For example, consider the riots that took place in the summer of 1966 at Gene Compton's Cafeteria in the Tenderloin district of San Francisco. There, a group of trans women, many black and Latinx, stood up to systematic police harassment and abuse.
Faderman's account of the revolt and its aftermath (pp. 119-120) is fine as far as it goes, but does not identify any of the participants or go into depth. But Sam Levin, writing in The Guardian, interviewed several of them for his June 21 article, "Compton's Cafeteria Riot: A Historic Act of Trans Resistance" (part of the newspaper's ongoing series, "Stonewall at 50").
Levin wastes no time in introducing us to one of them:
"Donna Personna does not want to be tolerated.
'I am to be loved, adored and respected,' the 72-year-old San Francisco woman declared on a recent morning, seated inside her fifth-floor apartment. Personna is preparing to serve as grand marshal at the city's Pride festival this year and has no patience for anyone's tolerance. "F___ that s___ ... Give me my rights!'"
As we prepare to mark the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots (June 28, 1969), that is a sentiment I trust we can all subscribe to—even if we express it more decorously.
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