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Gender Idenity History

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Gender Idenity History  Empty Gender Idenity History

Post by Lorri Kat Thu Jun 26, 2014 5:17 pm

This is going to be a l o n g read....
Transgender History part 1
Trans Expression in Ancient Times
History is written by the victors. Unfortunately, this tends to mean that a lot of truth gets lost over the eons, peaceful tribes can become demonized, portrayals of nature reverence can be twisted into "witchcraft" and a lot of the accurate documentation becomes lost over the years in intellectual pogroms, such as the burning of the library at Alexandria in Egypt by the Romans.

History was never meant to be that sort of boring "is there gonna be a test on this" sort of dry reading, but it often becomes so, because it becomes an onslaught of dates and peoples and events that we don't recognize. It doesn't help that with histories written by victors, many of the lives we might recognize ourselves in become obliterated from memory. Such is the case with most things transgender or homosexual, which at one time were seen to be rooted in similar human need. It was once said that there were three facets to our existence: survival, reproduction, and everything else -- and to the person who made the case, "everything else" -- which tended to encompass those things creative, imaginative and ingenious -- could be classified as "art." If ancient cultures bore understanding of this, then one wonders if transgender and same-sex love were seen as an art of their own... a creative exploration of love and affection.
It may sound far-fetched, but history (even if written by victors) offers little glimpses of reality at times, and many of these glimpses tend to indicate that the gender transgression and gay / lesbian / bisexual love that is often vilified today was once quite respected and at times even encouraged. As a transgender and bisexual woman, I'm not personally inclined to think of myself as better than anyone or to try to portray myself as such, but a careful look at history does provide a rewarding sense that I have something to offer, and am a being worthy of respect.
It is impossible to know the motives of the early civilizations' approach. We can only see history in modern light and with our own experiences. Without the economic and socio-political backgrounds to some of these notations, we don't know if transgender behaviour was any result of coersion, conspiracy or other motivations. I would like to think that much of the experience was genuine, although I'm not so naive to believe that accounts of castrated boys raised as wives of Roman or Turkish military leaders were consensual. History unfortunately sometimes can only touch the surface, not revealing the beauty and ugliness underneath.
Consequently, one can only construct a history that is dry and vague at times, and intriguing at others. We also have to rely heavily on a few selected texts at some points, as there is so little other information available on those periods of time. There may be the occasional inaccuracy -- I welcome verifiable corrections. However, I have found that the exercise has unearthed some fascinating gems.
Dually-Gifted, Dually Respected?
What we understand as transgender (in its many different forms) has been understood quite differently at various periods of time. In the earliest ages, people who were seen to bridge the genders were quite often thought to possess wisdom that traditionally-gendered people did not, and were venerated for this. As civilizations transformed from matrilineal and communal societies into male-driven (patriarchal) societies with rigid class divisions and emphasis on property ownership, those male-driven cultures reduced the status of women... and because they were threatened by a persistent belief that those who blurred gender lines possessed some greater insight, they set out to crush gender-transgressive people most of all. Into the modern age, transfolk resurfaced, but it is a long climb back just to restore any sense of equality.
In earliest civilizations, throughout Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Northern Africa, tribes of different types venerated what they often identified as "The Great Mother." In nearly all of these traditions, MTF priestesses (often castrated or with some form of eunuching, which included a number of different body modifications of the time) presided, and the cultures were primarily communal systems which held women (venerated as a source of life) in high esteem. Matriarchal in nature, the cultures often espoused peace, but the realities of early civilization and tribal existence did not always allow for this.
Roman historian Plutarch depicts "The Great Mother" as an Intersex deity from whom the two sexes had not yet split. Trans-gendered depictions of The Great Mother and Her priestesses are found in ancient artifacts back to the earliest civilizations in Mesopotamia, Assyria, Babylonia and Akkad. Some historians portray MTF priestesses as being recognized as something sacred, while others portray them as undergoing castration in order to subvert matrilineal rule and wrest religious direction from the control of women. David F. Greenberg, however, concludes that records of trans priestesses do date back "to the late Paleolithic (if not earlier)," suggesting that the advent of transgender priestesses was not simply a later reaction to feminine leadership and veneration. In some regions, particularily the oldest European customs, it even appears that some form of gender transgression was almost considered one's religious duty, at times (i.e. certain revelries).
Surviving Records
Displaying the earliest records of trans existence chronologically is virtually impossible, so I will sort them primarily by location.
The Middle East
In the Middle East (Cradle of Civilization), MTF (male-to-female) priestesses were known to have served Astarte, Dea Syria, Atargatis and Ashtoreth / Ishtar. Additional MTF "gallae" served Cybele, the Phrygians' embodiment of The Great Mother. Trans expression was also present in the early genesis of the Kumbh Mela festival in Allahbad (India).
For centuries, Muslim tradition differentiated between MTF transsexuals who live as prostitutes or criminals, and those in whom femininity was innate and who lived blamelessly. The latter were called "mukhannathun," and accepted within the boundaries of Islam. Mukhannathun could have relationships with either men or women, but only those who had been castrated or were exclusively attracted to men were allowed into womens' spaces. Later, it was ordered that all mukhannathun undergo castration.
Africa
In Africa, intersexed deities and spritual beliefs in gender transformation are recorded in Akan, Ambo-Kwanyama, Bobo, Chokwe, Dahomean (Benin), Dogon, Bambara, Etik, Handa, Humbe, Hunde, Ibo, Jukun, Kimbundu, Konso, Kunama, Lamba, Lango, Luba, Lugbara (where MTFs are called okule and FTMs are called agule), Lulua, Musho, Nat, Nuba, Ovimbundu, Rundi, Sakpota, Shona-Karonga, Venda, Vili-Kongo, and Zulu tribes. Some of this tradition survives in West Africa, as well as Brazilian and Haitian ceremonies that derive from West African religions. In Abomey, the Heviosso maintain trans traditions, in an area renowned for Amazon-like warrior women.
In seventh Century BC, King Ashurbanipal (Sardanapalus) of Assyria spent a great deal of time in womens' clothing, something that was later used to justify overthrowing him. In Egypt, 1503 BC, Egyptian Queen Hatshepsut ascended to the throne, the second Egyptian queen to rule (the first was Queen Sobekneferu of the 12th Dynasty). Possibly learning from the disfavor shown to her predecessor, she donned male clothing and a false beard signifying kingship, and reigned until 1482 B.C. She had one daughter, Neferure, who she groomed as successor (male clothing, false beard and all), but Neferure did not live into adulthood. After her death, her second husband attempted to erase all record of her. And Nzinga ruled as King of Angola from 1624 - 1653, cross-dressed and led several successful military battles against the Portuguese.
Asia
In Asia, Hijras persist even today, although their reverence is often limited to the belief that their presence at weddings is a good portent for the couple. They do tend to suffer in the modern Indian caste system, something that "eunuchs" of all types are banding together to work to improve (i.e. only recently was a Hijra able to vote, and now there have been Hijran elected officials). Historically, they have often worshipped the mother-goddess Bahuchara Mata, although some also worshipped Shiva in his half-man, half-woman persona, Ardhanarisvara.
Many early Indonesian societies had transgender figures in religious functions, including the basaja, from the island of Sulawesi (The Celebes). In ancient China, the shih-niang wore mixed-gender ceremonial clothing. In Okinawa, some shamans underwent winagu nati, a process of "becoming female." In Korea, the mudang was a shaman or sorceress who was quite often MTF. In February 1995, archaeologist Timothy Taylor discovered evidence of transgender lives in the Iron Age graves found in southern Russia.
Fanchuan was a name given to stage crossdressing, such as male-to-female performances in Beijing opera, and female-to-male acting in Taiwanese Opera. Chui Chin, a cross-dressing Chinese revolutionary and feminist was beheaded in 1907 for organizing an uprising against the Manchu dynasty.
Europe
In Europe, MTF priestesses served Artemis, Hecate and Diana. Early traditions thrived longest in Greece, and the mythology of the day encorporated tales of cross-dressing by Achilles, Heracles, Athena and Dionysus, as well as literal and metaphorical gender changes. The blind prophet Tiresias is often mentioned as a figure who had lived many years of his life in each different gender, and was said to have possessed acute wisdom for it. The tale of an FTM character, Kaineus (Caeneus), who was viewed as a "scorner and rival of the gods" and was driven into the earth by the Centaurs, is an example of Greek mythology attempting to subvert earlier trans-oriented legends. And Cupid was a dual god/dess of love, originally portrayed as intersex. The child of Hermes and Aphrodite, one of Cupid's variant names provided the origin for the term, "hermaphrodite." Some time between 6th Century and 1st Century BC, in the Greek Hippocratic Corpus (collection of medical texts), physicians propose that both parents secrete male or female "bodies" and that if the father's secretion is female (rather than male) and the mother's is male, the result would either be a "man-woman" (effeminate male) or a "mannish" female.
In the later development of Europe, early alchemists borrowed from pre-Christian spirituality at times, and some of these mystics created the concept of the "chemical wedding," a merger of male and female spiritual attributes to achieve perfection. Some alchemists saw this as a chemical concept that would lead to the process of transmuting lead into gold, while others touted that this was more of a personal, spiritual transformation. While much of this was later absorbed into secret societies such as the Freemasons and Rosicrucians, the belief hints at transformative and bigender-conscious reverence. Even the Bible has such "gender-wedding" imagery at times, in allusions to the "Bride of Christ" found in the Book of Revelations and some comments by later epistle writers.
The Amazons, a group of warriors often in conflict with Greeks and later mythologized, seem to have been thought of as trans, and Pliny the Younger referred to them as the Androgynae "who combine the two sexes." They carried double-edged axes which may have been symbols of intersexuality, as were those carried by the South American tribe that inspired the naming of the Amazon River.
In the Klementi tribe of Albania, if a virgin swore before twelve witnesses that she would not marry, she was then recognized as male, carried weapons, and herded flocks.
Years later, Joan of Arc was said to have followed in the traditions of Gentiles and heathen. In France, "gens" referred to matrilineal farming communities, indicating some pre-Christian tradition that she evidently had stirred up, inspiring older values and explaining why she had become such a potent threat to the church while alive (more later).
North America
In North America, as late as 1930 (with the Klamath in the Pacific Northwest), Two-Spirit Natives are noted among tribal communities. Originally called "berdache," a name of largely insulting intent given by Europeans, Native culture adopted the term "Two-Spirit" as a blanket term -- though in reality, nearly every tribe had at least one (often several) unique name for Two-Spirit peoples, with the names sometimes addressing different aspects of those populations. Two-Spirit actually covers the full range of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender persons, as well as intersex and other gender-variant people. It was often thought that Two-Spirits had two spirits inhabiting the same body, and that Two-Spirit people deserved a special kind of reverence. Jesuit priest Jacques Marquette notes that in the Illinois and Nadouessi tribes, nothing is decided without their advice.
The sensational nature of reports of Two-Spirit peoples and the hatred they contained were used to try to justify genocide, theft of land and the dismantling of Native culture and religion. In Panama, explorer Vasco Nunez de Balboa threw a King and forty others of a Native tribe to be eaten by his dogs, because they crossdressed or had same-sex partners. Spaniards committed similar genocides in the Antilles and Louisiana. In those areas where Two-Spirit traditions survived, they were later driven underground or supplanted completely by missionary teachings and residential schools, both of which were bent on destroying Native culture.
Inuit FTMs serve White Whale Woman, who was believed to have been transformed into a man or woman-man.
South America
In South America, MTF priestesses have been found among the Araucanians (southern Chile and Argentina) and Mapuche, although after oppressive Spanish contact, they were largely replaced by female preistesses. Some females in the Tupinamba tribe lived as men, hunted and went to war. In 1576, explorer Pedro de Magalhaes recorded this, and recalling the Greek legend of the Amazons, named the Amazon river for these Tupinamba. For the Yoruba (Brazil), the deity Shango is represented as all sexes.
Unclear, But Present
Although it's doubtful that all of these traditions had a common origin, and possible that some of these are trans only by coincidence, there do seem to be a number of similar themes tying them together. Sorting through them to find specific motives and beliefs is impossible, though, because so little of the original traditions was recorded or survived the various book purges over time. It is only possible to speculate.
Alas, history is written by the victors, and the victors were largely not transgender or homosexual / bisexual persons.


