Rainbow Honor Walk in the Castro One Step Closer to Reality

The Rainbow Honor Walk, a project to spotlight LGBT people who have made significant contributions to society, took another step toward fruition with the announcement of a winning design for the designated plaques to be used to mark the walk. The winning entrant is Venezuelan-born architect Carlos Casuso, 45, who lives in Madrid, Spain. His proposal calls for engraving the honoree's photo onto a bronze plaque that is divided into four quadrants. Three would be dedicated to the image. The fourth section would be used to list the person's name, year of birth and death, and a brief bio about their accomplishments. Instead of a traditional name plate the marker would instead use the Ancestors signature for identification purposes. The proposal now awaits approval by the San Francisco Arts Commission. Twenty honorees have already been selected in the first group of trailblazing Ancestors. They are: Jane Addams (1860-1935) James Baldwin (1924-1987) George Choy (1960-1993) Federico García Lorca (1898-1936) Allen Ginsberg (1926-1997) Keith Haring (1958-1990) Harry Hay (1912-2002) Sylvester James (1947-1988) Christine Jorgensen (1926-1989) Frida Kahlo (1907-1954) Del Martin (1921-2008) Yukio Mishima (1925-1970) Bayard Rustin (1912-1987) Randy Shilts (1951-1994) Gertrude Stein (1874-1946) Alan Turing (1912-1954) Tom Waddell (1937-1987) Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) Tennessee Williams (1911-1983) Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) The Arts Commission could vote on approving Casuso's design as early as December, depending on how soon the honor walk submits it for consideration. Otherwise, the matter likely won't be calendared until early 2013. The project's steering committee must also fundraise to cover the cost of producing and installing the first 20 plaques, which cannot exceed 3' by 3' feet in size. It is estimated it needs to raise at least $200,000 to make this a reality. If any of these names are unfamiliar we encourage you to research them. Read up on all they did and stood for in the name of our People and how they enriched the world around them. Our community has been overlooked far to often in the greater scheme of world history and with the advent of the GLBT History Museum and this walk we're well on our way of rectifying that oversight.