<div class="fr-view"><p>When you ask someone to name a famous person from LGBTQ+ history many will come up with the name &#8216;Marsha P Johnson&#8217; and rightly so in my opinion.</p>
<p>Marsha P Johnson was an American activist and self-identified drag queen. She was well known for being an advocate for the gay rights movement and a key party in the Stonewall Riots in 1969.</p>
<p>Life wasn&#8217;t easy for Marsha. Born Malcolm Michaels Jnr on August 24th 1945 in New Jersey, Marsha was part of a large, working class, family. Marsha was brought up in a very religious family, infact they are quoted as saying &#8220;I got married to Jesus Christ when I was sixteen years old, still in high school&#8221; (Johnson, 1992)</p>
<p>Johnson was interviewed in 1992 and describes being the victim of rape which led to them describing the idea of being gay as a dream rather than a possibility. Johnsons mother described being gay as the lowest form of low and remained unaware of the LGBT community.</p>
<p>Marsha left home in 1963 for NYC with $15 and a single bag of clothes. Marsha survived by waiting tables and hanging out with street hustlers. She finally felt able to &#8216;come out&#8217;.</p>
<p>Initially she used the name &#8220;Black Marsha&#8221; as her drag queen name but then changed it to &#8220;Marsha P Johnson&#8221; with the P standing for &#8216;pay it no mind&#8217; which was a phrase used when people commented negatively on their appearance or choices. Johnson identified as gay, a transvestite and a drag queen, although according to others their gender would be accurately described as gender non-conforming.</p>
<p>Marsha was one of the first drag queens to frequent the Stonewall Inn once they were allowed in. Infact Marsha has been named as one of the &#8220;three individuals known to have been in the vanguard&#8221; against the police during the uprising. Johnson denied being one of the catalysts of the riots but was reportedly there.</p>
<p>On the first anniversary of the uprising Johnson marched in the first ever Gay Pride rally on June 28th 1970.</p>
<p>Later in 1970 Marsha and their close friend Sylvia Rivera started STAR &#8211; Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries and became loud voices in the gay liberation campaign.</p>
<p>Marsha remained an active and loud voice for the rest of their life.</p>
<p>In 1992 Marshas body was discovered in the Hudson river. Whilst the police ruled this death a suicide, their friends insisted this was not possible and in fact pointed out wounds on their body that could not be self-inflicted. This occurred at a time when there was anti-LGBT voilence and Marsha theirself was spaking out against &#8216;dirty cops&#8217; and organised crime rings believed to be responsible for voilence against members of the LGBT community.<br />
Eventually, in 2012, the NYPD reopened the case into Marshas death and cause was changed from suicide to undetermined.</p>
<p>But why is Marsha P Johnson so important to LGBT history &#8211; well its simple really. Marsha stood up and shouted when all around was violence against the LGBT community. They<span style="font-family: Cabin, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; float: none;"> dedicated their life to helping others, despite their own mental health issues. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: Cabin, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; float: none;">We should not forget the sacrifices of others to allow us to be able ourselves.</span></p>
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