Last edited by Lorri Kat on Sun Jun 29, 2014 8:17 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Post by Lorri Kat Thu Jun 26, 2014 5:25 pm

Transgender History part 2
The Rise of Hatred (the Middle Ages)
The advent of class divisions, the acquisition of wealth and power, and the ownership of property fed a movement toward patriarchal governing that ultimately became threatened by the existence of female and transgender spiritual leaders. While patriarchal societies were gradually able to synthesize and later entrench the notion that females should be subservient, gender-variant persons posed a more puzzling quandary, because of their uniqueness. It was for this reason that patriarchal religions, which reached their epitome with the Roman Catholic Church, felt that they had to stamp out transgender people (and also gay / lesbian people, who were often thought of as mixed-gender of a sort in early societies) and demonize their legacy.

This helped to facilitate the development of patrilineal inheritance, keeping the reins of power in hands that grew ever more elite. The status of women was degraded, and by so doing, leadership also typically portrayed any sign of gender variance as "less than male." Dual-spirited gods and goddesses, thought at one time to be doubly powerful, were turned into contemptible, "weak" entities.
For the "Greater Good"

In 186 B.C., when Rome banned the bacchanalia (a pleasure-centered festival to Dionysus), an oppressive campaign followed in the Greek territories, keyed on preventing the lower working classes from seeking their own happiness and betterment, and pushing them to focus on the enrichment of owners, employers and country, and / or to become willing to go to war for patriarchal society. The system became an efficient, self-propagating machine, later evolving into one in which war drove the economy and power trumped reason.

Gender-transgressive and same-sex amoury existence, although greatly reduced, still existed to an extent in Roman culture, but was tolerated only tentatively -- and only if it came from the ruling class or coincided with the agendas of the leaders and generals. Around 60 AD, Emperor Nero reportedly had a young slave boy, Sporus, castrated (eunuching, in early times, was believed to be the primary mechanism of gender change -- "eunuchs" ranged in form from males whose testicles had been removed to those also given a total penectomy), and took him as a wife in a legal public ceremony (Sporus was from then on clothed as an Empress, and accompanied Nero as such).

Birth of the "Homosexual Menace" Campaigns

When factional battles would break out, homosexual and transgender tendencies or loves were often used to justify the destruction of enemies. In 218 A.D., Elagabalus (or Heliogabalus) became emperor of Rome, and was later assassinated, mutilated and dragged through the streets (222 A.D.) before being thrown into the Tiber River. Justification for the overthrow was found in Elagabalus' penchant for wearing womens' clothing and makeup, in his reportedly prostituting himself, in his offering a large sum of money to any physician who can give him female genitalia (never claimed), and from declaring one of his male lovers to be his husband.

When Constantine I arrived in 342 A.D., his fusion of religions (the Roman Catholic church was a synthesis of early Christianity with Mithraism and worship of the sun god, Sol), and fusion of religion with the state strengthened anti-trans sentiment as it bolstered slavery (which had by then become the lot of most gender non-conformists and adherents to older traditions) and set the stage for feudal witch-hunts. These later evolved into the Crusades and the Inquisition, in which any evidence of early matriarchal and transgender-venerating paganism was stamped out. Repressive laws which aimed to crush gender variance and same-sex love evolved into part of the Corpus juris civilis, the Roman body of law upon which many legal systems were later based, including those of England and America.

This occurred because it was necessary to the land-owners (chief of which was the Roman Catholic Church) to break the spirit of the serfs toiling on their behalf, thus pre-empting uprisings. Communal bonds had to be erased, and the idea of communalism had to be demonized. Pagan tradition was reinvented as "witchcraft," and quashed with impunity.

Transgender Saints and Joan of Arc

But in true subversive fashion, what couldn't be completely suppressed was absorbed and reinvented to conform with the new ruling ideal. Early cross-dressing heroes idolized by the peasantry were canonized, with the church reshaping the reasoning behind the admiration of those historical figures, thus co-opting them. Saints Pelagia, Margarita, Marinus (Marina), Athanasia (Alexandria), Eugenia, Appollinaria, Euphrosyne, Matrona, Theodora, Anastasia, Papula and Joseph (Hildegund) were canonized transfolk who were female-bodied but lived as male, along with bearded women Galla, Paula and Wilgefortis (Uncumber). Pope Joan (John Anglicus) appears likely to have been a legend, but this legend was likely cultivated for the same purpose. There are no known male-to-female equivalents of transfolk elevated to sainthood, so it is quite likely that MTFs suffered a zero-tolerance agenda.

In 1429, at the age of 17, Joan of Arc dressed in male clothing, gathered several peasant followers and presented herself at the court of Prince Charles, declaring that her mission and dress were compelled upon her by God, said mission to be to drive out the English from France. The heir to the French throne put her in charge of an army of 10,000 peasants. Ultimately, the drive would be victorious, but she would be abducted by English sympathizers (who called her "homasse," or "man-woman") and turned her over to the Inquisition in England.
Although the French king had the opportunity to pay her ransom, he felt threatened by the emotional sway she had over the peasantry, and left her to her fate. Eventually, the Inquisition decided that there was not enough evidence to have her convicted of witchcraft, but she was burned at the stake on May 30, 1431 for wearing men's clothing, which the Church referred to as "idolatry." The steadfastness with which she refused to recant and revert to female clothing, and the fierce loyalty from the peasantry over what her cross-gender expression symbolized to them paints a dramatic picture of old tradition resisting stubbornly under the boot of the now-entrenched patriarchal authority.

Into Hiding

Little by little, gender transgression became more limited, at first to peasant festivals, and then one by one, those festivals were outlawed. Halloween, or All Hallow's Eve, which was rooted in early matrilineal Celtic society (drawn from celebrations surrounding Samhain), is the most recognizable event still surviving today. The Celtic Winter Solstice (Christianized as the "Feast of Fools") did not fare as well, because it developed into a trans-inspired mocking of the Church.

Yet even the Church itself appeared to assimilate some transgender motifs into its trappings, such as the floor-length gowns, jeweled trappings for hierarchy and such (having a son join the priesthood, after all, used to be referred to sending him "into skirts"). It may also have been that trans priestesses had somehow inspired the practice of recruiting Castrati for Church choirs, even though Roman Catholic rule had technically forbid the castration of youths.

While much of this change relates to medieval Europe and rule that spread at times to Asia, the Middle East and northern Africa, similar transformations happened in some other cultures, or were later imposed on those cultures by patriarchal conquerors or their influence. Native Two-Spirit tradition would persist until the arrival of the white man in North and Central America, and the genocide and cultural subversion that followed. Trans traditions did still persist somewhat in other parts of the world though, such as Japanese Noh dramas, which find their root in the harvest folk dance, dengaku. And in a few untouched places, notably among the Polynesian Islands (parts of Samoa, Tonga and Tahiti), communal and trans-affirming traditions would survive to this day.

Read more at http://www.bilerico.com/2008/02/transgender_history_the_rise_of_hatred_t.php#OZ345wJe4GedhIgM.99
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Post by Lorri Kat Thu Jun 26, 2014 5:25 pm

Transgender History part 3
Into the Modern Age (1700s - 1932)

As society evolved toward the modern age that we know now, trans expression did not disappear, but did become far more subversive. The last surviving remnants of festival behaviour developed into what we now know as Halloween, Mummer's Dances, and Carnaval / Mardi Gras. Several outbreaks of civil disobedience also used transgender motifs, led by groups known as the Abbeys of Misrule (France and northern Italy, where leaders took titles like Mother, Dame and Princess), the Lords of Misrule and Abbots of Unreason (England and Scotland), Mère Folle and her Children, Mère Sotte and her Children, Mère d'Enfance, Madge Wildfire and Lady Skimmington, and later inspired other bands, such as Rebecca and her Daughters. Other military actions were directed by modern Joans of Arc, such as Captain Alice Clark and La Branlaire. It can't be certain if everyone participating in these uprisings were truly transgender in any way or simply relied on crossdressing as a convenient disguise, but the consistency still suggests early peasant-held matriarchal and trans-reverent customs. Some, such as the White Boys of Ireland, also make the claim to be faeries, leading one to wonder if early stories of fee might also indicate early transgressive beliefs and traditions.

We come to a point where things can be put into much more of a chronological order:
1654 -- Queen Christina of Sweden abdicates the throne and takes on a male persona, "Count Dohna."

Early 18th Century -- The epithet "Molly" originates with "molly houses," a term for effeminate gay brothels, noted for the presence of crossdressing. The name itself seems to originate as a combination of the female name Mary with the Latin "mollis," meaning soft, effeminate.

1755 -- The first openly lesbian and transgender person, Charlotte Clarke, comes out by publishing "A Narrative of the Life of Mrs. Charlotte Clarke (Youngest Daughter of Colley Cibber, Esq.)." In the autobiography, Clarke, a flamboyant cross-dressing actress during a time in which male impersonation was a popular form of entertainment (even if still very much taboo), relates many scandalous things, including her relationship with her "wife," "Mrs. Brown." Although quite famous after this publication, Clarke passes away three years later, penniless and destitute.
1777 -- French spy and diplomat Charles-Geneviève-Louis-Auguste-André-Timothée Éon de Beaumont (October 5, 1728 - May 21, 1810), usually known as the Chevalier d'Eon is allowed to return to France on the condition that she live and dress as a woman. Earlier in 1756, the Chevalier had posed as a woman for several years to gain the confidences of Empress Elizabeth of Russia. Throughout her life, there would be ongoing speculation as to the Chevalier's physical gender, which would be determined as male after her death (the predominant opinion had previously been that she was female).

1812 -- Two male workers dress as women, call themselves "General Ludd's wives" and lead an angry crowd of hundreds to destroy steam looms and a factory in Stockton, then attempt to burn down the home of the factory owner in classic Industrial Revolution unrest. As soon as the riot is quelled, it re-ignites in Oldham.

