LGBTQ Experiences in US History

The Stonewall riots are somewhat well known, especially among the queer community, as the beginning of the gay rights movement. In brief, the riots started when years of police harassment and oppression got to be too much. One sultry June night in 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn, a gathering place for LGBTQ people, for the second time that week. Angry patrons attacked the police. The word spread, and queer people and allies gathered again the following night. Despite its reputation of starting the gay rights movement, the Stonewall riots were not the first time the LGBTQ+ community rose up against police violence. Thus, perhaps the most notable aspect of the Stonewall riots is that they are notable. Through a combination of media coverage and influential people caring about remember the event, Stonewall was made the first memorable resistance of queer people against oppression. Ultimately, the memorability of Stonewall proved invaluable because it gave activists something to rally around. It is much easier to hold protests in remembrance of an event than to simply protest on an arbitrary date

In a discussion of notability and Stonewall  it is irresponsible to leave out the transgender women and drag queens of color responsible for being the first to resist. Sylvia Rivera was one of those people. Before this readings, I simply knew she was a trans woman of color who played an enormous part in the Stonewall riots. Now, I know she was born to Hispanic parents in 1951. Orphaned at the age of 3, she was raised by her Venezuelan grandmother, who was less than happy to have a child to look after, let alone such an effeminate “boy”. In fourth grade, Sylvia began routinely wore makeup to school. Her grandmother disapproved, and at the age of 10 the Sylvia became a homeless youth.

Fortunately, the drag queens, trans women, prostitutes, and other “undesirable” people in New York City had banded together for quite some time and she was quickly taken in as one of their own. Even at this young age, she began “working the streets” as a prostitute. As she got older, she took on the role others had taken when she had first been cast out and began caring for the queer homeless youth of the Big Apple. Her and other queens rented out hotel rooms and eventually an apartment to provide shelter to the young people and worked as prostitutes to feed and house the children. When compounded with food stolen by the young inhabitants of the home, nobody ever went hungry. She was only 18 when the Stonewall riots happened. After being shoved around by the police all her life, she had had enough. Those nights in June 1969 she finally acted on all the anger inside her.

People don’t talk much about Sylvia’s life after Stonewall, but it is certainly not for lack of material. In and out of jail for minor offenses, she continued caring for homeless LGBTQ+ youth with her friend Marsha P. Johnson, another trans woman. Her activism didn’t end with the riots either. Beyond the subtle protest of caring for people who had been deemed undesirable, she was very vocal not only for the rights of gay people, but about how the trans community – which the gay community had to thank for helping jump start the gay rights movement – was repeatedly left out of discussion about rights for LGBTQ+ people (a narrative which still rings true today). On February 19, 2002, she died of complications from liver cancer at the age of 50, ending the inspiring story of one of the most influential leaders of the gay rights movement.

Stonewall Rebellion

I can’t remember the first time that I heard about the Stonewall Rebellion, but I do remember that it was very vague to me. I think most people that have heard of this event aren’t quite aware of the extensive nature, including myself. To be quite honest, I only knew specifically about the progression of violence from coin change to bottles and bricks. I was not aware about how many people were involved and the succession of days that it expanded.

In “Movements and Memory: The Making of the Stonewall Myth” by Elizabeth Armstrong and Suzanna Cage, it was cited: “Papers reported nearly a thousand rioters and several hundred police” and  ” … a second night of rioting started. Activist Dick Leitsch reported a crowd of nearly 2,000 people” (Armstrong and Cage 737). The stunning part about this is that a largely hidden community showed up in the thousands to fight back against a system which oppressed minority individuals. There truly is strength in numbers, and these people were not afraid of repercussions by the government. The other interesting part about this information was that it wasn’t a singular day, but at least two where the second day brought more people. One takeaway from this that could inform current protest is the sheer amount of demonstrators and their measure of determination. When marginalized populations stand tall together, it can actually push change however small or grand it may be.

Marsha P. Johnson

Prior to this class, I actually did not know much about the lives of Marsha P. Johnson nor Sylvia Rivera, but I did see a push within the past four years to remember these two individuals who really did push the gay liberation movement.

The Untorelli Press released a collection of interviews and historical excerpts called Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries: Survival, Revolt, and Queer Antagonist Struggle. Not much was mentioned about Marsha P. Johnson’s early life, but the collection discussed the creation of S.T.A.R. (Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries) by Marsha and Sylvia. In “I’m Glad I was in the Stonewall Riot: An Interview with Sylvia Rivera”, Sylvia recounted the riots that she and Marsha experienced, but also mentioned that, “Marsha and I had always sneaked people into our hotel rooms. Marsha and I decided to get a building. We were trying to get away from the Mafia’s control at the bars” (13). This was the start of S.T.A.R., which Marsha did in tangent with Sylvia, with the mission of helping homeless LGBT+ individuals. In “Rapping with a Street Transvestite Revolutionary: An Interview With Marsha P. Johnson”, you get an understanding of Marsha’s life as a hustler on the street and how the gay community regarded “transvestites”. The interview also mentioned the passing of Marsha’s husband where he was shot after going out to buy drugs (25). I unfortunately did not learn much about the span of her life, but the amount of work that she did for S.T.A.R. in helping homelessness in the LGBT+ community is astonishing. She made ends meet by going out at night to sleep with men for money. The hustle was meant to benefit S.T.A.R. and the people it helped keep off the streets. After watching The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson, I began to understand the difficulty in the circumstances surrounding her death where it was rumored to be a homicide committed by the mafia, similar to the reason why S.T.A.R. was formed. She will always, however,  be remembered by her accomplishments in helping the Gay Liberation movement and providing a spotlight to the transgender community through her work in S.T.A.R.

