Throughout Greenwich Village, Marsha P. Johnson was known as “Saint Marsha.” Locals admired her ability to truly be herself. Marsha had a reputation for being generous and kind. She gave people clothes and food, even though she had little of her own.

Sylvia Rivera worked tirelessly for a more inclusive and intersectional approach to LGBTQ activism. She refused to take a seat and let others forget about those who had been othered by the mainstream gay rights movement.

The 1st wave (late 1990s-early 2000s) of sexual rights movements in the MENA region brought forth new collectives & projects to grapple with issues of personal freedoms & health (HIV/AIDS), such as Club Free and Hurriyat Khasa in Lebanon and a group working on HIV/AIDS in Algeria

"I have been beaten. I have had my nose broken. I have been thrown in jail. I have lost my job. I have lost my apartment for gay liberation and you all treat me this way? What the fuck's wrong with you all?" - Sylvia Rivera's speech (1973) https://twitter.com/i/status/1548719498701717504/video/1

The evening of the Stonewall Riot is hallmarked as the starting point of the modern gay rights movement, despite earlier outbreaks of resistance such as the Compton’s Cafeteria Riot of 1966 in San Francisco and protests against police treatment of LGBTQ people across the country.

India's Third Gender Movement | The Zainab Salbi Project Ep. 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmWICmK37b4

Zine containing various interviews to Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/ehn-nothing-untorelli-press-street-transvestite-action-revolutionaries

(Sylvia) was banned from New York’s Gay & Lesbian Community Center for most of the mid-90s for angrily insisting that they provide housing for homeless queer youth during the frigid winters.

(How are relations between the transvestites and the straight prisoners?) "Oh, the straight prisoners treat transvestites like they’re queens. They send them over cigarettes and candy, envelopes and stamps and stuff like that – when they got money." - Marsha P. Johnson

Pay It No Mind - The Life and Times of Marsha P. Johnson https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjN9W2KstqE

Marsha spent most of her life without a permanent home. She slept in hotel rooms, restaurants, and movie theaters. She sometimes lived with friends. Even when she found work waiting tables or performing in drag shows, she still made most of her money as a sex worker.

After the country began granting same-sex couples registered partnerships benefits in 1998, the Netherlands became the first country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage in 2001.

Sarah Hegazy at a protest in Canada. (Photo courtesy of HuMENA)

After the country began granting same-sex couples registered partnerships benefits in 1998, the Netherlands became the first country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage in 2001.

Most hijras' defining characteristic is leaving home to become a part of the hijra community, which removes itself from wider society and teaches its lessons in secret. A young person is initiated by following a guru who will teach the chela (disciple) in the hijra ways of life.

On February 19, 2002, Sylvia passed away at the age of 50 due to complications from liver cancer. Even on her deathbed, she was working for trans inclusion in yet another mainstream gay rights organization, the Empire State Pride Agenda.

Most of the focus of queer activism at the time involved fitting homosexuals into existing legal structures — getting marriage equality, overturning Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, passing the Matthew Shepard Act, etc. These were not Rivera’s priorities, and she made it quite well known.

The fifth of seven children, Marsha was born on August 24, 1945, in Elizabeth, New Jersey. After graduating high school, she enrolled in the United States Navy for a brief stint. Marsha relocated to New York’s Greenwich Village and was initally referred to as Black Marsha.

Jennicet Gutiérrez is an activist for transgender rights and immigrant rights. A founding member of La Familia: Trans Queer Liberation Movement, much of her activist work supports trans women detained for their immigration status.

Hijra are expected to perform dances, songs, and blessings at both births and weddings of Hindus. To many Hindus, a hijra's blessings of a baby will confer fertility, prosperity, and long life on the child.

HELEM, the first Arab LGBTQ organization, was part of relief efforts to support refugees and internally displaced people from south Lebanon during the 2006 Israeli attack. Its offices became well known throughout the country as a place of refuge, support and donation collection.

"I do not want to go to work looking like a man when I know I am not a man." - Sylvia Rivera

Hijra and transgender rights advocate Laxmi Narayan Tripathi speaking at a conference in Australia in 2017.

(Sylvia) was banned from New York’s Gay & Lesbian Community Center for most of the mid-90s for angrily insisting that they provide housing for homeless queer youth during the frigid winters.

The growing tide of radical feminism and lesbian separatism played out violently against STAR (...) Blocked from speaking and physically attacked by lesbian feminists for 'parodying womanhood', Sylvia stormed onto the stage, grabbed the mic, and confronted the audience

Marsha never visited home empty-handed, she would bring her nieces and nephews trinkets and flowers for her mother. Her family was very dear to Marsha’s heart.

