The Transgender District

37°46′57″N 122°24′40″W / 37.7826°N 122.4110°W / 37.7826; -122.4110

A sign reads "Compton's Transgender Cultural District" at the intersection of Eddy and Mason streets in the Tenderloin. Poles in the background are painted with the blue, pink, and white colors of the Transgender Pride Flag.

The Transgender District, formerly known as Compton's Transgender Cultural District, is the first legally recognized transgender district in the world. Named after the first documented uprising of transgender and queer people in United States history, the Compton's Cafeteria riot of 1966, the district encompasses six blocks in the southeastern Tenderloin, San Francisco, and crosses over Market Street to include two blocks of Sixth Street. It was co-founded by Honey Mahogany, Janetta Johnson, and Aria Sa'id.[1][2][3][4][5][6]

Honey Mahogany served as the first executive director of The Transgender District, followed by Aria Sa'id. In August 2023, Breonna McCree and Carlo Gomez Arteaga took over as co-executive directors.[7]

The cultural district was established via ordinance by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 2017. In July 2019, the board allocated $300,000 in seed money to support the district.[8] District projects planned for 2020 include a coffee shop that will provide job training for local trans people of color.[9]

In March 2020, the district announced a name change to simply The Transgender District. Executive director Aria Sa'id explained that they did not wish to "continue honoring [Gene Compton] and his restaurant", as "he was a huge reason behind having drag queens, queer, and trans folks arrested".[10]

In April 2022, the San Francisco Redistricting Task Force adopted a new district map that moved most of the Transgender District from District 6 to District 5, angering some community members.[11][12]

In May 2022, the district announced that they would be pulling out of Pride events sponsored by the City and County of San Francisco. This decision was in response to Mayor London Breed pulling out of the 2022 Pride parade, in protest of San Francisco Pride's decision to prohibit police officers from marching in uniform.[13] At the City's Pride flag raising and press conference on June 2, Mayor Breed announced that Pride had reached a compromise with the police, and she would once again march in the parade. Transgender District director Aria Sa'id attended the flag raising after learning of the new agreement.[14]

In June 2022, the Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to designate the intersection of Turk and Taylor streets in the district as a historic landmark.[15]

  1. ^ Sawyer, Nuala (February 6, 2019). "The First Transgender District in the Nation Gets a New Director". SF Weekly. Retrieved June 21, 2019.
  2. ^ Tovar, Virgie (February 26, 2019). "First Ever Transgender Cultural District Co-Founded By #XLBossLady Aria Sa'id". Forbes. Retrieved June 21, 2019.
  3. ^ Veltman, Chloe (January 28, 2019). "San Francisco's Storied Transgender Community Now Has An Official Home". NPR. Retrieved June 21, 2019.
  4. ^ Levin, Sam (June 21, 2019). "Compton's Cafeteria riot: a historic act of trans resistance, three years before Stonewall". The Guardian. Retrieved June 21, 2019.
  5. ^ Rodriguez, Joe Fitzgerald (June 26, 2019). "SF posts new street signs and trans Pride flags across Compton's Transgender Cultural District". San Francisco Examiner. Retrieved June 26, 2019.
  6. ^ "America's first transgender cultural district". CNN. May 23, 2019. Retrieved July 19, 2019.
  7. ^ Ferrannini, John (August 30, 2023). "New trans district EDs excited to build community power". Bay Area Reporter. Retrieved August 30, 2023.
  8. ^ Elison, Meg (August 14, 2019). "SF queer cultural districts take shape". Bay Area Reporter. Retrieved August 15, 2019.
  9. ^ Willis, Raquel (November 20, 2019). "How We Can End the Violence Against Trans Women of Color". Out. Retrieved November 22, 2019.
  10. ^ Ferrannini, John (March 20, 2020). "Online Extra: SF transgender district drops cafeteria owner's name". Bay Area Reporter. Retrieved March 20, 2020.
  11. ^ Bajko, Matthew (April 21, 2022). "Political Notes: Panel switches supervisorial home for SF transgender district". Bay Area Reporter. Retrieved May 26, 2022.
  12. ^ Ferrannini, John (April 29, 2022). "Task force OKs final controversial map of SF districts". KRON-TV. Retrieved May 26, 2022.
  13. ^ Ferrannini, John (May 26, 2022). "SF Transgender District to skip city-sponsored Pride events". KRON-TV. Retrieved May 26, 2022.
  14. ^ Burkett, Eric; Laird, Cynthia (June 2, 2022). "After SF Pride, police reach compromise, Mayor Breed, gay supe Dorsey to march in parade". Bay Area Reporter. Retrieved June 2, 2022.
  15. ^ Burkett, Eric (June 7, 2022). "SF supervisors unanimously vote to support historic intersection in Trans district". Bay Area Reporter. Retrieved June 8, 2022.