Donna Personna (born 1946) is a transgender rights activist[1] and fine art artist, who focuses in photography, painting, and mixed media. Personna was friends with The Cockettes and she played a part in Elevator Girls in Bondage.[2] Personna co-wrote a play about the Compton Cafeteria riot, one of the first recorded LGBT-related riots in United States history, and marking the beginning of transgender activism in San Francisco.[3]

Donna Personna in 2018

Biography

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Personna and San Francisco Mayor London Breed raise the trans pride flag outside City Hall, 2023.

Personna was born in San Jose, California, and moved to San Francisco at age 19.[4]

Personna has served on the boards of the Trans March and Transgender Day of Remembrance.[5]

In 2018, she raised San Francisco's first Transgender flag at San Francisco City Hall with Mayor London Breed. In 2019, she was a Grand marshal of the San Francisco Pride Parade.[6]

Filmography

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Personna was the subject of the 2013 Iris Prize-winning short film “My Mother" and was featured in the 2014 film "Beautiful by Night."[7] She was interviewed for the 2018 documentary, "Ruminations."[8]

Personna's story is a major part of “The Compton’s Cafeteria Riot,” an interactive play produced by the Tenderloin Museum.[9]

References

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  1. ^ "'Denying our very humanity:' Trump proposal wounds Bay Area transgender community". www.msn.com. Retrieved 2019-07-05.
  2. ^ "SF Pride Lifetime Achievement Honoree: Donna Personna | Commonwealth Club". www.commonwealthclub.org. Retrieved 2019-07-05.
  3. ^ Boyd, Nan Alamilla (2004). "San Francisco" in the Encyclopedia of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered History in America, Ed. Marc Stein. Vol. 3. Charles Scribner's Sons. pp. 71–78.
  4. ^ "With six decades of stories, Tenderloin icon Donna Personna is having a moment – SFChronicle.com". www.sfchronicle.com. 2017-10-31. Retrieved 2019-07-05.
  5. ^ "Donna Personna". San Francisco Pride. 2019-04-14. Archived from the original on 2019-07-05. Retrieved 2019-07-05.
  6. ^ Levin, Sam (2019-06-21). "Compton's Cafeteria riot: a historic act of trans resistance, three years before Stonewall". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2019-07-05.
  7. ^ "Donna Personna – Compton's Cafeteria Riot". Archived from the original on 2019-07-05. Retrieved 2019-07-05.
  8. ^ Ruminations, retrieved 2019-07-05
  9. ^ "The Donna Personna Portraits Project". Tenderloin Museum. Archived from the original on 2019-07-05. Retrieved 2019-07-05.
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