Honorees

The Rainbow Honor Walk celebrates the lives, legacies, and courage of LGBTQ+ trailblazers who have shaped our history, culture, and community. We have installed 44 plaques throughout the Castro and are raising funds to fabricate and install 22 new bronze plaques honoring these remarkable individuals along San Francisco’s iconic Market Street (map).

These plaques commemorate pioneers in arts, activism, politics, literature, and culture, ensuring their stories are visible, remembered, and celebrated by generations to come. From writers and performers to activists and visionaries, each plaque tells a story of resilience, creativity, and the fight for equality.

Currently Installed Plaques

Jane Adams (1860-1935) – Pioneering social reformer, activist for women’s rights and world peace, public philosopher, author, first American woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.

Alvin Ailey (1931-1989) – American dancer and choreographer who drew upon his black cultural heritage to revolutionize African-American participation in 20th century performance.

W.H. Auden (1907-1973) – Anglo-American poet whose brilliant insights, political engagement and unsurpassed technical virtuosity in nearly every verse form influenced a generation of writers.

Josephine Baker (1906-1975) – African-American born French dancer, singer, actress, Resistance fighter and world-famous entertainer who refused to perform for segregated audiences

James Baldwin (1924–1987) – Eloquent novelist, essayist, poet, social critic, civil rights leader and passionate advocate for racial equality and human rights for gays.

Gladys Bentley (1907-1960) – Pioneering pianist and blues singer of the Harlem Renaissance who challenged established gender roles with her appearance and choice of material.

Glenn Burke (1952-1995) – First openly gay major league baseball player whose raised hand, after a home run, led to the invention of the high five.

Roger Casement (1864–1916) – Irish patriot, diplomat and pioneering activist for the human rights of indigenous peoples, martyred for his pivotal role in Ireland’s 1916 Easter Rising.

George Choy (1960–1993) – Passionate activist for queer Asians and Pacific Islanders and AIDS awareness who was instrumental in bringing LGBT counseling programs into San Francisco public high schools.

Quentin Crisp (1908-1999) – Writer, lecturer and raconteur whose flamboyance and caustic wit attracted public interest in his views about social manners, style and conformity.

Divine (1945–1988) – Singer and actor whose exceptional magnetism, radical artistry and flamboyant drag persona celebrated queer culture in film and theatrical appearances.

Marie Equi (1872-1952) – American physician and political radical who fought for peace, an eight-hour workday, women’s suffrage and their right to birth control.

Fereydoun Farrokhzad (1938-1992) – Iranian cultural icon and political activist who fought to have a free and open society for his homeland and for people everywhere.

Federico Garcia Lorca (1898–1936) – Poet, dramatist and political activist whose heroic opposition to totalitarianism resulted in his murder by Fascists during the Spanish Civil War.

Allen Ginsberg (1926–1997) – Renowned poet, leading figure of the Beat Generation of American writers and artists, champion of freedom of expression and sexual self-determination.

Keith Haring (1958–1990) – American artist and social activist whose distinctive outline figures express universal concepts of birth, sex, love and joy.

Harry Hay (1912–2002) – Sexual revolutionary who defined LGBT as a cultural identity and founded the first enduring gay rights organization in the United States.

Sylvester James (1947–1988) – Multi-gold record singer and songwriter known as the “Queen of Disco” and “a visionary of queerness, music and race”.

Barbara Jordan (1936-1996) – Noted politician and civil rights leader, widely considered to be the first openly lesbian representative elected to the United States.

Christine Jorgensen (1926–1989) – American entertainer whose highly publicized gender change in the 1950s first brought widespread mainstream attention to transgender issues.

Frida Kahlo (1907–1954) – Artist who used indigenous symbols, imagery, colors and traditions of Mexican culture to resolutely depict and celebrate women’s form and experience.

Kiyoshi Kuromiya (1943-2000) – Japanese-American human rights activist and founder of the Critical Path Project, one of the earliest resources for information about HIV research and treatment.

Audre Lorde (1934-1992) – American writer, political activist, and self-described black feminist lesbian mother warrior poet, whose work confronted racism, sexism and homophobia.

Del Martin (1921–2008) – American feminist, civil rights activist and cofounder of the Daughters of Bilitis, the first social and political organization for lesbians in the United States.

Leonard Matlovich (1943-1988) – Decorated American serviceman who outed himself to confront the U.S. military’s ban on gays serving in the armed forces.

Freddie Mercury (1946-1991) – Singer, songwriter and showman whose talent, versatility and commanding stage presence made him an innovative and dazzling global ambassador of rock.

Yukio Mishima nee Kimitake Hiraoka, (1925–1970) – Japanese novelist, playwright, poet, actor and film director whose work blended modern and traditional aesthetics to explore sexuality and political change.

Sally Ride (1951-2012) – Physicist and astronaut, the first American woman in space, where as a mission specialist she helped to launch satellites and conduct scientific experiments.

Silvia Rivera (1951-2002) – Gay liberation and transgender rights advocate, a founding member of the Gay Liberation Front, Gay Activist Alliance and Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries.

Bob Ross (1934-2003) – Pioneer in gay journalism, co-founder and longtime publisher of the Bay Area Reporter, president of the Tavern Guild and Meals on Wheels, Emperor VII of the Imperial Court.

Vito Russo (1946-1990) – Activist, film historian, author and co-founder of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation who brought attention to stereotyping of LGBTs in film.

Bayard Rustin (1912–1987) – African-American civil rights activist credited as the chief organizer of the watershed 1963 March on Washington and advocate for gay and lesbian causes.

José Sarria (1922-2013) – Army veteran, drag performer, politcal activist, first openly gay candidate for public office in the world, founder of the Imperial Court System.

Maurice Sendak (1928-2012) – American writer and illustrator of beloved and groundbreaking children’s books who brought to life a luminous world of fantasy and imagination.

Randy Shilts (1951–1994) – Influential author and journalist, the first openly gay reporter to cover LGBT issues for American mainstream media.

Gertrude Stein (1874–1946) – Experimental American writer whose Paris salon brought together many of the artists and authors who would help define modernism in literature and art.

Rikki Streicher (1926-1994) – San Francisco entrepreneur and sports advocate who worked within the City’s bar culture to create social activism.

Gerry Studds (1937-2006) – First openly gay member of the U.S. Congress and bold champion of civil rights, AIDS funding and marriage equality.

Lou Sullivan (1951-1991) – Transgender historian and activist who challenged the denial of medical treatment to trans people who would be gay or lesbian after gender transition.

Alan Turing (1912–1954) – British cryptanalyst, logician, philosopher and mathematician widely recognized as a pioneer of artificial intelligence and the father of computer science.

Chavela Vargas (1919-2012) – Legendary Costa Rican-born, gender transgressive troubadour of Mexican song and cultural icon whose deeply moving performances expressed universal truths of romance, tenderness, heartbreak and hope.

Tom Waddell (1937–1987) – Physician, decathlete, founder of the Gay Games which created an international community of LGBT athletes and helped shatter stereotypes of LGBT people worldwide.

Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) – Irish dramatist, poet, novelist and essayist known for his biting wit, flamboyant dress, glittering conversation and artistic achievements.

Tennessee Williams (1911–1983) – Two time Pulitzer prize winning dramatist whose powerful, timeless portraits of the human condition revolutionized American theatre and whose works are regularly reviewed.

Virginia Woolf (1882–1941) – Pioneer of modernist literature and feminist whose work explored the artistic, sexual and religious roles imposed on women during her lifetime.

We’wha (1849-1896) – Respected Zuni lhamana, or two spirit, accomplished potter, weaver and cultural ambassador of the Zuni nation.