Our History

With a new year we should be aware of all of our pioneers, they are the ones who went before us¹.

Christine Jorgensen (1926 – 1989)

Arrives at New York’s Idlewild airport on February 2, 1953 to waiting reporters…

“EX-GI BECOMES BLONDE BEAUTY: OPERATIONS TRANSFORM BRONX YOUTH”

New York Daily News headline

The first long-lasting groups arethe gay male-oriented Mattachine Society, founded in 1950, and the Lesbian Daughters of Bilitis in 1955

Accommodationist (encouraged gay people to “act normal” and fit into society “We are ‘just like you’” 

Virginia Prince

In 1952 Virginia Prince started The Society for Equality in Dress

Is believed to have been the first to use the word “transgender” 

She coins the word transgenderist for someone who lived full time as a woman but did not identify as a woman. 

1952: Publishes Transvestia: The Journal of the American Society for Equality in Dress

1960: Arrested for “Distributing Obscenities Through The Mail”

1960: Transvestia: The Journal of the American Society for Equality in Dress

1962: Foundation for Personality Expression (FPE or Phi Pi Epsilon)

1975/1976: FPE becomes The Society for the Second Self (Tri Ess)

Publishes:

1971: How to be a Woman Though Male

1978: Transsexuals and Pseudotranssexuals

1978: The ‘Transcendents’ or ‘Trans’ People

Uprisings!²

We remember the Stonewall Uprisings but there were other uprising before Stonewall.

1959: Cooper’s Do-nuts

1965: Dewey’s Lunch Counter

1966: Compton’s Cafeteria

1967: The Black Cat Cafe

1969: The Stonewall Uprising!

We struggled long before Stonewall for our rights, all of these uprisings were the results of police raiding “drag hangouts*” Then we became “Streaming Queens.” (Full movie on YouTube)

Two of the leaders of Stonewall are Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson.

Sylvia Rivera

Sylvia Rivera characterizes the Stonewall Inn as ‘a white male bar for middle-class males to pick up young boys of different races.’

Leaves home at age 10

Befriended by Marsha P. Johnson – “drag queen,” sex worker, and activist

One of the leaders of the Stonewall Uprising

A founding member of the GLF & the GAA

Founds S.T.A.R. with Ms. Johnson

Late 1970s: Works on a gender-inclusive NYC Anti-D bill

1970s

1973: Sexual Orientation is removed from the DSM

Gender identity disorders first appeared in the class of Psychosexual Disorders in the DSM-III 

Lou Sullivan

1973: A Transvestite Answers a Feminist

1974: Looking Towards Transvestite Liberation

1974:  Minneapolis passes a non-discrimination ordinance covering sexual orientation

1976: Tennis ace Reneé Richards is outed and barred from competition when she attempts to enter a womens’ tennis tournament 

1979: Janice Raymond publishes The Transsexual Empire

1979: National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights. Once again, the trans community is told we were not welcome 

1980s The Decade of Assimilation

AIDS/HIV

1980: GID added to the DSM III

Lou Sullivan

1986: Founds FTM, a support and educational organization for trans men

After his death, the organization is renamed Lou Sullivan Society

Fights to have the definition of GID revised to no longer be a homosexual disorder

1990s

1990: Dallas Denny, Jamison Green, Gwen Smith, and JoAnn Roberts:  American Educational Gender Information Service, Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit 

1992: Phyllis Frye: The International Conference on Transgender Law and Employment Policy, Inc.

1993: Jessica Xavier founds It’s Time, America!
1993: Leslie Feinberg– Stone Butch Blues
1993: The Transexual Menace founded 

1994: Phyllis Frye and Karen Kerin go to Washington, DC to attempt to speak before the Senate Hearings on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. Transgender people had been omitted from ENDA language

June 1994: 25th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising and the Gay Games. Both are scheduled to occur in New York City 

Both events intend to exclude transgender people

Transexual Menace (Jessica Xavier, Denise Norris, Riki Wilchins, Sharon Stuart, Phyllis Frye, and others) protest the events

1994: Kate Bornstein– Gender Outlaw: On Men, Women, and the Rest of Us

1995: Riki Wilchins founds the Gender Public Advocacy Coalition– GenderPAC

1995: Action Alert: Transgender activists lobby for a gender-inclusive ENDA

The first organized transgender lobbying event in our nation’s capital. 

