Rachele

We are saddened to hear of the passing of Rachele Sullivan. Rachele was one of the founders of the LEATHER & LGBTQ Cultural District. She worked tirelessly to help launch the District and was the first chair of our Land Use Committee. She was active in both the leather and Filipino communities.

The photo below was taken at the District’s ribbon cutting to celebrate our official founding by the city Supervisors.

Rachele Sullivan outside the STUD, cutting the ribbon on the LEATHER & LGBTQ Cultural District, June 12, 2018. Photo by Liz Highwayman

A nice tribute can be found here:  https://www.facebook.com/Folsom-Street-147246855245

The Bay Area Reporter article on her passing is here.

Catalyst Transforms!

Transform1060 is a leather/kink/fetish community space at 1060 Folsom Street, formerly the social and educational space called SFCatalyst. It will be outfitted as you remember with upgrades in the works.

The space’s new operation team has finalized a new lease on the space, a crucial step the transition from its previous management by the San Francisco Bay Area Leather Alliance,.  The team is actively recruiting folks to host events there, as well as donations to their Capital Campaign. 

You can read more about the space — its history, the ongoing transition, the new management team, and the values that will guide its operations — at their new Web site, transform1060.org, or their Facebook page. A Press Release is also available, with with important details and quotes from team members Christopher Wood and Leigh Ann Hildebrand,.

The Transform1060 team is asking for active community involvement, urging folks to commit to attending an event, volunteering at an event, or hosting an event in the first 60 days of 2022.

They are also seeking donations to help retire the substantial back-rent debt, to begin making space and accessibility improvements, and to weather COVID-19 surges or other emergencies.  Learn more or make a donation at transform1060.org/home/donate/.

This fundraising campaign replaces the SFCatalyst Patreon campaign, which will no longer go towards operation of the 1060 Folsom space.

The survival of this space ensures that kinky folks from all of our communities will continue to have a safe space in SF to gather, play, teach, and learn.  The new team is committed to providing event facilities to a broad spectrum of the San Francisco Bay area’s fetish and kink communities, with an intentional focus on increasing services to and participation of historically excluded and under-represented people.