Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR) was an organization founded by Stonewall veterans Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson in the wake of the Weinstein Hall occupation to advocate for LGBTQ rights. Taking influence from contemporary gay advocacy groups such as the Gay Activists Alliance (GAA) and the Gay Liberation Front (GLF), as well as from revolutionary nationalist groups like the Black Panther Party, STAR advocated for bodily autonomy, in addition to free clothing, education, food, healthcare, housing, and transportation. It also condemned transphobic abuse and discrimination, both in and out of the LGBTQ community.
In 1970, STAR founded STAR House in the East Village, Manhattan. The house, which was open from November 1970 to July 1971, provided food and shelter for transgender youth. During that time, STAR also advocated for prison reform and worked with various organizations, including the GAA, the GLF, and the Mattachine Society to support LGBTQ rights. After the closure of STAR House, STAR participated in discussions regarding the New York City Gay Rights Bill proposed by the GAA in 1970, attending several hearings about the bill to advocate for the inclusion of transgender rights.
STAR's activity began to decline in 1972. According to Rivera, the group "died" in 1973 after attempts to exclude transgender people during the Christopher Street Liberation Day rally that year. However, it was temporarily revived in 2000 after the murder of Amanda Milan. STAR has been commemorated in museum exhibits and documentaries. Academic Benjamin Shepard credits STAR as "[America]'s first trans political organization". Others, such as Stephan Cohen and Abram J. Lewis, argue that STAR prefigured later developments in queer theory and transgender activism.
Background
Between 1890 and 1940, a distinct gay culture emerged in New York City. Gays in New York organized male beauty pageants in Coney Island and drag balls in Harlem. They also founded gay bars in Greenwich Village, which were often the targets of police raids. Among these was the Stonewall Inn, which was founded on Christopher Street in Greenwich Village in the 1930s and had established a reputation as a gay bar by 1967. At the time, Greenwich Village was home to a diverse community of artists, bohemians, immigrants, and LGBTQ people. On June 28, 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn and attempted to arrest several patrons, including cross-dressers and sex workers. In response, several patrons of the bar began pelting the police with various objects, including bricks, marking the beginning of the Stonewall riots. Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera are often credited with starting the riots, though their actual role in the riots is debated. The riots lasted for six days, resulting in the arrests of 20 people.
Soon after the riots, gay rights activists founded various organizations, including the Gay Liberation Front (GLF) and the Gay Activists Alliance (GAA). Both Johnson and Rivera were active in the GAA and GLF at different times. In September 1970, the administration at New York University (NYU) canceled several upcoming dances to be held at the Weinstein Hall residential building after learning that they would be "homosexual" events. In response, beginning on September 20, 1970, members of several activist organizations took over the hall, beginning the Weinstein Hall occupation. During this time, Johnson suggested the formation of an organization for transgender people, to be called Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR). According to Johnson biographer Tourmaline, the name may have been partially inspired by an album called STAR by the musician Julianne. On September 25, the occupation was broken up by a police tactical unit, prompting the occupiers to leave and march throughout Greenwich Village.
Street Transvestites for Gay Power
Soon after the occupation's end, Rivera published a flyer titled "GAY POWER—WHEN DO WE WANT IT? OR DO WE?" The flyer, published under the alias "Street Transvestites for Gay Power", discussed the Weinstein Hall Occupation, condemned the abuse inflicted on gay people by police, and urged immediate action for gay rights. Some argue that the publication of this flyer represented the founding of a new organization called Street Transvestites for Gay Power. Others, such as Bebe Scarpi, claim that Rivera was "defining herself as a street transvestite gay liberation advocate", not declaring the foundation of a new organization. In either case, a group called Street Transvestites for Gay Power, which included both Johnson and Rivera, later organized protests at NYU's Loeb Student Center and Bellevue Hospital. At NYU, they demanded the creation of a gay community center, open enrollment for gay people, and the right to be openly gay without fear of retaliation. At Bellevue, they demanded an end to psychiatric abuse and compulsory sterilization, as well as free, community-controlled health and dental care. NYU responded by allowing gay dances to take place at Weinstein Hall.
Around this time, Johnson and Rivera also managed a shelter for roughly 20 unhoused transgender youths out of a semi-truck trailer. Both Johnson and Rivera had themselves experienced houselessness, having met each other while hustling as teenagers on 42nd Street. According to Rivera, she and Johnson supported themselves and the shelter by begging and engaging in sex work. They provided meals for the youths who lived at the shelter, assuming a parental role for them. At some point, a group of truck drivers attempted to take the trailer away. Johnson and Rivera vigorously protested, fearing that one or more of the youths was still inside. However, their pleas were ignored, and one of the youths was accidentally taken to California.
