Stonewall Riot Essay

When thinking about one of the key trigger moments that set-in motion the LGBT movement against the oppression and police brutality, the Stonewall Riots of 1969 is a moment that might come to mind for most people. However, three years prior there was a similar moment that has gone under the radar for the most part. Despite its unspoken history, this event has played an essential role in the burgeoning LGBTQ movement in San Francisco. This moment in time was the Compton Cafeteria Riot in August of 1966. This took place in the Tenderloin district of San Francisco. This riot created made an essential impact on the LGBTQ movement in California especially as it would come to inspire existing and as well as future organizations through the sense

Dr. Harry Benjamin published a book, The Transsexual Phenomenon, only a month before the Compton Riot took place. This book was written to advocate for the use of transsexual medical treatment on transgender patients. His belief was that “a person’s gender identity could not be changed and that the doctor’s responsibility was thus to help transgender people live fuller and happier lives in the gender they identified as their own” (Stryker 2017, p. 82). This was a beacon of hope for many transgender individuals in the Tenderloin District. Due to Benjamin having work that placed in in San Francisco, he directly worked with LGBTQ people residing in Tenderloin. These very people who would come to later stand up for themselves.

For many years, this event went unspoken of. Three years later, the Stonewall Riots would occur, further overshadowing Compton’s importance. One of the main reasons the Compton Cafeteria Riot has had a light shone on it was due to Stryker coming across this event through her research in transgender history. When looking through the archives of the Gay and Lesbian Historical Society, Stryker came across an old article describing the Compton Cafeteria

Turner (2012) cites several organizations that came into effect after Compton’s Cafeteria Riot such as “the first trans peer-support group” (p. 6). She also cites the National Transsexual Counseling Unit, FTM International, and Transgender Nation. The riots sparked several different organizations to be founded in order to protect trans people. Furthermore, California then became one of the first states to create a law that allows transgender people to change the gender on their birth certificate (Turner 2012, p. 7). The riots took place just a few years before the Stonewall riots in New York, which are often seen as the key turning point in the movement, and many activists who were involved in the Compton Cafeteria protests went on to play important roles in the Stonewall uprising and other subsequent LGBTQ mobilizations. By creating a sense of possibility and solidarity within the LGBTQ community, the Compton Cafeteria riots helped to lay the groundwork for a much larger and more sustained movement for LGBTQ rights and