The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson Page #5

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going about spreading peace and goodwill.

Giving license to, "You don't have to be

dressed up in a suit."

You can express yourself.

She became, to me, like a bodhisattva.

A holy person who would wander the Village

in whatever adornment she wanted,

being at peace.

How will this affect your job?

Darling, I don't have a job.

I'm on welfare.

I have no intentions of getting a job

as long as this country discriminates

against homosexuals.

[man] Right on.

[protesters chanting] Justice!

Justice! Justice! Justice!

[Karla] Sylvia was always very outspoken.

She was unrelenting.

She was... Sylvia was very in-your-face.

Very intense eyes. A slash of a mouth.

A guttural laugh like Marlene Dietrich.

Sylvia was quite the serious one.

She pushed her way to the front line.

"Homes for the homeless!

Food for the poor!

Gay rights! Gay rights!"

[protesters] P!

-[Sylvia] O!

-[protesters] O!

-[Sylvia] W!

-[protesters] W!

-[Sylvia] E!

-[protesters] E!

-[Sylvia] R!

-[protesters] R!

-Tell me what!

-[protesters] Gay power!

-I can't hear you!

-[protesters] Gay power!

A little bit louder!

[protesters] Gay power!

After a while, I think they knew

that they most had to concentrate

on the area

that no one was addressing for them,

and that only they could address.

And that was being transgender.

[Sylvia] Marsha and I thought one day

we needed to do something for our own.

That's where STAR was born.

Street Transvestites

Action Revolutionaries.

[Marsha] Sylvia Lee Rivera deserves

all the credit for STAR.

I was just one of the queens

that was behind her,

like the vice president of STAR.

She knew exactly

what she was talking about.

She was talking about nobody's

representing transvestites, ya know?

The one thing they had in common

which bonded them,

why their name

should always be connected,

is that they helped those

who were on the street,

just trying to live their lives.

And a lot of them got on the street

and ended up hooking or hustling

to make a buck,

and they sometimes had no place to stay.

[Sylvia] Marsha and I started STAR House

to keep the kids off the streets.

To get these kids

get their things together.

STAR was part

of the people's revolution,

and it was time for us to show the world

that we are human beings.

[Victoria] I didn't know Marsha, but I

became very close friends with Sylvia.

Back in the late '60s,

I was going out with Frankie,

who was a bouncer at the Stonewall.

Frankie was always cheating on me,

and he was going out

with Sylvia's best friend at the time.

Sylvia and I didnt get along too well,

so I had lost sight of her for 25 years.

One day I went to a meeting,

and who was there? Sylvia.

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