Sylvia Rivera
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Sylvia Rivera (July 2, 1951 – February 19, 2002) was an American
gay liberation The gay liberation movement was a social and political movement of the late 1960s through the mid-1980s in the Western world, that urged lesbians and gay men to engage in radical direct action, and to counter societal shame with gay pride.Hoff ...
and
transgender rights activist The transgender rights movement is a movement to promote the legal status of transgender people and to eliminate transgender inequality, discrimination and List of unlawfully killed transgender people, violence against transgender people regardi ...
September 21, 1995. Accessed July 24, 2015. who was also a noted community worker in
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...
. Rivera, who identified as a
drag queen A drag queen is a person, usually male, who uses Drag (entertainment), drag clothing and makeup to imitate and often exaggerate Femininity, female gender signifiers and gender roles for entertainment purposes. Historically, drag queens have ...
for most of her lifeRivera, Sylvia, "Queens In Exile, The Forgotten Ones" in ''Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries: Survival, Revolt, and Queer Antagonist Struggle''. Untorelli Press, 2013.Leslie Feinberg (September 24, 2006)
Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries.
''
Workers World Party The Workers World Party (WWP) is a Marxist–Leninist communist party in the United States founded in 1959 by a group led by Sam Marcy. WWP members are sometimes called Marcyites. Marcy and his followers split from the Socialist Workers Part ...
''. "Stonewall combatants Sylvia Rivera and Marsha "Pay It No Mind" Johnson... Both were self-identified drag queens."
September 21, 1995. Accessed July 24, 2015. and later as a
transgender person A transgender (often shortened to trans) person has a gender identity different from that typically associated with the sex they were sex assignment, assigned at birth. The opposite of ''transgender'' is ''cisgender'', which describes perso ...
, participated in demonstrations with the Gay Liberation Front.Photographs by Diana Davies, in the Gay Liberation Front series
Rivera wears an "E" t-shirt
in a line of activists to spell out "Gay Power".
With close friend Marsha P. Johnson, Rivera co-founded the Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR), a group dedicated to helping homeless young drag queens, gay youth, and
trans women A trans woman or transgender woman is a woman who was assigned male at birth. Trans women have a female gender identity and may experience gender dysphoria (distress brought upon by the discrepancy between a person's gender identity and their ...
. Marsha P. Johnson died in 1992. In 2001, Rivera "resurrected" the group, renaming it "Street Transgender Action Revolutionaries." SoundPortraits (July 4, 2001)
Update on Remembering Stonewall.


Early life

Rivera was born and raised in New York City and lived most of her life in or near the city; she was born to a Puerto Rican father and a
Venezuelan Venezuelans (Spanish language, Spanish: ''venezolanos'') are the Citizenship, citizens identified with the country of Venezuela. This connection may be through citizenship, descent or cultural. For most Venezuelans, many or all of these connect ...
mother. She was abandoned by her birth father José Rivera early in life, and became an orphan after her mother died by suicide when Rivera was three years old.Gan, Jessi
"'Still at the Back of the Bus': Sylvia Rivera's Struggle".
''CENTRO: Journal of the Center for Puerto Rican Studies'' 19.1 (Spring 2007): 124-139.
Rivera was then raised by her Venezuelan grandmother, who disapproved of Rivera's effeminate behavior, particularly after Rivera began to wear makeup in fourth grade. As a result, in 1962, Rivera left home at ten years old and began living on the streets of New York.Gan, Jessi
"'Still at the Back of the Bus': Sylvia Rivera's Struggle".
''CENTRO: Journal of the Center for Puerto Rican Studies'' 19.1 (Spring 2007): 129-131.
Like many other homeless youth in the community, she engaged in
survival sex Survival sex is a form of prostitution engaged in by people because of their extreme need. It can include trading sex for food, a place to sleep, or other basic needs; it can also be used to obtain addictive drugs. Survival sex is engaged in by ...
as a
child prostitute Child prostitution is prostitution involving a child, and it is a form of commercial sexual exploitation of children. The term normally refers to prostitution of a Minor (law), minor, or person under the legal age of consent. In most jurisdict ...
. She was taken in by the local
drag queen A drag queen is a person, usually male, who uses Drag (entertainment), drag clothing and makeup to imitate and often exaggerate Femininity, female gender signifiers and gender roles for entertainment purposes. Historically, drag queens have ...
s, including Marsha P. Johnson, who became Rivera's best friend and protector. In this tight knit community of drag queens and street hustlers "who hung out on 42nd Street", she was christened with her new name by "an old butch dyke and an old queen (the godfather and godmother of 42nd)" who chose the name for her.


