Donna Personna is an artist and activist for transgender rights, who got her start with the Cockettes. She has served on the boards of Trans March and Transgender Day of Remembrance, and on the committees to name streets after Vicki Marlene and Compton’s Cafeteria in San Francisco’s Transgender Cultural District.
Donna was the subject of the Iris Prize-winning 2013 short film My Mother and featured in the film Beautiful by Night. Donna has been covered in publications such as Out, The Advocate, SF Chronicle, and the Daily Beast.
In 2018, she raised San Francisco’s first transgender flag at City Hall with Mayor London Breed. The immersive play she co-wrote, The Compton’s Cafeteria Riot was produced by the Tenderloin Museum and recreates SF transgender history. It received many accolades, including SF Weekly’s Best of 2018.
Donna was selected by the SF Pride Board of Directors as the 2019 Lifetime Achievement Grand Marshal.
A feature-length documentary about Donna’s life, Donna, directed by acclaimed Welsh documentarian Jay Bedwani, was released in 2022.
Donna Personna is an artist and activist for transgender rights, who got her start with the Cockettes. She has served on the boards of Trans March and Transgender Day of Remembrance, and on the committees to name streets after Vicki Marlene and Compton’s Cafeteria in San Francisco’s Transgender Cultural District.
Donna was the subject of the Iris Prize-winning 2013 short film My Mother and featured in the film Beautiful by Night. Donna has been covered in publications such as Out, The Advocate, SF Chronicle, and the Daily Beast.
In 2018, she raised San Francisco’s first transgender flag at City Hall with Mayor London Breed. The immersive play she co-wrote, The Compton’s Cafeteria Riot was produced by the Tenderloin Museum and recreates SF transgender history. It received many accolades, including SF Weekly’s Best of 2018.
Donna was selected by the SF Pride Board of Directors as the 2019 Lifetime Achievement Grand Marshal.
A feature-length documentary about Donna’s life, Donna, directed by acclaimed Welsh documentarian Jay Bedwani, was released in 2022.