At OUTMemphis, we are honoring LGBTQ Pride Month with an acknowledgement of the LGBTQ people who were crucial in making Pride what we know and love today.
Every week we will feature an LGBTQ person who brought visibility and Pride to the LGBTQ community in America.
Sylvia Rivera (1951-2002)
Sylvia Rivera was an activist that tirelessly fought for transgender and LGBT rights, with an emphasis on the rights of LGBT young people living on the streets. Rivera was particularly passionate about young adults struggling with homelessness because of her own experience—she was living on the streets at the age of 11 and was taken in by her local drag queen community.
She was present during the Stonewall Riots and has been credited for “throwing the first brick”. She co-founded STAR (Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries) with Marsha P Johnson, which provided shelter and advocacy for homeless LGBTQ youth. She also fought for the Sexual Orientation Non-Discrimination Act, which would stop discrimination in employment, housing, public accommodations, education, and civil rights exercise on the basis of sexual orientation. She joined the Gay Activists Alliance to achieve inclusion for all gender variant people within the gay community. As an activist, Sylvia is credited with pushing both the gay rights movement and the Left in general to elevate the concerns of transgender people and people of color. STAR is credited as the first LGBT group that centered people of color and collaborated with leftist movements focusing on related issues like police brutality, poverty, and homelessness.
One example of Sylvia’s trailblazing work came with the passage of the Sexual Orientation Non-Discrimination Act. She continuously fought for the bill, but when it passed in 1986, the bill did not include any language that addressed the need for protection of the transgender population. When Sylvia discovered this, her words, “Hell hath no fury like a drag queen scorned”, became a symbolic outcry for the marginalization of transgender and non-white people in the gay rights movement. She remained diligent in her fight for equal rights and inclusion, in America at large and in radical movements in particular. Even on her death bed, she continued to march, speak, and advocate for the public knowledge of Trans people being murdered. This woman definitely helped the LGBTQ movement. These days, the community has many more legal rights. Although, they are still met with some challenges from some of the U.S. electoral candidates. Due to this, it’s important that voters watch out for this during 2020 U.S. elections. This community has come so far, it’s important that this movement continues to develop. Sylvia was quoted saying, “Before I die, I will see our community get the respect we deserve.”
“We were frontliners. We didn’t take shit from nobody.” – Sylvia Rivera
Check out these links to learn more about Sylvia Rivera:
