San Francisco kicks off Pride month with flag-raising, Jane Fonda, parade

SAN FRANCISCO - San Francisco Mayor London Breed, alongside local and state leaders, will officially launch the month-long celebration of Pride Month on Friday; the annual event will commence with the raising of a new Pride flag in the Castro District. 

The theme for this year's Pride Month is "Looking Back and Moving Forward." Advocates emphasize the importance of understanding the discrimination faced by the LGBTQ community in the past in order to prevent its recurrence in the future.

On the first day of Pride Month, hundreds of individuals gathered at the Castro Theater to hear advocate and activist Jane Fonda speak on the topic. Fonda discussed the recent efforts in Republican state legislatures across the country to ban drag queen performances and restrict transgender rights.

In downtown San Francisco, Pride Month introduced a new tradition called "Drag Me Downtown," featuring drag performances designed to revitalize the downtown area.

Meanwhile, organizers in the hills of San Francisco are already seeking volunteers to assist in setting up the iconic Pink Triangle on Twin Peaks. 

Patrick Carney, Founder of Friends of the Pink Triangle, expressed the significance of the event as a community-building activity.

"It's really a great community-building event," he said. "It is part of what it's all about."

The Pink Triangle, once a symbol of LGBTQ persecution during the Holocaust, has become an integral part of San Francisco's Pride Month. 

Volunteers have diligently installed it by hand every June for the past 28 years. They are currently seeking additional volunteers to help set it up again on June 17.

The San Francisco Pride Parade is scheduled to take place on Sunday.