Sylvia Rivera

The OG Transgender Latina Activist

We’ve talked a lot about Marsha P. Johnson but today we’re finally circling around to her other half – her best friend and co-founder of STAR House – Sylvia Rivera!

Orphaned at a young age and suffering much abuse at the hands of her caretakers, Sylvia left home at eleven years old and never looked back. She found a new home with the drag queens of 42nd Street who took her in, dubbed her Sylvia, and taught her how to survive the streets.

Her activist heart was in action long before the Stonewall Riots, and she was supposedly there that night with Marsha, and said threw the second molotov cocktail that kicked off the riots!

Much of her story mimics Marsha’s – being rejected by the greater Gay Liberation movement and shuffled to the sidelines – even denied the right to march in the first pride parade (thought her and Marsha did anyway!), but Sylvia remained a fighter for most of her life and left behind some epic stories in her wake. Listen now to hear her full story!