Come learn about the Compton's Cafeteria Riot from Susan Stryker, who uncovered this historic event and shepherded it into mainstream conversations through films, lectures, and writings.

Directors Susan Stryker and Victor Silverman’s award winning documentary, The Screaming Queens: The Riot at Compton’s Cafeteria, tells the forgotten story of the first collective act of militant resistance to the social oppression of queer people in the United States–a 1966 riot by transgender sex workers at a late night cafeteria in San Francisco.

While conducting research in the GLBT Historical Society archives Stryker uncovered the Compton's Cafeteria Riot and began work to bring the story to the public. In making this film, Stryker and co-director Victor Silverman saved the Compton's Riot story from being lost forever and paved the way for more recent recuperations of this historic moment, such as the Tenderloin Museum produced play "The Compton's Cafeteria Riot" (written by Pride's 2019 Grand Marshall Donna Personna), and even the recently named "Compton's Transgender Cultural District."

The Screaming Queens was awarded an Emmy during The 35th Annual Northern California Area EMMY® Awards For Outstanding Achievement in the Historical/Cultural category.

The Screaming Queens will be held on August 8th; reception at 6:30pm, screening at 7pm with director Susan Stryker (professor of Gender and Women’s Studies at the University of Arizona, Director of the Institute for LGBT Studies).