Rainbow Honor Walk

37°45′33″N 122°26′13″W / 37.75913°N 122.43681°W / 37.75913; -122.43681

The Rainbow Honor Walk (RHW) is a walk of fame installation in San Francisco, California to honor notable lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) individuals from around the world "who left a lasting mark on society."[1][2] Its bronze plaques honor LGBTQ individuals who "made significant contributions in their fields".[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.[1][4]

The project was founded by David Perry to honor LGBTQ pioneers, who are considered to have laid the groundwork for LGBTQ rights, and to teach future generations about them.[1][5] The sidewalk installations are planned to extend from the Harvey Milk Civil Rights Academy at 19th Street & Collingwood, to proceed along Castro Street to its intersection with Market Street, and follow Market to the San Francisco LGBTQ Community Center at Octavia Boulevard; additionally the Walk will branch out in both directions at 18th Street and Castro.[6] The RHW eventually could number up to 500 honorees.[7] The first round of twenty plaques was installed in 2014, a second round of twenty-four was completed in 2019.

A separate sidewalk installation, the Castro Street History Walk, is a series of twenty historical fact plaques about the neighborhood—ten from pre-1776 to the 1960s before the Castro became known as a gay neighborhood, and ten "significant events associated with the queer community in the Castro"—contained within the 400 and 500 blocks of the street between 19th and Market streets.[8]

  1. ^ a b c Shelter, Scott (March 14, 2016). "The Rainbow Honor Walk: San Francisco's LGBT Walk of Fame". Quirky Travel Guy. Retrieved July 28, 2019.
  2. ^ Bajko, Matthew S. (September 7, 2014). "Castro Welcomes LGBT Walk of Fame". EDGE Media Network. Retrieved August 17, 2019.
  3. ^ Barmann, Jay (September 2, 2014). "Castro's Rainbow Honor Walk Dedicated Today". SFist. SFist. Archived from the original on August 10, 2019. Retrieved August 15, 2019.
  4. ^ "Castro Street Streetscape Improvement Project | Public Works". www.sfpublicworks.org. Retrieved August 16, 2019.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference :1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference :3 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ "New Rainbow Honor Walk for the Castro District Unveiled". mycastro.com. Retrieved August 16, 2019.
  8. ^ Feeley, Jennah (May 13, 2014). "Castro Street History Walk". Planet Castro. Retrieved August 16, 2019.