Who?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n If that was your first thought\u2026 we definitely have a lot of work to do. Simply put, Storm\u00e9 is credited with starting the fight that led to what we now think of as the Stonewall Riots. Oh, you thought that was Marsha P. Johnson? Nope. The police were always harassing the folks at Stonewall Inn. Storm\u00e9 had had enough. The row with the police had been tit for tat for days, and Storm\u00e9 caught the brunt of it, fighting four officers for ten minutes before they cuffed her, beat her, and started to shove her into the paddy wagon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWHY DON\u2019T YOU DO SOMETHING?<\/em>\u201d She screamed at the crowd\u2026 and they did. According to afterellen.com, the only evidence we actually have of her presence is the lived experienced words of those who saw her, and her own recounting of her presence and thoughts around the event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt was a rebellion, it was an uprising, it was a civil rights disobedience\u2014 it wasn\u2019t no damn riot.\u201d<\/em> \u2013 Storm\u00e9 DeLarverie2<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n But who the heck was that?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Born in New Orleans to a Black mother and a white father, Storm\u00e9 DeLarverie began performing as a man early on. While we know she was 93 when she passed, we don\u2019t actually know her birth date \u2013 and she, admittedly, didn\u2019t either. A butch lesbian, Storm\u00e9 started off wearing male clothing only for her performances as a drag king but eventually started showing off her masculinity on the street, starting a trend. The outspoken performer was known to take any perceived oppression head on, protecting herself and her community. Storm\u00e9 is the embodiment of \u201cdo no harm but take no sh*t\u201d, and she was well known for wearing a smile and pistol to prove it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She lived many lives including performer, master of ceremonies, bouncer, and rumored mobster. She was loved by her live-in girlfriend \u201cDiana\u201d, a dancer. Ever the romantic, Storm\u00e9 is said to have always carried a photo of Diana as she built up a reputation that led to her being referred to as the Rosa Parks of Stonewall.12<\/sup> Storm\u00e9 passed in 2014, and in 2019 was an inaugural initiate into the National LGBTQ Wall of Honor inside the Stonewall National Monument.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (TW: Mentions of SA, Suicide)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Unless you are a baby gay and have yet to make your first LGBTQIA+ friend, you have at least heard this name. Marsha \u201cPay It No Mind\u201d Johnson was born in 1945 to Michael Malcolms, Sr., and Alberta Claiborne. One of seven children, young Marsha (deadnamed Michael) was raised in the Mount Teman A.M.E. Church and knew she loved wearing dresses as young as five years old. According to Marsha in the documentary \u201cPay It No Mind – The Life and Times of Marsha P. Johnson\u201d she stopped wearing dresses because the other boys would try to get \u201cget fresh\u201d with her and try to have sex. Marsha, who believed sex was for married people, chose to abstain in her early life, especially after having been sexually assaulted by a thirteen-year-old.6<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n Marsha moved to New York to meet other like-minded people right after high school. She made her living as a sex worker and enjoyed doing drag. She became a mother-like figure to many of the other homeless street kids in her community. Although she was already an activist in and around Christopher Street, Marsha said she wasn\u2019t even there when the riots started. She had been uptown at a party and came down to Stonewall around 2 A.M. and saw that the building was already on fire.7<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n After the Stonewall uprising, Marsha joined the Gay Liberation Front, and the next year participated in the Christopher Street Liberation Day which we now know as the first Gay Pride march. Alongside her sister in the fight for equality, Sylvia Rivera, Marsha started Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR) after having staged a sit-in at the famed New York University. Already quite visible in the marches and the movement, gay and lesbian rights activists didn\u2019t like the idea of \u201cdrag queens\u201d being the face of liberation and banned them from the very same protest marches they started. STAR showed up anyway.3<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n Johnson and Rivera went on to start the STAR House. The original location was not long-lived, but they were able to start over many times in many other places. These houses impacted not only the lives of the kids they took in, but the community saw the care and effort they placed into creating a sense of family for otherwise forgotten children. But Marsha didn\u2019t stop there. She also acted as a caretaker for many of those stricken with the HIV virus and participated in activism with ACT UP! Organization, while battling her own AIDS diagnosis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 1992, Marsha\u2019s body was found in the Hudson River, not too long after the Gay Pride parade. Although there is more than enough information to have investigated her death as a murder, it was quickly dismissed as a suicide. By all accounts, Marsha wasn\u2019t suicidal, and there had been several reports that she had been harassed by robbers. She even had a significant wound in the back of her head. Despite numerous attempts to reopen the case, her death remains closed as a suicide. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSaint Marsha\u201d, as she was known around the Christopher Street area for her love, passion, activism, and inclusivity, was a friend and a mother to everyone she met. She had her struggles with mental illness, homelessness, and survival sex, but she managed to shine her light for her entire life. That light is still felt today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (TW: Child Exploitation)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Sylvia was born with the kind of courage that would make the lion in the Wizard of Oz back the f*ck up. Abandoned by her dad as a baby, orphaned by her mom when she was three, and eventually discarded by her grandmother, Sylvia (then, deadnamed Ray) hit the very mean streets of New York City. She was forced into child prostitution by the age of eleven and later taken in by the drag queen community – specifically Marsha P. Johnson.5<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n She knew who she was very early on (even if she didn\u2019t fully understand it), and became fast friends with Marsha. Marsha taught her to be proud of who she was and how to apply her makeup.3<\/sup> Sylvia, like many others, even thought of Marsha as a mother figure. According to Sylvia, Marsha saved her life. 3,9,10<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n Much younger when she began her activism, we wouldn\u2019t hear very much from Sylvia until after the Stonewall uprising. There are mixed accounts as to whether she was actually present that day, but in the days to follow, she showed up to the fight. After the uprising, Sylvia and Marsha started STAR and later the STAR House.9<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n Sidelined by the increasingly mainstreamed presentation of the Gay and Lesbian organizations of the time, STAR began to protest the Pride parades by marching in front.3<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf it wasn\u2019t for the drag queen, there would be no gay liberation movement. We\u2019re the front-liners.\u201d<\/em> \u2013 Sylvia Rivera4<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n Sylvia moved upstate to Tarrytown and ran a catering business with her boyfriend,13 <\/sup>later returning to New York nearly twenty years later. With a renewed passion, Sylvia spoke up for the people that mainstream society had left behind. People who, like her, were homeless, transgender, and\/or addicted. She was a devout member of the Metropolitan Community Church of New York where she specifically doted on queer youth.11<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n Sylvia Rivera died at age 50 of liver cancer. She received most of her flowers for her activism posthumously, with art, podcasts, memorials, and community service projects created in her honor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n Getting to know the women behind the legacy, beyond the fame and flaws that made them who they were, shows the vulnerability of what it is to be poor, Black, Latina, femme, transgender, and struggling with mental health. These women pursued their dreams and accomplished things they were told they could not have access to. They created safe spaces even while needing spaces of their own, and in doing so, showed us that we can start where we are, with what we have, to create the spaces we need. We can cultivate the havens our youth need. In over 50 years since Stonewall, we\u2019ve accomplished a lot, and lost far too many in the fight for equality – but we aren\u2019t done yet. May we continue with the blessings of the spirits of Storm\u00e9, Marsha, and Sylvia, and with any luck, at least a hint of their panache.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2014 A. Moon Johnson is a Sexual Culture and Wellness Writer focusing on LGBTQIA+ Communities<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n References<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n 1 <\/sup>\u201c#PRIDE2021 – June 28, 1969: The True Unadulterated History of the Stonewall Riots PDIDE 2021 – JLGBT HISTORY: June 28, 1969: The True History of the Stonewall Riots.\u201d Back2Stonewall<\/em>, 27 June 2021, www.back2stonewall.com\/2021\/06\/gay-history-the-stonewall-riots.html.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2 <\/sup>\u201cIt Wasn\u2019t No Damn Riot!\u201d: Remembering Storm\u00e9 DeLarverie and Stonewall.\u201d AfterEllen<\/em>, 28 June 2021, afterellen.com\/it-wasnt-no-damn-riot-remembering-storme-delarverie-and-stonewall\/.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 3 <\/sup>Boomer, Lee. \u201cLife Story: Marsha P. Johnson.