Arcadia Publishing is pleased to announce the publication of San Francisco’s Transgender District, a new history by author Megan Rohrer.
About the Book
San Francisco’s Transgender District was founded in 2017 by three black trans women. This unique history book has over 200 pictures celebrating trans experiences through the lives of people who live, work, gather community and protest for rights within these six blocks of the Tenderloin.
From the first gender nonconforming and transgender residents in the area who were and are Two-Spirit members of the unseated lands of the Ramaytush Ohlone, through the founding of San Francisco; this book amplifies the unique struggles of transgender individuals during the historic Compton’s Cafeteria Riots and beyond.
This book aims to capture life altering moments in history like the 1906 earthquake which dramatically reshaped the neighborhood when Market Street was destroyed. And while some members of the trans community had some privilege and gained fame and fortune in local vaudeville theaters and performing in drag, others regularly navigated inhumane confrontations with police, landlords, and local businesses. Through the oral and written history from community leaders, like José Julio Sarria, and Ms. Billie Cooper, along with local clergy, “Screaming Queens,” the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, and so many others, we learn how trans individuals built a community and culture in this district with the hope to find their own glitter in the rubble.
Paper Phoenix ink 