Saturday night in gay white district disrupted @qtpocliberation #shutdowncastro #blacklivesmatter pic.twitter.com/thSEdH71ND
— aileen santos (@theraven219) January 18, 2015
With protests happening throughout the Bay Area on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day weekend, activists took to The Castro on Saturday night to spotlight the struggle of queer and transgendered persons of color.
Organizers say they targeted the Castro District because it was a space that represented gentrification and the class- and racial-divide among the LGBT community, according to NBC Bay Area. Participants shut down the intersection of 18th and Castro Streets around 9 p.m. and held a rally, holding signs that read "Queer & Trans Black Lives Matter," set up a makeshift altar for black transgendered lives lost, and also featured a traditional Ohlone ceremony representing the original native inhabitants that once lived on the land:
Our altar for Black Queer and Trans folk. #ShutDownCastro #ReclaimMLK pic.twitter.com/PgQeDHMCPc
— BrownBlaze (@brownblaze) January 18, 2015
danza. because we are on ohlone land. #shutdowncastro #reclaimmlk pic.twitter.com/r2RQfyWSy9
— cayden (@cayden) January 18, 2015
Not all in the Castro were welcoming of the protestors, with reports that some were attacked by unhappy bar patrons:
Two queer people of color were attacked at #ShutDownCastro tonight at Toad Hall bar in the Castro. Allyship is boycotting this bar forever!
— Sarah O'Neal (@sarahadebibe) January 18, 2015
Attacked inside Toad Hall #ShutDownCastro because #BlackLivesMatter!#ReclaimMLK
— ShutDownCastro (@QTPOCLiberation) January 18, 2015
Angry white men in the Castro tonight as the QTPOC #ShutDownCastro to mourn lost ones. White allies, we have much to do. #BlackLivesMatter
— Max Airborne (@maxairborne) January 18, 2015
Rally organizers called for more resources to go towards supporting black LGBT lives, and for the Castro to be more welcoming of black LGBT individuals:
Demands! #fb RT @sarahadebibe: The demands from the organizers #BlackLivesMatter #shutdowncastro #ReclaimMLK pic.twitter.com/5YMKBvTWBK
— The May0r (@Jay_Marie) January 18, 2015
By about 10:30 p.m. or so, the intersection of Castro and 18th had been cleared:
The intersection may have cleared but the struggle for Black liberation continues #BlackLivesMatter #ShutDownCastro pic.twitter.com/imLqY4rsMN
— Sarah O'Neal (@sarahadebibe) January 18, 2015
