a few brave individuals, particularly transgender women of color like sylvia rivera stood up and fought back against this injustice. that night, they sparked an uprising against the nypd with confrontations and protest at the stonewall inn and the surrounding area that lasted over the course of six days until july 3, 1969. empoweredall uprising thousands of lgbtq individuals to emerge from shadows. to come out publicly as they stood up for their community the night of june 28, 1969 and beyond. putting their lives and safety at risk. public protests in chicago, los angeles, new york, philadelphia, san francisco, washington, d.c., and elsewhere. ae stonewall uprising became catalyst for the civil rights movement with lgbtq to secure social and political equality and inspired the formation of many advocacy organizations. a year later, members of the lgbtq community commemorated the first anniversary of stonewall and reaffirmed the solidarity of the community by organizing the in a newde marches york city, san francisco, chicago, and los angeles. we remember and celebrate the stonewall upri

color, sylvia rivera and marshall p. johnson, who were brave, visible leaders in the uprising at stonewall. mr. speaker, it is said that a great person will always rise to the occasion, a great person will always rise to the occasion. but the truth is it takes a greater person to make the occasion. these two transpersons were the greater people who make the occasion that we will commemorate on june 28 and the six days that ensue. two persons who took a stand among many, there were others, but they were two among the many who took a stand that literally s helped to shape the course of history. sometimes it really does take just a few to get the job done of starting a movement that can change society. mr. speaker, notwithstanding all of the change that has manifested itself since the stone it is wall uprising -- stonewall uprising, there are still things that must be done, great work to be done, because being an lgbtq person, that a alone can get you fired. coming to work and saying you have just married someone of the sam

sylvia rivera was also a part of the gay rights movement. host: thank you.uest: the caller is right. determine, some of the leading roles in the riots were played by african-americans, puerto ricans, trans people, drag queens. it is still uncertain as to whether they represent the majority of the people who participated in the riots but there are many accounts that place them at the key moments, leading the riots, displaying a real courage, a campy courage some might say. some individuals who were often credited with instigating or leading the riots, sylvia rivera, marsha p johnson, there are still conflicting accounts about when they were there, whether they were there. marsha p johnson in many of her accounts explained that she was not there when the riot started but she got there sometime later. if we take her at her word, she played an important role that night and certainly other people of color did, trans people did, but she may not have been there when the riots started. host: let's go to dave in new york city. caller: good morning. thank you for c-sp

johnson and sylvia rivera, two transgender women color who, in 1970, co-founded "star" or the "street transvestite action revolutionaries." e organization addressed the concerns of low-income and homeless queer and trans ethnic-minorities. >> people debate about this, but it seems fairly clear from people's memies of stonewall, that it was actually transgender women of color who were really he front lines of the conflict with the police those first three dama of stonewall. ha p. johnson and sylvia rivera were on the frontlines of all the demonstrations in 70e ivfore them you didn't have this kind of street am. they really had a very broad intersection political agenda. >> reporter: this new wave of activism emboldened thousands across the country to express themselves. dozens of organizations formed, including the gay liberation front and radical lesbians. the exhibit also features gazines that existed before stonewall that boldly brought people out of the shadows. >> they start puing real happy lesbians on the cover. before that, lesbians would be depied as killers as mentall ill as

sylvia rivera was also a part of the gay rights movement. host: thank you.st: the caller is right. determine, some of the leading roles in the riots were played by african-americans, puerto ricans, trans people, drag queens. it is still uncertain as to whether they represent the majority of the people who participated in the riots but there are many accounts that place them at the key moments, leading the riots, displaying a real courage, a campy courage some might say. some individuals who were often credited with instigating or leading the riots, sylvia rivera, marsha p johnson, there are still conflicting accounts about when they were there, whether they were there. marsha p johnson in many of her accounts explained that she was not there when the riot started but she got there sometime later. if we take her at her word, she played an important role that night and certainly other people of color did, trans people did, but she may not have been there when the riots started. host: let's go to dave in new york city. caller: good morning. thank you for c-span

johnson and sylvia rivera.uel willis, your reresponse o what the mayor has said and what he has promised? >> i think it is great we're honoring these figures, but we forget the facts of their lives. marsha and sylvia were women who were fighting for people who are incarcerated, for people who have had very difficult experiences and interactions with law enforcement in the state. while it is great we have these monuments, we have to continue this fight. amy: sylvia rivera, 50 years ago at the stonewall inn. we want to end with actor and model indya moore, star of "pose." >> i want to start by noting the recorded trans women and people who have been murdered, most of which there have been no arrests . you know, there are no leads. our cases are at the bottom of the pile always. jesus, 25-year-old mexican trans woman of color, better known as tricia. she went missing on may 17. the authorities later found her head severed in a cooler outside a town hall. her decapitateted body was later found in the streets of mex

