We Have Always Been Here And We Will Not Go Away

This photo, taken on the Minnesota frontier, depicts
Regina Sorenson and three others “dressed in men’s suits.”
MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Wherever you look in history there are trans people and unlike lesbians and gays we are very “out.”
The Forgotten Trans History of the Wild West

It was a frontier in more ways than one.
Atlas Obscura
By Sabrina Imbler
June 21, 2019

FROM 1900 TO 1922, HARRY Allen was one of the most notorious men in the Pacific Northwest. The West was still wide and wild then, a place where people went to find their fortunes, escape the law, or start a new life. Allen did all three. Starting in the 1890s, he became known as a rabble-rouser, in and out of jail for theft, vagrancy, bootlegging, or worse. Whatever the crime, Allen always seemed to be a suspect because he refused to wear women’s clothes, and instead dressed as a cowboy, kept his hair trim, and spoke in a baritone. Allen, who was assigned female at birth, was actually far from the only trans* man who took refuge on the frontier.

Despite a seeming absence from the historical record, people who did not conform to traditional gender norms were a part of daily life in the Old West, according to Peter Boag, a historian at Washington State University and the author of Re-Dressing America’s Frontier Past. While researching a book about the gay history of Portland, Boag stumbled upon hundreds and hundreds of stories concerning people who dressed against their assigned gender, he says. He was shocked at the size of this population, which he’d never before encountered in his time as a queer historian of the American West. Trans people have always existed all over the world. So how had they escaped notice in the annals of the Old West?

Then around that time over in England there were Mollies and Tommies.
In the paper “Bitches, Mollies, and Tommies: Bryon, Masculinity and the History of Sexualities” in the Journal of the History of Sexuality, D. S. Neff writes,

As the eighteenth century progressed, men who were formally known as "sodomites" became categorized as effeminate "Mollie," a term that had first been applied to female prostitutes. Edward Ward, writing in 1709 about "The Mollies Club" in London, observes that "there is a curious band of fellows in the town who call themselves "Mollies" (effeminates, weaklings), who are so totally destitute of all masculine attributes that they prefer to behave as women. They adopt all the small vanities natural to the feminine sex to such an extent that they try to speak, walk, chatter, shriek and scold as women do, aping them as well in other respects.

Then moving farther back in time…
(Note: Some of these article are old and from European sources and use words that are our of style now here in the U.S,)

The 18th Century’s Transvestite Spy Rediscovered
By Marion Maneker
April 16, 2012

The earliest surviving formal portrait of a male transvestite has been discovered by Philip Mould in a New York saleroom.  On first glance the historic portrait featuring a rather masculine looking woman piqued the renowned art sleuth’s interest.   A gentle clean and further painstaking research uncovered a rich and colourful history.

“The 18th century portrait appeared to be of a somewhat manly middle-aged lady. Research before the sale suggested otherwise, and upon cleaning, the face revealed a distinctive 5 0’clock shadow. This fuelled further investigation that resulted in the astonishing discovery that the portrait is of the legendary spy, diplomat and transvestite, Chevalier D’Eon that has been lost since 1926.  The painting is now “under serious consideration” by the National Portrait Gallery, London.  Should it be purchased will represent the gallery’s first oil painting of a cross-dresser in guise.

“The story of D’Éon is one of the more remarkable biographies of the 18th century. The recent rediscovery of this lost and only oil portrait should dramatically reawaken his  historical significance,” adds Philip Mould.

Then let’s not forget our sixth president of the United States, John Quincy Adams and his connection with us.

It seems like Mr. Gray fancied himself in a dress and Mr. Pitts was smitten by her and when Mr. Pitts found out she was trans he rapped Mr. Gray on the head with a cane.

Mr. Molineux. I saw him dressed in Womens Cloaths. He had the outward Appearance of a Woman, a Gown and Womens Cloaths. I saw a Couple of young Gentlemen gallanting him. Pitts was one. I was very sensible they were taken in. Plaisted was the other. They appeared to be very loving—she rather Coy. I called out to Pitts at New Boston. He turnd a deaf Ear. He came back and said he had a very clever Girl, and went to her again.

It is a little hard to follow but witnesses testified that,

J. Whitworth. Pitt said in the forenoon, that Gray had used him very ill, and he would beat him whenever he met him. About 1 1/2 Hour before, he did [ . . . ] Very ill in Speaking Reports of him.
Mr. Hutchinson. Pitts told me he had sent a Lad to the Custom house to call Gray out to demand Satisfaction of him. And I saw em at it, and the Blood dropping from G's Head. Stick knotty, 1/2 Inch Diameter.
Tim. Odin. Pitts went into the Barbers shop, and asked Gray if he would ask his Pardon. No, you wooly headed Rascall, I wont. D—n you you shall, running his Fist up says Pitts. I could not hear the rest of the Conversation till Pitts struck him. The stick did not seem to be struck hard. But Gray said, Ile set this down to your everlasting Account.
Melvill. Gray had no stick nor Hatt. Gray and Pitts were coming from Dehones shop, to Carpenters. Pitts in a Passion. Pitts shoved him off first with his Hand, and then a stroke with a stick. Saw the Blood.
Isaac Pierce. Heard a Blow at the Town House steps. About 3. Rods.
Dr. Roberts. Wounds, one about 3/4 of an Inch, the other between 1/3 and 1/2 on the scalp, Top of the Head. Both done at one blow. About 12 or 14 days. Every other day. Bill a Guinea. No more than a flesh Wound.
J. Quincy. If he had a Mind to discover his Manhood as much as he had at other Times he would have taken another Weapon.
Knows Gentlemen who have a Talent of diminishing or exagerating just as they please.
Pain, of Body, Expences, Ignominy.
Of great Importance that Juries should be uniform and steady in their Decisions, and that Capriciousness and Humour should not prevail.
Atrocious, inhuman, Injury &c.
[...]
Mr. Molineux. I saw him dressed in Womens Cloaths. He had the outward Appearance of a Woman, a Gown and Womens Cloaths. I saw a Couple of young Gentlemen gallanting him. Pitts was one. I was very sensible they were taken in. Plaisted was the other. They appeared to be very loving—she rather Coy. I called out to Pitts at New Boston. He turnd a deaf Ear. He came back and said he had a very clever Girl, and went to her again.

And then there was WWII...

Besides Christine Jorgensen there was,


We are here… We are trans… We will not go away!