All across the country, folks are gearing up for Pride season, which kicks off in just a few weeks. Pride is a time for the LGBT community to come together and celebrate the advancements we’ve made towards achieving equal rights over the past several decades.
The Stonewall Riots of 1969 in New York City are often credited for sparking the modern gay rights movement. But few people know that three years earlier, on the opposite side of the country, a similar type of protest took place at a popular late night eatery in San Francisco.
Related: Out Of The Past: 9 Facts About The Stonewall Riots
Compton’s Cafeteria was located in the city’s Tenderloin neighborhood and was a popular haunt for drag queens, transsexuals and hustlers. Restaurant owners, however, didn’t like this and would frequently call the police to arrest their customers for “female impersonation.”
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In August 1966, a police officer tried arresting a transwoman at Compton’s. She responded by throwing a cup of coffee in his face. A riot quickly broke out. Dishes flew. Windows broke. And history was made.
In the 2005 documentary Screaming Queens, filmmakers Victor Silverman and Susan Stryker interview witnesses and participants from that evening.
Watch a short clip from the documentary below.
H/t: NPR
Bruce Dillon
LGBTQ!
ATHANKA
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Jacob23
Transsexuals and crossdressers can have any sexual orientation (hetero, homo, or bi) and most are heterosexual. So while this may have been a “transgender uprising” it was not a gay uprising. While I don’t particularly care one way or the other whether it counts as a “transgender uprising,” the claim is questionable since transgenders do not include drag queens under the so-called “transgender umbrella.”
Clark35
No they were not “Trans” they’re just simply drag queens.
Miss Understood
At the time there were not widely accepted separate categories for transpeople and drag queens. Even today, many drag queens identify as both trans and drag. WHeile by definition they are two different things there’s a lot of overlap. In the 60’s, from what I’ve heard and read, those in the scene mostly identified as gay and as drag queens. many drag queens of the 60s, Candy Darling for example, would probably identify as trans if she were alive today
Clark35
@Miss Understood: Candy Darling was trans, and was transitioning when she died. But if someone’s a drag queen they don’t want to transition or have a sex change at all.
PattyM
The Compton’s uprising is certainly one for the history books but not as the first such fight.
Its only recently that I learned of the Cooper’s Donuts event. The following is all second hand info. Someone who is better at research can undoubtedly find more and more accurate information.
In May 1959 there was a similar riot at Cooper’s Donuts in Los Angeles.
Cooper’s donuts was located between two gay bars on Main Street, Harold’s and The Waldorf. As many are aware, cross-dressing was illegal at the time. The gay bars wouldn’t admit them as having a single person dressed as the opposite gender was enough for the bar to be raided. That didn’t stop the bar patrons from being hassled by the cops. The very word “homosexual” was rarely used in the media.
A couple of cops tried to arrest some of the shop’s customers but they objected and turned on the police. At this point the rest of the patrons, fed up with the harrassment, turned out and barraged the police with coffee cups, food, trash, and anything they could find to throw.
From the Queerty article:
“Soon, the street was bustling with disobedience. People spilled out in to the streets, dancing on cars, lighting fires, and generally reeking havoc. The police return with backup and a number of rioters are beaten and arrested. They also closed the street off for a day”.
There are a number of sites with more on the event. Here are a few:
http://www.johnrechy.com/so_adel.htm
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/08/24/1123726/-The-Coffee-and-Donut-Riots
http://www.sgn.org/sgnnews35_25/page30.cfm