Alice B. Toklas

April 30, 1877

On this date in 1877, lesbian author Alice B. Toklas, partner of Gertrude Stein, was born in San Francisco.

April 10, 1910

On this date in 1910, the Gangway opened in the Tenderloin. The bar, still opened today, claims to be the City’s first and oldest gay bar.

April 7, 1912

On this date in 1912, Harry Hay, a founder of the Mattachine Society and the Radical Faeries, was born in England.

April 27, 1953

On this date in 1953, President Eisenhower signed Executive Order 1050 banning homosexuals from working for the federal government.

April 1, 1971

On this date in 1971, Bob Ross and Paul Bentley published the first issue of the Bay Area Reporter.

April 24, 1980

On this date in 1980, San Francisco resident Ken Horne was the first U.S. person to be officially recognized to have a disease that would later be named AIDS.

April 1, 1982

On this date in 1982, the San Francisco AIDS Foundation opened their first office at 520 Castro Street.

April 5, 1997

On this date in 1997, American poet Allen Ginsberg (“Howl”), now honored on Castro’s Rainbow Honor Walk, died in New York City.

April 30, 1997

On this date in 1997, Ellen Degeneres came out on her television show, “Ellen.”

April 1, 1998

On this date in 1998, Coretta Scott King, Martin Luther King, Jr.’s widow, called on the civil rights movement to support LGBT rights.

April 26, 2000

On this date in 2000, Vermont became the first state to legalize civil unions for same-sex couples.

April 30, 2004

On this date in 2004, Theresa Sparks became the first openly transgender police commissioner in the United States.

April 15, 2006

The Big Gay Frat House hosted their first house party fundraiser, the Balls Out Ball, a benefit for the SF Fog rugby team, with performances by Varla Jean Merman and a full monty strip show by some of the rugby players. The event raised over $12,000.