Works Cited

1. One new fact that I learned about the Stonewall Riots was the importance of the location. I had known it was in New York City, of course, but I hadn’t consciously realized that it was on Christopher Street in Greenwich Village. I also hadn’t known how important Greenwich’s position as a “gayborhood” was in drawing crowds of activists and driving the interest of nearby residents (and reporters) to the protests. I’d heard of the Christopher Street Riots, but had never connected them to Stonewall (in my defense, I’ve lived in this state my whole life but I’ve never been to New York City). This, to me, emphasizes the importance of physical community presence for today’s LGBT activists and really just for gay people in general. These social and political bonds are crucial for the continued health and progress of the LGBT+ rights movement.

2. Prior to class, I knew Sylvia Rivera was a trans activist active from the 1960s on. I had known about some of her work in vague terms, and usually in connection to Marsha P. Johnson. Through the readings I was reminded of her involvement with not only STAR but the Gay Liberation Front and Young Lords as well. I also didn’t know that Sylvia Rivera co-founded Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries, which was mentioned in the interview with Marsha P. Johnson we were assigned for this week.

Sylvia Rivera left home as a child after her mother’s suicide, when faced with the choice of her grandmother’s intolerance or life on the street. She worked as a prostitute, and was involved in the Stonewall Riots. The next year, she helped get STAR going to help street people and “anybody that needed help at that time” (Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries. Survival, Revolt, and Queer Antagonist Struggle 13). Her activism intersected with several other empowerment and activist groups and movements over the years.

One of the biggest surprises that I found when reading about the Stonewall riots was the requirement for there to be a perfect culmination of characteristics in order for the event to leave a lasting impact on the Gay Liberation Movement. Armstrong and Crage show that for an event to be influential it needs to be commemorative, mnemonic, resonant, and it must have “potential for institutionalism” (727). After reading the paper, this “perfect storm,” so to speak, of characteristics required for commemoration make sense. They explain why the Stonewall riots, as opposed to any of the countless other riots that occurred, are now viewed as the turning point in the history of Gay Liberation. In contrast to other riots, the participants of the Stonewall riots included both members of more marginalized groups in the LGBT community (such as poor trans women of color) as well as more privileged groups (such as affluent white gay men). The participation of the privileged groups allowed for broader media coverage and induced more outrage than the marginalized groups would have induced alone. Because of this, however, it is understandable, yet still inexcusable, as to why the more marginalized rioters, despite having a greater impact on the outcome of the riots, have been left out of the history of the Stonewall riots.

Before the readings, I only knew that Marsha Johnson and Sylvia Rivera were part of the Stonewall Riots. I did not know how greatly they impacted the outcomes of the riots until after I had finished the readings. Marsha Johnson was a poor black trans woman who lived on the streets and found ways to make money as a sex worker (Rivera, 6). Although she failed to gain recognition for it, Johnson was a large contributing factor to the Stonewall riots. Johnson believed that the trans community had to work for themselves in order to improve their own situation. Her suggestion to other trans people living in areas without the support of STAR was to create a STAR branch themselves because “if transvestites don’t stand up for themselves, nobody else is going to stand up for transvestites” (Rivera, 28). Johnson knew this because she had lived through it. Despite being a pivotal participant in the Stonewall riots, Marsha Johnson and all trans people, were removed from bills that would advance their cause because the members of the gay community believed that their bill would pass more easily if they left out the trans community. Johnson knew that even the gay community would not always look out for the members of the trans community so the trans community had to look out for themselves.

I learned that the The Stonewall rebellion was not the first time that drag queens and gays fought back against the police, since there had been many other instances of rebellion predating this event. However, the Stonewall rebellion gets more publicity because it has been dubbed as the most commemorable. The location of Stonewall added to the hype because it occurred in New York City. Other reasons that Stonewall is considered a more memorable is because it was seen as a “shared memory of oppression,” where drag queens that were sick of the abuse and police brutality fought back against the police when they raided the bar. The political relevance, violence, and news coverage of the rebellion made it more memorable than other transgender movements of rebellion. Nowadays, the Stonewall rebellion holds significance in how it brought trans liberation movements to the public eye, and is marked by the annual gay pride parade, which raises awareness and brings visibility to the marginalized members of the transgender community.

