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Marsha P. Johnson
A surrogate mother to the drag queens, trans women and homeless kids living on Christopher Street, Johnson is reported to be one of the first to fight back at the Stone Riots.
In the early 1970s, she co-founded the Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR) with Sylvia Rivera, one of the first groups in America for non-gender-conforming people.
When the scourge of AIDS decimated New York’s gay population, Johnson became involved with ACT UP.
In July 1992, her body was found in the Hudson River near the Christopher Street piers. The death was ruled a suicide, but after years of lobbying by friends and activists, the NYPD has reopened the case as a possible homicide.
Otoja Abit played Johnson in the 2015 Roland Emmerich movie Stonewall, and Mya Taylor (Tangerine) is set to play her in the upcoming biopic, Happy Birthday, Marsha!.
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