STAR quiz

STAR self-test

This is a quick quiz that will allow you to test your knowledge about Sylvia Rivera, Marsha P. Johnson and STAR. Relax - there will be no grades. This just for your own study use.

Created by Joy Ellison

Multiple Select

During Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson's lifetimes, transgender people in New York City, especially those of color, were intensely criminalized. Police arrested them under what law?

• A 1845 New York State statute that made it a crime to “masquerade.”

• Loitering

• Vagrancy

• Solicitation

• All of the above

The correct answer is "all of the above"

• Police used all sorts of laws against transgender women of color, especially those of color. They also targeted them for drug use and public sex, but violations related to homelessness and poverty were the most common pretext for arrest

Fill in the Blank

STAR stands for what?

The correct answer is Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries

They initially wanted it to be "Street Transvestite Actual Revolutionaries" but I guess they decided that was too much shade.

Fill in the Blank

Sylvia Rivera gave her speech "Ya'll better quiet down" at what 1973 event?

The correct answer is Christopher Street Liberation Day

1973 is also an important year to remember because transgender women on the U.S. coasts were kicked out of major gatherings by lesbian separatists that year. One was Beth Elliott, pictured here.

Fill in the Blank

Sylvia Rivera worked with two famous radical organizations. One was a Black Nationalist organization and the other a Puerto Rican Nationalist organization. They both espoused armed resistance. What are their names?

The correct answer is the Black Panthers and the Young Lords

 “I became one of them,” Rivera said. “It was a fabulous feeling for me to be myself — being part of the Young Lords as a drag queen.” The welcome she received in the Black Panthers was a reversal of previous homophobic positions in the organization.

Fill in the Blank

STAR was founded after a sit-in at what university?

The correct answer is New York University

Fill in the Blank

Ending forced psychiatric treatment and attempts to "cure" homosexuality and transgender identity was an important political goal of STAR. Rivera and Johnson demonstrated outside of what New York hospital where that kind of treatment took place?

The correct answer is Bellevue Hospital

Significantly, NYU ran Bellevue, so this fight was a part of the larger struggle for queer and trans rights at NYU. Both Rivera and Johnson were locked up at Bellevue at various points and demonstrated outside it at others.

Thanks for playing. I hope this helped you assess your knowledge and learn something new!