Sunday, March 14, 2010 | Richmond, VA’s Webmagazine for GLBTQ

Compton’s vs. Stonewall

Posted 11.27.09 at 9:03AM by The Rainbow Minute in Arts & Entertainment

The Rainbow MinuteIn both the 1966 Compton’s Cafeteria Riot and the Stonewall Rebellion three years later, it was transsexuals that rose up against police harassment and violence. So why did Compton’s fall into obscurity?

The Compton’s Riot didn’t make the newspapers, for fear that the violence would spread city-wide. It also involved poor people in the ghetto, a group often overlooked.

But maybe Compton’s came before its time. In 1966, the counterculture and antiwar movement had barely gotten started, and the racial struggle had yet to boil over. The LGBT community wasn’t primed for action yet either.

In short, the political winds were very different between 1966 and 1969.

Incidentally, the Stonewall Inn is still in business, serving as a reminder of that uprising, whereas Compton’s is long gone.

In recognition of the Transgender Day of Remembrance on November 20, “The Rainbow Minute” is committed to bringing to light the often under-represented history of the transgender community by featuring 10 new episodes during the month of November.  “The Rainbow Minute,” a radio show on WRIR, Richmond Independent Radio, is produced by Judd Proctor and Brian Burns and airs on 97.3 FM every Weekday at 9:03am, 12:30pm and 4:30pm.  Listen to the WRIR’s audio stream here.

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After The Compton’s Riot

Posted 11.26.09 at 9:03AM by The Rainbow Minute in Arts & Entertainment

The Rainbow MinuteIn San Francisco in August of 1966, transsexuals had taken years of abuse by police. Finally, a riot broke out at the all-night Compton’s Cafeteria.

The following night, more transgendered people, street hustlers, and members of the GLBT community came together and picketed the cafeteria.

The mainstream press chose not to report the incident as there was fear it might lead to a city-wide uprising. Regardless, the city of San Francisco began to examine the way it was treating gays, lesbians, and transgendered people. It passed laws allowing cross dressing and started to recognize the rights of the transgendered.

This was three years before the Stonewall Riots, which sparked the Gay Liberation Movement. Again, it was transsexuals who threw the first punch.

In recognition of the Transgender Day of Remembrance on November 20, “The Rainbow Minute” is committed to bringing to light the often under-represented history of the transgender community by featuring 10 new episodes during the month of November.  “The Rainbow Minute,” a radio show on WRIR, Richmond Independent Radio, is produced by Judd Proctor and Brian Burns and airs on 97.3 FM every Weekday at 9:03am, 12:30pm and 4:30pm.  Listen to the WRIR’s audio stream here.

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Compton’s Cafeteria Turns Violent

Posted 11.25.09 at 9:03AM by The Rainbow Minute in Arts & Entertainment

The Rainbow MinuteBy the summer of 1966 in San Francisco, transsexuals were fed up with abuse by police.

A tight-knit group, the transsexuals often hung out at an all-night cafeteria called Compton’s. The management was angered that they took up tables without buying much, and often called in the cops.

One night that August, however, one surly officer didn’t know what he had coming. While manhandling a transsexual during an arrest, she threw piping-hot coffee in his face. The whole room erupted into a frenzy of violence. Purses and high heels became weapons. Tables and chairs were overturned and the large plate glass window in front got smashed.

Police reinforcements arrived, and the fighting spilled out into the streets, where a police car was overturned and a newsstand burned to the ground.

What next? Find out tomorrow.

In recognition of the Transgender Day of Remembrance on November 20, “The Rainbow Minute” is committed to bringing to light the often under-represented history of the transgender community by featuring 10 new episodes during the month of November.  “The Rainbow Minute,” a radio show on WRIR, Richmond Independent Radio, is produced by Judd Proctor and Brian Burns and airs on 97.3 FM every Weekday at 9:03am, 12:30pm and 4:30pm.  Listen to the WRIR’s audio stream here.

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Recipe For A Riot

Posted 11.24.09 at 9:03AM by The Rainbow Minute in Arts & Entertainment

The Rainbow MinuteIn 1966 in San Francisco, tensions between transsexuals and police were about to turn violent.

Many transgender men and women had migrated to the city to be treated at Dr. Harry Benjamin’s clinic, which specialized in the relatively new sex reassignment procedures. Part of the therapy required the patient to dress as a member of the sex they were becoming. That made it difficult to find steady employment, so many turned to hustling to survive.

As for the police, they were corrupt – helping themselves to a generous slice of the profits that prostitution and drug trafficking raked in.

Anyone caught in drag in public was often arrested, strip searched, and placed into drunk tanks where they could get beaten and raped.

But that August, the transsexuals fought back with a vengeance. All about that tomorrow.

In recognition of the Transgender Day of Remembrance on November 20, “The Rainbow Minute” is committed to bringing to light the often under-represented history of the transgender community by featuring 10 new episodes during the month of November.  “The Rainbow Minute,” a radio show on WRIR, Richmond Independent Radio, is produced by Judd Proctor and Brian Burns and airs on 97.3 FM every Weekday at 9:03am, 12:30pm and 4:30pm.  Listen to the WRIR’s audio stream here.

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The Almost-Forgotten Riot

Posted 11.23.09 at 9:03AM by The Rainbow Minute in Arts & Entertainment

The Rainbow MinuteAlthough the Stonewall Rebellion in 1969 was a defining moment in the fight for gay liberation, it wasn’t the first time the LGBT community literally fought back against police harassment.

We take you back to 1966 in San Francisco. Although it hadn’t yet become the free-wheeling, anything-goes capital of the world, many transsexuals had migrated to the seedy Tenderloin District. Since cross-dressing was forbidden by law, it could get them arrested. In fact, police had been habitually harassing the local transgendered men and women at will, with tensions mounting by the day.

But on a hot August night in 1966, the powder keg exploded.

All this week, we’ll take a close look at The Compton’s Cafeteria Riot – the riot practically lost to history.

In recognition of the Transgender Day of Remembrance on November 20, “The Rainbow Minute” is committed to bringing to light the often under-represented history of the transgender community by featuring 10 new episodes during the month of November.  “The Rainbow Minute,” a radio show on WRIR, Richmond Independent Radio, is produced by Judd Proctor and Brian Burns and airs on 97.3 FM every Weekday at 9:03am, 12:30pm and 4:30pm.  Listen to the WRIR’s audio stream here.

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