Before Stonewall: The Compton's Cafeteria Riot

http://www.gay.com/news/article.html?2006/06/22/4
 

Historic 1966 transgender riot remembered

by Larry Buhl
 
A memorial plaque commemorating the 40th anniversary of the first known instance of transgender resistance to police harassment in the United States was installed at a ceremony Thursday in San Francisco.
 
The Compton's Cafeteria riot predated the famous uprising at New York's Stonewall Inn by three years.
 
Although Gene Compton's eatery in the seedy Tenderloin district of San Francisco was a haven for gay men, lesbians and transgender people, police harassment was nonetheless a common occurrence. On an evening in August, 1966, an officer entered and grabbed one of the "queens," who threw a cup of coffee in his face. Mayhem erupted as drag queens kicked the cops with their high-heeled shoes. Rioters smashed windows, broke furniture and set fire to a car. The event lasted a day, and picketing lasted several more days.
 
In the aftermath of the riot, the San Francisco Police Department's community relations department began focusing on sensitivity training and brought gays, lesbians and transgender people into the dialogue, said Cecilia Chung, San Francisco human rights commissioner and deputy director of the Transgender Law Center.

"Forty years ago, female impersonation was illegal, and you could even be arrested for wearing buttons on the wrong side of your shirt," Chung said. "In many ways, we can attribute our success in the transgender civil rights movement and the larger LGBT movement to our courageous predecessors at Compton's Cafeteria."
 
A plaque was placed Thursday at the site of the cafeteria at Turk and Taylor streets. Among those honored at the ceremony were several transgender individuals active in the community 40 years ago, and retired police Sgt. Elliott Blackstone, the San Francisco force's first liaison to the LGBT community.
 
Blackstone, who is straight, has been a longtime ally for gay men, lesbians and transgender people, and even took up a collection at his church to help transgender women buy hormones. He will be honored as the lifetime grand marshal at San Francisco Pride on Sunday.
 
"Unexpected allies, like Sgt. Blackstone, fought by our side against prejudice and stigma at a time when our cries seemed to be ignored, and helped to create a ripple of positive change," Chung said.
 
Other speakers at the ceremony included the Rev. Cecil Williams of Glide Memorial Church; author/activists Leslie Feinberg and Jamison Green; Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, and representatives of the San Francisco mayor's office, Human Rights Commission and Police Commission.
 
Chung admitted that although there are many strong allies for the transgender community in San Francisco, most of the country lags far behind in the fight for equality.
 
"We're a historically marginalized group, and although we're seeing the inclusion of gender identity in the dialogue, fighting for equality is still very challenging," Chung said. "Just like gays and lesbians, we're one constitutional amendment away from having our rights removed."

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another intro.
from bilerico.com on Fri, 08/04/2006 - 11:19pm

Another intro. Another student.

Bil already mentioned that I'm INTRAA's membership coordinator. (Aside from starting a Gay-Straight Alliance in high school,) Working with INTRAA is the st


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a sense of history

#16 On Tue, 07/11/2006 6:44pm nclarkson said,

Particularly when I was coming out as a lesbian in high school, I took a lot of comfort in learning about the history of the "gay movement" and lesbian-feminist activism. Similarly, learning about the presence of transpeople in the events that seem to have really sparked gay activism is important for my sense of purpose for my own involvement in activism.

Susan Stryker, trans activist and historian in San Francisco (who also co-edited the Transgender Studies Reader Bruce recently posted about), has done research around the Compton's riot. She produced a documentary about this called Screaming Queens. A sociology professor and some of her grad students at IU-Bloomington just finished a paper exploring the reasons the riot at Compton's was forgotten and Stonewall was taken up as the birth of queer activism as Pride celebrations started. I'm really excited that I'm going to be working with them this fall to do internet research about the globalization of pride and American queer history to other countries who are celebrating pride.

Another point to make about this story. This is another example for me of part of why the "T" belongs with the "LGB." There were, arguably, transpeople involved in these riots at Compton's and Stonewall which ended up electifying queer activism at the end of the 60s. There are points throughout the history of queer activism where it has been particularly difficult to draw a clear line separating trans and LGB people. I'd argue that the same is true now (speaking as a gay transguy, for example).

I also think it's really cool to hear about this police officer who was taking up a collection at his church to help transwomen pay for hormones. :)

As a side note, if you want to see more by Susan Stryker, I'd highly recommend her performance piece, "My Words to Victor Frankenstein above the Village of Chamounix: Performing Transgender Rage," (GLQ 1 (1994): 237-54.)

why the t?

#25 On Sat, 07/15/2006 8:58am pennyjane said,

i have recently found myself at quite some odds with seeing my t involved with the glb's. it has been my personal experience that the glb's are welcoming of us only when we serve the greater good, that is...gay rights. recently i visited willy joe's, a lesbian bar here in bloomington. when i asked for a restroom, the bartender came out from behind the bar and escorted me to the mens' room, eventhough i presented entirely female, as i always do. i just turned around and left, my beer still on the bar. this is just too humiliating for me to take. by contrast, the bar called the 11th st lounge which sits right in front of willy joe's, probably the premiere redneck establishment in this town, welcomes me and treats me always as a lady. Another gay bar in town, owned by phil rhodes, who also owns and operates bullwinkle's, the premiere gay club in town, known now as "wlanuts" but better known as "the other bar" and is under the management of charles (fred) hinkle, has gone so far as to require identification proving one's legal gender to use a restroom. that this happens is bad enough, but what's worse is that there seems to be no reaction from the greater community. That the gay community could be so crude and bigoted makes me often want to remove my part of the t, seems the straight redneck community, at least around here, is far more trans-friendly.

Re: why the t?

#26 On Sat, 07/15/2006 7:49pm nclarkson said,

Pennyjane, we're glad you're participating on the site so much!

I'm from Bloomington too. I've got one more year of school there, but I'm living in Indy this year. I've been to Bull's and Willy Joe's a couple times with friends. I'm sorry to hear you've been treated so poorly. I haven't had any experiences that explicit, but I can sympathize with your frustrations of trying to find a home among LGB folks given the general lack of understanding and what seems to be an impulse among LGB folks to keep a certain distance from me.

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