2000s

2000 – Monica Helms designs the Transgender Pride flag. It is first shown at a pride parade in Phoenix, Arizona

2002: NY passes Sexual Orientation Non- Discrimination Act

Last minute backroom deal removes “gender identity and expression” from the bill

Promises to come back for us and pass GENDA. Finally happens 17 years later, in 2019

2003: National Center for Transgender Equality founded by Mara Kiesling.

2004: Transexual Menace and NTAC pro- test HRC for backing a non-inclusive ENDA

2007: The year of betrayal

• In April, Rep. Barney Franks introduces a gender-inclusive ENDA. 
• In May, at NTCE Lobby Days training, HRC follows suit.
• In early September, before 800 transgender people at the Southern Comfort Conference, HRC President Joe Solmonese once again promises to only support a gender inclusive ENDA
• In late September, Rep. Barney Frank pulls the inclusive ENDA bill and substitutes a non-inclusive ENDA bill
• Joe Solmones says the HRC will would not oppose or endorse the non-inclusive bill
• In late October HRC says they will support non-inclusive bill, but will not penalize any congressperson who votes against the non-inclusive bill.
• In November HRC, says they will penalize any congressperson who votes against the non-inclusive bill
• Six U.S. Representatives vote against the non-inclusive bill and lose their 100% rating on LGBT issues from the HRC
• If you wonder why a lot trans people do not like the HRC this is why.
• Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act
• Passes on October 22, 2009
• It is now a federal crime to commit violence against an individual based on sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability 
• Was first proposed in the mid 90’s, but did not include gender identity
• Gender identity was added in 2007
• Opposition called the bill the “Pedophile Protection Act”

This is just a brief outline of our the books and websites listed below are a good source to leaned about our history.

*****

*Gee does this sound like something in recent history? Like drag show bans?

1. Stryker, S. (2008). Transgender History. Berkley CA. Seal Press.

2. Uprisings Foreshadow Stonewall

3. University of Victoria: Transgender Archives

4. Transgender Archives

Other References:

• Currah P. & Minter S., (2000). Transgender Equality A HANDBOOK FOR ACTIVISTS AND POLICYMAKERS.. NGLTF Policy Institute, Retrieved September 22, 2009, from http://www.thetaskforce.org/downloads/reports/reports/TransgenderEquality.pdf
• Ekins, R., & King, D. (2005, October). Virginia Prince: Transgender Pioneer. International Journal of Transgenderism, 8(4), 5-15. Retrieved July 1, 2009, from LGBT Life with Full Text database .
• Fienberg, L. (1993). Stone Butch Blues. Los Angeles, CA. Alyson Books.
• Feinberg, L. (1994). Transgender Warrior. Boston, MA. Beacon Press.
• Feinberg, L. (1998). 'I'm glad I was in the Stonewall riot'. Worker’s World. Retrieved August 1, 2009. From http://www.workers.org/ww/1998/sylvia0702.php
• Green J. (2004, January). Becoming a Visible Man. Nashville, TN. Vanderbilt University Press.
• King, D., Ekins, R., (2000), Pioneers of Transgendering: The Life and Work of Virginia Prince, GENDYS 2k, The Sixth International Gender Dysphoria Conference, Manchester England. 
• MacKenzie, G. (1994). Transgender Nation. Bowling Green OH. Popular Press.
• Roberts, M., (2007, October 18). The 1965 Dewey's Lunch Counter Sit-In. TransGriot, Retrieved September 22, 2009, from http://transgriot.blogspot.com/2007/10/1965-deweys-lunch-counter-sit-it.html  
• Roberts, M., (2012, March). A Look at African-American Trans Trailblazers, Ebony. Retrieved March 10, 2012, from http://www.ebony.com/news-views/trans-trailblazers

Note: 

• This was taken from a slide set from a presentation that I gave at True Colors conference with Dallas Denny
• I have met in person or seen in person many of the people mentioned here, including Virginia Prince, Dallas, Kate Bornstein, Phyllis Frye, and Leslie Feinberg.