The San Francisco LGBTQ+ International Film Festival, one of the longest-running and largest gay film festivals globally, has received significant federal funding. The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) has granted $35,000 to Frameline, a non-profit organization running the event and screening several films, covering a wide range of sexually explicit topics including pornography.
The ‘Erotic City Shorts’ event at the festival will feature a compilation of queer X-rated cinema, including sexually explicit films involving transgender and non-binary individuals and gay sex. Frameline seeks to “change the world through the power of queer cinema.”
NEA, an independent federal agency, has historically supported several LGBT-centric programs which honor the Biden administration’s commitment to LGBT inclusion.
However, this initiative has sparked controversy considering the explicit nature of some of the festival’s content. Some of the films include scenes of transsexual intercourse and other explicit sexual activities. Despite this, Frameline’s terms and conditions state it has no method of obtaining and tracking parental consent, therefore, accepting only submissions from viewers aged 13 and above.
This festival’s explicit content, coupled with its public funding, expresses the government’s dedication to spreading this ideology at whatever cost. Frameline did not respond to requests for comment.