Inaugural event to kickoff San Francisco Pride Month on June 2 at Castro Theatre

Sunday, May 28, 2023

Inaugural event to kickoff SF Pride in June at Castro Theatre

"SF Pride Kickoff: A Queer Night of Entertainment" will premiere at The Castro Theatre in June to kickoff off pride month in San Francisco.

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- We are a few days away from Pride officially kicking off, but it's never too early to celebrate.

The event "SF Pride Kickoff: A Queer Night of Entertainment" will premiere at the legendary Castro Theatre on the first week of June to officially kickoff off pride month in San Francisco.

"We're gonna get together. We're going to have two film shorts," said Suzanne Ford, the executive director of SF Pride.

One of the film shorts is called "The Girl from 7th Avenue."

MORE: Juanita MORE! talks annual SF Pride party with nonprofit Queer Life Space

Ford also says there will also be an excerpt from the play "Conference Cafeteria Riot," a performance by jazz singer Tory Teasley, as well as some dancers to help kickstart the event.

You can watch the full interview in the video player above.

With Pride Month coming up in a few days, ABC7's Reggie Aqui also asked the San Francisco Pride organizers their take on various companies removing some pride merchandise from its lineup, including Target.

"Here at SF pride, we do have a really wonderful base of loyal corporate supporters and we lean into them. It has been kind of sad to watch other corporations maybe not practice as strong allyship to the community as they might," said Nguyen Pham, the president of SF Pride.

Pham says in the case of Target specifically, it kind of raises a broader question.

"How come you are editing your product line up in your merchandising rather than maybe addressing customer behavior toward your staff? It ultimately is a staff safety issue," he said. "Why are you not more focusing on maybe checking into your customers and ensuring that they are treating your staff more appropriately when they're in your storefronts."

"I think there's a line Reggie, and you're either on the correct side of it or not," Ford said on Target moving their pride items to the back of the store and removing some products from its lineup.

"We invite our corporate partners to be on the correct side of history on the side of human rights, especially for trans people. There's no middle of the road and I think that's what you're seeing some corporations are trying to play down the middle of this and I think that's, that's bad for them ultimately," she said.

MORE: Target removes some LGBTQ merchandise from stores ahead of Pride month after threats to workers

So, what can people expect at Civic Center once the Pride Parade is over?

"Our participants and attendees will still enjoy a very similar SF pride look and feel to previous years," Nguyen said. "You'll see the same parade route down Market Street, and you'll see mostly the same footprints at Civic Center. What you'll also see is an emphasis not only on local homegrown talent, but also some really exciting names that are kind of up and comers in the queer entertainment space."

"You're going to be excited," Ford said. She said there will be a VIP party at the Asian Art Museum. "Thank you to them for providing space for us. It's going to be a fabulous time, Reggie."

SF Pride Kickoff: A Queer Night of Entertainment will be held at the Castro Theatre in San Francisco on June 2 at 7 p.m.

You can find more information including on buying tickets here.

MORE: FROM THE ARCHIVE: SF Pride Parade in the 1970s, through the years