How many times have you heard Republicans saying trans people haven’t been around for a long time… WRONG!
It's nothing new.Teen Vogue via PocketBy Lucy DiavoloJune 21, 2017As the transgender community continues to fight for civil rights in the U.S., one of the most common arguments against progress is that transgender people are a recent phenomenon. Some regard trans people as a symptom of the postmodern condition, or identity politics on steroids. Many claim that the struggle for transgender rights is difficult because the concept is still new to many Americans.But the reality is that transgender people have been striving for their rights in America before the 1960s, when a black trans woman named Marsha P. Johnson is credited by many for throwing the first brick during the Stonewall Inn riots, ushering in the start of a movement. Just years earlier, transgender people protested police crackdowns on their very existence in San Francisco at the Compton’s Cafeteria riots. Other moments of defiance exist, of course, but remain untold.[…]Two-Spirit (North America)For an example of colonially stifled gender variance closer to home, one needs look no further than the various gender identities recognized and celebrated in indigenous tribes.Navajo tribes recognized four genders that roughly correlate with cisgender and transgender men and women, using the terms nadleehi for those who “transform” into femininity and dilbaa for those “transform” into masculinity. The Mohave people used the terms alyha and hwame to describe similar identities. And the Lakota tribe believed the winkte people among them had supernatural powers like India’s hijras.[…]Il Femminiello (Naples) and Elagabalus (Rome)Even within the boundaries of colonial Europe, gender-variant people existed. Documented in paintings from as early as the eighteenth century, il femminiello were individuals assigned male at birth who dressed and behaved like women in Naples, Italy.[…]Ancient History & Modern StrugglesThese stories offer up a simple lesson: There are always people who find themselves on the outside of simple binaries. Other examples in the Pacific Islands and South America reinforce this notion.While it might be tempting to apply a label like “transgender” to all of these people, it’s important to respect their sovereignty in defining their own identities. European colonialism was a major force in hurting and erasing gender-variant people. Using Western terminology to understand other cultures’ gender variance might only result in perpetuating that harm and erasure. Even Americans Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera described themselves in terminology like “transvestite,” which is rarely used today.
For about ten years at the former True Colors conference I gave a workshop on Trans History, here a couple of the slides.
Before the Stonewall Uprising there was…
- Dewey’s Lunch Counter Protest
- April 25 1965, more than 150 patrons in “non-conformist clothing” were turned away by the management.
- 3 people stage a sit-in
- May 2, activists staged another sit-in
- Janus Society issues a statement supporting the sit-ins
*****
Compton Cafeteria UprisingAugust 1966
- The Compton Cafeteria was a hang out for,
- Vanguard “an organization of, by, and for the kids on the streets” Activist civil rights ministers from Glide Memorial United Methodist Church
- Street workers
- Police raid Compton Cafeteria for “street queens”
- Coffee is thrown in a police officer’s face
- Not covered by the press
*****
1970s
- 1976 Tennis Ace Reneé Richards is ‘outed’ and barred from competition when she attempts to enter a women's’ tennis tournament
- 1979 Janice Raymond publishes The Transsexual Empire
- 1979 -- National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights – once again the trans-community was told that we were not welcome
If you want to learn more of our history I would suggest:
Stryker, S. (2008). Transgender History. Berkley CA. Seal Press.
There is a video about the Compton’s Uprising…
Screaming Queens | KQED Truly CA
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