After the 45th anniversary of the Stonewall Inn Revolt, we have in Spanish perhaps one of the best works on self-organization and queer and transfeminist revolution: the story of S.T.A.R. told by two of its protagonists, Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera.
The cover of this book immortalizes their presence in a rally in front of the New York City Hall for the anti-discrimination ordinance in the early 60s.
S.T.A.R. is the acronym that means "star", a word that was a gay icon as remembered by the Black Panthers for being the North Star reference for black slaves who escaped from their masters, although we do not know why they chose it.
They were a reference for their time and later. They grew from the economic and social misery in which they raised a revolutionary project of mutual support between sexual dissidents never seen in such proportion in our recent history. No studies, no money, no stable work, and no comfort.
In the book, we can enjoy several texts, including the last text of Sylvia from the gay pride of 2001. Almost ten years earlier Marsha had been found floating in the Hudson River, and almost on the tenth anniversary of her friend's death, Sylvia died at age 51 from a drug-emaciated liver diagnosed with cancer.
In 2005 the progressive New York City Council names one of the streets of Greenwich Village after Sylvia, where years before she threw a Molotov cocktail against the municipal police who harassed the Stonewall community.
The repression remains in the city, but it has to camouflage itself and change with the new times of integration.
This book is dedicated to these two great people, and to those who continue to struggle under similar precepts of self-organization, mutual support, and sexual dissent. We recommend reading it carefully. The black storms of sexphobia and political violence that lie ahead will make it a useful tool for their survival.
Available via libreriaberkana.com
Photo of the Mural in Dallas by Jerome Larez/Arttitude via gaycities.com
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