[News/People/History] [USA] LGBT History Month Spotlight: Sylvia Rivera

[Stephanie Stevens]

National Center For Transgender Equality (NCTE), DC, USA


LGBT History Month Spotlight: Sylvia Rivera

October 12, 2012

transgenderequality


For LGBT History Month, NCTE is highlighting outstanding individuals
who have made significant contributions to the movement for trans
equality and justice. Our first spotlight is on Sylvia Rivera, a
transgender activist who worked tirelessly for more than three decades
on behalf of trans people and all LGBTQ people marginalized by
poverty, racism, and a narrowly conceived “gay rights” movement.

Born and raised in New York City, Sylvia had already been living on
the street for years when at 17 she became a veteran of the Stonewall
riot. She was active in the formation of key post-Stonewall gay rights
organizations such as the Gay Activists Alliance, as well as in
organizing with the Young Lords, the Black Panthers, homeless youth,
and sex workers. She campaigned for an early gay rights law in New
York City, famously getting arrested for scaling the walls of City
Hall (in heels, no less) to crash a closed-door meeting on the bill.

Even after all of Sylvia’s hard work on their behalf, the GAA
ultimately dropped all trans-related issues from their platform and
from the NYC bill, calling them too “extreme” for the public. This did
not stop Sylvia, however, and in the autumn of 1970, she founded
Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR) with her friend
Marsha P. Johnson. STAR advocated on behalf of homeless drag queens
and LGBTQ runaways, created a shelter for this community – STAR House
– and pressed for trans inclusion in the mainstream movement. Although
sex work at times provided their only income, Sylvia and Marsha strove
to protect and feed the homeless queer and trans kids they took in and
to help provide them with wider opportunities.

Through homelessness, drug addiction and depression, Sylvia continued
to dedicate her life towards to the marginalized queer community,
helping everybody that she could and getting involved in everything
that she could. In 2002, Sylvia passed away of cancer. That year the
Sylvia Rivera Law Project was founded in her honor, and in 2005 the
corner of Christopher and Hudson Streets in New York City was named
“Sylvia Rivera Way.” Her legacy lives on in the work we all continue
to do for justice and equality for all.


http://transgenderequality.wordpress.com/2012/10/12/lgbt-history-month-spotlight-sylvia-rivera/