San Francisco Queer Women’s History Tour: From Activism to Nightlife

A Castro-to-Mission journey through San Francisco’s boldest lesbian and queer women’s sites—from feminist cafés to political campaigns and marches to queer art and culture to lesbian bars and sex-positive clubs and shops.

Discover the powerful, untamed, and unforgettable legacy of San Francisco’s lesbian and queer women on this walking tour from the Castro to the Mission. Starting in the historic heart of the LGBTQ+ movement and ending in the once-vibrant “Lesbihood” of Valencia Street, this tour celebrates the community builders, political pioneers, nightlife queens, entrepreneurs, and feminist firebrands who shaped the city block by block.

You will walk in the footsteps of lesbian trailblazers who worked to get Harvey Milk elected and alongside him to defeat anti-LGBTQI propositions and other iconic change agents—from political campaign managers and tech powerhouses to bookstore founders and underground party promoters. Along the way, we’ll visit legendary gathering spaces like The Lexington Club, the Women’s Building, Dolores Park Café, and Mission Dolores Park as well as feminist sex shop, Good Vibrations; exploring how queer women claimed space, built movements, and redefined the city’s cultural pulse.

This is more than a history tour—it’s a celebration of the women and gender-expansive people who’ve made San Francisco radical, resilient, and unapologetically queer.

About Your Tour Guide:

Throughout the tour, your guide—Heather Cassell, award-winning journalist, publisher, and longtime LGBTQI+ storyteller—shares personal reflections from over three decades of reporting and activism. From interning at Curve Magazine (then Deneuve) to covering queer culture and civil rights for the Bay Area Reporter and other publications, Heather has documented the fight for same-sex marriage, the rise and fall of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, and countless battles for LGBTQ+ recognition and equality for more than three decades.

Whether you're a visitor, a longtime local, or exploring your own place in the queer community, this tour offers a toast to the people, places, and movements that built lesbian life in San Francisco—and continue to shape its future.

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