page_title: Compton's Cafeteria riot
section_title: Later effects of the riot
hierarchical_section_title: Compton's Cafeteria riot / Effects of the riot / Later effects of the riot
caption_attribution_description: English: The intersection of Taylor and Turk Streets in the Compton's Transgender Cultural District, following the 2019 San Francisco Trans March. A sign under the Taylor street sign reads "Gene Compton's Cafeteria Way".
context_page_description: The Compton's Cafeteria Riot occurred in August 1966 in the Tenderloin district of San Francisco. 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. 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 pouring into the streets, fighting back with their high heels and heavy bags.
context_section_description: The riot marked a turning point in the local LGBT movement.  According to the online encyclopedia glbtq.com:
  In the aftermath of the riot at Compton's, a network of transgender social, psychological, and medical support services was established, which culminated in 1968 with the creation of the National Transsexual Counseling Unit [NTCU], the first such peer-run support and advocacy organization in the world.
  Felicia "Flames" Elizondo, who participated in the Compton's riot, spoke at a celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Compton's Cafeteria Riot. She said, "A lot of people thought we were sick, mental trash," says Elizondo, who underwent gender reassignment surgery in 1974. "Nobody cared whether we lived or died. Our own families abandoned us and we had nowhere to go."
  It was dangerous for queer folks to exist back in 1966 as there were no equality laws and LGBT people were considered "perverts" and "mental cases". Furthermore, transgender people found themselves locked out of most "respectable" jobs and were often forced to turn to prostitution to survive. Many were beaten, and some were brutally murdered.
  Serving as an overseer to the NTCU was Sergeant Elliott Blackstone, designated in 1962 as the first San Francisco Police Department liaison to what was then called the "homophile community." 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. The riot "did not solve the problems that transgender people in the Tenderloin faced daily", but prompted the city to begin addressing them as citizens rather than as a problem to be removed. Police brutality towards them decreased over time, and they had less fear of being heckled by the police department for dressing how they chose during the daytime.
  On June 24, 2016, at the conclusion of the San Francisco Trans March, a new street sign was unveiled, renaming the 100 block of Taylor Street to Gene Compton's Cafeteria Way. 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. In 2017, the City of San Francisco recognized the Compton's Transgender Cultural District, the world’s first legally recognized transgender district.
caption: The intersection of Taylor and Turk Streets, following the 2019 San Francisco Trans March. A sign under the Taylor street sign reads "Gene Compton's Cafeteria Way".
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