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.
Plaques To Be Installed
Peter Adair (1943 – 1996) – film-maker best known for 1977’s Word is Out: Stories of Some of Our Lives, offering a clear, detailed picture of the broad spectrum of the LGBTQ population.
Willem Arondéus (1894-1943) – Dutch artist and author who joined the Dutch anti-Nazi resistance movement during World War II. His last words before being executed by the Nazis were “Tell people that homosexuals are not cowards.”
Gloria Anzaldua (1942-2004) – Tejana-Chicana who wrote widely on feminism, queer theory, and marginalization, best known for her ground-breaking books, 1981’s This Bridge Called My Back, and 1987’s Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza.
Gilbert Baker (1951-2017) – Vexillologist, artist, activist and designer of the rainbow flag — the universal symbol of gay pride, hope and inclusion — who was playfully called the Betsy Ross of gay liberation.
Bernice Bing (1936-1998) – recognized SF Bay Area painter whose artwork bridged her Chinese American background and her interest in modern philosophy, women’s issues, and abstract expression
Tullalah Bankhead (1902-1968) – openly “ambisextrous” stage and screen actress, gay icon, and pioneering civil rights activist who strongly and publicly opposed racism and segregation.
Bobbi Campbell (1952-1984) – early self-identified person with AIDS whose prolific writing helped inform the public, empower early sufferers, and destigmatize the condition.
Esther Eng (1914-1970) – San Francisco native, affectionately known as Big Brother Ha, the first Chinese-American woman to produce a motion picture in Hollywood, direct a film in Hong Kong and film in color.
Leslie Feinberg (1949-2014) – radical activist and author whose book, Stone Butch Blues, familiarized readers with transgender, non-binary and genderqueer terms, pronouns, concepts, and politics.
Sally Gearhart (1931-2021) – American teacher, radical feminist, science-fiction writer, and political activist.
Lorraine Hansberry (1930-1965) – first African American woman to have a play performed on Broadway and the youngest playwright to receive the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award.
Magnus Hirschfeld (1868-1935) – pioneering German physician and sexologist, outspoken advocate for sexual minorities, important theorist of sexuality, and a prominent advocate for sexuality minorities in the early 20th century.
Billie Holiday (1915-1959) – Incomparable jazz legend, known for vocal elegance, dramatic intensity, and great improvisational skills, who unapologetically performed her signature song “Strange Fruit” as a declaration against American racism.
Langston Hughes (1901-1967) – leader of the Harlem Renaissance, whose poetry, plays, novels, and columns gave fresh insight into the experience of Black men in the United States.
Carlos Jáuregui (1957-1996) – courageous Argentinian activist who fiercely fought for the rights of the full spectrum of the LGBTQ community.
Marsha P. Johnson (1945-1992) – African American transgender activist, drag performer, and a key participant in the Stonewall uprising.
Larry Kramer (1935-2020) – American playwright, author, film producer, public health advocate, LGBT rights activist, and a founding member ACT UP, created to publicize and protest the lack of treatment and funding for people with AIDS.
Anne Lister (1791-1840) – an English diarist, famous for revelations for which she was dubbed “the first modern lesbian“.
Phyllis Lyon (1924–2020) – Pioneering activist for lesbian visibility and civil rights whose decades of leadership helped to shape the modern LGBT and women’s health movements.
Xulhaz Mannan (1976-2016) – Human rights activist brutally murdered for working openly to promote social acceptance and legal protections for LGBT people in Bangladesh.
Mario Mieli (1952–1983) – Italian gay rights activist and irreplaceable provocateur whose exuberant, flamboyant and controversial way of life personified his hugely influential theory of queerness and vision of a new sexual utopianism.
Pauli Murray (1910-1985) – American civil rights activist, advocate, legal scholar and theorist, author and – later in life – an Episcopal priest. Murray’s work influenced the civil rights movement and expanded legal protection for gender equality.
Marlon Riggs (1954-1994) – award-winning film maker whose examinations of Black gay life boldly confronted racism and sexual repression, most notably with 1989’s Tongues Untied.
Charley Parkhurst (1812-1879) – a famous California stagecoach driver in the Gold Rush era who was discovered, upon his death, to be biologically female; decades before female suffrage was legal, he voted as a man in the 1868 presidential election.
Oliver Sacks (1933-2015) – neurologist, naturalist, historian of science and author who wrote of his experiences with some of his patients to inform and inspire others.
Jon Reed Sims (1947-1984) – founder of the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Marching Band and Twirling Corps (now San Francisco Lesbian/Gay Freedom Band), the first openly LGBT musical group ever formed in United States history, and the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus, the country’s first openly gay American choral group.
Edith Windsor (1929-2017) – the lead plaintiff in the 2013 landmark Supreme Court case, United States v. Windsor, that established marriage equality rights for American citizens .
Sophie Xeon (1986-2021)- Grammy-nominated musician, record producer, singer, and DJ who reframed trans self-expression for Millennials and Generation Z cohorts with her brash and “hyperkinetic” take on pop music.
Information freely excerpted from Wikipedia and other websites primary to the individuals listed.