San Francisco City Hall

1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place

On November 27, 1978, San Francisco City Hall was the site of the Moscone–Milk assassinations when former San Francisco Supervisor Dan White shot and killed both Mayor George Moscone and City Supervisor Harvey Milk. The first openly gay elected official in the state, Milk was killed less than a year into his term. White's actions were driven by his anger at Moscone and Milk because of their opposition to reappointing him to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.

City Hall is also a notable location in the history of same-sex marriage in California. On February 11th, 2004, after a directive from San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newson, the San Francisco County Clerk office in City Hall began to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Roughly 4,000 licenses were issued before the California Supreme Court ordered an end to the practice on March 11th. Later that summer all the marriage licenses were voided by the court. Subsequent court challenges led to the legalization of same-sex marriage in the state with the California Supreme Court's 2008 ruling In re Marriage Cases.