Early activism

Rivera's activism began in 1970 after she participated in actions with the Gay Liberation Front's Drag Queen Caucus and later joined the
Gay Activists Alliance The Gay Activists Alliance (GAA) was founded in New York City on December 21, 1969, almost six months after the Stonewall riots, by dissident members of the Gay Liberation Front (GLF). In contrast to the Liberation Front, the Activists Alliance ...
at 18 years old, where she fought for not only the rights of gay people but also for the inclusion of drag queens like herself in the movement. Rivera sometimes exaggerated her importance, purporting to have been active during the civil rights movement, the movement against the Vietnam war, second-wave feminist movements, as well as Puerto Rican and African American youth activism, particularly with the Young Lords and the
Black Panthers The Black Panther Party (originally the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense) was a Marxist–Leninist and black power political organization founded by college students Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton in October 1966 in Oakland, California ...
but she could not prove her claims. Rivera's older friend Marsha P. Johnson had been Rivera's protector and friend since Rivera arrived in the city, and the two were close friends from 1961 through 1973. In 1970, Rivera and Johnson co-founded Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR). STAR offered services and advocacy for homeless queer youth, and fought for the Sexual Orientation Non-Discrimination Act in New York. SONDA prohibits discrimination on the basis of
sexual orientation Sexual orientation is an enduring personal pattern of romantic attraction or sexual attraction (or a combination of these) to persons of the opposite sex or gender, the same sex or gender, or to both sexes or more than one gender. Patterns ar ...
in employment, housing, public accommodations, education, credit, and the exercise of civil rights.


