livestreamed telethon fundraiser from the iconic drag venue Oasis.
"I just want you to know how important Oasis Arts is to me as a performer," Drag Queen Coco Peru said. "I feel like I get to come to San Francisco, one of the greatest cities in the world, one of my favorite cities to perform in, but I'm also given a wonderful, safe space to create. I tour the United States a lot, and these spaces are disappearing one by one."
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Across the nation, Pride organizations are embracing a motto of resistance, staring down ongoing attacks by the Trump Administration.
"We need to send a clear message to Washington D.C. I won't say his name but we need to send a clear message that here in San Francisco we still have the values that you can be who you are and you can love who you love," SF Pride Executive Director Suzanne Ford said.
San Francisco is helping to make California the second safest state in the country for LGBTQ+ people only behind Rhode Island, according to SafeHome.org's annual ranking.
The group's research also found that LGBTQ+ hate crimes are on the rise for the fourth consecutive year.
"This year, if you come, it's a revolutionary act," Ford said.
