This is a first in the world. In New York, a monument will pay tribute to Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, two transgender women, heroines of the fight for the rights of the community LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bi, trans, queer and more).
This monument, the exact shape of which has not been disclosed, is expected to be erected on Ruth Wittenberg Square, very close to the Stonewall Inn. It was here, in this gay bar in Greenwich Village, that a police raid took place on June 28, 1969, thus marking the beginning of what is today called the “Stonewall Riots”, a series of demonstrations against police violence, led by the LGBTQ + community of the Big Apple.
On the occasion of fifty years of this emblematic event in LGBTQ + struggles, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio recalled that trans people were part of this historic “rebellion”. “In fact, they were among the leaders at this defining moment in history.”
Among these leaders, there was therefore Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera. Corn their involvement in the fight for the rights of sexual minorities was, as is often the case with trans people, minimized or even ignored, including by part of the homosexual community.
Marsha P. Johnson, the “Rosa Parks of LGBTQ + Rights”
In the documentary available on Netflix Marsha P. Johnson: The Story of a Legend, the story of his life begins with his death at the age of 46. His body was found in the Hudson River in 1962. The police concluded a suicide but this version is disputed by some who believe that it was a murder.
Marsha P. Johnson was 23 at the time of the Stonewall riots. Figure of the LGBTQ + community, this black woman is known for making audiences laugh in drag queen shows. “She”, “he”, Marsha P. Johnson did not care what she was called but one thing is certain, she was good “Rosa Parks of the LGBTQ + rights movement”.
After the Stonewall riots, she continued her political commitment in the 80s within Act-Up, association for the fight against AIDS. If the City of New York chose to pay tribute to Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera it is no coincidence, the two women knew each other and campaigned together on the ground to help trans people in precarious situations.
Sylvia Rivera, the activist who confronted the gay community with its contradictions
Sylvia Rivera, of Hispanic origin, was 17 when the Stonewall riots broke out. Like Marsha P. Johnson, Sylvia Rivera was a known drag queen on the New York scene and one of the most important activists of her generation.
Her childhood is marked by abandonment: that of her father, the suicide of her mother, then the rejection of her grandmother who did not accept her granddaughter’s gender identity. At 10 years old, Sylvia Rivera finds herself on the street and is forced to prostitute herself in order to survive before being taken in by a release from drag queens.
After the Stonewall riots, the activist confronts the gay community with its contractions: not very inclusive towards trans, poor or racialized people. She does not hesitate to confront her tormentors as in this powerful speech delivered in 1973.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQg5xzirxH4
With her friend Marsha P. Johnson, in 1970 she founded the organization Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR), intended to support young trans, gay and racialized queer homeless. After Marsha’s death, Sylvia is among those who do not believe in the suicide thesis. She herself, however, tried to end her life in May 1995 by throwing herself into the Hudson.
Sylvia Rivera died in 2002 from liver cancer at the age of 50. Before dying, she tirelessly continued her fight for the visibility and rights of sexual minorities but also of racialized people.
Statues don’t change everything, but they send a message
Bill de Blasio, Mayor of New York
Regarding the monument which will soon pay homage to these two figures of LGBTQ + rights, Bill de Blasio clarified: “statues do not change everything, but they send a message”. A probable reference to the policy carried by Donald Trump and which recently ousted trans people from the military, as reported Release.
Still in the United States, murders of trans and racialized women worry the LGBTQ + community. In Texas, for example, none of these murders have been solved, reports BuzzFeed News.
