Transgender history in the United States

The Transgender Pride flag, created by transgender woman Monica Helms.

Transgender American history addresses the history of transgender people in the United States.

1776 to 1950

Joseph Lobdell (born in 1829 named Lucy Ann Lobdell) lived as a man for sixty years and due to this was arrested and incarcerated in an insane asylum. However, he was able to marry a woman.

During the American Civil War (1861–1865) at least 240 biological women are known to have worn men's clothing and fought as soldiers. Some of them were transgender and continued to live as men throughout their lives. One such notable soldier was Albert Cashier.

Jennie June (born in 1874 named Earl Lind), wrote The Autobiography of an Androgyne (1918) and The Female Impersonators (1922), memoirs which provide rare, first person testimony about the early-20th-century life and times of a transgender person. The words transsexual and transgender had not yet been coined, and June described herself as a “fairie” or “androgyne,” an individual, she said, “with male genitals,” but whose “psychical constitution” and sexual life “approach the female type." In 2010 five sections of her third volume of memoirs (dated 1921 but never published), previously lost, were discovered and published on OutHistory.org.

Billy Tipton (born in 1914 named Dorothy Lucille Tipton) was a notable American jazz musician and bandleader who lived as a man in all aspects of his life from the 1940s until his death. His own son did not know of his past until Tipton's death; the first newspaper article about Tipton was published the day after his funeral and was quickly picked up by wire services. Stories about Tipton appeared in a variety of papers including tabloids such as National Enquirer and Star, as well as more reputable papers such as New York Magazine and The Seattle Times. Tipton's family also made talk show appearances.

1950 to present

Louise Lawrence, a transgender person who began living full-time as a woman in San Francisco in the 1940s, developed a widespread correspondence network with transgender people throughout Europe and the United States by the 1950s, and worked closely with Alfred Kinsey to bring the needs of transgender people to the attention of social scientists and sex reformers.

In 1952, using Louise Lawrence's correspondence network for its initial subscription list, Virginia Prince and a handful of other transgender people in Southern California launched Transvestia: The Journal of the American Society for Equality in Dress, which lasted for two issues.

Also in 1952, Christine Jorgensen (born in 1926 named George William Jorgensen, Jr.) became the first widely known person to have sex reassignment surgery. However, she was denied a marriage license in 1959 when she attempted to marry a man. Furthermore, her fiancee lost his job when his engagment to Christine became public knowledge.

In 1957 the term "transsexual" was coined by the cisgender American physician Harry Benjamin.

In 1960, Virginia Prince began another publication, also called Transvestia, that discussed transgender concerns. In 1962, she founded the Hose and Heels Club for cross-dressers, which soon changed its name to Phi Pi Epsilon, a name designed to evoke Greek-letter sororities and to play on the initials FPE, the acronym for Prince's philosophy of "Full Personality Expression." Prince believed that the binary gender system harmed both men and women by keeping them from their full human potential, and she considered cross-dressing to be one means of fixing this.

In the 1960s and early 1970s the transgender actresses Holly Woodlawn and Candy Darling were among Andy Warhol's Warhol Superstars, appearing in several of his films.

In 1966 the first case to consider transsexualism in the U.S. was heard, Mtr. of Anonymous v. Weiner, 50 Misc. 2d 380, 270 N.Y.S.2d 319 (1966), in which a post-operative transsexual sought from New York City a change of their name and sex on their birth certificate. The New York City Health Department refused to grant the request. The person took the case to court, but the court ruled that granting of the request was not permitted by the New York City and New Jersey Health Code, which only permitted a change of sex on the birth certificate if an error was made recording it at birth. The decision of the court in Weiner was again affirmed in Mtr. of Hartin v. Dir. of Bur. of Recs., 75 Misc. 2d 229, 232, 347 N.Y.S.2d 515 (1973) and Anonymous v. Mellon, 91 Misc. 2d 375, 383, 398 N.Y.S.2d 99 (1977).

