Stories of Pride: Three Years Before Stonewall, There Was Compton's Cafeteria

In the LGBTQ community, Stonewall is often seen as the turning point in the fight for LGBTQ rights. But, actually, there was another riot, on the other coast, about three years earlier. It was known as the Compton's Cafeteria Riot and it occurred in the summer of 1966 in the Tenderloin district of San Francisco.

George Compton owned several cafeterias in San Francisco from the 1940s through the 1970s, but it was the Compton’s in the Tenderloin where many transgendered people would gather. In those days—the 40s, 50s, and 60s—transgendered people were unwelcomed in gay bars, so they began to meet at other places throughout the city and since the cafeteria was open 24-hours, it was the perfect spot.

At that time, transgendered people were commonly referred to by themselves, other gays, and non-gays, as Hair Fairies, and because cross-dressing was illegal in those days, police could use the mere presence of transgender people in a bar as a pretext for making a raid and closing the bar down. However, like Stonewall, this hot summer night in 1966 would prove to be the straw that broke the camel's back.

That night, police were called to Compton’s because, allegedly, a group of transgendered people were being especially boisterous. The management felt they needed to go and called the police. One officer, accustomed to manhandling transgendered people, attempted to arrest a transgendered woman, and she was not having it; she threw her coffee in the officer's face. It was on. Dishes and food were thrown; furniture was upended. The large plate glass window that fronted Taylor Street was shattered. As police called for reinforcements, the riot spilled out into the street where a newsstand was set on fire and a police car had all its windows broken. Many were arrested that night, but like Stonewall, it wasn't over.

The next evening more transgendered people showed up at Compton’s, along with many men and women from the gay community. Militant hustlers and street queens, members of Vanguard, the first known gay youth organization in the United States, which had been organized with the help of radical ministers at Glide Memorial Church, came along as well. A lesbian group of street people, the Street Orphans, was also at Compton’s that night.

It was a more civil demonstration that second night, with the community simply picketing the cafeteria whose new policy was not to allow transgendered people to be served. As it became apparent that their quiet march was getting them nowhere, the group, before disbanding, shattered the newly installed plate-glass windows again.

The Compton Cafeteria riots were a big deal in San Francisco in the 60s but have been largely forgotten over these last forty years. It wasn't until a documentary, Screaming Queens: The Riot at Compton's Cafeteria, that the story was reborn, and retold. On June 22, 2006, a memorial plaque was placed in the sidewalk in front of the cafeteria site, which is now the Oshun Center, a free clinic for women.

It may not have been as big as Stonewall, but it was just as important. It was another step in a march that still goes on ….

Stories of Pride: Like Stonewall, Pulse Could Become An Historical Landmark

There is talk, as we just commemorated the third anniversary of the Pulse nightclub mass shooting, of turning the spot into an historic landmark.

As Floridians and queer people around the world continue to mourn and memorialize the third anniversary of the Orlando Pulse Nightclub massacre, a group of Florida lawmakers have introduced a new bill in Congress to have the site declared a historic landmark.

United States Congressional Representatives from Florida, Darren Soto and Stephanie Murphy, recently announced their intentions to create a memorial to those whose lives were taken June 12, 2016; Soto said:

“This is an important step to preserve an LGBT historic landmark at a time when many of these sites are being destroyed. The memorial will serve as a reminder of the remarkable way our community came together to heal and overcome hate.”

At present, funds raised by the non-for-profit group onePULSE have helped establish the site as a temporary landmark, but if this bill passes—and remember, it’s Florida so it might be an uphill climb … the governor of the state recently marked the anniversary of the Pulse shooting without mentioning the LGBTQ community at all—Pulse would have access to national funds to help maintain the memorial as a permanent site.

Barbara Poma, owner of Pulse, says the site has thus far raised $14 million of a $45 million goal.

“In these times when acts of hate and violence are on the rise, we must remember our past and work to do better now and in the future”.

If this bill passes, Pulse would become only the second LGBTQ site in the nation after the Stonewall Inn to become a national monument. And if it passes, I suggest we move to create a memorial to remember the UpStairs Lounge massacre as well; and maybe include the 1966 LGBTQ riot at the Compton Cafeteria in San Francisco.

We can celebrate Pride and dance and sing and have fun, but we need to remember the sadness and the tragedies of what has happened before; if we forget, then nothing will change.

Queerty

Ryan Zinke Wants To Pave Paradise And Put Up An Oil Rig .. Or A Strip Mine

As goosesteps along in his march to destroy this country and fill his bank account, his Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has recommended that four large national monuments in the West be reduced in size so that hundreds of thousands of acres of land ... national park land ... historical lands ... can be opened up to mining, logging and other development.

