Over the last several months, the 400 and 500 block of Castro Street, the epicenter of the City’s gayest neighborhood, has been undergoing a massive renovation project. The sidewalks are more than doubling in width, new trees will be planted, rainbow crosswalks will be painted at the intersection of 18th and Castro, and other changes will be made to highlight the neighborhood’s gay history.
Among these will be the creation of a Rainbow Honor Walk, a series of 20 three-foot square plaques honoring the memories of gay pioneers from San Francisco as well as the rest of the world.
The Huffington Post is now reporting on who the first openly LGBT honorees will be:
- Jane Addams (1860-1935) – Leader in the women’s suffrage movement
- James Baldwin (1924-1987) – Author (Giovanni’s Room, Go Tell It on the Mountain)
- George Choy (1960-1993) – Activist for the rights of gay Asian/Pacific Islanders
- Federico Garcia Lorca (1898-1936) – Spanish poet, dramatist, and theater director
- Allen Ginsberg (1926-1997) – American poet (“Howl”)
- Keith Haring (1958-1990) – American artist and social activist
- Harry Hay (1912-2002) – Gay rights activist, founder of the Mattachine Society and the Radical Faeries
- Sylvester James (1947-1988) – Disco singer (“You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)” and “Dance (Disco Heat)”)
- Christine Jorgensen (1926-1989) – American trans woman who was the first person to become widely known in the United States for having sex reassignment surgery
- Frida Kahlo (1907-1954) – Mexican painter best known for her self-portraits
- Del Martin (1921-2008) – Lesbian pioneer, co-founder of the Daughters of Bilitis
- Yukio Mishima (1925-1970) – Japanese author, poet, playwright, actor, and film director
- Bayard Rustin (1912-1987) – Civil rights activist, chief organizer of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom
- Randy Shilts (1951-1994) – Journalist and author (The Mayor of Castro Street; And the Band Played On)
- Gertrude Stein (1874-1946) – American author (The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas in the voice of her life partner)
- Alan Turing (1912-1954) – British mathematician, father of modern computing who cracked Nazi ciphers in World War II
- Tom Waddell (1937-1987) – Olympian and founder of the Gay Games
- Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) – British author and playwright (The Picture of Dorian Gray; The Importance of Being Earnest)
- Tennessee Williams (1911-1983) – American playwright (A Streetcar Named Desire; Cat on a Hot Tin Roof)
- Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) – British author (Mrs Dalloway; Orlando)
The neighborhood already has plaques honoring Harvey Milk, Rikki Streicher, Leonard Matlovich, and others.
(Source: The Huffington Post)
