by Aster Hall
Having taken place on November 20th this year, I’d like to celebrate Trans Day of Remembrance by remembering the stories of Sylvia Rivera, and Marsha P. Johnson. Us gays owe whatever liberation from the closet we have to these fierce queens. They are both maybe best known for rioting during Stonewall, as well as founding Street Transvestite Activist Revolutionaries (STAR) together in 1970– the first organization to be lead by trans women of color in the US. STAR can be described as a collective through which Johnson and Rivera created a shelter, STAR House, for trans people to have a place to come home to. Members of this community cared for one another and would “[share] food, money, and their lives” (“Street Transvestites Action Revolutionaries (STAR)”). Many trans people at the time, and to this day, take up sex work in order to survive, which is an especially dangerous occupation for trans women. STAR/House was meant to address this and the constant housing insecurity trans people faced (and continue to face) through direct action– squatting. The site of the first STAR house was in an abandoned tractor trailer, the second was an abandoned building– described as a “floating population of 20 street queens, living by candlelight, sleeping everywhere, including the bathtub” (“Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson: Listen to the Newly Unearthed Interview with Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries”). Tragically, STAR house was shut down in July of 1971.
Sylvia Rivera, during an interview shown in the film The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson, describes their roles during the Gay Rights Movement: “Marsha and I, we were the liberators. And the street people and the drag queens were the vanguard of the movement. We were the ones that stood the forefront and fought the cops off. And we’re the ones that didn’t mind getting our heads bashed in.” (The language during this time lends itself to using the term drag queen more frequently than trans women, though these terms could have been used to describe the same identity.) Especially during this era of extreme violence toward all LGBTQ+ people, transphobia was rampant among the self-described “LGB” community.
Born on July 2nd of 1951 (yes, she’s a Cancer) in New York City, Sylvia Rivera was a Latinx trans woman and is described as having put the “T” in LGBT. The Stonewall Riot happened when Sylvia was only 17 years old. She is famed to have been the one who threw the first molotov cocktail at Stonewall. Her response to this myth turned colloquialism, was that she did not throw the first but that she did throw the second. As well as co-founding STAR, Sylvia also co-founded the Gay Liberation Front, “a collection of gay liberation groups that fought against homophobia, capitalism, militarism, racism, and sexism” (“The History of Pride Part 2: Don’t Forget the Leaders of the Movement”). Sylvia was an absolute force of nature and revolution, and dedicated many years of her life to the liberation of intersecting identities– of women, LGBTQ+, those who are incarcerated, unhoused, poor, and BIPOC: “she would push her way to the front line. ‘Homes for the homeless! Food for the poor! Gay rights! Gay rights!’” (The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson). Her legacy is said to live on “through continued efforts for intersectional inclusion within the LGBTQ+ community” (“The History of Pride Part 2: Don’t Forget the Leaders of the Movement”).
Marsha “Pay it No Mind” Johnson was adored by her queer community in New York during this seminal era of LGBTQ+ history. She was known as the queen of the village, (Greenwich village that is.) After her death in July of 1992, her case was almost immediately ruled as a suicide. Because she was so deeply beloved, this was met with widespread outrage and protest in New York City. A sign someone made for one such protest reads “our queen is dead.” Though her life was cut short, Marsha “poured all of her energy into advocating for trans and homeless people/youth, sex workers, people living with HIV/AIDS, and incarcerated people” (“The History of Pride Part 2: Don’t Forget the Leaders of the Movement”). Ms. Kitty, a trans woman who was good friends with Marsha up to her death, recalls meeting her around Sheridan Square Park– “I was 13 or 14 years old at the time… And when I first saw Marsha, she was just this elaborate with feathers and plumes and makeup that was never put on correctly. And Marsha was all, ‘oh honey, you are fabulous’, and ‘you would make a beautiful girl.’ She used to come by and snatch my hair up on both sides and it made me feel so special.” In an interview featured in this same film about Marsha’s life, Agosto Mochado describes her presence: “She became, to me, like a bodhisattva, a holy person, who would wander the village, in whatever adornment she wanted, being at peace” (The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson).
Marsha was clearly an absolute light, an angel walking Greenwich village and the Christopher Street piers. And beside her, Sylvia was a firestorm of passion and revolution. Light a gay and/or gender non-conforming candle for them this Trans Day of Remembrance and beyond.