Zinke’s recommendations revealed in yet another leaked memo—how many leaks is that now for this corrupt administration—and has prompted an outcry from environmental groups, and people with a conscience, who are promising to take the Liar-In-Thief to court to block the moves.

 Zinke’s plan would scale back two huge Utah monuments—Bears Ears, to hence be known as Bears Ear, and Grand Staircase-Escalante, to be renamed, The Stoop— along with Nevada’s Gold Butte, now dubbed Pyrite Hill, and Oregon’s Cascade-Siskiyou, call it a Travesty if you will.

Bears Ears was designated for federal protection by former President Barack Obama ... oh, now we know why _____ wants it decimated ... and is about 1.3 million acres in Utah that is sacred to Native Americans and home to tens of thousands of archaeological sites, including ancient cliff dwellings.

Grand Staircase-Escalante, also in Utah, includes nearly 1.9 million acres and was designated by another democrat, Bill Clinton; the GOP has had it in their sites since 1996.

Cascade-Siskiyou protects about 113,000 acres in an area where three mountain ranges converge, while Gold Butte protects nearly 300,000 acres of desert that feature rock art, sandstone towers and wildlife habitat for bighorn sheep and the threatened Mojave Desert tortoise.

Sadly, the only sites _____ sees as historic are his daughter’s rack and his Golden Toilet.

But Zinke isn’t done; he wants to allow logging at a newly designated monument in a Maine forest and urges more grazing, hunting and fishing at two sites in New Mexico. And he'd like to destroy the oceans; two marine monuments in the Pacific Ocean would also be reduced, while a third, off the Massachusetts coast, would be modified to allow commercial fishing.

Hey, who cares what we destroy, how much of the planet we decimate, how much history we erase, how many endangered species we kill off if someone can make some coins, right?

AP

New York City To Consider Landmark Status For The Stonewall Inn

In a sign that things are changing — however slowly it might seem at times — for the LGBT community, comes the news that the Stonewall Inn just might become New York City's first landmark designation based on significance to the our community. 

The move is thanks to an 18-month long campaign by the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, as announced by Andrew Berman:

“I am deeply gratified that the City of New York will finally consider the Stonewall Inn for landmark designation. This is a long-overdue move to recognize the incredibly important role this site and the riots connected to it have in the struggle for LGBT rights in this country and worldwide. It is critical that the history of sites like Stonewall and the immeasurably important role they played in making our country a more just, open, and accepting place, is recognized and preserved.  

I am glad that the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission has followed in the footsteps of our state and federal government, which in 1999 recognized the unique importance of the Stonewall Inn to our history. But because only New York City landmark designation can protect this site from alteration or demolition, this action is especially important.

This is the first time the New York City has recognized a site with potential landmark designation based solely upon its LGBT history, but it is important that it not be the last."

The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation has asked the  Landmarks Preservation Commission to consider other critical LGBT history sites such as the iconic Greenwich Village gay bar Julius, the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Community Center, and the former Gay Activists Alliance Firehouse.

Next up, the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission can schedule a public hearing and vote on whether it will be officially designated.

As it should ….

image via The Stonewall Inn NYC

Frank Kameny's House Listed On The National Register Of Historic Places

Back in February, 2009, a simple, brick house at number 5020 Cathedral Ave. NW, in Washington D.C., was designated a DC Historic Landmark because it was the epicenter of the gay rights movement in our nation's capital.

And then, this past week, following the last month's death of the home's owner, Frank Kameny, the house was added to the National Park Service's Register of Historic Places. This new designation makes the Kameny house the only LGBT historic site listed in the register. The Stonewall Inn, by comparison, is considered an Historic Landmark, and is the only such landmark with any relation to LGBT history.

Mark Meinke, founder of the Rainbow History Project, and one of the people who pushed to have the Kameny house recognized nationally, says, "WE hope that recognizing [his house] as a national historic site means other cities and states will bring forward other LGBT sites for....recognition." Meinke is speaking of sites like Chicago's Henry Gerber house, and Harvey Milk's Castro Camera site in San Francisco.

David Field, of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, called the inclusion of Frank Kameny house on the register ''fairly precedent-setting'' because it is the first place associated with an LGBT civil rights figure.

This is a huge part of our history, y'all. This is a place where the fight began, where Kameny organized and orchestrated demonstrations and protests regarding the inequalities suffered by the LGBT community. This may just seem like another historic site, but it's another huge step in our march toward equality. If you're ever in D.C. take a look at it.

via Metro Weekly