On September 14, 1970, members of STAR, including Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson, occupied NYU’s Weinstein Hall. The following excerpt is from a statement read at the occupation:

This is the question that is running through our minds.  Do you really want Gay Power or are you looking for a few laughs or maybe a little excitement.  We are not quite sure what you people really want.  IF you want Gay Liberation then you’re going to have to fight for it.  We don’t mean tomorrow or the next day, we are talking about today.  We can never possibly win by saying “wait for a better day” or “we’re not ready yet” If you’re ready to tell people that you want to be free, then your ready to fight.  And if your not ready then shut up and crawl back into your closets.  But let us ask you this, Can you realliy live in a closet? We cant. (Archival Credit: Reina July)

The demonstration was the first public event for STAR: Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries. The group had formed earlier that year to address the needs of trans youth of color who were involved in underground economies. “STAR girls,” as members were often called, lived together in an apartment called STAR House.

Excerpt from “Queens in Exile: The Forgotten Ones” by Sylvia Rivera

“…STAR was born after a sit in we had New York University with the Gay Liberation Front. We took over Weinstein Hall for 3 days. It happened when there had been several gay dances there and all of a sudden the plug was pulled because the rich families were offended that queers and dykes were having dances and their impressionable children were going to be harmed.

So we ended up taking that place over. That’s another piece of history that is very seldom told even in regular gay history about that sit in. Maybe that’s because it was the Street Queens once again. STAR House was born out of the Weinstein Hall demonstration because there were so many of us living together.”

(Thanks to Reina July, OutHistory, and various tumblr threads.)