'Screaming Queens' Goes Inside the Riot that Launched the Transgender Rights Movement, 50 Years Ago

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Mina Kim

Jul 22, 2016 at

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Three years before the Stonewall riots in New York, there was a much lesser known uprising for LGBT rights in San Francisco. In one of the first known acts of collective transgender resistance in the United States, transgender customers at Compton’s Cafeteria in the Tenderloin district fought back against police harassment and arrests. This summer marks 50 years since the riots. Forum talks to the makers of “Screaming Queens,” an Emmy-winning documentary that introduces viewers to the drag entertainers, community activists and police officers of 1960’s San Francisco and examines the role the Compton Cafeteria riots played in launching the LGBT movement.

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Guests:

Victor Silver, director, "Screaming Queens: The Riot at Compton's Cafeteria"; history professor, Pomona College

Felicia Elizondo, an original Screaming Queen featured in the "Screaming Queens: The Riot at Compton's Cafeteria" documentary

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