Sylvia Rivera was a queer, Latinx, civil rights pioneer who fought tirelessly for the rights of transgender people, low-income queers and people of color. [1] Said to have thrown the first brick in the Stonewall Riots, Rivera with Marsha P. Johnson, started S.T.A.R. (Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries), a group focused on providing shelter and support to queer, homeless youth. [2] Discounted by the mainstream LGBT rights movement of the time, she made it her life’s mission to fight for individuals living in the shadows of the popular narrative. [3] Remaining active is trans social justice causes up until her untimely death in 2002, she fought against the exclusion of transgender people in New York’s Sexual Orientation Non-Discrimination Act and met with the Empire State Pride Agenda to ensure trans inclusion. [3] Rivera’s legacy lives on in the Sylvia Rivera Law Project, a non-profit organization that provides advocacy and legal support regardless, of gender identity, sexual orientation, race, nationality or socioeconomic status. [1]
https://srlp.org/about/who-was-sylvia-rivera/
https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/06/historical-lgbt-figures-activists-culture/
http://outhistory.org/exhibits/show/tgi-bios/sylvia-rivera