Speech of San Francis Supervisor Harvey Milk at Gay Freedom Day, June 25, 1978.

Contents:

• EVERY SF PRI THEME SCE THE FIRST-EVER GAY FREEDOM DAY 1970
• A HISTORY OF GAY FREEDOM DAY, DYKE MARCH, AND TRANS MARCH
• SAN FRANCIS LBIAN/GAY FREEDOM BAND
• 1978 GAY FREEDOM DAY PARA VIO
• SPEECH OF SAN FRANCIS SUPERVISOR HARVEY MILK AT GAY FREEDOM DAY, JUNE 25, 1978.
• HARVEY MILK'S SPEECH AT SAN FRANCIS'S GAY FREEDOM DAY CELEBRATN

EVERY SF PRI THEME SCE THE FIRST-EVER GAY FREEDOM DAY 1970

Earlier this month, the GLBT Historil Society Mm unveiled a glass se ntag a rare artifact: a segment of the origal rabow gay pri flag, s lors as vibrant as ever.

Baker, Segerblom, McNamara and other activists first flew two versns of their brilliantly lored flag at the Uned Natns Plaza on June 25, 1978, celebratn of “Gay Freedom Day.

The artist proposed a rabow as a “morn alternative” to the pk triangle—a symbol ed by the Nazis to mark and persecute gay people, and one which queer muni have sce reclaimed as a symbol of pri.

A HISTORY OF GAY FREEDOM DAY, DYKE MARCH, AND TRANS MARCH

“[The rabow flag] don’t say the word ‘Gay, ’ and don’t say ‘the Uned Stat’ on the Amerin flag, but everyone knows visually what they mean, ” Baker said a 2015 nversatn wh curator Michelle Millar Fisher. That year at San Francis Pri – then known as “Gay Freedom Day” – Baker and a hort of LGBTQ+ rights advot stched together and hoisted two giant versns above the cy’s UN Plaza, near cy origal flags were nsired to have vanished.

SAN FRANCIS LBIAN/GAY FREEDOM BAND

The mm’s executive director, Terry Bwick, said the flag, which was unveiled at a ceremony last Friday, was signed as “a symbol that would reprent the full spectm of the LGBTQ muny” two origal eight-lor rabow flags flyg at Uned Natns Plaza 1978 durg San Francis Gay Freedom Day. They were removed bee hot-pk dye was hard to e by and bee seven strip was cumbersome to reproduce, s creatn – and later the dozens of variatns signifyg var subgroups wh the overall LGBTQ+ umbrella, om trans people to bisexuals to the agenr muny – the bt-known emblem of queerns was the pk triangle, a reclaimed symbol om Nazi Germany’s persecutn of gay symbols have taken on extra visibily and ronance this year.

Para officials believed the turnout was a rult of the attentn that Ana Bryant was gettg for her anti-gay csa Florida and the murr of a gay cy garner by four youths the prr week. Willie Brown urged everyone to register to vote, so they uld oppose a statewi iative sponsored by Fullerton Republin Assemblyman John Briggs that would perm public school districts to fire homosexuals.

A lot of progrs has been ma toward this goal the last 50 years, cludg a Supreme Court lg jt two weeks ago that gay employe were protected om job discrimatn unr the Civil Rights Act of 1964, but the fight is far om over.

1978 GAY FREEDOM DAY PARA VIO

Thirty people marched down Polk street as part of the San Francis Gay Liberatn March, acrdg to Mark Sawch om the GLBT Historil Society Mm San forward several s later, crowds have grown om thoands to more than a ln participants paradg down Market Street every year --- at least until the COVID-19 panmic. And went back to 1970, was a two day event that June Here's how to watch 2023 San Francis Pri Para on ABC7Sawch says there was a piic "gay-" gatherg Goln Gate Park's Speedway found TONS of footage our ABC7 News archive datg back to the 1972 para when was lled Christopher Street Wt.

