Hey guys! In honor of LGBTQIA+ History Month, I thought we could talk about a woman who paved the way for many people. She was an advocate for homeless queer youth, people affected by HIV and AIDS, and for gay and trans rights. Who am I talking about? Marsha P. Johnson, of course!
Marsha P. Johnson, born in 1945, grew up in an African-American, working-class family. She was AMAB (assigned male at birth) and attended Mount Teman African Methodist Episcopal Church. She enjoyed wearing women's clothes, however, stopped due to bullying and sexual assault. After graduating from Thomas A. Edison High School, she moved to New York City with only $15 to her name.
Once living in NYC, she began to wear women's clothing more often and changed her name to Marsha P. Johnson. The P stood for "Pay It No Mind". She called herself a gay person, a transvestite ( the term transgender was not commonly used until after her death), and a drag queen. Living in NYC was not easy, as queer people were publicly persecuted and often criminalized for their identity. As she had difficulty finding a job, Johnson turned to sex work, where she was frequently abused by clients and arrested by the police. She was homeless, staying at friend's houses, hotels, restaurants, and movie theaters. She found work waiting tables and doing drag. In a 1992 interview, Johnson said "I was no one, nobody, from Nowheresville until I became a drag queen.”
Johnson's whole life changed when she began engaging with the resistance at the Stonewall Inn on June 28, 1969. The police came and began arresting the patrons, most of whom were gay men. Like many of the other trans women there, Johnson felt she had nothing to lose, feeling anger at the police raid, but also emboldened by the fear and oppression they all carried every day. This led to a series of protests following the raid, led by Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, her close friend.
The raid of Stonewall spurred the gay rights movement, with the first Gay Pride Parade taking place, and the emergence of a series of gay rights organizations such as the Gay Liberation Front and the Gay Activist Alliance. Johnson was originally involved with organizations but was increasingly frustrated by the exclusion of trans people and LGBTQIA+ people of color from the movement. She called out the transphobia in the early gay rights movements often. She and Rivera established Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR), “an organization dedicated to sheltering young transgender individuals who were shunned by their families.” They created STAR House as a safe haven for transgender youth, something of great importance to both of them as they had spent large portions of their youth in homelessness and poverty due to their trans identity.
In the 1970s, Johnson became a prominent member of the gay rights movement, performing with the drag group "Hot Peaches." She was featured in pop artist Andy Warhol's "Ladies and Gentlemen" series. Johnson aimed to see gay people liberated and free, and in 1980, was invited to ride in the lead car of the Gay Pride Parade.
Even with her happy disposition and constant smile, Johnson had challenges. Her personal disappointments never stopped her from advocating. Johnson went through several mental health crises and was admitted to and discharged from psychiatric hospitals often during the 1970s. Not knowing any other way to earn money, she also carried on with her sex work and kept getting jailed. Johnson received an HIV diagnosis in 1990. In an interview from June 26, 1992, she talked in public about her diagnosis and how people shouldn't be afraid of others who have the illness.
Johnson's remains were discovered in the Hudson River on July 6, 1992. She was 46. Several friends doubted the first ruling that it was a suicide and suspected foul play. The New York Anti-Violence Project stated at the time that 1992 was the worst year ever for anti-LGBTQ violence. After that, the police reclassified the case as a drowning with an unknown cause, but the LGBTQ+ community was incensed that both the police and numerous media sources had chosen not to report her death. There were hundreds of people at the church for her funeral; the gathering was so large that many had to stand in the street. The investigation into her death was revived by the New York Police Department in 2012.
Marsha P. Johnson lived a life of hardships due to her identity and queerness. We must remember what she did for the queer people of today, and understand that without her sacrifices and contributions, much of the LGBTQIA+ movement would not be where it is today. Let her life be a testament to what it meant to be brave in the face of adversity and how to show compassion in even the most desolate of times.
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