Notable February 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.

Date	Event
Feb 03, 1874	Gertrude Stein, author and life partner of Alice B. Toklas, is born in Pennsylvania but raised in Oakland.
Feb 04, 1995	Scott Smith, who had been Harvey Milk's lover for many years and was co-owner of Castro Camera with Milk, passes away at the age of 46 of pneumonia as a result of HIV/AIDS.
Feb 05, 1993	Last Call at Maud's, an American documentary film that explores lesbian culture in the U.S. with particular emphasis on Rikki Streicher's bar Maud's in the Haight, premiers at the Castro Theatre.
Feb 05, 2020	California Governor Gavin Newsom posthumously pardons civil rights activist Bayard Rustin, who had been arrested in 1953 for sexual behavior with another man. The pardon also creates a streamlined process for LGBTQ people with similar convictions to seek their own pardons.
Feb 07, 1955	Harvey Milk is discharged from the U.S. Navy under "other than honorable" terms. In his 152-page discharge papers, he is forced to describe the gay sex he engaged in while serving in the Navy.
Feb 07, 2012	The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in California, based in San Francisco, upholds Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker decision to overturn Proposition 8, an initiative that banned same-sex marriage in California.
Feb 08, 2020	In preparation for her retirement from co-owning Oasis SF, Heklina hosts her last Mother, the weekly drag show that evolved from Trannyshack, her drag show that began at The Stud in 1996.
Feb 11, 1984	Don McLean, a.k.a. Lori Shannon, dies of a heart attack. A performer at Finocchio's and a columnist for the Bay Area Reporter, he was best known for his three appearances on All in the Family as "transvestite entertainer" Beverly LaSalle.
Feb 12, 1929	"Daddy" Alan Selby, future founder of Mr. S Leather in the SOMA district of San Francisco who would earn the nickname "the Mayor of Folsom Street," is born in London.
Feb 14, 1991	More than 275 same-sex couples sign up for San Francisco's first domestic partnership program for city employees the first day the program goes into effect.
Feb 15, 2015	The Imperial Court celebrates its 50th anniversary with a gala in the rotunda of San Francisco's City Hall.
Feb 16, 1990	Artist and social activist Keith Haring, who is honored on Castro's Rainbow Honor Walk, dies of AIDS-related complications.
Feb 17, 1994	Journalist/author Randy Shilts (The Mayor of Castro Street; And the Band Played On) dies in Guerneville.
Feb 18, 1934	Audre Lorde, honored on Castro's Rainbow Honor Walk, is born in New York City.
Feb 18, 2013	Honey Mahogany, San Francisco's first contestant on RuPaul's Drag Race, is eliminated in the fourth episode of the 5th season in what is the first double elimination in the show's history.
Feb 19, 1935	Mary Ellen Cunha, one of the original lesbian owners of Twin Peaks Tavern, is born is Los Banos, California.
Feb 19, 2002	Sylvia Rivera, a Latina American gay liberation and transgender rights activist and an honoree on Castro's Rainbow Honor Walk, dies in New York City.
Feb 19, 2018	A homeless man on Folsom Street is rescued after being lit on fire. David Munoz Diaz, previously convicted for arson and manslaughter in the Castro, is arrested for the act in March.
Feb 20, 2004	The US Patent & Trademark Office refuses to let Dykes on Bikes trademark their name on the grounds that the term dykes is offensive. The organization is forced to formally use the Women's Motorcycle Contingent until they finally win the battle in 2006.
Feb 21, 1907	Wystan Hugh Auden, an honoree on Castro's Rainbow Honor Walk who is better known as W. H. Auden, is born in York, Yorkshire, England.
Feb 21, 1936	Barbara Jordan, an honoree on Castro's Rainbow Honor Walk, is born in Houston, Texas.
Feb 22, 1970	Howard Wells conducts the first morning worship service of the San Francisco chapter of the Metropolitan Community Church in "The Upper Room" of Jackson’s Bar on Powell Street, near Bay Street. The MCC is an international Christian denomination that embraces lesbians, gay men, bisexual and transgender people.
Feb 25, 1983	Tennessee Williams III (A Streetcar Named Desire), honored on Castro's Rainbow Honor Walk, dies in New York City.
Feb 26, 1960	In what will soon be called the "gayola" scandal, SF Police Sergeant Waldo Reesink is arrested for extorting owners of gay bars for payoffs in exchange for not raiding their bars. Although gay bars are technically legal, gay behavior like holding hands or dancing together can still get a bar closed.
Feb 26, 1994	LGBTQ organizations participate in the San Francisco Chinese New Year's Parade for the first time.
Feb 27, 1932	Elizabeth Taylor is born near London. The actress would later become one of the foremost AIDS advocates. When she dies in 2011, the rainbow flag at the corner of Market and Castro was lowered to half-mast.
Feb 27, 1955	Bevan Dufty is born in New York. He gets elected to the SF Board of Supervisors in 2002, serving two terms. He later runs unsuccessfully for mayor in 2011.
Feb 27, 2017	ABC airs the first of eight episodes of When We Rise, a miniseries about the history of LGBTQ activism in San Francisco. It is written by Dustin Lance Black and inspired by Cleve Jones' memoir.
Feb 28, 1994	The Clinton Administration formally implements the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" legislation passed by a supermajority of Congress mandating that LGB service members remain closeted.

Other Months

January ◈ February ◈ March ◈ April ◈ May ◈ June ◈ July ◈ August ◈ September ◈ October ◈ November ◈ December ◈ Current

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