San Francisco, California

When I think of San Francisco, I think of two girls, obviously friends, that I saw walking home from their high school together. One was in an ROTC uniform, and the other in traditional Muslim hijab. San Francisco is a place where your best friend might be a different race, religion, culture, gender, or orientation than you are. It might look small on the map, but San Francisco has room for everyone. It's named for a saint who preached sermons to birds and opened his heart to strangers, and I think he'd enjoy the place today.
Walk out your door in San Francisco, and you'll have your choice of Ethiopian, Afghani, and Costa Rican restaurants within a block or two. On your way to work, you'll pass a Hindu temple, a Santeria shop, two storefront psychics, and at least two political protests. None of them will have any parking, and neither will your job. Legend has it that San Franciscans hold off on buying a car until they find a parking space. But once you see the breathtaking view of the Golden Gate Bridge, you'll forget about such small inconveniences.

San Francisco knows how to celebrate. Whether it's Mexican music at Cinco de Mayo or a paper dragon leading the parade at Chinese New Year, the whole town turns out to join the festivities. Halloween is the best: revelers block off a few streets downtown, crank up the music and show off their elaborate costumes. Teams of gorgeous men show up as the Solid Gold Dancers or the Mary Kay ladies. I like to dress as a mime, sneak up behind the drag queens, and try to walk like them.

Then there's San Francisco politics. When Willie Brown ran for Mayor, he announced that he was going to race one of the beleaguered Muni buses. He literally won in a walk. His opponent, Mayor Frank Jordan, somehow decided that the ideal publicity stunt would be to pose nude in the shower with two disc jockeys. The photo (mercifully cropped) made all the papers, and I sent copies to my out-of-town friends, asking "What does your Mayor do for fun?" Did I mention that Jordan was the Republican? Alas, that photo lost him the essential gay male vote, and Jordan lost to Brown in the runoff.

San Franciscans are constantly rallying or protesting over sweatshop labor, war, affirmative action and medical marijuana. The most controversial issue, though, was the palm trees planted along Market Street. They sparked at least one letter to the editor complaining that the trunks were "more of a tan when they should be more of a taupe." You just don't mess with a town full of interior decorators.

I was never prouder of my town than this week. Two elderly women, lovers for more than fifty years, were pronounced "spouses for life" at City Hall. While shock waves rumbled through the rest of the country, straight and gay San Franciscans cheered the newlyweds. This is a place where love is respected in all its amazing forms, where people from many different backgrounds find that we're not so different after all. I'm honored to call San Francisco my home.

Laura L

Submitted: Sunday 15th February 2004, 6:11 PM

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