You’ll be able to’t spell “rainbow” with out “rain.”
Regardless of less-than-ideal climate, Brooklyn Satisfaction Day kicked off with no hitch this previous Saturday, June 14, with its annual celebration convening native queer neighborhood members and allies for family-friendly festivities in a 14-block stretch alongside Park Slope’s Fifth Avenue.
Starting at midday and carrying on effectively after the solar had set, the volunteer-run occasion consisted of a daytime avenue competition and twilight parade that later reworked right into a full-out block social gathering (no pun supposed), as per custom. It gathered a plethora of native artists and efficiency teams, cultural organizations, neighborhood companies, well being advocacy teams, and metropolis politicians, who shielded themselves from the wet climate with plastic ponchos, umbrellas, tents, and rubber boots.
Attendees who had participated within the “No Kings” protest in Manhattan carried protest signage all through the road competition.
There was an undercurrent of urgency to this yr’s queer celebration, because it got here amid President Donald Trump’s incessant assaults on LGBTQ+ rights. This grave feeling was echoed in anti-Trump indicators held by festival-goers arriving from the “No Kings” protests that have been concurrently going down throughout the East River in midtown Manhattan.
Anti-Trump signage may very well be discovered all through the road competition.
“I think because rights are being revoked, things are feeling more precious now …. This [event] feels more sacred this year because it feels fleeting,” Max Bell, a Brooklyn resident and ACT UP member, instructed Hyperallergic.
Whereas rainbow-washed company advertising and marketing gimmicks may very well be seen throughout the competition, native organizations and activist teams additionally took the chance to teach, protest, and fundraise. In the course of the wet avenue, a Well being Division employee distributed free condoms to boost consciousness about sexual well being. At a desk close to a efficiency stage, Socialist Different members offered buttons, broadsides, and attire decrying Trump’s assaults on trans communities. Different cubicles offered posters evaluating Trump and Elon Musk to clowns and displayed indicators opposing disgraced former governor and present mayoral candidate Andrew Cuomo.
The Satisfaction occasion additionally introduced collectively native artists of all media. At Dyke March’s desk, organizers screenprinted clothes upfront of the group’s annual protest procession later this month; the group additionally distributed zines titled after this yr’s march theme, “Dykes Say No To Facism.” At one other desk, Brooklyn Artistic Reuse, a nonprofit that collects and repurposes artwork supplies, raised funds for its forthcoming bodily location by promoting gently used provides, together with quilt squares, buttons, stitching supplies, and paints.
At Dyke March’s desk, committee organizer and native artist Una screenprinted designs onto occasion attendee’s clothes.
In entrance of the Ripped Bodice bookstore, Queens-based trans artist Ash Craig arrange an impromptu Satisfaction-themed face-painting stand, providing his providers to competition attendees at no cost. He had determined solely final minute to attend, as he was uncertain if the climate would maintain.
“ [The amount of] people out here in the rain shows how much people really need the queer joy right now,” Craig instructed Hyperallergic.
Queens-based artist Ash Craig supplied free Satisfaction-themed face-painting to competition attendees.
LGBTQ+ advocacy teams like ACT UP used the competition as a possibility to fundraise and unfold their messages.
Armed with umbrellas, rain ponchos, jackets, and boots, festival-goers flocked to Park Slope’s Fifth Avenue for Brooklyn Satisfaction Day.
Arts nonprofit Brooklyn Artistic Reuse offered gently used arts provides at a pay-what-you-can scale.
The group Socialist Different offered buttons, broadsides, and attire decrying Trump’s assaults on trans communities.
Regardless of the rain puddles, there have been nonetheless lengthy traces exterior the historic Lesbian bar Ginger’s.
Well being organizations used cheeky visuals and interactive actions to teach attendees on quite a lot of well being points.
