[This early activist joined the Gay Activists Alliance at 18 years old, and fought for both gay rights and for the inclusion of drag queens like herself in the movement.]
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[Who is Sylvia Rivera?]
Born and raised in New York City, of Puerto Rican and Venezuelan parents, Sylvia Rivera was an outspoken activist for transgender rights from a young age. She joined the Gay Activists Alliance at the age 18 and fought for the inclusion of drag queens like herself in the movement for gay rights.
In 1970, just after the Stonewall Riots, she and close friend Marsha P. Johnson co-founded the Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR), which offered services and support for homeless queer youth. Later, in 2001, Rivera revitalized the group as a political organization, advocating for transgender and gender non-conforming civil rights.
At the 1973 Christopher Street Liberation Day Rally in New York City, Rivera, representing STAR, gave a brief speech from the main stage. Later at that same event, she gave her infamous "Y'all Better Quiet Down" speech, in which she stated "You go to bars because of what drag queens did for you, and these [people] tell us to quit being ourselves!" Rivera has been a long-time advocate for the inclusion of transgender and gender-nonconforming people in LGBTQ movements.
The Sylvia Rivera Law Project, founded in August 2002, is a legal aid organization that serves low-income people or people of color who are transgender, intersex and/or gender non-conforming. It was named after Rivera, who passed away the same year it was formed.
Read more about Sylvia Rivera through our eSource, Gale in Context: Biography, or check out some great titles from our catalog.
"We have to be visible. We should not be ashamed of who we are."
