[3] The plaques mark a walk located within the business district of the Castro neighborhood, which for decades has been the city's center of LGBTQ activism and culture.
In the late 1980s David Perry, a gay man "whose public relations firm has handled everything from the Olympic Torch Relay in 2008 and the 2016 Super Bowl 50 Committee," had an epiphany while walking past the Castro Theater in San Francisco's Castro district, the cultural center of the city's LGBTQ communities for decades;[9] and his home since 1986.
[10] The neighborhood was one of the country's epicenters during the height of the HIV/AIDS pandemic before the AIDS cocktail in the 1990s; and during the city's response to slow the impact on the gay male community.
"[9] The Bay Area Reporter noted five of the inaugural twenty: Keith Haring, activist George Choy, Sylvester, Randy Shilts, and Tom Waddell; all died from AIDS.
[9] Gayle Rubin, a "scholar of San Francisco LGBTQ history and professor of anthropology and women's studies at the University of Michigan" stated, "Marginal groups and those who are disrespected for various reasons tend to not have their accomplishments recognized in public landmarks.
[15] Separately in 2009, Isak Lindenauer, a poet, writer, Castro business-owner and resident since the 1980s, had a similar vision; then-city Supervisor Bevan Dufty connected the two,[16] so they joined efforts.
[19] Supervisor Bevan Dufty authored city legislation for the project in 2010,[20] although most of the details, including design and scope, had yet to be worked out.
[6][22] In 2009, Perry and other community advocates co-founded the RHW, an all-volunteer, non-profit organization to manage the process of identifying and documenting about twenty honorees each round, and to gain funding for commissioning plaques and their installation.
[2] The city administers ongoing maintenance in partnership with the RHW, while insurance costs are built into the fundraising for each round of plaques.
[2][14] Additionally the "composition, make, and design of the plaques have been carefully evaluated to ensure endurance and durability"; plus they are extremely heavy so theft would entail industrial equipment.
The inaugural round of twenty honorees includes: Jane Addams, James Baldwin, George Choy, Federico Garcia Lorca, Allen Ginsberg, Keith Haring, Harry Hay, Christine Jorgensen, Frida Kahlo, Del Martin, Yukio Mishima (née Kimitake Hiraoka), Bayard Rustin, Randy Shilts, Gertrude Stein, Sylvester, Alan Turing, Tom Waddell, Oscar Wilde, Tennessee Williams, and Virginia Woolf.
[40] A conscious decision to not include Harvey Milk in the inaugural round was made as he already had a handful of places named after him;[42][b] as well as two historical markers outside his old camera shop on Castro Street.
[4][49] The plaques were unveiled September 2, 2014, and feature twenty "civil rights activists, writers, poets, artists, and musicians".
[1] The opening ceremony took place at Harvey Milk Plaza, at the intersection of Castro and Market streets, with remarks from Perry and LGBTQ politicians.
[11] Openly gay California Senator Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) said, "not unlike slaves, [our communities] have been denied our heroes and our history.
[51] They were replaced by the manufacturer and both plaques with errors were to be auctioned: Wilde's to raise funds for the RHW; Jorgensen's to benefit the Transgender Law Center.
[9] In June 2016, the second round of honorees, twenty-four total, was announced including: Alvin Ailey, W. H. Auden, Josephine Baker, Gladys Bentley, Glenn Burke, Quentin Crisp, Divine, Marie Equi, Fereydoun Farrokhzad, Barbara Jordan, Kiyoshi Kuromiya, Audre Lorde, Leonard Matlovich, Freddie Mercury, Sally Ride, Sylvia Rivera, Vito Russo, José Sarria, Maurice Sendak, Rikki Streicher, Gerry Studds, Lou Sullivan, Chavela Vargas, and We'wha.
[54] On the north side of Market Street are the plaques for Fereydoun Farakzah, Barbara Jordan, Kiyoshi Kuromiya, and Sally Ride.
[9][22] The third group of this round includes: Gladys Bentley, Audre Lorde, Divine, Sylvia Rivera, Leonard Matlovich, Vito Russo, Quentin Crisp, and Maurice Sendak.