Marsha Piora Johnson: Black, Trans, Human

Marsha P. Johnson was a Gay Rights and AIDS activist in the USA. While widely accepted as a trans woman, Marsha was also a drag queen and believed by some to be gender non-conforming. Marsha used she/her pronouns for herself, so out of respect for her we will be doing the same.

Marsha was born on the 24th of August 1945. Her childhood was not the easiest or most accepting. Marsha grew up in a religious home and her mother believed that being homosexual was being “lower than a dog.” By the age of 5, however, Marsha had begun wearing dresses which led to harassment and bullying from boys that caused her to stop wearing the dresses. Marsha was also raped by a 13-year-old boy.

By the age of 17 Marsha had already dropped out of school, joined the Navy, got her GED and was honorably discharged from the Navy. She packed a bag of clothes, and with $15 in her pocket moved to Greenwich Village, New York. Here she started working as a waitress and began spending time with sex workers. This is where Marsha’s life would change and she would finally start feeling proud enough to be herself.

Marsha started performing as a drag queen under the name “Black Marsha” but later renamed herself to Marsha P. Johnson. She would often sarcastically state the P in her name stood for “Pay it no mind” and even used this line against a judge once. The judge liked the zinger so much that it led to her being released. She revealed in a 1979 interview that the P actually stood for Piola.

By 1970 Marsha had begun with hormone therapy and had a goal of undergoing gender-affirming surgery. She was also a member of STAR (Street Transvestites Action Revolutionaries). Marsha also went ahead with her drag performances styling a not-so-serious style of drag as she could not afford to buy more expensive dresses and accessories. Despite this, Marsha still performed in groups such as Hot Peaches, and The Angels of Light, and was even photographed by none other than Andy Warhol.

Marsha had what some would allude to being a type of split or “schizophrenic” personality. While she had a mostly saint-like personality, there were times when Marsha, especially under stress, had a more volatile and angry personality.

Now I’d like to take a moment and just focus on this bit of information. Very often when people are immortalised in history, especially as heroes, their mistakes or moments of weakness are removed from history to protect their image. That is not necessarily a bad thing, but it does dehumanise these people. Of course, that is also the point of doing this. If our heroes were human, they would be attainable, touchable, and defeatable. Something we don’t want in our heroes.

Marsha’s story, however, cannot be told without looking at this aspect of what makes her human. If it was not for this angry personality she would not have been banned from other gay bars. She may not have found herself sitting in The Stonewall Inn on the night of June 28 1969 when police officers conducted a raid on the bar. And if she wasn’t there, she would not have been the face of the first American Gay Revolution. Accounts of what happened that first night vary and no single account can be verified to be the correct one. In the most widely accepted account of the night, during the raid, Marsha became angry, quite justly so if I say so myself. A brick was thrown, and Marsha started The Stonewall Riots. What followed was a week of riots, demonstrations, and spontaneous marches.

As I’ve mentioned, there are conflicting reports of that night, and none of them can be verified. Whether Marsha P. Johnson was there, whether she threw a brick at a cop or a shot glass at the wall, is irrelevant. By the second night, Marsha was climbing lampposts and dropping heavy bags onto police cars, and she very soon became the face of the riots. It’s also worth noting that there is a belief that the people present were scared to accredit Marsha for the riots in fear of her mental health and gender identity being used to discredit the movement.

Marsha seemed to have gotten a taste for protesting after Stonewall and had joined the Gay Liberation Front, and became active in the GLF Drag Queen Caucus. A year after The Stonewall Riots Marsha marched in the first Gay Pride Rally, initially called the Christopher Street Liberation Day.

In 1973 Marsha and fellow drag queen Sylvia Rivera found out that they were banned from the upcoming Pride parade because the gay and lesbian commitee felt that drag queens were giving the community a bad name. In response they marched ahead of the parade, effectively allowing them to lead the parade. An appropriate response in my personal opinion, especially if you consider the fact that these two drag queens had in 1970 started the STAR House, a shelter for homeless gay and trans youth. They kept the shelter running by paying for rent, food, and clothing out of their own pockets with money from their sex work.

Marsha was also HIV-positive and engaged in AIDS activism with groups such as ACT UP, often assisting people who were quite sick, or near death, and even became the caretaker for a friend’s partner who had been terminally ill with AIDS.

In 1992 a body was found drifting in the Hudson River. The body was identified as belonging to Marsha P. Johnson. Police ruled it as a suicide and closed the case, completely ignoring the massive wound on the back of her head.

The Community was outraged. Those closest to Marsha believed that she would not commit suicide regardless of her mental health status, even at times when she had been committed against her will, she never displayed suicidal ideology. At the time of her death, Marsha was also garnering attention towards violence against the LGBTQIA+ community being committed by police officers.

Neighbors, friends, and community members reported seeing Marsha being harassed by both groups and individuals shortly before her death, and each time there was a homophobic aspect to the harassment.

It would take 10 years for Marsha’s death to be reclassified from suicide, to undetermined. Another 10 years later the case would finally be reopened as a POSSIBLE homicide. To this day, her murder has not been solved, and unfortunately, unless someone comes forward very soon, it will never be solved.

Marsha was a black, genderqueer person who fought for the rights of gays and lesbians. Whether she threw the first brick, shot glass, or was sleeping on a park bench when it actually happened, it doesn’t matter. Her actions after that, in the 22 years until her death speak volumes. She is a reminder that now, we should stand with our trans siblings and community members from all races to ensure that we all continue to enjoy basic human rights.