Petition calls for Christopher Columbus monument to be replaced by Marsha P. Johnson in New Jersey

Lauren Theisen

Fresh on the heels of Christopher Columbus’s unceremonious removal from City Hall in his namesake Ohio city, residents of Elizabeth, N.J., are drumming up support to get rid of their own monument to Columbus. And they have an idea for the hometown hero who can replace it.

A petition that had gained nearly 90,000 signatures as of Thursday morning is calling for Elizabeth’s Columbus statue to be replaced with a new one depicting trans rights pioneer Marsha P. Johnson.

Johnson, perhaps best known for her prominent involvement in the Stonewall uprising, was born in Elizabeth in 1945 and became a crucial part of the gay and trans rights movement in New York until her untimely death in 1992.

Politician Harvey Milk was the first gay elected official in California’s history, having served on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors prior to his death in 1978. Milk worked to provide the community, both gay and straight with services it needed, from like affordable housing, assisting working mothers by opening more day care centers, and keeping neighborhoods safe. Milk promoted equality among the people, always seeking to unite those of different races and genders to come together for the good of the community.
Audre Lorde, a “black, lesbian, mother, warrior, [and] poet” as she described herself, was a multi-hyphenate in the poetic and literary world known for discussing the ins and outs of homophobia, racism and sexism in her works. Lorde often discussed her lesbian identity and LGBTQ rights side-by-side with her words on political activism, Black identity and feminism; in fact, the topics went hand-in-hand. “My sexuality is part and parcel of who I am, and my poetry comes from the intersection of me and my worlds…[Senator] Jesse Helms’s objection to my work is not about obscenity… or even about sex. It is about revolution and change,” she told Charles H. Rowell in an interview for literary journal Callaloo.
Marsha P. Johnson was a transgender activist, advocate, drag queen and sex worker who made fighting for LGBTQ rights in New York City her purpose after moving from New Jersey in 1963. Thanks to her roles in the Stonewall riots and as a founder of the activist organization Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR), among other acts of liberation, Johnson is considered a pioneer in the LGBTQ community. She noted in a 1972 interview that her ultimate goal was “to see gay people liberated and free and to have equal rights that other people have in America”.
Author, playwright and poet James Baldwin discussed American and French society’s various racial, social and sexual issues in his works, from his book of essays “Notes of a Native Son” to his novel “Giovanni’s Room”. Throughout his life, Baldwin, a gay black man, remained an active voice in the realm of LGBTQ life and commentary, themes “Giovanni’s Room” and “Tell Me How Long the Train's Been Gone” discussed, and racial equality, as seen in his involvement with the Congress of Racial Equality and essays like “My Dungeon Shook - Letter to my Nephew on the One Hundredth Anniversary of Emancipation". Baldwin and his artistic works, still revered today, never shied from asking the big questions of race in relation to religion, and sexuality in relation to culture and community.
Activist, author and retired UC Santa Cruz professor Angela Davis has made a name for herself as one of history’s most staunch voices against war, homophobia, racism, and sexism. A former Communist and Black Panther, Davis spent much of her youth speaking out against the issues like the U.S. prison-industrial complex and in support of ideologies like socialism. Davis officially came out as a lesbian in 1997, at the age of 53, but her notable involvement in demanding LGBTQ equality predates her coming out.
Transgender activist Sylvia Rivera made fighting for the rights of the LGBTQ community her life’s work. Often outspoken because of her passion for helping minority communities during the ‘60s and ‘70s, Rivera is best remembered as one the activists present when the Stonewall riots began, the co-founder of the Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR) with Marsha P. Johnson, a vocal critic of the Vietnam War, and a fierce advocate for drag queens and transgender men and women in the Gay Activists Alliance’s agenda. Rivera often spoke up against bigger LGBTQ friendly organizations like the Human Rights Campaign and the Gay & Lesbian Community Center in New York because of what she perceived as not enough being done to help the queer, specifically trans, community.
Activist Bayard Rustin was the man behind organizing the March on Washington. Prior to the monumental 1961 gathering, Rustin was active in organizing civil rights efforts in the Southern United States, from the 1947 Journey of Reconciliation – which tackled segregation laws for interstate buses – and taking on leadership roles in groups such as the War Resisters League and the Committee to Support South African Resistance. Rustin lived his life as a gay man openly and received backlash for it in his professional circles: he was forced to leave the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, formed in part with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and received little to no recognition for booking the March on Washington’s speakers and planning the day’s itinerary.
Activist Barbara Gittings (c.) dedicated her life to working towards legal and civil equality for gays and lesbians both in and out of New York. Gittings, who realized she was a lesbian in high school, was the founder of the Daughters of Bilitis in New York in the late 1950s and an editor of its accompanying magazine, The Ladder, in the 1960s; the organization was a support group for lesbians, on top of being a hub for discussing social issues. A lifelong book lover, Gittings worked with the American Library Association’s Gay Task Force in the 1970s, which included editing LGBTQ authors in the organization’s database. She also advocated for removing homosexuality as a mental illness by the American Psychiatric Association’s standards in 1972.
Transgender actress and LGBTQ activist Laverne Cox has used her platform to bring awareness to issues in the queer community – particularly transgender-related issues – since her breakout role as Sophia Burset on the Netflix series “Orange is the New Black.” Cox quickly solidified her place as the spokesperson for trans issues in society and in the media, a title she’s held onto in the years since. The actress has brought attention to trans youth in schools, trans women and how they are treated in society, trans men and women being represented on television and in movies, and the like.
Activist Morty Manford dedicated his life fighting for the gay community to be seen as equals during the gay rights movement, chiefly during the 1970s. During his days as a student at Columbia University, Manford founded Gay People at Columbia in 1971. He also went on to found the Gay Activists Alliance, the National Coalition of Gay Activists, Study Group – all of which centered the gay community in the ring of politics, specifically for their rights and having the opportunity to be in positions of power – and Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) along with parents Jeanne and Jules. Manford, who went on to become a Legal Aid lawyer and an Assistant Attorney General of the State of New York, continued to speak in defense of New York’s LGBTQ community at marches, support groups, rallies, and in politics until he died in 1992 from an AIDS-related illness.

“We should commemorate Marsha P. Johnson for the incredible things she did in her lifetime and for the inspiration she is to members of the LGBT+ community worldwide, especially black trans women,” the petition says, while also arguing that Christopher Columbus “is not a figure to be celebrated.”

Though Johnson received no mainstream honors during her lifetime, recent years have seen her gain widespread posthumous credit for her activism. Last year, New York City announced that Johnson and her contemporary Sylvia Rivera will be honored with a permanent monument near the Stonewall Inn.

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