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The Mystery: The Life & Death of Marsha P. Johnson
We’ve never done this here at Screen Gems, but the time has come. We’re recommending a movie more than once.
In this case, the heroine at the center of the story more than deserves it. Marsha P. Johnson’s name doesn’t get mentioned alongside that of Rosa Parks, Barbara Gittings or Angela Davis as an important activist for the African-American community, but it should. As a transgender woman, Johnson spent her life working as a drag performer, actress and activist in New York. Though some anecdotes even hold that Johnson was the first one to throw a brick at Stonewall, Johnson denied starting them. She did, however, attend Stonewall the night of the uprising, and a vocal and visible advocate for LGBTQ rights in the subsequent decades.
And yes, for the record, in the 1970s, someone could be gay and a drag queen and transgender all at the same time; Johnson proudly labeled herself as all three. In those days, gay was used more as an umbrella term, and the gulf between a drag queen and a transgender woman wasn’t as pronounced as it is today.
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
The documentary The Life and Death of Marsha P. Johnson recounts the life of Ms. Johnson, along with her work and the mysterious details of her death in 1992. Did she commit suicide, or did something more sinister happen? Director David France brings his usual energy and detail to Johnson’s life, tracking down some of her close friends, uncovering some never-before-seen footage of Johnson, and examining the circumstances of her demise. It’s a beautiful tribute to an unsung hero full of joy and live–a contribution every LGBTQ person in America benefits from.
Streams on Netflix.
Note: this article contains passages of previous articles posted here on Queerty.
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Cam
PLEASE stop rewriting people’s history to conform to the author’s sensibilities.
The article states…”And yes, for the record, in the 1970s, someone could be gay and a drag queen and transgender all at the same time; Johnson proudly labeled herself as all three. “”
No, Marsha did NOT proudly label herself all three. Although she likely WAS transgender, the term wasn’t in wide use at the time. Johnson referred to herself by multiple other terms. You erase how difficult and different those times are when you erase the hardship Marsha was living under, in that there wasn’t even a well known term for how she wanted to live her life.
My citation below….
“”Johnson variably identified as gay, as a transvestite, and as a queen (referring to drag queen). According to Susan Stryker, a professor of human gender and sexuality studies at the University of Arizona, Johnson’s gender expression could perhaps most accurately be called gender non-conforming; Johnson never self-identified with the term transgender, but the term was also not in broad use while Johnson was alive.[22]””
LumpyPillows
Agreed, if he was transgender and gay that would mean she was into women, which he was not. He was a gay male, transvestite, by his own words. This rewriting of our history by people who were not even alive is just a blatant attempt to push their current social engineering nonsense.
UlfRaynor
Nailed it Cam, Johnson repeatedly rejected the label transexual ( the term used before it was more accurately changed to transgender ) Johnson always insisted she was an out and proud gay black man.
What I find really offensive, and every gay person in the country should as well, is the way Queerty and just about all gay news sites, repeatedly and falsely try to diminish the role of gay men and women who actually started and participated in the Stonewall riots.
Why hasn’t Queerty EVER DONE one single article about Stormé DeLarverie the biracial butch lesbian who, by all eyewitness accounts, was the brave lesbian who actually started the riots by defying the cops and trying to fight them off and getting the gay men in the bar to join with her.
I think we all know the answer to that question, but it’s still sad Queerty continues to perpetuate lies and false narratives to push a certain agenda and no, it ain’t a gay one!
JohnnyBoy2
I agree, Cam. We really shouldn’t be rewriting our history to manufacture heroes. We should rely on our truths. I read an interview with Marsha years ago, and she emphatically stated that she was not the hero of gay legend we hear about, and that there was a lot of myth-making going on.
I didn’t know she died under tragic circumstances. Very sad.
Tombear
When Marsha was alive. I had a beer with her at a bar called Boots and Sadles deep in the Village. She was actually quite funny. I’m glad I met a gay historic figure.
GreekKeys
Still haven’t found the answer to what Johnson actually did to qualify as any kind of activist, forget about “the most important”, since the whole Stonewall story is false. Running around the piers in drag is not activism.
amanwithanedge
she didn’t do anything. It’s a media BS thing.
LeBlevsez
Whereas y’all are gonna be lionized for your tireless efforts in leaving Cheetos fingerprints on your keyboards. You are an inspiration.
LumpyPillows
Marsha is overrated. I really wish he had been a true leader. Marsha was for Marsha first and foremost, like most drag queens. Actually showing up and doing work was not what he did. Showing up to get attention is what Marsha did.
cheks
She was a founding member of the Gay Liberation Front. Additionally she co-founded the Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR) with Sylvia Rivera that pushed to gain protections for gender non confirming people and provide housing and support for these kids and adults who were mostly homeless and doing sex work to survive.
