GLBT Historical Society Museum — Attraction in San Francisco

The GLBT Historical Society Museum is a small museum located in the Castro focusing on national GLBT movements with a particular interest in San Francisco gay history. The entry fee was $10, which I was happy to pay to support a very worthwhile cause.

The museum is much, much smaller than I was expecting and is just two rooms. The indoor entrance walkway makes up about a fourth of the space but is basically dead, unused space.

The first room is informational with a timeline of GLBT history and then an exhibit that opened on June 7, 2024 called “Erotic Resistance: Performance, Art, and Activism in San Francisco Strip Clubs 1960s-1990s”, which is a photo collection.

The other room is a standing collection that includes a leather culture display, miscellany, a Harvey Milk collection, and a José Julio Sarria collection. The prize in the collection is part of the original gay pride flag, which was very powerful and meaningful for me to see in person. That made the visit worth it, but outside of that there wasn’t a big draw for me considering the museum and associated collection is so small.

If you’re already in the Castro, it could be a fun quick stop, but it’s not something I’d...

it is basically just one small room, but if you really read and engage with all the material, you can easily spend 1-2 hours here. they have a small amount of merch available as well. i enjoyed that the AAPI exhibit had a small tidbit of representation for hapas in one interview! (hard enough to find that in asian spaces, let alone queer asian spaces).

cons: there was not much context for many of the images/items. they might name the person or the event, but no story behind it! i wanna know more!

MASSIVE downside and disappointment... there was an image of someone who played in MINSTREL SHOWS. i did a triple take. HUH??? of all the millions of queer people to celebrate in the world, why on earth would you include this one?!? i realllly hope I'm missing some context that somehow makes this ok, but like i said, most pictures had no back story included 🙃

i don't mind, since it benefits the historical society, but i did think $10 for such a small museum was a...

The San Francisco GLBT History Museum, a space that ought to stand as a beacon of progressivism and inclusion, disappointingly misses the mark with its ill-conceived mandate for disposable face coverings when there isn't even an ongoing pandemic. In an era where climate justice and sustainability should be intertwined with social advocacy, their policy is not only environmentally negligent but tone-deaf to the intersectionality that's vital in today's social justice movements. Disposable masks contribute to the growing problem of waste and pollution, disproportionately affecting marginalized communities. This mandate disregards both the environmental and social implications of such unnecessary waste, creating a glaring inconsistency between the museum's mission and its practices. It's deeply problematic for an institution committed to documenting the struggles and triumphs of the GLBT community to so casually disregard another critical aspect of...