For more info about the SEEDING RECIPROCITY – Community Training Program, please click here.
NOTE: DEADLINE EXTENDED. Additional Orientation set for Saturday, 9/19/2020.
LEATHER & LGBTQ Cultural District
The world's first city-recognized LEATHER & LGBTQ Cultural District
For more info about the SEEDING RECIPROCITY – Community Training Program, please click here.
NOTE: DEADLINE EXTENDED. Additional Orientation set for Saturday, 9/19/2020.
Now in its 5th year, OurTownSF LGBTQ Nonprofit Expo 2020 will once again be the world’s largest LGBTQ resource fair! This virtual event takes place online August 15, 2020 from 12:30-4:30pm. It is free to attend and offers Bay Area groups serving the LGBTQ community the opportunity to attract new clients, volunteers, board members and donors.
San Francisco” LEATHER & LGBTQ Cultural District will have its Zoom Room open to share info about the Cultural District, and to encourage folks to sign up for our mailing list or become members. Board Members are urged to volunteer to help help staff the Zoom Room.
To sign up for a volunteer shift, please go to: https://signup.com/go/CYNcrGp. For information about volunteering, please write to David.Hyman@sflcd.org, or call 415-652-6790.
The annual event is a FREE expo of arts, community, fundraiser, health, athletic, legal, political, recovery, service & spiritual groups serving the Bay Area LGBTQ community, all coming together for a day of community building. These groups are going through tough times. Take this opportunity to meet up with dozens of groups and help support them as a new client, board member, volunteer or donor. Warning! This event is always super queer!
After an intro by Mayor London Breed and Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, plus entertainment by The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, the Lesbian/Gay Freedom Band and a member of the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus, attendees will be directed to links in order to reach participants, discounts at various Castro businesses and door prizes. Links to several forms of health consultations and insurance registration will also be available.
For more information, please visit https://www.ourtownsf.org/nonprofit-expo or the Facebook event.
We hope you participated, and had fun.
Look for us again at the FOLSOM STREET FAIR.
If not, see below for info about what you missed….
Are you already at Up Your Alley? Then
Click here to enter the KEEP SOMA KINKY Arcade!
(Open Sunday, 7/26/2020, 11 am to 6:00 pm PT)
It’s the last Sunday of July, and that means it’s time for UP YOUR ALLEY!
And this year its in YOUR Alley!
Dance naked with the folks of Joie de Vivre, cruise via Recon or Nasty KinkyPigs, browse through a 3D vendor mart, enjoy DJs, Dancers, Demos, and…
Visit the 100% Interactive, 100% Kinky, 92.5% fun:
“Keep SOMA Kinky” Arcade
(Why only 92.5% fun? Well, we have one Zoom breakout room set aside for serious discussion and opinion-sharing about the future of our neighborhood and community.)
So enter at
and look for us in the “Cruise / Play” Area.
(If you have already entered the fair, great! Click here to enter the Arcade.)
When you enter the arcade via Zoom, you will be welcomed into the “Keep SOMA Kinky” Lobby, where the Host will make light banter with all guests. Feel free to chat with other guests via public or private text chat. From time to time, the Host will launch a round of:
SOMA Trivia: Guests answer questions to earn points: One point for a True/False question, three points for Multiple Choice, or five points for Jeopardy-style. Keep going until you get one wrong. The points you’ve earned will be remembered, and the high score each hour wins a prize!
Of course, you can’t win unless you’ve given your name and email address (via private chat) to our RoomMaster, who also can help you select and enter any of our currently-open Kinky Rooms.
At any given time, we might have available:
KSK Discussion: A serious room, hosted by kink community leaders, where we discuss topics like “SOMA after Covid”, “BDSM and BLM” or “A Leather Community Center?” We want your opinions!
BDSM Demos: Living-together couples (or individuals, or pods of any size) demonstrating their favorite ways of playing. Questions or suggestions from guests MAY be responded to if you ask nicely.
Porn Riffing: A volunteer will screen-share classic or specially-favorite kinky porn, with the sound off, and invite guests to join them in “riffing” (a la MST3k) with snarky comments or dialog.
Private Play: Feeling submissive? Negotiate with a dominant-looking stranger in the Lobby, then ask the RoomMaster to transport you both into a private Consent Cubicle, where you will be expected to obey their orders. (Keep it safe, sane and consensual, people!)
You can leave and return to your assigned Breakout Room as often as you like. (Or ask the RoomMaster to reassign you to a different room.) Stay as long as you like, unless we get close to 100 people in the Arcade, in which case you may get booted out. Thanks for playing!
