#kinksafespace

Wicked Grounds is one of two kink cafes in the entire country.

For many in the Bay Area community, it’s so much more than that.

Wicked Grounds is this safe haven in a sea of chaos. It’s where many in the Bay get their first taste of kink. Through Wicked, there are classes, munches, demonstrations, podcasts, and talks. There are leaders of the kink and leather community gathering and talking while sipping Caffeinatrixes and munching on pizza bagles. There’s me in my red chair, for what it’s worth, playing cards every week with pain in the ass James while our friends gather and get ready for BaGG.

There’s the safety of knowing that you can walk in and change into lingerie, or fetish gear, or even go topless on a hot day and be okay. There are baristas that put up with WAY too much and take care of their community in ways that we patrons don’t have words for. There’s Mir, the owner/leader of the kinky, queer revolution that put their all into a dream trying to make it happen and hustled unlike any creature has hustled before.

Wicked battles one of the greatest foes known to man right now… the price of rent in SoMA (South of Market), a trendy neighborhood in downtown San Francisco. For months we have watched our backup hang out spots close down (one big one being Brainwash cafe and laundramat). We’ve clung to the haven that is Wicked Grounds, the sanctuary of the wood floor, mismatched tables and chairs, comfy couch that most of us have snuck at least one orgasm on… The safety of it. The people inside. In a world that terrifies us, with a president running the country that would love to erradicate our culture, Wicked Grounds was safety. It was a place to cry, mourn, and hold one another after the election. It was a place to celebrate leather pride and dream ideas like a leather district in downtown SF. I have.. more memories than I can count in that place.

Wicked Grounds gave me my community. Whenever I’ve been hurting, afraid, upset.. I’ve gone to Wicked and been offered sanctuary. Hugs, and tears, and snuggles. Wicked Grounds is where you go when you have nowhere else to go.

Wicked Grounds is the epicenter of our community. We’ve fought for it for nine years, and now it’s in very real danger of disappearing forever. They’ve all but shut down, and have plans to shut their doors forever tomorrow… However the owner, opened up their Patreon again this morning.

Mir laid out exactly what they need to stay in business. 20,000 to get throught the month and 15,000 in Patreon pledges through month. If it sounds like an astronomical amount that’s because it is.. welcome to SoMA. The reach of Wicked Grounds is near and far.. They have a kink education podcast, they started posting newsletters… They were just starting to lead the kinky, queer revolution.

Please, if you can, help this magical place. One of the pledges is literally a dollar a month. I plan on giving all I can to this place on Friday when I get paid. We have the next few days to try to bring a unique, beautiful place back from the brink of death.

Please, help us save our kink. Help us save a huge part of the San Francisco community and a legendary part of leather culture. Help us save Wicked Grounds.

Yours, desperate and pleading

-Rene