Armstrong, E. A., & Crage, S. M. (2006). Movements and Memory: The Making of the Stonewall Myth. Retrieved January 30, 2018, from https://learn.rochester.edu/bbcswebdav/pid-1323847-dt-content-rid-4557783_1/courses/GSW210.2018SPRING.83914/Armstrong%20Movements%20and%20Memory%20The%20Making%20of%20the%20Stonewall%20Myth.pdf

Until I took this class, I had not heard of either Marsha Johnson or Sylvia Rivera. Sylvia Rivera was born as Ray Rivera, and began dressing in drag in 1961, the same year that she left home at the age of 10. Growing up, Sylvia lived with her racist Venezuelan grandmother, after her mother killed herself at age 22. Her grandmother sent her to all- white Catholic schools, wishing that Sylvia was white and female. Throughout her life she experienced violence and aggression from not only police, but other citizens as well. Sylvia was arrested in the late 1960s, where she was jailed for 90 days. Sylvia was marginalized by other gays, lesbians, and transgender people because she was a poor sex worker and a woman of color. She participated in the Stonewall riots, and spoke at the 1973 Christopher Street Liberation Day rally in Washington Square Park. To provide a safe space for drag queens to live, Sylvia opened up STAR (Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries) with Marsha Johnson, which provided hotel rooms that transvestites could live in.

Press, U. (n.d.). Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries: Survival, Revolt, and Queer Antagonist Struggle. Retrieved January 30, 2018, from https://untorellipress.noblogs.org/files/2011/12/STAR-imposed.pdf

-ML

Upon doing this week’s reading, I learned that most of the raids that took place on LGBT bars such as the Stonewall Inn were carried out as a way of “enforcing” the laws against cross-dressing, which means that the targets of the raids were, most directly, transgender people.  This is important because in historical accounts of the Stonewall riot, the activists leading the riot are often whitewashed or thought to be made up of mostly gays and lesbians, when in fact trans people of color such as Sylvia Rivera and Marsha Johnson were leaders of the riot.  The Stonewall riot sparked in many areas a gay liberation movement, and after reading this article I know that I can attribute a large responsibility for the beginning of this movement to trans women of color.

Prior to this class, I did not know much about Marsha Johnson other than that she was a black trans woman who worked as an activist around the time of the Stonewall riot. 

I learned by reading the Sweet Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (START) magazine issue entitled “Survival, Revolt, and Queer Antagonist Struggle” that Marsha P. Johnson was not a “respectable queer” in that she was a sex worker who worked on the streets, and whose focus was to help the queer populations who were in the most desperate need of immediate help (mostly homeless queer populations).  Her agenda for revolutionary change shocked many of the members of the more homo-normative Gay Liberation movement, whose goals were to become integrated into normative straight society.  She was often called “the Queen of the Village” and an icon within the queer community.  She died in 1992 under suspicious circumstances.  The police ruled her death a suicide but many believe her death was the result of a hate crime.

Sources:

Brink, Rebecca V. The Soapbox: On The Stonewall Rebellion’s Trans History. The Frisky, 6 June 2014, www.thefrisky.com/2014-06-06/the-soapbox-on-the-stonewall-rebellions-trans-history/.

The Life and Death of Marsha P. Johnson, Netflix, 6 Oct. 2017, www.netflix.com/watch/80189623?trackId=13752289&tctx=0%2C0%2C1a65f18e0b1afcffadb7926ce67db025f9ff1aec%3A143844772b6612d2a5246f8175b9057a4b09a593.

Nothing, Ehn. “Survival, Revolt, and Queer Antagonist Struggle.” Sweet Transvestite Action Revolutionaries, untorellipress.noblogs.org/files/2011/12/STAR-imposed.pdf.

-RF

A new fact that I learned about the Stonewall rebellion was that it was not just a single event that took place. It was multiple days of rioting and was also publicized in newspapers & writing on the streets that were evoking emotions for more gay people to join in the revolution that was taking place and fight for their rights against the police. This fact is significant to contemporary LGBTQ organizing because the initial fight didn’t just die after one night, it ended up being a very tactical weapon of publicity to recruit others and make a difference that couldn’t be ignored. The way that people were talking about Stonewall in the newspapers and saying that it was going to be historic, aided in it actually becoming historical.

Prior to taking this class, I had no knowledge of who Sylvia Rivera was, and I had only heard the name Marsha Johnson in passing during a Pride Network meeting. Masha Johnson was a very intersection leader of the STAR organization. She was a “gender variant”(transgender) woman of color, who was poor, living on the streets, and a sex-worker. She spent the beginning part so her adult life, helping to take care of other “gender variant” youth who were living on the street, and worked towards advancing gay liberation and helping those who were oppressed, in jail, or in danger because of their sexuality/gender orientation. Though Masha was a huge activist for gay liberation, she left the movement when the many leaders in the gay liberation movement began to promote exclusion towards transgender people.

~BZ

Works Cited:

Armstrong, E. A., & Crage, S. M. (2006, October). Movements and Memory: The Making of the Stonewall Myth. American Sociological Review , 724-751.

Rivera, S. (Unknown ). Street Transvestites Action Revolutionaries: Survival, Revolt, and Queer Antagonists Struggle . Unknown : Untorelli Press.