{"id":42228,"date":"2025-06-28T12:58:09","date_gmt":"2025-06-28T19:58:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=42228"},"modified":"2025-06-28T12:58:10","modified_gmt":"2025-06-28T19:58:10","slug":"s-f-pride-2025-friday-cumbiaton-is-pride-en-espanol","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2025\/06\/28\/s-f-pride-2025-friday-cumbiaton-is-pride-en-espanol\/","title":{"rendered":"S.F. Pride 2025: Friday \u2014 Cumbiat\u00f3n is Pride en espa\u00f1ol"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Abstractby\u00a0MISSION LOCAL STAFF<\/a><\/strong> June 28, 2025 (MissionLocal.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Mission Local team is on the ground across San Francisco, capturing the moments that define Pride<\/a> \u2014 from the quiet preparation to the full-throttle celebration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Check out our guide<\/a> to Pride for events and pro-tips this weekend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019ll be updating this feed throughout the weekend with snapshots, sounds, and scenes from the city. Follow along as we track the pulse of Pride, one report at a time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Mission<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Want the latest on the Mission and San Francisco? Sign up for our free daily newsletter<\/strong> below.Sign up1:30 a.m. Cumbiat\u00f3n is Pride en espa\u00f1ol<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s a queer Latino dance party, born in Los Angeles, back in the Mission for the weekend. Inside the venue, the air is humid with sweat and the vapors of beers left in glasses a little too long. People are dressed for another cumbia night: crop tops stopping just above the navel, crochet-knit shirts\u2014somewhat inconvenient for both the weather and The Chapel on Valencia Street.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Founded in 2017 by LA-based DJ Sizzle Fantastic and Normz la Oaxaque\u00f1a, Cumbiat\u00f3n was created as a space intentionally for queer, trans, undocumented, and working-class people of color \u2014 and so it remains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the midst of a Pride weekend marked by the intersection of multiple struggles, the party offered a mix of cumbia, reggaet\u00f3n, and hip-hop spun by undocumented immigrants and Palestinian refugees alike. What started as Marc Anthony\u2019s \u201cVivir Mi Vida\u201d turned into Khaled\u2019s \u201cC\u2019est la vie.\u201d MENA\u2019s Ra\u00ef and salsa together, for once.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was even space for extremely foreign songs turned cumbia. Most notably: a remix of T.A.T.u.\u2019s \u201cAll The Things She Said,\u201d overlaid with banda\u2019s accordions and brassy winds \u2014 which had Russia\u2019s Nikita Akimov breaking out every dance move he could conjure, and belting the lyrics with the passion of someone who has not been able to sing it in public in quite some time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Upstairs on the mezzanine, people opted for leaving their drinks on the tables rather than dropping them on someone\u2019s head. No one downstairs deserved an inadvertent pour \u2014 not while line-dancing to Caballo Dorado\u2019s \u201cPayaso de Rodeo,\u201d and certainly not while singing along to drag queen La Chucha\u2019s playful mashup of Evanescence and Radiohead, performed to a more familiar Mexican beat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was all fun and cute, but it was also political. At one point deep into her set, DJ Sizzle Fantastic grabbed the mic and called for a pause \u2014 not to slow the energy, but to redirect it. \u201cCan I get a \u00a1Chinga la Migra!<\/em>?\u201d she shouted, and the response was instant and deafening. A few beats later, she followed with \u201c\u00a1Viva Palestina!\u201d<\/em> \u2014 again met with cheers, fists raised, joy laced with resistance. It wasn\u2019t a break from the party, it was part of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chile\u2019s Alberto Undurraga, an economics student at UC Berkeley, was surprised at how inclusive the party turned out to be \u2014 though he wasn\u2019t completely happy with the DJs\u2019 performances. \u201cThere was a little bit for everyone,\u201d he said, \u201cbut not enough consistency in every set.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Latin American crowd remains strict and demanding \u2014 not enough Bad Bunny is an unofficial crime \u2014 but the vibe holds: keffiyeh or Mexican hat, we\u2019re in this together. See y\u2019all on Saturday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014 Liliana Michelena<\/em>7:30 p.m.<\/strong> Victory in Song at the S.F. Opera Pride Concert<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Large
San Francisco Opera\u2019s first-ever Pride Concert on June 27, 2025. Photo by Liliana Michelena<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Van Ness Avenue hums with conversation. Attendees in sequined jackets and bold pride attire drift past the Grand Tier steps. Outside the building, a rainbow-colored Altar of Remembrance invites people to honor loved ones by writing their names on a flag, while members of the San Francisco Opera Chorus perform a short set of opera classics and musical theater staples for those on their way to the main event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

San Francisco Opera\u2019s first-ever Pride Concert brings together multiple generations of the LGBTQ+ community for a night that begins with operatic heritage and escalates into a modern celebration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTonight we gotta kick at the darkness \u2018til it bleeds daylight!\u201d shouts SF Opera\u2019s general director, Matthew Shilvock, in his opening remarks. With gentle nudging from drag star and emcee Sapphira Crist\u00e1l, that\u2019s exactly what the audience does, pushing from classical to contemporary tunes out of sheer excitement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
RuPaul\u2019s Drag Race 4<\/em> season 16\u2019s runner-up and trained opera singer, Sapphira Crist\u00e1l, kept the crowd engaged with each piece in the program.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Soloists Jamie Barton, Nikola Printz, and Brian Mulligan, along with the full orchestra conducted by Robert Mollicone, transition seamlessly from bel canto to karaoke classics, with playful lighting accompanying each performance. The crowd roars at Judy Garland\u2019s \u201cThe Man That Got Away\u201d and the Indigo Girls\u2019 \u201cCloser to Fine,\u201d while Melissa Etheridge\u2019s \u201cUprising of Love\u201d \u2014 set against historical photos from early Pride marches \u2014 underscores the deep roots of the gay movement in San Francisco.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The most emotional moment of the night is followed by the most communal. Prompted by Crist\u00e1l, the entire crowd joins in what she called \u201cthe gay Macarena\u201d: a self-hug while chanting \u201cI truly love and accept myself!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"An
The night\u2019s performers receive a standing ovation at the San Francisco Opera, on June 28, 2025. Photo by Liliana Michelena<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Applause erupts. The concert closes with \u201cI Was Born This Way\u201d \u2014 the disco anthem from the \u201970s, not Gaga\u2019s \u2014 and patrons soon filter into the lobby, where DJ Juanita More has already started her set. Beats of house and disco fill the carpeted corridors. The evening is just getting started.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014 Liliana Michelena<\/em>7:06 p.m.<\/strong> Mayor Lurie Booed at Trans March<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/x.com\/decadimitry\/status\/1938781004942188806?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1938781004942188806%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmissionlocal.org%2F2025%2F06%2Fs-f-pride-2025-crowds-trickling-into-dolores-park%2F<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a video posted on X this evening, participants in the Trans March seem to ask Mayor Daniel Lurie to leave Dolores Park and the events before the march this afternoon, chanting \u201cHow dare you come here?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese are not your people,\u201d one person appears to shout at Lurie. \u201cDo something for trans people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lurie crosses the street to exit the park, surrounded by bodyguards, and walks up Dolores Street. He embraces Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, as another passer by flips him off, before the video ends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014 Jessica Blough<\/em>6:40 p.m.<\/strong>Valkyries Game Pride Night<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n