Stonewall riots and move to Tarrytown

While Johnson freely admitted to not being the one to start the
Stonewall riots The Stonewall riots (also known as the Stonewall uprising, Stonewall rebellion, Stonewall revolution, or simply Stonewall) were a series of spontaneous riots and demonstrations against a police raid that took place in the early morning hours of ...
, Johnson is one of the few people who multiple, independent witnesses all agree was instrumental in the week of rioting and "known to have been in the vanguard" of the pushback against police once the rioting peaked late the first night. After Johnson was being praised for being involved in the Stonewall uprising, Rivera began claiming that she (Rivera) was also instrumental in the riots, even going so far as to have claimed to have started the riots herself.Rivera, Sylvia
"Sylvia Rivera's Talk at LGMNY, June 2001, Lesbian and Gay Community Services Center, New York City".
''CENTRO: Journal of the Center for Puerto Rican Studies'' 19.1 (Spring 2007): 116–123.
Stonewall historian David Carter, however, questioned Rivera's claims of even being at the riots, based on contradictory statements that Rivera made, and on testimony relayed to him by early gay rights activists, such as Marsha P. Johnson, who denied in multiple interviews that Rivera had been there. When the Stonewall riots occurred, Rivera was only 17 years old, and according to Bob Kohler, who was there on the first two nights of the riots, Rivera "always hung out uptown at Bryant Park" and never came downtown. In 1987, Marsha P. Johnson told gay rights historian Eric Marcus that in the hours prior to Johnson arriving downtown to join the riots, Johnson had attended a party uptown and that "Sylvia Rivera and them were over in ryantpark having a cocktail." There are several other statements Johnson made to highly credible witnesses — namely,
Randy Wicker Randolfe Hayden "Randy" Wicker (born February 3, 1938) is an American author, activist, blogger, and archivist. Notable for his involvement in the early homophile and gay liberation movements, Wicker has documented the early years and many of th ...
, Bob Kohler, and Doric Wilson, all with deep and enduring ties to the LGBTQ rights movement — about Rivera not having been at the Uprising. Kohler told Carter that although Rivera had not been at the uprising, he hoped that Carter would still portray her as having been there. Another Stonewall veteran, Thomas Lanigan-Schmidt, claimed that he wanted to add her "so that young Puerto Rican transgender people on the street would have a role model." When Kohler and Rivera had a discussion over whether Kohler would back Rivera's claims to Carter for the book, Rivera asked Kohler to say that Rivera threw a Molotov cocktail. Kohler responded, "Sylvia, you didn't throw a Molotov cocktail!" Rivera continued to bargain with him, asking if he'd say she threw the first brick. He replied, "Sylvia, you didn't throw a brick." The first bottle? He still refused. Finally Kohler agreed to lie and say Rivera had been there and had at some point thrown ''a'' bottle. Randy Wicker, who was part of the
Mattachine Society The Mattachine Society (), founded in 1950, was an early national gay rights organization in the United States, preceded by several covert and open organizations, such as Chicago's Society for Human Rights. Communist and labor activist Harry Ha ...
and a witness to the riots, said that Marsha Johnson had told him that Sylvia had not been at Stonewall "as she was asleep after taking heroin uptown". At the 1973 Christopher Street Liberation Day Rally in New York City, which was the four-year anniversary of the Stonewall riots, Rivera gave her famous "Gay Power!" speech. Rivera and fellow queen Lee Brewster jumped onstage during feminist activist Jean O'Leary's speech, which was critical in tone towards drag queens, and shouted in reply, "Y'all Better Quiet Down! You go to bars because of what drag queens did for you, and ''these bitches'' tell us to quit being ourselves!"(O'Leary later regretted her words and stance.)Duberman, Martin (1993). ''Stonewall'', Penguin Books. , p. 236. During this speech from the main stage, Rivera, representing STAR, called out the heterosexual males who were preying on vulnerable members of the community. Rivera espoused what could be seen as a
third gender Third gender or third sex is an identity recognizing individuals categorized, either by themselves or by society, as neither a man nor a woman. Many gender systems around the world include three or more genders, deriving the concept either from ...
perspective, saying that LGBT prisoners seeking help "do not write women. They do not write men. They write to STAR." After the speech, Rivera was backstage talking to people about having been at the Stonewall uprising. Doric Wilson recalls that Marsha P. Johnson said to Rivera, “You know you weren't there.” After Marsha Johnson confronted Rivera about lying about Stonewall at the 1973 rally, Rivera left Manhattan in the mid-1970s, relocating to
Tarrytown, New York Tarrytown is a administrative divisions of New York#Village, village in the administrative divisions of New York#Town, town of Greenburgh, New York, Greenburgh in Westchester County, New York, Westchester County, New York (state), New York, Unit ...
. In these years Rivera lived with her lover and together they ran a catering business. In the documentary '' The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson'', Rivera shares footage of the drag shows she hosted at the Music Hall in Tarrytown during this time.