1831 -- George Sand publishes Rose et Blanche in collaboration with Jules Sandeau. Born Amantine Dupin, she takes on a male pen name under the pretense that it would be easier for her to become published and taken seriously with a male moniker. She also adopted male fashion, stating at different times that the clothes helped her move more freely around Paris streets, the clothes were sturdier, and that the clothes granted her access to areas that were off-limits to a woman of her social standing. There is no evidence that Sand identified as male, and biographers are sometimes outraged at the suggestion, but itis also not certain that she wasn't trans in spirit.

1839 to 1843 -- Welsh civil libertarians, protesting toll gates and working conditions, take up female attire and call themselves "Rebecca and her daughters," destroying a number of the mechanisms that the upper class had been using to bleed the poor of what little they could save. Again, this harkens to an earlier peasant tradition, as noted by historian Natalie Zemon: "In fact, the donning of female clothes by men and the adopting of female titles for riots were surprisingly frequent, in the early modern period." As the Rebeccas disappeared, the Molly Maguires and Ribbon Societies emerged to take their place.

1860 -- Herculine Barbin is studied by her doctor, who discovers that the intersexed woman has a small penis, with testicles inside her body. Barbin is declared legally male against her wishes, becomes the subject of much scandal for having previously taught in a girl's school, moves to Paris but continues to live in poverty, and ultimately commits suicide in 1868.

1865 -- Dr. James Barry dies, and is discovered to have female sexual characteristics. He had been a surgeon with the British Army, and had been passing as male since at least 1809.

1867 -- Karl-Heinrich Ulrichs (who relates in his memoirs that as a child, he wore girls' clothing, wanted to be a girl and most enjoyed playing with other girls) becomes the first "Uranian" (he refers to "Urning" as a male who desires men, and "Dioning" as a male who is attracted to women -- it is not until two years later that Karl-Maria Kertbeny coins the word "homosexual") to speak out publicly in defence of GLBT causes, when pleading at the Congress of German Jurists in Munich for a repeal of anti-homosexual laws. He goes on to self-finance the publication of many advocative works written by himself, before finally retiring in exile, in Italy.

1869 -- Karl Friedrich Otto Westphal publishes the first medical paper on transsexuality, describing two cases of what he termed "die contraire Sexualempfindung" ("contrary sexual feeling"), one being a male transvestite (the other was a lesbian)

1872 -- Eugene Schuyler visits Turkestan and observes that, "here boys and youths specially trained to take the place of the dancing-girls of other countries." The Bacchá are androgynous or cross-dressing Turkish underclass boys, trained in erotic dance, but also available as prostitutes. This tradition continues until around or shortly after WWI.

1895 -- Author and playwright Oscar Wilde is convicted of "gross indecency" and sentenced to two years' hard labour. Wilde had been extensively involved with the Victorian underground, and stories (likely some true, some not) circulated about all manner of homosexual and crossdressing activities, though Wilde himself was chiefly made scandal of by his relationship with Lord Alfred Douglas and other young men.

1907 -- Harry Benjamin (January 12, 1885 - August 24, 1986) meets Magnus Hirschfeld (May 14, 1868 - May 14, 1935) for the first time. Although it would be some time before Benjamin would actively research transsexuality, the two men would become the field's pioneers.

1910 -- Magnus Hirschfeld coins the term "transvestite."

1914 -- In a dictionary of criminal slang published in Portland, Oregon, the word "faggot" is first seen as applied to the GLBT community, with the usage example, "All the fagots (sissies) will be dressed in drag at the ball tonight." The word originally appeared in Modern English in the 13th Century, meaning a bundle of sticks (derived from the French). By 16th Century, it meant bundles used for firewood, for the purpose of burning at the stake. A shortened version "fag" is adopted as a British colloquialism for cigarette, and is later (1923) also adopted in print as an epithet for gay and transgender practices, which at that time are all thought to be interlinked -- the obvious implication reflecting what society at that time should largely do about gay and transgender persons.

1919 -- Magnus Hirschfeld founds the Institute for Sexology in Berlin, Germany. This would be the first clinic to serve transgender people regularily and develop their study.

1920 -- Jonathan Gilbert publishes "Homosexuality and Its Treatment," which includes the story of "H," later revealed to be a Portland physician. Dr. Alan Hart "transitioned" by having a hysterectomy and proceeding to live as male, in 1917. The lesbian community would later proclaim Hart to be a pioneer and classify his decision to live as a man as being an accomodation to social prejudice and coercion by a heterosexual doctor, rather than accepting any explaination of transsexuality. However, an examination of the central characters in Hart's novels reveals many of the common themes and feelings that transsexuals experience.

Although a few surgeons had already carried out some incomplete sex reassignment surgeries previously (primarily removing the existing sex organs, not creating new ones), 1920 also saw the first complete surgeries for MTF transsexuals. These took place at Magnus Hirschfeld's Institute for Sexology by Drs. Ludwig Levy-Lenz and Felix Abraham.

1923 -- Recognizing some of the differences from transvestites, Magnus Hirschfeld introduces the term "transsexual."

1920s -- Violette Morris, a decorated French athlete, sues the Fédération Française Sportive Féminine (French Federation of Feminine Sports) for 100,000 francs for withdrawing her license to wear trousers. Morris was infamous for her variance in lifestyle from traditional women, being openly lesbian and masculine in presentation at a time when swearing and smoking were unheard of for women. The lawsuit and lifestyle issues would later see the FFSF bar her from competing in the 1928 Olympics. Around this time, she also has an elective mastectomy performed, under the pretext that it would help her fit more easily in racecars. She would later become an informant for the Germans, and be put to death by the French Resistance.

Somewhere in the 1920s and early 1930s, drag balls developed in Harlem. They were originally arranged by gay white men, but very quickly became multiracial. They became lavish explorations of liberality, intentionally breaking taboos, but would still suffer some racial elitism. An exclusively black drag ball would break this trend when it developed in the 1960s, and the balls would metamorphosize into a transformative dance culture movement. Profiled in the 1991 documentary, "Paris Is Burning" and co-opted by Madonna and the fashion industry for a time, "Voguing" would marry with hip-hop and thrive among over 100 dance "houses" in modern day.

1920s and 1930s -- Carl Jung proposes the idea of Animus and Anima, that every male has some of the feminine in his unconscious (Anima), and every female has some of the masculine (Animus).

1927 -- The first transgender-themed play, Mae West's "The Drag," debuts in Bridgeport, Connecticut. It moves on to New Jersey, but fails to make it to Broadway, largely because it is forced to close after West's arrest for appearing in her first Broadway hit, Sex. Although West originally defends The Drag by saying that she intended the play to call attention to homosexuality as a "disease," she later becomes a sort-of GLBT activist. The play alludes to the writings of Karl-Heinrich Ulrichs, and West later goes on to famously tell policemen who were raiding a gay bar, "Don't you know you're hitting a woman in a man's body?"

The painting "Pinkie" by Sir Thomas Lawrence is acquired by Henry Edwards Huntington. Along with Thomas Gainsborough's "Blue Boy," which was acquired in 1921, the Huntington Collection becomes the focus of a media circus. Although they had nothing in common other than being expensive notables in the same collection, the paintings are often mistaken as contemporary works by the same artist, and categorized as a kind of "Romeo and Juliette" of Rococo pairing by the Los Angeles Times. They become featured as bookends, plate designs, and other merchandise. From this mass-market assault of imagery, the concept of "pink for girls / blue for boys" motif arises -- until this time, the colours had no fixed gender assignation (although pink had previously sometimes been called a boys' colour).

1928 -- Virginia Woolf's novel "Orlando: A Biography" is published, chronicling the story of a man who decides not to grow old. He doesn't, but he awakes one day in the body of a young woman, and lives out a lifetime as her before waking as another man. The remaining centuries up to the time the book was written are seen through a woman's eyes.

1930 -- Marlene Dietrich moves from German Cabaret to American film with her debut in Morocco. As the '30s progress, she becomes infamous for dressing in male attire, and gradually brings this penchant to fashion and film -- ultimately making it acceptable for women to wear pants and other masculine forms of clothing. Reportedly, she was quite persistent on changing into male attire offstage, and rumors circulated of lesbian relationships -- although she has never been fully established as identifying as male.

1930 also saw the transition of Lili Elbe, formerly Einar Wegener, a Danish painter and the first publically-known recipient of an SRS surgery. This became a major public scandal in Germany and Denmark, and the King of Denmark invalidated her marriage that October. She was fully intent on being someday able to conceive a child, and this drove her surgeons to try far-reaching techniques -- she actually endured five surgeries in this process (the first was to remove the male genitals, the second to transplant ovaries -- although she did have underdeveloped ones of her own -- the third was unspecified, the fourth to remove the ovaries due to serious complications and the fifth being a "vaginaplasty"). She died in 1931, probably from complications from her final surgery, although rumors persisted that she had faked her death in order to live in peace.

1931 -- Dr. Felix Abraham publishes "Genital Reassignment of Two Male Transvestites," detailing those first MTF SRS surgeries in 1923.

1932 -- Harry Benjamin arranges a speaking tour for Magnus Hirschfeld in the United States.

By the early 1930s, an awakening was taking place -- although it did not grant any kind of restored status to transgender people, there were pockets of researchers willing to try to understand the transgender condition. Scientists such as Magnus Hirschfeld became champions of this study, and were notably prolific... although his published research was still relegated to less-dignified magazines, because of it's subject matter. Transgender people were slowly climbing out of the abyss. But the centuries of agendas of hatred and oppression were not over yet.
Partial Bibliography:


Much of this had been compiled over time, and not all the sources have been recorded. Some online sources have been involved as well, although I search for more corroboration in these cases.

Bullough, Vern: Homosexuality: A History From Ancient Greece to Gay Liberation
Califia, Patrick: Sex Changes: The Politics of Transgenderism
Colapinto, John: As Nature Made Him: The Story of a Boy Who Was Raised as a Girl
Currah, Paisley; Richard M. Juang and Shannon Price Minter: Transgender Rights
Feinberg, Leslie: TransGender Warriors
Fletcher, Lynne Yamaguchi: The First Gay Pope (and other records)
Kessler Williams, Walter: The Spirit and the Flesh

Read more at http://www.bilerico.com/2008/02/transgender_history_into_the_modern_age.php#ulVuA6Pzdcq7mKTF.99
, Suzanne; and McKenna, Wendy: Gender: An Ethnomethodological Approach
Rudacille, Deborah: The Riddle of Gender
Walker, Barbara: various writings

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Post by Lorri Kat Thu Jun 26, 2014 5:27 pm

Transgender History part 4
From Germany to Stonewall (1933 - 1968)
The 1920s and early 1930s Germany enjoyed a kind of intellectual and social renaissance, as unbridled culture reached out toward all that fascinated it. Richard von Krafft-Ebing and then Havelock Ellis had unlocked the door to serious study of non-heteronormative behavior, even if they and their studies weren't always taken seriously or dignified in some medical circles. Ellis' book, Sexual Inversion was the first serious English medical exploration of homosexuality, and many of his other studies delved into autoeroticism, narcissism, and things that are now classified as fetishes and paraphilias (Ellis himself became fond of "Undinism," a fetish involving the sight of a woman urinating). Magnus Hirschfeld followed in these steps.

