JULY 2: TODAY'S INSPIRING WOMEN

Sylvia Ray Rivera

Sylvia Ray Rivera, transgender activist, fought for the LGBTQ community and organized protests fighting for gay rights in the 1970s in New York City. Rivera, who identified as a drag queen,was a founding member of both the Gay Liberation Front and the Gay Activists Alliance. With her close friend Marsha P. Johnson, Rivera co-founded the Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR), a group dedicated to helping homeless young drag queens and trans women of color.She was born today in 1951.