Marsha Johnson was an American gay liberation and self-identified drag queen. She was one of the prominent figures in the Stonewall riots in 1969, which triggered the modern gay rights movement. She also was an AIDS activist for ACT UP. If you aren’t familiar with ACT UP, I recommend learning more. It was a movement that forced the government to get serious about the AIDS epidemic. She also was on the frontlines of protests against oppressive policing and also advocated on behalf of sex workers and prisoners. In 1992, her body was pulled from the Hudson River. Her death was quickly ruled as a suicide but remained questionable. Later on, it was reclassified to drowning, and in 2012 the police agreed to take another look at the case which remains open.
