Gene Compton's Cafeteria
One of the earliest highlights of the gay rights movement nationally was the riot in response to the police raid on Gene Compton’s Cafeteria in San Francisco in the year 1966. [9] The riot was initiated when police attempted to round up and arrest cafeteria customers who were “cross-dressing,” more specifically, people who had male gender markers on their IDs but were wearing traditionally feminine clothing -- an illegal activity in San Francisco at that time -- and the customers, fed up with continually being harassed by the police force, began to throw restaurant items and beat back the police officers with their purses. This riot marked the first transgender riot in American history and an early incitement for the organization of the LGBT population to occur. [10]