This Sunday, like so many other nights at the Mission District queer bar El Rio, the dance floor will fill up with partygoers getting down to a live set of Latin fusion beats. There will be a full lineup of all trans DJs. There will be homemade tamales. Since then, the collective has mostly focused on distributing food, clothing and other supplies to unhoused communities in Oakland and San Francisco.
The Frameline Award, which has not been given out since 2019, is given to a person or entity that has made a major contribution to LGBTQ+ representation in film, television, or the media arts. And this year it will be bestowed on filmmaker, writer, and visual artist John Waters during a special presentation on March 17 to kick off Frameline's 50th anniversary season. The event will also feature a screening of Waters's 1994 classic , starring Kathleen Turner, with live commentary from Waters and Peaches Christ.
The collection shows how Fernandez used photography to explore and express her gender, identity, and personal life from the 1950s through the 1980s. Materials include photobooth strips, Polaroids, and personal snapshots, often capturing moments with partners, friends, and members of the queer communities she was part of. They offer a glimpse of everyday trans life across several decades, reflecting both private relationships and broader social worlds.
Doughty's introduction set an emotional register, describing a "fraught moment" marked by budget cuts, hostile federal actions, and escalating legal threats to the broader LGBTQ community. "We're seeing the weaponization of every part of the federal government," Doughty said. "I personally used to avoid the use of the word 'weaponization' because I always thought that it sounded often overstated. Now it is not overstated."
The 2025 San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus Holiday Spectacular was widely celebrated as one of the Bay Area's standout cultural events of the season, reinforcing the chorus' reputation for musical excellence, community engagement, and joyful performance. Audiences packed iconic venues across the region-from San Francisco's Golden Gate Theatre to Berkeley's Zellerbach Hall, the Green Music Center in Rohnert Park and Home for the Holidays at Davies Symphony Hall-with most of the eight shows selling out, a clear indicator of the concert's popularity.
It's fair to say most of us don't think much about airport architecture when we travel. We're too busy making sure our suitcases are checked before the counter closes, our liquids are out of our carry-ons at security, and we reach the gate before boarding ends.
Professionally, the impact was absolute. For decades, I managed complex IT projects for global giants and, most recently, for Sanford Health. I am a builder of systems. But this year, I watched the federal government systematically dismantle the data structures that acknowledge LGBTQ+ people exist. When the administration stopped collecting Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI) data, it wasn't just a policy change; it was an erasure.
The right-wing descent that took place during this long year was predicted by Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, the Stonewall riot veteran and mentor to us both who passed this year. Queer and trans people like Major who were alive during the 1980s remember the early days of the AIDS epidemic and the reign of Reagan as a similarly bleak time, in jarring contrast to the revolutionary 1960s and '70s.
As KPIX reports, San Francisco's new Rose Parade float, which is set to appear before a global audience on New Years Day, pays homage to several of the city's landmarks, including a 24-foot-tall Golden Gate Bridge, 8-foot Painted Ladies, a giant cable car, and the Chinatown Dragon Gate while capturing the "spirit, color, and creativity that make San Francisco one of the world's most beloved cities," per its website.
The superb new Slate podcast When We All Get to Heaven tells the story of the pivotal role the San Francisco MCC (Metropolitan Community Church) played as a queer church and an indispensable part of the broader LGBTIQ+ community during the height of the HIV/AIDS crisis of the 1980s and early 1990s. But the podcast is not just a look at the past; it is extremely relevant today. We cannot recommend it highly enough.
It was New Year's 2015 when SoMa nightclub Oasis opened in the former Club Caliente space at 11th and Folsom streets. But after 11 full years of on-stage drag parodies, provocative billboards, club nights, drag extravaganzas, celebrity visits from Lil Nas X and Doja Cat, and a global pandemic that threatened the club's survival, the wig is finally up. Oasis announced it will be closing on January 1, with its final show being a New Year's Eve blowout the night of Wednesday, January 31.
I'm always looking for great queer holiday events, especially in the Castro. Lucky for me (and you), Deck the Halls, one of San Francisco's original holiday pop-up bars, is returning for its ninth year through December 28, with the new addition of a weekend all-you-can-eat brunch buffet. Deck the Halls is open seven days a week from 4 pm to midnight, even on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. This year's theme is Naughty Candy Shack.
