User:Snchristensen/LGBT history in California

Article text
In 1965 Vanguard was founded by Adrian Ravarour and San Francisco Tenderloin youth for gay rights. The following year, in 1966, one of the first recorded transgender riots in US history took place. The Compton's Cafeteria Riot occurred in the Tenderloin district of San Francisco. The night after the riot, more transgender people, hustlers, Tenderloin street people, and other members of the LGBT community joined in a picket of the cafeteria, which would not allow transgender people back in. The demonstration ended with the newly installed plate-glass windows being smashed again. According to the online encyclopedia glbtq.com, "In the aftermath of the riot at Compton's, a network of transgender social, psychological, and medical support services was established, which culminated in 1968 with the creation of the National Transsexual Counseling Unit (NTCU), the first such peer-run support and advocacy organization in the world".

My edits:

[cut the quote]

The momentum generated from the riot led to transgender activists establishing a social support network of various social, psychological, and medical support services. This culmination of these efforts was the National Transsexual Counseling Unit (NTCU), established in 1968, which is said to be the first support and advocacy organization for transgender people in the world. The NTCU was funded by the Erickson Educational Foundation and was staffed by two full time peer counselors who provided street outreach, walk-in counseling, and answered mail that was received from around the world. Elliot Blackstone, a San Fransisco Police Department officer who served as a liaison to the LGBTQ+ community, helped manage the office as part of his outreach work. The NTCU served the community until 1974, when SFPD officers framed one of the peer counselors and arrested her for drug possession. Drugs were also planted in Blackstone's desk, which led to him being reassigned to no longer be working with the NTCU. This led to the EEF cutting funding in 1974, which ended the NTCU's short life.