The riot was a response to the violent and constant police harassment of trans people , particularly trans women , and drag queens. The s was a pivotal period for sexual, gender, and ethnic minorities, as social movements championing civil rights and sexual liberation came to fruition. Additionally, the s created the foundation for the trans rights and gay liberation movements with the earlier Homophile movement. Social groups helped mobilize and even churches, like Glide Memorial Methodist Church in San Francisco, began reaching out to the transgender community.
This simultaneous rise in support for transgender rights on the one side and the unwillingness to accept these new ideas on the other created the strain that fueled the riot at Compton's Cafeteria in the summer of The incident began when a transgender woman resisted arrest by throwing coffee at a police officer.
It was followed by drag queens and transgender women pouring into the streets, fighting back with their high heels and heavy bags. The general public was first made aware of transgender identities after the famous medical transition and sex reassignment surgery of Christine Jorgensen in Denmark. Gender norms and expressions were bent. Many feminists stopped wearing bras and makeup, hippies and the members of the Beatles grew their hair long, and gender-neutral fashion such as floral patterns became more popular.
In the following years after the book was published, several universities opened gender clinics. The Oxford English Dictionary 's first definition of "tenderloin" is "the tenderest or most juicy part of the loin of beef, pork, etc.
The Tenderloin district of San Francisco was always inhabited by traditionally marginalized peoples โ working-class people, people of color, etc. In the early s, there was a push for "urban renewal" of the waterfront North Beach neighborhood and South of Market neighborhood, which were visibly gay, working-class areas. Through intense policing and targeted redevelopment of the neighborhoods, residents were pushed out and forced to relocate.
