San Francisco Pride Parade March

Description
We are going to walk in the San Francisco Pride Parade on 6/28. Friends and allies are welcome to join us. It can be a moving experience to walk in the parade.

Logistics Basics

• Contingent Name: Bay Area Aromantics
• Contingent Placement: 172
• Lineup Section: Q2 (Beale between Mission and Market; the right side of the street facing Market)
• All marchers should be in place by: 12:30 and we are scheduled to step out between 1:30-2:30 PM. You can check this link for any updates Sunday morning. Last year we were later than predicted by about an hour.
• If you would like to take the participant training do so at the training hub.
• If interested, leave the early evening free for a post march hangout with the San Francisco Asexuality meetup at Duboce Park. We will travel there on Muni (or walk the one mile) after the parade. last year it went from about 5 to 7, but if we’re placed closer to the front of the parade, it could be earlier.
• Consider donating towards the $275 goal using Pledge if you are able (do not let it stop from attending an event ever.) Parade fee is $95 (no insurance needed this year!). The group is also seeking help with the $179 organizing fee Meetup charges every 6 months, David has been paying for these, and was recently laid off.

Goals

• have some fun being in community
• build awareness of aromantic spectrum
• help other arospec folks find community

We will have 3'x5' Aromantic and Grayromantic flags and now an 8'x2' banner. We will need flag and banner bearers.

Please bring any colors you like from the aromantic spectrum community (or none at all). Supplementary colors from other LGBTQIA+ communities are welcome, but we do want some aro colors too so it is clear who we are.

There is great arospec swag at different Etsy shops and possibly elsewhere (search is your friend!). Get a tiny flag, or a 1x2 footer, something gihugic, stickers, buttons, shirts (Artistshot, Teepublic, and Zazzle, have some creative ones), or whatever. Come with as much or as little as you want. All are welcome whether you want to pronounce this identity boldly or not. Make your own poster. There are some fun ideas out there.

Other Logistics (shamelessly plagiarized from ASexualtySF):

Getting to the Parade Parking downtown SF is impossible during pride, so try public transportation. The assembly point is close to the Embarcadero BART station and the transbay bus terminal, and about a 10-block walk from the Caltrain station. If you drive, park at a non-SF BART stations and take BART into the city. If you are coming from the northern part of SF, you can use a BART station to cross under blocked Market Street on foot.

What to bring
• Water (Plastic or metal bottles only; no glass!)
• Snack/Packed lunch
• Sunscreen
• A hat and/or sunglasses
• Comfortable walking shoes
• Performancey things that are easy to carry (flags, signs, bubbles, hoola hoops, poi, etc)
• Swag/colors
• No Mylar Balloons

Other Notes
Bathroom access will be porta-potties which can have a bit of a wait. Once we enter the official parade route on Market street, marchers will not be able to leave the parade route until we reach the other end at 8th Street. It is a mile-ish.You can learn more about how all this affair works by watching the participant training video here. We need to have two contingent monitors but, you could take the survey quiz too and we will have backup!

Our 8'x2' banner will need some folks to hold it .(green background, white lettering "Bay Area Aromantics" and the meetup group URL in black. Simple but I am short on time.)

I have submitted the contingent Parade agreement . Let me know if you would like to see the agreement. Some points are summarized below.

Rules to be aware of:

1. No third party sponsorships. This means we can't display or distribute logos or promotional materials of other organizations
2. No beverage distribution. This is to prevent sales. We can give beverages to members within our contingent.
3. We are giving the parade the right to take pictures, video, sound recording etc and use them however they like (and I have to let y'all know about this!)
4. We have to comply with City of SF Grant Requirements. This means:

• No political signage urging the election or defeat of any candidate or ballot initiative
• No political activity organizing, creating, funding, participating in, supporting, or attempting to influence any political campaign
• Drug Free rules (no using, distributing or selling federally controlled substances)
• No tropical hardwood or virgin redwood (okay)
• My favorite: if we do any business with Northern Ireland we are urged to move towards resolving employment inequities. (Yes, that is really in there. 😂 )

Good ol' litigation and rule happy America.