1 00:00:02,360 --> 00:00:05,480 Speaker 1: Happy Saturday, everybody. It is the fiftieth anniversary of the 2 00:00:05,519 --> 00:00:10,280 Speaker 1: Stonewall Riots, which started on June and continued into the 3 00:00:10,320 --> 00:00:13,280 Speaker 1: twenty nine. We have talked about Stonewall in a couple 4 00:00:13,320 --> 00:00:16,480 Speaker 1: of past episodes, and for today's classic, we're talking about 5 00:00:16,480 --> 00:00:20,239 Speaker 1: one of its precursors, the Compton's Cafeteria Riots of nineteen 6 00:00:20,280 --> 00:00:24,320 Speaker 1: sixty six. This episode originally came out in and we 7 00:00:24,320 --> 00:00:27,200 Speaker 1: were a little less careful with some of our language 8 00:00:27,200 --> 00:00:29,000 Speaker 1: than we would be if we were talking about it today, 9 00:00:29,040 --> 00:00:33,800 Speaker 1: particularly with terms like prostitute and pattiwagon, which we would 10 00:00:33,800 --> 00:00:37,440 Speaker 1: be more likely to say sex worker and police band. 11 00:00:37,520 --> 00:00:40,440 Speaker 1: There's not really a great other term to replace that 12 00:00:40,479 --> 00:00:46,040 Speaker 1: second one, So enjoy. Welcome to stuff you missed in 13 00:00:46,120 --> 00:00:55,320 Speaker 1: history class, the production of I Heart Radios, How Stuff Works. Hello, 14 00:00:55,360 --> 00:01:00,720 Speaker 1: and welcome to the podcast contrac and I'm Polly Frying Today. 15 00:01:00,800 --> 00:01:03,720 Speaker 1: A lot of people called the Stonewall Riots, which started 16 00:01:03,720 --> 00:01:08,000 Speaker 1: on June nineteen sixty nine, the beginning of the LGBT 17 00:01:08,200 --> 00:01:11,160 Speaker 1: rights movement in the United States, and is, as is 18 00:01:11,200 --> 00:01:15,480 Speaker 1: really often the case, kind of an oversimplification. The Stonewall 19 00:01:15,640 --> 00:01:19,040 Speaker 1: Uprising was more like the event that made people who 20 00:01:19,080 --> 00:01:22,520 Speaker 1: were not already fighting for LGBT rights, aware that there 21 00:01:22,560 --> 00:01:26,240 Speaker 1: was a fight going on at all. In reality, gay 22 00:01:26,319 --> 00:01:30,080 Speaker 1: rights organizations, which at that point we're called homophile organizations, 23 00:01:30,080 --> 00:01:33,160 Speaker 1: had been actively working towards gay rights and legal protections 24 00:01:33,440 --> 00:01:36,120 Speaker 1: for well over a decade before Stonewall. Some of the 25 00:01:36,120 --> 00:01:39,560 Speaker 1: most well known examples are the Machine Society and the 26 00:01:39,600 --> 00:01:42,240 Speaker 1: Daughters of Belidas, which were focused on the rights of 27 00:01:42,280 --> 00:01:45,800 Speaker 1: gay men and lesbians, respectively. And there were also other 28 00:01:46,000 --> 00:01:49,559 Speaker 1: violent uprisings in the years before Stonewall, and the names 29 00:01:49,600 --> 00:01:51,880 Speaker 1: of these uprisings are not nearly as well known as 30 00:01:51,880 --> 00:01:54,840 Speaker 1: Stonewall is today. One of those was a riot at 31 00:01:54,920 --> 00:01:58,600 Speaker 1: Gene Compton's cafeteria in nineteen sixty six, in which the 32 00:01:58,640 --> 00:02:02,040 Speaker 1: restaurant's patrons, who were predominantly gay men, drag queens, and 33 00:02:02,040 --> 00:02:05,320 Speaker 1: transgender women, fought back against police. And that's what we're 34 00:02:05,320 --> 00:02:07,760 Speaker 1: going to talk about today, and I do need to 35 00:02:07,760 --> 00:02:11,320 Speaker 1: give a couple of notes before we start. The concept 36 00:02:11,400 --> 00:02:14,160 Speaker 1: of gender identity and the language that we used to 37 00:02:14,160 --> 00:02:16,520 Speaker 1: talk about it has really evolved a lot since the 38 00:02:16,520 --> 00:02:19,919 Speaker 1: time that we are talking about. The word transgender wasn't 39 00:02:19,919 --> 00:02:23,840 Speaker 1: coined until nine after this story was long over, and 40 00:02:23,960 --> 00:02:27,280 Speaker 1: today It's an umbrella term that describes a range of 41 00:02:27,280 --> 00:02:30,760 Speaker 1: ways in which a person's gender identity or expression doesn't 42 00:02:30,800 --> 00:02:32,720 Speaker 1: match up with the sex that they were assigned when 43 00:02:32,800 --> 00:02:36,000 Speaker 1: they were born. So our use of this term in 44 00:02:36,040 --> 00:02:39,600 Speaker 1: this episode is a little bit anachronistic, but it's how many, 45 00:02:39,639 --> 00:02:42,960 Speaker 1: but definitely not all, of the people in this story 46 00:02:43,160 --> 00:02:46,160 Speaker 1: went on to identify later in their lives after that 47 00:02:46,200 --> 00:02:51,080 Speaker 1: word had come into common usage. Also, because three distinctly 