Dogpatch Press

UPDATE: DEADLINE EXTENDED TO AUGUST 15!

Samayoukodomo (more)

Each June, millions of people see the San Francisco Pride parade. Hundreds of thousands of attendees cheer for over 200 contingents. For 2023, five contingents are shortlisted to win the Best Overall Contingent award. Northern California Furries have the huge honor of being one of the five.

You can help win big positive recognition for furries everywhere. Spread the message and get everyone you know to vote!

Voting Poll is here: https://forms.gle/QvVoPoBd82ajMcUV9 – Don’t wait, the poll is open until August 15.

Their history in the parade goes back to 2002, and this isn’t their first recognition. They have received multiple “fabulous” and “outrageous” awards. But being shortlisted for Best Contingent is the most recognition yet.

Organizer Zoren called the 2023 event “another wonderful time. We had around 150 (or more) show up and march and had fun showing our pride. It’s also becoming fairly clear, that SF pride loves seeing us. We don’t do it for the awards and acclaim, but nonetheless, we have won awards prior years for being our fabulously outrageous selves. Thus with much excitement, I’m happy to announce that Northern California Furries has again been nominated for an award for how much Pride we show. We along with four other contingents are in the running for Best Overall Contingent in the 2023 SF Pride Parade. Yeah that’s right THE BEST. How do we win that though? Well it is a community award so it takes all of you and even more from the community voting for us.”

Zoren emphasizes that it’s about raising pride, not just awards: “we will indeed return to party again in the future. Because, that’s really what matters.”

Post-Pride Review

Organizers said the crowds “loved to cheer and howl back… it was deafening.” There was a migration by public transit in fursuit to reach the parade; it was “super good for morale and for people around us.” A popular afterparty was hosted by group member Relay, and access to his place was valuable in case anyone checked out during the parade. 

Organizer Spottacus compared the Norcal Furries to previous furry parades apart from Pride. Spottacus said: “We stand on the shoulders of those that came before us, but whoah are we different.”

Spottacus felt that other groups “worried about what OTHER people thought more than they worried about how WE felt. It was important to act Normie, and not scare the family. It was important to blend in. It was important that very outwardly LGBT people NOT be allowed to talk to the media. It was very important to please the OGs. There were fears of what “people” thought, and rules on how furries should behave, rigorously applied by a team of leaders. After all, there were Children there (sound familiar? Think DeSantis). It was very serious business, even if that made it less fun. We were representing and no one should smear the team image. All for one. In essence: we know better, you should behave within these boundaries.

We started with strong discouragement and angry pushback from the old guard. We said: HEY! We do not care what people in Iowa think of us. Just come as you are. And we came: old and young, latex and in fur, as fembois and gender queer. And sometimes naked. We didn’t say “what will the families think?” (though we did discuss it internally). We just said: “HEY! Just Be you.”

Our parade could not have happened without other groups and for this we are thankful. Our parade couldn’t have happened without the Stonewall Protest (it was NOT a riot). We stand on these excellent shoulders. But what we have achieved is so different and so empowering. Forget gender appropriate (again, Fuck you DeSantis), we aren’t even species appropriate. And… and… they LOVE us. The kids too. I can dress as a femboi dragon, ON TV!, and they love us. We are strong, and beautiful. LOOK AT US. Be jealous. Be Proud. And if you are hateful then BE SCARED. We are numerous. We are Proud. We are furries!”

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