A raft of polite rights heroes appear to get along in perfect package , above reproach . Rosa Parks was a hardworking , soft - spoken woman ; Mahatma Gandhi prized modesty and peace . Yet , even some of the most praise leaders faced controversy and criticism — Gandhi has beenaccused of racism , and Martin Luther King Jr. has been chided for hisextramarital affairs .
But Sylvia Rivera , a gay and transgender right militant , definitely did not suit a pacifist mold .
Rivera became part of polite rights lore as the first soul to hurl a Molotov cocktail at a police force ship’s officer in Manhattan ’s West Village , fundamentally starting the 1969Stonewall riots . ( Diego Rivera disputedthis explanation , insisting she threw the 2nd one . )
Who Was Sylvia Rivera?
Sylvia Rivera was deliver in New York City in 1951 and was set apart male at birth . Shortly after , she wasabandoned by her father , and by the time she was just 3 , she was orphan after her female parent committed felo-de-se .
raise by an abusive grandmother who pound her for play with makeup and being effeminate , Rivera ran away from home and was living on the street in New York City by years 11 . She terminate up a child prostitute in Times Square .
That was in 1963 and it was then that Rivera metMarsha P. Johnsonand a group of puff queens . Johnson was a Black drag poof and activist for gay rights . With Johnson ’s support , and the support of the other puff queen , she became " Sylvia . "
Activism and the Stonewall Riots
As a trans activist in the sixties , Rivera was n’t just fighting for the right of jovial people . Rivera was super vocal about include transgender and grammatical gender nonconforming people in the crusade for civil rights . ( It should be acknowledged that terminal figure describing gender identity have gone in and out of preference ; Rivera used the terms " transvestite " or " transgender " at various stages , for instance , and later shrug off any label for herself . )
Rivera wasjust 17 when she took part in the noted Stonewall riots . The protest was against a police foray of the Manhattan homophile bar the Stonewall Inn . The event was a major catalyst in the homo right movement .
But get the gay rights drift to include trans or gender nonconforming people was n’t an loose sell . The first pride parades started after the Stonewall riot in 1970 , but Rivera and transgender citizenry werediscouraged from participate .
Rivera often rowed with gay rights leaders who refused to include transgender people in their work .
In answer , Rivera Colorado - set up both the Gay Liberation Front and later the Gay Activists Alliance . She also established the advocacy group Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries ( STAR ) with Marsha Johnson . asterisk provide support and resources to homeless transgender youth .
Rivera’s Lasting Legacy
Rivera ’s activism extended beyond protests and demonstrations . She inexhaustibly fought for the inclusion and acknowledgement of transgender individuals within the across-the-board LGBTQ effort .
As a transgender woman of color ( her female parent was Venezuelan and father Puerto Rican ) , Rivera understand the intersecting oppressions faced by marginalized community . She stress the importance of embracing multifariousness and intersectionality within the fight forequality .
However , much of her oeuvre went unrecognized within mainstream society . Rivera often was dispossessed and had problem with core insult . At one breaker point , Rivera try self-destruction .
In 1994 , she meet a place of honor in the twenty-fifth Anniversary Stonewall Inn march . " The bowel movement had put me on the shelf , but they take me down and dusted me off … still , it was beautiful,“she told The New York Timesin 1995 . " I walk down 58th Street and the young ones were call in from the sidewalk , ' Sylvia , Sylvia , thank you , we know what you did . ' "
Rivera break down in 2002 and today TheSylvia Rivera Law Projectprovides sound Service to gender nonconforming , hermaphrodite and transgender people , and the recess of Christopher and Hudson streets in New York City was officially renamed Sylvia Rivera Way .
