Transgenderism in New York City

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Indonesian transgender actress Solena Sulin celebrating her birthday in Midtown Manhattan at The Peninsula New York hotel in 2017. New York's transgender ecosystem is economically lucrative for the city's tourist industry. Solena Sulin in Manhattan, New York.jpg
Indonesian transgender actress Solena Sulin celebrating her birthday in Midtown Manhattan at The Peninsula New York hotel in 2017. New York's transgender ecosystem is economically lucrative for the city's tourist industry.

New York City is home to the largest transgender population in the world, estimated at more than 50,000 in 2018, concentrated in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens; however, until the June 1969 Stonewall riots, this community had felt marginalized and neglected by the gay community. [1] [2] Brooklyn Liberation March, the largest transgender-rights demonstration in LGBT history, took place on June 14, 2020, stretching from Grand Army Plaza to Fort Greene, Brooklyn, focused on supporting Black transgender lives, drawing an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 participants. [3] [4]

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Despite playing a significant role in fighting for LGBTQ equality during the period of the 1969 Stonewall Riots and thereafter, [2] the transgender community in New York City had previously felt marginalized and neglected by the gay community. [2] Since then, and especially during the 21st century, New York City's transgender community has grown in size and prominence, [5]

When the violence broke out during the Stonewall Riots , the women and transmasculine people being held down the street at The Women's House of Detention joined in by chanting, setting fire to their belongings and tossing them into the street below. The historian Hugh Ryan says, "When I would talk to people about Stonewall, they would tell me, that night on Stonewall, we looked to the prison because we saw the women rioting and chanting, 'Gay rights, gay rights, gay rights.'" [6]

Trans organizations in New York City

According to Susan Stryker's book, Transgender History, the Stonewall riots had significant effects on trans rights activism. Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson established the Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR) organization, as they believed that trans people weren't being adequately represented in the Gay Activists Alliance and Gay Liberation Front. They established politicized versions of "houses", which came from Black and Latino queer communities, and were places that marginalized trans youth could seek shelter. [7]

Besides STAR, organizations such as Transvestites and Transsexuals (TAT) and Queens' Liberation Front (QLF) were also established. QLF, which was established by drag queen Lee Brewster and heterosexual transvestite Bunny Eisenhower, marched on Christopher Street Liberation Day and fought against drag erasure and for trans visibility. [7]

New York is the epicenter for transgender fashion modeling.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Parry, Bill (July 10, 2018). "Elmhurst vigil remembers transgender victims lost to violence and hate". TimesLedger . New York. Retrieved February 15, 2025.
  2. 1 2 3 Williams, Cristan (January 25, 2013). "So, what was Stonewall?". The TransAdvocate. Retrieved February 15, 2025.
  3. ↑ Patil, Anushka (June 15, 2020). "How a March for Black Trans Lives Became a Huge Event". The New York Times . Retrieved February 15, 2025.
  4. ↑ Keating, Shannon (June 16, 2020). "Corporate Pride Events Can't Happen This Year. Let's Keep It That Way". BuzzFeed News . Retrieved February 15, 2025.
  5. ↑ "The Trans Community of Christopher Street". The New Yorker. August 1, 2016. Retrieved February 15, 2025.
  6. ↑ "Before Stonewall: The Women's House of Detention Changed Queer History". Advocate. May 10, 2022. Retrieved February 15, 2025.
  7. 1 2 Transgender History. Seal Press. 2021. pp. 109–111. ISBN   9781580056892.
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