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Screaming Queens: The Riot at Compton's Cafeteria
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EMMY® Award-winning Screaming Queens
tells the little-known story of the first known act of collective,
violent resistance to the social oppression of queer people in the
United States — a 1966 riot in San Francisco’s impoverished Tenderloin
neighborhood, three years before the famous gay riot at New York’s
Stonewall Inn.
Screaming Queens
introduces viewers to street queens, cops and activist civil rights
ministers who recall the riot and paint a vivid portrait of the wild
transgender scene in 1960s San Francisco. Integrating the riot’s story
into the broader fabric of American life, the documentary connects the
event to urban renewal, anti-war activism, civil rights and sexual
liberation. With enticing archival footage and period music, this
unknown story is dramatically brought back to life.
Screaming Queens
is a production of Victor Silverman and Susan Stryker produced in
association with ITVS and KQED, with funding provided by the
Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
“Many may think they know the facts of what happened at Compton's but Screaming Queens adds telling detail of what led up to the riots as provided by some of the participants themselves. Yes, it was still illegal for men to "masquerade" as women in 1966, and the "queens" were both tolerated by the corrupt cops and often harassed by them as well... Yes, civil rights were at stake, but, as the film details, economic reasons also played a part... With quiet, unbending dignity, a handful of the queens talk about how cornered they felt by society, how much of themselves they had to trade away, or sell outright, to survive, how they had no other choice but to fight back. And at the end of the film, when the final credits reveal that one of the subjects has died since her story was filmed, you cannot help thinking that the courage she showed in standing up for herself in 1966 helped endow a legacy that has eased the lives of so many in the intervening years.”
—David Wiegand, San Francisco Chronicle
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