GALZ An Association of LGBTI People in Zimbabwe is an organisation established in 1990 in Harare. GALZ's vision is "a just society that promotes and protects human rights of LGBTI people as equal citizens in Zimbabwe". https://galz.org

La Familia: Trans Queer Liberation Movement works at the national and local levels to achieve the collective liberation of LGBT Latinas by leading an intergenerational movement through community organizing, advocacy, and education. https://familiatqlm.org/

Marsha and Sylvia formed the Street Transvestite Activist Revolutionaries. The first STAR House was in the back of an abandoned truck; nearly 24 young people called the truck home. Sylvia and Marsha hustled every night to make sure their new family had breakfast each morning.

Most of the focus of queer activism at the time involved fitting homosexuals into existing legal structures — getting marriage equality, overturning Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, passing the Matthew Shepard Act, etc. These were not Rivera’s priorities, and she made it quite well known.

In 1973, Johnson and Rivera were banned from participating in the gay pride parade by the transphobic gay and lesbian committee who were administering the event stating they "weren't gonna allow drag queens" at their marches claiming they were "giving them a bad name".

HELEM, the first Arab LGBTQ organization, was part of relief efforts to support refugees and internally displaced people from south Lebanon during the 2006 Israeli attack. Its offices became well known throughout the country as a place of refuge, support and donation collection.

HELEM, the first Arab LGBTQ organization, was part of relief efforts to support refugees and internally displaced people from south Lebanon during the 2006 Israeli attack. Its offices became well known throughout the country as a place of refuge, support and donation collection.

Sarah Hegazi lived with PTSD resulting from the prison torture she had experienced in Egypt. She was granted asylum in Canada, living there until her death on 14 June 2020 (aged 30).

The fifth of seven children, Marsha was born on August 24, 1945, in Elizabeth, New Jersey. After graduating high school, she enrolled in the United States Navy for a brief stint. Marsha relocated to New York’s Greenwich Village and was initally referred to as Black Marsha.

Pay It No Mind - The Life and Times of Marsha P. Johnson https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjN9W2KstqE

"One of our main goals now is to destroy the Human Rights Campaign, because I’m tired of sitting on the back of the bumper. It’s not even the back of the bus anymore — it’s the back of the bumper. The bitch on wheels is back." - Sylvia Rivera, shortly before her death

Sarah Hegazi was an Egyptian socialist, writer, and lesbian activist. She was arrested, imprisoned and tortured in Egypt for three months after flying a rainbow flag at a Mashrou' Leila concert in 2017 in Cairo.

"Lots of times they tell me, 'You’re not a woman!' I say, 'I don’t know what I am if I’m not a woman.' They say, 'Well, you’re not a woman.' They say 'Let me see your cunt.' I say, 'Honey, let me tell you something.' I say 'You can either take it or leave it'" - Marsha P. Johnson

While hijras have been treated with both fear and respect for thousands of years, much of this respect did not survive Hinduism’s encounter with colonialism. Today, hijra are often almost always excluded from employment and education outside of their ritual roles.

Sylvia Rivera at a gay rights demonstration, Albany, New York, 1971. Credit: ©Diana Davies

Historically and culturally hijras are based in Hinduism and they perform solely for Hindus. However, hijras are not all Hindu themselves. Many are Muslim and a few are Christian. In fact, some hijras follow the beliefs and practices of both Hinduism and Islam.

Letter written by Hegazi before her death: "To my siblings – I tried to survive and I failed, forgive me. To my friends – the experience was harsh and I am too weak to resist it, forgive me. To the world – you were cruel to a great extent, but I forgive."

(How are relations between the transvestites and the straight prisoners?) "Oh, the straight prisoners treat transvestites like they’re queens. They send them over cigarettes and candy, envelopes and stamps and stuff like that – when they got money." - Marsha P. Johnson

In Algeria, the association Abu Nawas created the Ten-Ten, a national LGBTQIA+ day, which is celebrated every year on October 10th. On this day, at 8pm, a candle must be lit and a photo posted on Facebook as a sign of solidarity and tolerance towards all people of the community.

On August 12, a body was found in Zekeriyaköy. It was determined that the body, which was burned from the waist down, was Hande Kader's. Since her family didn’t want her body, she was interred in an anonymous cemetery. Her murder has led to a great deal of protest.

"I was no one, nobody, from Nowheresville until I became a drag queen. That’s what made me in New York, that’s what made me in New Jersey, that’s what made me in the world." - Marsha P. Johnson

Letter written by Hegazi before her death: "To my siblings – I tried to survive and I failed, forgive me. To my friends – the experience was harsh and I am too weak to resist it, forgive me. To the world – you were cruel to a great extent, but I forgive."

"She was nurturing, she was someone who was a crusader, and she made sure no one was left behind. She did not have it easy. She couldn’t count on support from the gay community or the straight community, but she looked out for others." - Stefanie Rivera about Sylvia Rivera

"You get beaten up by your own and that’s what hurts." Interview with Sylvia Rivera: https://makinggayhistory.com/podcast/sylvia-rivera-part-2/