History Official formation According to academic Samuel Galen Ng, STAR emerged from Street Transvestites for Gay Power. The first STAR meeting, which was prompted by the incident with the truck drivers, was held in late 1970. Attendees included Johnson, Rivera, Andorra Martin, Bebe Scarpi, Bubbles Rose Lee, and Zazu Nova. Both Lee and Scarpi had previously participated in the Weinstein Hall occupation, Scarpi as a representative of the GAA. Lee had also been one of the youths who lived in the trailer. At the meeting, Rivera nominated Johnson for president of the new organization, but Johnson declined. She instead assumed the role of vice president, while Rivera became president. They also made preparations for the creation of a permanent shelter for unhoused youth, to be called STAR House, with either Scarpi or Lee agreeing to secure a rental from the mafia.
On October 30, 1970, STAR participated in a 10,000-person march organized by the Young Lords Party, a predominantly Puerto Rican radical group, to the Headquarters of the United Nations. While the primary purpose of the march was to demand self-determination for Puerto Rican people, the reason for STAR's involvement was to protest police violence. According to Rivera, this was one of STAR's first public appearances.
STAR House and early activism
STAR began renting STAR House, which was located at 213 East 2nd Street, in November 1970. The four-bedroom house was in poor condition, with no electricity or heat, inadequate plumbing, and piles of rubble littered across the premises. Andorra, Lee, Rivera, and Bambi L'Amour worked to restore the house together. While the GAA and GLF initially agreed to support their efforts, only one activist, Bob Kohler of the GLF, actually did so. The mafia set rent for the house at $200 (equivalent to roughly $ in 2024), and STAR members used various approaches to raise money. On November 21, 1970, STAR hosted a joint dance with the GLF at Alternate U, a leftist education center in Greenwich Village that commonly hosted GLF events at the time. Rivera collected money at the door. In total, the event raised between $600 and $700 (roughly equivalent to $ and $ in 2024), some of which Rivera kept for personal use. Some members also raised money through begging and sex work.
STAR provided food for its residents: a rotating group of 15 to 25 individuals whom Rivera referred to as her "STAR House kids". The house was decorated with posters advocating for political prisoners, including Angela Davis. There were no membership rolls, as at a formal shelter. Drug use was also common, particularly alcohol, cocaine, heroin, and methadone. STAR members continued to raise money through begging, sex work, and theft, as well as a bake sale. Many residents of the house were Latino and practiced a distinctive form of santería characterized by the veneration of Saint Barbara, who was envisioned as the patron saint of homosexuality, as well as Our Lady of Charity, Saint Michael, and Saint Martha, envisioned as the patron saint of transformation. Rivera set up an altar to Saint Barbara in the house, where residents could pay tribute to her before going out. Johnson also brought several puppies to live there.
While STAR House was active, STAR advocated for prison reform in New York. At Rikers Island, New York City's largest prison, gay youths lived in segregated facilities characterized by unsanitary conditions and abuse, both by prison officers and other inmates. On January 17, 1971, representatives from STAR, the GAA, the GLF, and the Mattachine Society formed the Gay Community Prison Committee to investigate instances of abuse, ensure visitation rights, raise bail money, and potentially sponsor protests. They also worked to raise awareness of the case of Raymond Lavon Moore, who had been killed by prison guards in the Tombs, a men's prison in Manhattan. After receiving death threats for her work on the Moore case, Rivera sought the assistance of the Young Lords, who assigned two members to work as Rivera's bodyguards. According to Tourmaline, several members of STAR considered blowing up the walls of a jail located in Chinatown, Manhattan, to free the inmates there, but decided against it due to the high volume of people.
In March 1971, Johnson's husband was killed while trying to rob an off-duty police officer near STAR House. Johnson and Rivera attended his funeral together, after which Johnson's dog died. The dog had been a gift from her husband, and after its death, Marsha experienced an emotional breakdown. As a result, she was admitted to Wards Island State Hospital. STAR participated in a march to the hospital alongside the GAA, where they held a "candle vigil" in Johnson's honor, as well as to protest the treatment of gays in hospitals and prisons. That same month, it also participated in a march organized by the GAA in Albany, New York, to protest state laws that prohibited loitering, sodomy, and solicitation, as well as to advocate for employment and housing protections. In April 1971, STAR endorsed an open letter written by feminist activist Ti-Grace Atkinson that criticized the Catholic Church for its opposition to abortion, birth control, sexual law reform, and, according to Atkinson, "human dignity". Sometime in early 1971, STAR also attended the "Conference on Gay Liberation" held at Rutgers University alongside the GAA, the GLF, the Mattachine Society, Daughters of Bilitis, Fight Repression of Erotic Expression (FREE), Radicalesbians, and an organization called Third World Gay Revolution. From 1971 to 1973, STAR was a participant in the Christopher Street Liberation Day rallies to commemorate the anniversary of the Stonewall riots.