Compton's Cafeteria riot

1966 protest for transgender rights in San Francisco

The Compton's Cafeteria riot occurred in August 1966 in the Tenderloin district of San Francisco. The riot was a response to the violent and constant police harassment of drag queens and trans people, particularly trans women. The incident was one of the first LGBT related riots in United States history, preceding the more famous 1969 Stonewall riots in New York City. It marked the beginning of transgender activism in San Francisco. The 1960s was a pivotal period for sexual, gender, and ethnic minorities, as social movements championing civil rights and sexual liberation came to fruition. Additionally, the 1950s created the foundation for the trans rights and gay liberation movements with the earlier Homophile movement. Though Stonewall is often heralded as the beginning of the trans rights movement, it is worth noting both the importance of Compton's Cafeteria Riots and the homophile movement that came first. Social groups helped mobilize and even churches, like Glide Memorial Methodist Church in San Francisco, began reaching out to the transgender community. Nevertheless, many police officers resisted these movements and the increasing visibility of these groups, continuing to harass and abuse transgender people. This simultaneous rise in support for transgender rights on the one side and the unwillingness to accept these new ideas on the other created the strain that fueled the riot at Compton's Cafeteria in the summer of 1966. The incident began when a transgender woman resisted arrest by throwing coffee at a police officer. It was followed by drag queens and transgender women pouring into the streets, fighting back with their high heels and heavy bags.

The general public was first made aware of transgender identities after the famous medical transition and 1952 sex reassignment surgery of Christine Jorgensen in Denmark. In the 1960s following Jorgensen's surgery, the ideas and perceptions of gender and trans people started to shift. Gender norms and expressions were bent. Many feminists stopped wearing bras and makeup, hippies and the members of the Beatles grew their hair long, and gender neutral fashion such as floral patterns became more popular. published his book The Transsexual Phenomenon. Benjamin's book The Transsexual Phenomenon further legitimized the concept of being transgender to not only the public, but also the medical community. In simpler terms, "tenderloin district" refers to a district characterized by corrupt police that will not report illegal activities in exchange for money. The Tenderloin district of San Francisco was always inhabited by traditionally marginalized peoples — working class people, people of color, etc. In the early 1960s, there was a push for "urban renewal" of the waterfront North Beach neighborhood and South of Market neighborhood, which were visibly gay, working class areas. Through intense policing and targeted redevelopment of the neighborhoods, residents were pushed out and forced to relocate. Many relocated to the Tenderloin district, which is directly adjacent to South of Market and a few blocks away from North Beach. This relocation made the Tenderloin an area largely made up of queer and trans people. There were a few gay bars in the district already, but many more were established as the LGBTQ population continued to grow.

Many trans women and drag queens did sex work, which many of them referred to as "hustling", in order to survive. A number of the women that Susan Stryker interviewed for the 2005 documentary film Screaming Queens: The Riot at Compton's Cafeteria, who were all members of the transgender community in the Tenderloin district during the time of the riot at Compton's Cafeteria, were involved in street prostitution.

Compton's Cafeteria was a chain of cafeterias owned by Gene Compton in San Francisco from the 1940s to the 1970s. The Tenderloin location of Compton's at 101 Taylor Street (at Turk)—open from 1954 to 1972—was a popular meeting place for transgender people, especially trans women, to congregate publicly in the city. The cafeteria was more of a place to socialize than a restaurant. Police would also come into Compton's without being called because they knew that there were likely people present whom they could harass and arrest. Police could arrest the drag queens and trans women for wearing articles of women's clothing or makeup. One of the trans women in Screaming Queens noted that a trans woman could get arrested for having the buttons on the "wrong" side (i. e. the left side of the shirt, where buttons tend to be placed on women's clothing). Before the riot, there were often physical fights between customers that occurred from 2:00 3:00 am, which was another reason police could raid and close the restaurant. The cafeteria was open all hours until the riot occurred. After the riot, Compton's Cafeteria began to close at midnight in an effort to prevent more conflict. In 1972, the cafeteria closed for good.

In 1965, a group of queer youth—many transgender, many engaged in survival sex work and without stable housing—formed a social and political group by the name of Vanguard, the first known gay youth organization in the United States. Vanguard was initially under the Glide Memorial Church, a radical offshoot of the United Methodist Church and a center for progressive social activism in the Tenderloin for many years. Many of the militant hustlers and street queens involved in the riot were members of Vanguard. Because they would often not buy anything when meeting at Compton's Cafeteria, the cafeteria eventually kicked the members of Vanguard out and refused to let them return. In Screaming Queens, Susan Stryker explained that this incident "lit the fuse that led directly to the riot." There was an article titled "Young Homos Picket Compton's" published about the demonstration in a local newspaper.

In the 1960s the Compton's Cafeteria staff would frequently call the police on transgender customers. The Compton's Cafeteria riot began on an August night of 1966, the month directly following the July Vanguard picket. The exact date is unknown because there was no media coverage at the time and San Francisco's 1960s police records no longer exist. One of the riot's participants claimed that the riot occurred on a "hot" weekend night. The police responded to the call and came to Compton's. When one of the cops grabbed and attempted to arrest a trans woman, she threw a cup of coffee in his face. The NTCU is said to be the first peer run counseling support resource in the world. The NTCU's success was partially due to financial support from the Erickson Education Foundation, which funded renting an office space and hiring two full time peer counselors. According to Susan Stryker, Compton's Cafeteria riot was "the first known incident of collective militant queer resistance to police harassment in U. S. history." Transgender people finally stood up to the abuse and discrimination by police officers. In August 2016, a number of events were held to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the riot, including a gathering in Boeddeker Park in the Tenderloin. Felicia "Flames" Elizondo, who participated in the riot and would later undergo gender reassignment surgery, In March 2020, its name changed to The Transgender District.

In the first episode of the 2019 Netflix miniseries Tales of the City, Anna Madrigal (Olympia Dukakis) receives a photograph of herself in front of Compton's, taken shortly after she had arrived in San Francisco. In episode three, her tenant and friend Shawna Hawkins (Elliot Page) learns about the riot from new friend Claire Duncan (Zosia Mamet). The two visit the site and lie down together next to the historical marker. The riot is depicted in episode eight of the series, including historical touches like the throwing of the coffee into a cop's face. A 2022 young adult novel was published which dramatizes the events, called The Edge of Being. The book takes place during the time of the riots and subsequent protest. The Red Shades is a "Trans Superhero Rock Opera" that occurs on Z Space's Steindler Stage in San Francisco's Project Artaud complex. In The Red Shades, a teenage trans femme Ida runs away from an abusive home in Nevada to live in the Flip House, a hippie flat in San Francisco where she receives affirmations and conflict, similar to the real world 1960s Tenderloin life. The Red Shades is written by Adrienne Price and directed by Rotimi Agbabiaka and Edris Cooper Anifowoshe. The performance utilizes real San Francisco locations, photo projections of the past, and names. "Screaming Queens: The Riot at Compton's Cafeteria " is a documentary film directed by Susan Stryker and Victor Silverman, that explores the history of transgender activism and resistance in San Francisco's Tenderloin district. Through interviews with activists, archival footage, and personal narratives, the film highlights the historical importance of the Compton's Cafeteria riot and the contributions of transgender individuals in the struggle for LGBTQ+ rights. It serves as a reminder of the ongoing fight for equality and the need to recognize and uplift the voices and experiences of transgender and gender non conforming individuals.