Sawch says the tle referenc the street New York Cy's Greenwich Village neighborhood where Stonewall and other tablishments tered to LGBTQ the para's ceptn 51 years ago, the para has gone through several name Origal rabow flag returns home to SF, displayed at GLBT Historil Society1973 -1980: Gay Freedom Day1981 - 1994: Internatnal Lbian & Gay Freedom Day Para1995 - 2013: San Francis Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgenr Pri Celebratn2014- to prent: San Francis Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgenr Pri Para and CelebratnMORE: San Francis Internatnal Airport opens termal honorg Harvey MilkOf urse, the para is now simply referred to as "San Francis Pri. "WATCH: LOOKBACK: What gay life was like San Francis 1976Throughout the years, ntgents the para took a stance for eedom of speech, fightg for equal rights and more fundg for AIDS rearch. It was officially lled the Gay Freedom Day up until 1981 when beme known as the Internatnal Lbian and Gay Freedom Day Para, and then changg aga 1995 to the San Francis Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgenr Pri Celebratn.

The thg we ll the Gay Pri Para was, once upon a time, lled the Gay Freedom Day Para — a better name, if you ask , bee at this pot gay folks are pretty proud enough, but not always pletely ee. The gural event San Francis was a small 20- to 30-person march of "hair faeri" followed by a "gay-" Goln Gate Park the summer of 1970, memoratg the one-year anniversary of the Stonewall Rts. This all of urse began wh an uprisg of homos, drag queens, and trans people who fought back agast a police raid at the Stonewall Inn New York's Greenwich Village on June 28, 1969.

SPEECH OF SAN FRANCIS SUPERVISOR HARVEY MILK AT GAY FREEDOM DAY, JUNE 25, 1978.

It was ially dubbed the Christopher Street Wt para, featured a poster wh a upraised fist and the words "Gay Pri, " and keepg wh San Francis's place hippie history, was way more nu and kooky than the equivalent event New York. The Civic Center celebratn that we all know began 1982, and the annual event was known as the Gay Freedom Day celebratn, followed by Internatnal Lbian and Gay Freedom Day, and only beme officially known as Pri, or the San Francis Lbian Gay Bisexual Transgenr Pri Celebratn, 1995.

Dyke March began 1993 and still bears some more of the prott nature and grassroots-y-ns of the origal Gay Freedom Day events, wh handma signs, light nudy, no real floats, and most people on foot. The San Francis Lbian/Gay Freedom Band provis for the tn and mil velopment of s members, promot visibily of lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr muni, and wh s alli, fosters unrstandg among diverse muni through public performance.

San Francis Lbian/Gay Freedom Band is the first openly-gay mil anizatn the world, spirg the formatn of LGBTQ+ bands, chos, and performg groups around the globe.

HARVEY MILK'S SPEECH AT SAN FRANCIS'S GAY FREEDOM DAY CELEBRATN

Found 1978 by Jon Sims at the height of Ana Bryant’s anti-gay csa, the Band has ma mic to build unrstandg among muni of all sexual orientatns and inti for more than four s. Ever sce makg a splash by marchg up Market Street wh Harvey Milk’s nvertible the 1978 San Francis Gay Freedom Day Para, the Band has been appearg throughout the Cy and s environs to promote LGBTQ+ visibily. Beyond the formal missn statement, the spir of San Francis Lbian/Gay Freedom Band is bt ptured the revised lyrics to a popular Broadway song wrten by our founr Jon Sims:.

The performanc have clud every Gay Gam, three March on Washgton, four Printial Inguratns, and appearanc major venu cludg the Hollywood Bowl, Madison Square Garn, the Alamo, DAR Constutn Hall (Washgton, D. ), Jordan Hall (Boston), Jon Hall (Hoton), Davi Symphony Hall (San Francis), the Przker Paviln Millennium Park durg the 2006 Gay Gam VII held Chigo, the State Theater Cleveland durg 2014’s Gay Gam 9, and the Caso Paris durg 2018’s Gay Gam 10. He was missned to create a flag by another gay in, polician Harvey Milk, for San Francis’s annual pri cisn to enlist Baker proved serendipo, as the ia of a flag to reprent the gay and lbian muny had occurred to him two years earlier.

As Baker told the Mm of Morn Art durg a 2015 terview, he had been spired by the celebratns markg Ameri’s bicentennial 1976, notg that the nstant display of stars and strip ma him realize the cultural need for a siar rallyg sign for the gay muny. And as a stgglg drag performer who was acctomed to creatg his own garments, he was well-equipped to sew the soon-to-be inic the time, the most monly ed image for the burgeong gay rights movement was the pk triangle, a symbol ed by the Nazis to intify homosexuals.