The Oakland Gay Men's Chorus will be performing at Laney College at 4 p.m. on Sunday.

"First gay bar in Sausalito, in 1952. It has so much history, and no one knows it," explained Sausalito resident Joel Karr. "Sausalito was the biggest gay city in the country during the '40s and '50s."

Karr explains that during that time, to be gay was especially dangerous.

"Officers were coming home from the war and leaving in SF the Presidio. They could take a ferry and come here," said Karr.

Besides what is now Scoma, a restaurant on Bridgeway, the city's main strip, Karr points out the chamber of commerce.

"It took up the whole block, it was the Sausalito Inn, the biggest gay bar in town," Karr explained.

Karr also pointed out Saylor's, a popular Mexican restaurant in town with its own fabled past.

"This was close to the boating bohemian community so people could come down here easily," Karr explained.

Karr feels so passionately about Sausalito's gay bar scene and its importance that he is working on a book to document and peel back the layers of how it played a pivotal role during a time when being gay for many was a closely guarded secret.

"People need to know about this history," he said.

Pinole is where the city's youngest mayor used his unique perspective to create a celebration highlighting both events.

If you want to get to know someone, they say you should take a walk in their shoes.
Or in Devin Murphy's case, just take a walk alongside him.

"He's exceptional." "He is at every little gathering in the city we go to! He's very personal, he knows my name." Those are some of the words said about Pinole Mayor Devin Murphy.

In 2023, Murphy became the youngest mayor in Pinole's 120-year history -- being sworn in at just 29 years old. He was also the city's first Black and openly gay mayor.

"It was very difficult to understand how folks received me so as I was trying to build approval I had to recognize I am who I am, and I was going to no matter what, maybe piss off some people but also make others happy and make lives better," Murphy told KRON4.

One of the ways he looked to make lives better was to create space for community empowerment. Under his direction, the city launched a dual Pride and Juneteenth celebration, which is now in its second year.

"It's about recognizing the historic significance of both events," Murphy said. "I feel like my purpose is to create spaces like this. It could be because I sit on the intersections of these identities. But I also frankly think it's just who I am as a human being."

Being the first leader of the city to tick off so many boxes wasn't new for Murphy. He was also the first openly gay and Black student body president at his alma mater UCLA.

However, just because he'd been the first before, doesn't mean it was always comfortable.

"As mayor, I went to meetings with all mayors of Contra Costa County monthly, and most of those mayors weren't my age; they didn't look like me and had backgrounds different from me," Murphy said.

Those differences only emboldened Murphy to do more for his community, crediting his mother for influencing his passion for public service.

"Seeing her work in social welfare in uplifting our city and community inspired me to make systemic changes," he said.

Murphy remains on the city council and is currently mayor emeritus. His true passion is to create clean economy initiatives.

"One day I hope everybody in Pinole has solar, has storage for that solar, and I hope that they feel it's going to empower them to be better neighbors to each other," Murphy said.

Murphy joins this walking group regularly to connect with those he represents. He says he simply wants people to feel like democracy is working for them.

"I want them to recognize they are seen, and they are heard and that I may not know everything about their community," Murphy said. "But I'm willing to listen and willing to bring their backgrounds, cultures creeds and understanding of the world into policy here in Pinole."

KRON4's Pride Special will air at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 26.

Aside from the ever-present chirping of Golden Gate Park’s many birds and the wind rushing through the towering redwoods above, one of the few sounds you may encounter at the National AIDS Memorial Grove is the sound of head groundskeeper Travis Mathews, tending to the very intentionally landscaped corner of the park.

“You move in and out of spaces of darkness and light, you go into the redwoods and it’s a darker space and then you come out into this meadow into the light,” said Mathews.

The National Aids Memorial is a place of meaning to so many, but especially to those in the LGBT community who gather here for remembrance and healing.

“I had a partner who died from AIDS in 1993 before the life-saving medications came along," said Steve Sagaser, senior manager of the National AIDS Memorial. “This job was perfect for me because through my work I’m able to help honor all of those lives that were lost to AIDS and all the lives impacted by AIDS.”

It may be an incredibly beautiful sanctuary, but the story begins during one of the LGBT community’s most painful chapters, the AIDS pandemic, which took the lives of thousands in San Francisco alone. For a community that was oftentimes ostracized, AIDS only added to the stigma that so many faced.

“At that time ... the gay community and people with HIV and AIDS were being ignored and hated and demonized,” said Sagaser.

The memorial has truly been a beacon of love to the LGBT community, but its impact has been expanding more and more. Just up the hill from the National AIDS Memorial, with a view as far as Sutro Tower, construction is about to start on a brand-new beacon of love, explained Daniel Montes with the San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department.

“This is the circle of friends, what many people consider to be the center of the National AIDS Memorial Grove," said Montes, a spokesperson for SF Rec and Parks. "In here are the names of some people who passed away from AIDS, but also those who donated to set this place aside. The circle also serves as the inspiration for one of the park’s newest memorials.”

"This memorial is going to be the first permanent memorial in the US for breast cancer,” Montes added.

 “Rec and Park is partnering with Bay Area Young Survivors which is a group that helps and provides support for people who have been diagnosed with breast cancer,” said Montes.

The Bay Area Young Survivors Breast Cancer Memorial Garden will feature a similar circular gathering space.

“So people can look down at the words and then up at the view in this section, correct and there’s also going to be a metal plaque for people to look at,” Montes said.

Ground for the new memorial is being broken this fall and will transform the hillside much as the AIDS Memorial Grove did a quiet grove of redwoods.

“What’s really exciting is that this is the first memorial to come to Golden Gate Park since the AIDS Memorial Grove which was '96, so that’s over two decades,” said Montes.

KRON4's Pride Special will air at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 26.

It's a moment his colleagues could’ve never imagined.

For some, the name Harvey Milk doesn’t ring a bell.

“This is my first time that I’ve heard this and it's my first time here, in San Francisco,” said SFO traveler Abdul Obidullah.

Travelers like Obidullah say they got an unexpected history lesson at the Harvey Milk Terminal. In 1977, Milk became the first openly gay man elected to public office by winning a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors just a year before his assassination.

These enlightening moments are special for gay rights activist Allen Klein who worked with Milk in the 1970s.

“A terminal at San Francisco airport named after him is kind of amazing,” said Klein.

The photos on the terminal wall show Klein's friends protesting during the 1970s. He still remembers when Milk asked for his help almost 50 years ago.

“He called me up and he said, 'You had such a successful benefit against Anita Bryant. Let's do one to raise money to fight the Briggs Initiative,' which he helped defeat,” Klein remembered.

Klein said the Castro in those days was a place of community where everyone knew your name. While Harvey Milk was a politician, he was also a person.

“You could talk to him," Klein said. "It wasn’t like he was on a pedestal.”

But he was on a soap box, fighting for gay rights, a reality he’d never live to see. The SFO terminal is just a small glimpse of what Klein said they fought for.

KRON4's Pride Special will air at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 26.