As we moved into June, this year we are entering the Pride Month in a slightly different way. The country is amid the uprising over George Floyd’s death, racism, and violence. Yet, the spirit and the determination of the people remain the same. We are going through a transformative movement, just like how the LGBTQ patrons and community finally started to rebel on the night of June 28th, 1969. We should remember that our active voices and actions are needed in these moments, and the Pride celebration wouldn’t exist without protests.
The Stonewall Riots
June 28th, 1969 witnessed the occurrence of the Stonewall Riots in which the LGBTQ+ patrons and community fought back against police officers who had emptied out the Stonewall Inn, a communal space for the LGBTQ+ community in Greenwich Village, New York City, and abused a number of patrons. The riot soon led to protest marches and a more organized LGBTQ+ movement which sparked a new phase of the LGBTQ+ history. And Marsha P. Johnson, a Black trans woman native to New Jersey, an activist, a sex worker, a drag performer, has been an innegligible force in the uprising.
Marsha Pay-It-No-Mind Johnson
Marsha is remembered as one of the vanguards in the pushback against the police. In one account, a Stonewall veteren remembered Marsha "threw a shot glass at a mirror in the torched bar shouting, 'I got my civil rights'", and since that day, she has become an icon in the LGBTQ+ liberation history.
Marsha is the founding member of the Gay Liberation Front, and the co-founder of Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR), one of the country's first safe spaces for transgender and homeless youth. She also tirelessly fought for people with HIV/AIDS between From 1987 through 1992 with ACT UP. She was known as the “mayor of Christopher Street”, always on the front lines of the LGBTQ+ liberation movement. And when asked what the “P” in her name stood for, she answered, “Pay it no mind”. Marsha Pay-It-No-Mind Johnson.
Unresolved Death
Marsha died in 1992 at age 46. Her body was found in the Hudson River, after reported missing, and her death was ruled by the police a suicide, which members of the local gay community disputed. In 2012, authorities reopened the case and reclassified the cause of death as undetermined. The case still remains open today.
Marsha’s mysterious death seems to remind all of us -- it is not over. There is still ongoing violence towards the minority communities, and people are still living in anger, fear, and frustration. The case, remaining unclosed, as if proclaims that Marsha will be the ultimate survivor, with her spirit passed on and her message always heard and acted upon: the fight should go on. Al Michaela, Marsha’s nephew, said in an interview that if Marsha were here today, he believed she’d still be pushing, that "we want 100% of our rights that everybody else gets and until we get that, the fight continues."
What We Could Do
PSNY has collected a list of resources for supporting the transgender community, sex workers during this time of COVID-19.
Cora Colt and Ceyenne Doroshow, founder of our partner organization Gays and Lesbians in a Transgender Society (GLITS) are organzing this campaign in behalf of Twinkle Paule, a transgender activist, migrated from Guyana to the States, to raise funds and provide needed services to Trans SWs in Guyana.
In addition, for the past few months, Doroshow and her organization GLITS has been providing housing in NYC for five black trans people recently released from Riker’s Island. They have an opportunity to sign a lease on an apartment to provide much needed security and housing stability for these people.
The Sex Workers Outreach Project in Brooklyn has started the campaign To provide monetary aid to sex workers in the New York City area who have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.