The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted unanimously June 7 to support the designation of an intersection in the Transgender District as a historic landmark.
The intersection of Turk and Taylor streets is the former site of Compton's Cafeteria where, in August 1966, a groundbreaking riot by transgender people tired of being harassed by police took place, three years before the Stonewall riots in New York City.
Introduced by former District 6 Supervisor Matt Haney, who has since resigned after he was sworn in as a state assemblymember May 3, the effort was inherited by District 5 Supervisor Dean Preston after the Turk and Taylor streets intersection moved into District 5 as a result of redistricting. Preston's office then contacted the Transgender District's leadership to find out which issues were on their agenda, said Preston legislative aide Kyle Smeallie in May. The landmark designation was one, and Preston has since adopted sponsorship of the resolution. Now that it has passed the Board of Supervisors, it will move on to the Planning Department and the Historic Preservation Commission before coming back to the supervisors for a final vote.
Supervisors approved the measure without comment.
"It's important that the city recognize and lift up the courage of LGBTQ San Franciscans who stood up against police violence and oppression at Compton's Cafeteria," Preston stated in a news release. "I hope that by landmarking the intersection of Turk and Taylor streets, we can help educate future generations on how important this space has been to the LGBTQ community."
A historical marker denoting the Compton's riot was installed outside the former diner in 2006. In 2016, the city christened the 100 block of Taylor Street as Gene Compton's Cafeteria Way to honor the 50th anniversary of the historic riots that occurred at the long-gone diner. Former District 6 supervisor Jane Kim had authored the honorary street renaming proposal, meaning it did not change the postal addresses of the businesses and residences located on that block of Taylor.
"Our intention is to create a space and commemorate a space that has significance to the LGBTQ community," Smeallie told the Bay Area Reporter.
The corner continues to hold significance for queer and transgender communities. It is currently the site of the Black Trans Lives Matter mural, a visual demonstration calling for awareness of violence against trans women, Preston's release stated.
"It is time the Compton's Cafeteria riots of 1966 receive the recognition it deserves — it is the first documented uprising of LGBT people in the United States, led by trans people, gender-nonconforming people and queer folks in the Tenderloin, and it warrants the recognition decreed by the Board of Supervisors as a site of historical significance," said Jupiter Peraza, director of social justice initiatives at the Transgender District. "The Turk & Taylor street intersection is a true transgender and queer landmark, and the center of the Transgender District. This acknowledgment and designation of transgender history is truly historic, as most queer and transgender cultural assets have yet to be legally recognized."
The inclusion of references to Compton's has become more controversial over the years. When the city established the first legally recognized transgender district in the world in 2017, it was called the Compton's Transgender Cultural District. The district's leaders dropped Compton's from the name in 2020 so it is simply known as the Transgender District.
At the time Aria Sa'id, a trans woman who is the president and chief strategic officer of the district, had told the B.A.R. they would also petition the city to drop the reference to the diner owner from the ceremonial street name as well.
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