Marsha P. Johnson’s Queer Legacy Lives On: Tourmaline & Qween Jean on Trans Liberation [Full Conversation]

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As an unapologetic advocate for trans and queer empowerment, Qween Jean carries forward Marsha P. Johnson’s spirit by confronting systemic barriers that continue to threaten vulnerable communities today.

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Description: 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

Watch the episode released on YouTube June 27th 5pm ET; PBS World Channel June 29th, and on over 300 public stations across the country (check your listings, or search here via zipcode). Listen: Episode airing on community radio (check here to see if your station airs the show) & available as a podcast July 2nd.

Full Episode Notes are located HERE.

RESOURCES:

*Recommended books:

• “Marsha: The Joy and Defiance of Marsha P. Johnson” by Tourmaline: Get the Book*

• “Revolution is Love: A Year of Black Trans Liberation”: Get the Book*

(*Bookshop is an online bookstore with a mission to financially support local, independent bookstores. The LF Show is an affiliate of bookshop.org and will receive a small commission if you click through and make a purchase.)

Related Laura Flanders Show Episodes:

• Special Report- Power Grids Under Attack: The Threat is Domestic Terrorism – Not Drag Artists. Watch / Listen-Download

• Imara Jones: Countering The Anti-Trans Hate Machine: Watch / Listen: Episode

• Holly Hughes & Esther Newton: How Queer Kinship Ties Help Us Survive: Watch / Listen: Episode

• Beyond Disability Rights; Disability Justice: Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha Watch

Related Articles and Resources:

• Trans power is my sword and my shield: Qween Jean at trans rights conference in Chennai, by Video Sigamany, November 10, 2024, The News Minute

• Thanks to Tourmaline, the Long-Awaited Biography of Marsha P. Johnson Is Here, by Journey Streams, May 20, 2025, Interview Magazine

• Stonewall 1979: The Drag of Politics, by Steve Watson, Originally published: June 15, 1979, The Village Voice

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