GLBT History Museum

If you take the time to read and watch everything, this museum is worth your time. If you just want to zoom through and quickly look at things, you’re going to be done in 5 – 10 minutes and probably feel unfulfilled.
The mini-​doc I watched about the Bulldog Baths was excellent, especially since some of the signs and murals they showed in the doc were hanging on the wall right behind the monitor.
Harvey Milk’s suit, accompanied by a recording of him speaking, is the highlight of the museum for sure.

Very interesting museum with great artefacts and stories from the LGBTI community. Small space but has interesting artefacts such as Harvey Milks assassination suit and political memorabilia. Has interestingness video stories from influential people in the community and their stories. An important and vital museum that tells a side of history that is severely undocumented and under represented.

Small museum may not be worth 5 bucks for the more casual visitor but well worth it for those who are more willing to read and dive into the area’s rich history. There are some great stories here but I would have a hard time recommending anyone spend more than an hour here.

Wonderful museum. The curator (I’m assuming that’s his job) sat at the front desk as I walked in and told me about the history of the GLBT Museum and how apparently there are only two in the world, San Francisco and Berlin (weird, right?). Anyway, it was really good! I got to learn a lot about the history of civil rights for Pacific Americans and their struggle to be accepted in the gay community from their family members. It was enlightening and heartbreaking to see the exhibit on Harvey Milk because it was just so real, it felt like it was happening all over again, almost as if I was there.
It was nice to see the appropriate history of the start of drag queens as well as the interesting history behind bath houses in not only San Francisco, but America as well. I definitely would recommend this place to anyone who is stopping by in the area. The employees are very friendly!

A limited budget is a strain on any non-​profit organization, and that restriction clearly shows in this small museum located in the epicenter of the Castro. This is where such a museum belongs, but the rich tapestry of the GLBT movement feels sorely truncated by the closet-​like space and rotating exhibits found here. It’s been almost four years since it opened on the same block as Badlands and Harvey’s on 18^th Street, and I am wondering how long it will be able to keep the space given all the small business closures in the city. At the end of the day, it’s a worthwhile stop for anyone who wants to understand the courage and stamina it took to establish and maintain the human rights campaign at the heart of the movement.
There are only two rooms constituting the museum, the back one housing the more permanent exhibits including a lightboard highlighting three now-​extinct «gayborhoods» in the city (Valencia Street, the Tenderloin and North Beach), queer communities that couldn’t sustain themselves (photo:
). There’s a section that chronicles the painful details of Harvey Milk’s assassination as well as some intriguing insight into the hidden same-​sex situations that occurred in places like the Japanese-​American internment camps. The front room is devoted to rotating art and photo exhibits for the most part. I just wish there was more they could offer for the $ 5 admission. Otherwise I worry it may slip into oblivion.

Please note that I did not actually go into the museum. My husband and I were visiting SF, and made a long trek to the Castro neighborhood, involving several forms of transportation, as we were really looking forward to visiting. It was Wednesday 8/​12, and the website indicated that the museum would be open until 7pm that day. Imagine our disappointment, then, when we arrived at 6:10pm, to find that the museum was closed. Not closing, but completely closed, dark, with nary a human in sight, nor sign of explanation on the door. I sent an e-​mail to them via their website, but it’s nearly three weeks later, and I haven’t heard a thing. Too bad.

I was instantly in tears listening to a recording Harvey Milk made before his death because he was afraid for his safety… which you can listen to while looking at his actual blood stained suit he was wearing when gunned down at his office, donated by his now-​deceased lover.
How more real can history get?
That alone was well worth the price of admission.
I also enjoyed the bath house art that was saved before a famous bathhouse was closed mid-‘80s, the «leather David» sculpture, and other memorabilia from San Francisco’s pioneering gay and lesbian brothers and sisters throughout the last century.
It’s modest (a hallway and a single exhibition space).
It’s affordable ($ 5 admission).
It’s for adults (there’s some graphic porn imagery here and there).
If you slow down and actually read stuff, it packs a wallop.
I spent a very satisfying ½ hour there. It really felt like a good start for a museum for my people.

I was a little disappointed and felt a little deceived. I realize they’re working with limited space, but The GLBT History Museum should have shown much more of our history and not just San Francisco history. I was really shocked that nothing was even mentioned about Stonewall or the defeat of Prop. 8.

I wanted to like this… it has potential, but needs more space and more engaging content. The Harvey Milk display was good.

My girlfriend and I bought a 2-​for-​1 Groupon to this museum. I will admit that it’s a bit small but for a $ 5 entry fee, I can’t complain. There’s a vast amount of information about San Francisco and the gay community that I walked out feeling a bit more educated on its history. We spent maybe 30 minutes there.

I checked this museum out while visiting the Castro for the first time and am happy I went to it. I learned a lot about this city’s history. It was a very emotional place for me, knowing that there is still a lot of progress that needs to be made in our society. They showed a portion of a documentary about transgender prostitutes living in the Tenderloin which was very interesting. I liked the Harvey Milk exhibit and the Asian American individual audio exhibits as well. It’s a very small museum, and the only LGBT museum in the U.S. Hopefully it will expand in the near future with more funding.

I didn’t really know what to expect from a GLBT museum, but I was excited to check it out nonetheless. I have to say I was a bit disappointed in how incredibly small this place is… The exhibits were interesting but I just felt like I was done with the whole place in 10 minutes.
I was also hoping to leave with a delightfully gay SF t-​shirt to proudly wear in the very conservative Chicago suburbs in which I reside, but I was also disappointed in that department. Oh well.
Still, I’m happy to have paid for entry to a museum that is definitely needed and is providing a necessary home for many unique and interesting artifacts of LGBT life throughout the years.

