{"id":40771,"date":"2025-04-03T12:14:11","date_gmt":"2025-04-03T19:14:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=40771"},"modified":"2025-04-03T12:14:11","modified_gmt":"2025-04-03T19:14:11","slug":"sfs-tenderloin-institutions-landmarks-ensure-trans-visibility","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2025\/04\/03\/sfs-tenderloin-institutions-landmarks-ensure-trans-visibility\/","title":{"rendered":"SF\u2019s Tenderloin institutions, landmarks ensure trans visibility\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"\" by\u00a0JL ODOM<\/a><\/strong> March 31, 2025 (MissionLocal.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
The Compton\u2019s Cafeteria building, the site of the August 1966 uprising, on the corner of Taylor and Turk Streets. Photo by JL Odom<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Mission<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Sign up below to get Mission Local\u2019s free newsletter<\/strong>, a daily digest of news you won\u2019t find elsewhere.Sign up<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Comic<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Read Mission Local often?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Help grow our newsroom<\/strong>, joining the hundreds of San Franciscans who support us by giving below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Donate today!<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the Trump Administration issues \u201cgender ideology\u201d directives<\/a> and anti-trans legislation<\/a>,  San Francisco will celebrate today\u2019s Transgender Day of Visibility, one ensured with an expansion in progress at the Tenderloin Museum<\/a>, the exisiting Transgender District<\/a> and the opening of an immersive play on some of the community\u2019s history this month. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since opening its doors at the corner of Eddy and Leavenworth streets in 2015, the Tenderloin Museum has invested in recovering and sharing the neighborhood\u2019s trans history. Much of that history unfolded in an eight-block radius marked by stripes of light blue, light pink, and white, indicative of trans pride. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe modern LGBTQ civil rights movement started here, and a lot of the initial organizing happened within the trans community,\u201d said Katie Conry, the museum\u2019s executive director. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Mission<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Want the latest on the Mission and San Francisco? Sign up for our free daily newsletter<\/strong> below.Sign up<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Compton\u2019s Cafeteria Riot, which took place on the corner of Turk and Taylor streets in August 1966, is a fundamental component of the museum\u2019s exhibitions and public programming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The uprising ensued after a trans woman in the Compton\u2019s Cafeteria diner resisted  arrest by a police officer,  and was also fueled by repeated incidents of police harassment and discrimination toward trans and queer people in the neighborhood. It preceded the June 1969 Stonewall Uprising, which occurred in response to a police raid of Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York City\u2019s Greenwich Village.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Visibility is not just something that happens in the present. It can be for the future as well.<\/em>SUNSAN STRYKER, TRANS AUTHOR, FILMMAKER, AND THEORIST<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSpecifically championing the Compton\u2019s Cafeteria Riot has become such an important part of our mission. It\u2019s a history we\u2019re really proud to showcase,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c[Centering on] the riot really gives the Tenderloin back its rightful place in history as the leader of the modern LGBTQ civil rights movement, and it gives trans women back their rightful place in history, as the vanguard of the movement,\u201d Conry added. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

April 11 will mark the return of one of the museum\u2019s popular offerings, \u201cThe Compton\u2019s Cafeteria Riot\u201d play<\/a>, initially produced in 2018 at a diner on Polk Street.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s based on history uncovered by trans author, filmmaker and theorist Susan Stryker<\/a> and on Donna Personna<\/a>\u2019s and Collette LeGrande\u2019s 1960s experiences living as trans women in the Tenderloin. Both frequented Compton\u2019s Cafeteria at the time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe play destigmatizes their stories, and telling them is more important than ever, as those in power are actively trying to erase them,\u201d said Conry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And it\u2019s getting its own venue at 835 Larkin St. to give the audience an immersive experience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou\u2019ll walk in, and you\u2019ll feel like you\u2019re at Compton\u2019s Cafeteria, in the diner,\u201d said Conry. \u201cYou come in and you\u2019re served breakfast for dinner, and then the actors come in and the play unfolds around you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to nabbing a new location to hold \u201cThe Compton\u2019s Cafeteria Riot\u201d play, the Tenderloin Museum will triple its size with a nearly 7,000 square feet expansion into an adjacent space in the former Cadillac Hotel. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conry said the additional room will allow \u201cmore diversity, more community voices, and more oral histories\u201d and for temporary exhibitions to become part of the museum\u2019s permanent collection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of those exhibitions is \u201cTransition Times: Re-Membering Anticarceral Resistance in the Tenderloin<\/a>,\u201d featuring material from Stryker\u2019s comprehensive archive of the neighborhood\u2019s trans history, some of which is also referenced in the Transgender District, including street signs such as \u201cGene Compton\u2019s Cafeteria Way\u201d and \u201cVicki Mar Lane\u201d (in honor of San Francisco trans activist and performer Vicki Marlane), and two sidewalk dedications to the Compton\u2019s Cafeteria Riot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI feel ambivalent about visibility, honestly. It is not really meaningful in and of itself, unless it changes something. I\u2019m most interested in the kind of visibility the participants in the Compton\u2019s Cafeteria Riot created. Their actions left a trace in their material environment and in historical record, that was there to be seen decades later. Visibility is not just something that happens in the present. It can be for the future as well,\u201d Stryker wrote in an email to Mission Local<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As of late January 2025, the Compton\u2019s Cafeteria building at 101 Taylor St. became a federal landmark, now appearing in the National Park Services\u2019 listing of \u201cNational Register of Historic Places<\/a>\u201d and on the California Register of Historical Resources (listed as 101-102 Taylor St.), as initially reported by<\/a> the Bay Area Reporter.<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the news and on the minds of LGBTQ-supportive cultural institutions is Trump\u2019s executive order \u201cDefending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government<\/a>\u201d and its prohibition of agencies\u2019 use of federal funds \u201cto promote gender ideology.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although several organizations are challenging<\/a> the National Endowment for the Arts\u2019 compliance with the order, and the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit<\/a> on its behalf, Conry said the attacks have been terrifying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The museum, a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit, doesn\u2019t depend on federal funding, but it can\u2019t afford to miss any funding opportunities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe certainly have concerns, but we\u2019re really committed to these projects and what they\u2019re going to do for the community, and we\u2019re finding a way forward,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Street
The Tenderloin Museum, on the corner of Leavenworth and Eddy streets and only a few blocks beyond the perimeter of the Transgender District, is integral in positioning the city\u2019s trans history front and center. Photo by JL Odom.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by\u00a0JL ODOM March 31, 2025 (MissionLocal.org) Sign up below to get Mission Local\u2019s free newsletter, a daily digest of news you won\u2019t find elsewhere.Sign up Read Mission Local often? Help grow our newsroom, joining the hundreds of San Franciscans who support us by giving below. Donate today! As the Trump Administration issues… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40771"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40771"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40771\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40772,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40771\/revisions\/40772"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40771"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40771"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40771"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}