Equality for all. Pride and freedom. Respect and tolerance. Those words say a lot about a place called San Francisco.

Actions speak louder than words, though. San Francisco has been waving the flag (albeit not the rainbow version which was created here in 1978) for more than 150 years. During the Gold Rush and the days of the Barbary Coast, historians noted the emergence of a gay population in San Francisco. Today San Francisco has one of the highest per capita gay populations in the world and the city continues to be a champion of equal rights for all.

In 2004 San Francisco was the first U.S. city to issue same-sex marriage licenses. In the weeks immediately following the May 15, 2008 decision by the California Supreme Court, 1,573 marriage licenses were issued at City Hall, more than a thousand of them to same sex couples.

Notable Landmarks and a Man Named Harvey Milk

With the release of the movie "Milk," a new generation is learning more about the first openly gay man elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. For the movie directed by Gus Van Sant and starring Sean Penn, San Francisco's Castro District was transformed with period cars and settings to evoke the freewheeling '70s. Walking tours of famous landmarks in the Castro, many of them associated with Milk's career, are available. San Francisco's Municipal Railway, which operates the city's famous cable cars and public transit, recently dedicated historic streetcar No. 1051 in memory of Milk. A "rolling classroom," the streetcar includes informational panels on Milk's life.

Other notable LGBT landmarks include the Pink Triangle Park (Castro and Market); the National AIDS Memorial Grove (Golden Gate Park); the GLBT Historical Society Museum (657 Mission St.); LGBT Community Center (1800 Market St.); the James C. Hormel Gay and Lesbian Center at the Main Library (100 Larkin St.); and Harvey Milk Plaza, where a 20- by 30-foot-long rainbow flag flies at the corner of Market and Castro. In cooperation with the NAMES Project, which was founded in San Francisco in 1987, a block of the AIDS quilt is displayed and is rotated on a regular basis at Grace Cathedral (1100 California St.).

In the Know

The California Academy of Sciences opened with much fanfare in September 2008 in a new $484 million building in Golden Gate Park. Visitors can take the new express 74X CultureBus for $7 from downtown near the Contemporary Jewish Museum and SFMOMA to the Asian Art Museum in Civic Center and on to Golden Gate Park, also home of the de Young Museum. Among the major exhibits slated for local museums in 2009 are "Chagall and the Artists of the Jewish Theater, 1919-1949," Contemporary Jewish Museum, April 19-Sept. 7, 2009; "Artistic Luxury: Faberge, Tiffany, Lalique," Legion of Honor, Feb. 7-May 31, 2009; "Georgia O'Keeffe and Ansel Adams: Natural Affinities," SFMOMA, May 30-Sept. 7, 2009; and "Lords of the Samurai," Asian Art Museum, June 12-Sept. 20, 2009. "Wicked" will be welcomed home on Jan. 27, 2009 for an open-ended engagement at the Orpheum Theatre.

Meet the Neighbors

While visitors to San Francisco continue to stroll across the Golden Gate Bridge, take the ferry to Alcatraz, board the cable cars and flock to Fisherman's Wharf, Chinatown and Union Square, they are also widening their search for the essence of San Francisco to the neighborhoods. Just as seasoned San Franciscans do, they become conversant on the distinctions, changes in tone and topography, between the "lower and upper," the "north of and west of" and "outer and inner" areas of well-known streets and districts.

Among the neighborhoods popping up more frequently on visitor itineraries are the Mission District, the Haight-Ashbury (especially an area north of Golden Gate Park's "panhandle" called NoPa), and the Fillmore/Japantown area. The Tenderloin, recently profiled on travelandleisure.com one of America's "best secret neighborhoods," is also home to a new crop of bars and clubs. Bring a capacious appetite to this culinary capital as well. To experience each of San Francisco's 5,000-plus restaurants, one would have to dine in a different restaurant every day for 14 consecutive years, and still miss a few on the ever-growing list.

Ready to get started? Try out some of these suggested San Francisco Itineraries!

Out and About

Hundreds of events add to the LGBT experience in San Francisco. Pride Month is June. The theme for the 2009 celebration, June 27-28, is "In Order to Form a More Perfect Union." The annual parade and celebration draws 500,000 or more, making it one of the largest events in California and the largest pride parade in the world. The renowned International Lesbian & Gay Film Festival is also held in June.

Other annual events include the San Francisco Black Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender Film Festival (February); Up Your Alley (August), Harrison Street Fair (August), the Folsom Street Fair, held the last Sunday in September every year; the Castro Street Fair which is always the first Sunday in October; and Sundance Stompede (November), a Country Western weekend for the LGBT community. San Francisco is also home to the "wackiest Nutcracker on earth," the annual Dance-Along Nutcracker performed by the San Francisco Lesbian/Gay Freedom Band.

The esteemed American Conservatory Theatre offers an OUT with A.C.T. subscription series on select Wednesdays that includes after-parties. The San Francisco Opera offers its Rainbow Series. Local theatre buffs are also avid supporters of the "Pride Season" series at The New Conservatory Theatre Center (NCTC) which fosters commissioned works and Theatre Rhinoceros, the world's oldest continuously producing professional queer theater, founded in August 1977.

Visit San Francisco's Visitor Information Center at Hallidie Plaza, 900 Market St. at the corner of Powell and Market streets. For more information, call 415-974-6900 or go to www.onlyinsanfrancisco.com to book your travel today.