This Women’s History Month, Let’s Remember Powerful Trans Women of the Stonewall Riots

March is Women’s History Month, with International Women’s Day falling on March 8th. Given the recent events surrounding the Stonewall monument, let’s take a moment to acknowledge a few key figures of the Stonewall Riots of 1969, a historical event predominantly led by transgender women of color, including Marsha P. Johnson, Sylvia Rivera, Zazu Nova, and Miss Major Griffin-Gracy.

In honor of these incredible women and the community that continues to thrive despite new and familiar challenges, let’s reflect on their contributions and the legacies they gifted the world. May they continue to empower and uplift us through these uncertain times.

Marsha P. Johnson

(Image from Wikipedia)

Marsha P. Johnson was a Black transgender woman who self-identified as “gay, a transvestite, and a queen”. She was a gay liberation and transgender activist, an AIDS activist, and one of the founding members of the Gay Liberation Front (GLF) which was formed immediately following the Stonewall Riots. She also co-founded the mutual aid organization Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR) with Sylvia Rivera after a sit-in at Weinstein Hall at New York University made them aware of the “need to organize homeless trans street youth”.

Sylvia Rivera

(Photograph by Valerie Shaff, retrieved from Wikipedia)

Sylvia Rivera was a Latina-American who self-identified as a “drag queen, a queen, a half-sister, and a transvestite”, “trans and transgender”, and then had a preference for no labels at all. In her essay Queens In Exile, The Forgotten Ones, Sylvia states:

“People now want to call me a lesbian because I’m with Julia, and I say, “No. I’m just me. I’m not a lesbian.” I’m tired of being labeled. I don’t even like the label transgender. I’m tired of living with labels. I just want to be who I am. I am Sylvia Rivera. Ray Rivera left home at the age of 10 to become Sylvia. And that’s who I am.”

Sylvia was a gay liberation, transgender, and civil rights activist, and a fellow founding member of the GLF and co-founder of STAR with Marsha P. Johnson. Following her death in 2002, the Sylvia Rivera Law Project (SLRP) was founded “to guarantee that all people are free to self-determine gender identity and expression, regardless of income or race, and without facing harassment, discrimination or violence.”

Zazu Nova

(Photograph by Diana Davies, retrieved from The New York Public Library)

Zazu Nova (who previously had an article on NPS’ website which appears to have been deleted at the time of writing) was a Black transgender woman. Some witnesses of the Stonewall Riots “insist that Zazu began fighting the cops in reaction to the violent arrest of Stormé Delarverie”, which, along with the famous “first brick” story, is sometimes attributed to being the act that started the riots. Following the events at the Stonewall Inn, Zazu became involved with the GLF and STAR, and was a founding member of the New York Gay Youth sub-group of GLF which “held meetings, promoted outreach to gay youth, published a Gay Youth newsletter and attended GLF protests and marches with their Gay Youth banner”.

Miss Major Griffin-Gracy

(Photograph by Quinn Dombrowski, retrieved from Wikipedia)

Miss Major Griffin-Gracy is a Black transgender woman with an incredible history as a transgender rights activist, from the 1969 Stonewall Rebellion to community service in San Diego, which began as working at a food bank and led to “supporting transwomen through incarceration, addiction, and homelessness” and then providing comfort through “proper home health care” to those affected by the AIDS epidemic.

Miss Major also acted a staff organizer and then executive director to the Trans Gender Variant and Intersex Justice Project (TGIJP), whose mission is to “challenge and end the human rights abuses committed against Black, Black/Brown Trans people inside of California prisons, jails, detention centers and beyond.”

Her most recent project, House of GG (or “The Griffin-Gracy Educational and Historical Center”), aims to create “safe and transformative spaces where members of our community can heal—physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually—from the trauma arising from generations of transphobia, racism, sexism, poverty, ableism and violence, and nurture them into tomorrow’s leaders” with a particular focus on “supporting and nurturing the leadership of Transgender women and men of color living in the U.S. South”.

There is also a 2015 documentary titled “Major!” that “explores the life and campaigns of Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, a formerly incarcerated Black transgender elder and activist who has been fighting for the rights of trans women of color for over 40 years.”

“If it ain’t right, fix it”

In an interview with TransVisionaries’ Raquel Willis, when asked what Miss Major would want her legacy to be, she replied:

“I would want my legacy to be: If it ain’t right, […] fix it, whatever it takes. I’d want to be remembered for trying to do the right thing and care for all people. We’re all part of one another. I would want people to understand who we are as human beings. I want us to look at the similarities more than the differences.”

It is impossible to encapsulate the many ways these women have contributed to the growth and acceptance of the LGBTQIA+ community, and to the world in general. Their impact goes well beyond the events at Stonewall, supporting and inspiring individuals through their public speaking, publications, community work, and mutual aid organizations.

Never forget their contributions. And remember, we’re all part of one another.

May we focus on our similarities more than our differences.

For Peace and Love