The San Francisco premiere of the documentary “Navalny,” about the imprisoned Russian dissident and his struggle against the Putin regime, was fittingly screened at the Castro Theatre, up the street from where Harvey Milk fought against anti-gay discrimination in the 1970s. Castro Street is the world’s most generous stage for the daily live performance of San Francisco free expression.
Navalny’s daughter, Dasha, was at the Castro with the film producers to view and discuss the extraordinary and thriller-like documentary. The film follows Navalny’s activities, from his full-throated political opposition to his poisoning, and then, while recovering from the poisoning in Germany, his preparation to return and continue to fight for justice in Putin’s Russia — landing him again in prison. It is nowBut this is not a film review.
San Francisco has fostered a dramatically increasing level of freedom of speech and assembly since I was born here in the 1950s and raised not too far away from the Castro Theatre in the 1960s. My Dad took night classes at Mission High School to prepare for his naturalization exams and my first non-Greek words as a kid were in Spanish, not English.
If there is one place on Earth that puts freedom of speech and religion at the top of its list, it is the United States. That’s why the First Amendment came first. It guarantees us a way to check authority, advance society and elevate individuals. Stifle speech —— and you kill the critical societal feedback loop that keeps our communities healthy and vibrant. “Don’t say Gay” is just another way of saying “don’t be gay.