48 00:02:51,200 --> 00:02:54,080 Speaker 1: different groups of people were all involved in this event, 49 00:02:54,160 --> 00:02:57,359 Speaker 1: and those were cross stressors, transgender women, and gay men, 50 00:02:57,680 --> 00:03:00,120 Speaker 1: we're not going to try to specifically name everyone of 51 00:03:00,200 --> 00:03:03,000 Speaker 1: those every single time that it might be relevant, because 52 00:03:03,040 --> 00:03:06,840 Speaker 1: that becomes extremely wordy and convoluted. We do want to 53 00:03:06,840 --> 00:03:09,280 Speaker 1: make clear though, that although there can be some overlap 54 00:03:09,320 --> 00:03:11,760 Speaker 1: within these groups, such as gay men who cross dress 55 00:03:11,840 --> 00:03:15,240 Speaker 1: or transgender people who also who are also gay as examples, 56 00:03:15,919 --> 00:03:19,359 Speaker 1: these terms have specific meanings and they refer to specific 57 00:03:19,360 --> 00:03:23,799 Speaker 1: traits and behaviors. So transgender refers to gender identity, cross 58 00:03:23,880 --> 00:03:27,000 Speaker 1: dressing refers to a person's clothing, and gay refers to 59 00:03:27,040 --> 00:03:31,360 Speaker 1: a person's physical or emotional attractions to other people. This 60 00:03:31,400 --> 00:03:34,160 Speaker 1: episode also does include some parts that parents and teachers 61 00:03:34,240 --> 00:03:38,200 Speaker 1: might want to avoid for younger listeners, particularly some discussion 62 00:03:38,240 --> 00:03:41,080 Speaker 1: that's related to sex and sex work. So those are 63 00:03:41,080 --> 00:03:45,560 Speaker 1: our notes before we start the contents. Cafeteria riot was 64 00:03:45,640 --> 00:03:48,480 Speaker 1: definitely a product of its time and place, so we 65 00:03:48,600 --> 00:03:51,600 Speaker 1: have to do some stage setting on this one. In 66 00:03:51,640 --> 00:03:54,640 Speaker 1: the mid to late nineteenth century, many cities around the 67 00:03:54,720 --> 00:03:57,720 Speaker 1: United States started passing laws to make it illegal for 68 00:03:57,800 --> 00:04:01,400 Speaker 1: people to cross dress. At this point, homosexual acts were 69 00:04:01,400 --> 00:04:04,680 Speaker 1: already illegal in most places, so it's not entirely clear 70 00:04:04,880 --> 00:04:08,360 Speaker 1: exactly what sparked this need to regulate this type of 71 00:04:08,440 --> 00:04:12,000 Speaker 1: dress at this particular time. One theory is that as 72 00:04:12,040 --> 00:04:14,880 Speaker 1: people moved into cities and found communities of like minded 73 00:04:14,880 --> 00:04:18,400 Speaker 1: people and began to more outwardly and publicly practiced cross dressing, 74 00:04:18,839 --> 00:04:23,440 Speaker 1: the majority found this behavior quite threatening, regardless of what 75 00:04:23,520 --> 00:04:27,120 Speaker 1: the precise reasons were. Columbus, Ohio, passed such a law 76 00:04:27,200 --> 00:04:31,440 Speaker 1: in eighteen forty, Chicago, Illinois, did in eighteen fifty one, 77 00:04:31,680 --> 00:04:35,440 Speaker 1: and more cities followed, including San Francisco, California, in eighteen 78 00:04:35,480 --> 00:04:39,520 Speaker 1: sixty three. These laws were generally written to forbid all 79 00:04:39,680 --> 00:04:43,360 Speaker 1: cross dressing, but in practice enforcement was a lot more 80 00:04:43,440 --> 00:04:46,760 Speaker 1: focused on people with a masculine appearance or a physically 81 00:04:46,760 --> 00:04:50,559 Speaker 1: male body who were wearing women's clothing. It also means 82 00:04:50,640 --> 00:04:53,200 Speaker 1: that these laws were applied to both straight and gay 83 00:04:53,200 --> 00:04:56,640 Speaker 1: people who cross dressed, and to transgender people whose dress 84 00:04:56,680 --> 00:05:01,080 Speaker 1: was typical for their gender identity. Magnus Rshfield coined the 85 00:05:01,080 --> 00:05:04,880 Speaker 1: word transvestite in nten, and today most of us think 86 00:05:04,960 --> 00:05:06,960 Speaker 1: of this in terms of cross dressing, but at the 87 00:05:07,040 --> 00:05:09,520 Speaker 1: time it applied to a much broader range of gender 88 00:05:09,560 --> 00:05:13,680 Speaker 1: identities and not just a clothing. In nineteen nineteen, Hershield 89 00:05:13,680 --> 00:05:16,160 Speaker 1: would go on to found the Institute for Sexual Science 90 00:05:16,160 --> 00:05:19,560 Speaker 1: in Berlin, which was dedicated to studying sex and gender. 91 00:05:20,160 --> 00:05:22,200 Speaker 1: Through his work and the work of others, around the 92 00:05:22,240 --> 00:05:26,440 Speaker 1: same time, people gradually developed a vocabulary to describe and 93 00:05:26,480 --> 00:05:30,920 Speaker 1: talk about the nuances of sexual orientation and gender identity. 