For those familiar with the Stonewall Riots, the names of Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera may ring a bell. Less known is their contemporary, Victoria Cruz. Born in Guánica, Puerto Rico, Cruz moved with her family to Brooklyn at a very young age. As a young adult, Cruz—who says she never hid any aspect of who she was—took control of her identity and obtained hormones and gender reassignment surgery. A trans woman of color, Cruz is one of few who lived through the oppressive period of the Stonewall protests and survived to tell the tale. Cruz attributes her safety to her small stature—she was able to "pass" in a way many of her trans compatriots were not. Cruz was present the night the police flooded the Stonewall Inn in a raid. That night was not the end of her troubles. After suffering abuse from police, fellow sex workers, and coworkers at the nursing home where she worked, Cruz began employment at the Anti-Violence Project. In the two decades she worked there, Cruz became a senior counselor advocate, and went on to receive the Justice Department’s National Crime Victim Service Award from the Obama administration in 2012. Providing her voice to the vital Netflix documentary “The Death and Life of Marsh P. Johnson,” Cruz has garnered some more notoriety and attention. Participating in talks like Brooklyn College’s “Trans Activism Before, During, and After Stonewall” discussion, Cruz has used this new attention to continue to educate others and garner awareness on transgender issues.

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