Let's get a few things straight — no pun intended. YBCA is a legitimate cultural institution, and art is inherently subjective. Nobody at The Dissent is in the business of telling galleries what they should or shouldn't exhibit. Creative freedom is, after all, a freedom, and we take those seriously around here.

But YBCA operates as a nonprofit that benefits from significant public support, including city partnerships and favorable lease terms on prime SoMa real estate. Which means it's fair to ask: does the programming serve a broad enough cross-section of San Francisco to justify that public investment?

The tarot genre has experienced a genuine cultural renaissance — it's a multi-hundred-million-dollar industry now, driven largely by younger consumers. So there's clearly an audience. And queer art has a long, vital history in San Francisco that deserves institutional support and visibility.

Our concern, as always, is about priorities. San Francisco has no shortage of cultural programming aimed at niche audiences, while basic services — clean streets, functional transit, public safety — continue to underwhelm. Every dollar of public subsidy that flows toward the arts is a dollar that isn't addressing the city's more urgent material needs.

That's not an argument against art. It's an argument for keeping our eyes open about tradeoffs. Enjoy the exhibition if it calls to you. But maybe also ask your supervisor what the city's return on investment looks like for the cultural institutions it supports. The cards might not have the answer, but a budget spreadsheet should.