. >> my name is sylvia rivera.name before that was ray rivera angela started dressing in drag in 1961. era.e stonewall was a hard there was always the gay bashing on the drag queens by heterosexual men, women, and the police. we learned to live with it because it was part of the lifestyle at that time, i guess. but none of us were very happy about it. >> my name is seymour pine. in 1968, i was assigned a step to inspector in charge of public morals in the first division of the police department which covered the greenwich village area. it was the duty of public morals to enforce all laws concerning vice and game with, inclcluding prostitution, narcotics, and laws and regulations concerning homosexuality. the part of the penal code which applied to drag queens was 4.tion 240.35, section being masked or in any manner of disguise by unusual or a natural ,ttire or facial alteration loiters, remains, or congregate in a public place -- >> at that time we lived near the hotel. we would sit around, just try to figure out w

some individuals that are often credited with instigating the riots, sylvia rivera, marsha p. johnson, stormy there are still outs --cting a cap conflicting accounts about whether they were there. when they were there. marcia johnson explains she was not there when the riots started, but she got there sometime later. if we take her at her word, she played an important role that night, and certainly other people of color did, trans people did but she may not have , been there when the riots started. steve: let's go to dave in new york city. good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for c-span. --as 20 years old, came down grew up on long island. i was a college student upstate. and i would hitch down and go to the bars. julius was the other bar. all mafia run. and strange to me being sort of a macho kind of college student, wearing square, weightlifter, young, but boy the stonewall was an amazing place. and i would go in early in the evening before we went down christopher street, way down towards the river, towards the new park, danny's which i haven't heard mentioned. i w

some of the most important people are transgender people, and particularly sylvia rivera and marsha pple think of them just in terms of their participation in stonewall but they were really major activists at that time and were on the front lines of all of the demonstrations. so the whole community came together then? yeah, both this new generation of activists and also the older generation of activists, and lesbian activists, gay activists, and transgender activists. oh, yes, "lesbians unite", yeah. so here you see thousands of people we were willing to come out of the closet and be part of this political movement. it is hoped that exhibitions like this will help keep the memory of what happened alive and inspire a future generation. i'm 27, this is the first time i've seen many of these pieces. why should people my age, my generation, care about this exhibition? in this internet age of people liking things on facebook, and a kind of internet activism, i think it is very hard for people to realise the real oppression that people faced in the 1960s and 70s, and also that they were abl

johnson and sylvia rivera will be immortalized with their own monuments, which is the city of new yorkthe first permanent public artwork recognizing transgender women in the world. joining me now is george m. johnson, author and columnist who explains why, quote, my stone wall is black in a piece for b.e.t. digital this week. why is your stone wall black? >> stonestonewall is black hist. that was the main thing i wanted people to understand when i wrote the article. the fact of the matter is when we talk about stonewall today it is oftentimes whitewashed, running rampant with rainbow capitalism where everybody is throwing rainbows on everything but erasing the people who originally began the movement. and again, i say movement now although during those times it was a riot. it was a rebel onby black transgender women who had enough of the police antagonizing them in their queer spaces. >> so the actual 50-year encounter at stonewall was started by black, transgender women. tell our viewers the story. >> and so when the police were known back then to riot -- i mean, excuse me -- to raid

some individuals that are often credited with instigating the riots, sylvia rivera, marshall stilln,here are conflicting accounts about on when they were there. marcia johnson explains she was not there when the riots started, but she got there sometime later. if we take her at her word, she thatd an important role night, and certainly other people color did, but she may not have been there when the riots started. host: let's go to dave. caller: good morning. thank you for c-span. i was 20 years old. grew up on long island. i was a college student upstate. i would hitch down and go to the bars. julius was the other bar. all mafia run. strange to me being a macho college student, weightlifter, young, but boy the stonewall was an amazing place. i would go in early in the evening before we went down christopher street way down towards the river towards danny's. i went in at about 10:00 in the evening to the stonewall. i would just walk through. it seemed all right.this seems normal early in the evening. then i would walk down to danny's. when i came back, maybe two hours later, and i ha