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Celebrating Women's History Month
Sylvia Rivera (1951-2002) was an American gay liberation and transgender activist who championed the rights of working class queer and trans youth of color in New York City. Born in the Bronx, she was raised by her grandmother but left home at age 11 and became a victim of sexual exploitation. It was on the streets that she found her community of self-identified trans youth who had been rejected by their families.
Rivera participated in the Stonewall Inn uprising, a turning point in the gay rights movement. But she and other transgender people were discouraged from participating in the Gay Pride Parades and other activism that followed. Rivera pushed back against this discrimination within the mainstream gay liberation movement, criticizing its tendencies to center white, cisgender gay and lesbian experiences to the exclusion of trans people of color.
Along with Marsha P. Johnson, another outspoken advocate of LGBTQ+ rights and Rivera’s mentor, she started the Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries in 1971. The group became a space to organize and discuss issues facing the transgender community in New York City. It also provided food, shelter, clothing and an affirming space to young trans people and people on the streets.
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