June 4, 2017 | Arts / Entertainment

Netflix doc profiles queer activist Marsha P Johnson

The Death and Life of Marsha P. JohnsonNetflix has revealed that later this year it will air a new documentary that examines the life, death and legacy of trans activist Marcia P Johnson.
 
Johnson, and fellow activist Sylvia Rivera, are considered major architects of the modern gay movement. They both took part in the Stonewall Riots in 1969, and later started the world’s first trans organisation, STAR (Street Transvestites Action Revolutionaries) in 1970.
 
Johnson died in 1992. Her body was discovered in the Hudson River in New York City, and her death was initially ruled a suicide. However, friends and supporters argued she had been murdered, and after a 20 year campaign they forced police to re-open the case in 2012. (It remains unsolved.)
 
“Almost single-handedly, Marsha P. Johnson and her best friend Sylvia Rivera touched off a revolution in the way we talk about gender today," said the documentary's writer, investigative reporter David France. “Their names should be household words.
 
"But Marsha’s life was cut tragically short and Sylvia died shortly thereafter, the victim of a broken heart. Getting to know their story through the investigation undertaken by Victoria Cruz, a seminal activist in her own right, has been one of the great honors of my career. Now, with Netflix as our distribution partner, I am confident the legacy of these tremendous women will never be forgotten.”
 
In his review of the documentary for Variety, Nick Schager wrote: "If often a distressing portrait of trans subjugation, France’s documentary also finds hope in the resilience of Rivera, a firebrand activist who was shunned by many of her queer brothers and sisters in the ’70s, wound up living on the streets in the ’90s beside the spot where Johnson was found, and was ultimately saved -- and found redemption -- through the love and support of her friends."
 
"The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson presents a portrait of the rough road that so many trans people have been forced to travel, as well as a possible blueprint for a more triumphant way forward," he added.
 
Netflix is seriously giving PBS a run for its money.

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