The Transgender District: A Cultural District's History, Impact, and Future

Join us at Manny's for a conversation about the impact, history, and future of the first legally recognized transgender district in the world. Carlo Gomez Artega (Co-Executive Director of the Transgeder District) and Honey Mahogany (Director of the Office of Transgender Initiatves) will sit for a discussion moderated by activist Jupiter Peraza.

About the Transgender District:

Founded by three black trans women in 2017 as Compton’s Transgender Cultural District, The Transgender District is the first legally recognized transgender district in the world. Originally named after the first documented uprising of transgender and queer people in United States history, the Compton’s Cafeteria Riots of 1966, the district encompasses 6 blocks in the southeastern Tenderloin and crosses over Market Street to include two blocks of 6th street. In 2016, the City of San Francisco renamed portions of Turk and Taylor to commemorate the historic contributions of transgender people, renaming them “Compton’s Cafeteria Way” and “Vikki Mar Lane” respectively.

This urban region of the city’s Tenderloin District has held a documented, ongoing presence of transgender residents since as early as the 1920s- with the Tenderloin known as a “gay ghetto” during the 1930s to the 1960s- prior to the birth of the internationally renowned Castro District in San Francisco. This area is home to the city of San Francisco’s first LGBT bar, and various community spaces, gathering sites, and hotels with cultural significance for the broader transgender and queer community in the Tenderloin.

We aim to create an urban environment that celebrates the transgender tipping point in the United States and the world, while educating the world of the deep profundity of transgender culture and our contributions to the liberation of humankind.

Panelists

Carlo Gómez Arteaga is an experienced organizer, advocate, fundraiser, and trainer with over 28 years of experience focused on Youth Equity, LGBTQIA+, and Immigrant Rights. Currently the Co-Executive Director for Transgender District in San Francisco, he supports the organization to create an urban environment that fosters the rich history, culture, legacy, and empowerment of transgender people and their deep roots in the southeastern Tenderloin neighborhood of San Francisco.

Carlo is the co-founder of the first Spanish / bilingual language support group for Latine Transmen and non-binary members called Grupo de Apoyo Fénix. This is a partnership between the Pacific Center for Human Growth in Berkeley and a program of Somos Familia in Oakland, CA.

Previous to this position Carlo directed an anti-poverty statewide campaign and coordinated donor development with the Dolores Huerta Foundation. The foundation’s work was focused on Civic Engagement, Education Equity, Health, and Safety, and LGBTQIA+ Equality.

Carlo has a B.A. in Political Science & Spanish from DePaul University, studied at San Francisco State University's College of Ethnic Studies, and holds certifications in a number of areas including Grassroots Fundraising, Peer Counseling, Group Facilitation, Youth Development, Harm Reduction, and Family & Community Engagement Practices. Carlo was a New Voices Fellow through the Academy for Educational Development, funded nationally by the Ford Foundation. Carlo was born and raised on the Southside of Chicago. Currently residing in West Oakland.

Honey Mahogany was recently appointed by Mayor Breed to the lead the city's Office of Transgender Initiatives. Born and raised in San Francisco, Mahogany has advocated for justice and equity for the LGBTQ+ community for more than two decades, many as a community activist. As a social worker, she has championed initiatives to address the needs of people living with HIV, people of color, youth, and the unhoused.

As part of her work in benefit of the trans community, she served trans and gender nonconforming youth as an outreach worker in residential settings and organized trans community members in the creation of the San Francisco’s Transgender District. She also co-organized the Drag Up!, Fight Back! march, and mentored and appointed trans leaders during her time as Chair of the San Francisco Democratic Party.

Mahogany is also a founding queen of Drag Story Hour and, recently, played a critical role in saving The Stud, an iconic gay bar in San Francisco, of which she is a co-owner, co-founder of the Stud Collective, and an active member of its board.

Mahogany’s experience in government and the nonprofit sector includes serving as Community Mental Health Director at Contra Costa County’s Rainbow Community Center and her work as outreach and residential counselor for Larkin Street Youth Services. More recently, she worked for State Assemblymember Matt Haney as District Director and as Chief of Staff when he was a San Francisco Supervisor.

Moderator

Jupiter Peraza is a transgender advocate, political strategist, policymaker, community organizer, facilitator, and DACA recipient.

Jupiter has lived in San Francisco since 2015, when she originally moved to attend San Francisco State University. She immediately fell in love with the city and has remained here since. Originally a Drama Major, Jupiter graduated with a BA in International Relations and a minor in Political Science.

In 2021, Jupiter authored the original proclamation designating August as Transgender History Month in the City and County of San Francisco – becoming the first city in the nation to designate a commemorative month for transgender history. Mayor London Breed signed the proclamation on August 24th, 2021. In 2022, she wrote legislation to landmark the intersection of Taylor & Turk Streets Intersection - the actual site of the Compton’s Cafeteria Riots in August of 1966 – with San Francisco’s Historic Preservation Commission. In September 2023, Jupiter co-authored HR57 at the state level officially declaring August as Transgender History Month in the state of California – becoming the first state in the nation to do so. She worked with Assemblymember Matt Haney, trans advocate, policymaker, and icon, Honey Mahogany, and trans historian and filmmaker, Susan Stryker.

In 2022, Jupiter was recognized as California Senate District 11th 2022 Woman of the Year by State Senator Scott Wiener. In February 2023, she was elected as a delegate to the California Democratic Party representing Assembly District 17th – becoming the self-identified female with the highest number of votes in the district. In July 2023, she was appointed to the San Francisco Democratic County Central Committee – otherwise known as the San Francisco Democratic Party – by Party Chair Honey Mahogany.

Currently, Jupiter serves on San Francisco’s Office of Transgender Initiatives (OTI) Transgender Advisory Council (TAC). OTI is the nation’s first trans-led and trans-centering government office. Additionally, she is Statewide Coalition Manager for Openhouse on California’s first baseline study on the aging experience of LGBTQIA+ older adults. Jupiter works alongside the California Department of Aging (CDA), clinical researches from University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) School of Medicine and University of California, Berkeley (UCB) CITRIS Research Institute. The goal of the study – otherwise known as Survey of LGBTQIA+ Older Adults in California: From Challenges to Resilience – is to influence California’s Master Plan on Aging (MPA) and produce data that will catalyze policy and legislative transformation for the LGBTQIA+ community.

Jupiter also has the pleasure to be a Capacity Coach for the Transgender Strategy Center. She is also a member of the California Transgender Policy Alliance (CTPA).

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