Marsha P. Johnson Monument

Marsha P. Johnson honored with monument

“Don't let anybody tell you what to do, be who you want to be.” 

These were the memorable words Marsha P. Johnson parted us with. The late Johnson was many things- a Black transgender woman, a self-identified drag queen, and a proud advocate and supporter for LGBTQ+ rights. Playing a significant role in New York City’s Stonewall riots in 1969, Johnson was a part of the fight for the representation and rights of New York’s LGBTQ community. Despite her unfortunate passing, Johnson’s legacy as a prominent activist for the LGBTQ community will live on: both in spirit and in her hometown of Elizabeth, NJ.

New Jersey’s Union County announced in a press release that there are plans for creating a public monument on Freedom Trail in the city of Elizabeth in Johnson’s honor, which is anticipated to be the first public monument in the State of New Jersey to honor a LGBTQ+ person and transgender woman of color (UCNJ, 2020).

Interestingly, this is not Johnson’s first monument. Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, another prominent activist in the Stonewall Riots, have been honored with a monument in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village. Also known as the birthplace of the gay rights movement, Greenwich Village serves as a hub for the LGBTQ+ community “...with the LGBT Community Center, and AIDS Memorial Park off of Greenwich Avenue, the area's Stonewall and Gay Liberation Monuments and, now, Anthony Goicolea’s LGBTQ Memorial on the Hudson” (LGBTQ Memorial, n.d.). 

While LGBTQ monuments are most frequent in California and New York, there is not nearly enough public representation for the LGBTQ+ community in the rest of the nation. It is great to see that Johnson is getting her flowers, but activists of the LGBTQ+ community should be celebrated in this way more regularly- not just when there is a tragedy.

During a time when Black transgender women are regularly subject to inequality, harassment, and violence, this monument of Johnson will serve as a reminder that your identity is valid, and the push for rights and representation needs to happen now. Monuments have the ability to “...transcend time; they represent the past, are of their time, and can present a message to the future.” (Hayward, 2017). 

References 

UCNJ. (2020, August 27). Marsha P. Johnson Monument Announcement. Retrieved from https://ucnj.org/press-releases/public-info/2020/08/27/marsha-p-johnson-monument-announcement/

LGBTQ Memorial. West Village. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://lgbtqmemorial.org/west-village.html

Hayward, C. (2017, May 28). LGBTQ Monuments and Memorials as Sites of Memory. Retrieved from https://exploringpublichistories.wordpress.com/2017/05/27/lgbtq-monuments-and-memorials-as-lieux-de-memoire/