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Afterlives: Marsha P. Johnson

Afterlives: Marsha P. Johnson

Written by: iHeartPodcasts
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About this listen

Marsha P. Johnson is THE icon of the LGBTQ+ movement and one of the mothers of the fight for trans rights. Today, you can buy T-shirts emblazoned with her face or walk through a park named in her honor. This season on Afterlives, we hear from Marsha in her own words.

Afterlives is a documentary podcast series about trans lives we’ve lost and the ways their stories have reshaped our world. Host Raquel Willis brings Marsha’s story to life through rare archival interviews and intimate conversations with queer elders, friends, and historians. Legend says she threw the first brick at the Stonewall riots, setting off the modern movement for queer rights. Immortalized by Warhol and known as “The Saint of Christopher Street,” Marsha was also unhoused, surviving through sex work, navigating violence, and resisting with joy.

More than 30 years after her still-unsolved death in the Hudson River, Marsha’s voice resounds louder than ever. As trans rights face renewed threats, Afterlives celebrates Marsha’s story and reflects on her enduring power as a trans ancestor.

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Episodes
  • Introducing: Afterlives: The Layleen Polanco Story

    Introducing: Afterlives: The Layleen Polanco Story
    Nov 8 2023

    The life and legacy of Layleen Xtravaganza Cubilette-Polanco is at the heart of Afterlives, a podcast about trans lives we’ve lost and the ways their stories have reshaped our world. Known to light up a room, Layleen was an Afro-Latina trans woman in New York City who was sentenced to the city’s notorious jail complex on Rikers Island. She died there in 2019, at the young age of 27.

    Hosted by Raquel Willis and inspired by her award-winning work on Out magazine’s Trans Obituaries Project, this 7-episode series celebrates Layleen’s vibrant life through memories from her family of origin and the community she discovered in New York’s famed ballroom scene. The series unpacks the systems that failed Layleen leading up to her death at Rikers through in-depth interviews with activists fighting against the criminalization of sex work, solitary confinement, and the epidemic of anti-trans violence.

    Afterlives is the story of Layleen’s life, and the fight that continues in her name today.

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    3 mins
  • Episode 1: Layleen

    Episode 1: Layleen
    Nov 15 2023

    Layleen Polanco was full of energy and always up for an adventure. From her love of music, to the first time she expressed her girlhood, we’ll explore how Layleen came to discover her sense of self and found her way to New York City’s ballroom scene. As a picture begins to form of her vibrant life, we also see how it took a turn and why her demise could have been prevented.

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    37 mins
  • Episode 2: To Survive

    Episode 2: To Survive
    Nov 22 2023

    Layleen’s mid-twenties weren’t easy. In the years leading up to her death at age 27, she was denied job opportunities, spent periods of time incarcerated, and struggled with her physical and mental health. Sex work was one way Layleen could support herself; but a sex work arrest set off a dehumanizing battle with the criminal justice system that led to her death.

    Layleen’s story is not an outlier. Decades of transphobic policies made her arrest feel familiar. We’ll hear from trans women who were devastated by the loss of Layleen, in part because they felt her fate could have been their own.

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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    42 mins
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