The fields of Psychiatry, Psychology and other social sciences were in their infancy. Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung were defining the field. In the midst of this, homosexuality was "coming out," Hirschfeld's "Institute for Sexual Science" in Berlin initiated forays both clinical and surgical into studies of transgender, homosexual and other behavior, and there was some amount of libertarianism circulating among the upper- and educated classes.
But the rise of the National Socialist (Nazi) Party to power would drive much of this underground until the final third of the century. One of the first priorities of Hitler's regime was to attack Hirschfeld's work, which was at a conjunction between what was considered "sexual perversion and permissiveness" and what Hitler at first thought to be a "Jewish science," psychoanalysis.
The Fall

1933 -- A few months after Hitler assumes power in Germany, Hirschfeld's Institute for Sexual Science is vandalized and looted by a mob of Nazi "students." On May 6th, its archives of books, photographs, research documents and more are burned publically in Opera Square. The physicians and researchers involved with the clinic flee Germany, or in some cases commit suicide, unable to otherwise escape. Magnus Hirschfeld had moved to Paris by this time, and dies in exile in Nice, of a heart attack on his 67th birthday.

1937 -- The Pink Triangle is first used as a symbol to denote all people of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender backgrounds (in the 1970s, the Pink Triangle would metamorphosize into a symbol of defiance and solidarity in the GLBT community). Prisoners in Nazi concentration camps are made to wear triangular patches identifying their status: green for criminals, yellow for Jews, red for Communists, blue for illegal emigres, purple for Jehovah's Witnesses, black for "antisocials," brown for gypsies, and pink for "homosexuals." In the hierarchy that developed, pink was near the bottom, and GLBT persons suffered extremely high death rates -- they were also commonly used in medical experiments.

Pharmaceutical Triggers and Solutions

1938 -- Di-Ethyl Stilbestrol (DES) is introduced into chicken feed as a means of increasing meat production. Later, it is marketed to pregnant women as a "vitamin" to help prevent miscarriages (an unsubstantiated claim). Prescriptions for this purpose ceased in 1973, because by the 1970s, this drug became linked to endometriosis, uterine cancer, ovarian cancer and infertility in female children. It has more recently been linked to intersex conditions and transsexuality -- but not conclusively, and scientific researchers have shown only limited interest in delving further into such Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals (EDCs).

1941 -- Premarin® (conjugated estrogens from pregnant mares) is first marketed in Canada (the U.S. follows in two years).

The phrase "drag queen" first appears in print, although it had been used as theater and gay culture slang as early as the 1870s, and "drag" appeared alone in print in 1914. It is thought to be a shortening of "dressed as girl," versus the alternately used "drab," from "dressed as boy."

1942 -- Dr. Harry Klinefelter first diagnoses Klinefelter's Syndrome, a condition caused by a chromosome nondisjunction in males; affected individuals have XX chromosomes instead of XY, and are at additional risk for some medical conditions. Patients with Klinefelter's Syndrome can be (but are not always) characterized by effeminate appearance, sterility, some gynecomastia (breast tissue growth) and occasional transgenderism.

1946 -- The Garden of Allah opens in the basement of the Arlington Hotel, in Seattle's Pioneer Square. It is not the first gay cabaret club, but becomes fairly well-known and is chronicled in the book, An Evening at the Garden of Allah: A Gay Cabaret in Seattle.

1948 -- Harry Benjamin is introduced by Alfred Kinsey to a boy who wants to become a girl, and whose mother seeks a treatment to assist, rather than thwart the child. The following year, he begins treating transsexuals in San Francisco and New York with hormones. The Institute for Sexual Science had not previously done this; the treatment was entirely new.

The Re-Emergence of Modern Surgery

1949 -- Michael Dillon becomes the first female-to-male transsexual to complete sex-change operation procedures after a series of 13 pre-phalloplasty operations performed in London over a four-year period. Phalloplasty for FTM transsexuals would not be coherently developed for a single surgery until 1958.

1950 -- Harry Hay founds The Mattachine Society, a group which sought to organize, unify and define the homosexual community. Crossdressing and gender variance were considered undesirable portrayals of homosexuality by the Society, and in defining homosexuality, the process of seperating transgender from gay lifestyle had begun. In 1955, The Daughters of Bilitis rose to unite the lesbian community, and while there wasn't any strong distaste for breaking gender role (which was interpreted as rising against male-dominated society), it did exclude MTF transsexuals.

1951 -- Roberta Cowell has the first known vaginaplasty performed in the U.K. A few other European physicians also resurrect the procedure, developed from earlier German research.

1952 -- Christine Jorgensen (May 30, 1926 - May 3, 1989) is "outed" to the American press, and becomes the subject of great controversy. Her surgery had been performed earlier by Dr. Christian Hamburger in Copenhagen, Denmark. She hadn't wanted to become a public spectacle, but spent her remaining years educating people about transsexuals. The now-classic headline reads: "Ex-GI Becomes Blonde Bombshell."

1953 -- Ed Wood Jr.'s film "Glen or Glenda" appears, providing a surprisingly sincere attempt to understand transgenderism, despite its bizarre and schlocky B-movie trappings. The movie was purportedly inspired by Christine Jorgensen. Wood would later become rather famous in Hollywood circles for being a transvestite.

1955 -- Dr. John Money, a psychologist, writes the first of many papers in the Bulletin of the Johns Hopkins Hospital which will establish for him a reputation as a pioneer in the field of sexual development, and a proposes the theory that gender identity develops primarily as a result of social learning from early childhood.

Dame Edna Everidge first appears in a Melbourne comedy revue in 1955. At this time she is known as "Mrs Norm Everage". She goes on to become an Australian figure of note in the 1990s.

1958 -- The first complete single-surgery Phalloplasty for gender reassignment purposes is performed by Dr. Judy T. Wu in Bratsk, Russia. Previously, the procedure had only been devised for men who had experienced amputations, particularily during WWI, with some early attempts to develop FTM procedures in the decade preceeding. Phalloplasty would still not become very refined until the 1970s, when additional aspects such as a pump for creating erections would be devised for injured Vietnam veterans. Phalloplasty for female-to-male transsexuals is more complicated for someone not having the original infrastructure, as the organ and its function are not easy to replicate mechanically.

The Trans Community Develops Its Own Fissures

1960 -- Virginia (Charles) Prince begins publishing Transvestia Magazine. She also founds Los Angeles' Hose and Heels Club, which counts 12 crossdressers as members, and another organization that develops into Tri-Ess ("The Society for the Second Self"). These organizations are thought to be the first modern transgender support groups, and the magazine is the first publication for and by transgender people. She proceeds with a strong belief, however, in "heterosexual crossdressing" (i.e. crossdressers who are only attracted to women) and excludes "gay" or "bisexual" crossdressers from her groups, as well as transitioning transsexuals. Prince eventually goes on to live full-time as female, but Tri-Ess still does not allow full membership for gay men or MTF transsexuals to this day.

1961 -- José Sarria becomes the first transgender-identified person to run for public office. A legendary drag queen, Sarria received 5,600 votes when running for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Sarria (who still identified as male, at least at the time) proclaimed himself "Her Royal Majesty, Empress of San Francisco, Jose I, The Widow Norton," the latter being a reference to the 19th Century Joshua Norton, who had colorfully proclaimed himself Emperor of the United States. This led to the 1965 founding of the Imperial Court System, a non-profit charitable organization of mostly drag queens that continues to this day to raise funds and awareness for other charities and people in need. Based on Sarria's model, another Court materialized in Vancouver, Canada in 1971, followed by many more in many major cities across North America. Sarria also later appears with other drag queens in the opening portion of the motion picture, "To Wong Foo: Thanks For Everything -- Julie Newmar."

1965 -- David Reimer is born (named Bruce, by his parents). The following year, his penis is burned up to the base during a circumcision accident. He is taken to the Johns Hopkins Medical Center in Baltimore to see John Money, who recommends that Reimer be raised and socialized as a girl. An orchidectomy was performed, and Reimer was raised with the name "Brenda." Reimer's case would later have a major impact on the practice of medically assigning gender for those with genital ambiguities or related incidents.

(Trans)Gender Clinics and Studies Re-emerge

1966 -- Harry Benjamin publishes The Transsexual Phenomenon. Although he hadn't coined the word "transsexual," it became the term of choice following this publication, with relation to transgender people who need to live full-time as their identified gender, and alter their bodies.

Johns Hopkins Medical Center opens the first Gender Clinic, under John Money's guidance. Although Money's beliefs and writings cause severe damage with regards to intersex children and gender reassignment at birth, he also champions gender reassignment surgery (SRS) in adults, and the clinic becomes a mecca for gender transition (it also inspires the opening of gender clinics at University hospitals across North America). Much of the surgical work from this time would refine SRS techniques. Money's legacy would be a mixed blessing/curse to the transgender cause, and seed some division between intersex and transgender people as a consequence.

One hot August night in San Francisco, the management at Gene Compton's Cafeteria call police to deal with an unruly table of transpeople, hustlers, and down-and-outers (a typical segment of their clientele). When they attempt to arrest one of the drag queens, she throws coffee in his face, and a riot ensues, spilling out into the street. Although transgender (and gay pride) activism wouldn't be galvanized until the Stonewall riot of 1969, the Compton's riot would help set the stage for the gay pride movement, as well as be a spark to draw the San Francisco GLBT communities together earlier than elsewhere, making the city a cultural mecca for alternate sexualities. The story of Compton's Cafeteria is not well known, but told in the documentary Screaming Queens. After the riot, (now-Sgt.) Elliot Blackstone, who had been appointed the first liaison to the GLBT community in 1962, educates many on the Police force, helping the city to become one of the most trans-friendly environments in the world. He also helps to organize San Francisco's first transgender support group.

Mid 1960s through the '70s -- Reed Erickson (1917 - 1992) founds the Erickson Educational Foundation, which supports many research projects that don't fit into the usual catagories of grants... parapsychology, dolphin / human communication, human potential movement, and transsexuality. Erickson's financial support makes much of the work of Harry Benjamin and John Money's Gender Clinic at Johns Hopkins possible.

1968 -- The International Olympic Committee (IOC) begins chromosome testing of female athletes, effectively banning transsexuals and some intersexed individuals (some of whom were fertile as female, with children) from competition, until 2002.

As Western culture neared the 1970s, a flashpoint was building up, as evidenced by the Compton's Cafeteria riot. While there had been some improvement in the lot of transsexuals (universities begin opening clinics for treating them, and surgeries were extended to non-intersexed transsexuals), a larger overall community that encompassed LGBT people was growing impatient with a system that relentlessly tried to shut them all in a suffocating closet. 1969 would change that.
Partial Bibliography:


Much of this had been compiled over time, and not all the sources have been recorded. Some online sources have been involved as well, although I search for more corroboration in these cases.

