Netflix has shared a trailer for The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson, an upcoming documentary on the pioneering LGBTQ rights activist. The feature is directed by David France, who helmed the Academy Award-nominated doc How To Survive A Plague.
Johnson, who described herself as a "street queen," is referred to in the film's trailer as "the Rosa Parks of the LGBT movement." She was heavily involved in the 1969 Stonewall riots, seen by many as the birth of modern LGBTQ activism. In 1970, she co-created STAR (Street Transvestites Action Revolutionaries), the world's first transgender rights group, with Sylvia Rivera. Throughout the 1980s she worked with AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) to advocate direct political action to raise awareness on the AIDS epidemic.
In 1992, Johnson was found dead in the Hudson River. Police ruled her death a suicide, which friends and fellow activists have since disputed.
The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson is available to stream on Netflix on October 6.