New York dedicates East River State Park to the activist. His name will therefore be associated with this unifying place in a city. A consistent tribute to never forget an exceptional being.
From the shadow to the light. Governor Andrew Cuomo has announced that East River State Park in Williamsburg, 28,000 square meters, will be dedicated to LGBT + civil rights activist Marsha P. Johnson. This is the first time that a New York venue has honored an LGBT + person and a transgender woman of color, explains the media Time Out.
That's not all, by next summer there will be renovations to the park with an education center, another new building, new public amenities and an art installation paying homage to the life of Marsha P. Johnson. A focus on his commitment, his meetings, his ideals …
"Too often, voices that brought progress to New York and across the country have been marginalized, unrecognized, and concerned only a small fraction of our memory and monuments. Marsha P. Johnson was one of the leaders of the LGBT + movement and it is only now that we recognize this merit. Dedicating this park to her and setting up an installation to tell her life story will help preserve her memory and her fight for equal rights."said Andrew Cuomo.
Advocating for access to healthcare for LGBT + people during the HIV epidemic that was beginning to rock the world, Marsha P. Johnson was a founding member, among others, of the Gay Liberation Front.
For many, she would have launched the first brick against the police, and similarly, started the riots in Stonewall (on June 28, 1969, patrons of a gay bar in New York rebelled over (a new raid by the police in one of the only establishments in the city where their presence was tolerated. This event is fundamental in the struggle for the rights of the LGBTQ + community). Marsha P. Johnson also participated in ACT UP and co-founded the S.T.A.R ("Revolutionary action of street transvestites"), with Sylvia Rivera, in the 1980s.
Her fight was limitless, she helped LGBT + youth driven out of their homes, giving them food and clothing. According to the institute that bears his name, the "P" in his name stands for "Pay it no mind". An eternal answer when asked about his gender.
His death remains an enigma. In 1992, his body was found in the Hudson River, shortly after the Pride March. The police claimed a suicide, which his relatives deny who believe rather in a murder.
Streets, squares and public places named after LGBT + personalities in Paris
In France and more precisely in Paris, tributes to the community have been voted and applied by the town hall. In the fourth arrondissement, Place Harvey Milk celebrates this politician who is emblematic of the fight for the LGBT + cause. He was elected the first openly gay supervisor in the city of San Francisco. And he was a great gay activist until his assassination on November 27, 1978 alongside San Francisco Mayor George Moscone. Place Ovida Delect recalls a deportee resistance fighter, poet and French Communist politician, born under the name of Jean-Pierre Voidies. Rue Pierre Seel bears the name of an activist who testified openly to his deportation because of his homosexuality during World War II. Stonewall Riots Square pays homage to the events described above.
In the tenth arrondissement, the promenade Cleews Vellay recalls the activist in the fight against homophobia and president of the AIDS association Act'up Paris. Died of AIDS at the age of 30. The Marielle Franco garden gives life to the sociologist, politician and activist for human and LGBT rights who was murdered in Rio de Janeiro in March 2018, where she was a member of the Municipal Council.
In the sixth arrondissement, allée Claude Cahun – Marcel Moore highlights two French artists and resistance fighters. Place Louise-Catherine Breslau and Madeleine Zillhardt, is dedicated to the names of the German painter and her companion, writer and decorator, who was also her model.