A flyer announcing “Gay chorus forming” brought Bob Rufo to the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus. A founding member, he has remained part of its community for nearly five decades.
In a recollection shared in August 2026, Bob described growing up in San Francisco without many places where LGBTQ+ people could be themselves. Joining the Chorus gave him friendships, a sense of purpose and space to live openly.
“I wasn’t just joining a choir. I was finding a community.”
Bob Rufo
His story follows that sense of belonging beyond his own first rehearsal. Over the years, he has seen singers, audience members, volunteers and students find their own connections through the Chorus.
In the accompanying video, Bob reflects on what the group has meant to him and why the community he found still matters.
Adapted from SFGMC’s August 11 and August 18, 2026 newsletters.
Watch: Bob in His Own Words
In 2020, during the months when rehearsals moved online, SFGMC TV recorded several members who lived through the first years of AIDS. Produced for the 23rd International AIDS Conference in July 2020, this video includes Bob’s memories of how the epidemic hit the Chorus and the community around it.
Earlier that spring, Bob sat down with SFGMC storyteller Andy Bandyopadhyay for a Singer Spotlight interview about his life in and out of the Chorus.
