San Francisco Pride Headlines

As alluded in the previous entry, I attended SF Pride festivities over the last week of June.  It began with watching many films and ended in an exhausting but exciting weekend.

0) LGBT Film Festival  — Fun in Boys’ Shorts, Dirt and Desire, Pornography, Prodigal Sons (Spoilers Abound)

I usually attend the annual film festival and see a bunch of gay flicks with my friend, C.  Fun in Boys’ Shorts is a collection of shorts with male homosexual themes.  It usually contends to be one of the best flicks during the annual film festival.  The editing, dialogue, and production are much better than the other shorts programs (Trans, Bisexual) and, from what I hear, have improved substantially over the years.  There were some funny ones this year.  The best short, imo, was “Steam.”  You see a closeup of a guapo hunky man dancing.  He’s naked, he’s sweating.  He’s oozing out of all his 6-pack and bodybuilding goodness.  Amidst all these closeups of him, an occasional proverb will pop up…”A man who has been the indisputable favorite of his mother keeps for life the feeling of a conquer”–Freud, “Nothing can have value without being an object of utility“–Marx.  It starts getting intense.  His hand is reaching down there, but the camera remains on his abs.  What is he doing down there??  It’s getting steamy.  The audience is getting turned on.  And then…the camera pans down.  He’s gripping an iron.  The man is ironing some dress on an ironing board.    The final proverb…”You can’t get spoiled if you do your own ironing”–Meryl Streep.

Dirt and Desire was pretty much meaningless.  It is a collection of shorts that revolved around the themes of sex, lust, and defilement.  It’s not easy to toe the line between sexual eroticism and cheap pleasure.  Unfortunately, low production did not help at all.  Rather than any good exploration, it is gratuitous porn.  The most memorable short is “Tour de Pants,” which is memorable more so out of the sheer constant boinkage.  I counted about five sex scenes.  The plot is irrelevant.  I didn’t find much interest in any of the characters and could not help but chuckle when C feigned psychological trauma from seeing so much vagina.

Pornography was a gay fictional thriller that centered on three characters.  Each character has his own act, and the plot relates to the underworld dealings of gay smut.  It’s a thinking movie and full of symbolism.  I did not fully understand the entirety of the story.  I enjoyed it but probably would not rewatch the film to understand the plot, as  the pacing was slow at times.  It’s definitely an artistic film filled with nuances and ripe for analysis.

Prodigal Sons was by far the best film I saw this year.  I went to see this with Kara.  It is a self-documentary that began around a New York transgender going back to Montana to attend her 20-year high school reunion.  But the central focus was not so much the trans issues but her relationship with her adopted brother and his battle with mental illness.  She was of the variety of transgender who chose to practically sever all ties to her life back before transition.  But, as it seems universal to all transgender beings, she will have to confront her old male past and find a happy medium to treasure certain memories while at the same time not letting it sink her.  For her, her relationship with her brother was central to her reinstatement into her family as Kim.  It was sad.  I was very teary-eyed.  But surprisingly, I identified more to her brother than to Kim.  I felt so much irony between his mental illness (brain injury caused by war) and the perception of transgenders as having mental illness.  I felt the awful fights I had with my mother to tell her that I am not psychologically ill inherently but sick due to a body mismatch.  I felt the misunderstanding and fear that the family had over Matt (Kim’s brother) and his sibling insecurity.  I felt the helplessness of the family’s ability to support Matt and the helplessless of Matt as he succumbs to his illness.   It ended with a clear symbolic show of her greater acceptance of herself and her past, and the sibling bond seemed pretty strong.

1) Trans March Friday

I attended the march for the third straight year.  If I showed up a little earlier, I probably would have soaked in more of the trans goodness atmosphere.  As it was, I didn’t and was bouncing around, chatting up with friends.  The march itself started well but ended a little disappointedly.  The past year, we looped back to Dolores Park, where the march started, and usually party and revelry continue at the park.  This year, the march ended abruptly at a street.  Perhaps the organizers were not able to obtain permits for after-march partying at the park?  Who knows.  Regardless, the turnout was good.  Gender is truly arriving at the forefront in civil rights movements.  The rally before the march is ready for some new wrinkles, I opine.  Or maybe just a little more organization and production.   Feeling very dyke-ish that day, I attended the march in a stereotypical boyfriend cap and blazer.  One funny moment during the march…at some point, my friends and I spot an African-American filming the marchers as we go by.  One of my friends remarks that he looks like Morgan Freeman.  I gave a second look and noted the similarities.  Feeling very brave (or very foolish), I ran back to him and asked him if he was Morgan Freeman.  By that time, I noticed he had a female friend.  They both chuckled, and he said, “No.”  I ran back, laughing and feeling embarrassed.  I realized his face resembled Freeman but was not quite there.

2) Pink Party Sat

My friends and I decided to stay at a hotel in SF Saturday night.  Being the default designated driver in almost all occasions, I was excited that I finally can drink without having to worry about driving.  As soon as we checked into the hotel, we commenced imbibing.  We then went to the Dyke March before proceeding to the Pink Saturday at the Castro.  For me, once bottleneck #1, being a designated driver, was gone, bottleneck #2, getting headaches from too much drinking, usually ensue.  That was the first night I tried Chaser pills, which are pills one would take to remove hangovers the next day.  Unfortunately, they worked too well for me.  Bottleneck #2 was removed, and my drinking became unfettered.  I admit, I am a lightweight.  You can figure out what happens in the end.  BUT I did not wake up with a hangover. =)  Anyway, the Pink Party itself was ok.  I didn’t remember seeing much of the usual debauchery.  Of course, I was too incapacitated by then.  I still had fun.

3) Sunday Pride

We woke up early for the Pride Parade.  After a little reconnaissance, we camped out at a spot near the end of the route.  My friends liked the Sisters of Indulgence float.  I was not particularly looking at the floats so much as cheering on mainly for straight allies who were marching, which has been an increasing focus on my part.  We saw Kara doing her Royal Majesty wave to the crowd atop the TGSF float.

After the Parade, we headed out to the celebrations at the Civic Center.  It was a lot of chill-out goodness, meeting up with friends, sharing the happiness.  As somewhat of a disappointment, there was no transgender area this year among the booths.  But then again, in previous years, the transgender area had always been a disappointment.  I guess the trans march has usurped the Civic Center celebrations in terms of publicity.  As usual, there were long lines going into Leather Alley, and I did not go inside.  A line dancing floor was set up as usual and attracting lots of people–I must try it some day!  A booth devoted to the Prius 2010 was set up near City Hall.  The 2010 model is sleeker.  I know almost nothing of cars but I foresee myself purchasing a hybrid (or a manual transmission) car as my next automobile.  The most interesting time came when Boa came to perform.  Who is Boa, you say?  I had the same question until D and L educated me that she is only the biggest Korean pop star right now, a la the Asian Britney Spears.  She performed only three songs to a frenzy of fans obviously more in tune with Asian pop than me.  I admit that they are catchy.  And her English isn’t bad at all.  It was apparently her first ever American performance.

All in all, pride was fun.  Perhaps, next year, it would be a good gesture if our Governator attended.  He has publicly said that he is personally pro-gay with respect to rights, although he always qualifies his words and says that the people should decide.  Maybe by next June, California will not be so much in a financial meltdown that he can take his time to drive one hour way and be a marshal.  Ahh, this is the more pro-active transgender me talking.