94 00:05:31,160 --> 00:05:34,040 Speaker 1: During World War Two, members of the United States military 95 00:05:34,080 --> 00:05:36,960 Speaker 1: who were found to be in violation of various standards 96 00:05:37,000 --> 00:05:41,080 Speaker 1: forbidding homosexual behavior were given what was colloquially known as 97 00:05:41,120 --> 00:05:44,760 Speaker 1: a blue discharge. For those who were serving in the Pacific, 98 00:05:44,920 --> 00:05:47,240 Speaker 1: this usually meant that they were processed out of the 99 00:05:47,279 --> 00:05:51,640 Speaker 1: military in San Francisco. This pattern was definitely not unique 100 00:05:51,640 --> 00:05:54,240 Speaker 1: to San Francisco or to World War Two. It happened 101 00:05:54,240 --> 00:05:57,880 Speaker 1: in other ports cities and other wars as well, but 102 00:05:58,520 --> 00:06:03,080 Speaker 1: the LGBT population of San Francisco grew tremendously during the 103 00:06:03,080 --> 00:06:05,760 Speaker 1: war years, as people who had been discharged because of 104 00:06:05,760 --> 00:06:08,839 Speaker 1: their sexual orientation were processed out of the army there 105 00:06:08,880 --> 00:06:13,039 Speaker 1: and then stayed in that area. A number of researchers 106 00:06:13,080 --> 00:06:16,680 Speaker 1: also started studying gender and sex during the nineteen forties 107 00:06:16,680 --> 00:06:20,440 Speaker 1: and nineteen fifties, including famously Alfred Kinzie at the Kinzie 108 00:06:20,480 --> 00:06:24,440 Speaker 1: Institute for Sex, Gender and Reproduction, and also Carl Bowman 109 00:06:24,520 --> 00:06:28,040 Speaker 1: at the Langley Porter Psychiatric Clinic at the University of California, 110 00:06:28,120 --> 00:06:31,760 Speaker 1: San Francisco. And while some of this research definitely did 111 00:06:31,760 --> 00:06:35,800 Speaker 1: not follow today's ethical standards, it did begin to give 112 00:06:35,839 --> 00:06:38,760 Speaker 1: at least some doctors a better idea of how to 113 00:06:38,800 --> 00:06:44,000 Speaker 1: work with lesbian, gay, and transgender patients. In nineteen fifty two, 114 00:06:44,080 --> 00:06:47,480 Speaker 1: Christine Jorgensen became a household name after having had a 115 00:06:47,520 --> 00:06:51,000 Speaker 1: series of surgeries in Copenhagen which were widely described in 116 00:06:51,040 --> 00:06:53,760 Speaker 1: the press as a sex change. Today, that's really not 117 00:06:53,880 --> 00:06:56,320 Speaker 1: the term that we would use to talk about these procedures. 118 00:06:56,320 --> 00:06:59,719 Speaker 1: We would call them uh sex reassignment surgeries or gender 119 00:06:59,720 --> 00:07:04,120 Speaker 1: comp formation surgeries. Although these procedures had been available in 120 00:07:04,160 --> 00:07:07,480 Speaker 1: Europe for a while, they were really pretty widely unknown 121 00:07:07,480 --> 00:07:11,160 Speaker 1: in the United States before this point. Jorgensen became an 122 00:07:11,200 --> 00:07:14,560 Speaker 1: instant celebrity, and her story gave a lot of transgender 123 00:07:14,560 --> 00:07:17,160 Speaker 1: people hope that their bodies could be made to match 124 00:07:17,240 --> 00:07:20,280 Speaker 1: their gender idea identity. I want to be very clear 125 00:07:20,280 --> 00:07:24,520 Speaker 1: though not every transgender person chooses to or is able 126 00:07:24,560 --> 00:07:27,920 Speaker 1: to have surgery, but at this point in history, Jorgensen's 127 00:07:27,920 --> 00:07:31,280 Speaker 1: story and the subsequent media coverage she received were earth 128 00:07:31,360 --> 00:07:34,600 Speaker 1: shattering for a lot of transgender people. It raised a 129 00:07:34,640 --> 00:07:37,240 Speaker 1: lot of awareness on the subject, and she received letters 130 00:07:37,320 --> 00:07:40,880 Speaker 1: from all over from people who basically thanked her for 131 00:07:40,960 --> 00:07:44,680 Speaker 1: helping them understand their own identity and be able to 132 00:07:44,680 --> 00:07:48,960 Speaker 1: talk about it with other people. Later in the nineteen fifties, 133 00:07:49,000 --> 00:07:52,400 Speaker 1: the word transsexual came into use to describe people who 134 00:07:52,400 --> 00:07:55,880 Speaker 1: wanted to change or have changed their physical body from 135 00:07:55,880 --> 00:07:58,880 Speaker 1: the sex that they were assigned at birth. A number 136 00:07:58,920 --> 00:08:01,760 Speaker 1: of mass market novels that related to ideas of cross 137 00:08:01,800 --> 00:08:05,280 Speaker 1: dressing and gender identity were published, and in nineteen sixty 138 00:08:05,360 --> 00:08:09,120 Speaker 1: Virginia Prince launched Transvestia, which was the first periodical in 139 00:08:09,160 --> 00:08:13,520 Speaker 