Members of the the Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club and other community activists gathered on Mon/18, MLK Day, at the area on the southeast corner of Castro and 18th Street, to post several memorials for recent LGBTQ people who had passed.
The group converged after the traditional sacred mourning space was threatened, when the adjacent Bank of America branch posted signs forbidding the erection of memorials on the site, which had been used for decades to commemorate deaths in the community. (After local reporting from 48 Hills and Hoodline and being contacted by city officials, Bank of America removed the signs, promising to “ensure it remains a memorial.”)
Back when LGBTQs in San Francisco were starting to flex their political muscle, Terry Henderling was one of the co-founders of the Gay Democratic Club, which was renamed in honor of Harvey Milk after the gay San Francisco supervisor was slain in 1978.
Mr. Henderling died at his San Francisco home December 8. He was 79. Friends said Mr. Henderling s body was transported to the medical examiner s office; no cause of death has been released. The medical examiner s office did not return a call seeking information.
In addition to being an early leader of what is now known as the Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club, Mr. Henderling was involved in the Butterfly Brigade, an early safe-street patrol program, his friends Randy Alfred and John Blackburn wrote in separate emails to the Bay Area Reporter.