Andrea Shorter, a beloved Bay Area political strategist and one of the most consequential LGBTQ rights advocates of her generation, passed away peacefully on March 19, 2026. She was 60 years old.

Andrea arrived in San Francisco in 1991 and spent the rest of her life making it more just and more free. Her advocacy spanned marriage equality, voting rights, criminal justice reform, and protections for domestic violence survivors. In leadership roles with Equality California, Out and Equal, the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt, and the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice, she developed policies centered on systemic reform — always keeping the intersectional needs of those most impacted by inequality at the fore.

A co-founder of the Bayard Rustin LGBT Coalition, she was devoted to building coalitions across the LGBTQ and African American communities. She served twenty years on San Francisco's Commission on the Status of Women, was honored as Grand Marshal of the SF Pride Parade in 2009, and was a David Bohnett LGBT Leadership Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School.

Andrea is survived by her partner Lubov Smith, her mother Karen, her brothers Lawrence and Aaron, her nephews Kahlil and Lukas, and her beloved inner circle, "The Council."