The event, which was sponsored by Curve Foundation, a platform amplifying LGBTQ women's and non-binary voices and culture, featured contestants gorging themselves on a variety of pies, sans hands. The official winner of the contest was Jenn, who appeared quite triumphant in the photo featured in BAR. Per the culture blog Them, a second contestant also went home victorious that evening, as 81-year-old Babs Daitch's earnest pie-eating skills earned her best technique, plus a hearty round of applause from the crowd.
Castro Holiday Tree The Castro Merchants each year present the Castro Holiday Tree at Bank of America Plaza, 501 Castro Street. This year's lighting ceremony took place on December 1. (See more about that in this issue of the San Francisco Bay Times.) The tree adds a festive note to the district and is meant to strengthen community bonds and uplift the spirits of both visitors and business owners.
Raise a glass-it's the holiday season in the Castro! On Thursday, December 18, the Castro Merchants Association is uncorking the Castro Wine Walk, where you can sip, swirl, and stroll through local participating businesses. Enjoy seasonal pours-from bold reds to sparkling sips-while soaking in holiday vibes and neighborhood spirit. Each stop will feature a unique wine and a warm welcome, making it the perfect evening to connect with friends, neighbors, and fellow wine lovers, all while supporting local businesses.
Your middle square celebrity is the rare SF drag queen on Season 14 runner-up Lady Camden. It's all hosted by Sister Roma, and other celebrity square-fillers include Broke-Ass Stuart, Elvis Herselvis drag king Leigh Crow, one-time Cockette Scrumbly Koldewyn, standup comic Shanti Charan, male go-go dancer JR Topdog, Cannabis Patient Number One Wayne Justmann, star Shane Zal Diva, and local drag queen Juicy Liu.
For the last few weeks, in our series Love You for You , we've been bringing you conversations between transgender and nonbinary kids and the people in their lives who love and support them so they can thrive. This week, we hear excerpts from two longer conversations we're dropping on -year-old transgender Zen Blossom, who works at a Black trans cultural center, our podcast between young people in their 20s and transgender elders, whose lives reflect the long arc of transgender activism here in California.
It's a perilous time for queer people right now. Texas is cranking out anti-trans bills like raffle tickets; Trump is policing gender rights; and Hungary just banned Pride. So you probably thought we'd lay low and start a group chat about moving to Canada. Instead we're doing what we always do in times of repression: dressing up, showing out, and turning defiance into a damn runway.
San Francisco's gay/lesbian community in the 1980s wasn't just facing an AIDS crisis, they also struggled against ongoing anti-gay violence. In 1989, in the midst of a campaign to legally establish anti-gay violence as a hate crime, MCC San Francisco made headlines when their AIDS minister was attacked in her home. The city, the police department, and the LGBTQ community rallied around the church and the minister. And when they finally solved the puzzle of who did it, the answer shocked the church.
Like a proud ima (mother), I'm honored to announce the launch of Honoring Our Queer Elders, the newest online digital exhibit of Mapping Jewish San Francisco, hosted by the University of San Francisco's (USF) Swig Program in Jewish Studies and Social Justice. Honoring Our Queer Elders features oral histories from a diverse group of LGBTQIA+ elders living in the Bay Area.
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.
A diplomat turned activist, Casement remains one of Ireland's most complex and inspiring historical figures; he was a man of profound moral conviction and compassion. After joining the British Foreign Ministry in 1901 and serving as Consul at Boma in the Congo, Casement investigated and exposed human rights abuses under King Leopold II's brutal regime. His groundbreaking "Casement Report" (1904) helped end a 23-year reign of terror in the so-called "Congo Free State," forcing international reform.
"Having just finished my addictions, I had difficulty interacting with people and making social connections," Gilbert said during a recent interview. "The only lifestyle I knew was going to bars, just drinking. I get emotional remembering I was very lonely at the time." Gilbert then started coming to Openhouse and connected with Andrew, a young volunteer in our Friendly Visitor Program where volunteers of all ages are paired with LGBTQ+ older adults for social connection and companionship.
