Today’s Wave of Anti-LGBTQ+ Legislation Actually Began in San Francisco
In 1863, the Board of Supervisors prohibited the act of wearing “dress not belonging to his or her sex.” By 1900, dozens of cities followed.
As with Tennessee today, San Francisco back then was concerned with gender expression in public, not in private—targeting people whose gender identity did not match with the sex they were assigned at birth, and leaving silly stag parties alone.
Municipal arrest records from before 1906 were destroyed in the earthquake and fire, but newspaper accounts reveal that at least 100 people were arrested and fined for violating propriety.
Punishment didn’t just take place through the criminal justice system. Tabloids that ran stories detailing “problem bodies” seemed to denounce the scourge of cross-dressing.
