Shannon Amitin is a Trans activist, community leader, and entrepreneur. In 2009 they opened farm:table in Lower Nob Hill. farm:table quickly became a cult favorite and a neighborhood hub. Shannon has volunteered with The Compton’s Transgender District, Castro LGBT Cultural District, served on the planning committee for Trans March SF and fundraised for numerous Bay Area non-profits.
Small wonder that Amitin is motivated to create spaces for their community. They were born in Maine and attended 14 schools before graduating from high school in Whittier, California. That near-constant movement was powered by a father who served in the military and later became a traveling Pentecostal minister.
Amitin’s last project is the ground-breaking San Francisco trans youth of color-led coffee and event cooperative. Fluid is a partnership with La Cocina’s Municipal Marketplace in the Tenderloin.
Today, Amitin is looking to use their experience building community among diverse groups of LGBTQ communities to make these cities a better place for all queer folks. They have served on the boards of the Castro Merchants, the Alice B. Toklas Democratic Club, and were elected to the newly legislated Castro LGBTQ Cultural District.
At the end of the day, Amitin sees their projects as a service to the communities they call home. The mission is simple and personal as hell; fighting to keep LGBTQ communities safe, thriving and dancing.
Image Credit: Jim Wilson, for the New York Times