This Sunday afternoon there was a small Christmas block party on Noe Street off of Market hosted by the Castro Merchants group, and there were three police cars prominently stationed at the entrance.
Since the Pulse nightclub shooting in Colorado Springs and the recent demonization of gay people as pedophile groomers by right-wing lunatics, putting together a family event that involves drag queens feels like an oddly brave thing to do.
Long after Drag Queen Storytime Hour had finished, an aggressive Jesus Freak cult arrived about 1:30 PM to harangue homosexuals for their sinful ways which were leading directly to hell.
I have run into this cult before near Patricia's Green in the Hayes Valley during the weekend street shutdowns, where a few of their more obnoxious members would shout into a microphone attached to an amplifier. I wasn't the only gay person this afternoon in the Castro who noticed that the group seemed to consist mostly of young closet cases whose eyes were filled with yearning. Whoever the cult leader might be, they are obviously exploiting repressed desires which is just plain evil.
The block party itself could not have been sweeter, involving kids drawing with chalk on Noe Street...
...and petting barnyard animals...
...and dancing onstage...
...while a wild variety of parents and adult friends danced in the streets.
This was the "second annual" Castro Christmas Wonderland Block Party and it reminded me of Halloween in the Castro in the mid-1970s when Cliff's Variety would erect a stage in front of their hardware store and host a children's costume contest...
...followed by an adult costume contest...
...and a bacchanalian street party that was a joy...
...until too many people showed up and things got so out of hand that it felt dangerous rather than fun.
On the way out I saw Castro residents arguing with the Jesus Freaks...
...while I replied to the offer of some literature from the young women above, "You should be ashamed of yourselves."
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