Compton’s Cafeteria Riot

#ComptonsCafeteriaRiots (August 1966): In #SanFrancisco, #GeneComptonsCafeteria was an all-hours restaurant where #transgender people in the 1950s and 1960s would meet and congregate because they were unwelcome in gay bars owing to transphobia. Many times, in an effort to deter trans patrons, the owners would call the police and have trans patrons arrested for “female impersonation,” a crime in those days. In August 1966, the restaurant owners imposed an extra fee for transgender patrons, who picketed the restaurant and were arrested and beaten by the police force. During one of the arrests, a trans woman who had enough of the mistreatment, bigotry, and police brutality, threw coffee in the face of one of the police officers and violence erupted. This became known as the #ComptonsCafeteriaRiot. Protests were joined in the following nights by more trans activists and LGBQ allies, but not much is known as the event was not mentioned in the newspapers and police records from that time no longer exist. Many who participated in the Riots, including #FeliciaFlamesElizondo, continued to speak out and keep their story in queer consciousness in the years afterward. In 2017, in an effort to remember this event and pay tribute to trans activists, #ComptonsTransgenderCulturalDistrict was establish, which is the nation’s first legally recognized transgender district. These events have also been portrayed in Netflix’s #TalesOfTheCity and in the documentary #ScreamingQueens by #SusanStryker. #PrideMonth#LGBTQIA#LGBTQIAPride#Pride#LegendsOfPride#YouCannotEraseUs