The GLBT Historical Society

The GLBT Historical Society We preserve and share one of the largest collections of LGBTQ historic materials ever assembled.
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The GLBT Historical Society Museum in San Francisco’s Castro District — a project of the GLBT Historical Society — is the first stand-alone museum of its kind in the United States. The museum currently features a long-term exhibition, "Queer Past Becomes Present,” as well as changing exhibitions in the Community Gallery.

Join us at the newly renovated Castro Theatre for Built This City: An SF Pride Variety Spectacular — a one-night celebra...
06/05/2026

Join us at the newly renovated Castro Theatre for Built This City: An SF Pride Variety Spectacular — a one-night celebration of 50 years of q***r San Francisco, hosted by Peaches Christ and Honey Mahogany. Presented by San Francisco Pride & Peaches Christ Productions, the evening features performances honoring the long legacy of q***r activism, art, and entertainment that Built This City. Don't miss it!

The Society is proud to have contributed archival materials to the performance, uplifting our shared history during this bold, brilliant celebration.

Learn more & get your tickets — https://www.eventbrite.com/e/built-this-city-an-sf-pride-variety-spectacular-tickets-1986449703537

⭐ Today is Give OUT Day — a national day of giving dedicated to celebrating and uplifting LGBTQ+ nonprofit organizations...
06/04/2026

⭐ Today is Give OUT Day — a national day of giving dedicated to celebrating and uplifting LGBTQ+ nonprofit organizations doing vital work for the communities they serve.

For over 40 years, the GLBT Historical Society has preserved and shared LGBTQ+ history, arts, and culture — an act of defiance against the forces that seek to erase our community.

🎉 Double Your Impact Today! Thanks to the incredible generosity of longtime supporter Rick Brown, every membership and donation made through June 30th will be matched up to $20,000.

🏳️‍🌈 This Pride Month, make a tax-deductible gift to ensure that LGBTQ+ history — our history — remains accessible to all.

Visit glbthistory.org/pride or follow the link in our bio to learn more.



Photo: Volunteers hoist one of the two original rainbow flags created for San Francisco Gay Freedom Day 1978. Photograph by James McNamara, courtesy of Mick Hicks.

✨ Opening June 6! San Francisco has long stood at the vanguard of LGBTQ+ inclusion in sports, transforming a history of ...
06/03/2026

✨ Opening June 6! San Francisco has long stood at the vanguard of LGBTQ+ inclusion in sports, transforming a history of exclusion into a powerful legacy of defiant belonging.

"Play, Protest, Pride: San Francisco's Q***r Sports Legacy" is a new exhibition co-organized by Pride House SF, the SF LGBT Center , and the GLBT Historical Society, that traces a movement forged through sports teams and athletic clubs, highlighting two of San Francisco's most storied organizations: the San Francisco FrontRunners and the San Francisco Spikes Soccer Club. San Francisco's q***r sports scene was never just about the game. For many, it was the first place they truly belonged.

🎉 On view at the SF LGBT Center, 1800 Market St, launching this Saturday with the Center's Block Party! Plan your visit today: glbthistory.org/exhibitions



📸 Upper Left Photo: Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence vs Leather Title Holders Softball Game. Photo by Timothy Wong. GLBT Historical Society.
📸 Right Photo: Gay Games 2, Man and Woman with Medals on the Field. Photo by Robert Pruzan. GLBT Historical Society.
📸 Lower Left Photo: 1990 SpikesSF Team Photo, courtesy of SpikesSF.

It's Pride Month! 🏳️‍🌈 This June, we invite you to uplift and celebrate the rich, dynamic history of our beautiful, dive...
06/02/2026

It's Pride Month! 🏳️‍🌈 This June, we invite you to uplift and celebrate the rich, dynamic history of our beautiful, diverse community. Explore thousands of digitized photos, videos, audio files, and other historic resources online, or plan a visit to explore our museum and archives!

This Is Your History — learn more at glbthistory.org.



📷 Upper Left: Drag queens smile and wave on a float at the 1980 San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade; photograph by Crawford Barton, Crawford Barton Collection (1993-11), GLBT Historical Society.
📷 Lower Left: A couple embraces at the 1978 San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade; photograph by Elaine Gay Jarvis, Elaine Gay Jarvis Photographs (2018-90), GLBT Historical Society.
📷 Upper Right: Le***an pioneers Phyllis Lyon (1924–2020) and Del Martin (1921–2008) stand with gay activist and performer José Sarria (1922–2013) at the 1989 San Francisco International Le***an and Gay Freedom Day Parade on June 25, 1989; photographer unknown, Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin Papers (1993-13), GLBT Historical Society.
📷 Lower Right: Trans men marching in the San Francisco International Le***an and Gay Freedom Day Parade, ca. early 1990s; photograph by Allan Bérubé, Allan Bérubé Papers (1995-17), GLBT Historical Society.

You're invited! Join us this Thursday for a FREE after-hours reception honoring Blake Cedric, the artist behind this yea...
05/26/2026

You're invited! Join us this Thursday for a FREE after-hours reception honoring Blake Cedric, the artist behind this year's Juanita More's Pride Party artwork.

Toast with us at this Pride Month kick-off, explore our latest exhibition, Directory of Dreams, and mix and mingle with your community — all while supporting the GLBT Historical Society, this year's beneficiary of Juanita's annual Pride Party & fundraiser.

📆Thursday, May 28
🕓5pm–7pm
📍GLBT Historical Society Museum

Space is limited — don't miss it!

