#American trans history

[androgynealienfemme]

"It was 1962, and I was one of a mere handful undergoing transsexual surgery in America. The procedure was in its infancy, but I was prepared to take advantage of everything medical science knew about altering gender. I hoped it knew enough.

I wasn't sure of my doctor. During an earlier meeting in his office, my surgeon had offered to take measurements of my future husband's private parts. He said it would ensure a proper fit. I thought his suggestion twisted and disgusting. I'd wanted to scream at him, but I knew no one else who did the surgery in this country. I smiled, cast my eyes toward the floor, and said nothing.

"He's only a means to an end," I cautioned myself. "This doctor doesn't have to be polite. You need his expertise, so keep your mouth shut, let it pass, and don't make waves." It was hard advice to follow.

The evening before my operation, the good doctor stopped by my room. I"m going to carve a hole in you the size of that roll," he said, pointed a long slender surgeon's finger at my dinner tray. I didn't want a vagina the size of a large dinner roll! Still, I smiled at his sexual allusion. I knew the drill. My destiny, as I saw it, was to accept whatever a more powerful male said or did. It was simple. Everything revolved around the penis. Men accepted theirs; I refused to acknowledge mine.

"You will have a wonderful future," the doctor assured me. "You know what it's like to be a man." And he swaggered out of my room.

"What the hell did he just say?" I asked aloud. My physician believed my future as a woman would be rosy because I understood what it was like to be a man? Only a male could possibly believe that. I had no concept of what it was like to be a man. Why did this doctor think I needed gender-altering services? But I swallowed my feelings. I couldn't complain. I valued this operation more than I valued my own life. It was clear, however, that there would be no violins sweetly playing in the background as my not-so-understanding surgeon worked his transgendering magic. I bit my tongue. I reacted as I always had when threatened- I turned everything inward.

Wisely, I decided to concentrate on my lip gloss. In only twenty-three years, I'd turned the safe haven of superficiality into an art form."

“The Woman I Was Not Born To Be” by Aleshia Brevard (2001)

[yourdailyqueer]

Frances Thompson (deceased)

Gender: Transgender woman

Sexuality: N/A

DOB: Born 1840 

RIP: Died 1876

Ethnicity: African American

Occupation: Activist, laundry woman, former slave

Note 1: One of the five black women to testify before a congressional committee that investigated the Memphis Riots of 1866. She is believed to be the first transgender woman to testify before the United States Congress.

Note 2: Some reports state she could have been intersex.

[sagradofemenin0]

“Some loser brought a ladder and ripped the pride flag off my local church”, 2023

[thetransfemininereview]

Have you ever wanted to learn more about cross-dressing lithography from the 1830s? We'll be covering that and so much more in the third installments of our A Brief History of Transfeminine Literature series 🔥 Check it out here!

[commiepinkofag]

Take Action Against KOSA

EFF Comparison of House & Senate KOSA bills:

The House version of KOSA could still: 

Suppress search results for young people seeking sexual health and reproductive rights information; 

Block content relevant to the history of oppressed groups, such as the history of slavery in the U.S; 

Stifle youth activists across the political spectrum by preventing them from connecting and advocating on their platforms; and 

Block young people seeking help for mental health or addiction problems from accessing resources and support. 

Lawmakers know this bill is controversial. Some of its proponents have recently taken steps to attach KOSA as an amendment to the five-year reauthorization of the Federal Aviation Administration, the last "must-pass" legislation until the fall. This would effectively bypass public discussion of the House version. Just last month Congress attached another contentious, potentially unconstitutional bill to unrelated legislation, by including a bill banning TikTok inside of a foreign aid package. Legislation of this magnitude deserves to pass—or fail—on its own merits. 

[max--phillips]

Indiana just launched a “snitch line” for people to report schools for teaching about LGBTQ issues, Black history, and other topics.

On Monday, the AG, Todd Rokita, launched this “Eyes on Eduction” portal where students, parents, and teachers alike can report… “objectionable curricula, policies, or programs affecting children.” While they hide behind the suggestion that this is to stop “political ideology - either left or right” from being forced on kids, we all know that this is really a tip line for parents to complain that someone told their kid gay people exist or slavery was a real thing that happened to Black people.

I’m not going to lie, despite this being from the office of the attorney general, I don’t think this is much more than a wall of shame functionally. The AG’s office looks at submissions, takes the credible ones, and publishes them on the portal for anyone to see. The PDFs of the so-called evidence also include names of teachers.

