#lgbtq-activism

#lgbtq-activism

Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, just a day after she announced that she would be retiring following 39 years in Congress, presented the 2025 Legends Award to NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt visionary and LGBTQ+ activist Cleve Jones. Legendary drag artist and San Francisco Bay Times columnist Donna Sachet, seen in the video, was the emcee of the event, which took place at the Swedish American Hall in San Francisco on November 7, 2025.

On Halloween, activists from Gay Shame and Queers United against Israeli Terrorism (QUIT) combined two beloved SF traditions: dressing up and radical protest. A colorful group marched from Market Street to 100 Montgomery, site of SF Immigration Court where ICE abductions like those of local drag performer Hilary Rivers have taken place, to demand and end to ICE, among other causes. "Fags and Dykes, we all hate ICE," one chant went.

"Miss Major is at home on hospice," Beck Witt Major said in a Facebook post Saturday. "She is comfortable and surrounded by love."

How much history can you cover in five miles? Quite a bit, according to locals Anthony Vidal Torres and Brian Boisvert, the hosts of a Halloween-themed queer history running tour coming to Brooklyn next month. "Queer Ghosts of Brooklyn: A Halloween Fun Run," will serve as a sort of crash course through an oft-overlooked but critically important part of the borough's past.

In the middle of the night, the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) painted over the Pride crosswalk outside the Pulse nightclub memorial, where 49 people were killed in a mass shooting in 2016. In response, protesters used chalk to restore the memorial's rainbow colors-and then repainted it after rain washed the chalk away. FDOT quickly painted the crosswalk black again and posted signs reading "defacing roadway prohibited."

"This is not just about code enforcement; it's about transparency, due process, and moral integrity."

The revamped Harvey Milk Plaza will honor Milk's legacy with expanded public spaces and art installations, emphasizing its global symbol of LGBTQ+ pride and activism.

"If I don't end up fostering, I've been looking into training to become a school counsellor. I think there's a huge need for school counsellors..."

Witnessing the subtle ways that the once familiar nylon carpet-laden halls have changed feels like staring at a flipped portrait of yourself.