The 1990s

  • No_ObitsMay 15, 1992 – Police Chief Richard Hongisto is fired after the San Francisco Police Commission finds him culpable of getting police officers to take 2,000 copies of the San Francisco Bay Times, an LGBT publication that ran an article critical of his police actions.
  • 1993 – Roberta Achtenberg resigns from the San Francisco Board of Supervisors to become Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, becoming the first openly gay or lesbian person to face a Senate confirmation hearing. San Francisco has its first Dyke March, which is always held on the Saturday afternoon of Pride Weekend.
  • November 1995 – Roberta Achtenberg becomes the first major, viable candidate for San Francisco Mayor, finishing third behind Willie Brown (who is elected after the run-off) and Frank Jordan, the incumbent.
  • August 13, 1997 – The Bay Area Reporter runs a headline announcing “NO OBITS.” For the first time since the start of the AIDS epidemic, medical treatments had slowed deaths from AIDS-related complications, resulting in no obituary notices submitted to the BAR that week.
  • October 1997 – President Bill Clinton nominates San Francisco resident James Hormel to be Ambassador to Luxembourg. After GOP conservatives filibustered his appointment, Clinton employed a recess appointment in May of 1999, making him the first openly gay ambassador from the U.S.
  • October 24, 1998 – Horst Hans Grahlmann, owner of Uncle Bert’s in the Castro and the Rainbow Cattle Company in Guerneville, among other establishments, is found murdered in his Russian River home. Uncle Bert’s is eventually sold by the estate and becomes The Mix.
  • 1999 – Finocchio’s, which had one of the premiere gender illusionist shows in the world, closes after 70 years, 63 at the same location. Supervisor Tom Ammiano mounts a last-minute write-in campaign for Mayor against the incumbent, Willie Brown. He succeeds in making the run-off, becoming the first openly-gay candidate in a mayoral run-off in the City, but Brown is ultimately re-elected.

Through the 50s | The 1960s | The 1970s | The 1980s | The 1990s | The 2000s | The 2010s | 2020s+

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