Nestled in the San Francisco Tenderloin neighborhood, Compton’s Cafeteria was a 24-hour restaurant and refuge for sex-working trans women, who often faced intense violence from clients and police. 1966: San Francisco – Compton’s Cafeteria Riot This led to the quick reversal of the state’s anti-gay liquor laws.
The group was finally denied service at the Greenwich Village tavern Julius, which had been raided by police a few days earlier for serving gay people. At the time, LGBTQ+ individuals couldn’t be served alcohol in public because liquor laws considered their gathering to be “disorderly.” In spring 1966, members of the early gay rights organization Mattachine Society staged a “ sip-in”-a twist on “sit-in” protest-in which they visited taverns, declared themselves gay, and waited to be turned away so they could sue.
After pouring their drinks, a bartender in Julius's Bar refuses to serve John Timmins, Dick Leitsch, Craig Rodwell, and Randy Wicker, members of the Mattachine Society who were protesting New York liquor laws that prevented serving gay customers, 1966.