San Francisco

/ /

Ireland’s LGBTQ+ Hero Roger Casement Honoredon San Francisco’s Rainbow Honor Walk

The Consulate General of Ireland and the Rainbow Honor Walk (www.rainbowhonorwalk.org) will commemorate the life and legacy of Roger Casement — Irish patriot, humanitarian, and LGBTQ+ trailblazer — with a bronze plaque installed on San Francisco’s world famous “Gay Main Street.” The plaque will be unveiled at 4pm on Tuesday, October 28, in the Bank of America Plaza at 501 Castro Street, joining 44 other permanent tributes to notable LGBTQ+ individuals who have shaped world history and culture. “We are gratified to work with the Rainbow Honor Walk and the United Irish Societies to celebrate the life of Roger Casement, an Irish patriot and  peerless human […]

/ /

“I Live the Life Because I Love the Life: A Celebration of Trans People of Color Opens at SF’s LLBT Historical Society Museum November 12

Opening next month, and co-presented with the Louise Lawrence Transgender Archive, this exhibition celebrates Black, Latinx, Asian, and Pacific Islander trans and gender nonconforming people who lived authentically despite racism, homophobia, transphobia, and class prejudice. The exhibition highlights both performance and everyday expressions of identity, with works ranging from studio portraits of gender impersonators at Finocchio’s and the touring Jewel Box Revue to activist materials and self-portraits. Featured figures include trailblazing performer Stormé DeLarverie, beloved activist Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, Cuban-born Finocchio’s star David de Alba, artist and writer Red Jordan Arobateau, and many more.

/ /

Opening May 15 at the GLBT Historical Society Museum, Éamon McGivern’s A/History presents new paintings by San Francisco-based artist Éamon McGivern

Opening May 15 at the GLBT Historical Society Museum, Éamon McGivern’s A/History presents new paintings by San Francisco-based artist Éamon McGivern. Rooted in a philosophy of portraiture that embraces empathy as a creative act, A/History draws from McGivern’s personal memory and research in the GLBT Historical Society archives. The resulting portraits reflect on the lives and legacies of queer and trans elders whose absence—from political violence, transphobia, and the HIV/AIDS epidemic—continues to shape contemporary life. Through painterly interpretation and archival reference, the exhibition invites reflection on memory, representation, and the multifaceted nature of human identity. Come experience this powerful new work at the intersection of art, memory, […]

/ /

This Month Marks the Founding of a Movement

During this milestone year marking the 40th anniversary of the GLBT Historical Society, it’s important to reflect on our past, present and future. It was on March 16, 1985, when more than 60 people gathered at the San Francisco Public Library, answering a call from Eric Garber, Jim Gordon, Terry Henderling, Ellen Klages, Greg Pennington, and Willie Walker who built on smaller gatherings that had started the previous fall and included members of the San Francisco Lesbian and Gay History Project and the San Francisco Gay and Lesbian Periodical Archives. They weren’t gathering that day just to build an archive; they were making a bold declaration: LGBTQ+ history matters. At a […]

/ /

Trans landmark added to National Register of Historic Places despite Trump’s anti-trans attacks

,

A San Francisco address that was once the site of a pre-Stonewall transgender uprising has been added to the National Register of Historic Places, the official list of historic sites, buildings, and objects in the United States. The National Park Service added the building at 101-102 Taylor St. in San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood to its official list of historic U.S. places worthy of preservation on January 27, without any public statement or press release, The Bay Area Reporter first reported. The address was the location of Compton’s Cafeteria in the 1960s. One night in August 1966, a riot broke out at the 24-hour […]

/ /

Lesbian bar to land in The Castro in ‘decades’

A new lesbian bar is set to make history as the “first” to launch in San Francisco’s Castro District in “decades”. Sara Yergovich and Danielle Thoe, two queer business partners and friends, have signed a lease to launch the new women’s sports bar called Rikki’s. According to local outlet The Bay Area Reporter, the upcoming venue is believed to be the first new lesbian-themed bar to launch in The Castro in decades. Named after the LGBTQ+ activist Rikki Streicher, the bar is set to take over the former venue of the Mexican restaurant Copas, which closed down in 2024.  The business partners met via the […]

/ / /

Affordable housing project for queer seniors faces setback despite rising need

,

A much-needed affordable housing project for LGBTQ+ seniors in San Francisco’s Castro District has hit a setback, as state agency funding was denied, even though the proposal was described as “a great project,” The Bay Area Reporter wrote. Mercy Housing California, a senior living facility for elderly LGBTQ+ people, had applied for nearly $39 million from the Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities (AHSC) Program, a joint initiative by California’s Department of Housing and Community Development and the Strategic Growth Council. The funds would have funded a 187-unit affordable housing development in the Castro, the city’s historically gay neighborhood. Amar Cid, deputy director […]

/ /

Bathhouses once thrived in San Francisco. The city’s gay supervisors are fighting for their return.

,

Two San Francisco city supervisors are trying to make it easier for new gay bathhouses to open in the city. Last week, Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, whose district includes the historically gay Castro neighborhood, introduced legislation that would repeal the San Francisco Police Department’s Article 26. According to local Fox affiliate KTVU, the section of the city’s police code puts the burden of permitting new bathhouses on the SFPD. “We’ve come a long way on the way to bring back gay bathhouses to San Francisco,” Mandelman, who is gay, told KTVU. “It’s encouraging that there are entrepreneurs who are actually trying to open […]

/ /

COMMUNITY EVENT | READ FOR FILTH: CELEBRATING BANNED BOOKS & JAMES BALDWIN’S 100TH BIRTHDAY

Join the GLBT Historical Society and Books Not Bans for a celebration of banned books and the works of James Baldwin! A Black and gay writer, activist, and one of the most incisive and eloquent voices at the intersections of racial justice and queer acceptance, James Baldwin would have turned 100 this year in August, and we are highlighting his work, legacy, and impact on literature and queer history, amid a time when his work and other Black and queer creative legacies are being banned and challenged throughout the country.   Come to the GLBT Historical Society Museum for an evening […]

/ /

A gay weed activist turned dispensary owner is ready to pass the torch

,

In 2021, Terrance Alan celebrated the long-anticipated opening of Flore, a well-appointed cannabis dispensary just across the street from the legendary and now-closed Castro hangout Cafe Flore, a victim of the COVID pandemic. Thirty years earlier, at the height of another devastating health crisis, Alan was a regular at Cafe Flore with his husband, who was HIV positive and slowly succumbing to the effects of the disease. “Cafe Flore was a stop on the underground railway line for experimental HIV drugs, and my husband and I would go and hang out,” Alan explained in an interview with Greenstate. “And certain people […]

‹ 1 2 3 4›»