I’m generally in agreement with what you all are saying but I want to make a further point that this iteration of San Francisco will not last.
I won’t deny that the “scene” is on life support, in need of serious care to be sustained at a level we expect, and enjoy - especially in the fetishes we enjoy.
San Francisco was able to be sustained miraculously before and during the pandemic, until yes - Mpx struck. But it wasn’t just that, it also was a large number of minor things that f’ed up everything:
1. Opportunities. Since the cost of living in the Bay Area remained high throughout the pandemic compared with other North American cities - many people, especially queer people working in Hospitality, Retail, Tourism, and Travel had hours cut or made substantially less money; ultimately choosing to move away.
2. Events…. And places to have them. It got boring. Many LGBT+ venues closed down permanently, from Watergarden to The Stud, and the rest remained shut down for a lot longer than anywhere else in the Western world.
3. Retirement. Quite a few longtime promoters and venue operators threw in the towel. Time to retire. All who is left need to step up to put in the work, or if time is not a possibility- provide oversight, and financial assistance to make it happen. If anyone has any good ideas, I am happy to help do some of the work on this. It takes a village quite a long time before results happen; and San Franciscans generally accept nothing but the best from the get-go. This is a town where first impressions make or break you.
4. Tourism to events we have doesn’t happen when we have few events. We have Folsom / Dore, we’d be anemic without it. Did anyone go tho the Castro Street Fair? Did Frameline happen this year? How was this past weekend with Halloween events? I honestly don’t know. What’s the draw for tourism when it is impossible to get here and then have little to do once here? Gay Tourism is a huge part of our hedonistic lifestyle and culture. San Francisco was the best sex tourism pilgrimage this side of the Mississippi, now maybe more like this side of the Sacramento River Delta. What is unfortunate is that our Queer nonprofits and City tourism agencies are not doing enough to stop the decline of Queer tourism, or marketing our assets like before. If, in 2024, the BOS expect us to rubber stamp their reelection efforts they are going to be in for a rude awakening.
5. AFFORDABILITY 55K in San Francisco left during the pandemic, but really, how many were queer? How many of us are forced to live outside of San Francisco due to high housing costs? How many times can you remember that “BART Ride of Fame” on a Monday Afternoon, sweaty and gross because it was 97° during the walk from your weekend mess to South Hayward, Walnut Creek BART; or worse, the trip from East Palo Alto - on University nonetheless - to sneak on Caltrain but hide in the bathroom from the fare inspectors, cause you lost your wallet (stolen) and had no way of getting back to SF, or possibly Oakland, and Uber wasn’t invented yet. Maybe this shit was unique to me, but the 55K number was also *only* unique to San Francisco. Hundreds of thousands of people left the Bay Area. Its too unaffordable for LGBT+ that were already here, and Generation Z doesn’t seem too willing to give SF a shot, save for some who don’t mind a good bit of work.
6. Crime. I moved from the westside of SF to live alone downtown and I have to say, it’s essentially a bit overblown. Lower Nob Hill gives one all of the downtown experience. In this area some affectionately call the Tenderloin annex, crime is unfortunate but rare; mostly limited to theft of property, not violent acts. Still, it could be better and safer. I tend to avoid the walk alone at night when I’m needing to go south of O’farrell and much of the TL East of Larkin to about Jones and McAllister.
San Francisco has always been a boom and bust town, but each time people step up and start over. This has to happen or else we will have our own queer SF doom loop.