The Bay Area Reporter noted that "over more than 30 years, he played a pivotal role in San Francisco's LGBT history.
[2] A leader in the 1977 anti-Briggs Initiative (No on 6) campaign, Wilson worked extensively with gay issues in the San Francisco Unified School District.
He operated the Ambassador Hotel in San Francisco's Tenderloin through 1996 and it became a model of harm reduction services housing PWAs.
In 1982, Lanza and Wilson created the Valencia Rose Cafe, an influential gay cabaret and performance venue, which featured musicians and comedians such as Marga Gomez, Whoopi Goldberg, Lea DeLaria, and Ammiano.
In 1999, Wilson was an instigator of efforts to gather signatures to qualify Ammiano as a write-in candidate for the 1999 San Francisco mayoral election.