The SF Board of Appeals heard an appeal Wednesday from a coalition of trans activists, historians, and others hoping to preserve the former Compton's Cafeteria site in the Tenderloin as a landmark of trans and queer activism.

As we reported in May, advocates have been pushing to overturn a zoning determination made in January by the SF Planning Department that allowed a grandfathered-in zoning allowance for the property at 101-121 Taylor Street as "non-conforming Group Housing." The property has been owned and operated for decades by GEO Group Inc., a prison operator that also runs ICE detention facilities, and the building functions as group housing for a federally sponsored work furlough program for the formerly incarcerated.

The ground floor of the building was the former home of a location of Gene Compton's Cafeteria, a 24-hour diner that was frequented by trans and queer sex workers in the 1960s and that became the site of an anti-police-brutality riot in August 1966.

Though advocates missed a deadline to appeal, the Board of Appeals granted them a late appeal, and a hearing occurred Wednesday where dozens of community members spoke about their desire to reclaim the property for a better use, for the LGBTQ+ community.

"This is not just about code enforcement," said one speaker said during the public comment portion of the meeting, per KTVU. "It’s about transparency, due process, and moral integrity."

Supervisor Bilal Mahmood, whose district includes much of the Tenderloin, also spoke, saying, "This appeal is about more than a zoning or a letter of determination."

And state legislators Senator Scott Wiener and Assembymember Matt Haney filed a joint letter with the board, saying that a "private carceral corporation" is a "wholly inappropriate [use] because of the historical and cultural significance of the site itself."

They added, "This is not just any parcel of land. It sits at the heart of a community that has been a sanctuary and stronghold for transgender people for generations, before the historic Stonewall riots, and long before the city formally recognized the Transgender District."

But, the appeals board ultimately voted not to overturn the zoning decision, letting GEO Group continue operating its halfway house. Reportedly, some board members said they regretted that, unfortunately, they didn't have the legal authority to rescind that decision, but perhaps advocates could take their case to the Board of Supervisors. Also, as the Chronicle reports, board members encouraged Planning and the Department of Building Inspection to continue investigations into possible noncompliance in the current use of the building.

A representative for GEO Group, David Blackwell, issued a statement to KTVU saying, "Nothing has changed since 1989, except now we have an appellant who doesn’t like the use and would prefer to have something else there."

Zoning Administrator Corey Teague spoke at Wednesday's hearing, as the Chronicle reports, suggesting that within the Planning Department, staff members were still looking into whether GEO Group's self-reported uses of the site were in compliance with the zoning.

"We do have an open enforcement case that is currently under investigation," Teague said, per the Chronicle. "We did have two staff members do a full site visit for the entire building last month, we have requested information and documents from the operators and the owners. And that process is ongoing."

Wilder Zeiser, a member of the Comptons x Coalition, gave a statement to the Chronicle, saying, "We have ongoing commitments with state officials including Senator Scott Wiener and Assemblymember Matt Haney, to escalate pressure on [the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation] to terminate its contracts with GEO Group." Zeiser added, "We may have lost this hearing but we are winning the narrative."

The building at Turk and Taylor streets is the centerpiece landmark of the Transgender District, and is the terminus of the annual Trans March during Pride Weekend.

The documentary Screaming Queens, which aired on KQED, tells the story of the historic 1966 riot and includes accounts from trans women who lived in and around the Tenderloin at the time, including onetime Marilyn Monroe impersonator at Finocchio's, Aleshia Brevard.