Historic Queer Resistance Site in San Francisco Now Owned by Private Prison Company
The former Gene Compton’s Cafeteria, the scene of a 1966 queer uprising, is now owned by the GEO Group, a private prison operator.
Three years before Stonewall, trans women and queer community members resisted police intimidation at Gene Compton’s Cafeteria in San Francisco’s Tenderloin, sparking a militant protest that helped launch the broader LGBTQIA+ movement. Scholars such as Dr. Susan Stryker and Isaac Fellman emphasize the riot’s role in establishing trans women as pioneers of queer liberation. The historic site, once a hub for marginalized residents, is now owned by the GEO Group, a private prison corporation that also contracts with ICE.
Activists, including members of Bay Resistance, have organized rallies to oppose the firm’s control of the building and its involvement in immigration detention. Recent police actions during the city’s Trans March have renewed calls for solidarity and highlighted the ongoing struggle for trans and queer rights in San Francisco.
Why it matters
The ownership of a landmark queer resistance site by a prison firm raises concerns about erasing historic activism and links to current incarceration policies.
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