Sylvia Rivera - "Gender Frontier"

New York, NY: 1996 - Sylvia Rivera, homeless, modeling the red cape she wore at the "Gay Pride Parade." Shortly after the Stonewall riots, Sylvia and her friend, Marsha P. Johnson, founded STAR: "Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries", a short-lived shelter in the East Village for homeless transgender youth, and joined the "Gay Activists Alliance", an early gay rights group. However, when the GAA removed transvestites from its civil rights agenda in the early '70s, Sylvia left the movement in disgust. She remained a political activist throughout her life. This image is from the book “Gender Frontier,” by Mariette Pathy Allen, which documents the lives of transgender individuals, their partners, families and friends. (Photo by Mariette Pathy Allen/Getty Images)