Pay It No Mind: How Marsha P. Johnson’s Legacy Is A Call to Continue the Fight

August 24 marks the birthday of the late Marsha P. Johnson, the legendary LGBTQ+ rights activist who played an iconic role in the Stonewall rebellion of 1969. During the first night of a week of clashes between gay and trans patrons of the Stonewall Inn bar and the police, Johnson reportedly launched “the shot glass heard around the world” into the bar’s mirror, shouting, “I got my civil rights!” The story might be apocryphal, but Johnson’s role in the boisterous, proud LGBTQ+ rights movement that emerged from Stonewall is not in dispute.

Johnson, who said her middle initial stood for “Pay it no mind,” was an early member of the Gay Liberation Front. She identified as a “gay transvestite” and had a particular concern for gender nonconforming teens. With her best friend Sylvia Rivera, she founded STAR, a group that offered lifesaving outreach services to LGBTQ+ youth living on the streets. Her tall figure clothed in a colorful wardrobe and topped with crowns of flowers and fruit, Johnson’s presence made a vibrant call to queer joy in the first New York Gay Liberation Parade in 1970 and other demonstrations throughout her life.

Marsha P. Johnson’s legacy is one of community service and fierce advocacy for the most vulnerable, including young people and those living with AIDS. Her life is also a command during this era when politicians regularly foment anger about gender identity, trans existence, drag shows, and pronouns for their own cynical purposes, Johnson calls on us to pay gender no mind and to keep fighting for civil rights and liberation for everyone.

by Jennifer Morales, FV@W Director of Movement Learning & Culture Change