A Clippings Scrapbook: Pride Month, Marsha P. Johnson, and The Eternal Recurrence of Trans Erasure

On July 3, 1992, the body of trans activist Marsha P. Johnson was found floating in the Hudson. Thirty-three years later, the trans community still finds itself at the end of a gun.

by Piper Bly

Sources:

Panel 1:

https://www.insideedition.com/the-death-of-marsha-p-johnson-and-the-quest-for-closure-51708

(2017). The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson. Netflix.

https://www.nydailynews.com/2012/12/16/exclusive-da-reopens-unsolved-1992-case-involving-the-saint-of-gay-life/

Panel 2:

https://www.axios.com/2025/06/02/anti-lgbtq-incidents-glaad-data-transgender

https://tdor.translivesmatter.info/reports?from=2024-05-01&to=2025-05-01&country=all&category=all&view=list&filter=

https://assets.glaad.org/m/517666e6160db065/original/2025-GLAAD-ALERT-Desk-Report.pdf

Panel 3:

(2017). The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson. Netflix.

Panel 4:

https://www.erininthemorning.com/p/why-you-need-to-hear-the-speech-that

(2017). The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson. Netflix.

https://archive.org/details/sylvia-rivera-yall-better-quiet-down-1973

Panel 5:

(2017). The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson. Netflix.

Panel 6:

https://www.thetrevorproject.org/blog/trump-administration-orders-termination-of-national-lgbtq-youth-suicide-lifeline-effective-july-17th/

https://edition.cnn.com/2025/02/13/us/stonewall-inn-national-monument-transgender

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Piper Bly is a professional illustrator and underground cartoonist. When she’s not busy plowing away at her drawing board, singing dirges in the moonlight, or wandering throughout the United States, she can often be found tending to her ivies, frying up some biscuits, spending unreasonable hours in the gym, or floating above the Mississippi River at midnight, waiting for the tide to wrap her in its loving embrace and take her away. Her whereabouts are currently undisclosed. You, however, can find her at piperbly.com.