A world-class city, San Francisco still retains the frontier spirit of its Barbary Coast heritage as a place where people from around the world come to find acceptance and add their voices to this city’s song.

Nowhere is this better exemplified than in San Francisco’s thriving lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. From Harvey Milk to marriage equality, San Francisco’s LGBT heritage is filled with "firsts". We are proud to have been the home of the nation’s first lesbian organization, The Daughters of Bilitis; the first openly gay political candidate, José Sarria; the first openly gay elected official, Harvey Milk; and GGBA, the first LGBT Chamber of Commerce.

San Francisco is also home to first Gay Games and the first openly gay men’s chorus, marching band and community theater. We are the birthplace of Gilbert Baker’s Rainbow Flag and we are now the first U. S. city to perform same sex marriage ceremonies.

Perched at the tip of a peninsula, San Francisco is one of the most picturesque cities in the world. Stroll through the lush Golden Gate Park or beneath the landmark Golden Gate Bridge. Shop and dine your way through the many diverse cultural neighborhoods that blend seamlessly into each other. Feel like being a tourist? Bring your camera because the sights never end in San Francisco - the cable cars, the panoramic city views, Coit Tower, Lombard Street, North Beach, Chinatown, Alcatraz, Fisherman's Wharf, Pier 39, Mission Dolores and so much more.

A calendar full of LGBT festivals and events await you, from the Castro Street Fair and Queer Arts Festival to the International Bear Rendezvous. San Francisco boasts the nation’s largest Pride celebration and the largest leather / fetish event in the world, the Folsom Street Fair. Planning a trip around one of our big parties like Frameline, the international LGBT film festival, is a great way to experience the city the way the locals do – comfortable and open, relaxed yet exciting, and at it’s heart – OUT and PROUD!

San Francisco by night offers something for everyone. The restaurants, theater, opera, ballet and nightclubs are the finest in the world. Not to be missed is Beach Blanket Babylon, a 30-year musical legend of madcap wit and costumes more outrageous than any drag queen dared to dream! From neighborhood to neighborhood the clubs sizzle with salsa, twang for two-steppin or hip-hop to house. Find your crowd amongst the circuit boys, cowboys, showtune divas, leathermen, bears, butch dykes, lipstick lezzies, and drag kings and queens.

But whatever you do in San Francisco, make time for the simple joy of walking proudly and freely hand-in-hand with the one you love through one of the most mythical, diverse, cosmopolitan and genuinely fabulous cities in the world. They say "only in San Francisco" because there is no other place like it. So what are you waiting for?