LGBT+ History Month is the annual celebration of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender history, as well as observing the history of gay rights and related civil rights movements. 

The theme for 2022 is ‘The Arc is Long’, looking at the link between art and activism. It comes from the quote by Martin Luther King ‘The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice’. 

This encompasses LGBTQ+ rights that have come so far over the years, while recognising the journey that is still left to achieve justice and equality. 

This year, the LGBTQ+ DEI Network is celebrating LGBT+ History Month by honouring the artists, activists and prominent figures who have made a significant impact or helped influence or champion LGBTQ+ rights in some way. 

Each week throughout February we will be highlighting someone who has been instrumental in the push for global equality.

First up is activist Marsha P. Johnson.

Marsha P. Johnson was an American drag queen and LGBTQ+ rights activist. Their presence was most felt in New York City during the late 1960s and 70s. 

The P in their name, Marsha said, stood for ‘pay it no mind’ – encouraging people to pay no attention or worry to their appearance. This was to encourage people to embrace a culture where there was no judgement based on gender expression or how they choose to dress and express themselves. This is demonstrably reflected in Marsha’s willingness and wisdom to constantly push cultural norms and boundaries so everyone could feel free to be their most authentic selves. 

To this day, Marsha is one of the central figures of the historic Stonewall Riots of 1969, and an outspoken activist for transgender rights. Throughout this article, Marsha is referred to with both they/them and she/her pronouns to represent their fluid identity. 

Born as Malcolm Micheals Jr on in 1945, Johnson first began enjoying wearing typically ‘girly’ clothing at the age of just five. After a boy sexually assaulted her, they stopped wearing the clothes they had once loved and felt most comfortable in. 

After graduating from Edison High School, Johnson left home for New York City with only $15 to their name and a bag of clothes. It was here that Marsha began to become heavily involved in the art of drag. Marsha was one of the first drag queens to drink and hangout at the Stonewall Inn, a bar that previously only allowed gay men to enter. Johnson was living proudly out and freely stating “my life has been built around sex and gay liberation, being a drag queen.” 

Back then dancing with a person of the same sex as well as cross-dressing were illegal, so Marsha showed utter defiance by expressing herself through her appearance. Despite the discrimination and bigotry that was rife within society, the growing community of LGBTQ+ youth that Marsha was apart of set out to make their own path in the world.

Marsha’s life dramatically changed when she found herself near the Stonewall Inn in the early hours of June 28, 1969. 

That night, police officers raided the gay bar and began arresting people for violating various discriminatory laws. The patrons of the Stonewall began to fight back. While there are many conflicting stories about how the uprising started, it is clear that Marsha was on the front line. 

One account says she climbed a lamppost and dropped a heavy purse onto a police car, shattering the windshield. In another, she started the uprising by throwing a shot glass at a mirror. Young trans women like Marsha were particularly vocal that night because they felt they had nothing left to lose. Their rage was not just at the police and their brutality, it was also the oppression and fear they felt every single day simply from living as themselves. 

While the first two nights of rioting were the most intense, those first clashes with police resulted in a series of spontaneous demonstrations and marches through the gay neighbourhoods of Greenwich Village for around a week afterwards. All of this brought prominence to the gay and trans civil rights movements and established Marsha’s central role in LGBTQIA+ activism.

Following the Stonewall uprising, Johnson became more involved in LGBTQ+ rights activism by joining the Gay Liberation Front (GLF). On the anniversary of the Stonewall rebellion, Johnson marched in the first Gay Pride rally, then called the Christopher Street Liberation Day. In August of 1970, Johnson also staged a sit-in protest at Weinstein Hall in New York University alongside fellow GLF members after administrators cancelled a dance after finding out it was going to be sponsored by gay organisations. 

Shortly after that, Johnson and her close friend activist Sylvia Rivera co-founded the Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR) in 1970, a shelter for homeless gay and trans youth. They paid the rent for it with money out of their own pocket. Johnson was a “drag mother” of STAR House, working to provide food, clothing, emotional support and a sense of family for the young drag queens, trans women, gender nonconformists and others living on the Christopher Street docks or on the Lower East Side of New York. 

Johnson and Riveria both became a regular, visible presence at gay liberation marches and other political actions, fighting to provide a safe haven for others, despite living in constant poverty and danger themselves

Marsha is without a doubt one of the most venerated icons in LGBTQIA+ history, and has been rightly celebrated in a series of books, documentaries and films for her work. 

Honouring their incredible strength, talent and dedication to the cause, Johnson’s ability to mix flamboyant joy with her determined activism is a key part of the legacy that lives on among LGBTQ+ communities ever since. Their actions and words continue to inspire trans activism and resistance, and will continue to do so for years to come. 

Without the brave actions of Martha P. Johnson, someone who sacrificed everything for our right to love and be who we want to be, there would be no pride, let us never forget. 

“No pride for some of us without liberation for all of us.” – Martha P. Johnson

Further reading and viewing on Martha P. Johnson

• The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson (Movie)
• Stonewall (Movie)
• Pay It No Mind: Marsha P. Johnson (Documentary)
• Happy Birthday, Marsha! (Movie)
• Sylvia and Marsha Start a Revolution!: The Story of the Trans Women of Color Who Made LGBTQ+ History (Book) 
• We Are Everywhere: Protest, Power, and Pride in the History of Queer Liberation: A Visual Guide to the History of Queer Liberation (Book)
• Stonewall: The Definitive Story of the LGBTQ Rights Uprising That Changed America (Book)
• The Marsha P. Johnson Institute