Bullough, Vern: Homosexuality: A History From Ancient Greece to Gay Liberation
Califia, Patrick: Sex Changes: The Politics of Transgenderism
Colapinto, John: As Nature Made Him: The Story of a Boy Who Was Raised as a Girl
Currah, Paisley; Richard M. Juang and Shannon Price Minter: Transgender Rights
Feinberg, Leslie: TransGender Warriors
Fletcher, Lynne Yamaguchi: The First Gay Pope (and other records)
Kessler, Suzanne; and McKenna, Wendy: Gender: An Ethnomethodological Approach
Rudacille, Deborah: The Riddle of Gender
Walker, Barbara: various works
Williams, Walter: The Spirit and the Flesh

Read more at http://www.bilerico.com/2008/03/transgender_history_from_germany_to_ston.php#Chm66YWjHQYPHtKb.99


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Post by Lorri Kat Thu Jun 26, 2014 5:28 pm

Transgender History part 5
Stonewall and Its Fissures (1969-1995)
(Author's note: I wish to clarify something. Not everyone mentioned in the transgender history considered themselves to be transgender. Certainly, k.d. lang, below, did not. Persons such as George Sand and Jose Sarria are debated as well. And historically, it is unlikely that everyone who rode with "Rebecca and her Daughters," for example, were gay or trans -- but their act of gender defiance, which drew from earlier pagan tradition, reflects a mode of thought about gender at the time. Each of these events listed were significant moments in a history of the transgression of gender roles, even if the persons themselves were not trans. I do not mean to co-opt these people, but I do think that some of what they did or how they lived deserves mention in a history of transgender existence).

By 1969, alongside the questioning of authority, resentment of war and youthful unrest that had been happening with the "hippie" movement, the frustrations of non-heteronormative communities was coming to a boil. The flashpoint would finally be a series of attempted arrests stemming from a law that required people to wear at least three articles of clothing pertaining to their biological gender (a law which still exists on the books in some States, today). While periods of unrest were common in San Francisco, where the Compton's riot and a few others took place, New York was far less accustomed to what would take place at a gay establishment that June. But ironically, as quickly as their unified strength would empower the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender communities, they would soon fall into division, with the more-visible gender-transgressive people particularily left on the outside.
1969 -- Sylvia Rivera (2 July 1951-19 February 2002) throws a bottle at New York City cops harassing patrons at Stonewall Inn on June 28, 1969; friend Marsha P. Johnson (1945 - July 6, 1992 -- Johnson is one of the many we remember during the Transgender Day of Remembrance) and several others join in. The Stonewall Rebellion touches off the gay and lesbian liberation movements (in other re-tellings, Johnson throws the first projectile). A founding member of both the Gay Liberation Front and the Gay Activists Alliance, by 1974, those organizations would abandon Rivera, seeing transgender people as being an embarrassment and a political liability to the gay rights cause. By the 1990s, political gay and lesbian groups would denounce Rivera's contribution, even denying at one point that she was present during the Stonewall Riots. Rivera gradually fell into alcoholism, and it wouldn't be until the turn of the millennium that she would reemerge as a public figure.
1969 also saw the first Gender Symposium, which would develop into the Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association (HBIGDA). In 2006, the organization would change its name to the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH).

Stonewalled
1970 -- Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson form STAR, the first transgender activist organization, which later included a safe-house (at times -- in the beginning, it depended on when they were able to find an abandoned trailer). STAR is often shut out from funding by other GLBT organizations, including those that Rivera helped to found, and consequently, Rivera and Johnson would continually return to sex trade work in order to pay for both their living expenses and the ongoing operation of the organization and safe house -- food, electricity, etc.
Virginia Prince, of Tri-Ess, coins the word "transgender," albeit with a limited definition to describe her crossdressing. Prince's brand of "transgender" initially consciously excluded transsexuals (i.e. anyone taking hormones or desiring surgery), anyone of the female-to-male variety and androphiles (crossdressers who were attracted to men). It would later evolve into an all-inclusive term.
April Corbett's (neé Ashley; alternate link) marriage is annulled and she is declared to be legally still a man, in spite of a legal sex reassignment, leaving United Kingdom post-operative transsexuals in legal limbo, unable to marry as either sex, until 2004. Similar occurrences take place in various U.S. states, creating a picture in which marriage and spousal benefits would remain contestable in the courts, in the absence of legalized same-sex marriage.
Andy Warhol protege and transwoman Holly Woodlawn debuts in the movie Trash. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences would be petitioned by fans to nominate her for an Oscar, but the AMPAS ultimately chose not to. Woodlawn would appear in a few more films and then disappear from sight, but not before being immortalized in the Lou Reed song, "Walk on the Wild Side."
After initial rejection by founder Betty Friedan (who referred to lesbians as "the lavender menace"), the National Organization for Women (NOW) expands policy to include lesbian rights. Embrace of transgender issues does not come until circa 2003, and then only gradually adopts trans-friendly policies (the situation is much better today). As NOW represents much of the core of the feminist movement, feminism as a whole is still somewhat resistant to accepting transwomen as "women," even after surgery is performed, but conversely has tended to eject transmen, right from the moment of beginning transition.
1970s (specific year debated) -- Metoidioplasty is developed for female-to-male transsexuals. Phalloplasty had existed previously, but Metoidioplasty was seen as a more affordable option, with better results in sensation. (Transmen who are interested in the different types of surgery but not able to find out from other FTMs are advised to check out Loren Cameron's book Body Alchemy which profiles different types... phalloplasty appearance has improved somewhat since that book, but it is otherwise an excellent reference)
1972 -- John Money (with Anke Ehrhardt) publishes "Man & Woman, Boy & Girl: Gender Identity from Conception to Maturity." He would go on to publish several more books asserting that gender is learned, and not genetically predetermined. This theory is seized upon by the feminist movement as evidence that women are socialized to be passive against their true natures, and this later becomes a wedge between lesbian feminists and transsexual women. In many of his writings of this time, Money cites his famous "John/Joan case", which he touts as being a socialization of a boy whose penis had been lost in a circumcision accident, to be raised successfully as a girl. "John/Joan," however, is David Reimer, who is not settling into his reassigned gender as "Brenda" as well as Money believes.

As a consequence of many of Money's writings, pediatricians mistakenly take up the practice of gender assignment at birth. This is most often determined by the length of the penile / clitoral tissue: if it is smaller than a certain length, the child's tissue is "trimmed" (in fact, mostly excised) and they are assigned to be raised as a girl. This policy continued up to the turn of the millennium, and is a major factor in the origins of many intersex children.
Jamie Farr's crossdressing character, Corporal Maxwell Q. Klinger, debuts on the CBS television show M*A*S*H - the first transgender-related character to appear regularly on TV. Although Klinger was said to crossdress only as an attempt to be given a discharge from the Army, it is the first moment of particular visibility that deviates from comedians' sporadic use of crossdressing for comedic purposes (popularized by Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon in the movie "Some Like It Hot" as well as by comedians ranging from Milton Berle to Jerry Lewis to Monty Python's Flying Circus), and develops into sympathetic characterization.
1973 -- Folk singer and accomplished activist Beth Elliott, aka "Mustang Sally," becomes vice-president of the Daughters of Bilitis. Soon afterward, she is "outed" as a transsexual, and hounded out of the organization by transphobic lesbian seperatists. At the West Coast Lesbian Conference held in Los Angeles later that year, the controversy would continue as lesbians protest the fact that Elliott is scheduled to perform at the meeting. She would mostly abandon activism until 1983.
This division continues, as Sylvia Rivera is followed at a Gay Pride Rally by Jean O'Leary, who denounces transwomen as female impersonators profiting from the derision and oppression of women.
Homosexuality is delisted from the medical community's standard DSM, declaring that it is no longer a mental disorder (and never was). Transgenderism, however, remains listed as a mental disability, termed "gender dysphoria," to this day.
The earliest version of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) is introduced as voting legislation. It is not transgender-inclusive at this time, and does not pass.
The stage musical, The Rocky Horror Show debuts in London. Jim Sharman and Richard O'Brien would later translate it to film as The Rocky Horror Picture Show, which would become a true cult phenomenon. The theme, "don't dream it, be it" becomes a rallying cry for many transsexuals as well as many libertarians of all stripes.
Australian showgirl-turned-actress Carlotta (known for her performances in the long-running 1963 Les Girls cabaret, in which she was a founding member) debuts in the soap opera Number 96 playing Robyn Ross, a transgender showgirl. When the character's (and actress') identity is revealed, she is quickly written out of the show due to viewer response. Carlotta later becomes the inspiration for the movie, The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.
1974 -- Jan Morris publishes Conundrum, the story of her quest for personal identity, and one of the earliest autobiographies to shed light on the transsexual dilemma.

The Tennis Star
1976 -- Reneé Richards (August 19, 1934 - present) is "outed" and barred from competition when she attempts to enter a womens' tennis tournament (the U.S. Open). Her subsequent legal battle establishes that transsexuals are fully, legally recognized in their new identity after SRS, in the United States. Her story would be told in the book and movie, Second Serve, but Richards would later decide that she regretted her transition due to the resulting public harassment.
Jonathan Ned Katz publishes Gay American History: Lesbians and Gay Men in the U.S.A. and the connection between Jonathan Gilbert's "H" and Dr. Alan Hart, but asserts Hart as a lesbian, effectively stealing transgender history.
The City of San Francisco clears away antiquated laws about clothing and gender, to make crossdressing legal.
1977 -- Sandy Stone is "outed" while working for Olivia Records, the first womens' music record label, as a recording engineer. Lesbian activists threaten a boycott of Olivia products and concerts, forcing the company to ask for Stone's resignation. Angela Douglas writes a satirical letter to Sister as a protest of the transphobia in the lesbian community in general, and the attacks on Sandy Stone in particular.

1978 -- San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and city supervisor Harvey Milk are assassinated by disgruntled former supervisor Dan White. Harvey Milk was the first openly gay politician to be elected to office (1977), and his legacy left a lasting impression on the GLBT community.

Quashing the Lavender Revolution
1979 -- Janice Raymond publishes The Transsexual Empire, a semi-scholarly transphobic attack. In the book, she cites Andrea Douglas' letter out of context as an example of transsexual mysogyny, and casts Sandy Stone's involvement in Olivia Records as "divisive" and "patriarchal." (Stone would reply to these accusations in her book, The Empire Strikes Back: A Posttranssexual Manifesto.) She championed the idea that gender is purely a matter of "sex role socialization" (an opinion that coincided very much with John Money's, despite her open attacks on him), writing "... All transsexuals rape women's bodies by reducing the real female form to an artifact, appropriating this body for themselves. However, the transsexually constructed lesbian feminnist violates women's sexuality and spirit as well.... Transsexuals merely cut off the most obvious means of invading women, so that they seem non-invasive."
Johns Hopkins Medical Center closes its Gender Clinic, under the recommendation of new curator, Paul McHugh, John Money's successor and an opponent to both Money's idea of gender as being learned, and Money's support of transsexuals' need to transition. Over the next two decades, many of the other Gender Clinics across North America would follow suit. The closure was justified by pointing to a 1979 report ("Sex Reassignment: Follow-up," published in Archives of General Psychiatry 36, no. 9) by Jon Meyer and Donna Reter that claimed to show "no objective improvement" following male-to-female GRS surgery. This report was later widely questioned and eventually found to be contrived and possibly fraudulent, but the damage had been done.
Musician and synthesized music pioneer Wendy Carlos transitions and goes public.
Gays, lesbians and transsexuals, who were previously condemned to death in Iran, are given a new fate under law: they are forced to undergo SRS surgery to "correct" the inclination. Transsexuals are still held with a great deal of derision in Iran, and are encouraged to keep silent about their past.

