I may not be a gentleman, but I am gentle

notaiden:

sistahmamaqueen:

this-spaceship:

“In August 1966, the hustlers, queens and street kids who gathered at Compton’s Cafeteria for an afterhours meal in San Francisco’s Tenderloin, revolted when the vice squad tried to arrest one of them. Throwing dinner plates at the police, smashing windows, burning down a newsstand and later picketing against management’s decision to refuse service to drag queens, this first “gay” riot was launched by sex workers.”

Yet another reason why we should be in solidarity with each other!

This is one of those I learned about growing up in San Francisco, but very few people outside the city remember.  Compton’s Cafeteria doesn’t even exist anymore, it hasn’t been preserved like Stonewall.  There’s just a little plaque on the sidewalk outside that usually has someone sleeping on it.  I’d blame the fact that most people really don’t want to hang out in the Tenderloin, but for a good portion of my life Stonewall’s been a total dive and no one even considers tearing it down.

I didn’t really know about this before I took an LGBT history class. 

It’s really sad that almost nobody knows about it (though it’s also worth noting that a lot of people STILL don’t know about Stonewall either).