Sylvia Rivera And Sexual Abuse In America

Sylvia Rivera (christened by an elder dyke father and a drag queen mother), was an activist and a sex worker. She was born in 1951 to a single mother who, when she was three years old, committed suicide and attempted to take Sylvia with her via rat poison. This left her in the care of a homophobic grandmother, Vijeta, who both watched and participated in much of the abuse Sylvia experienced. Sylvia experienced various forms of child sexual abuse, most often, sex trafficking from her uncle, who began this when she was seven years old. At ten years old, she ran away and lived as a homeless child, who relied on (unethical) sex work to survive. She lived on the streets of 42nd in New York City with various other street queens. The culture was communal

It was here that she noticed a lack of support and resources available for transgender and gender-nonconforming individuals, particularly those who were homeless and already shunned from the queer community. The primary goal of The STAR was to provide direct aid and support to trans street queens and homeless queer people. She and Marsha P. Johnson set to found this organization, one year after The Stonewall Riots. The organization ran a community center in New York City, offering food, clothing, housing, and other essential services to transgender youth and individuals in need. STAR's shelter provided a safe space for transgender people at a time when they were often ostracized and marginalized by mainstream society. Its finances were mostly supported by the sex work that Sylvia and Marsha engaged within. In addition to providing practical support, STAR is also deeply engaged in activism and advocacy work. Johnson and Rivera were outspoken voices for transgender rights, challenging societal norms and fighting against discrimination and violence targeting transgender individuals. They worked tirelessly to raise awareness about the issues facing their community and to demand greater visibility and acceptance for transgender and gender-nonconforming people, not only from the greater queer community, but as well as the larger cis-heterosexual society.

Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, queer trans women, were doing a great deal of heavy lifting within these movements, the privileged, upper middle class, white communities did not value the work they did and often treated the queer sex workers who fronted the liberation movements as both disposable and dangerous, Arthur Bell, one of the founders of the Gay Activists Alliance stated, ““the general membership is frightened of Sylvia and thinks she’s a troublemaker. They’re frightened by street people.” Gan, Jessie. “"Still at the Back of the Bus”: Sylvia Rivera’s Struggle.” CENTRO Journal, vol. Volume XXII, No. 2. Number 1, a.k.a. a.k.a. a.k.a. a.k.a. a.k.a. a.k.a. a.k.a. a.k.a. a.k.a. a.k.a. a.k.a. a.k.a. a.k.a. a.k.a. a.k.a. a.k.a. a.k.a. a.k.a Whilst Sylvia was one of many individuals working for the Gay Liberation Front, she was often the only one being arrested due to her advocacy for the transgender community. “My community is being pulled by a rope around our neck by the bumper of the damn bus that stays in the front. Gay liberation but transgender nothing! Yes, I hold a lot of anger. But I have that right. I have that right to have that anger. I have fought too damn and too hard for this community to put up with the disrespect that I have received and my community has received for the last thirty-two years.” Sylvia was often on the front lines of protests with many other trans women of color, yet still received backlash and disdain from her white