1: the US that was intended for a transgender market. Subscribers 140 00:08:13,560 --> 00:08:16,440 Speaker 1: to the magazine also formed the first known organization for 141 00:08:16,520 --> 00:08:20,160 Speaker 1: transgender people in the US. Not long after this, in 142 00:08:20,280 --> 00:08:24,600 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty six, Dr Harry Benjamin published The Transsexual Phenomenon, 143 00:08:24,640 --> 00:08:27,880 Speaker 1: which described patients he had been working with creating a 144 00:08:27,920 --> 00:08:30,560 Speaker 1: course of treatment to help them transition from the sex 145 00:08:30,640 --> 00:08:32,640 Speaker 1: they had been assigned at earth to the gender that 146 00:08:32,679 --> 00:08:37,480 Speaker 1: they felt themselves intrinsically to be. And all of this 147 00:08:37,640 --> 00:08:41,120 Speaker 1: brings us to what happened at Compton's Cafeteria in nineteen 148 00:08:41,160 --> 00:08:45,319 Speaker 1: sixty six. Although California had repealed its law against cross 149 00:08:45,360 --> 00:08:48,800 Speaker 1: dressing in nineteen sixty two, people were still being arrested 150 00:08:48,800 --> 00:08:53,640 Speaker 1: for it. Homosexuality was also illegal. San Francisco itself had 151 00:08:53,640 --> 00:08:56,920 Speaker 1: a growing LGBT population, thanks in part to the military 152 00:08:56,960 --> 00:09:00,839 Speaker 1: discharges during World War Two that we discussed, and awareness 153 00:09:00,840 --> 00:09:04,240 Speaker 1: of transgendering gay rights issues was starting to grow thanks 154 00:09:04,240 --> 00:09:08,280 Speaker 1: to the work of various social movement organizations. There were 155 00:09:08,280 --> 00:09:11,680 Speaker 1: also high profile stories like Christine Jorgensen's and the work 156 00:09:11,720 --> 00:09:16,280 Speaker 1: of doctors and psychologists such as Dr Harry Benjamin. So 157 00:09:16,320 --> 00:09:19,720 Speaker 1: all of these things really came together and lead to 158 00:09:20,040 --> 00:09:22,880 Speaker 1: what has become known as the Compton's Cafeteria Riot. And 159 00:09:22,880 --> 00:09:25,480 Speaker 1: we're going to talk about this riot specifically after a 160 00:09:25,559 --> 00:09:38,400 Speaker 1: brieford from a sponsor, so to get to specifically the 161 00:09:38,480 --> 00:09:42,280 Speaker 1: neighborhood where Compton's Cafeteria was located and what happened there. 162 00:09:42,920 --> 00:09:46,760 Speaker 1: In nineteen sixty six. San Francisco's Tenderloin district was home 163 00:09:46,800 --> 00:09:51,040 Speaker 1: to many of the city's trag queens, transgender people, gay men, 164 00:09:51,240 --> 00:09:54,600 Speaker 1: and others who just didn't fit into conventional ideas of 165 00:09:54,679 --> 00:09:59,839 Speaker 1: gender expression and sexual orientation. And it wasn't a particularly 166 00:10:00,040 --> 00:10:03,080 Speaker 1: nice place to live. This was a red light district, 167 00:10:03,360 --> 00:10:08,080 Speaker 1: run down c d with hotels that advertised transient rooms. 168 00:10:08,080 --> 00:10:10,920 Speaker 1: There were high crime rates and a thriving and not 169 00:10:11,080 --> 00:10:15,079 Speaker 1: particularly safe industry of vice. Often the police force in 170 00:10:15,120 --> 00:10:17,960 Speaker 1: the Tenderloin seemed more interested in taking advantage of the 171 00:10:18,000 --> 00:10:22,040 Speaker 1: situation than actually helping to protect the community, and a 172 00:10:22,080 --> 00:10:24,040 Speaker 1: lot of the people who were living in the Tenderloin 173 00:10:24,200 --> 00:10:27,760 Speaker 1: just didn't have other options. As people were turned away 174 00:10:27,800 --> 00:10:31,200 Speaker 1: from jobs and housing and cleaner, safer parts of the city, 175 00:10:31,520 --> 00:10:35,960 Speaker 1: the Tenderloin effectively became a gay ghetto. Police would even 176 00:10:36,040 --> 00:10:39,360 Speaker 1: direct gay and transgender people who were arrested in other 177 00:10:39,440 --> 00:10:43,600 Speaker 1: parts of town to the Tenderloin, where they might actually 178 00:10:43,640 --> 00:10:46,360 Speaker 1: be able to find a place to live. And some 179 00:10:46,440 --> 00:10:48,800 Speaker 1: of its residents were unable to find work due to 180 00:10:48,840 --> 00:10:53,160 Speaker 1: their sexual orientation or gender expression, and as a result, 181 00:10:53,200 --> 00:10:55,680 Speaker 1: they turned to sex work as a last resort, and 182 00:10:55,760 --> 00:10:59,959 Speaker 1: for many many reasons, this was inherently dangerous. In addition 183 00:11:00,000 --> 00:11:02,880 Speaker 1: of the risks of sexually transmitted disease or being arrested 184 00:11:02,960 --> 00:11:07,120 Speaker 1: or