Return to NYC

In early July 1992, shortly after the
New York City Pride March The NYC Pride March is an annual event celebrating the LGBTQ community in New York City. The largest pride parade and the largest pride event in the world, the NYC Pride March attracts tens of thousands of participants and millions of sidewa ...
, Marsha P. Johnson's body was found floating in the Hudson River off the West Village Piers. Police promptly ruled Johnson's death a suicide, despite the presence of a head wound.Wicker, Randolfe (1992) Accessed July 26, 2015. Johnson's friends and supporters, Rivera included, insisted Johnson had not been suicidal, and a people's postering campaign later declared that Johnson had earlier been harassed near the spot where Johnson's body was found. After receiving a telegram with the notification of her friend's death, Rivera returned to the city. Homeless now, she took up residence on the "Gay Piers" at the end of Christopher Street, and became an advocate for homeless members of the gay community. September 21, 1995. Accessed July 24, 2015. In May 1995, Rivera tried to end her life by walking into the Hudson River.Staff report (May 24, 1995). About New York; Still Here: Sylvia, Who Survived Stonewall, Time and the River. ''
New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
''
That year she also appeared in the
Arthur Dong Arthur Dong (born October 30, 1953) is an American filmmaker and author whose work centers on Asia America and anti-gay prejudice. Career Arthur Dong was born on October 30, 1953, in San Francisco, San Francisco, California. He graduated from Ga ...
documentary episode "Out Rage '69", part of the
PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...
series ''The Question of Equality'', which featured the 1973 footage of her "Gay Power" speech at PrideGoodman, Walter (November 4, 1995)
Television Review: The Gay Search for Equality.
''New York Times''
and gave an extensive interview to gay journalist
Randy Wicker Randolfe Hayden "Randy" Wicker (born February 3, 1938) is an American author, activist, blogger, and archivist. Notable for his involvement in the early homophile and gay liberation movements, Wicker has documented the early years and many of th ...
in which she discussed her suicide attempts, Johnson's life and death, and her advocacy for poor and working-class gay people made homeless by the AIDS crisis. At various times in her life, Rivera battled
substance abuse Substance misuse, also known as drug misuse or, in older vernacular, substance abuse, is the use of a drug in amounts or by methods that are harmful to the individual or others. It is a form of substance-related disorder, differing definition ...
and lived on the streets, largely in the gay homeless community at the
Christopher Street Christopher Street is a street in the West Village neighborhood of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is the continuation of 9th Street west of Sixth Avenue. It is most notable for the Stonewall Inn, which is located on Christopher St ...
docks. Her experiences made her more focused on advocacy for those who, in her view, were left behind by the mainstream society and the
assimilationist Cultural assimilation is the process in which a minority group or culture comes to resemble a society's majority group or fully adopts the values, behaviors, and beliefs of another group. The melting pot model is based on this concept. A relat ...
sectors of the gay community.Clendinen, Dudley, and Nagourney, Adam (1999). ''Out for Good'', Simon & Schuster. , pp. 171–172. Rivera fought partly for herself for those reasons but most importantly for the rights of people of color and low-income LGBT people. As someone who suffered from systematic poverty and racism, she used her voice for unity, sharing her stories, pain, and struggles to show her community they are not alone. She amplified the voices of the most vulnerable members of the gay community: drag queens, homeless youth, gay inmates in prison and jail, and transgender people. In the last five years of her life, Rivera gave a number of speeches about the Stonewall Uprising"It was a rebellion, it was an uprising, it was a civil rights disobedience — it wasn't no damn riot." – Stormé DeLarverie in and the necessity for all transgender people (which Rivera, in this early definition, defined as including drag queens and butch dykes) to fight for their legacy at the forefront of the LGBT movement. She traveled to Italy for the Millennium March in 2000, where she was acclaimed as the "mother of all gay people". In early 2001, after a service at the Metropolitan Community Church of New York referring to the
Star of Bethlehem The Star of Bethlehem, or Christmas Star, appears in the nativity of Jesus, nativity story of the Gospel of Matthew Matthew 2, chapter 2 where "wise men from the East" (biblical Magi, Magi) are inspired by the star to travel to Jerusalem. There, ...
announcing the
birth of Jesus The Nativity or birth of Jesus Christ is found in the biblical gospels of Gospel of Matthew, Matthew and Gospel of Luke, Luke. The two accounts agree that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, Palestine, in Herodian kingdom, Roman-controlled Judea, th ...
