Happy Pride Month! The Pink Torch Makes Its Journey to Twin Peaks

Pride Month is officially here! 

The city will be lit up with the iconic Twin Peaks Pink Triangle Tuesday night, marking the first day of Pride Month. The symbolic torch is making its way from Oakland to San Francisco with a meandering series of celebrations and the torch-bearing procession that connects the two cities with a journey across the Bay Bridge.

Events kicked off at 11:30 a.m. at Oakland City Hall where the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence and Dykes on Bikes met up with Mayor Libby Schaaf. About 100 LGBTQ advocates are flanking 30 people tasked with carrying the torch from City Hall, around Lake Merritt, across the Bay Bridge, to San Francisco’s Ferry Building and finally to Twin Peaks where the Pink Triangle awaits the moment Mayor London Breed will flip the lightswitch after the sun is down. 

The Pink Triangle illuminates Twin Peaks during Pride Month 2020 in San Francisco, Calif. (Photo by Christopher Michel)

This is the 26th year the Twin Peaks triangle will light up to celebrate San Francisco’s LGBTQ community, but this is just the second year the torch is used to bridge the Pride community from the East Bay.

Patrick Carney orchestrated the glowing Pink Triangle that was installed over the past weekend and will remain for the entire month of June. The 2,700 LED lights will bring to life a symbol once used to oppress and since reclaimed as a source of unity and, well, pride. 

Since the ongoing pandemic has forced cancellation of the Pride parade for a second year in a row, Tuesday’s torch procession will pack the bulk of the month’s live gatherings. Unlike the dismal year of 2020, however, there will be Oracle Park Pride Movie Nights on June 11-12, an event at the African American Art & Culture Complex on June 18 focused on the Black LGBTQ community and a ton of unofficial events being announced as distancing and mask restrictions quickly loosen.

The torch will ultimately be carried to Twin Peaks in the care of Dykes on Bikes for the lighting ceremony at 8 p.m.