For our final class, the third graders discussed the unique role San Francisco has played in the history of LGBTQ+ organizing and activism, from the Gold Rush to Allen Ginsberg and the Beat Generation to the creation of the pride flag to the fight for marriage equality in their own lifetime. We started our opening circle by helping each other define the words that make up the acronym LGBTQ+. We then watched a short film made by local high school students called Gay by the Bay: A Short History of San Francisco’s LGBTQ Culture. Something from the film that seemed to resonate with everyone was the call by the LGBTQ+ community in the 1970s to have its own symbol (what became Gilbert Baker’s flag) to replace the pink triangle used by the Nazis.
We learned that the six-striped pride flag commonly used today represents life (red), healing (orange), sunlight (yellow), nature (green), serenity (indigo), and spirit (violet). In the kitchen, we paid tribute to these six colors, what the pride flag represents, the Castro District, and of course, our school’s namesake, Harvey Milk, by making a parfait featuring seasonal fruit: pomegranate (red), Fuyu persimmon (orange), Keitt mango (yellow), kiwi (green), blueberries (indigo), and black currant jam (violet). We topped the parfaits with coconut yogurt and fresh mint.
We will miss the third graders, but can’t wait to work with them again next school year!