Anyway, unsurprisingly, people have been flooding the portal with junk submissions, as pointed out by the wonderful Erin Reed (@/ErinInTheMorn on Twitter) in her article on the portal:

A report that Godzilla was witnessed with a trans flag

Indiana Jones slapping a Nazi

A report of a famous picture of Trump next to Rudy Giuliani in drag

Multiple reports citing the Bible for teenage pregnancy

A confession purporting to be from Breaking Bad character Walter White

The script for the Bee Movie (classic)

The script to Oppenheimer

The script for Eurotrip, with a note not to tell Scotty

Young Sheldon saying “Bazinga”

So ALL OF THAT IS TO SAY. Here's another link to the portal. Whatever you do, don't add to the list above and flood the portal, making it nearly impossible for the poor AG's office to sort through all the submissions and find credible submissions! That would be sooo uncalled for.

Anyway, side note for you: if you're thinking to yourself, "damn, Todd Rokita, that name sounds awfully familiar," you may be thinking of the time in 2022 he said he was going to investigate Dr. Caitlin Bernard for providing an abortion procedure to a 10 year old girl who had fled Ohio to receive care because Ohio's abortion ban did not provide an exception for minor children who became pregnant as a result of rape. Ultimately, Indiana state courts found him to have violated the law and engaged in attorney misconduct due to his public statements on the situation. Yet, he is still AG. This guy has sucked as long as I can remember. He was Secretary of State of Indiana from 2002-2010, then he was a member of the US House of Representatives from Indiana's 4th district (which my hometown is unfortunately a part of) from 2011-2019, and has now been AG since 2021. For perspective, I was born in 1997--the year he joined the Secretary of State's office as general counsel, then later became deputy secretary of state. He's been doing his damndest to ruin this state as long as I've been alive.

Also, his birthday is Friday (February 9th) according to his wikipedia page. Definitely don't give him any birthday presents by way of the submission portal, okay? Good talk

[the-cricket-chirps]

Robert Mapplethorpe

Candy Darling

1972

[melliotwrites]

Ghost Story: a new musical is up on YouTube!

Two love stories between Chinese American and Polish American men haunt the same Montana ranch house — one century apart. As past and present intertwine, the lovers confront long-held fears in their quest to determine if they love one another for the right reasons.

GHOST STORY is a new musical exploring queer interethnic intimacies between working-class immigrants in the early Mountain West, as well as the complicated racial past of modern gay relationships. Through a story about love, culture, and identity, the show asks: In making meaning from the overwhelming tragedies of queer history, how do we balance seeking truth and beauty?

This presentation includes mature language and some mature themes. Stream our live cast album here on Spotify (and look up Ghost Story Melliot on other streaming services to find it!)

[uncanny-tranny]

Even if you don't agree with incarcerated people having access to education, monetary compensation for work, or whatever, I really hope you acknowledge that so long as you provide the state incentive to imprison people (free labour or whatever it may be), the state will continuously imprison people - especially for non-violent crime.

[nickysfacts]

Ozaawindib is such an interesting chief, it’s a shame that we don’t have any depictions of her!

💛🏳️‍⚧️💛

[androgynealienfemme]

Mar. 17, 1882

[yourdailyqueer]

Chanelle Pickett (deceased)

Gender: Transgender woman

Sexuality: Queer

DOB: 6 August 1972 

RIP: 20 November 1995

Ethnicity: African American

Occupation: Entrepreneur, activist

Note: Death helped inspire the creation of the Transgender Day of Remembrance

[karl-says]

We, the proletariat, cannot free ourselves without freeing all people.

[emma-dennehy-presents]

Celebrating Black Queer Icons:

