Tourmaline, transgender artist and activist, on the subject of her new biography, Marsha P. Johnson

On November 6, BCRW hosted artist and activist Tourmaline (CC ’06) in the Event Oval to promote her new biography, “Marsha: The Joy and Defiance of Marsha P. Johnson.”

Photo provided by Paula Vlodkowsky

By Julieta Skallman

December 5, 2025

On Thursday, November 6, the Barnard Center for Research on Women (BCRW) held this year’s Helen Pond McIntyre ’48 Lecture in the Diana Center Event Oval. Transgender artist, activist, and Columbia alum Tourmaline (CC ’06) hosted this lecture to promote her new book, the first definitive biography of Marsha P. Johnson, titled “Marsha: The Joy and Defiance of Marsha P. Johnson.” Johnson is mostly known as one of the central figures of the Stonewall riots that marked a turning point of the gay liberation movement in the United States. Tourmaline, throughout her lecture and conversation with Columbia professor and alum C. Riley Snorton (CC ’03), insisted that we also ought to be interested in and learn from Johnson’s spirit and larger story.

Founded in 1971, BCRW is an academic center that focuses on intersectional social justice, feminist research, and activism. Tourmaline worked for BCRW from 2016 to 2018 as their activist-in-residence, during which she met her close collaborator Hope Dector, current Creative Director at BCRW. Dector said that Tourmaline “came [to BCRW] with a lot of incredible ideas” and that “she was sort of in a moment of transitioning from primarily an activist, social justice-organizing [space] — that’s primarily where her work was focused at the time — and she was moving into a space of increasing the amount of art she was doing.” Dector continued, “it made a lot of sense for BCRW to help support as she was making this kind of transition to a more creative mode.”

One project that Dector and Tourmaline worked on together was the short film “The Personal Things,” which was shown at the lecture. The subject of the film, Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, was a close friend and mentor of Tourmaline’s who used to house many young transgender girls in her home in Little Rock, Arkansas. She was known as “Mama” to them. 

Dector said, “The piece of Miss Major really took a moment of Miss Major telling Tourmaline something she wanted to share about her own experience with transness… and [Tourmaline turned] it into art that could be shared with people as a way of reframing the way that we need to think of different survival strategies for trans existence.” 

Tourmaline said that after watching the film, she could “simultaneously feel the loss of Miss Major but also the eternal life of her and her legacy, which to [her] has never felt more alive.”

Tourmaline and Dector are currently collaborating on a documentary about Marsha P. Johnson — another person to whom, like Tourmaline, Miss Major was “Mama.” An early excerpt of the documentary was shown during the lecture.

“What we’re trying to do is share not just the story of Marsha’s life, but also we’re trying to include as much of Marsha’s voice in it as possible and also trying to include in it the voices of the people that she was close with as well,” Dector said. Something that has particularly stuck with Dector through the making of the documentary is hearing other people share their stories about Johnson.

“Tourmaline often says the spirit of Marsha is more alive now than ever before, and I think she’s carrying that with her… It’s something I feel all the time,” Dector told me. “In terms of her spirit, [Marsha] had this way of looking at the world that was really beautiful. It’s something that everyone who talks about her comments about. That’s what Tourmaline means, I think, by carrying [Marsha’s spirit] forward… a way of being in the world that’s generous and loving.”

Tourmaline spoke about meetings Johnson held in hourly hotels, which were all she could afford, with others — often other drag queens who needed a place to stay — and their lengthy discussions about the world they wanted. These were places for Johnson and the people around her to rest and find community, so they kept coming back, and they kept dreaming about a better world. 

Yet, Johnson’s belief in community extended outside of these hourly hotels. Tourmaline shared the story of the 1970 sit-in at NYU’s Weinstein Hall, prompted by NYU taking steps against the gay culture surrounding it, for fear that it would seep into the school. The sit-in was organized by Johnson, fellow drag queen Sylvia Rivera, and NYU students. Tourmaline spoke of the sit-in’s cooperative nature: students brought blankets when the administrators tried freezing the protestors out, Johnson would go out and buy food for everyone, and a real sense of connection was fostered. Their protests worked, resulting in the eventual authorization of gay dances at NYU. “Dreaming is a discipline,” Tourmaline said, telling the audience in the Event Oval that we should all learn from Johnson and her spirit. “The world we want starts in our imagination.” 

When I asked Dector if they could think of any examples of “the spirit of Marsha,” they paused before responding. Eventually, they replied, “What plays in my head is just this moment, this clip of Sylvia saying, ‘I have seen Marsha give her last dollar.’ In Sylvia’s voice, it’s such a powerful moment.” Dector added, “Across the board, talking to her family members, her friends, the people she collaborated with, something that literally every person that we have spoken to has talked about — just how incredibly generous Marsha was, in her spirit.”

BCRW hosts many events throughout the year. This lecture with Tourmaline is part of their series “We Will Not Be Erased: Queer Archives, Trans Histories.” The next has been postponed, but will be hosted online by Tourmaline and Steven Watson. Watson is a cultural historian who, in collaboration with filmmaker William Markarian-Martin, has launched Artifacts, an archival collection of firsthand accounts from queer and trans pioneers, which Tourmaline used in the making of Johnson’s biography.

When asked about what else is in BCRW’s future, Dector responded, “In February, we have the 50th anniversary of the Scholar and Feminist Conference… one of the key things BCRW is known for.” 

“We want students to be there and be part of it. Barnard students have always been so key at these conferences,” said Dector. “It’s really important right now to be thinking about the importance of feminist scholarship. It’s obviously under threat right now. BCRW has such a rich and important history, and [is] such an important part of Barnard. The decades of students that have come through BCRW and the legacy it has is really important. It’s a really important moment to be a part of it, and be a part of protecting it.” 

Like the community Miss Major created in Little Rock and the one Johnson fostered wherever she went, BCRW offers a space for Barnard students, scholars, activists, and artists to build their own community, and, like Tourmaline, to join the community BCRW has to offer.