\u201d Women & the American Story<\/em>, wams.nyhistory.org\/growth-and-turmoil\/growing-tensions\/marsha-p-johnson\/.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 4 <\/sup>Devaney, Susan. \u201cWho Was Sylvia Rivera? Marsha P. Johnson\u2019s Best Friend Was a Fellow Pioneer.\u201d British Vogue<\/em>, 13 June 2020, www.vogue.co.uk\/arts-and-lifestyle\/article\/who-was-sylvia-rivera.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 5 <\/sup>Feinberg, Leslie. \u201cStreet Transvestite Action Revolutionaries.\u201d Www.workers.org<\/em>, 24 Sept. 2006, www.workers.org\/2006\/us\/lavender-red-73\/.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 6 <\/sup>Transgender Warriors : Making History from Joan of Arc to Dennis Rodman<\/em>. Boston, Mass. Beacon Press, 2005.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 7 <\/sup>Kasino, Michael. \u201cPay It No Mind – the Life and Times of Marsha P. Johnson.\u201d YouTube<\/em>, 16 Oct. 2012, www.youtube.com\/watch?v=rjN9W2KstqE.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 8 <\/sup>Marcus, Eric. Making Gay History: LGBTQ Oral Histories from the Archive<\/em>. Making Gay History, 2 Mar. 2017, radiopublic.com\/making-gay-history-lgbtq-oral-hi-GqRA95\/s1!2759d, disc Season 2, Episode 1. Accessed 6 June 2022. Podcast. Linked is the original podcast. Annotation refers to Making Gay History page where podcast is featured and transcribed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 9 <\/sup>\u201cMarsha P. Johnson\u2019s Connection to the Village AIDS Memorial.\u201d Www.youtube.com<\/em>, www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Pg_Ac0kDsPg&t=110s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 10 <\/sup>Rothberg, Emma. \u201cSylvia Rivera.\u201d National Women\u2019s History Museum<\/em>, Mar. 2021, www.womenshistory.org\/education-resources\/biographies\/sylvia-rivera.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 11 <\/sup>\u201cSylvia Rivera\u2019s Obituary.\u201d Web.archive.org<\/em>, 19 June 2006, web.archive.org\/web\/20060619122836\/www.sylviasplace.org\/sylvia_obituary.htm. Accessed 7 June 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 12 <\/sup>Tashjian, Rachel. \u201cA Brief History of Storm\u00e9 DeLarverie, Stonewall\u2019s Suiting Icon.\u201d GQ<\/em>, 27 June 2019, www.gq.com\/story\/storme-delarverie-suiting.13 <\/sup>Tourmaline. \u201cRandy Wicker Interviews Sylvia Rivera on the Pier.\u201d Vimeo<\/em>, 31 Jan. 2012, vimeo.com\/35975275. Accessed 7 June 2022.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" We all know the story \u2013 kinda. The Stonewall Riots popped off and the rest is history, right? With our Marsha shirts and our Sylvia quotes, we continue to hold the torch in our online fingers \u2013 and the pride in our hearts \u2013 for the way our elders fought … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2620,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2614","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-vibin-on-you"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lewandmassager.com\/pleasure-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2614","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lewandmassager.com\/pleasure-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lewandmassager.com\/pleasure-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lewandmassager.com\/pleasure-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lewandmassager.com\/pleasure-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2614"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.lewandmassager.com\/pleasure-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2614\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2627,"href":"https:\/\/www.lewandmassager.com\/pleasure-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2614\/revisions\/2627"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lewandmassager.com\/pleasure-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2620"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lewandmassager.com\/pleasure-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2614"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lewandmassager.com\/pleasure-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2614"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lewandmassager.com\/pleasure-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2614"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"American](\"https:\/\/static.lewandmassager.com\/pleasure-guide\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/storme-delarverie-1024x939.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nMarsha P. Johnson<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"American](\"https:\/\/static.lewandmassager.com\/pleasure-guide\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/marsha-p-johnson-1024x939.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nSylvia Rivera<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"American](\"https:\/\/static.lewandmassager.com\/pleasure-guide\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/sylvia-rivera-1024x939.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n