By Megan Rawlins
Photo of Pink Saturday by Kevin Goebel
After weeks of debates about its fate, Pink Saturday is on for Saturday, June 27. Late last week, an agreement was reached between the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, who host the event, and city officials.
In the end, as always, it comes down to money. The city argued it couldn’t afford to foot the bill for the police officers needed to patrol the event. Unlike many other events in the city that are required to pay for all costs associated with policing them, Sgt. Mark Solomon of San Francisco Police Department’s field operations unit said the city will again “absorb” the cost of the officers. Pink Saturday is one of just a handful of longtime events that were grandfathered in before “full cost recovery” became the official city policy.
The new agreement reduced the number of beer stations from eight to five, easing some of the demand – and thus cost – on the PD. Beer stations are new to Pink Saturday and are an attempt by the Sisters to raise more money from the event. Much of the money raised is given to non-profit organizations that support the LGBT community.
It was the initial addition of beer stations that got the permitting process all snarled up. “When you shift from non-alcohol to alcohol event, the whole equation changes,” Solomon said. But the final answer remains the same: We’ll see you in the Castro on the 27th.