, she decided to resurrect STAR as an active political organization (now changing " Transvestite" to the more recently coined term "Transgender," which at that time was understood to include all gender-nonconforming people).Feinberg, Leslie (1996) ''Transgender Warriors: Making History''. Boston: Beacon Press. STAR fought for the New York City Transgender Rights Bill and for a trans-inclusive New York State Sexual Orientation Non Discrimination Act. STAR also sponsored street pressures for justice for Amanda Milan, a transgender woman murdered in 2000. Rivera attacked
Human Rights Campaign The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) is an American LGBTQ advocacy group. It is the largest LGBTQ political lobbying organization within the United States. Based in Washington, D.C., the organization focuses on protecting and expanding rights for L ...
and Empire State Pride Agenda as organizations that were standing in the way of transgender rights. On her deathbed she met with Matt Foreman and Joe Grabarz of ESPA to negotiate transgender inclusion in its political structure and agenda. Rivera was angered that in the late 1990s and early 2000s she perceived the significance of drag queens and drag culture being minimized by the ostensibly assimilationist gay rights agenda, particularly by new would-be "gay leaders" who were focusing on military service ( Don't Ask Don't Tell) and
marriage equality Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same legal sex. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 38 countries, with a total population of 1.5 billion people (20% ...
.Hoffman, Amy (2007) ''An Army of Ex-Lovers: My life at the Gay Community News''. University of Massachusetts Press 978-1558496217 Rivera's conflicts with these newer, more mainstream, LGBT groups were emblematic of the mainstream LGBT movement's strained relationship to the radical politics of many earlier
gay liberation The gay liberation movement was a social and political movement of the late 1960s through the mid-1980s in the Western world, that urged lesbians and gay men to engage in radical direct action, and to counter societal shame with gay pride.Hoff ...
activists. After Rivera's death, Michael Bronski recalled her anger when she felt that she was being marginalized within the community, in "Hell hath no fury like a drag queen scorned":Bronski, Michael (April 2002)
Sylvia Rivera: 1951–2002.
in ''Z Magazine''. "Hell hath no fury like a drag queen scorned".
After Gay Liberation Front folded and the more reformist Gay Activists Alliance (GAA) became New York's primary gay rights group, Sylvia Rivera worked hard within their ranks in 1971 to promote a citywide gay rights, anti-discrimination ordinance. But for all of her work, when it came time to make deals, GAA dropped the portions in the civil rights bill that dealt with transvestitism and drag — it just wasn't possible to pass it with such "extreme" elements included. As it turned out, it wasn't possible to pass the bill anyway until 1986. But not only was the language of the bill changed, GAA — which was becoming increasingly more conservative, several of its founders and officers had plans to run for public office — even changed its political agenda to exclude issues of transvestitism and drag. It was also not unusual for Sylvia to be urged to "front" possibly dangerous demonstrations, but when the press showed up, she would be pushed aside by the more middle-class, "straight-appearing" leadership. In 1995, Rivera was still hurt: "When things started getting more mainstream, it was like, 'We don't need you no more'". But, she added, "Hell hath no fury like a drag queen scorned".
According to Bronski, Rivera was banned from New York's Gay & Lesbian Community Center for several years in the mid-1990s, because, on a cold winter's night, she aggressively demanded that the Center take care of poor and homeless queer youth. A short time before her death, Bronski reports that she said:
One of our main goals now is to destroy the Human Rights Campaign, because I'm tired of sitting on the back of the bumper. It's not even the back of the bus anymore — it's the back of the bumper. The bitch on wheels is back.
Rivera's struggles did not relate exclusively to gay and trans people, as they intersected with issues of poverty and discrimination faced by people of color, which caused friction in the GAA as it was mainly made up of white middle-class gay people. The transgender person-of-color activist and scholar Jessi Gan discusses how mainstream LGBT groups have routinely dismissed or not paid sufficient attention to Rivera's Latina identity, while Puerto Rican and Latino groups have often not fully acknowledged Rivera's contribution to their struggles for civil rights. Tim Retzloff has discussed this issue with respect to the omission of discussions about race and ethnicity in mainstream U.S. LGBT history, particularly with regard to Rivera's legacy.Retzloff, Tim
"Eliding Trans Latino/a Queer Experience in U.S. LGBT History: José Sarria and Sylvia Rivera Reexamined".
''CENTRO: Journal of the Center for Puerto Rican Studies'' 19.1 (Spring 2007): 140–161.


