We have always existed.
Completing a comprehensive page that describes our history would be a huge undertaking. As with the history of any marginalized group, information gathering is difficult and is washed out of the history taught in our educational systems. I’ve included a few important figures, and have likely overlooked many more. Below are some links to good websites as well as an explanation of what is happening now in our history.
Links to transgender history:
https://www.digitaltransgenderarchive.net/
Important Figures
Dr. James Barry (11/9/1795-7/25/1865): “It seems almost like the makings of a popular television show: A roguish doctor who travels the world, helping the sick and the poor, all the while fighting duels and enraging those in power. He’s an outwardly unpleasant man with a sharp tongue, but one with compassion for his patients and a determination to help those he can.
But this wasn’t the plot to some new medical drama but the actual life of Dr. James Barry. Little is known for certain of his early life, but he began his medical studies in University of Edinburgh Medical School in 1809 and earned his MD in 1812. He continued his studies in London and passed his examination for the Royal College of Surgeons of England. He was commissioned as a Hospital Assistant in the British Army in 1813.” (https://blog.richmond.edu/heroes/2015/11/17/dr-james-barry-the-hero-with-a-secret/)
Lili Elbe (12/28/1882-9/13/1931) “Lili Elbe was a transgender Danish painter who was among the first-ever documented recipients of Gender Affirmation Surgery.” (https://www.biography.com/artists/lili-elbe)
“Christine Jorgensen was born on May 30, 1926, in the Bronx, New York. She was assigned male at birth, but always felt like a girl. She wanted to wear girls’ clothes and play with girls’ toys. As a teenager, she developed crushes on boys and struggled to understand her own feelings.
After she graduated from high school in 1945, Christine was drafted by the U.S. Army. Christine served as a military clerical worker for a year. After World War II ended, Christine pursued a career in photography. In her free time, she read about medical procedures to help people who felt that their gender or sexual identity did not align with society’s expectations.
In 1950, she traveled to Denmark for a series of surgeries and hormone treatments that transformed her body into that of a woman. The process took nearly two years. She chose the name Christine in honor of her surgeon, Dr. Christian Hamburger.” (https://wams.nyhistory.org/growth-and-turmoil/cold-war-beginnings/christine-jorgensen/)
Sylvia Rivera (7/2/1951-2/19/2002) “A veteran of the 1969 Stonewall Inn uprising, Sylvia Rivera was a tireless advocate for those silenced and disregarded by larger movements. Throughout her life, she fought against the exclusion of transgender people, especially transgender people of color, from the larger movement for gay rights.” (https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/sylvia-rivera)
“Marsha P. Johnson was one of the most prominent figures of the gay rights movement of the 1960s and 1970s in New York City. Always sporting a smile, Johnson was an important advocate for homeless LGBTQ+ youth, those effected by H.I.V. and AIDS, and gay and transgender rights.” (https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/marsha-p-johnson)
Reed Erickson, philanthropist: https://www.uvic.ca/transgenderarchives/collections/reed-erickson/index.php https://makinggayhistory.com/podcast/reed-erickson/
Lou Sullivan: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/09/obituaries/lou-sullivan-overlooked.html
https://www.gendergp.com/non-binary-people-in-history
Gender affirming care prior to WWII:
“Magnus Hirschfeld was a German physician and sexologist who founded the Scientific-Humanitarian Committee in 1897, which was the first gay rights organization in the world. He was also a prominent advocate for transgender and intersex individuals and was a pioneer in the field of gender studies.
Hirschfeld founded the Institute for Sexual Science in Berlin in 1919, which included a gender clinic. The clinic provided medical and psychological services for individuals seeking gender confirmation surgeries or hormone therapies. It was one of the first such clinics in the world and attracted patients from all over Europe.
The clinic’s approach to gender confirmation surgeries was based on a holistic understanding of gender identity, and it aimed to support patients in expressing their gender identity in ways that felt authentic and meaningful to them. Hirschfeld believed that gender identity was not fixed and that individuals should be free to explore and express their gender identity in whatever way felt right to them.
The Institute for Sexual Science was tragically destroyed in 1933 by the Nazis during their campaign to rid Germany of what they considered “degenerate” influences. Hirschfeld fled to France and later died in exile in 1935. The destruction of the institute was a devastating loss to the field of sexology and gender studies, and it set back progress on LGBTQ+ rights and transgender healthcare for many years.” (https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/magnus-hirschfeld-2) (https://www.clairestranstalks.co.uk/news/trans-history-magnus-hirschfeld-amp-the-institut-fr-sexualwissenschaft)
1950’s onward:
https://zagria.blogspot.com/2019/03/elmer-belt-1893-1980-urologist-pioneer.html
Currently we are seeing a resurgence in hate and propaganda surrounding transgender people and gender affirming healthcare with the resurgence of the “right” across the globe. These websites list some of the actors associated with this harmful rhetoric:
https://transdatalibrary.org/about/
https://healthliberationnow.com/
Professional medical and mental health organizations reaffirm support for gender affirming care for minors and call for an end to discrimination and disinformation:
https://www.apa.org/about/policy/transgender-nonbinary-inclusive-care
https://publications.aap.org/aapnews/news/25340/AAP-reaffirms-gender-affirming-care-policy
https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2024/02/policy-supporting-transgender-nonbinary
Saren Craig 