"John/Joan" Becomes "John" Again
1980 -- David Reimer (as "Brenda") learns at the age of 15 from his parents that he had been born a boy, and decides to re-establish a male identity. This process would take until 1997, and involve testosterone injections, a double-mastectomy and two phalloplasty surgeries.
Joanna Clark, aka Sister Mary Elizabeth, an Episcopal Nun, organizes the ACLU Transsexual Rights Committee.
Paul Walker organizes the Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association to promote standards of care for transsexual and transgender clients. He also founds the Janus Information Facility, continuing the work of Erickson Educational Foundation. Later, he would fall ill, and Joanna Clark and Jude Patton would co-found J2CP Information Services to continue this legacy.
1981 -- Model, actress and Bond Girl Caroline Cossey ("Tula") is "outed" by the British press. She would later become the first post-operative transsexual to pose for Playboy. By 1988, she would be struggling with the European Court of Human Rights to recognize her as a female -- she would win in June 1989, but the court would overturn their decision a year later. Recognition would not come until The Gender Recognition Act 2004.
1982 -- Boy George (George Alan O'Dowd) and Culture Club emerge on the pop charts with the song, "Do You Really Want To Hurt Me?" His crossdressing image is not totally new (androgyny had been played with by the likes of David Bowie, Steve Tyler and Aerosmith, Hall and Oates, Elton John...), but had certainly never been taken to the same extreme. By 1986, however, the disintegration of his relationship with drummer Jon Moss and drug problems would hamstring him and Culture Club would be disbanded. Despite some resurgences (he had a hit with the Roy Orbison song for the movie The Crying Game, for example).

Film Successes
1983 -- Jessica Lange wins the Best Actress Oscar for her role in Tootsie, a Sydney Pollack movie in which Dustin Hoffman plays an actor who takes on a female persona in order to secure work in a soap opera. Hoffman and Pollack are also nominated in the Best Actor and Best Director categories but do not win the Oscar. Although not a portrayal of the transgender community, the movie is the first gender-transgressive one to be recognized with such an honor. Lange also later appears in the transgender positive made-for-TV movie, Normal. Later recognition for transgender-related film works include a win for Hilary Swank (Oscars, 2000, Boys Don't Cry, Best Actress), a Golden Globe win for Best Picture (Ma Vie En Rose), and nominations for Jaye Davidson (Oscars, 1993, The Crying Game, Best Supporting Actor; Neil Jordan won the Oscar for his screenplay but lost the Directorial nomination), Felicity Huffman (Oscars, 2006, Transamerica, Best Actress; Golden Globe win for same category), and Edouard Molinaro (Oscars, 1980, La Cage Aux Folles, Best Director).
1984 -- The International Foundation for Gender Education (IFGE) is founded, becoming the first major transgender organization to welcome both transsexual and crossdressing members, along with dual inclusion in its magazine, Tapestry (later, Transgender Tapestry Journal).
Heavy Metal band Twisted Sister brings gender-bending to the fore in a different music genre, although glam rock had been somewhat previously popularized by Aerosmith and KISS in the 1970s. Censorship contributes to the failure of their follow-up album, and front man Dee Snider spends two years heavily occupied with the music industry fight against the PMRC music labelling movement.
The Folsom Street Fair is organized as a continuing show of resistence to San Francisco's redevelopment plans, which would drive poorer working-class folks from the area. It would become a counterculture mecca, attracting the gay, leather and transgender communities. Originally entitled "Megahood," it draws some inspiration from George Orwell's novel, "1984."
Mid-1980s -- Bugis Street, in the city-state of Singapore, is renovated, bringing to an end its reputation as a gathering place for transsexual women. It had been a major tourist attraction for this reason since the 1950s, being particularly popular with American G.I.s. During the "disco" era, it would be nicknamed "Boogie Street."
Futanari, a genre of Japanese comics featuring characters with both male and female sex organs (which is technically impossible), develops during this time, growing out of manga and often being highly pornographic.
1985 -- A pink granite monument is unveiled at the site of the Neuengamme concentration camp dedicated to the homosexual victims of Naziism. To some, it stands as a memorial to all gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender individuals killed in the Holocaust, as the Nazis did not distinguish between them.
1986 -- Lou Sullivan founds FTM International.
1987 -- Albertan k.d. lang makes her musical debut. lang, whose image is very much a gender-challenging form of androgyny, exemplifies the dichotomy within the lesbian community regarding female-to-male transsexuals: so long as one does not step beyond the "butch" limit to actually transition to male, they are accepted and even applauded, but those who transition are deemed "traitors." lang herself is out as a lesbian, but does not identify as being transgender.

Autogynephilia and The Clarke Institute
1989 -- Billy Tipton, a well-respected jazz musician, bleeds to death from an ulcer, rather than seek medical help. He is discovered to be biologically female, after presenting as a man since 1933.
Ray Blanchard proposes the theory of autogynephilia, which he defined as "a man's paraphilic tendency to be sexually aroused by the thought or image of himself as a woman." This theory catches on with some writers of the time, even transgender advocate Dr. Anne Lawrence, but is never quite accepted by the medical community as a whole, as it has many gaps in study (and logic), and widely conflicts with the accepted model of gender identity disorder. By the turn of the millennium, it would be mostly dropped in favor of more biological studies of transgenderism, with one exception. Adherent J. Michael Bailey would take up this torch in the 2003 book, The Man Who Would Be Queen, which would be repeatedly discredited, and yet still lend him enough credibility to be mistaken as an authority.

Blanchard is also the head of the Clinical Sexology Services at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH, also known as the Clarke Institute) in Toronto, which would become notoriously resistant to signing off on GRS surgery approval. Eventually, GRS funding is dropped by Ontario Health, as a means to strip the institute of its "gatekeeper" powers and treatment that many allege to contravene the recommended treatment in the DSM-IV. In a sub-department, Dr. Kenneth Zucker also later draws fire for treating transgender children using much the same methods of "ex-gay" therapists.
RuPaul first appears in the B52s video "Love Shack," and goes on to become a drag queen of worldwide notoriety.
1990 -- The term "two-spirit" originates in Winnipeg, Canada, during the third annual intertribal Native American/First Nations gay and lesbian conference. It comes from the Ojibwa words niizh manidoowag (two-spirits). It is chosen as a means to distance Native/First Nations people from non-Natives, as well as from the words "berdache" and "gay" -- previously, there were a myriad of words used, different depending on tribe. The phrase "two-spirit" is used to denote all third-gendered or gender variant peoples, including gays, lesbians, bisexuals, transgender persons, effeminate males (regardless of orientation), masculine females (likewise), and androgynous folk -- but the intersexed are held in particularily high regard, and thought to be beings of potentially great power and blessing. The older term of "berdache" had been French in origin, and is derived from Arabic and Eastern words meaning "kept boy" or "male prostitute." "Berdache" was used by explorers to explain to Western cultures how many Native traditions held a special reverence for two-spirit peoples to the earliest time, especially the Lakota, Ojibwa, Blackfoot, Cheyenne, Mojave, Navajo and Cree tribes (others, such as the Comanche, Eyak, Iroquois and many Apache bands did not often recognize the existence of two-spirits) -- but the term "berdache" was almost always used by Europeans in a derogatory context. Two-spirit peoples were thought to have both male and female persons living within the same body, and a two-spirited child's gender would be determined at puberty, based on their inclination toward masculine or feminine activities. In the last century, modern Christianity had "evangelized," indoctrinated and destroyed many Native traditions, and two-spirit people are only now just re-emerging from homophobic stigmas.
1991 -- Jonathan Demme's film, The Silence of the Lambs -- based on a novel by Thomas Harris -- debuts and creates an uproar when the film's end-story villain exhibits stereotypical gay and transgender habits, intertwined with his homicidal behaviours... creating associations of psychopathy with transsexualism.

Womyn-Born-Womyn
1992 -- Nancy Jean Burkholter is ejected from the Michigan Womyn's Festival by transphobic festival organizers. The festival's policy is that the particularity of "womyn-born-womyn (WBW) experience comes from being born and raised in a female body. The following year, Camp Trans would be set up outside the entrance to the gate in protest of this policy -- and continued three years following.
1993 -- Cheryl Chase founds the Intersex Society of North America (ISNA).
"March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay and Bi Equal Rights and Liberation" organizers include bisexuals, but refuse to include transgender in the name of the march, despite months of work to try to get inclusion.
Brandon Teena is raped and later murdered by members of his circle of friends, when they discover his female genitalia. The story is later retold with an Oscar-winning performance in the movie, Boys Don't Cry.
Anthony Summers publishes Official and Confidential: The Secret Life of J. Edgar Hoover, in which the rumor that Hoover was a transvestite is finally put into print. In the book, a Mrs. Susan Rosenstiel alleged that in 1958 she and her husband met Hoover and McCarthy lawyer Roy Cohn, both in drag. Several writers since have strongly discredited Mrs. Rosenstiel, and it is most likely that Hoover's crossdressing is merely an urban legend. He may have been gay, however, as some (possibly circumstantial) information about he and right-hand man Clyde Tolson is more creditable.

