SF trans community rallies to reclaim site of Compton's Cafeteria Riot in 1966
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- The San Francisco transgender community rallied Sunday to reclaim the site of the Compton's Cafeteria Riot in 1966.
"This building here at Turk and Taylor Streets is a historic site for the trans community here in San Francisco and around the world," said transgender activist Megan Rohrer. "We lead walking tours, and people come from all over the world to come see this site."
At Turk and Taylor Streets in San Francisco is a monument to a little-known piece of LGBTQ+ history. On a summer night in 1966, a group of LGBTQ+ people rioted at Compton's Cafeteria.
Even the exact date of the riot remains a mystery. Witnesses put the riots in August, three years before bar patrons rose up against police raids at the Stonewall Inn, New York, igniting the modern gay rights movement.
RELATED: ABC7 archival film sheds light on earliest known 'gay liberation' uprising in US
Protesters on Sunday climbed to the roof of the building and dropped two banners reading "Liberate Compton's." The building is currently owned by the GEO Group, which runs prisons across the country and operates a halfway house at the site. Organizers say that company's mission desecrates the building's legacy.
"We're hoping to liberate the building in hopes that it can be used as a trans community space," said Rohrer.
"I am a 66-year-old, unapologetically black, transgender woman advocate and activist who has been in the Tenderloin for 42 years," said Ms. Billie Kooper. "Compton's cafeteria is a timeless space in San Francisco's history."
The GEO Group's permit to operate the halfway house is set to expire at the end of June. In a couple of weeks, activists plan to ask the board of appeals to not renew the contract, with the hope of forcing GEO Group to eventually sell the building.
"We're hoping that we can get a permit review and have deep consideration that this historic site, that's a historic building on the city level, on the state level, and on the federal level, will finally be liberated," said Rohrer.
In the meantime, the group will begin raising funds in hopes of eventually becoming the building's owners.
"This is more about liberation than for everyone who is oppressed, and also about securing a space for our history and for carrying a place that means so much for us to be back home with us," said Santana Tapia, transgender activist.