Gender identity

Rivera's
gender identity Gender identity is the personal sense of one's own gender. Gender identity can correlate with a person's assigned sex or can differ from it. In most individuals, the various biological determinants of sex are congruent and consistent with the in ...
was complex and varied throughout her life. In 1971, she spoke of herself as a "half sister".Rivera, Sylvia, "Transvestites: Your Half Sisters and Half Brothers of the Revolution" in ''Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries: Survival, Revolt, and Queer Antagonist Struggle''. Untorelli Press, 2013. "Transvestites are homosexual men and women who dress in clothes of the opposite sex." In her essay "Transvestites: Your Half Sisters and Half Brothers of the Revolution", she specifically claims her use of '' transvestite'' as applying to only the gay community: "Transvestites are homosexual men and women who dress in clothes of the opposite sex. Male transvestites dress and live as women. Half sisters like myself are women with the minds of women trapped in male bodies." In interviews and writings in her later years, notably her 1995 interview with
Randy Wicker Randolfe Hayden "Randy" Wicker (born February 3, 1938) is an American author, activist, blogger, and archivist. Notable for his involvement in the early homophile and gay liberation movements, Wicker has documented the early years and many of th ...
and her 2002 essay, "Queens In Exile, The Forgotten Ones," she expressed a fluid take on gender and
sexuality Human sexuality is the way people experience and express themselves sexually. This involves biological, psychological, physical, erotic, emotional, social, or spiritual feelings and behaviors. Because it is a broad term, which has varied ...
, referring to herself alternately as a gay man, a "gay girl", and a
drag queen A drag queen is a person, usually male, who uses Drag (entertainment), drag clothing and makeup to imitate and often exaggerate Femininity, female gender signifiers and gender roles for entertainment purposes. Historically, drag queens have ...
/street queen, embodying all of these experiences and seeing none of these identities as excluding the others. Rivera writes of having considered
gender-affirming surgery Gender-affirming surgery (GAS) is a surgical procedure, or series of procedures, that alters a person's physical appearance and sexual characteristics to resemble those associated with their gender identity. The phrase is most often associated ...
much earlier in life, but of ultimately choosing to reject it, taking
hormone therapy Hormone therapy or hormonal therapy is the use of hormones in medical treatment. Treatment with hormone antagonists may also be referred to as hormonal therapy or antihormone therapy. The most general classes of hormone therapy are hormonal therap ...
only near the end of her life.
I left home at age 10 in 1961. I hustled on 42nd Street. The early 60s was not a good time for drag queens, effeminate boys or boys that wore makeup like we did. Back then we were beat up by the police, by everybody. I didn't really come out as a drag queen until the late 60s when drag queens were arrested, what degradation there was. I remember the first time I got arrested, I wasn't even in full drag. I was walking down the street and the cops just snatched me.Rivera, Sylvia, "I'm Glad I Was in The Stonewall Riot" in ''Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries: Survival, Revolt, and Queer Antagonist Struggle''. Untorelli Press, 2013. People now want to call me a lesbian because I'm with Julia, and I say, "No. I'm just me. I'm not a lesbian." I'm tired of being labeled. I don't even like the label ''transgender''. I'm tired of living with labels. I just want to be who I am. I am Sylvia Rivera. Ray Rivera left home at the age of 10 to become Sylvia. And that's who I am.


Death

On the day of her death, while bedridden and in declining health, Rivera met with Empire State Pride Agenda delegates to advocate for trans rights in the pending SONDA bill, which they had been excluded from. Rivera died during the dawn hours of February 19, 2002, at St. Vincent's Hospital, of complications from
liver cancer Liver cancer, also known as hepatic cancer, primary hepatic cancer, or primary hepatic malignancy, is cancer that starts in the liver. Liver cancer can be primary in which the cancer starts in the liver, or it can be liver metastasis, or secondar ...
. Activist
Riki Wilchins Riki Anne Wilchins (born 1952) is an American activist whose work has primarily focused on the impact of gender norms. Background Wilchins founded the first national transgender advocacy group ( GenderPAC). Their analysis and work broadened ...
noted, "In many ways, Sylvia was the
Rosa Parks Rosa Louise McCauley Parks (February 4, 1913 – October 24, 2005) was an American civil rights activist. She is best known for her refusal to move from her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus, in defiance of Jim Crow laws, which sparke ...
of the modern transgender movement".