Toward Inclusion

Also in 1993, trans activists working for many years with gay and lesbian activists successfully pass an anti-discrimination law in the State of Minnesota, protecting transsexual and transgender people along with gays and lesbians. This is the first instance of inclusion in the U.S. despite the number of human rights motions since the 1970s to protect rights based on sexual orientation.
1994 -- Transgender activists protest exclusion from Stonewall25 celebrations and The Gay Games in New York City. The Gay Games later rescinds rules that require "documented completion of sex change" before allowing transgender individuals to compete.
Assotto Saint (Yves Lubin), a Haitian gay and trans poet and author of color dies of HIV-related illness. The pioneering author and publisher had penned several influential works, and was on the verge of completing two anthologies by the time of his death.
Several cities on the west coast of the U.S. pass anti-discrimination statues protecting transsexual and transgender people.
Hijras in India are given the right to vote. Within 5 years, a hijra will be elected as a Member of Parliament (Shabnam "Mausi" Bano, in 1998). Hijras are third-gender persons, usually male or intersex in origin, and living as female. Estimates range between 50,000 and 5,000,000 hijras currently living in the Indian subcontinent alone. Although early English writings and several contemporary ones refer to them as eunuchs, not all undergo castration. Hijras are limited by caste, must train under a teacher, and are considered low class. Violence against hijras is common, and the authorities continue to be slow to do anything about the problem.
Mid-1990s -- Prominent and respected lesbian writer, activist and therapist Pat (now Patrick) Califia comes out as a transman, and begins his transition to male. The lesbian community largely rejects Califia as a consequence, although there are pockets that still show support. Regardless, Califia's writings still strike a chord with many of the (sometimes-called) "alternative lifestyle" communities, from lesbian to leather.
1995 -- Transsexual activists protest Oregon's Right to Privacy (now known as "Right to Pride") political action committee to cease using Alan Hart's old name as an award given out to lesbian activists. Over the following years, some of his legacy would be regained by the transgender community, and his preferred male name would regain recognition.
Tyra Hunter dies following a traffic accident in Washington, D.C. Her injuries should have been minor, but when the responding EMT team (a crew of D.C. firefighters) arrives on the scene, cut away her clothing and discover her genitalia, they then withdraw medical care, uttering epithets and taunting her as she bleeds. When she is finally taken to D.C. General Hospital, she is also given inadequate care and dies from blood loss. In 1998, a jury awards Tyra's mother $2,873,000 after finding the District of Columbia (via both the EMTs and Hospital) guilty of negligence and malpractice. Several activist groups form, in her memory, including the Transgender Youth Resources and Advocacy (TYRA) initiative.
Georgina Beyer becomes New Zealand's (and the World's) first transsexual Mayor in Carterton, where she remained until 2000 (see 1999 entry).
The Triangle Program opens in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, designed for GLBT students at risk of dropping out or committing suicide because of homophobia in regular schools.
As the GLB and T communities began to enjoy their newfound freedoms, there was a lot of self-differentiation that took place. Each community wished to distinguish themselves from other communities, sometimes at those other communities' expense. Transgender people were not the only ones adversely affected. The lesbian community went through a period in the politically-correct 1980s of ejecting lesbians who fit the "butch" and "femme" paradigms, because they were seen as creating "bad stereotypes" of that community as well (although this still has some root in the expression of gender). Most tragic of this was that it was often those "butch / femme" lesbians who had been first to "come out" and become involved with their community. But while many of these divisions would sow resentments and infighting, they would eventually become recognized as growing pains as the various communities redefined their new place in the world, and those divisions would gradually start to be overcome.
Partial Bibliography:
Much of this had been compiled over time, and not all the sources have been recorded. Some online sources have been involved as well, although I search for more corroboration in these cases.
Bullough, Vern: Homosexuality: A History From Ancient Greece to Gay Liberation
Califia, Patrick: Sex Changes: The Politics of Transgenderism
Colapinto, John: As Nature Made Him: The Story of a Boy Who Was Raised as a Girl
Currah, Paisley; Richard M. Juang and Shannon Price Minter: Transgender Rights
Feinberg, Leslie: TransGender Warriors
Fletcher, Lynne Yamaguchi: The First Gay Pope (and other records)
Kessler, Suzanne; and McKenna, Wendy: Gender: An Ethnomethodological Approach
Rudacille, Deborah: The Riddle of Gender
Walker, Barbara: various works
Williams, Walter: The Spirit and the Flesh

Read more at http://www.bilerico.com/2008/03/transgender_history_stonewall_and_its_fi.php#6xZuF6mIxyIUEK8Q.99
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Gender Idenity History  Empty Re: Gender Idenity History

Post by Lorri Kat Thu Jun 26, 2014 5:29 pm

Transgender History part 6
Toward the Future (1996-)
It is interesting that it really wasn't until after Stonewall, when the GLB and T communities started to define themselves, that marked divisions occurred among them. From the earliest ages, gender variance and same-sex love were seen as connected and congruous, even if one aspect manifested entirely without the other.
Before the oppression of the Middle Ages, both were also seen as equally innate and equally respectable. The rifts that began in the early 1970s (albeit with some earlier genesis in The Mattachine Society and Daughters of Bilitis), deepening with third-wave feminism and other movements, would start to come closer together again as Western culture approached the new millennium, and as the various communities learned that they could distinguish themselves, and still learn to understand and respect each other.
The trans community would remain outside the longest, not seeing any protective civil rights legislation pass until 1993. But as inclusion would spread, so would protections.
1996: JoAnna McNamera of It's Time Oregon successfully convinces Oregon's Bureau of Labor and Industry (BOLI) that transsexuals are protected under existing Oregon labor law dealing with discrimination of people with disabilities and medical conditions. This made Oregon the third state to extend employment protection to transgender people, following Minnesota and Nebraska.
Michael Alig is arrested for the murder of "Angel" Melendez over a drug debt. The arrest draws national attention to the Club Kids, an often-cross-dressing troupe of wildly costumed teens in New York in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The Club Kids fall from grace and eventually vanish. The story is later chronicled in James St. James' memoir, "Disco Bloodbath," and in a movie and documentary, both entitled, "Party Monster." Of particular significance, the famous female impersonator RuPaul was discovered during the Club Kids' tour of the talk show circuit, roughly around 1988, and later catapults to fame in a music video for the B-52s' single, "Love Shack."
The Boy Who Was Raised as a Girl: The Fate of David Reimer
1997: Milton Diamond and Dr. H. Keith Sigmundson publish a paper that expose John Money's claims of success in the "John/Joan" case. Sigmundson is David Reimer's supervising psychiatrist at that time, and the two describe Reimer's literal quest to regain his manhood. Diamond goes on to found the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality.
1998: John Colapinto publishes "As Nature Made Him: The Boy Who Was Raised As A Girl," telling David Reimer's story in depth, on the heels of a pivotal Rolling Stone article on the subject. Ongoing troubles would plague Reimer, however, including divorce, the death of his twin brother, family strain and more -- Reimer commits suicide in 2004.
Rita Hester is murdered in late November. Discussion about transphobic violence that caused her death, that of Tyra Hunter and many others inspires activists (including Gwendolyn Ann Smith, who curates the list) to catalogue and commemorate these deaths in the form of the Transgender Day of Remembrance. TDoR events now take place annually, usually between November 20th and 28th, in communities around the world.

Matthew Shepard is murdered in Wyoming. His death draws attention to anti-gay hate crimes, and his mother goes on to form The Matthew Shepard Foundation, an organization dedicated to promoting awareness about anti-GLBT violence.
Transgender activists once again protest exclusion from The Gay Games in Amsterdam, this time with modified rules from those previously rescinded in the last Games: that competitors require documented completion of sex change or two years on hormones before being able to compete. FTM transman, photographer Loren Cameron drops out of competition in protest, but Israeli MTF singer Dana International still performs at the Games' festivities.
Japan allows the first legal gender reassignment surgery (GRS) in that nation to be performed on an FTM transsexual.
Hayley Cropper, a transsexual character, first appears on the popular British soap opera, "Coronation Street." It is the third time that a transgender character appears in serialized television (the first was Maxwell Q. Klinger in "M*A*S*H;" the second occurrence was in Australia in 1973), and the first time that the character is kept on as a regular in a daytime soap opera (she had been originally planned to be written out of the show, and viewer response pushed them to bring her back). Cropper continues to be a regular (and sympathetic) character on the series.
Nong Toom, a Thai kathoey (male-to-female transgender person) enters professional kick-boxing -- despite taking feminizing hormones -- and becomes a cross-dressing legend. She would later go on to have GRS surgery, and her story is told in the subtitled movie, "Beautiful Boxer."
DES Sons... and Daughters?
1999: Dr. Scott Kerlin founds the DES Sons International Network, an online support and advocacy group for children exposed to Di-Ethyl Stilbestrol (DES) in utero, fighting the perception that DES is strictly a womens' health issue. When DES Sons is only a few months old, a new member raises the issue that he had always felt that he was a girl, and was, in fact, transsexual. This initiates a flood of confessions about other members' own gender identity issues, and quickly becomes one of the dominant themes raised by male children of DES births (although not all DES Sons experience transgender leanings). DES Trans is later set up by Kerlin and Dr. Dana Beyer as a separate support group for this discussion. Later, DES and other endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) become a major focus of environmental study, including examination of gender influence and variation in nature.

