The Sylvia Rivera Law Project (SRLP) is a legal aid organization based in New York City at the Miss Major-Jay Toole Building for Social Justice that serves low-income or people of color who are transgender, intersex and/or gender non-conforming. The organization was formed in August 2002 by attorney and transgender civil rights activist, Dean Spade. The project was named for Sylvia Rivera, a transgender activist and veteran of the 1969 Stonewall Riots, who died the same year that SRLP was formed. Founding In February 2002, Spade was followed into the bathroom by a police officer. In an essay about trans public bathroom use and bathroom bills, Spade describes his experience: "As I was looking to see what stalls were open, he approached and asked for my ID. I explained that I was in the right bathroom, that I am transgender and I understood the confusion, but I was just going to use the bathroom and leave." The officer questioned his gender and arrested him. The court assigned attorney asked personal, invasive questions during the first meeting, which made Spade fear what the trial would hold: "[Spade's attorney] came to the cell, read the police statement on my court documents, and asked why I was in the 'men's' room. I explained that I am transgender and I customarily use 'men's' rooms, and that I go by a male name and pronoun. He wrinkled up his face and said with a very dismissive and disapproving attitude, 'That is your business. I don't care.' He then asked me what my genitalia are." The charges against him were thrown out, but he was left with mixed feelings. He was upset by the transphobia that caused this to happen, but felt optimistic about what the media coverage may bring. Months later, he formed the Sylvia Rivera Law Project to help others who were in discriminatory situations like he was in. Goals The project has released this mission statement: The goals of the organization are to provide access to legal services for low-income transgender, intersex, and gender non-conforming people, provide public education and policy reform to end state-sanctioned discrimination on the basis of gender identity and expression. The organization also aims to build a collective organization that develops the leadership of low-income transgender, intersex, and gender non-conforming people of color while participating in the larger movement for racial, social, and economic justice. As Dean Spade himself