Today marks the end of Pride month, thus calling for a powerful final figure in history from the LGBTQIA+ community. That is why we’ve chosen to honor the late Marsha P. Johnson. A key figure in the fight for gay rights, and trans people in particular.
Marsha P. Johnson, an African American drag performer, transgender pioneer, and social activist, was born on August 24, 1945, in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Johnson began wearing dresses around the age of five, but her preference for traditional feminine clothing drew strong criticism from her parents and community. In fact, the aggression she experienced from other children quickly led her to wear more masculine clothing. As a child she and her family attended Mount Teman African Methodist Episcopal Church, and she would continue to practice her Christian faith throughout her life. As an adult, she was drawn to Catholicism, but she was known to frequent other faiths’ houses of worship as well.
After graduating high school in 1963, Johnson wasted no time moving to Greenwich Village in New York City with only $15 in her pocket and a bag of clothes in hopes of finding a place she would belong and be accepted. Much of her early time in New York was spent homeless, but she quickly found a like-minded community within the nightlife of Christopher Street. While working on Christopher Street, Johnson switched names repeatedly while trying to establish her persona and find herself. At times she would go by her birth name, Malcom, and other times she would go by Black Marsha. Eventually she settled on Marsha P. Johnson after a popular restaurant she enjoyed spending time at: Howard Johnson’s. The “P” in her name allegedly stood for “Pay It No Mind,” a phrase she would often use to dismiss her antagonists and bigots she would come up against.
Life in New York was not easy for Johnson. In fact, she was arrested numerous times, particularly for so-called “cross-dressing” which was considered sexual deviancy under the law. During that time, persecution of gay people and criminalization of their activities was commonplace. Although the state of New York, unlike many states, downgraded the crime of sodomy from a felony to a misdemeanor in 1950, it was still illegal for same-sex couples to dance in public, and the State Liquor Authority banned bars from serving gay people alcoholic beverages. It was also common for gay establishments to be raided and targeted by law enforcement. It was in this environment that one bar would find itself in the middle of the Gay Liberation Movement, and so would Johnson.
Sitting at 51 and 53 Christopher Street was the Stonewall Inn (though now 51 Christopher Street sits vacant while the Inn remains at 53), a mafia run gay bar. It was the only bar in New York City where gay men and lesbian women were allowed to dance. It was anything but fancy. In fact, it didn’t even have running water and the toilets would often overflow, but it still attracted members of the LGBTQ+ community who wanted to dance with someone of the same sex or gender and who wanted a place to be accepted. Although it was raided quite often, the bar was often informed in advance courtesy of bribes made to certain officers. Typically, a raid would include turning the lights on, patrons were lined up and required to show their ID. Those without ID were immediately arrested while those dressed in full drag were examined by a female cop in the bathroom to check their genitalia to determine if they were male or female. If they were male, they were arrested. For lesbians, they had to show they had three pieces of feminine clothing on, or they would also be arrested. However, on June 28, 1969, a raid that the Inn wasn’t expecting occurred.
At 1:20 am several policemen, some in plain clothes and some in uniform, along with a detective entered the Inn. There were 205 people in the bar that night. Some, realizing what was happening tried to run for the doors and windows, but the doors had been barred by police. While law enforcement kept to their typical routine, this night was a bit different: some of the individuals dressed in female attire refused to go with the female officer, and the men in the line-up began to refuse to produce their identification. Law enforcement separated those dressed in drag (or at least that they suspected of dressing in drag) in the back room and kept those in the line-up where they were with the intention of taking everyone in the Inn to jail that night. Some of the police began assaulting the lesbians by feeling them up inappropriately. Some of the patrons were released, but they didn’t leave the area like they normally would. Within minutes roughly 100 to 150 people were gathered outside of the bar. Some of those kicked and pushed out of the bar by the police saluted the police in an exaggerated campy fashion. When the patrol cars showed up, bystanders started to shout, “gay power!” and singing We Shall Overcome. The crowd threw pennies and beer bottles at the patrol cars.
The official Stonewall riots were said to be kicked off when someone threw a brick through the window of the bar. Myth says that it was Johnson herself who threw the first brick, but she refuted that claim at times during her life. In truth, Johnson most likely showed up during the riots, but had no problem joining in on the event that is considered a catalyst for the Gay Movement of the late 1960s. Johnson and her friend Sylvia Rivera went on to found Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR), which fed, clothed, housed, and advocated for trans youth. STAR grew out of the Gay Liberation Front, and its goal was to, “see gay people liberated and free and to have equal rights that other people have in America” according to Johnson.
By the early 1970s, Johnson was considered the face of the resistance performing with a drag theater company (Hot Peaches) and was even featured by Andy Warhol in a screen print portfolio of drag queens and transgender individuals. However, Johnson didn’t have an easy time in life, often having to navigate mental illness which brought stints in the psychiatric hospital and continuing to deal with arrests. Still, she continued to fight social mores and push for equality even while fighting the police and her own personal demons. She was also an early member of ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power), an organization designed to fight for an end to AIDS.
Sadly, Johnson would go on to announce that she had been H.I.V. positive since 1990. Even more tragically, two years later, on July 6, 1992, she would be found drowned in the Hudson River near the Christopher Street piers. Though her death was quickly ruled a suicide, her friends and acquaintances questioned the finding and felt foul play may have occurred. The case was reopened in 2012 when the NYPD agreed to look at the case more in depth. The case remains open.
Though she had many struggles in life, Johnson remains a hero to the LGBTQIA+ community and a powerful figure particularly in the trans community. Her life has been memorialized in murals, art, movies, and books; and her legacy reaches deep in the zeitgeist of the LGBTQIA+ fight for equality. From participating in the Stonewall riots to marching in the first Pride parade and continually fighting for equality and to end AIDS, Johnson more than earned her way into the history books, and we’re proud to honor her for our conclusion to Pride month.
References
Back2Stonewall. (2018, October 23). Gay history month – June 28, 1969: The REAL history of the Stonewall riots. http://www.back2stonewall.com/2023/06/history-the-stonewall-riots-june-28.html
Chan, S. (2018, March 8). Marsha P. Johnson, a transgender pioneer and activist. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/obituaries/overlooked-marsha-p-johnson.html
Washington, K. C. (2019, April 9). Marsha P. Johnson (1945-1992). BlackPast.org. https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/marsha-p-johnson-1945-1992/