Marsha P. Johnson's Queer Legacy Lives On: Tourmaline & Qween Jean on Trans Liberation -
laura flanders & friends

Activist and artist Marsha P. Johnson was one of the key founders of the gay liberation movement after the 1969 Stonewall Uprising, but it's taken years for her to receive recognition. On this special Pride Month edition of "Meet the BIPOC Press", we're celebrating Marsha's life and legacy with two activists carrying her story forward. A new biography from Penguin House, "Marsha: The Joy and Defiance of Marsha P. Johnson" by our guest, Tourmaline traces Marsha's working-class beginnings to her work with sex workers and street activists, to her death in 1992. Qween Jean is a self-described "spiritual daughter" of Marsha and the founder of Black Trans Liberation. Explore how mainstream media coverage once excluded Marsha, and what's changed since then. We also unpack the media's coverage of transphobia and the recent ruling from Tennessee that restricts gender-affirming care for minors. In the face of extreme backlash and repression, how are artists and activists reframing media narratives for queer and trans liberation? "A lot of trans and queer people, especially here in New York City, that are asylum seekers that have had to leave other countries from persecution now find themselves in a place of purgatory . . . They can't even go to get a hormone shot because they're afraid. What if ICE is literally outside waiting for us?" - Qween Jean "Marsha knew that these conditions didn't get to determine how she felt about herself. No court, no Supreme Court, no police officer, no governor, no president . . . She was creating the conditions to remind herself and each other that we too get to feel beautiful and know our value firmly." - Tourmaline Guests: Qween Jean: Founder, Black Trans Liberation; Human Rights Activist & Costume Designer Tourmaline: Artist; Author, MARSHA: The Joy and Defiance of Marsha P. Johnson.

Duration: 26 minutes and 46 seconds

Episode Number: 213

About Laura Flanders & Friends:

THE LAURA FLANDERS SHOW is back with more award-winning interviews and investigative reporting on the people and movements driving positive systemic change in our world today.

Hosted by multi-media reporter and author Laura Flanders, the series features smart, solutions-driven conversations with forward-thinking people, including Rep.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Indian writer Arundhati Roy, actress Sheryl Lee Ralph, and actress/activist Laverne Cox.

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THE LAURA FLANDERS SHOW Season 5 is independently-produced and recorded in a small cabin in rural Sullivan County, New York.

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