jailed, the people soliciting prostitutes in the Tenderloin weren't 185 00:11:07,160 --> 00:11:11,040 Speaker 1: necessarily looking for someone whose outward appearance, when closed, did 186 00:11:11,080 --> 00:11:14,959 Speaker 1: not match up with their physical sex. Transgender sex workers 187 00:11:15,000 --> 00:11:19,160 Speaker 1: consequently became the targets of violence and harassment. This also 188 00:11:19,240 --> 00:11:22,000 Speaker 1: led to gay and transgender people in the Tenderloin being 189 00:11:22,080 --> 00:11:25,840 Speaker 1: arrested on suspicion of prostitution, regardless of whether they were 190 00:11:25,840 --> 00:11:28,840 Speaker 1: prostitutes or whether they were engaged in any activity that 191 00:11:28,840 --> 00:11:33,520 Speaker 1: could even resemble prostitution at the time, and being arrested 192 00:11:33,640 --> 00:11:36,040 Speaker 1: tended to be a whole lot worse for gay men 193 00:11:36,080 --> 00:11:39,600 Speaker 1: and transgender people than for everyone else. People who were 194 00:11:39,600 --> 00:11:42,880 Speaker 1: physically male but were dressed in women women's clothing would 195 00:11:42,920 --> 00:11:45,280 Speaker 1: be sent to the men's jail, where they were often 196 00:11:45,320 --> 00:11:48,760 Speaker 1: at risk for being assaulted, raped, or murdered because of 197 00:11:48,760 --> 00:11:52,480 Speaker 1: how they behaved and how they were dressed. Conditions were 198 00:11:52,520 --> 00:11:56,080 Speaker 1: bad enough that in nineteen sixty five, Tenderloin residents launched 199 00:11:56,120 --> 00:11:59,360 Speaker 1: a grassroots campaign to try to improve the neighborhood and 200 00:11:59,400 --> 00:12:02,560 Speaker 1: the economic conditions there, and their goals were to bring 201 00:12:02,559 --> 00:12:06,160 Speaker 1: in much needed social services and to qualify for anti 202 00:12:06,240 --> 00:12:10,160 Speaker 1: poverty funding. That last part was challenging because many anti 203 00:12:10,200 --> 00:12:14,120 Speaker 1: poverty programs were targeted towards racial and ethnic minorities, but 204 00:12:14,200 --> 00:12:18,199 Speaker 1: the population of the Tenderloin district was predominantly white. There 205 00:12:18,200 --> 00:12:22,040 Speaker 1: were gay activists, neighborhood organizers, and ministers at the forefront 206 00:12:22,080 --> 00:12:24,800 Speaker 1: of this effort, and it also spawned a youth organization 207 00:12:24,880 --> 00:12:28,000 Speaker 1: for gay and transgender street kids, which was known as Vanguard. 208 00:12:28,480 --> 00:12:31,559 Speaker 1: Vanguard held its meetings at Gene Compton's Cafeteria, which is 209 00:12:31,640 --> 00:12:35,120 Speaker 1: a popular gathering place for the gay community drag queens 210 00:12:35,120 --> 00:12:38,240 Speaker 1: and transgender people into Tenderloin. It was a twenty four 211 00:12:38,320 --> 00:12:41,520 Speaker 1: hour cafeteria that was part of a local restaurant chain. 212 00:12:42,000 --> 00:12:44,120 Speaker 1: It sat at the corner of Turk and Taylor Streets, 213 00:12:44,120 --> 00:12:45,960 Speaker 1: and it was next to a gay bathhouse and down 214 00:12:45,960 --> 00:12:48,680 Speaker 1: the street from a Woolworths. Also nearby were a bar 215 00:12:49,040 --> 00:12:51,960 Speaker 1: and the airport bus terminal that many transpeople and drag 216 00:12:52,040 --> 00:12:56,240 Speaker 1: queens used to change their clothes. So it's basically a convenient, centralized, 217 00:12:56,280 --> 00:12:59,280 Speaker 1: and relatively safe location for people to congregate twenty four 218 00:12:59,280 --> 00:13:02,120 Speaker 1: hours a day. As one of the patrons who was 219 00:13:02,200 --> 00:13:05,720 Speaker 1: interviewed in the documentary Screaming Queens, the Riot at Compton's 220 00:13:05,760 --> 00:13:10,680 Speaker 1: Cafeteria quote, it was beautiful because it was clean, as 221 00:13:10,760 --> 00:13:13,200 Speaker 1: was the case for the Tenderloin in general. Many of 222 00:13:13,240 --> 00:13:15,920 Speaker 1: the regulars at Compton's Cafeteria were there because they had 223 00:13:15,960 --> 00:13:19,679 Speaker 1: nowhere else to go. Other restaurants, clubs, and hotels wouldn't 224 00:13:19,679 --> 00:13:22,760 Speaker 1: serve them because of their sexual orientation, their gender expression, 225 00:13:22,840 --> 00:13:25,800 Speaker 1: or their dress, but Comptons would let them in. It 226 00:13:25,920 --> 00:13:28,000 Speaker 1: was a place where people routinely went to make sure 227 00:13:28,000 --> 00:13:31,840 Speaker 1: their friends knew that they were still alive. But the 228 00:13:31,960 --> 00:13:34,600 Speaker 1: management at the cafeteria did not really like the fact 229 00:13:34,679 --> 00:13:37,480 Speaker 1: that it had become basically a hangout for this particular crowd. 