Sylvia Rivera (July 2, 1951 – February 19, 2002) was an American gay liberation and transgender rights activist[3][4][5] who was also a noted community worker in New York.

[13] With close friend Marsha P. Johnson, Rivera co-founded the Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR), a group dedicated to helping homeless young drag queens, gay youth, and trans women.

STAR offered services and advocacy for homeless queer youth,[20] and fought for the Sexual Orientation Non-Discrimination Act in New York.

SONDA prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in employment, housing, public accommodations, education, credit, and the exercise of civil rights.

"[19] There are several other statements Johnson made to highly credible witnesses — namely, Randy Wicker, Bob Kohler, and Doric Wilson, all with deep and enduring ties to the LGBTQ rights movement — about Rivera not having been at the Uprising.

Another Stonewall veteran, Thomas Lanigan-Schmidt, claimed that he wanted to add her "so that young Puerto Rican transgender people on the street would have a role model.

[19] Randy Wicker, who was part of the Mattachine Society and a witness to the riots, said that Marsha Johnson had told him that Sylvia had not been at Stonewall "as she was asleep after taking heroin uptown".

[19] At the 1973 Christopher Street Liberation Day Rally in New York City, which was the four-year anniversary of the Stonewall riots, Rivera gave her famous "Gay Power!"

)[25][26] During this speech from the main stage, Rivera, representing STAR, called out the heterosexual males who were preying on vulnerable members of the community.

[1] In the documentary The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson, Rivera shares footage of the drag shows she hosted at the Music Hall in Tarrytown during this time.

[9] In early July 1992, shortly after the New York City Pride March, Marsha P. Johnson's body was found floating in the Hudson River off the West Village Piers.

On her deathbed she met with Matt Foreman and Joe Grabarz of ESPA to negotiate transgender inclusion in its political structure and agenda.

But for all of her work, when it came time to make deals, GAA dropped the portions in the civil rights bill that dealt with transvestitism and drag — it just wasn't possible to pass it with such "extreme" elements included.

It was also not unusual for Sylvia to be urged to "front" possibly dangerous demonstrations, but when the press showed up, she would be pushed aside by the more middle-class, "straight-appearing" leadership.

A short time before her death, Bronski reports that she said:[36] One of our main goals now is to destroy the Human Rights Campaign, because I'm tired of sitting on the back of the bumper.

[6]On the day of her death, while bedridden and in declining health, Rivera met with Empire State Pride Agenda delegates to advocate for trans rights in the pending SONDA bill, which they had been excluded from.

[45][46] Named in her honor (and established in 2002), the Sylvia Rivera Law Project is dedicated "to guarantee that all people are free to self-determine gender identity and expression, regardless of income or race, and without facing harassment, discrimination or violence".

[47] Founded by attorney and activist Dean Spade in 2002, SRLP, seeks to guarantee that all people are free to self-determine gender identity and expression, regardless of income or race, and without facing harassment, discrimination or violence.

[48] Although Rivera was not personally tied with SRLP, the organizations values are closely aligned and embodies her lifelong commitment to ensuring that transgender, gender non-conforming, and intersex people, specifically those pertaining to communities of color who are at the face of poverty, housing insecurity, and the criminal justice system have free access to legal resources and advocacy while trying to combat systematic oppression.

In 2002, actor/comedian Jade Esteban Estrada portrayed Rivera in the well-received solo musical ICONS: The Lesbian and Gay History of the World, Vol.

This intersection is in Greenwich Village, the neighborhood in New York City where Rivera started organizing, and is only two blocks from the Stonewall Inn.

a short film about Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson, set in the hours before the 1969 Stonewall riots in New York City, was released.

[57] A large, painted mural depicting Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson went on display in Dallas, Texas, in 2019 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots.

The painting of the "two pioneers of the gay rights movement" in front of a transgender flag claims to be the world's largest mural honoring the trans community.

[58] In May 2019, it was announced that LGBT rights activists Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera would be commemorated with a monument in New York's Greenwich Village, near the epicenter of the historic Stonewall riots.

[61][62] The SNM is the first U.S. national monument dedicated to LGBTQ rights and history,[63] and the wall's unveiling was timed to take place during the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots.