In June 1969, when police raided the Stonewall Inn in New York City, the patrons who fought back hardest were not white, affluent gay men. They were drag queens, trans sex workers, and homeless queer youth. Figures like Marsha P. Johnson (a self-identified drag queen and trans activist) and Sylvia Rivera (a Latina trans woman and co-founder of STAR—Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries) were on the front lines. Rivera famously threw a Molotov cocktail during the riots.
To pretend the alliance is flawless is to do a disservice to both communities. There are real points of divergence and historical wounds that have yet to fully heal. Shemale Playboy Bionda
Despite their heroism, the mainstream Gay Liberation Front soon sidelined them. At the 1973 Christopher Street Liberation Day rally, Rivera was booed off stage for demanding that the movement address the plight of trans people and gender-nonconforming prisoners. She famously declared: "I have been beaten. I have had my nose broken. I have been thrown in jail. I am not going to stand on my soapbox and let you tell me that I’m not proud." In June 1969, when police raided the Stonewall
