As she was marching her rights and her people’s rights, which people?
All people. But particularly queer people, street people, activists, artists, trans women, drag queens, sex workers, the poor, the homeless, and those who struggle with mental illness, at a time when being any of those things might land you in jail or in the morgue, Johnson was all of those things tied up in a messy package, with a gorgeous, trash-couture bow on top.
An American gay liberation activist and self-identified drag queen. A founding member of the gay liberation front, Johnson co-founded the gay and transvestite advocacy organization S.T.A.R alongside with Sylvia Rivera.
This is Marsha
48 years ago Marsha put on a dress (when that was against the law) and rode the subway to Greenwich Village to go dancing (where that was against the law) with men (when that was illegal). She partied until sometime after 1am with a bunch of homeless kids, prostitutes, butch lesbians, effete gays, and other Trans women who just wanted to dance. That was the chief draw of the Stonewall Inn- the dancing.
When the Police arrived, as they did nearly every month, those in dresses would be “checked” to see that their genitals matched their owner to the officer’s satisfaction. If not there was a paddy wagon waiting outside. Their pictures would be in the paper across dressing. They might horrify their families, they would probably lose their jobs.
When you go out celebrate pride any time, when you read the news about violence against queer people, remember Marsha. The reason any of us can go three day festival as casually as we please with whomever we love and celebrate our lives, is because Marsha P. Johnson, an African-American street queen picked up a goddamn shot glass, shattered a mirror in that slum bar, and resisted arrest.
Never forget our lives are easier because of the sacrifices of our queer brothers and sisters who are STILL dealing with prejudice and discrimination on scale of the broader gay community hasn’t experienced in twenty years or more.
Because of people like her we are free, while people just like her are marginalized, brutalized, and murdered.
Never forget who you owe your freedom to. Never forget that your pride once was against the law.
And when the discussion about the reduced police presence at Pride comes, I want you to remember Marsha’s face and ask yourself, who needs the greater protection, support, and solidarity? Who has the power and who is still struggling of the enforcement of their civil rights?
Shortly after the 1992 Pride Parade, Johnson’s body was discovered floating in the Hudson River Police initially ruled the death a suicide, Johnson’s friends and other members of the local community insisted Johnson was not suicidal and noted that the back of Johnson’s head had a massive wound. According to Sylvia Rivera, their friend Bob Kohler believed Johnson had committed suicide due to her ever-increasing fragile state, which Rivera herself disputed, claiming she and Johnson had “made a pact” to “cross the ‘river Jordan’ (aka Hudson River) together” Randy Wicker later said that Johnson may have hallucinated and walked into the river, or that she may have jumped into the river to escape her harassers, but stated she was never suicidal.
Perhaps finally-thanks to the work of our queer artists and activists we are ready to recognize the woman behind the icon, the pain behind the joy, the mind behind the smile.
“Just because you live in a place that doesn’t accept change, doesn’t mean you can’t change them to accept it”