She and Sylvia Rivera had to fight against main stream society, and the wider gay community who consistently threw them and others like them under the bus. All while dealing with cops and poverty.
If you actually want to know what she did and not ask questions under the guise of being a troll, there is a really cool thing called the internet where you can research this. Or stay ignorant. But don’t confuse your ingorance of her work for the lack of her work.
Seriously, how self absorbed do you have to be to say “I’ve never been spoon fed the information I don’t know, so it must not exist”. You sound like a 6 year old who says “I don’t know how to do this, no one has showed me.” It’s called figuring it out.
Cam
@GreekKeys
Should we pretend to not know that this is the latest screename change for the same old right wing troll (Roy Ajax, TheRealTruth, Openminded, Caddy, etc.) or should we let you keep making troll posts and think you’re getting anything done?
LumpyPillows
Alas, being a founding member and then rarely showing up for meetings of an organization that accomplished nothing isn’t that impressive. In truth his outlandish look and behavior was polarizing at the time and did not represent trans women of the period, who did not dress up like stung out drag queens without a budget.
edfu
The whole Marsha Johnson saga gets more and more ludicrous every year. She was a drag queen, suffering from serious drug and alcohol problems, nothing more. She was not present at the beginning of Stonewall, because, as she has admitted, she was passed out somewhere. She was not a regular Stonewall customer, because the management did not allow drag queens, just as they did not admit lesbians. Look at photos from Stonewall at the time: There are no drag queens and no lesbians. There are not even Blacks, because they were banned as well. It is a sad historical situation, but falsely claiming otherwise should not be allowed to rewrite correct history.
cheks
It’s interesting that you complain about rewriting history when you’re here saying lesbians and drag queens were not allowed, when eye witnesses and arrests show that men in drag and butch lesbians were the ones being arrested. And a butch lesbian, most likely Stormé DeLarverie, fought with the police and riled the crowd to “do something”.
Like gay bars today, they are mostly separate for obvious reasons. But by no means were lesbians and drag queens banned. Stonewall was a “private club” and you had to know the bouncer or be with someone who knew the bouncer to get in.
Cam
Troll, if you’re going to lie, try not to make it so easy to spot. Here is a citation from accounts of the night of the uprising. Notice how it specifically mentions that lesbians were INSIDE the bar.
” Accounts of people who witnessed the scene, including letters and news reports of the woman who fought with police. Where witnesses claim one woman who fought her treatment at the hands of the police caused the crowd to become angry, some also remembered several “butch lesbians” had begun to fight back while still in the bar. At least one was already bleeding when taken out of the bar (Carter, pp. 152–153).”
pornni789
awosome post thanks
Cam
I don’t have a problem with Marsha getting attention. She was loud, proud, and out at a time when that could get you killed. But there does seem to be an erasure of Stormé DeLarverie. The woman who is widely credited with throwing the first punch and getting the crowd riled up at the Stonewall Riots.
https: //www.gq. com/story/storme-delarverie-suiting (Spaces added because of the filter)
Kangol2
I also don’t have an issue with Marsha P. Johnson being highlighted, but as Cam says, there are other important Black figures in LGBTQ history. As Cheks points out, Johnson’s roles with the Gay Liberation Front and the Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR) are worthy of celebration. But what about others who have played key roles over the last 50 years? What about the outspoken Black AIDS activists? Filmmakers? Writers? Judges? etc. It is Black History Month, you know.
In one recent article, Queerty dishonored the name and memory of the great poet and activist Audre Lorde by misspelling her name repeatedly. You also have elided a number of other pioneering Black figures who blazed a path for others who followed. It might also be worth running an article on how Huey Newton, one of the founders of the Black Panthers, openly supported solidarity with LGBTQ people at a time when this considered beyond the pale. That’s the kind of history we all could benefit from hearing about.
UlfRaynor
I could kiss you right now and 100% agree.
It is Black History month and I can’t think of a gay rights activist more pivotally involved than a biracial lesbian (Stormé DeLarverie) who actually started the Stonewall riots.
Marsha made her contribution after the fact, but Stormé DeLarverie was the real hero of Stonewall and it’s high time she gets the credit and acknowledgement she’s due!
James26
At this point, it’s almost comical how much Marsha Johnson is hyped as some sort of vitally important person. This person did not “start” or “lead” Stonewall. She (and I am only using that pronoun in order to avoid a hassle) was one of hundreds of people who participated and by her own admission, she showed up when it was already well underway. After that, she didn’t do anything of importance or make any lasting change. According to David Carter’s book, she was severely mentally ill, suffered from psychotic delusions and could not even keep a roof over her head. She would veer from being kind and friendly to hostile and violent. This is not a role model for anyone.