Since the Michigan Womyn's Festival (a noteworthy and popular lesbian community event) continues to exclude transwomen and refuse to acknowledge them as being women, Camp Trans is revived to protest. Initially, post-op MTF transsexuals are allowed to attend, but confrontations occur. The exclusion and the protests would continue annually.
In a Texas court, in Littleton vs. Prang, Christine Littleton (a post-op MTF transsexual) loses her case against the doctor who she contended negligently allowed her husband to die... because, as the defense argues, even though her birth certificate has been amended to denote "female," it had originally read "male," and since same-sex marriage is not permitted in Texas, she was not legally his widow or entitled to anything on behalf of his estate.
Pvt. Barry Winchell is murdered by fellow soldiers, resparking a questioning of the "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policy of the U.S. Military. He is murdered because of allegations that arise from his relationship with transwoman Calpernia Addams. Their story is retold in the 2003 movie, "Soldier's Girl." Addams later starts the TS Roadmap website with Andrea James, and the two collaborate on several projects to assist transwomen.
Mayor Georgina Beyer becomes New Zealand's (and the World's) first transsexual Member of Parliament.
Robert Eads dies of ovarian cancer. A transman, Eads is denied treatment by more than two dozen doctors out of fears that taking him on as a patient might be an embarrassment to their practice. His story is told (in his own words) in the award-winning documentary, "Southern Comfort."
After a few years of fighting with the British legal system, Petra Henderson, a U.K. citizen residing in Germany, puts forward a special case that is decided by the Lord Chancellor: she is allowed to change her name and gender status (despite Britain's refusal to change Birth Certificates)... without affecting her marital status. Because the case is considered a unique case, authorities refuse to allow it to set a precedent. In 2002, with Henderson's assistance, a British citizen in Paris approaches the consulate in France and wins a similar victory, thus defusing the "one-off" claim. This helps pave the way for the Gender Recognition Act in 2004 (although the GRA requires a divorce before a new gender is recognized).
Birth of a Flag
2000: The Transgender Pride flag is designed by Monica Helms, and is first shown at a pride parade in Phoenix, Arizona, USA.
Congressman Tom Lantos (D-CA) introduces a measure "expressing the concern of Congress regarding human rights violations against lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and trangendered [sic] individuals around the world." In doing so, Lantos, the only Holocaust survivor to be elected to U.S. Congress, introduces the first known transgender-inclusive resolution proposed on a national stage. It does not pass, but paves the way for later attempts.
2001: Erin Lindsey begins producing Venus Envy, a popular ongoing web comic strip focusing on the life of Zoë Carter, a young transsexual girl living in Salem, Pennsylvania.
Canadian cyclist Michelle Dumaresq enters the sport of downhill bike racing, six years after her SRS surgery. She would go on to win battles with Cycling BC and the Canadian Cycling Association to compete, win the 2002 Canada Cup series, win the 2003 Canadian National Championships and score additional victories. At the 2006 Canadian Nationals, a protest from one of her competitors during the podium ceremonies would bring renewed attention to Dumaresq's participation in female sports: the boyfriend of second-place finisher Danika Schroeter would jump up onto the podium and help Schroeter put on a t-shirt reading "100% Pure Woman Champ." Dumaresq later becomes the subject of the CTV documentary, "100% Woman."
2002: Gwen "Lida" Araujo is murdered by several party goers, who had discovered her male genitalia. The three men who were charged alternately resorted to panic strategies during their defense, trying to minimize (i.e. to a charge of "Manslaughter") or legitimize their actions because of their apparent shock at the discovery. Araujo's mother and local activists would embark on a battle to address this tactic.
The International Olympic Committee amends policy to allow transexuals to compete as their reassigned gender if the surgery has taken place at least two years prior to the competition and if the athlete has been on a regimen of hormones equal to that of a person born to the gender.
The Transgender Law Center is founded, and works toward protecting and entrenching the rights of transgender persons in California, as well as assisting legal activists elsewhere.
The Centurion, a modified form of metoidioplasty is introduced for female-to-male transsexuals.
2003: Calpernia Addams and Andrea James found Deep Stealth Productions and TS Roadmap, invaluable resources for transwomen. Deep Stealth produces video work providing advice on voice therapy and makeup / presentation, and TS Roadmap covers the entire spectrum of MTF transition, in free online written advice.
Jennifer Finney Boylan's memoir, "She's Not There," becomes the first-known best-selling work by a transgender American.
In Lawrence v. Texas, the U.S. Supreme Court arrives at a 6-3 ruling that strikes down the prohibition of homosexual sodomy in Texas, and declares that such laws are unconstitutional. Several other states still have anti-sodomy laws on the books, but they are now often not frequently enforced.
Recognition in the UK
2004: The Gender Recognition Act 2004 is passed in the U.K., allowing transgender persons to legally change their sex and have it recognized for the purposes of marriage and other issues.
Dee Palmer (born David Palmer), former member of the rock band Jethro Tull, comes out as an MTF transsexual.
2005: Although homosexuality had been delisted as a mental disorder in 1973, transgenderism is still listed in the DSM-IV. However, a new wave of thinking has transsexuality and transgenderism linked to more biological factors, such as DNA predisposition, or EDCs. Books of the time begin to reflect this, including Deborah Rudacille's "The Riddle of Gender."
2006: The Gwen Araujo Justice for Victims Act becomes law. The bill, fueled by the murder of Gwen Araujo and 2004 murder of Joel Robles (in which the defendant plea-bargained his way down to a 4-month sentence), prevents defendants from using panic strategies and potential biases against the victim to minimize their actions.
Dr. Ben Barres writes a highly-noted article in Nature refuting an earlier theory by Lawrence Summers and others that there are fewer female scientists than male because of a difference in "intrinsic aptitude." In his paper, Barres notes the differences in treatment of female scientists from male ones, drawing from his own experiences in both genders.
One of the directors of the "Matrix" movies, formerly known as Larry Wachowski, is reported by Rolling Stone Magazine to be transitioning to female. In the article, leather culture and associated personalities such as Buck Angel (an FTM porn actor) are used to generate an unflattering controversy.
Cult favorite TV-show, "The L Word," introduces a female-to-male transsexual. Max (Moira) is the first regularly-occurring FTM character in the history of television *and* the first transgender character to transition during the course of a show. Actress Daniela Sea is no stranger to performing as male, but some trans activists take issue with the early series portrayal, saying that it is "based on the stereotype that transmen are driven by and use testosterone as an excuse to become abusive, violent, and over-sexualized." The producers listen, and the character of Max is later developed more fully.
Chinese surgeons perform the world's first penis transplant successfully (however, the patient later has it removed at the request of his wife, who has psychological objections), raising a question about the possibility of developing a similar option for transmen. Such a development is still likely years away if ever, however, because of the need to find ways to deal with the differences in the underlying infrastructure.
The 2005 documentary, "Screaming Queens: The Riot at Compton's Cafeteria," written, directed and produced by Victor Silverman and Dr. Susan Stryker, is awarded an EMMY® for "Outstanding Achievement, Historical / Cultural Program." The film gives life to the early transgender (and wider GLBT) movement, and is one of the first true transgender-exploring works to be recognized with a major award (the closest previous trans-ish recognition is Jessica Lange's 1983 victory in "Tootsie").
The Most Progressive Law to Date
2007: Spain passes the most progressive law regarding Gender Identity in the world, allowing for the change of documented identity just by proving a medical treatment for two years, and a medical or psychological certificate, proving a diagnosis of gender dysphoria -- not requiring a GRS.

The rock-star character of "Zarf," who debuted on the soap opera "All My Children" near the end of 2006, comes out as a male-to-female transsexual, Zoey. Although this isn't the first time a soap opera featured a transgender character in a recurring role, it is the first to feature an MTF character in the beginning of her transition, and follow the process along (and second only to "The L Word" to feature a transsexual throughout the process). Rather than alienate AMC's viewers, the character of Zoey appears to re-energize them.
40-year-old Chanda Musalman, who lives as both man and woman and has not had any GRS surgery, is granted both male and female citizenship by Nepali authorities, in the first known case of dual-gender recognition. It is unclear how this unique legal status will play out in practice - for instance, how it will affect Chanda's marriage rights, or how it will be recognized in other countries.
The Supreme Court of Canada refuses to hear Kimberly Nixon v. Rape Relief, a case in which a transwoman was dismissed from rape counseling because she was not born female (she had been living as female several years and is legally female). Because it was refused at that level, the B.C. Court of Appeals' ruling against her still stands -- a ruling which pointed out that transgender people are not currently protected by the Human Rights Charter under either category of "gender" or "sexual orientation."
A 12-year old in Vienna, Austria is thought to be the youngest person in the world to begin a sex change procedure.
The city of Largo, Florida fires long-time City Manager Steve Stanton (the mayor and one councilman vote in his defense), after he is outed during preparation to announce his intention to undergo hormone treatment and start the process toward GRS surgery. This launches a nationally-publicized court case, in which the City of Largo is revealed to have operated counter to their own laws, which prohibit discrimination based on gender identity. In order to save face, the City attempts to first claim that city employees had lost faith in Stanton, and then (in the failure of that) dredge up performance issues, despite their overwhelming support, praise and raises given to Stanton prior to the firing.
UCLA scientists find 54 genes that may explain the different organization of male and female brains. They go on to state that "... gender identity likely will be explained by some of the genes we discovered."
In Fresno, California, Tony (Cinthia) Covarrubias runs for Prom King, supported by a state law passed in 2000 protecting students' ability to express their gender identity on campus. Covarrubias loses, but approximately one month later, her story lends a groundswell of support when Johnny Vera runs for and wins the title of Prom Queen at Roosevelt High School -- the first transgender person known to have won such an honor.
Dr. Russell Reid, a U.K. psychiatrist specializing in gender reassignment, is found guilty in a medical community investigation of accusations that he inappropriately treated five patients, allegedly fast-tracking them, in contravention of established standards of care. Although not the first time a doctor has been brought under fire or threat of legal action for his work (some had even been sued by their transgender patients), the high-profile case reopens major debates in the medical community about transsexuality and its treatment. How the finding will affect the existing pace of the current diagnostic process is as yet unknown.
Legal Defeats... and a Victory
Also in 2007, The Matthew Shepard Act, an anti-hate-crimes bill, is introduced and achieves some success in both Congress and the Senate, but is scuttled by Senators' protests over the attachment of the bill to a military spending bill, a strategy which was initiated in hopes of avoiding a Presidential veto from George W. Bush.
The Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) stirs up even more controversy when, at the eleventh hour before the bill is introduced to Congress, "gender identity" and "gender expression" are dropped from the bill. This legislation originally sought to add protections for gay and transgender people across the US, and the act of abandonment is seen by many as a dark hour in the trans movement. But in reaction to the the bill's sponsor (congressman Barney Frank) and a history of assumptions by legislators that perceptions of transfolk might hurt the GLBT community as a whole, organizations from across North America band together, forming United ENDA -- a coalition of nearly 370 organizations wishing to send a strong protest against the exclusion and pledging to persist in only supporting legislation that is transgender-inclusive. There is one notable exception, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), one of the largest GLB organizations in America (which already had a long history of trans exclusion, with one former director once declaring that trans inclusion would happen "over my dead body"). But HRC's defense of the exclusive ENDA would erode its support and credibility significantly.
As 2007 came to a close, the divisions that happened in the years following Stonewall also seemed to be narrowing significantly. While writers like John Aravosis and Chris Crain would persist in questioning whether transgender people should be included in gay activism or even considered allies, mutual respect and coexistence still re-emerged, with many local GLB organizations coming to the conclusion that they would love to help the transgender community... as long as there's help in understanding what its needs are.
Some patterns emerge within the transgender community itself that appear to be harbingers of division, as cross-dressers, transsexuals (who sometimes divide among HBS / exclusionary post-op transsexuals and non-op / "deconstructionist" / transsexuals who support full inclusion), gender renegades, and more, all seek to distinguish themselves from each other, not having learned the lessons of the damages generated in the early 1970's and the betrayals shown toward people like Sylvia Rivera. As the GLB community becomes receptive to assisting its trans allies, the question arises: are transfolk willing to show enough unity in order to help themselves?

2008-2014 In the 2010s transgender people became increasingly prominent in the entertainment industry; Chaz Bono, Laverne Cox and Harmony Santana are but a few. We saw the country's first government-funded campaign to combat anti-transgender discrimination, held by the D.C. Office of Human Rights(2012) and three groups, The Girl Scouts(2011), the North American Gay Amateur Athletic Alliance(2011), and the Episcopal Church in the United States(2012) announced their acceptance of transgender people into them. In 2013 the American Psychological Association changed the classification of GID to Gender Dsyphoria and moved this diagnosis out of the sexual disorders category and into a category of its own. With the inclusion of transgender into the fight for equality by LGBT groups, HRC and others the fall of bans on SSM(Same Sex Marriage) along with the SCOTUS ruling on Prop 8 has the community positioned to gain the equality that was lost so long ago. Now is not the time to sit back, thinking the fight is won, but to act and push harder as a unified group.
The next chapter, of course, is yet to be written.
Partial Bibliography:
Much of this had been compiled over time, and not all the sources have been recorded. Some online sources have been involved as well, although I search for more corroboration in these cases.
• Bullough, Vern: Homosexuality: A History From Ancient Greece to Gay Liberation
• Califia, Patrick: Sex Changes: The Politics of Transgenderism
• Colapinto, John: As Nature Made Him: The Story of a Boy Who Was Raised as a Girl
• Currah, Paisley; Richard M. Juang and Shannon Price Minter: Transgender Rights
• Feinberg, Leslie: TransGender Warriors
• Fletcher, Lynne Yamaguchi: The First Gay Pope (and other records)
• Kessler, Suzanne; and McKenna, Wendy: Gender: An Ethnomethodological Approach
• Rudacille, Deborah: The Riddle of Gender
• Walker, Barbara: various works
• Williams, Walter: The Spirit and the Flesh

Read more at http://www.bilerico.com/2008/03/transgender_history_toward_the_future_19.php#zZv3sP6RjR3Pj12A.99
Lorri Kat
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