Screaming Queens: The Riot at Compton's Cafeteria

While the 1969 Stonewall riot is historically considered the catalyst for the gay rights movement, it was not the first act of collective resistance by the gay community against an oppressive society. Susan Stryker and Victor Silverman's documentary Screaming Queens examines an earlier confrontation that forced society to acknowledge the prejudice and intolerance that drove the gay community underground for too many years. In August 1966, a police raid on Compton's Cafeteria in San Francisco's Tenderloin district erupted into a violent conflict between law enforcement and the establishment's predominantly transgendered clientele. The aftermath ushered in a new era of tolerance for the transgendered community in San Francisco, while also creating a nascent political network that addressed a wide range of gay issues (the 1966 riot was not just about social equality but also economic equality—some of the Compton's Cafeteria rioters made their living as prostitutes in the seedy Tenderloin because of blatant discrimination in job hiring, housing, and social services assistance). Combining archival footage together with interviews of both the cross-dressers and the police at the scene of the riot, Screaming Queens provides a fascinating chronicle of an overlooked chapter in the civil rights struggle for a truly egalitarian society. Highly recommended. Editor's Choice. Aud: C, P. (P. Hall)