May

Notable May events in San Francisco’s LGBTQ history.

Note that most of these events are of specific local LGBTQ interest, though a few nationally significant events are also included along with a few other San Francisco events of more general interest. Please contact us if you know of any other milestones that we should add.

DateEvent
May 01, 1850John W. Geary becomes the first mayor of San Francisco.
May 01, 1975When the Consenting Adults Bill (AB 489) that would decriminalize gay sex among consenting adults in their privacy of their own homes deadlocks 20-20 in the California State Senate, Senate President George Moscone (future Mayor of SF) dramatically locks the Senate door until Lt. Gov. Mervyn Dymally can fly back from Colorado to cast the tie-breaking aye vote.
May 01, 1979Dan White's trial for the murders of Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk begins.
May 01, 2018The SF Board of Supervisors unanimously passes an ordinance to establish the Leather & LGBTQ Cultural District in the SOMA neighborhood. Mayor Mike Farrell signs it on May 9th.
May 02, 1983The first AIDS Candlelight March is held in San Francisco.
May 02, 2004"Daddy" Alan Selby, the founder of Mr. S Leather dubbed "the Mayor of Folsom Street," passes away due to complications from emphysema at the age of 75.
May 03, 1989Christine Jorgensen, the first US person widely known for having sex reassignment surgery, dies of cancer. She is honored on Castro's Rainbow Honor Walk.
May 04, 1958Artist and social activist Keith Haring, who is honored on Castro's Rainbow Honor Walk,is born in Pennsylvania.
May 05, 1921Dorothy Louise Taliaferro "Del" Martin, a founder of the Daughters of Bilitis, is born in San Francisco.
May 06, 1947Jon Sims, who founded the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Marching Band and Twirling Corps as well as the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus, is born in Smith Center, Kansas.
May 08, 1920Touko Laaksonen, the artist of male erotica who would become known as Tom of Finland, is born in Kaarina, Finland.
May 08, 2012Maurice Sendak, author of numerous children's books (Where the Wild Things Are) and an honoree on Castro's Rainbow Honor Walk, dies in Danbury, Connecticut.
May 09, 1943Kiyoshi Kuromiya, a Japanese American author and civil rights and anti-war activist honored on Castro's Rainbow Honor Walk, is born in a Japanese American internment camp in Wyoming known as Heart Mountain.
May 09, 2007Theresa Sparks becomes President of the Police Commission, the first transgender president of any SF commission.
May 09, 2018Mayor Mike Farrell signs a resolution passed unanimously by the SF Board of Supervisors to create the Leather & LGBTQ Cultural District in the South of Market neighborhood.
May 10, 2000Kiyoshi Kuromiya, a Japanese American author and civil rights and anti-war activist honored on Castro's Rainbow Honor Walk, dies of complications from cancer.
May 11, 1970Scott Wiener is born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, but is raised in southern New Jersey. He is later elected to the SF Board of Supervisors and then the State Senate.
May 12, 1937Gerry Studds, the first openly-gay member of Congress and an honoree on Castro's Rainbow Honor Walk, is born in Mineola, New York.
May 12, 1975Governor Jerry Brown signs the Consenting Adults Sex Bill that essentially decriminalize California's sodomy laws.
May 12, 1975The body of the Doodler's fourth victim, Frederick Capin, is found. He was stabbed by a serial killer who targeted gay men in San Francisco in the mid-1970s.
May 13, 1944Armistead Maupin, best known for his Tales of the City books, is born in Washington, D.C. but is raised in North Carolina. He moves to San Francisco in 1971.
May 15, 1901Douglas Tilden's homoerotic statue The Mechanics Monument is formally dedicated at the intersection of Market, Bush, and Battery Streets in San Francisco.
May 15, 1992Police 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.
May 15, 2008The California Supreme Court rules in favor of San Francisco's lawsuit stemming from the City's 2004 attempt to allow same-sex couples to marry. Same-sex couples marry until the passage of Prop. 8 in November.