Legacy

As an active member of the Metropolitan Community Church of New York, Rivera ministered through the Church's food pantry, which provides food to hungry people. As well, recalling her life as a child on the streets, she remained a passionate advocate for
queer ''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are non-heterosexual or non- cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against LGBTQ people in the late 19th century. From the late 1980s, queer activists began to ...
youth. MCC New York has a food pantry called the Sylvia Rivera Food Pantry, and its queer youth shelter is called Sylvia's Place, both in her honor.Sylvia Rivera's obituary
via MCCNY
Season 1, episode 1 and Season 3, episode 1 of the
podcast A podcast is a Radio program, program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an Episode, episodic series of digital audio Computer file, files that users can download to a personal device or str ...
''
Making Gay History ''Making Gay History'' is an oral history podcast on the subject of LGBT history, featuring trailblazers, activists, and allies. Most episodes draw on the three-decade-old audio archive of rare interviews conducted by the podcast's founder and h ...
'' are about her. Named in her honor (and established in 2002), the Sylvia Rivera Law Project is dedicated "to guarantee that all people are free to self-determine
gender identity Gender identity is the personal sense of one's own gender. Gender identity can correlate with a person's assigned sex or can differ from it. In most individuals, the various biological determinants of sex are congruent and consistent with the in ...
and expression, regardless of income or race, and without facing harassment, discrimination or violence". Founded by attorney and activist Dean Spade in 2002, SRLP, seeks to guarantee that all people are free to self-determine gender identity and expression, regardless of income or race, and without facing harassment, discrimination or violence. Although Rivera was not personally tied with SRLP, the organizations values are closely aligned and embodies her lifelong commitment to ensuring that transgender, gender non-conforming, and intersex people, specifically those pertaining to communities of color who are at the face of poverty, housing insecurity, and the criminal justice system have free access to legal resources and advocacy while trying to combat systematic oppression. In 2002, actor/comedian
Jade Esteban Estrada Jade Esteban Estrada (born September 17, 1975) is an American singer, actor, stand-up comedian, journalist and human rights activist. ''Out Magazine'' called him "the first gay Latin star." Biography Born to David Gonzales Estrada and Aurora ...
portrayed Rivera in the well-received solo musical ''ICONS: The Lesbian and Gay History of the World, Vol. 1'' (directed by Aliza Washabaugh-Durand and produced by Aliza Washabaugh-Durand and Christopher Durand) winning Rivera renewed national attention. In 2005, the corner of Christopher and Hudson streets was renamed "Sylvia Rivera Way" in her honor. This intersection is in
Greenwich Village Greenwich Village, or simply the Village, is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street (Manhattan), 14th Street to the north, Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the s ...
, the neighborhood in New York City where Rivera started organizing, and is only two blocks from the Stonewall Inn.Withers, James (November 25, 2005)
Remembering Sylvia Rivera: Though a divisive figure, trans activist and Stonewall rioter gets honored with street sign.
'' New York Blade''
In January 2007, a new musical based upon Rivera's life, ''Sylvia So Far'', premiered in New York at La Mama in a production starring Bianca Leigh as Rivera and Peter Proctor as Marsha P. Johnson. The composer and lyricist is Timothy Mathis (''Wallflowers, Our Story Too, The Conjuring''), a friend of Rivera's in real life. The show moved off-Broadway in the winter of 2007/2008. The Spring 2007 issue of ''CENTRO: Journal of the Center for Puerto Rican Studies'', which was dedicated to "Puerto Rican Queer Sexualities" and published at
Hunter College Hunter College is a public university in New York City, United States. It is one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York and offers studies in more than one hundred undergraduate and postgraduate fields across five schools ...
, included a special dossier on Rivera, including a transcription of a talk by Rivera from 2001 as well as two academic essays exploring the intersections of Rivera's trans and Latina identities. The articles in this journal issue complement other essays by Puerto Rican scholars who have also emphasized Rivera's pioneering role. In 2014, The Social Justice Hub at
The New School The New School is a Private university, private research university in New York City. It was founded in 1919 as The New School for Social Research with an original mission dedicated to academic freedom and intellectual inquiry and a home for p ...
’s newly opened University Center was named the Baldwin Rivera Boggs Center after activists
James Baldwin James Arthur Baldwin (né Jones; August 2, 1924 – December 1, 1987) was an American writer and civil rights activist who garnered acclaim for his essays, novels, plays, and poems. His 1953 novel '' Go Tell It on the Mountain'' has been ranked ...
, Sylvia Rivera, and Grace Lee Boggs. In 2015, a portrait of Rivera was added to the
National Portrait Gallery National Portrait Gallery may refer to: * National Portrait Gallery (Australia), in Canberra * National Portrait Gallery (Sweden), in Mariefred *National Portrait Gallery (United States), in Washington, D.C. *National Portrait Gallery, London ...
, making Rivera the first transgender activist to be featured in the gallery. In 2016, Rivera was inducted into the Legacy Walk. In 2018, '' Happy Birthday, Marsha!'' a short film about Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson, set in the hours before the 1969
Stonewall riots The Stonewall riots (also known as the Stonewall uprising, Stonewall rebellion, Stonewall revolution, or simply Stonewall) were a series of spontaneous riots and demonstrations against a police raid that took place in the early morning hours of ...
in New York City, was released. A large, painted mural depicting Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson went on display in Dallas, Texas, in 2019 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots. The painting of the "two pioneers of the gay rights movement" in front of a transgender flag claims to be the world's largest mural honoring the trans community. In May 2019, it was announced that LGBT rights activists Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera would be commemorated with a monument in New York's Greenwich Village, near the epicenter of the historic Stonewall riots. The monument was publicly announced on May 30, in honor of the 50th anniversary of Stonewall and just in time for Pride month. In June 2019, the Italian city of
Livorno Livorno () is a port city on the Ligurian Sea on the western coast of the Tuscany region of Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of 152,916 residents as of 2025. It is traditionally known in English as Leghorn ...
dedicated a green area to Rivera, called Parco Sylvia Rivera. In June 2019, Rivera was one of the inaugural fifty American "pioneers, trailblazers, and heroes" inducted on the National LGBTQ Wall of Honor within the
Stonewall National Monument Stonewall National Monument is a U.S. national monument in the West Village neighborhood of Greenwich Village in Lower Manhattan, New York City. The designated area includes the Stonewall Inn, the Christopher Park, and nearby streets including ...
(SNM) in
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
’s
Stonewall Inn The Stonewall Inn (also known as Stonewall) is a gay bar and recreational tavern at 53 Christopher Street in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It was the site of the 1969 Stonewall riots, which led to th ...
. The SNM is the first
U.S. national monument In the United States, a national monument is a protected area that can be created from any land owned or controlled by the Federal government of the United States, federal government by Presidential proclamation (United States), proclamation ...
dedicated to
LGBTQ rights Rights affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people vary greatly by country or jurisdiction—encompassing everything from the legal recognition of same-sex marriage to the death penalty for homosexuality. Nota ...
and
history History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...
, and the wall's unveiling was timed to take place during the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots.


