How And Why Did So Many G**s End Up There? What Where The Historical And Social Circumstances That Resulted In San Francisco Becoming "America's Gayest City"? GAY PRIDE FREEDOM RIDE Examines These Questions With A Ten Mile Bicycle Ride Through San Francisco's LGBTQ History. The Bike Tour Begins At The Embarcadero (Where Most Of The Gold Rush 1849'ers Disembarced ) And Rolls Down The Old Gay Cruis
ing Grounds Of Market Street On Its Way To North Beach, Home Of The Original Barbary Coast And First Gay Bars. After A Brief Stop In Washington Square Park, The Ride Continues Through The Broadway Tunnel On Its Way To The Polk Gulch Neighborhood, Where G**s, Trannies, And Drag Queens Formed A Visible Community And Vibrant Business District On Polk Street. Then Down The Hill To City Hall, Where Harvey Milk Was Elected To The Board Of Supervisors (The First Openly Gay Man Elected To Public Office), Where Harvey Milk Worked, And Where Harvey Milk Was Assassinated. City Hall Is The Scene Of The "White Night Riots", Which Occurred When Dan White Received A Few Years Sentence For The Murder Of Harvey Milk And George Moscone, Using A "Tw***ie Defense". City Hall Is Also The Scene Of The 2005 "Winter Of Love", When Then-Mayor Gavin Newsom Opened The Door To Gay Marriage. Civic Center, Home Of The Yearly Gay Pride Festival, Is Where Gay Marriage Was Won, Lost, Won, And Won Again In The Federal Courthouse Building. Though Gay Marriage Is Legal In California, The Decision Is Stayed By The Courts Pending Review By The U. Supreme Court. In The Tenderloin, We Visit The Site Of The Old Compton's Cafeteria, Where Drag Queens, Trannies, And Young Q***r Vanguard Youth Fought Back Against Police Harassment And Brutality In 1966 (Two Years Before The More Famous Stonewall Riots). In SOMA We Roll Past The Old S*x Clubs, Gay Male Bath Houses, And Leather Bars To Visit The Grounds Of The Folsom Street Fair (Which Celebrates Gale Male Leather Daddies), The Hairrison Street Fair (Which Celebrates Big, Hairy Gay Men), And The Up Your Alley Fair (Formerly Dore Alley Fair, Which Celebrates Gay Male Kink). Next Stop Is The Mission, Home Of The Mission Dolores, The Oldest Building In San Francisco. It Was Here That The Spanish-Mexican Christian Missionaries Forced The Native Ohlone Tribe To Convert To Christianity And Violently Quelshed Their Two-Spirit People, Making The Two-Spirit People Of The Native Ohlone Tribe California's First Gay Martyrs. We Then Bike Into The Valencia Corridor, Which Saw A Huge Influx Of Young Hipster Le****ns In The 1980's-1990's Who Carved A Niche For Themselves In The Neighborhood. We Roll Past The Lexington Club (The Last Le***an Bar In The Valencia Corridor), The Women's Building, And Dolores Park (Home Of The Annual D**e Festival). The Bike Tour Ends In The Castro, San Francisco's Gayest Neighborhood And Home Of Harvey Milk's Apartment And Camera Shop, The Harvey Milk Civil Rights Academy (The Only Elementary School In The U.S. Named For An Out-Of-The-Closet Gay Person), The Pink Triangle Park And Holocaust Memorial, The Gay Vietnam Veteran's Memorial Plaque, The Names Project Aids Quilt Plaque, The LGBTQ History Museum, Officer Jane Warner Plaza (Named In Honor Of A Le***an Castro Patrol Officer), And The World's Largest Rainbow Flag Flying High Atop The "Gayborhood"...
