A mural of Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P Johnson painted in Dallas Texas
Transgender Latina Sylvia Rivera has been a long-standing icon in the LGBTQ + community and called the “Rosa Parks of the transgender movement”. The drag queen was an active participant in protests like Stonewall. She was born in 1951 in New York to a Puerto Rican father and a Venezuelan mother. At 10 years old, Rivera was on her own due to her mother’s sucide and her father’s absence and abuse. At the time, ‘transgender’ was not a common term so many people hid in the closet, but Rivera was loud and proud and wore makeup since the fourth grade. Since she lived on the streets, she was more sympathetic to the homeless so in protests she was also a voice for people in need and wouldn’t miss a beat when “it’s for the revolution!”
— Elly Herrick, Editor-in-Chief