Disco legend Sylvester

March 26, 1911

On this date in 1911, Tennessee Williams III (A Streetcar Named Desire), who is now honored on Castro’s Rainbow Honor Walk, was born in Mississippi.

March 17, 1912

On this date in 1912, civil rights leader Bayard Rustin, openly-gay organizer of the 1963 March on Washington, was born in Pennsylvania. He is now honored on the Rainbow Honor Walk in the Castro.

March 28, 1941

On this date in 1941, author Virginia Woolf (Mrs Dalloway), an inaugural honoree of Castro’s Rainbow Honor Walk, committed suicide by drowning.

March 7, 1967

On this date in 1877, lesbian author Alice B. Toklas, partner of Gertrude Stein, died and was buried next to Stein in Paris.

March 11, 1979

On this date in 1979, disco singer Sylvester (“Mighty Real”) sold out the War Memorial Opera House and was awarded the keys to the City by Mayor Dianne Feinstein.

March 2, 1982

On this date in 1982, Wisconsin became the first state to outlaw discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

March 3, 2002

On this date in 2002, the San Francisco LGBT Community Center first opened.

March 11, 2004

On this date in 2004, the California Supreme Court ordered San Francisco officials to stop performing same-sex marriages, which the City had done since February 12th.

March 23, 2011

On this date in 2011, actress Elizabeth Taylor, who had become a powerful advocate for people with AIDS, passed away at the age of 79.