May 16, 1985The GLBT Historical Society is founded.
May 16, 2005Robert Davolt dies of cancer at Davies Medical Center in San Francisco. He was a former editor of Drummer magazine, San Francisco Leather Daddy XIX in 2003, and a Board member of the Leather Archives & Museum.
May 17, 2004Massachusetts becomes the first state to allow state-authorized same-sex marriages.
May 17, 2019The U.S. House of Representatives passes H.R. 5, the Equality Act, by a 236-173-23 vote. It is the first time a chamber of Congress has passed LGBTQ civil rights protections.
May 18, 2011The first previews open for Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, a musical adaptation of Maupin's book, with book by Jeff Whitty and the score by Jake Shears and John "JJ" Garden. The show runs through July 31.
May 18, 2023D'Arcy Drollinger is named San Francisco's first Drag Laureate for an 18-month term.
May 20, 1996The U.S. Supreme Court strikes down Colorado's initiative banning gay rights ordinances.
May 21, 1935Jane Addams, a social worker and suffragette now honored on Castro's Rainbow Honor Walk, dies in Illinois.
May 21, 1966Three years before the Stonewall Riots, homosexuals hold a rally on the steps of the Federal Building in San Francisco's Civic Center to protest the ban on gays in the military.
May 21, 1979Dan White is convicted of lesser charges for killing George Moscone and Harvey Milk. In what later becomes known as the White Night Riots, gays riot at City Hall and police riot in the Castro.
May 22, 1930Harvey Milk is born on Long Island, New York.
May 22, 1970Gay San Franciscan Mark Bingham, one of the heroes on Flight 93 that was hijacked by terrorists on September 11th, is born.
May 23, 2023A memorial is held for drag legend Heklina at the Castro Theatre. In addition to filling the theater, the block in front of the theater is closed to traffic so that the memorial can be broadcast on a jumbotron in the street. The memorial is also streamed on Oasis SF's website, which was simulcast in several SF gay bars.
May 24, 1976The first installment of Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City is first published in the San Francisco Chronicle.
May 24, 1993The U.S. Senate confirms former SF Supervisor Roberta Achtenberg to the the position of Assistant Secretary of Housing and Urban Development for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity. She is the first openly-LGBT person to receive a Senate confirmation hearing despite fierce opposition by Senate Republicans, including North Carolina Senator Jesse Helms who famously referred to her as "That damn lesbian!"
May 24, 2023Tina Turner, the Queen of Rock n Roll, passes away at the age of 83. In 1984, she performed at the Opening Ceremonies at the first Gay Games, which was founded in and first held in San Francisco.
May 26, 1951Astronaut Sally Ride, an honoree on Castro's Rainbow Honor Walk, is born in Encino, California.
May 27, 1937San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge opens.
May 27, 1960The Daughters of Bilitis host their first national convention in San Francisco from May 27th to 30th, 1960, which attracts 200 women. The convention merits a mention in Herb Caen's column in the San Francisco Chronicle.
May 27, 1966The Stud, a gay bar owned by George Matson and transwoman Alexis Muir, opens on Folsom Street. It moves to 9th & Harrison in 1987.
May 30, 1926Christine Jorgensen, the first U.S. person widely known for having sex reassignment surgery, is born in New York.
May 30, 1987Barney Frank of Massachusetts becomes the first member of Congress to voluntarily come out.
May 30, 1995Glenn Burke, an honoree on Castro's Rainbow Honor Walk, dies in San Leandro, California.
May 31, 1989The SF Board of Supervisors passes a domestic partnership ordinance that Mayor Art Agnos promises to sign. (Voters end up rescinding the ordinance in a November referendum.) Mayor Dianne Feinstein had vetoed a similar bill in 1982.
May 31, 2020The Stud announces it won't be able to reopen at 9th & Harrison, its home since 1987, when COVID-19 restrictions are lifted. The collective of owners begins plans to find a new home, and to perform in other venues in the meantime.

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