230 00:13:38,080 --> 00:13:42,080 Speaker 1: Staff started trying to discourage the ongoing hanging out by 231 00:13:42,200 --> 00:13:44,800 Speaker 1: implementing a service charge to make up for the fact 232 00:13:44,800 --> 00:13:48,439 Speaker 1: that people were taking up table space but not buying food. However, 233 00:13:48,559 --> 00:13:52,160 Speaker 1: they tended to charge this service charge kind of selectively. 234 00:13:52,559 --> 00:13:55,160 Speaker 1: The people who saw it on their bills were mostly 235 00:13:55,360 --> 00:14:00,520 Speaker 1: the most obvious gay and transgender people who frequented these ablishment. 236 00:14:01,520 --> 00:14:04,640 Speaker 1: In the summer of nineteen sixty six, management and staff 237 00:14:04,679 --> 00:14:07,600 Speaker 1: at the restaurant started calling the police to report people 238 00:14:07,960 --> 00:14:10,560 Speaker 1: who were spending too much time loitering and not enough 239 00:14:10,559 --> 00:14:14,640 Speaker 1: time eating or spending money. Regulars responded by picketing, and 240 00:14:14,720 --> 00:14:16,440 Speaker 1: this was an effort that was led by the group 241 00:14:16,480 --> 00:14:20,800 Speaker 1: of Vanguard in July of nineteen sixty six. By this point, 242 00:14:20,920 --> 00:14:23,680 Speaker 1: most of the nighttime regulars at the cafeteria were really 243 00:14:23,720 --> 00:14:27,240 Speaker 1: used to being hassled by police. Police activity in general 244 00:14:27,360 --> 00:14:29,960 Speaker 1: had really been increasing because of the number of military 245 00:14:30,000 --> 00:14:32,640 Speaker 1: recruits that were passing through San Francisco on the way 246 00:14:32,640 --> 00:14:36,320 Speaker 1: to Vietnam, but the cafeteria had become a safe spot 247 00:14:36,400 --> 00:14:38,760 Speaker 1: where people felt like they didn't need to worry about 248 00:14:38,760 --> 00:14:41,760 Speaker 1: being targeted for what they were wearing, where they were standing, 249 00:14:41,840 --> 00:14:44,440 Speaker 1: being too loud, being mistaken for a sex worker, or 250 00:14:44,440 --> 00:14:48,120 Speaker 1: basically for any reason that somebody felt like hassling them, 251 00:14:48,160 --> 00:14:51,480 Speaker 1: so tensions really grew as police became more and more 252 00:14:51,560 --> 00:14:56,120 Speaker 1: present inside the restaurant. The exact date of the riot 253 00:14:56,200 --> 00:14:59,920 Speaker 1: at the cafeteria is not known today. The newspapers didn't 254 00:15:00,040 --> 00:15:02,440 Speaker 1: over this event, and no police reports from the evening 255 00:15:02,440 --> 00:15:06,160 Speaker 1: have survived until today, although there are definitely enough eye 256 00:15:06,200 --> 00:15:09,880 Speaker 1: witnesses UH and their eyewitness reports to corroborate that this 257 00:15:10,000 --> 00:15:12,840 Speaker 1: did happen, and we know that it happened in August 258 00:15:12,960 --> 00:15:17,440 Speaker 1: of nineteen six. The restaurant that night was packed. Staff 259 00:15:17,480 --> 00:15:19,680 Speaker 1: at the cafeteria decided to call the police to have 260 00:15:19,720 --> 00:15:22,480 Speaker 1: some of the patrons who were there removed, and an 261 00:15:22,520 --> 00:15:25,600 Speaker 1: officer put his hand on somebody from the crowd. This 262 00:15:25,760 --> 00:15:28,800 Speaker 1: person is most frequently described as a drag queen, and 263 00:15:29,200 --> 00:15:31,360 Speaker 1: that person threw a cup of coffee into the police 264 00:15:31,360 --> 00:15:36,880 Speaker 1: officer's face. As more people began throwing glasses, silverware, and plates, 265 00:15:37,320 --> 00:15:40,800 Speaker 1: the police left the cafeteria to call for backup. While 266 00:15:40,840 --> 00:15:43,960 Speaker 1: they were gone, the crowd broke windows and turned over tables, 267 00:15:44,000 --> 00:15:46,760 Speaker 1: and fights broke out both in and around the restaurant. 268 00:15:47,400 --> 00:15:50,360 Speaker 1: The police returned and started making arrests and filling the 269 00:15:50,360 --> 00:15:54,760 Speaker 1: Patti wagons. Property damage followed, including a vandalized police car 270 00:15:54,880 --> 00:15:58,360 Speaker 1: in a news stand that was burned down. So if 271 00:15:58,400 --> 00:16:01,680 Speaker 1: the riot at Compton's Cafe area had taken place somewhere 272 00:16:01,680 --> 00:16:04,840 Speaker 1: else or at a different time, it's entirely possible that 273 00:16:04,880 --> 00:16:07,560 Speaker 1: it wouldn't have led to any kind of meaningful change 274 00:16:07,720 --> 00:16:09,920 Speaker 1: for the lives of the gay and transgender people who 275 00:16:10,000 --> 00:16:14,040 Speaker 1: participated in and afterward. But this was San Francisco. It 276 00:16:14,120 --> 00:16:17,080 Speaker 1: was during the nineteen sixties when a number of social 277 00:16:17,120 --> 00:16:20,320 Speaker 1: movements were all concurrently striving for change on a number 278 00:16:20,360 --> 00:16:24,440 Speaker 1: of different fronts. So it did actually lead to some 279 00:16:24,520 --> 00:16:27,720 Speaker 1: things getting better, and we'll talk about that after a 280 00:16:27,760 --> 00:16:38,000 Speaker 1: brief break for another word from a sponsor. So to 281 00:16:38,040 --> 00:16:41,000 Speaker 1: get back to what happened after the riot, these grassroots 282 00:16:41,040 --> 00:16:43,920 Speaker 1: efforts for change in the Tenderloin, which had started in 283 00:16:44,000 --> 00:16:47,800 Speaker 1: the weeks and months before the riot, grew stronger in 284 00:16:47,840 --> 00:16:50,400 Speaker 1: the wake of it. A few months later, the Central 285 00:16:50,440 --> 00:16:53,520 Speaker 1: City Anti Poverty Office opened, and one of its goals 286 00:16:53,720 --> 00:16:56,960 Speaker 1: was to improve relations between the gay and transgender communities 287 00:16:57,040 --> 00:17:00,560 Speaker 1: and the police. Police Sergeant Elliott Black's Stone had been 288 00:17:00,640 --> 00:17:04,880 Speaker 1: named a liaison between the police force and homophile organizations 289 00:17:04,920 --> 00:17:07,119 Speaker 1: as well as the Greater Gay community back in nineteen 290 00:17:07,240 --> 00:17:11,720 Speaker 1: sixty two. This focus also expanded to include transgender people 291 00:17:11,800 --> 00:17:16,600 Speaker 1: following the riot. At first, the transgender community, still at 292 00:17:16,640 --> 00:17:19,560 Speaker 1: that point described as drag queens and transsexual since the 293 00:17:19,640 --> 00:17:23,120 Speaker 1: term transgender had yet to be coined, was largely left 294 00:17:23,160 --> 00:17:27,600 Speaker 1: out of this mission. But Louise Ergestras, a transgender resident 295 00:17:27,640 --> 00:17:30,919 Speaker 1: of the Tenderloin district, gave Blackstone a copy of The 296 00:17:30,960 --> 00:17:35,400 Speaker 1: Transsexual Phenomenon and insisted that he read it. After he did, 297 00:17:35,480 --> 00:17:38,280 Speaker 1: he played a key role in shifting the police force's 298 00:17:38,359 --> 00:17:42,600 Speaker 1: treatment of the transgender community. In addition to working towards 299 00:17:42,640 --> 00:17:46,920 Speaker 1: implementing programs and services that helped and protected transgender people, 300 00:17:47,359 --> 00:17:50,040 Speaker 1: he worked to change the attitudes of the police force. 301 00:17:51,520 --> 00:17:54,240 Speaker 1: Another program that started after the riot was the Center 302 00:17:54,280 --> 00:17:57,240 Speaker 1: for Special Problems, which was part of the San Francisco 303 00:17:57,280 --> 00:18:00,919 Speaker 1: Public Health Department. The Center for Session Special Problems has 304 00:18:00,920 --> 00:18:03,760 Speaker 1: started a support group and it started working towards connecting 305 00:18:03,760 --> 00:18:07,000 Speaker 1: transgender people with medical care and other services that they needed. 306 00:18:08,040 --> 00:18:12,399 Speaker 1: The center also started issuing identification cards for transgender people, 307 00:18:12,440 --> 00:18:14,880 Speaker 1: and this sounds minor, but it was actually a huge deal. 308 00:18:15,200 --> 00:18:18,359 Speaker 1: Before this, driver's licenses and other i D could only 309 00:18:18,400 --> 00:18:22,159 Speaker 1: reflect a person's gender as it was assigned at their birth, 310 00:18:22,560 --> 00:18:25,480 Speaker 1: so someone who had transitioned could not get an ID 311 00:18:25,640 --> 00:18:30,960 Speaker 1: card that accurately reflected their identity, and this was not 312 00:18:31,119 --> 00:18:34,800 Speaker 1: a perfect system. Using a Center for Special Problems. I 313 00:18:34,880 --> 00:18:37,400 Speaker 1: D meant that the person who carried it was publicly 314 00:18:37,440 --> 00:18:40,920 Speaker 1: identified as transgender, whether he or she wanted to be 315 00:18:41,320 --> 00:18:44,040 Speaker 1: or not, but it also meant that people could do 316 00:18:44,119 --> 00:18:47,359 Speaker 1: things like open bank accounts and apply for jobs without 317 00:18:47,359 --> 00:18:50,240 Speaker 1: trying to use what, by all appearances, looked like someone 318 00:18:50,280 --> 00:18:54,119 Speaker 1: else's i D card. Although some of the social movement 319 00:18:54,200 --> 00:18:58,680 Speaker 1: organizations behind these changes gradually fizzled out or split into 320 00:18:58,680 --> 00:19:00,919 Speaker 1: other groups or otherwise and did a lot of the 321 00:19:00,960 --> 00:19:04,760 Speaker 1: programs themselves continued on for years until they were updated 322 00:19:04,880 --> 00:19:09,240 Speaker 1: or replaced by other social services. However, many of the 323 00:19:09,320 --> 00:19:12,280 Speaker 1: issues that the transgender community faced in the Tenderloin District 324 00:19:12,359 --> 00:19:15,879 Speaker 1: in nineteen sixty six persisted, and they still exist today. 