As a queer, Latina, and drag queen, Sylvia Rivera lived her life on the margins and fought for others who refused to be pushed to the side or silenced in favor of more palatable gay rights legislation.

On July 6, 1992, Marsha’s body was found floating in the Hudson River. The police officers ruled her death a suicide. Marsha’s friends and acquaintances strongly disagreed. They thought it was more likely that Marsha was a victim of an attack.

The 1st wave (late 1990s-early 2000s) of sexual rights movements in the MENA region brought forth new collectives & projects to grapple with issues of personal freedoms & health (HIV/AIDS), such as Club Free and Hurriyat Khasa in Lebanon and a group working on HIV/AIDS in Algeria

Sylvia Rivera (front) and Arthur Bell at gay liberation demonstration (1970)

At ten years old, Sylvia Rivera was on her own in Times Square, eking out a living as a sex worker. She once threw herself out of a moving police car to evade arrest. Rivera was forced to live life on the margins because she refused to conform to the gender norms of her time.

Despite the increasing conservative nature of the Gay Activists Alliance (GAA), and their attempts to exclude trans people from their work, Sylvia Rivera continued to work within the group in hopes of achieving inclusion for all gender variant people.

In 2003, Helem activists staged a public boycott targeting the Beirut branches of Dunkin’ Donuts, stating that the international coffee chain had refused to serve “gay and gay-looking customers” and ask them to leave the premises.

At ten years old, Sylvia Rivera was on her own in Times Square, eking out a living as a sex worker. She once threw herself out of a moving police car to evade arrest. Rivera was forced to live life on the margins because she refused to conform to the gender norms of her time.

Marsha P. Johnson was devoutly religious, saying in 1992: "I practice the Catholic religion because the Catholic religion is part of the Santería of the saints, which says that we are all brothers and sisters in Christ." https://twitter.com/i/status/1554087282126233601/video/1

The 1st wave (late 1990s-early 2000s) of sexual rights movements in the MENA region brought forth new collectives & projects to grapple with issues of personal freedoms & health (HIV/AIDS), such as Club Free and Hurriyat Khasa in Lebanon and a group working on HIV/AIDS in Algeria

Sylvia Rivera (front) and Arthur Bell at gay liberation demonstration (1970)

Mural commemorating Sarah Hegazi in the Jordanian capital Amman. It was eventually painted over and censored. (2020)

Rivera was increasingly left out of a movement that was focusing on going mainstream. Still she rallied, protested and got arrested in the name of what she believed in, earning her the title of "The Rosa Parks of the Modern Transgender Movement."

In the Indian subcontinent, hijra are eunuchs, intersex people, or transgender people who live in communities that follow a kinship system known as guru-chela system. Indian society and most hijras consider themselves to be third gender—neither male nor female.

"Before I die, I will see our community given the respect we deserve. I’ll be damned if I’m going to my grave without having the respect this community deserves. I want to go to wherever I go with that in my soul and peacefully say I’ve finally overcome" - Sylvia Rivera

"I think Sylvia’s role in gay history was that she was one of the first people to highlight that our movement needed to be more inclusive of people who did not fit in the mainstream," - Carrie Davis, Chief Programs and Policy Officer at New York City’s LGBT Community Center.

In 2015, police blasted Hande Kader with water cannons during Istanbul’s Gay Pride. When the police attempted to disperse the parade, Hande Kader sat down in protest. This action transformed her into the figurehead of the Turkish LGBTI community.

La Familia: Trans Queer Liberation Movement works at the national and local levels to achieve the collective liberation of LGBT Latinas by leading an intergenerational movement through community organizing, advocacy, and education. https://familiatqlm.org/

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Sylvia's life serves as a testament to the power of resistance, and as a stark reminder that the fight to appear acceptable and palatable to mainstream America adopted by the mainstream gay rights movement is not everyone’s struggle.

Most of the focus of queer activism at the time involved fitting homosexuals into existing legal structures — getting marriage equality, overturning Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, passing the Matthew Shepard Act, etc. These were not Rivera’s priorities, and she made it quite well known.

Sarah Hegazi was an Egyptian socialist, writer, and lesbian activist. She was arrested, imprisoned and tortured in Egypt for three months after flying a rainbow flag at a Mashrou' Leila concert in 2017 in Cairo.

Sylvia Rivera’s grandmother took care of her for a period of time, but voiced her disapproval not only of Rivera’s mixed background that made her skin darker than she preferred (Venezuelan and Puerto Rican), but also of her behavior, which was deemed too effeminate "for a boy".

The evening of the Stonewall Riot is hallmarked as the starting point of the modern gay rights movement, despite earlier outbreaks of resistance such as the Compton’s Cafeteria Riot of 1966 in San Francisco and protests against police treatment of LGBTQ people across the country.

After years of switching between living at her grandmothers’ house, living at a Catholic boarding school, and living with various family friends for long periods of time, Sylvia Rivera left home at the age of 11, never to return.

Throughout Greenwich Village, Marsha P. Johnson was known as “Saint Marsha.” Locals admired her ability to truly be herself. Marsha had a reputation for being generous and kind. She gave people clothes and food, even though she had little of her own.

Sylvia Rivera suffered from liver cancer at the end of her life. Before her death — on her deathbed — she negotiated with Matt Foreman and Joe Grabarz, leaders of the Empire State Pride Agenda, to ensure they would be more inclusive of transgender people and issues in the future.

"Lots of times they tell me, 'You’re not a woman!' I say, 'I don’t know what I am if I’m not a woman.' They say, 'Well, you’re not a woman.' They say 'Let me see your cunt.' I say, 'Honey, let me tell you something.' I say 'You can either take it or leave it'" - Marsha P. Johnson

Much of the reaction to Gutiérrez's act centered on assessing whether it was 'right' or 'wrong' to interrupt the President during a reception at the Whitehouse. The event highlighted disconnects between mainstream gay activism and transgender and immigration reform activism.

Historically and culturally hijras are based in Hinduism and they perform solely for Hindus. However, hijras are not all Hindu themselves. Many are Muslim and a few are Christian. In fact, some hijras follow the beliefs and practices of both Hinduism and Islam.

"I had to battle my way up on stage, and literally get beaten up and punched around by people I thought were my comrades, to get to that microphone." The betrayal, led by lesbian-feminist Jean O’Leary, caused Sylvia to drop out of the movement for decades and attempt suicide.