The GLBT Historical Society Museum, located in San Francisco’s Castro district, is reopening for GLBT Historical Society members on Thursday, October 1, and to the public on Saturday, October 3, after six months of closure during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The first stand-alone museum of LGBTQ history in the United States, the GLBT Historical Society Museum opened its doors to the public in 2011 and welcomes over 20,000 visitors annually.
The museum will be open on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays from 12:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. New ticketing and visitor policies have been adopted to comply with city and state health regulations and ensure proper social distancing. Visitors must reserve their tickets online in advance; the museum will not be able to accommodate walk-ins at this time. Tickets will be timed at hourly intervals, with the number of visitors capped at five people per hour. Daily museum attendance will be limited to 25 percent of total capacity.
The GLBT Historical Society Museum has implemented extensive cleaning procedures to ensure visitor safety, including hourly cleanings on open days and additional cleaning on days when the museum is closed. Hand-sanitising stations are available for visitors, who are required to wear face coverings or masks at all times during their visit.
Ticket prices for the museum remain unchanged. General admission is $10; discounted admission for youth (ages 13 to 17), seniors (age 65 and over), students, teachers, active-duty military service members and people with disabilities is $6; and admission is free for children (age 12 and under), GLBT Historical Society members, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program cardholders and North American Reciprocal Museum members. Thanks to a grant from the Bob Ross Foundation, admission on the first Tuesday of each month is free. Admission is also free for Bay Area residents on Saturdays.
Visitors can experience two exhibitions currently on display at the museum. The Community Gallery currently hosts «Performance, Protest and Politics: The Art of Gilbert Baker» This exhibition uses textiles, costumes, photographs and ephemera to paint a complex portrait of artist Gilbert Baker (1951–2017), who designed the iconic rainbow flag. The Main Gallery hosts our long-term exhibition, «Queer Past Becomes Present», showcasing photos, documents and artefacts telling the stories of over a century of everyday queer life among the diverse populations of San Francisco.
Ticket reservations will be available on the GLBT Historical Society’s website at glbthistory.org/museum.
