QUEER WOMEN IN HISTORY
Stonewall Edition: Who were the women at Stonewall?
Stormé DeLarverie
Jazz singer, drag queen and self proclaimed “guardian of the lesbians in The Village.” Storme DeLarverie was a butch lesbian born in New Orleans, but legendary in New York City. She was arrested a few times for not obeying the three articles of clothing law, an old New York law that required everyone to wear three articles of clothes that matched their gender. She was mistaken as a drag queen, and then when dressed masculine, she was arrested for that as well. Some say she was the first to punch a police officer at stonewall, others say she wasn’t. She goes back and forth, and would deny going into detail. Either way she is a legend within the LGBT community.
The first name attached to stonewall is the iconic Marsha P. Johnson. Marsha was born in new jersey, assigned male at birth. At a young age she was drawn to dressing more feminine presenting, but was discouraged by bullies and boys her age. As soon as she graduated, Marsha moved to New York city, where she adopted the name Marsha P. Johnson, the P standing for “Pay It No Mind” her motto and catch phrase. Marsha says she arrived at stonewall well after it had already started around 2pm, she is still known as the person to throw the first brick. Marsha was on the front lines the entire movement and later one founded Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR), an organization that helps transgender kids who have been kicked out by family.
Marsha P. Johnson
Sylvia Rivera
A new york native, struggled with her gender from a young age. She was assigned male at birth, but similarly to Marsha P. Johnson wanted to explore feminine clothing. At age 11 Sylvia ran away from home, and unfortunately became a victim of sexual exploitation. At age 12 she met Marsha P. Johnson, who became a mother figure to her. Together they were at the stonewall riots for days. Sylvia refused to leave, not wanting to miss a minute of it. She was an activist even before stonewall, participating in the Black Liberation movement and the peace movement. Today she’s known as a transgender advocate, fighting for transgender people to be acknowledged by gay rights activists.
But, where were the rest of the queer and lesbian women in New York?
Women’s House of Detention
500 feet away being held in the Women’s house of Detention. A detention center that detained women for gender non-conforming behaviors such as the way they dressed, what they drank (alcohol was not a womanly drink), being out past curfew, protesters, etc. Many lesbians and transgender men were detained here as well, pedestrians could hear inmates calling out to their lovers and family from the windows and vice versa, women shouting from the streets to their incarnated lovers and family. The detention center was eventually shut down in 1972, and was forgotten by new york city. Many of these women and trans men’s stories go untold today.
Author Hugh Ryan tells these stories in his book The Women's House of Detention: A Queer History of a Forgotten Prison.
Read it Here
