Hosted by Honey Mahogany and Sister Roma, Reunion is an opportunity to gather to celebrate our vast queer past, honor the history makers who move our communities forward, and raise funds to keep LGBTQ history alive!

Traditionally held in October to coincide with LGBTQ history month, Reunion is the GLBT Historical Society's annual Gala. The 2024 event will include a reception, awards presentations, a silent auction, and the opportunity to connect with a wide range of LGBTQ history supporters.

Program

5:30 PM Refreshing Cocktails & Silent Auction

6:00 PM Bountiful Buffet

7-8 PM Awards Program

8-9 PM Closing Cocktails & Silent Auction Closes

2024 History Makers Award Recipients

The Stud

The Stud is San Francisco’s oldest LGBTQ+ bar and one of the most famous in the world. Founded originally in 1966 at 1535 Folsom St., the bar moved to its most recent location at Ninth and Folsom in 1987. In 2016, the Stud was given a very large rent increase by its then landlords and former owner Michael McElheney decided to retire. Faced with closure, a large group of local queer leaders and nightlife professionals came together to take over the space, saving the bar and turning it into the nation’s first collectively-owned queer bar. The lease on their former space ended in 2020, during the pandemic, and the Stud closed. However, in 2023, the Stud Collective announced the acquisition of a new space at 1123 Folsom St. which opened to the public in April 2024, capturing the spirit of the former space with aplomb!

Jose Antonio Vargas

Jose Antonio Vargas is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Emmy-nominated filmmaker, and Tony-nominated theatrical producer. A leading voice for the human rights of immigrants, he founded the non-profit immigrant storytelling organization Define American, named one of the World's Most Innovative Companies by Fast Company. He is also a co-founder of 1587 Sneakers, the world's first Asian American sneaker brand. His best-selling memoir, Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen, was published by HarperCollins in 2018. His second book, White Is Not a Country, an examination of America's foundational Black and White racial binary, and where everyone else fits within and outside that binary, will be published by Knopf Doubleday in 2025.

In 2011, the New York Times Magazine published a groundbreaking essay he wrote in which he revealed and chronicled his life in America as an undocumented immigrant. A year later, he appeared on the cover of TIME worldwide with fellow undocumented immigrants as part of a follow-up cover story he wrote. Passionate about promoting equity in education for all students, he serves on the advisory board of TheDream.US, a scholarship fund for undocumented immigrant students, and is a member of the Board of Trustees of the California State University, the country's largest four-year public university system. A product of the San Francisco Bay Area, an elementary school named after him opened in his hometown of Mountain View, California in August 2019.

About the GLBT Historical Society

Founded in 1985, the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender (GLBT) Historical Society is recognized internationally as a leader in the field of LGBTQ public history. Our operations are centered around two sites: our GLBT Historical Society Museum, located since 2011 in the heart of San Francisco’s Castro neighborhood; and our Dr. John P. De Cecco Archives and Research Center, open to researchers in the Mid-Market district.

Sponsors

LEAD SPONSOR

Bob Ross Foundation

DIAMOND SPONSOR

Robert Holgate | Karen Merzenich & Ross Fubini

GOLD SPONSORS

Amazon | Brian Ayer & Jason Seifer | Horizons Foundation

SILVER SPONSORS

BRONZE SPONSORS

Additional support provided by the Ron Conway Family.

MEDIA SPONSOR

San Francisco Bay Times

Robert Pruzan - "Opera in the Park"