325 00:19:16,280 --> 00:19:18,879 Speaker 1: In most of the United States, being transgender is not 326 00:19:19,000 --> 00:19:22,640 Speaker 1: a protected class, so people can be fired or refused housing, 327 00:19:22,760 --> 00:19:27,000 Speaker 1: medical care, or other necessary services because of their gender expression. 328 00:19:28,000 --> 00:19:31,320 Speaker 1: Transgender people continue to have a vastly higher risk of 329 00:19:31,359 --> 00:19:34,680 Speaker 1: suicide than the general population, as well as of much 330 00:19:34,680 --> 00:19:37,800 Speaker 1: greater risk of being the victim of violent crime. In 331 00:19:37,800 --> 00:19:40,480 Speaker 1: the mid nineteen seventies, there was actually a serial killer 332 00:19:40,480 --> 00:19:44,600 Speaker 1: in the Tenderloin and other LGBT neighborhoods in San Francisco 333 00:19:44,640 --> 00:19:47,720 Speaker 1: who killed at least fourteen people, most of them trans 334 00:19:47,800 --> 00:19:51,760 Speaker 1: women or drag queens, and was never apprehended. According to 335 00:19:51,800 --> 00:19:54,960 Speaker 1: the Hate Violence Report from the National Coalition of Anti 336 00:19:55,040 --> 00:19:59,080 Speaker 1: Violence Projects, transgender people are also more than three times 337 00:19:59,119 --> 00:20:02,960 Speaker 1: more likely to experienced police violence than the general population. 338 00:20:04,320 --> 00:20:08,520 Speaker 1: The cafeteria closed in nine two. Elliott Blackstone, who was 339 00:20:08,520 --> 00:20:10,639 Speaker 1: then retired from the force, was the Grand Marshal of 340 00:20:10,640 --> 00:20:13,119 Speaker 1: the San Francisco Pride Parade in two thousand and six. 341 00:20:13,640 --> 00:20:18,480 Speaker 1: A plaque commemorating the riot was installed that same year. So, 342 00:20:19,359 --> 00:20:20,960 Speaker 1: as we mentioned at the top of the episode, the 343 00:20:21,000 --> 00:20:24,240 Speaker 1: Stonewall riots are so frequently pinpointed is like the start 344 00:20:24,280 --> 00:20:27,560 Speaker 1: of the gay rights movement, and this is one of 345 00:20:27,600 --> 00:20:30,399 Speaker 1: the violent uprisings that happened before that, when it was 346 00:20:30,440 --> 00:20:32,720 Speaker 1: not actually the first. There were also a couple of 347 00:20:32,760 --> 00:20:36,440 Speaker 1: similar ones at One was at Cooper's Donuts, which was 348 00:20:36,480 --> 00:20:40,480 Speaker 1: a donut shop that was uh uh in a in 349 00:20:40,520 --> 00:20:43,520 Speaker 1: a predominantly gay neighborhood and had a number of gay 350 00:20:43,520 --> 00:20:46,440 Speaker 1: and transgender people as its patrons. And there was also 351 00:20:46,480 --> 00:20:51,960 Speaker 1: another one that was at a bakery. So several similarly 352 00:20:52,720 --> 00:20:56,400 Speaker 1: pushing back against police kind of uh kind of events 353 00:20:56,440 --> 00:21:00,119 Speaker 1: happened in the years immediately leading up to Stonewall, and 354 00:21:00,160 --> 00:21:02,720 Speaker 1: then Stonewall has kind of kind of became the big 355 00:21:02,800 --> 00:21:10,760 Speaker 1: name out of all of them. Thank you so much 356 00:21:10,760 --> 00:21:13,680 Speaker 1: for joining us on this Saturday. If you have heard 357 00:21:13,960 --> 00:21:16,000 Speaker 1: an email address or a Facebook you are l or 358 00:21:16,080 --> 00:21:19,000 Speaker 1: something similar over the course of today's episode, since it 359 00:21:19,119 --> 00:21:21,360 Speaker 1: is from the archive that might be out of date now, 360 00:21:21,920 --> 00:21:24,960 Speaker 1: you can email us at History podcast at how stuff 361 00:21:24,960 --> 00:21:26,960 Speaker 1: Works dot com, and you can find us all over 362 00:21:27,000 --> 00:21:30,399 Speaker 1: social media at missed in History and you can subscribe 363 00:21:30,480 --> 00:21:33,600 Speaker 1: to our show on Apple podcasts, Google podcasts, the I 364 00:21:33,720 --> 00:21:36,800 Speaker 1: Heart Radio app, and wherever else you listen to podcasts. 365 00:21:40,920 --> 00:21:43,000 Speaker 1: Stuff You Missed in History Class is a production of 366 00:21:43,040 --> 00:21:46,080 Speaker 1: I Heart Radios How Stuff Works. 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