LEATHER & LGBTQ Cultural District

Looking for the “Leather District Kinky Carnaval”?  
We call it
The LEATHER & LGBTQ Cultural District’s
“Keep SOMA Kinky” Arcade
featuring our first-ever
Fetish Runway

We hope you enjoyed it.  Read all about our planning for it here.

It was just our part of the amazing, virtual Folsom Street Fair, hosted by Margaret Cho and streamed worldwide on Sunday, September 27, 2020 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.   (To donate, text Folsom2020 to 345345.)

More info

Do you like to design, build, or model erotic or outrageous outfits or gear?

Do you enjoy creating kinky toys or fetish items, and showing them off?

Then step up and join our Fetish Runway, at the “Keep SOMA Kinky” Arcade, an interactive, 18+ part of the Virtual Folsom Street Fair, coming to you online on Sunday, September 27, 2020!

See full info about the “Keep SOMA Kinky” Arcade here.

You may enter in either or two ways:  “Enter with Video” or “Present Live on Zoom”.

Enter with a Video — Deadline Extended! 

To enter with a video, prepare a video in MP4 format, and upload the file by no later than 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, September 24, 2020.   Saturday, September 26, 2020.

• The video should last no more than 30 seconds.   If you are including a performance or demonstration, keep it under two minutes.
• Background music is permitted.
• The video should display your most creative, erotic or kinky creation, and (if you wish) demonstrate how you like to wear it and use it.
• Your creation may be an entire outfit, a garment, a toy, or any kind of fetish object.
• We will be looking at all the creations and declaring winners in four categories:
  • Most Creative
  • Most Outrageous
  • Most Erotic
  • Best in Show
• You may give credit (verbally or in titles) to anyone involved in the creation or presentation, including logos or links to Venmo accounts, Web sites, etc.
• Viewers will all be 18+, so self-censorship is not required; however be aware that your video will be shown on the Internet, so privacy cannot be assured.
• The LEATHER & LGBTQ Cultural District reserves the right to edit your videos for length or content, and is not responsible for technical glitches.
• You may enter as many times as you like.  Your entries may be separate, or presented as part of a themed “fashion line”.
• Videos will be presented in our Fetish Runway, which starts at 2:00 pm on Sunday, September 27, 2020, as part of the “Keep SOMA Kinky” Arcade at the virtual Folsom Street Fair.
• Entries may also be displayed on our Web site after the Fair, unless you request otherwise.
• Please upload your video file to our Dropbox here, and send an email to arts-chair@sflcd.org with:
  • The name of the file you uploaded,
  • Your name (as you wish to be identified during the Fetish Runway),
  • The name of your creation (if any), and
  • Any text that you want us to read to introduce your video.
• You may enter both with a video and live via Zoom.  You may submit multiple videos, but only one live presentation.
• Winners will be selected entirely at the discretion of our panel of judges, and will be announced in the Arcade at approximately 5:30 p.m., and posted on the LCD Web site.

Enter Live via Zoom

• To participate Live via Zoom, enter the Folsom Street Fair virtual event and make your way to the “Keep SOMA Kinky” Arcade (i.e. follow the link to join our Zoom meeting).  You must arrive between 1:45 and 2:00 pm, on Sunday, September 27, 2020.
• Send a chat message to the Zoom host to let them know you wish to participate.  The Zoom Host will send you into the “Green Room” (a dedicated Zoom breakout room for presenters.)
• The Presenter Manager will greet you in the Green Room, and will ask you:
  • how you would like to be introduced,
  • your email address (so we can send you our thanks, along with any award or prize you earn),
  • if you want us to pause recording and NOT capture your presentation, and
  • if you want us to provide background music.
• Get ready.  Make sure your camera is lined up, that your internet connection is solid, that the lighting is good, that no one else is visible in the background, etc.  Have any props ready at hand.
• When it is your turn, we will invite you to leave the Green Room, and rejoin the main Zoom meeting.  Unmute yourself.  We will “spotlight” your camera, and introduce you.
• Take about 30 seconds to show off your outfit, garment, toy, fetish item, etc.  If you need to demonstrate any special features, take no more than 2 minutes total.  Have fun.
• We will be looking at all submitted creations and declaring winners in four categories:
  • Most Creative
  • Most Outrageous
  • Most Erotic
  • Best in Show
• Viewers will all be 18+, so self-censorship is not required; however be aware that you are  being shown on the Internet, so privacy cannot be assured.
• Our hosts reserve the right to mute you or cut off your camera, and we are not responsible for technical glitches.
• Unless you request otherwise, your presentation may be recorded and displayed on our Web site after the Fair.
• After your presentation, feel free to post some text in the Zoom chat window to give credit to anyone involved in the creation or presentation, share links to Web sites or Venmo accounts, etc.
• You may enter both with a video and live via Zoom.  You may submit multiple videos, but only one live presentation.
• Winners will be selected entirely at the discretion of our panel of judges, and will be announced in the Arcade at approximately 5:30 p.m., and posted on the LCD Web site.

Our Celebrity Judges:

Sumiko Saulson Author and Host of the LEATHER & LGBTQ Cultural District Erotic Storytelling Hour	Carynn Milne Boutique Manager of Dark Garden Corsetry
Katherine Rose Reigning Grand Duchess of San Francisco (seen here with harnessed subject)	Timothy Valdivia Reigning Grand Duke of San Francisco

LAVENDER TALKS: BODY POSITIVITY IN KINK CULTURE

This Thursday at 2:00 p.m., join the Commonwealth Club for the latest in their Lavender Talks series, presented with San Francisco Pride and exploring a wide range of topics of interest to the LGBTQ world. 

In this program, they will explore the role the “kink” subculture plays in the larger LGBTQ community.  The discussion will cover body positivity, inclusion and exclusion, and different attitudes toward desire. How do issues of age discrimination, conforming and nonconforming presentation, racism and more get addressed by and within the kink subculture? There might be some surprising answers, as we look at the state of the kink in the age of pandemic, economic crisis, and racial justice.

Participants will include local kink community leaders:

• Beth “Bicoastal” Hunt, Leather & LGBTQ Cultural District Manager Emeritus; Lifelong Artist/Performer
• Danny Thanh Nguyen, Writer; Lambda Literary + Ragdale Foundation + Kundiman Fellow; Columnist, Recon
• Bianca Spencer, Ms. Rubber San Francisco 2020; Co-Founder, The Unruly Social Club; Former Chairwoman, Lesbian Sex Mafia

It will be moderated by

• Michelle Meow, Producer and Host, “The Michelle Meow Show,” KBCW TV and TuneIn; Member, Commonwealth Club Board of Governors.

This event is online-only; register to receive a link to the live stream program. Registration ends 1 hour before program begins.

This is a free program; please consider making a donation during registration to support their online program production.  

Full information can be found here.  

Register here

We are pleased to welcome some big-bellied residents to the Cultural District:  they are the dozens of new Big Belly Trash Cans installed by the SOMA West Community Benefit District all around the neighborhood, many featuring artwork submitted by our Cultural District on behalf of local leather, kink and queer artists.

Here are pictures of just a few of those trash cans:

Artwork by Nicole Shweiterman, Harrison and 9th, SE Corner; Howard and 12th, SE Corner

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The images below were submitted to the CBD and initially accepted though not used.  We are currently in discussion with the artists and the CBD about possible modified use of these images.

Justin Hall

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UPDATE (3/8/2024):

A new Big Belly Trash Can has been installed at 12th and Harrison Street, right on the corner of Eagle Plaza, featuring the work of one of the previously rejected artists.  We are pleased to welcome Axeish’s art to our streets!