Screaming Queens: The Riot at Compton's Cafeteria (Frameline, NR)
Written by Sarah Boslaugh
Saturday, 04 October 2008
http://www.playbackstl.com/content/view/8084/160/ The modern gay pride movement is often traced back to the Stonewall Riots which took place in New York City in June 1969, but that famous event was preceded by almost three years by a similar uprising in San Francisco known as the riot at Compton's cafeteria.
The riot at Compton's in August 1966 was sparked by a police attempt to arrest a transgender person who frequented the cafeteria. As in New York, the transgender community in San Francisco was accustomed to police harassment, but on that particular night the intended victim chose to resist arrest. Other patrons joined in, the police were forced to flee, and the resulting disturbance grew into a full-fledged riot which trashed the cafeteria and spilled out into the street. As with Stonewall, the Compton's riot marked a change both in how the transgender community viewed itself, and in the treatment it received from the police and other governmental agencies.
The documentary Screaming Queens, directed by transgender scholar and author Susan Stryker and history professor Victor Silverman, aims to restore the riot at Compton's to its rightful place in gay history. This subject has particular significance for Stryker, who narrates the film: She discovered the story of the Compton's riot as she was beginning her transition from male to female, and became secure in her new identity while conducting the research which led to this film.
