Bay Area Reporter :: History News

Report finds potential historic LGBTQ district in Sacramento

December 4, 2024

A report identifying a Sacramento LGBTQ neighborhood as a potential historic district was approved by the City Council in California's capital city December 3.

San Francisco officials finalize LGBTQ museum site purchase

by Matthew S. Bajko
Nov 26, 2024

The city has now officially purchased a shopping center in San Francisco's Castro district for what will become the country's first free-standing LGBTQ history museum and archival center.

'The Book of Awesome Queer Heroes' - Pride across the ages and pages

by Finbar LaBelle
Nov 3, 2024

"The Book of Awesome Queer Heroes: How the LGBTQ+ Community Changed the World for the Better" will make a wonderful addition to any bookshelf, especially one that may be missing a breadth of inspirational queer virtuosos from across the ages.

San Francisco supervisors sign off on LGBTQ museum deal

by Matthew S. Bajko
Oct 29, 2024

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors has approved a deal that will see the city purchase a property in the LGBTQ Castro district to establish the country's first freestanding LGBTQ history museum and archival center.

SF supervisors panel backs LGBTQ museum project

by Matthew S. Bajko
Oct 23, 2024

The city's plan to purchase a building in the Castro district for an LGBTQ history museum survived its first bureaucratic hurdle Wednesday.

LGBTQ History Month: Effort documents US LGBTQ history projects

by Matthew S. Bajko
Oct 16, 2024

When Abigail Baer arrived at the Demuth Foundation in Lancaster, PA six years ago she discovered visitors to the historic residence and studio of the late artist Charles Demuth left without learning much about the celebrated master watercolorist.

Federal landmarking of SF Compton's trans riot site stalls

by Matthew S. Bajko
Oct 15, 2024

An effort to obtain federal landmarking for the site where a transgender uprising against police harassment took place in San Francisco 58 years ago remains pending two years after state preservationists had supported doing so.

Valley of the Queens: queer history tours of Tenderloin, Polk Street and North Beach

by David-Elijah Nahmod
Oct 15, 2024

Sprockett hosts queer walking tours of the Tenderloin, Polk Street and North Beach, neighborhoods that are steeped in LGBTQ history. The fact that gays were once referred to as "unspeakable" resonated with Sprockett, so he named his company Unspeakabl

LGBTQ History Month: Stonewall story — and jacket — highlights importance of allies

by John Ferrannini
Oct 11, 2024

Before he became one of San Francisco's premier press agents, Lee Houskeeper was just another twentysomething in New York City

Local LGBTQ+ Media Giving Day is October 8

by Dana Piccoli, News Is Out
Oct 7, 2024

News Is Out, a collaboration of six LGBTQ+ media representing more than 250 collective years of experience covering the community, is launching the first Local LGBTQ+ Media Giving Day Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024 during LGBTQ History Month.

New biography of gay reporter Randy Shilts reveals complicated trailblazer

by Brian Bromberger
Oct 7, 2024

Thirty years after his death, gay journalist Randy Shilts is still controversial.

British diplomat ushers in LGBTQ History Month at SF event

by Cynthia Laird
Oct 2, 2024

It was one of the hottest days of the year but guests mingling in the backyard of the British Residence in the city's Presidio Terrace didn't seem to mind.

LGBTQ History Month: 'But the Bible says!' How one mistake accidentally sparked today's anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric

by Lauren Rowello
Oct 2, 2024

After months of deliberation, David Sheldon Fearon, a gay man, wrote a letter in 1959 to the committee responsible for developing the Revised Standard Version of the Bible.

Words: 'Song Of Myself,' Walt Whitman scholar Arnie Kantrowitz's posthumous book published

by Michele Karlsberg
Sep 29, 2024

The posthumous publication of "Song of Myself," a previously unpublished novel by the late gay activist and Walt Whitman scholar, Arnie Kantrowitz is about a gay man's odyssey of self-discovery.

Political Notes: Community celebrates site for new SF LGBTQ history museum

by Matthew S. Bajko
Sep 27, 2024

While enrolled in the UC Berkeley School of Law in the early 1990s, Roger Doughty spent countless hours studying at Cafe Flore, a beloved restaurant and gathering space at the corner of Noe and Market streets in San Francisco's LGBTQ Castro district.

News :: History