St. Marsha P. Johnson: two years after painting her

The roses, the martyr's palm & the small backlash.

“St. Marsha P. Johnson” is an illustration I finished painting in late 2024. As I stated in the original caption of when I first shared it, I had been working on the piece for a while. “It [had] existed as a concept for a while, especially after coming across the photos of Marsha with the Snoopy plush.” The scene was so tender, I just had to draw her. I hope I did her justice.

“St. Marsha P. Johnson” by Dani M. Jiménez (2024)

“I got the Lord on my side, and I took him to my heart with me and I came to the city, for better or worse. And He said, ‘You know, you might wind up with nothing.’ Cause you know, me and Jesus is always talking. And I said: ‘Honey, I don’t care if I never have nothing ever till the day I die. All I want is my freedom.”

– Marsha P. Johnson in her last interview (June, 1992) about leaving her home in 1963.

The Roses

I included roses as a nod to the iconic picture of Marsha with the flower crown. Marsha adored flowers and she spent a lot of her time in the Flower District in New York City. She would sleep under the tables set out by the vendors, and once the day was finished, they would give her the flowers that couldn’t be sold. When one of the vendors was asked why they did all of this for a Black transgender woman and a homeless sex worker, he said, “She’s holy.”

Longtime friends would describe her as such. Agosto Machado, an artist and a fellow activist, would say she was a “saint on the street corners” and would compare her to “Jesus with the loaves and the fishes”, because “Marsha always had something to share.”¹

Marsha with Snoopy (1987, Marsha P. Johnson & Sylvia Rivera Collection, accessed through the Digital Transgender Archive) & the iconic flower crown photograph

The Martyr’s Palm

“I practice the Catholic religion because the Catholic religion is part of the Santería of the saints, which says that we are all brothers and sisters in Christ.”

— Marsha P. Johnson (Pay It No Mind, 2012)

I made a very conscious decision to include Marsha holding a branch in one of her hands, often referred to as the martyr’s palm. The circumstances of Marsha’s death are horrifying, and I will not go over them, as I wanted this piece to be a memorial of her life. Martyrdom, in the Christian experience, can never be only just about death, because it requires a life of bravery and sacrifice. Therefore, in a sense, martyrdom exists beyond death itself and before it too. And Marsha’s life was one of immense bravery and sacrifice. Love, not just for Christ as we have established, but for her community. For instance, she founded Street Transvestite Action Revolutions (STAR) alongside Sylvia Rivera to organize and provide food and shelter for transgender youth.

Marsha identified as a Christian her whole life. She says, “I got married to Jesus Christ when I was sixteen years old, still in high school.” God provided Marsha solace, strength and guidance. It was integral to her activism. She loved the Virgin Mary and the saints with a fierce devotion. When her fellow queens couldn’t find her, they’d go to churches first. Catholic, Orthodox, Episcopalian, Baptist, or synagogues (she said she was “covering all angles”), she could be seen there, lighting candles, prostrating before statues of the Virgin Mary, wearing velvet and throwing glitter. ²

A picture of Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera wearing Stonewall sashes at a pride event in New York City in 1989. ( Marsha P. Johnson & Sylvia Rivera Collection, accessed through the Digital Transgender Archive) & Procession of virgin martyrs bearing wreaths, with palms behind them (Basilica of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo in Ravenna, before 526 AD) (accessed through Wikimedia Commons)

“I believe [Jesus is] the only man I can truly trust. He’s like the spirit that follows me around, you know, and helps me out in my hour of need.”

– Marsha P. Johnson in her last interview (June, 1992) about leaving her home in 1963.

The Silence = Death pin:

The Silence=Death was a central image used by ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) throughout the pandemic that decimated the queer community in the 1980s and 1990s. Marsha was not a member of the coalition (she participated in a couple marches and a meeting) but she volunteered a lot of her time with AIDS patients in hospitals and caring for the sick amongst her friends. She would pray, hold vigils, light candles and organize events. The pin was a nod to that part of her history and activism.

An example of the 1986 Silence=Death poster from the AIDS crisis (designed by the Silence=Death Project, formed in 1985) illustrating the use of an inverted version of the pink triangle from the Holocaust (accessed through Wikimedia Commons)

Wait… But she’s not canonized?

When I first shared this illustration on social media, it was both loved and contested. “She is not a canonized saint!” people said. “How dare you call her a saint?” Somebody said I was spreading misinformation, that what I was doing was “dangerous”, “misleading” and even —and I’m not joking, “illegal.”

We are so afraid to get it wrong. We are so afraid of uncertainty. You know what? Maybe Marsha threw the first brick at Stonewall, maybe she did not. Maybe she’s in Heaven, maybe she’s in Purgatory. Maybe God is real, maybe we are all alone in this sad and lonely plane of existence. Why are we so afraid to get it wrong? I believe in these matters there is no such thing as misinformation, but only the great nuance of recollection. Only picking up the pieces of what it means to remember someone, even though you never met, and in all their complexity be able say, “God is with you, I can see the fruits. God is with you, and I want to be better. God is with you, and I hope and I pray that you are resting and joyful, now.”

I choose to believe St. Marsha is looking over us. I choose to believe she is part of the great unknown un-canonized and unrecognized Communion of Saints. I am not afraid to get it wrong. I know God is with her, and she with Him.

A black and white photograph of Marsha P. Johnson standing outside with a group of people at the St. Patrick's Cathedral demonstration. She is holding a sign that says, "Jesus Loved John the Beloved." ( Marsha P. Johnson & Sylvia Rivera Collection, accessed through the Digital Transgender Archive)

Final prayer

Marsha ‘Pay It No Mind’ Johnson, patroness of trans women, activists, drag queens, sex workers, homeless youth, people —especially Black people— who have experienced police brutality or lost someone at the hands of police, people with HIV/AIDS, the ocean, people with STIs or STDs, florists, found family, mothers, riots and revolution... pray for us.

1. Ellison, Joy and Hoffman, Nicholas. “The Afterward: Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson in the Medieval Imaginary.” Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality 55, No. 1 (2019) : 267-294.

2. Pay It No Mind: The Life and Times of Marsha P. Johnson (2012). Starring Marsha P. Johnson, Sylvia Rivera, Taylor Mead. Directed by Michael Kasino. [Documentary]