Castro Street Fair
The Castro Street Fair is an annual LGBT street festival held every October in the Castro district of San Francisco, the city's main gay neighborhood. Hardly any attendees are naked, but hey, this is San Francisco, so there are always a few. Above is Samuel Clarendon at the fair in 2018.
The event was started by Harvey Milk and the Castro Valley Association in 1974, and by 1977, attendance was 70,000. In 2012, supervisor Scott Wiener introduced legislation to ban public nudity in San Francisco, resulting in nude protest demonstrations, including these folks at the Castro Street Fair.
Nudity activist Trey Allen tried to influence politicians with his "Naked People Vote" sign. But it didn't work. The following month, the politicians passed the anti-nudity legislation.
This guy at the 2012 fair didn't seem political. I guess he just liked to hang out naked. Here's a front view of him ...
And a back view. What's up with the pink beehive hairdos? It's a San Francisco street fair, where the unusual is usual.
Others rallied to the cause, like this guy on a rooftop waving a flag with the sign on his chest "Stop Censorship!"
Nudity activist George Davis, above at the 2013 fair, decided to run for Supervisor against Scott Wiener. The Board of Supervisors in San Francisco is like the city council in other cities. His nude campaign attracted media attention, but he lost.
If you like bears, you might appreciate this 2018 attendee. How do people get away with being naked, now that it's against the law? Because the law made exceptions for certain events, like street fairs, that had traditionally allowed nudity.
These guys set up a booth in 2019 offering to pose with you for a photo for free. Who wouldn't want to pose with someone with such a big ... heart?
The fair is for people of all ages. Here are a couple more attendees in 2019.
Here's Samuel Clarendon, who we saw in the first photo, with a friend in 2019.
The fair was cancelled in 2020, but it was back in 2021. Here's our friend Samuel again.
A cute couple in 2021.
We end with this 2021 cat in a hat who looks like he stepped out of the 1960s. Groovy! Like, peace and love, man!
4 comments:
I attended one of the earlier fairs. I THINK it was 76. A guy on a street corner, naked, pulled my pants down and sucked my cock right there. I filled his mouth. About a dozen males watched. As I pulled up my pants and walked away, he was already wrapping his lips around another man's rod.
Looks like lots of fun. Especially for Big Dude.
WOW!!! I guess those times are no more.
During those pre-AIDS days, gay men were a lot more frank. About your frank. I mean, gay lib in these days often talked about "the homosexual within"; rather than ghettoizing love between men as a tiny and stable minority, it must be understood as a common, perhaps even universal experience.
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