Tourmaline

Tourmaline (formerly known/credited as Reian Gossett)is a trans woman that actively identifies as queer, and is best known for her work in trans activism and economic justice. Tourmaline was born July 20, 1983, in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Tourmaline's mother was a feminist and union organizer, her father a self defense instructor and anti-imprisonment advocate. Growing up in this atmosphere allowed Tourmaline to explore her identity and encouraged her to fight in what she believes in. Tourmaline has earned a BA in Comparative Ethnic Studies, from Colombia University. During her time at Colombia U, Tourmaline taught creative writing courses to inmates at Riker's Island Correctional Institute, through a school program known as Island Academy. Tourmaline has worked with many groups and organizations in her pursuit of justice. She served as the Membership Coordinator for Queers For Economic Justice, Director of Membership at the Sylvia Rivera Law Project, and as a Featured Speaker for GLAAD. Tourmaline also works as a historian and archivist for drag queens and trans people associated with the 1969 Stonewall Inn Uprising. She started doing this after noticing how little trans material was being archived, saying that what little did get archived was done so accidentally. In 2010 Tourmaline began her work in film by gathering oral histories from queer New Yorkers for Kagendo Murungi's Taking Freedom Home. In 2016 Tourmaline directed her first film The Personal Things, which featured trans elder Miss Major Griffin-Gracy. For the film Tourmaline was awarded the 2017 Queer Art Prize. Tourmaline served as the Assistant Director to Dee Rees on the Golden Globe nominated historical drama, Mudbound. Tourmaline has co produced two projects with fellow filmmaker and activist Sasha Wortzel. The first was STAR People Are Beautiful, about the work of Sylvia Rivera and Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries. The second was Happy Birthday, Marsha, about Marsha P Johnson. Happy Birthday, Marsha had all trans roles played by trans actors. Tourmaline's work is featured or archived in several major museums and galleries. In 2017 her work was featured in New Museum's exhibit Trigger: Gender as a Tool and a Weapon. In 2020 the Museum of Modern Art acquired Tourmaline's 2019 film Salacia, a project about Mary Jones. In 2021 the Metropolitan Museum of Art acquired two of Tourmaline's works for display in Before Yesterday We Could Fly: An Afrofuturist Period Room. Tourmaline is also the sibling of:

Che Gossett

Che Gossett is a nonbinary, trans femme writer and archivist. Gossett specializes in queer/trans studies, aesthetic theory, abolitionist thought and black study. Gossett received a Doctorate in Women's and Gender Studies, from Rutgers University, in 2021. They have also received a BA in African American Studies from Morehouse college, a MAT in Social Studios from Brown University, and a MA in History from the University of Pennsylvania. Gossett has held a fellowship at Yale, and currently holds fellowships at Harvard, Oxford, and Cambridge. Gossett's writing has been published in a number of anthologies and they have lectured and performed at several museums and galleries of note, including the Museum of Modern Art and A.I.R. Gallery. Gossett is currently working on finishing a political biography of queer Japanese-American AIDS activist Kiyoshi Kuromiya.

I originally intended to do separate profiles for Che Gossett Tourmaline, but could not find sufficient information about Che Gossett, beyond their credentials and current academic activity. That means that this will be the last of these write ups for a bit. I plan on picking it back up in October for the US's LGBT History Month and UK's Black History month. With time to plan ahead and research more I hope to diversify my list geographically and improve formatting. I plan on starting to include cis icons as well, like Rustin Bayard. If you come across this or any other of these posts Ive made this month I would love feedback and suggestions for figures you would like to see covered.

[itsbansheebitch]

Why do so many Blue states have Red governors and so many Red states have Blue governors?

Short answer: Because when you are under attack constantly irl, you don't take your rights for granted.

The Governor of Kentucky (and potential VP pick ((crossed fingers)) ) Beshear is STAUNCHLY pro-trans, pro-choice, and pro-union.

Beshear is ALSO one of the most popular governors in the COUNTRY

Keep in mind that Red states suffer from gerrymandering and voter suppression every year. And they have BLUE, PRO-TRANS governors.

If you are in a Blue state with a Red governor. It's because people aren't voting.

As a former Tennessean, If you are able to vote and don't, I'm going to assume you are 1, lazy, and 2, ungrateful. People who fought for your rights were taking direct action and you can't even GO OUTSIDE AND CHECK A BOX??? Shameful.

1920, This sign was designed to be placed in the window of a home so that all who passed would know that the woman within had exercised her right under the 19th amendment and registered to vote. It also served as a reminder to other women to do the same. -Smithsonian

Oklahoma Federation of Colored Women's Clubs, American, founded 1910, National Association of Colored Women's Clubs, American, founded 1896 - Smithsonian, National Museum of African American History and Culture

And you can't even check a box.

Don't complain if you choose not to vote. If you ARE voting (thank you), talk to your friends and relatives about it. Talk to them about how Red states & Southern states are coming up with revolutionary policy and are changing people's lives for the better BECAUSE PEOPLE VOTED.

There are Native Americans fighting for citizenship who can't vote.

100 years ago, U.S. citizenship for Native Americans came without voting rights in swing states

When you have the right to vote (and the time & money because voting day isn't a holiday + not everyone is old enough), but choose not to, you are spiting in their faces.

Register to vote, be the change you want to see this year. It takes about two minutes.

If you are under 18, Pledge to vote

[inkcurlsandknives]

Huge thank you to GLAAD and Patricia for inviting me to this round table interview for Filipino American History Month! I had a great time talking with @km_enright

About our very different but epic Filipino fantasy books Mistress of Lies and Saints of Storm and Sorrow!