I San Francisco’s motsvarighet till Situation Stockholm, Street Sheet, var det en intressant artikel om hur festivaler och andra stora jippon i staden används som ursäkt av de styrande och snuten för att rensa upp bland oönskade element. Fallet som beskrivs var den årliga Pridefestivalen och vilka problem den orsakar för stadens hemlösa befolkning som till en tredjedel består av HBTQ-personer.
As San Francisco continues to gentrify, so do the festivals and events. This means that the structures that support gentrification, like policing and the literal pushing out of poor people from the downtown area, are highly prevalent during the festivals. […] The majority of arrests seem to have been of homeless and poor people who usually stay in the Tenderloin neighbourhood and were criminalized for ”not belonging”. As public intoxication is a huge part of the celebration, who the police chose to charge was clear. […] When 29 percent of the city’s homeless population identify as LGBTQ, criminalizing homeless people does not keep LGBTQ people safe. In fact, it means that LGBTQ people more than likely bear the brunt of police profiling and violence because homophobia and transphobia still greatly plague our criminal justice and police institutions.