Contributors > Comments by MarkBear

Celebration of LoveCelebration of Love by Unknown Artist | 23-Feb-2017 07:25:52 PM
This mural was painted in 2008, a couple of doors down from our house. It was quite controversial in our neighborhood at the time, with some claiming that such a mural belongs in "some neighborhoods like the Mission, but not in a 'nice' neighborhood like ours." The opponents raised issues with permits and notifications, and there was a chance that it would be removed before it was finished.

This was also the summer that gay marriages were legalized in CA before they were stopped again by Prop 8 the following November. While all this was going on, we were preparing for our marriage. As you may gather from my name here, we belong to the bear community within the greater gay community in SF. We posed in front of the bears in the mural as part of our wedding invitations and announcements, making sure that should the mural go away, at least that part was captured.

Luckily, nine years later, both the mural and our marriage endures.