Pride Month 2023: The story of BART's beloved Pride shirts

BART employees enjoying the SF Pride Parade in BART Pride shirts. Photo courtesy of BART. 

The release of the new BART Pride t-shirt design has become something of an event in the Bay Area each year. That’s in large part due to Roderick McFarland, BART’s Manager of Creative Services, who has been designing the shirts since he joined BART a decade ago. In that time, he’s helped to reimagine not only BART’s Pride merchandise but the entire visual vocabulary of the transportation agency. Senior Marketing Designer Joe Lash began supporting BART’s Pride design efforts when he joined the agency in 2019.

McFarland’s first Pride shirt, created for BART employees to wear at the 2014 San Francisco Pride parade and celebration, featured the BART logo prominently next to the abbreviation “LGBTQ” with a rainbow equalizer design. While it conveyed the message – BART supports and stands with the LGBTQ community – the shirt didn’t quite push the envelope enough for McFarland.

The first BART Pride shirt McFarland designed.

The following year’s tee? A smiling, anthropomorphic train – the precursor to BARTy, the BART mascot – on a yellow brick road a la “Wizard of Oz.”

“Yes, I am the madman that came up with that,” McFarland said, a gleam in his eye.  

BART Director Rebecca Saltzman in the yellow brick road Pride shirt in 2022.

To McFarland, the yellow brick road shirt signified “being somewhere else, going to that place somewhere over the rainbow.”

“Cultural references are really what it’s all about for me,” he said. “You want to follow the references but not in a way that’s chasing a trend.”

Following the BARTy in Oz design, the public began to take significant notice of BART’s Pride t-shirts –  so much so that the Director of Marketing at the time asked McFarland to figure out how to sell the shirts online to meet the public’s demands (BART’s official merchandise store, RailGoods.com, launched in 2020. Prior, the BART store was internally focused with items such as shirts, jackets, and pins).

With the temporary online store in place, McFarland knew his next Pride design needed to stand out. So, in 2018, he created the iconic BARTy-rainbow unicorn shirt, a masterpiece of camp.  

The unicorn Pride shirt from 2018.

“Just when you thought it couldn’t get more…more,” McFarland said trailing off as he contemplated the design and its sparkly rainbow unicorn head. The shirt, unsurprisingly, sold out online.

A Pride t-shirt isn’t necessarily just a t-shirt. For many LGBTQ people, Pride merch is a symbol of their joy, their courage, and their community. That symbolism is as cogent as ever as Pride products and displays across the country come under attack by anti-LGBTQ groups and bigoted politicians.

The back of the 2019 Pride shirt.

With the BART Pride designs, McFarland wants “people to smile, to laugh, to be inspired.” It’s a responsibility he and his team do not take lightly.

“One of the reasons I love working at BART is the feeling that the things you do really touch and impact peoples’ lives in a meaningful, tangible way,” he said. “But it’s also nice to see that happen in a personal, fun, friendly way.”

The 2022 BART Pride t-shirt design was based on concept art by BART Youth Engagement Specialist Melody Starling.

This year, the theme for the San Francisco Pride celebration is “Looking Back, Moving Forward.” McFarland and Lash took the theme and ran with it. The new design features BARTy in rainbow tube socks and a headband.

“Obviously BARTy does not normally have legs, but if he was going to wear socks, he needed legs. Simple as that,” McFarland said.

The 2023 BART Pride t-shirt and socks are available on RailGoods.com.

With the 2023 design, McFarland once again did not hesitate to try something new, fun and fresh.  

“Don’t be afraid to push the envelope,” he said of his design process. “Don’t ever be afraid to go there.”

You can purchase your official BART 2023 Pride tee and Pride socks on RailGoods.com.

How are you celebrating Pride Month 2023? 

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