SAN FRANCISCO – Riot Party 2024, held at Kapwa Gardens in San Francisco’s SoMa neighborhood, was more than just a celebratory gathering; it was a powerful reminder of the progress made in the fight for LGBTQ rights and the work that still lies ahead.
Among the attendees was Taylor Quentin, a San Francisco resident who moved to the city from Delaware five years ago to find a place where she could truly be herself.
“I need to be here and I love having to be here because it’s about our civil rights and that’s why we should be here and support the legacy of a lot of people who fought hard,” Quentin said. “I wanted to find a place where I could express myself and not be judged so harshly and San Francisco was the first place that was mentioned as a place I could go.”
Quentin was one of dozens who gathered to mark the end of Transgender History Month at a celebration organized by the Transgender District. The “Riot Party 2024” honored the Compton cafeteria riots of 1966, a milestone in the fight for LGBTQ rights.
This day was not just about remembering the past.
Carlo Gomez Arteaga, a representative of the transgender district, emphasized the dual purpose of the event, which is both a celebration and a launching pad for their new campaign, “Hire Trans Folks,” which aims to increase employment opportunities for transgender people.
“It’s a campaign that’s very close to my heart because I came out as transgender late in life. I came out in my late 40s, and one of my fears was about an entire career that I had built over the years of doing all kinds of jobs in the nonprofit sector in different movements,” Arteaga said.
Marcel Pardo, one of the driving forces behind the “Hire Trans Folks” initiative, echoed this sentiment.
“I feel like people want to support trans people but don’t know how. Our ‘Hire Trans Folks’ campaign is a call to action to make workplaces more inclusive and to really stand with the trans and queer community with resources like job security,” Pardo said.
Pardo said that while significant progress has been made in the fight for LGBTQ rights, economic inequalities continue to pose significant challenges, particularly for transgender and LGBTQ people of color. New data shows that LGBTQ households are disproportionately affected by poverty, with many living at or near the poverty line.
“We push the envelope, that’s why we have organizations and companies that sponsor us. But we also want to make sure that they hire people, that their policies are inclusive and that they show understanding for the transgender community,” Arteaga said.
Riot Party 2024 was not just a moment of reflection – it was also a joyful celebration of the progress made and a reminder of how far the LGBTQ community has come.
“We have to work with what we have, and if that’s the case, that’s what we’re going to do,” Quentin said.
