2023 Grand Marshals

Paul Aguilar is a fourth generation native San Franciscan. In June 1981, (2 weeks before his 18th birthday), he read about a mysterious disease killing young gay men. In 1988, he tested positive for HIV. He began his community work volunteering at AIDS Dance-a-thon and AIDSWALK SF. After taking a break from the work, to get married and help raise two stepsons, Paul returned to SF and began volunteering with Honoring Our Experience and the HIV Advocacy Network. Paul is a co-founding author of the San Francisco Principles 2020, a manifesto outlining the unmet needs of long-term survivors and is the Chair of the HIV Caucus of the Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club. Paul is also on the Board and lives at Marty’s Place Affordable Housing Corporation, the only self-governing housing co-operative for people living with HIV and AIDS in the United States. Paul currently works as the Long-Term Survivor Community Liaison for the Aging Services department at the San Francisco AIDS Foundation.

Marcel Pardo Ariza (b. Bogotá, Colombia) is a trans visual artist, educator, and curator who explores the relationship between queer and trans kinship through constructed photographs, site-specific installations, and public programming. Their work is rooted in close dialogue and collaboration with trans, non-binary, and queer friends and peers, most of whom are performers, artists, educators, policymakers, and community organizers. They recently curated Juanita: 30 Years of MORE! at the San Francisco Arts Commission Galleries and their installation I Am Very Lucky, Very Lucky To Be Trans, featuring 33 trans, intersex, and gender-nonconforming leaders working in the Bay Area is showing at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Their practice celebrates collective care, intergenerational connection while building sustainable trans futures, and archiving trans history.

L.Frank has spent her life remembering what it means to truly belong, to be Indigenous to a place. In her work as a a Tongva/Ajachemen & Rarámuri artist, writer, tribal scholar, teacher, cartoonist, Indigenous language, and Two Spirit activist, she has forged new pathways and connections for Indigenous and Two Spirit communities in California and around the globe, to remember the ways they each intimately and essentially belong to their Homelands. L.Frank lives and works in Santa Rosa. In June 2019, Frank was awarded the Alexis Arquette Family Foundation | LA Pride 2 Spirits Activist Award.

Mason J. is a Mission-born, Fillmore-raised, Lambda Literary-awarded, Blaxican-Indigenous Mexican, and Sephardic Jewish writer, photographer, historian, and bisexual Two-Spirit transmasc, conjuring in Yelamu on occupied Ohlone Land. While Mason has worn many hats in the past, including foster youth, gay jock, SAG/AFTRA actor, care worker, program manager, and educator; they now work as Wordkeeper, disability justice organizer, housing advocate, public health nerd, night tlifer, and interim Executive Director of RADAR Productions. In addition to serving on the GLBT Historical Society and Dandelion advisory Boards, they have collaborated with VONA Voices, Still Here SF, Berkeley Arts Center, Transgender Cultural District, LYRIC SF, Rainbow Community Center, Project OpenHouse, Ruth Asawa School of the Arts, UC Berkeley, UCSF, Cornell University, SF City & County, @lgbt_history, and was SFPL's James C. Hormel LGBTQIA Center fellow during 2017-2019.

JM Jaffe serves as the Executive Director for the newly independent Lyon-Martin Community Health Services in San Francisco. They are a non-binary, trans masculine, trans health content expert. JM has 13 years of experience working to expand trans programming at Lyon-Martin, and 8 years in consulting at TransLine, a national provider clinical support tool and through their provider training and technical assistance project, Trans Health Consulting. They have assisted over 1000 patients in accessing gender affirming surgery, and work to appeal unlawful surgery denials, obtaining Medi-Cal coverage for many gender affirming surgeries and interventions for the first time, laying the groundwork for the streamlined processes now in place and replicated across the state and country. JM has over a decade of experience in policy advocacy, most recently leading the Save Lyon-Martin campaign, the National LGBTQIA+ Primary Care Alliance, and participating on the Trans Advisory Committee for San Francisco's Office of Trans Initiatives.

Laura Lala-Chávez brings over 25 years' experience in youth development, counseling, and nonprofit management to LYRIC – Center for LGBTQQ+ youth. Laura is a bilingual, Trans, non-binary immigrant and first generation American. Raised between the border of the United States and Mexico, Laura would cross country lines every morning to attend school. As a person with multiple intersections, their lived experience fuels their passion for uplifting and empowering historically excluded youth, immigration justice and LGBTQ+ equality. A proven relationship builder, Laura started their career as a high school counselor at San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) and Leadership Public Schools (LPS). They have personally mentored hundreds of marginalized youth navigating systems and services while serving here and as Associate Director of the Upward Bound Program at Columbia University. Most recently Laura created San Francisco’s first and only LGBTQIA+ safety coalition after LYRIC experienced 3 bomb threats within 6 months, forcing staff evacuations, and subjecting them to rabid hate mail from right wing conservatives. Formed to build community safety among San Francisco organizations serving Trans and nonbinary youth. A parent themselves, Laura believes every child should be resourced, affirmed, and celebrated.

Honey Mahogany is a performer, small business owner, and activist who grew up in San Francisco. Honey received her Masters in Social Welfare from UC Berkeley, and her work has earned her recognition from the City of San Francisco; the State of California; Sainthood from the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence; and awards from numerous organizations, including the Imperial Court of San Francisco; Harvey Milk Democratic Club; Trans Day of Visibility; and the Women's Foundation of California. Honey is a co-founder of the Transgeder District in SF, a founding queen of Drag Queen Story Hour, co-owner of the Stud Bar, recently ran a historic campaign for District 6 Supervisor in San Francisco, and currently serves as Chair of the San Francisco Democratic Party.

Residing in the Oakland area, Breonna, comes with several years of research experience in providing case management, counseling, and direct services to the San Francisco–Bay Area's transgender and gender diverse communities of color. Breonna is a heartfelt and passionate transgender community leader, who seeks to create positive change through her work. She has worked on various behavioral interventions studies, informing health care providers and mental health professionals of the unique barriers that disproportionately impact her community. Currently working with the Center of Excellence for Transgender Health at University of California, San Francisco, as the Director of Community Engagement. She continues to provide individual counseling sessions grounded in the models of health care empowerment and gender affirming care via the Healthy Divas Program. Breonna envisions a safe and affirming world, free of all systems of oppression, where transgender and gender diverse communities are free to thrive!

Stephen Torres has called San Francisco home since 1999. Through working in the industry, he found community among the thousands of workers who support this great city’s historic and diverse nightlife. Like many queer people of color who arrive in San Francisco, working in nightlife was an accessible, sustainable way to establish and provide for himself in this city that is so close to his heart. Torres has organized industry events for networking and support, hosted events creating safe spaces of LGBTQ+ Latin-e,a,x,o inclusion, worked as a journalist, and served on the Board of the Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democrats with a focus on preserving legacy queer spaces. Torres serves as Executive Co-Chair of the Castro LGBTQ Cultural District Advisory Board and as a San Francisco Entertainment Commissioner where he has tied together many of these focuses. He was recognized by Supervisor Rafael Mandelman and Senator Scott Wiener in 2021 for his COVID-19 response work within the District.