A Vision for Our Future: Fighting for Compton's Cafeteria

Jason Wyman
2 days ago
4 min read

Updated: 13 hours ago

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On May 7, 2025, I had the incredible honor of being one among approximately 50 people to testify during public comment at the San Francisco Board of Appeals meeting. The issue at hand was regarding the property at 111 Taylor Street, home of the landmark Compton's Cafeteria. In August 1966, Compton's was the sight of Trans (and GLBQ+) resistance to ongoing police and public harassment when a trans woman, who was being targeted by police, threw a cup of coffee in the cop's face. Police violence escalated. The women fought back. Sustained protesting of Compton's ensued, and eventually in 1972 Compton's on Taylor Street closed.

Currently, 111 Taylor Street is being managed by GEO Group. GEO Group runs myriad private detention facilities across the United States. They donated over $1,000,000 to the Trump campaign, and they are fighting in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to pay migrants (they are paid to detain) less than $1 per day for their labor. Their valuation under Trump is $4,000,000,000 and growing. It is an evil company profiting off the punishment and suffering of those we should be caring about, protecting, and supporting.

"We just need to care," written in hand lettering with bold, fun colors and patterns against a dark background that has a hint of a rainbow. The pull quote is by Lea McGeever.

Chandra Laborde, who has an office in the Tenderloin, signed up with and paid for the Black Book Notification System, which is an online system that notifies registrants regarding change of ownership or usage on designated properties, for 111 Taylor Street. There was a change in usage for the 111 Taylor Street property made by GEO Group and approved by the San Francisco Planning Department. Chandra did not receive notification, so Chandra filed an appeal with the San Francisco Board of Appeals stating that if Chandra had been notified of the change in usage, Chandra would have filed an objection to that usage. Thus, Chandra's rights were violated and the Board of Appeals should vote in favor of allowing Chandra to file an official objection to the change in usage.

I was invited to attend the Board of Appeals meeting and asked to share my public comment by numerous friends and comrades, so it was important for me to show up. I didn't need to know all of the specifics. Just that my presence was requested by those I care about. I am so glad I did because not only did Chandra win their request, the testimony by the public was a powerful, moving history lesson about the legacy and impact of the Compton's Cafeteria Riots and a demonstration of intersectional organizing between the fight for trans liberation AND the abolition of prisons and private detention centers. We need examples of these now more than ever.

For me, this apparently small moment is also a vision of a liberated future in the here and now. This future looks like one where sights of struggle, history, and spirit are returned to the stewards who can care (and should be caring) for them and all relatives upon them. This includes the return of land stewardship to Indigenous peoples across the globe, reparations to Black peoples structurally harmed by the United States (and Europe), the full sovereignty of all people (especially trans folks, women, and disabled people) to their bodies, and the erasure of Man-made borders with full freedom of movement and migration.

This liberated space also educated all of us. Specifically, it educated the White Male Board of Appeals members on the significance of 111 Taylor and convinced them that an oversight by the San Francisco Planning Department had occurred. In the Closing Remarks, each one of the members had learned something new about San Francisco history. And this history was told by the very voices most impacted today by the Compton's Cafeteria Riots. History was not left up to one person. In fact, it was the Collective Body of all present that not only told but demonstrated the complexities and intersections amongst and betwixt movements, peoples, land, and governmental process.

Yes, this does not change GEO Group's current usage of 111 Taylor Street as a private holding facility, which is essentially a private jail within San Francisco. It does create more space for more organizing, resistance, storytelling, and education. A window was opened, one that lets just a bit more air into the room, so We-All can keep breathing and going. I know I needed it because there is so much news and policy in this world that is criminalizing, punishing, and hating on my Trans siblings. And that isn't the narrative I want playing in my head as I dream. I desire a world where We-All are free, and I need food here and now to nurture it.

So if you are in need of a bit of breath and some victuals, please watch the video of Public Comment below. I have also included (as separate videos each) Chandra's Opening Remarks, the Board of Appeals Initial Questions, GEO Group's Response, the San Francisco Planning Department's Response, and the Board of Appeals Closing Remarks and Vote (also watch that one).

And...remember that "We just need to care," as my dear friend and comrade Lea McGeever recently stated in one of their Instagram posts.