Indeed, the validity of any account stating exactly who threw the first brick is dubious, but the factual correctness of the stories we choose to retell isn’t necessarily what’s important. When we place Marsha and Sylvia in Stonewall’s starring roles, we recognise and celebrate that brown and black trans women, a demographic sat at the heart of a cruel Venn diagram of marginalisation and oppression, drove the movement for queer liberation forward, both on that night and beyond.
"When we place Marsha and Sylvia in Stonewall’s starring roles, we recognise and celebrate that brown and black trans women, a demographic sat at the heart of a cruel Venn diagram of marginalisation and oppression, both on that night and beyond.", which sees the fictional Danny Winters, a blue-jeans-white-shirt Midwestern twink as forgettable as his name, throw the fated brick. “It’s just a film,” many might say, “a Broadway-ready fiction of events made palatable for a mass audience.
If you believe Pride should solely be about celebrating, that’s fine! Brown and black trans communities have contributedPose, RuPaul’s Drag Race, Tangerine