June 2019

Gerry Kirby
TARC Volunteer, Ambassador hotel resident

Originally from Portland but moving to New York City in 1968, Gerry Kirby performed on Broadway with Pearl Bailey and Cab Calloway in the all-black production of Hello Dolly!, opened for Bette Middler wearing nothing but a towel at the legendary gay bathhouse The Continental Baths (with Barry Manilow on piano), toured Europe with Donna Summers, and then moved to San Francisco where he was Sylvester’s back-up singer and dancer. He volunteered at the Tenderloin AIDS Resource Center for many years and continues to live in the Ambassador Hotel to the present day.

Paul Harkin
Program Manager, GLIDE HIV and Hepatitis C Prevention Services

Paul Gibson
youth counselor

Rev. Penny Sarvis and Rev. Glenda Hope
San Francisco Network Ministries

Stephany Joy Ashley & Esteban Rodriguez

Stephany Joy Ashley: former President of the Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club, former director of the Saint James Infirmary, and homeless Advocate

&  Esteban Rodriguez:  Community Health RN with the SF Department of Public Health, former Tenderloin AIDS Resource Center intern

Randy Alfred
longtime gay journalist

Journalist Randy Alfred met Hank Wilson in Bay Area Gay Liberation (BAGL) in 1975. They formed a lifelong friendship, marked by mutual support and profound mutual respect. For many years, Randy and Hank met weekly for “Friday night brunch,” checking in on each other’s life and pondering political possibilities before heading out to SOMA for further fun and frolic.

Randy was a co-founder of the San Francisco Bay Times and the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association. He was twice editor of the San Francisco Sentinel and also worked at KSAN-FM (producing The Gay Life radio show), KRON-TV, TechTV and Wired. He was inducted into theLGBTQ Journalists Hall of Fame in 2015.

The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence

Founded in San Francisco in 1979, The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence are a global order of outrageously dressed queer “nuns” who devote themselves to community service, outreach to those on the edges, human rights, respect for diversity and spiritual enlightenment. Today they have houses throughout the US and in many other countries. In 1983 The Sisters worked closely with Hank Wilson to organize the first AIDS Candlelight Vigil. The Sisters canonized Hank Wilson as a saint in December 2000, and perform a ritual in the Thanks to Hank movie declaring Hank the Patron Saint of Housing Justice, Plague Survivors, Queer Underdogs, and Compassionate Action.   

In this picture:  Sister Amor Ah Quality, Sister Chola de Dah, Sister Dana Van Equity, Sister Flora Goodthyme, Sister Hellen Wheels, Sister Jezebelle, Sister Mary Timothy, Sister Nova Aggra,  Sister Saki Tumi and  Sister Yeshe Did.