Elliott Blackstone

Elliott R. Blackstone (November 30, 1924 – October 25, 2006) was a sergeant in the San Francisco Police Department, known as a longtime advocate for the lesbian, gay and transgender community in that city.

Early life Born in Aurora, Illinois and raised in Chinook, Montana, Blackstone served in the U.S. Navy during World War II, and was honorably discharged. In 1949, he became a San Francisco police officer. He was a pioneer of what later became known as community policing. In 1962, he was designated as the department's first liaison officer with the "homophile community," as it was then called.

Community-relations liaison In the months following the Compton's Cafeteria Riot, Blackstone participated in efforts by the Tenderloin neighborhood organizing campaign to establish the Central City Anti-Poverty Program, as part of the War on Poverty under President Lyndon B. Johnson. The program included an office where Blackstone served as the community-relations liaison to the homophile community.

Death Blackstone died of a stroke in 2006.