San Francisco Pride: How one city developed such a thriving LGBT community

So, in honor of Pride and the recent re-legalization of gay marriage in California, I wanted to take a look at how this famous city by the bay developed such a thriving, proud, and loud LGBT culture.

By the early 1930’s, San Francisco’s continually growing community of Catholic Irish immigrants were very well established within Eureka Valley, the working class area of the city. They formed a close-knit community, and on a greater scale had begun to have a lot of influence in the area and throughout the city of San Francisco.

This close-knit community would soon see the formation of a gay community right alongside their own, and a clash of ideologies would make history in an event whose lasting effects still touch many LGBT individuals and communities around the world.

During WWII, San Francisco became a main port for men and women leaving to and returning from war. It was also the major port where many dishonorably discharged gay men and women were processed out of service.

The overwhelming need for men, and women, in the service at the time saw many gay and lesbian individuals being enlisted. However, a growing and changing understanding of psychology at the time deemed homosexuality an ailment that made an individual unfit for service.

During the war, the US military began actively seeking out and dishonorably discharging gay men and women who were in active service.

Thousands of these discharged men and women were processed out in San Francisco, as it was often the closest major port. Considering they would have to return to their families to tell them that they had not only been dishonorably discharged, but also that it was because they were gay, not surprisingly, most stayed in San Francisco.

These groups formed some of San Francisco’s first gay communities.

The 1950’s saw the development of one of San Francisco’s internationally famous neighborhoods, the Haight-Ashbury district.

The budding reputation of being a more liberal city, the post-war growth of gay communities, and the development of many arts, including music and literature throughout the 1950’s and early 60’s in San Francisco drew in many young adults, or hippies as some might call them, wanting to join the counterculture movement. They began to form communities in an area with affordable housing along Haight street, one hill over from Eureka Valley. The main intersection in the area was Haight and Ashbury, which is where the district got its name.

In the summer 1967, hundreds of thousands of young adults flocked to Haight-Ashbury after being attracted by various media coverage of the small and forming hippie community, as well as more famously the Scott McKenzie song “San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair),” which had been an instant hit, and was topping music charts by June of 1967.

This movement became known as the “Summer of Love,” and saw the development of hippie communities across the nation and around the world. It saw radical changes in music, the formation of new rock bands, and saw lasting changes in social and political views. The “Summer of Love” is a defining moment in the hippie or counterculture movement.

 
At first, many of the gay and lesbian individuals moved into the Haight-Ashbury area, with the hippies. However, due to rampant drug use, and other illegal activities, many moved to the affordable neighboring district, which by 1970 became known as The Castro District of San Francisco- one of the first ever LGBT neighborhoods.

By this time many of the families of the original Catholic Irish immigrants, now financially well established, had moved into newer and nicer areas neighboring the Castro, the once working class neighborhood had been transformed.

The Castro District almost immediately gained recognition as gay and lesbian mecca, and has only grown since.

The hippies who initially attracted many gay and lesbian individuals also played a role inspiring some early LGBT rights movements within the gay community itself. One notable movement was Gay Liberation, which encouraged gays and lesbians to “come out.” An offshoot of the Gay Liberation, and the Stonewall Riots in New York, was the development of Gay Pride and the Pride parade.

June of 1970 was the first San Francisco Pride, with a small “gay-in” held in Golden Gate Park, and since 1972 the event has been held annually, evolving into what we have today as Pride Week, which hosts the Pride Parade every June in San Francisco.

In 1973, Harvey Milk became heavily involved in gay rights activism. Although a younger Milk had no interest in activism or politics, he had been inspired by the counterculture movement of the late 1960s, and would go on to become one of the most significant activist for the gay rights movement.

While on trial for the assassination of Harvey Milk and the mayor George Moscone, Dan White claimed that he had not intentionally meant to kill either man. The defense brought forth a woeful tale, in which White had been under great amounts of stress on the job.

 
He had to deal with groups of hippies who were portrayed as lazy and troublesome, unlike the communities he had been raised in.
 

He had to deal with riots and protests. There had been clashes between the growing gay community and the traditional Irish catholic groups, which directly neighbored this community.
 
His defense painted a picture of his stress and severe depression. They talked about how White had normally been a very health conscious man, but because of his depression had taken to eating a lot of sugary foods and drinks. They talked about how his poor diet led to an even greater deterioration of his mental condition. All of this led up to the day of the assassinations.

White’s defense argued that the assassinations had not been premeditated, but rather that White had been so stressed out and depressed that he had not been of sound mind, and that he’d had diminished mental capacity during the assassinations, and therefore didn’t fully realize what he was doing.
 
Because the majority of the jury came from the same close-knit community as White, which had been dealing with many of the same issues White claimed had caused so much stress and depression, they were able to sympathize with him.
 
White was not convicted of premeditated murder, nor was he convicted of murdering Milk and Moscone. In the end, he served five years on a manslaughter conviction, before being released on parole. White committed suicide less than two years after his release from prison.

Following Milk’s assassination, the efforts to develop a flag to represent the LGBT community increased with the demand for something to symbolize their solidarity, with Milk, and with each other. Initial forms resembling the rainbow flag we have today were made and tested, before finally settling with basic six-color rainbow pride flag in 1979. 

Today the same flag can be seen hanging from lampposts, business entrance ways, home windows, or wherever one might fit throughout the Castro, as well as throughout San Francisco year round. And, during Pride each year the city is absolutely decorated with the Pride flag, in honor of it’s thriving gay community, and as a symbol gay rights worldwide.