- Born
- 24 August 1945Elizabeth, New Jersey, USA
- Died
- 6 July 1992New York City, USA · aged 46
Marsha P. Johnson
A Stonewall participant and co-founder of STAR, she found shelter for young queer people and stood alongside people living with HIV and AIDS.
Marsha P. Johnson was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey, in 1945. After high school, she moved to New York City with a bag of clothes and little money. In Greenwich Village, she became known for her flower crowns, improvised outfits and generosity. Asked about the “P” in her name, she often replied, “Pay it no mind.”
Johnson took part in the Stonewall uprising in June 1969. In a later interview, she recalled arriving after the unrest had begun. Accounts of her actions differ, but her involvement in the gay liberation movement that followed is well documented.
In 1970, she and Sylvia Rivera co-founded Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries, or STAR. They helped run STAR House, which offered food and shelter to homeless LGBTQ young people, including trans youth. Both struggled to support the house while living in poverty themselves. Johnson also performed with the theatre group Hot Peaches.
During the AIDS crisis, she cared for friends and took part in ACT UP activities. She described herself using the language of her time: gay, drag queen and transvestite. She is now widely remembered as a pioneer of transgender rights.
Her body was found in the Hudson River on 6 July 1992. The precise date and circumstances of her death remain uncertain. Initially ruled a suicide, her death was later classified as undetermined, and the case was reopened in 2012. In 2020, New York State renamed a Brooklyn waterfront park in her honour.