overview

New York City has been home to a number of influential transgender activists who helped advance gay and trans equality, even as they had to fight for their own inclusion within the broader LGBT rights movement.

This curated collection features residences, the Christopher Street Pier, and community centers that honor the legacies of pioneering trans activists such as Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson and groups such as the Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR) and the Fabulous Independent Radicals for Community Empowerment (FIERCE).

The earliest known site dates to the turn of the 20th century while the most unexpected one may be the West Side Tennis Club in Queens, where tennis player Renée Richards earned a victory for transgender rights in 1977.

Header Photo caption

Marsha P. Johnson (left) and Sylvia Rivera (holding the banner), co-founders of the Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR), participating in the 1973 Gay Pride March. Photo by Leonard Fink. Courtesy of the LGBT Community Center National History Archive.

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Featured Historic Sites (7)

A
457 Sixth Avenue

Murray H. Hall Residence

This rowhouse near the Jefferson Market police court (now the Jefferson Market Library) was the last residence and office of well-known Tammany politico Murray H. Hall, who today would be... Learn More
Activism & Politics
Manhattan
Greenwich Village
1850-1899
Transgender
Residences
B
2847 Dudley Avenue

Christine Jorgensen Childhood Residence

Trans woman and Bronx native Christine Jorgensen lived in this house with her family from her birth in 1926 until the early 1950s. After her overseas gender reassignment surgery made... Learn More
Activism & Politics
Bronx
1920s
1930s
1940s
1950s
Transgender
Residences
C
1 Tennis Place

West Side Tennis Club

For nearly 60 years, the West Side Tennis Club in Forest Hills was the first New York City home of the U.S. Open tennis tournament. Several notable LGBT players, including... Learn More
Activism & Politics
Queens
Forest Hills
1920s
1960s
1970s
Lesbian
Gay
Transgender
Performance Venues
D
Christopher Street Pier

Greenwich Village Waterfront

For over a century, the Greenwich Village waterfront along the Hudson River, including the Christopher Street Pier at West 10th and West Streets, has been a destination for the LGBT... Learn More
Activism & Politics
Cruising & Sex
Visual Arts
Manhattan
Greenwich Village
1930s
1940s
1950s
1960s
1970s
1980s
1990s
Gay
Transgender
Public Spaces
E
59-61 East 4th Street

WOW Café Theatre

Formed in 1980, WOW (Women's One World) Café Theatre is considered one of the premiere centers for lesbian, women's, and transgender theater in New York. It has performed in this building... Learn More
Theater
Manhattan
East Village
1980s
1990s
Lesbian
Transgender
Performance Venues
F
208 West 13th Street

LGBT Community Center

Since 1983, the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Community Center has served as a vital support system for hundreds of thousands of people. The Center has witnessed the founding... Learn More
Activism & Politics
Social Gathering
Manhattan
Greenwich Village
1980s
1990s
Lesbian
Gay
Bisexual
Transgender
Organization & Community Spaces
G
214 16th Street

Transy House

Transy House was a transgender collective operated by Rusty Mae Moore and Chelsea Goodwin from 1995 to 2008. It provided shelter for trans and gender non-conforming people in need, served... Learn More
Activism & Politics
Social Gathering
Brooklyn
Park Slope
1990s
Transgender
Residences

Other Curated Themes & Tours

10 Sites

Activism Before Stonewall
ACT UP NYSE 5
8 Sites

The AIDS Crisis
9 Sites

Art & Architecture
Studio 54 8
11 Sites

Bars & Nightlife
42 Sites

Broadway Theater District
12 Sites

Early Community Centers
9 Sites

The Harlem Renaissance
James Baldwin, right, author, and Bayard Rustin, Deputy Director of the March on Washington, comment upon Alabama incidents during a press conference in New York City on September 18, 1963. The two civil rights leaders called upon President John F. Kennedy to use troops to "break the hold" of Governor Wallace of Alabama, otherwise "there will be rioting in Alabama" which will affect the entire nation. They display arm bands to be worn at a rally scheduled in New York September 22 "to protest the brutal murder of Negro children in Birmingham." (AP Photo)
8 Sites

Influential Black New Yorkers
12 Sites

Jewish New York
Gidlow 1
12 Sites

Lesbian Life Before Stonewall
6 Sites

National Register Listings
11 Sites

Pre-20th Century History
jewel box revue
15 Sites

Spotlight on the Theater
Stonewall Rainbow
14 Sites

Village Pride Tour
Liberation-Day-06-28-70
6 Sites

Why We March