The museum was a great glimpse into our past. I would highly recommend taking the time to listen to all the videos and really soak it up.

This was a cool little treasure to find (rather be told to go find). It is decently priced and a little hole in he wall. They have such great information and artifacts.
Today was the Castro street fair so it was rather busy and made it hard to fully enjoy. Going in here made me want to watch Milk again. I will recommend people go here if they want some history of the Castro or just like learning new information…

The museum was interesting, but I was definitely expecting more. It was just one large room. Thankfully it was a free admission day. Hopefully it is small beginnings to something bigger and better, but it just didn’t live up to my expectations. Try seeing if there is a free admission day and then go.

Well, how do I put this nicely? I’m thrilled there’s an LGBT Museum in the Castro and I’m thrilled there was such a nice man at the door to greet us and I’m even more thrilled there was not a charge on the day we went or I may have been a little peeved, but I really was not impressed on my first visit and I pray the exhibits get better and more attention grabbing.
The exhibits change monthly I heard, but the exhibits weren’t really exhibits like other museums. It was kind of like individual history projects with newspaper clippings, old photos and some artifacts from our gay history. I would have been much happier if I’d been by myself, could have stopped to read all of the news articles, listen to all of the audio presentations and take more notice of some of the other items, but it wasn’t like a storyboard trip through a changing exhibit gallery at any other museum where you start out with a moment in history and the storyboards, articles and artifacts carry you on a journey through gay history. The exhibit jumped around a little bit from the Gay Men’s Choir to Harvey Milk, to the first drag queens and rebellion, some info on the first marches in SF, then back to pre-​WWII times and then back up to some more modern times. The most dramatic exhibit was a photo of the Gay Men’s Choir after the AIDS epidemic wiped out all but 4 – 5 people. The dead were symbolized by men wearing all black while the few remaining Choir members were wearing white or their regular tuxedos. It was heart wrenching, but a great memorial to those who were out loud and proud, but were no match for the early days of AIDS/​HIV.
I’m so happy we have this space to chronicle our history, so don’t get me wrong… go see the Museum. I know some of the items may have been on loaner and/​or the newspaper exhibit style was what they had to work with in such a limited space, but I really had to fight to stay there with a friend for more than 30 minutes. I donated to the Museum anyway because we all know the best way to support our community is through community outreach programs, educational programs and money. This is a good start, but I’m hoping this is just that… a start and it’s all better from here. Good luck my Brothers and Sisters. We’re creative and artistic. Make it happen! Cheers!

So this museum is far from perfect, but it’s a great step in the right direction and, if for no other reason, visit to give them $ 5 and help them continue an important mission: educating people on our queer past.
As has been said, it’s too small and nothing goes very in-​depth.
About those two things: that it’s too small is understandable; it’s a new museum! But at the same time, the space is used inefficiently: put more stuff in there until a bigger place can be afforded! Make it more worth $ 5. Regarding in-​depth-​ness, on a few important topics there is no excuse for not having more information. Regarding that 20,000 San Franciscans have died of AIDS, there’s a tiny little case with hardly any information: what an inexcusable travesty! I rest assured they’re working on something greater.
All of what I’ve mentioned is to be understood regarding a brand new museum. The only real complaint I have is regarding the person manning the desk. He brought his dog to work: what the heck is a dog doing in a museum? The dog was allowed to bark at annoyed patrons and the caretaker just allowed this to happen without constraining the pooch. What on Earth?! Civility and seriousness please. It’s a museum.

I’m not a lesbo, but I support gays all the way. :P
Decided to do something else besides EAT in the Castro while we were in the city for our Food Crawl last weekend.
I wouldn’t really consider this a museum just because it’s like walking into someone’s small studio apartment with random displays of gay presentations hung up.
I didn’t really read too many of the displays there but I did check out some of the graphic pictures they had. Yeah, I’m more a visual learner. ;)
Not really worth the $ 10 we spent each, but whatevs. The money went to a good cause.

Went to the Castro neighborhood while in San Francisco and felt like we should really stop at the GLBT Museum and learn a little bit of history. A little bit of history is probably a pretty good way to sum it up.
The fee to get in is just $ 5 which is perfectly good and inexpensive. No complaints there. The complaint I’d have is that the museum is really small and really lacking much info. It is informative and a good place to go and learn a little bit about the struggle of we gays. I am perfectly cool with the fact that the museum focuses primarily on San Francisco and the goings on there. My issue is, this is a gay museum in San Francisco and it has enough stuff in it to barely fill one not too big room. Really? I would think that with so much history in the city there should be a far more extensive collection. It seemed to barely even cover much of anything. it hints at things but is in depth on nothing. Here is some Harvey Milk swag and that’s about it on that. Here is a mention of AIDS and it’s initial impact and that’s it… Maybe it is just that this is a newish place and hasn’t had a chance to make money and expand itself, but it just seems like there should be SO much more. I think we learned as much about gay history in SF at the Beat Museum…
For $ 5, if you are in the Castro, stop buy. If for no other reason than to give them money and help them build their collection up. But it’s not something I’d consider a must see or something to go out of your way to stop at.

I had a great experience at this museum, I was not familiar with the depth of the GLBT history and this venue did a great job of putting it together in about 900 sq ft of space.
If you have a smart phone you can follow along for free.