: Johnson and Rivera later founded STAR (Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries) , providing housing and support for homeless queer and trans youth, establishing a model for community care that persists today. Transgender Contributions to Global Culture
is the most cited example. While mainstream history often focuses on gay men, contemporary accounts and historical research by figures like historian David Carter pinpoint trans activists—specifically Marsha P. Johnson (a self-identified transvestite and gay liberationist) and Sylvia Rivera (a Latina trans woman)—as being on the front lines. Rivera famously threw the second Molotov cocktail, and Johnson climbed a lamppost to incite the crowd.