Sylvia Rivera Research Paper

My essay is upon Sylvia Rivera, she was and still is classified as a strong independent woman who fought for what she believed in. Ms.Rivera knew who she was at a really young girl and had a immensely hard up bringing; but still had that drive and dedication to help her people whom were discriminated against at that time and still are. She work in alliance with two of the strongest gay organizations at a tender age. She became the leader of an organization for people whom were discriminated based on there sexual orientation. She was the cofounder of STAR. Sylvia River was an activist for the LGTBQ+ community in the 1970's. Ms. Riveras organization was founded to help give a home to those who were kicked out of there own. Her stance help bring to light the scary truth that trans people went through at that time. Homophobisim was at a highly ranked at this time; people were tough that homosexuals were broken and could be repaired with religion. Which made it that much harder for people to stand and fight for what was right.

On the streets she found a group of drag queen that helped her out. One of the mothers of the group was Marsha p. Johnson which had the same view points and similar life experiences. which helps both of them to found the organization STAR(Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries). The group often attended a gay bar named the stonewall inn which was constantly monitored by police because it was run by a mafia gang. On June 28, 1969 while Julia and Sylvia were there police raided the bar but bottles and coins were targeted toward them and Sylvia was elegebly the first to throw one. This cause a multitude of people to come to this bar a create riats to stop the police from arresting trans people. This incidents help shape and construct there organization STAR (Street Transvestite Action