Learn more about the artist & get tickets to this special event: www.glbthistory.org/events/blake-cedric

Today is Harvey Milk Day. As the first openly gay elected official in California, Harvey figures prominently in our arch...
05/22/2026

Today is Harvey Milk Day. As the first openly gay elected official in California, Harvey figures prominently in our archival collections, which contain materials illuminating the life of this iconic figure of LGBTQ+ history: campaign flyers, personal letters, photographs, and ephemera that offer a deeper connection and insight into the man who forever changed a movement.

As Pride Month approaches, there is no better moment to reflect on his legacy and what his advocacy and optimism mean for our fight today.

Explore our archival holdings and discover the history that continues to inspire: glbthistory.org/primary-source-set-harvey-milk.



📷 Header: Supervisor Harvey Milk in a white t-shirt during a parade. Crawford Wayne Barton Collection (1993-11), GLBT Historical Society.
📷 Lower: Harvey Milk addressing a crowd from the stage, 1978 San Francisco Gay Day Parade. Marie Ueda Papers (2006-12), GLBT Historical Society.
📷 Poster: Tribute poster to Harvey Milk. GLBT Historical Society Poster Collection, No. 0028.

Digital Collection Spotlight: The Victoria Schneider Papers document Schneider's lawsuit against the City and County of ...
05/20/2026

Digital Collection Spotlight: The Victoria Schneider Papers document Schneider's lawsuit against the City and County of San Francisco and her engagement with the public during the case.

Explore this collection and others at glbthistory.org/digital-collections

In 1997, inters*x activist and s*x worker Victoria Schneider successfully sued the city after being unlawfully strip searched during her booking at the San Francisco County Jail. Her papers — including letters, photographs, newspaper clippings, and ephemera — are now available through our digital collections, digitized in partnership with the Digital Transgender Archive.



📷 Photo 1: Victoria Schneider walking in a parade on San Francisco's Market Street, presumably a Pride event. She holds a flag for the s*x workers' organization Call Off Your Old Tired Ethics (COYOTE). Victoria Schneider Papers, GLBT Historical Society.

📷 Photo 2: An article from the San Francisco Examiner about the arrest and court case of inters*x s*x worker Victoria Schneider. Victoria Schneider Papers, GLBT Historical Society.

🌈 Pride began as a protest. The first march in San Francisco was explicitly political — a direct response to police viol...
05/03/2026

🌈 Pride began as a protest. The first march in San Francisco was explicitly political — a direct response to police violence and state persecution. Fifty years later, it had floats sponsored by banks, tech companies, and beer brands. In recent years, the climate has shifted, and our community has come under renewed attack across the country, with many companies retreating from their embrace of the rainbow.

Join Unspeakable Vice's Shawn Sprockett, along with Suzanne Ford (Executive Director of SF Pride), Elizabeth Hudy (Founder of The Peach Fuzz), Laura Thomas (Senior Director at the San Francisco AIDS Foundation & Society Board Member), and others to be announced, for an in-conversation event at the GLBT Historical Society Museum.

The panel will ask the question that activists have been raising since the 1970s: what does it mean when your liberation becomes a marketing strategy?

🏳️‍🌈 Selling The Rainbow: When The Market Adopts & Drops A Movement
📅 Thursday, May 21st at 6:30pm
📍 GLBT Historical Society Museum
🎟️ $15 General Admission | Free for Society Members!

Get tickets today — glbthistory.org/events.

Le***an Visibility Week is here — and we're uplifting collections, exhibitions, and special events that spotlight le***a...
04/22/2026

Le***an Visibility Week is here — and we're uplifting collections, exhibitions, and special events that spotlight le***an history.

🌙 Late Night at the Museum — Thursday, April 23, 5–8 PM. Visit the museum after hours, enjoy late-night beats, light bites, and experience Directory of Dreams: Bay Area Le***an Economies and Radical Care, 1970–1995 — curated and co-presented by the Bay Area Le***an Archives — with your friends and loved ones.

🌸 Sapphic Saturday — Saturday, April 25. The museum opens its doors for an additional day of free admission to explore the rich, dynamic history of our community.

Learn more at glbthistory.org/events — link in bio.

Image 1: Visitors in the Gallery viewing Directory of Dreams at the GLBT Historical Society Museum.
Image 2: Courtesy of the Bay Area Le***an Archives, Brick Hut Cafe Collection. Photo by Ace Morgan.

***anVisibilityWeek

What can the spatial histories of LGBTQ+ communities teach us about cities — and resistance?Drawing on archival research...
04/14/2026

What can the spatial histories of LGBTQ+ communities teach us about cities — and resistance?

Drawing on archival research and community narratives, architectural historian Stathis G. Yeros presents "Q***ring Urbanism: Insurgent Spaces in the Fight for Justice", which traces how q***r people, often excluded from formal planning and policy, have reshaped urban life by appropriating everyday spaces and building networks of collective resistance.

This reading & conversation will explore the Women's Building of the Bay Area, gentrification's impact on LGBTQ+ communities of color, and ongoing struggles to preserve q***r spaces as sites of radical possibility.

📅 Thursday, May 7 | 6–8 PM
📍 GLBT Historical Society Museum, 4127 18th St.
🎟 $10 General Adm | Free for Society members!

Get your tickets ➡ visit glbthistory.org/events

Address

4127 18th Street (Between Castro And Collingwood)
San Francisco, CA
94114

Opening Hours

Tuesday 11am - 5pm
Wednesday 11am - 5pm
Thursday 11am - 5pm
Friday 11am - 5pm
Saturday 11am - 5pm

Telephone

+14157775455

Website

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