Says it lacks local information and diversity...

Letter to the Editor
Brendan Behan
June 23, 2009

San Francisco Pride's Response to the 'PRIDE 09' Magazine

Flipping through the pages of the 'Pride 09' magazine which recently hit the streets, locals might wonder why nothing about San Francisco Pride is in the edition - no features, no listings, no photos, no event information, no maps, no Grand Marshals, no stage line-ups, no accessibility information... This curious omission is no accident. The San Francisco Pride Celebration Committee was not asked to nor was involved in the production of the glossy magazine that was dropped on street corners throughout San Francisco. We are deeply concerned that community members will be left with the false impression that this magazine was officially sanctioned by San Francisco Pride, which it was not.

Adding insult to injury, the publication contains a shocking lack of diversity - the very thing for which Pride is so known. We are very concerned that a publication calling itself 'Pride 09' has no relationship to our local Pride Parade and Celebration and has no diversity. Our diversity is the reason that we gather as a community each year to celebrate at Pride.

How, then, is it possible for this publication to have asserted its claim to our community's long-standing ritual? Pride in whom? When our local community is as absent as diverse images of the people who make it up, we must ask ourselves if this publication has any relevance to the civil rights roots that gave birth to the Pride movement in the first place.

The 'Pride 09' magazine is not a reflection of our community's Pride event or of the Bay Area's LGBT community.

We wish everyone a wonderful Pride weekend and look forward to welcoming people from all over the world to this important celebration of our diversity.

Lindsey Jones, Executive Director
Board President, Mikayla Connell

Board Members:
Nikki Calma
Joshua Hardwick
Kelly Hart
Belinda Ryan
Joshua M. Smith
Todd Torr
Lisa Williams
The San Francisco LGBT Pride Celebration Committee

Brendan Behan
Deputy Executive Director
SF Pride Celebration Committee
1800 Market St., PMB #5
San Francisco, CA 94102
brendanb@sfpride.org
415-864-0831 ext. 102

Find SF Pride on:
http://www.facebook.com/privacy/?ref=mb#/people/Sf-Pride/604350085

http://www.twitter.com/sfpride

http://www.youtube.com/sflgbtpride

http://www.myspace.com/sf_pride

http://www.sfpride.org

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