THIS WEEK: S.F.'s Queer Fresh Meat Festival

Thursday marks the start of the 12th-annual Fresh Meat Festival, "the nation's premiere transgender and queer performance festival."

San Francisco, not surprisingly, is the home of the three-night FMF, where all events take place at Z Space in the city's Mission District. The event is produced by Fresh Meat Productions, overseen by artistic director Sean Dorsey. Dorsey's dance company (named the city's best by SF Weekly) is one of the many performers at FMF, but also look for the Barbary Coast Cloggers (pictured), an all-female Bomba band, So You Think You Can Dance dancer Allan Frias, and humorist Dana Morgan. Parties and dances close out every day of the festival. See the full lineup of performers and events here.

It's strongly recommended attendees purchase advance tickets.