Events are planned throughout August celebrating Transgender History Month, which opened with a flag-raising ceremony at City Hall last week. Mayor Lurie presided, with guest speakers honoring the trans community.
As the Bay Area Reporter writes, the gathering took place on the second floor balcony of City Hall on Tuesday, marking the city’s fifth annual Transgender History Month — and Lurie’s first.
It wasn’t his first public encounter with the trans community, though. In June, he was booed out of Dolores Park ahead of the Trans March during Pride Weekend — something of an informal tradition in the community, as reported by SFist.
“The world, as it always has, is looking to us to be the beacon for the trans community. San Francisco remains steadfast — we will continue to stay true to our history and cherish our trans community for making San Francisco the city we know and love today,” Lurie said.
As the Bay Area Reporter writes, trans activist and DACA recipient Jupiter Peraza led the push to make Transgender History Month legally recognized in San Francisco, a declaration signed by London Breed in 2021. In 2023, it became a statewide proclamation.
“Many of us cannot afford to remain silent. We must wake up every single day and fight for society to recognize our humanity, not only because we are trans, but because we are also immigrants,” Peraza told the Bay Area Reporter.
As Axios writes, the trans community in San Francisco has a long, rich history, culminating in the historic Compton's Cafeteria Riot in August 1966, in which trans and gender-queer patrons stood up to police harassment.
In 2017, the area around the riot site became the world’s first transgender district, founded by Honey Mahogany, Janetta Johnson, and Aria Sa'id — three Black trans women. Earlier this year, the Turk and Taylor Street site received two official historic designations, as reported by SFist.
Other local trans milestones highlighted by Axios include Dr. Joel Fort and trans activist Wendy Kohler revolutionizing trans health care through the SF Department of Public Health in 1965; Jamison Green, Kiki Whitlock, and other activists working with the Human Rights Commission in 1995; and Theresa Sparks becoming the first openly trans city department head as president of the San Francisco Police Commission in 2007.
See the lineup of Transgender History Month events here.
Top image: SF Office of Transgender Initiatives/Facebook
Related:
Compton's Cafeteria Site Receives Two Official Historic Landmark Designations
Compton's Cafeteria Riot Anniversary Marked With 'Black Trans Lives Matter' Mural in Tenderloin
SF To Designate Nation's First Transgender Historic District In The Tenderloin
