19 min listen
Season 1: Episode 1: Sylvia Rivera — Part 1
FromMaking Gay History | LGBTQ Oral Histories from the Archive
Season 1: Episode 1: Sylvia Rivera — Part 1
FromMaking Gay History | LGBTQ Oral Histories from the Archive
ratings:
Length:
13 minutes
Released:
Oct 13, 2016
Format:
Podcast episode
Description
A never before heard conversation with trans icon, self-described “drag queen,” and Stonewall uprising veteran Sylvia Rivera. Sylvia relives that June 1969 night in vivid detail and describes her struggle for recognition in the movement.Sylvia would have loved knowing that in the years since her death in 2002 she’s become an icon—a symbol of LGBTQ people fighting back against police repression and fighting for respect and equal rights. But she’d also want you to know that she was a human being, born Ray Rivera in the Bronx in 1951. Eleven years later the self-described effeminate child found himself homeless and hustling on 42nd Street to scratch out enough money to get by. Sylvia was all of seventeen when she crossed paths with history at the Stonewall Inn on the night of June 28, 1969. She died at 51, having struggled with addiction and homelessness for much of her life, even as she continued to fight for trans rights and LGBTQ equality.
Released:
Oct 13, 2016
Format:
Podcast episode
Titles in the series (100)
Chuck Rowland: A WWII veteran who turned theory into action, co-founding one of the first LGBT rights groups, the Mattachine Society, in 1950—a time when gay people were considered sick, sinful, criminal, and a threat to national security. by Making Gay History | LGBTQ Oral Histories from the Archive