Sound like fun? It will be! Please RSVP on our Facebook Event –And while you are there, invite your friends!
As you know, Up Your Alley is going virtual this year, with an interactive multimedia online festival on Sunday, July 26, 202, from 11 am to 6 pm. There will be stages with music and gogo dancers, a cruising area, a vendor space, and so on.
And somewhere in the “Edutainment” midway you will find the “KEEP SOMA KINKY” Arcade, created by the LEATHER & LGBTQ Cultural District, staffed by volunteers like you!
Optional Volunteer Practice Sessions:
Saturday, 7/25/2020
Starting at 2:00 and 6:00 p.m., and lasting as long as needed.
To participate, join the Zoom Meeting at https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89666872534?pwd=emxyM2s0alBCUnpOR1FyVUJBM3I1UT09.
You can also call in at 1 408 638 0968 US (San Jose) and enter Meeting ID: 896 6687 2534, Password: 949928 if you just want to chat.
Additional Practice Sessions can be scheduled on request.
We need volunteers to act as a Lobby Host and QuizMaster. Lobby hosts will greet guests as they enter, and host the SOMA Trivia Quiz. Hosts should be relatively glib and friendly, and at least a little familiar with SOMA history and leather culture.
We need volunteers to act as a RoomMaster. RoomMasters should be experienced with Zoom Breakout Rooms, private chat, and other Zoom features.
We need Discussion Leaders for the KSK Discussion Room. Each leader should sign up for a specific one-hour time slot and a specific topic, so we can announce schedules online. (Additional co-leaders may be assigned to some discussions.) Volunteers will be given co-host status before entering the room, so that they can mute unruly guests, etc. Volunteers should be good listeners; if they are opinionated and/or well-known and respected in the community, even better.
We need BDSM demo volunteers. We are particularly looking for couples or pods who are already playing together during Shelter in Place. Individuals who can do creative scenes alone, and couples who are capable of demoing BDSM without violating SiP safety, are also welcome. You can do an erotic / kinky encounter, a skill-share session, or anything in between. Timing is flexible: while we would like folks to commit to a specific time block, volunteers need to simply enter the Arcade and identify themselves to the RoomMaster, who will give them co-host status, create the Breakout Room for them, and after a few minutes begin to admit guests into that Room.
We need volunteers to act as Porn Riffing hosts. Volunteers should have a fair amount of suitable porn on their computer, and be comfortable using Zoom to screen-share it. Porn used should NOT be recent, modern, commercial porn where our showing it might violate copyright: Older, even vintage kinky porn would be ideal. A slideshow-style display of still images would also work. Ideally the volunteer should be capable of riffing on the porn, at least sufficiently to get guests doing it.
All volunteers need to be comfortable knowing that screen-capture or recording by guests of their participation is possible. Volunteers are urged to dress interestingly, and to provide suitable real or virtual backgrounds for themselves. This will be an adult (18+) space, so self-censorship is not required.
Volunteers who sign up using the link below will receive emails with details of how to log on and enter the Arcade. Additional materials for volunteers are available here:
If you would like to volunteer, please click here:
If you have problems with the Volunteer Form…
Or if the slot you want is full…
Or if you have questions or concerns…
Or have ideas to suggest…
Or want to discuss details of your participation…
…Please contact David Hyman directly via
email (arts-chair@sflcd.org),
phone or text (1-415-652-6790), or
Facebook (facebook.com/davidhyman415).
Oh yes, we also need questions for the trivia quiz. They can be True/False, Multiple Choice or Jeopardy Style (Answers/Questions), and they can cover SOMA history and geography, our clubs and bars, artists, musicians or other important people, movies, culture, BDSM practices and safety, etc. etc. Send me as many as you can. Please be sure to include the answers.
//
(carnival music under)
Step right up, folks and enter the “Keep Soma Kinky” Arcade. Fun for everyone over 18. Play a game of SOMA Trivia and win a prize! Watch a live BDSM demo from the comfort and safety of your own computer. Join a serious discussion about the future of our neighborhood! Make like Tom Servo and riff on some classic kinky porn! Or, if you’re really daring, hook up with a total stranger and enter a Consent Cubicle for a one-on-one lesson in obedience! It’s all free, brought to you by the LEATHER & LGBTQ Cultural District. It’s the “Keep SOMA Kinky” Arcade! Step right up!
Ferris wheel footage courtesy of Videvo
Music “Circus Tent” by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)