See also

*
LGBT culture in New York City New York City has been described as the gay village, gay capital of the world and the central node of the LGBTQ+ political sociology, sociopolitical ecosystem, and is home to one of the world's largest and most prominent LGBTQ+ populations. Br ...
*
List of LGBT people from New York City New York City has been described as the gay village, gay capital of the world and the central node of the LGBTQ+ political sociology, sociopolitical ecosystem. It is home to one of the world's largest and most prominent LGBTQ populations. LGBTQ ...
*
List of Puerto Ricans This is a list of notable people from Puerto Rico which includes people who were born in Puerto Rico (Borinquen) and people who are of full or partial Puerto Rican people, Puerto Rican descent. Puerto Rican citizens are included, as the governm ...
*
Nuyorican Nuyorican is a portmanteau word blending "New York" (or "Nueva York" in Spanish) and "Puerto Rican," referring to Puerto Ricans located in or around New York City, their culture, or their descendants (especially those raised or currently livin ...
*
NYC Pride March The NYC Pride March is an annual event celebrating the LGBT culture in New York City, LGBTQ community in New York City#Sexual orientation and gender identity, New York City. The largest pride parade and the List of largest LGBT events, larges ...
*
Puerto Ricans in New York City The first Puerto Ricans known to have migrated to New York City did so in the mid-1800s when Spain ruled Puerto Rico. Another wave of Puerto Ricans migrated to New York City after the Spanish–American War in 1898. Though no longer subjects ...
* Stormé DeLarverie * Transgender culture of New York City


Notes


References


External links

* – Sylvia Rivera speaks at Gay Liberation Rally, New York City, 1973 * September 21, 1995.
Photographs of Sylvia Rivera by Diana Davies
at the
New York Public Library The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second-largest public library in the United States behind the Library of Congress a ...
Digital Collections. In th
Gay Liberation Front seriesRivera wears an "E" t-shirt
in a line of activists to spell out "Gay Power"
MCCNY Charities
– the Sylvia Rivera Food Pantry and Homeless Youth Services
Sylvia Rivera Trans Movement Founder
- Compilation of Interviews with Rivera and contemporaries by
Randy Wicker Randolfe Hayden "Randy" Wicker (born February 3, 1938) is an American author, activist, blogger, and archivist. Notable for his involvement in the early homophile and gay liberation movements, Wicker has documented the early years and many of th ...
and others
Sylvia Rivera Law Project

Changing House Clip
- Sylvia Rivera's influence on later, similar housing projects in the trans community {{DEFAULTSORT:Rivera, Sylvia 1951 births 2002 deaths American civil rights activists American people of Puerto Rican descent American people of Venezuelan descent LGBTQ Hispanic and Latino American people Deaths from liver cancer in New York (state) Hispanic and Latino American drag queens American drag queens Gay Liberation Front members LGBTQ Protestants Transgender rights activists American transgender women LGBTQ rights activists from New York (state) Activists for Hispanic and Latino American civil rights Transgender drag performers American prostitutes American female prostitutes 20th-century American LGBTQ people Transgender history in the United States American anti-capitalists Transgender Christians American women founders