An Introduction: Marsha P. Johnson

Hi everyone, welcome back! I wanted to write about something that merged both Pride and BLM together and who better to write about than Marsha P. Johnson?

Marsha P. Johnson (1945-1992) was an American LGBTQIA+ activist, transwomxn and founding member of the Gay Liberation Front. Johnson was one of the leading figures in the Stonewall uprising of 1969 in New York, that resulted in the modern LGBT movement as we know it today. She also co-founded activist group S.T.A.R. (Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries) with friend Sylvia Rivera. Appreciated and adored by many in the gay, art & music scene, Johnson modeled for Andy Warhol. She was known to many as "the mayor of Christopher Street". From 1987 until her death in 1992, she was a prominent AIDS activist with political group ACT UP.

Throughout Johnson's early life, the idea of being gay was "some sort of dream". Leaving for NYC at 17 (in 1963), Johnson felt comfortable enough to come out amongst the welcoming people in Greenwich Village. The P. has been noted to stand for "pay it no mind" and Johnson used this phrase when being questioned about gender. Johnson's style of drag was considered as casual (in comparison to high drag), primarily due to being unable to afford expensive clothing. At one point, Johnson used to sleep under tables in the Flower District of Manhattan and would receive leftover flowers - and so she was known for making and wearing fresh flower crowns.

The Stonewall Inn was previously an exclusive bar for gay men, but they soon permitted women and drag queens to join (Johnson amongst the first). It was very few establishments that welcomed the LGBT community throughout the 50s' & 60s'. At the time, the Stonewall Inn was owned by the Mafia (the Genovese crime family) - who normally paid the police to ignore the establishment. However, raids by police on Gay bars were constant in the 60s, and people were quickly becoming angry at the clear discrimination against them and feared arrest solely due to their sexual orientation.

In the very early hours of June 28, 1969, the Stonewall Riots occurred in response to a police raid. Those at Stonewall and other LGBT bars nearby fought back when the police became violent. The police arrested 13 people, one reason for their arrest being that some were violating the state's gender-appropriate statute. This is where female officers would take suspected drag queens into the bathroom to check their sex). Sick of police harassment against the community, angry customers hung around outside the Inn to try and stop the aggressive police tactics against the innocents. A full blown riot occurred when member of the community Storme DeLarverie was hit over the head as she was forced into a police van. Some barricaded themselves inside the bar, which the police and mob attempted to set on fire repeatedly. The riots are considered the start of the modern LGBT movement and fight.

Following this historic event, Johnson participated in the very first Christopher Street Liberation Pride on the 1st anniversary of the Stonewall Riots in June 1970. Soon after this, Johnson and Sylvia Rivera co-founded S.T.A.R. organization. They managed to pay the rent for STAR with the money they made through sex work, and Johnson worked to provide the kids food, clothing, a place to stay amongst the emotional and community support. The pair became a very, visible presence at Gay Liberation marches. Hearing both of their speeches are incredibly moving. However, in 1973, both figures were banned from attending the gay pride parade by the committee stating they "weren't gonna allow drag queens" at their marches because they were "giving them a bad name". During another march in the early 70s, a reporter asked Johnson why the group was marching and Johnson shouted into the microphone "Darling, I want my gay rights now!"

Shortly after the 1992 pride parade, Johnson's body was sadly discovered floating in the Hudson river on 6th July 1992. The police initially ruled the death as a suicide, but Johnson's friends and the gay community insisted Johnson was not suicidal and noted that the back of Johnson's head showed a significant wound indicative of homicide. Friends admitted that although she struggled immensely with her mental health, it did not mean she was suicidal. It has been noted that several people came forward to say that they had last seen Johnson harassed by a group of 'thugs'. Another person came forward that witnessed a resident fighting with Johnson who used a homophobic slur and later bragged in a bar that he had killed a drag queen named Marsha. The person was not successful in handing this information to the police, and so this information went unacknowledged.

Over the years, many have fought to reopen Marsha's case because it is believed the police did not do enough. Former NYC politician Tom Duane fought to do this, aswell as activist Mariah Lopez who succeeded in the re-opening of the case as possible homicide. The police reclassified the cause of death from suicide to undetermined. In 2016, Victoria Cruz from the Anti-Violence Project succeeded in obtaining documents and eye witness statements that were never released. Some of her work was recorded for the 2017 documentary 'The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson' which is on Netflix. The documentary itself is heart-breaking, but I would absolutely recommend you to watch it.

The reason I am writing about Marsha is because she should always be remembered as a hero for the LGBTQIA+ cause. Pride and the modern fight for LGBTQIA+ rights would not have existed without queer, trans women of colour. They were there from the beginning and at the forefront of the fight that now exists for us to continue. If you are a feminist, your feminism needs to be intersectional: it needs to include women of colour. If you support the LGBTQIA+ cause, you should also support the BLM movement. If you support the LGBTQIA+ cause, you should also support trans rights. Trans women are often the most marginalized, vulnerable group of the community. They have less rights than anyone in the community and are being killed everyday for their existence. AT THIS MOMENT, Trump and his administration have taken away transgender healthcare protection. This means healthcare companies can legally refuse trans people treatment. Boris Johnson is also attacking trans rights, by going back on his promise to deliver progressive reform to the Gender Recognition Act. This lack of reform will make it even HARDER for trans people, for their transition and to access public spaces that relate to their chosen identity. We need to use our voice to help.

"We have to be visible. We shouldn't be ashamed of who we are. We have to show the world that we are numerous.. There are many of us out there" - Sylvia Rivera

Thank you to Clay Banks on Unsplash for the image!