The fight to protect a trans landmark in California from ICE’s biggest contractor
Compton’s Cafe is one of the earliest examples of LGBTQ+ resistance.
Today, a prison company occupies the site One of the earliest documented examples of LGBTQ+ resistance against police happened on a hot summer night 60 years ago this month.
It started not with the throwing of a brick, as it did in New York City’s 1969 Stonewall riots, but with the throwing of a coffee cup inside Compton’s Cafeteria in San Francisco.
When police attempted to raid Compton’s – a hub for the drag performers, trans people and sex workers in the city’s Tenderloin neighborhood – hundreds of people in the community fought back.
A drag queen threw a coffee mug at a police officer; others threw dishes and chairs outside.
It was the culmination of years of police harassment, arrests and violence against the community and the beginning of the city’s trans movement.
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5News aggregated this summary from the outlet’s public feed. The full article, with all the context, is on www.theguardian.com — the content belongs to The Guardian US.