Also in 1966, the Compton's Cafeteria Riot occurred in the Tenderloin district of San Francisco; it was one of the first recorded transgender riots in United States history. The night after the riot, more transgender people, hustlers, Tenderloin street people, and other members of the LGBT community joined in a picket of the cafeteria, which would not allow transgender people back in. The demonstration ended with the newly installed plate-glass windows being smashed again. According to the online encyclopedia glbtq.com, "In the aftermath of the riot at Compton's, a network of transgender social, psychological, and medical support services was established, which culminated in 1968 with the creation of the National Transsexual Counseling Unit [NTCU], the first such peer-run support and advocacy organization in the world."

In 1968 a transgender person sought a change of their name and sex on their birth certificate in the case of Matter of Anonymous, 57 Misc. 2d 813, 293 N.Y.S.2d 834 (1968); a change of sex was denied, but a change of name was granted. The same occurred in the case of Matter of Anonymous, 64 Misc. 2d 309, 314 N.Y.S.2d 668 (1970).

In 1969 transgender people, among others, were involved in a riot at the Stonewall Inn in New York, now known as the Stonewall Riot, which is widely considered to have begun the LGBT rights movement in America. Transgender activist Sylvia Rivera was among those involved.

Many support organizations for male cross-dressers began in the 1970s and 1980s, with most beginning as offshoots of Virginia Prince's organizations from the early 1960s.

In 1970 Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR) - later renamed Street Transgender Action Revolutionaries - was founded by two transgender women, Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, to provide shelter and clothing. Rivera later said, “STAR was for the street gay people, the street homeless people, and anybody that needed help at that time...Later we had a chapter in New York, one in Chicago, one in California and England. It lasted for two or three years."

In 1975 in the case of Darnell v. Lloyd, 395 F. Supp. 1210 (D. Conn. 1975), the court found that substantial state interest must be demonstrated to justify refusing to grant a change in sex recorded on a birth certificate.

In 1976 the first case in the United States which found that post-operative transsexuals could marry in their post-operative sex was decided. It was the New Jersey case M.T. v. J.T., 140 N.J. Super. 77, 355 A.2d 204, cert. denied 71 N.J. 345 (1976). Here the court expressly considered the English Corbett v. Corbett decision, but rejected its reasoning.

Also in 1976, the New Jersey Supreme Court rejected the appeal of a transgender plaintiff (Paula Grossman, formerly Paul) in a sex discrimination case involving termination from her teaching job after her sex reassignment surgery.

In 1977 in the case K. v. Health Division, 277 Or. 371, 560 P.2d 1070 (1977) the Oregon Supreme Court rejected an application for a change of name or sex on the birth certificate of a post-operative transsexual, on the grounds that there was no legislative authority for such a change to be made.

Also in 1977, Renee Richards, a transgender woman, was granted entry to the U.S. Open (in tennis) after a ruling in her favor by the New York Supreme Court. This was considered a landmark decision in favor of transgender rights.

In 1979, the first National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights was held, in Washington, D.C. on October 14th. It drew between 75,000 and 125,000 transgender people, lesbians, bisexual people, gay men, and straight allies to demand equal civil rights and urge the passage of protective civil rights legislation. The march was organized by Phyllis Frye (who in 2010 became Texas’s first openly transgender judge ) and three other activists. No transgender people spoke at the main rally.

In the 1984 case Ulane v. Eastern Airlines Inc. 742 F.2d 1081 (7th Cir. 1984) Karen Ulane, a pilot who was assigned male at birth, underwent sex reassignment surgery, but the Seventh Circuit denied her Title VII sex discrimination protection by narrowly interpreting "sex" discrimination as discrimination “against women," and denying Ulane's womanhood.

In the late 1980s the term "transgender" was coined as an umbrella term to refer to all gender non-conforming people.

In 1991 a transgender woman named Nancy Burkholder was removed from the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival when security guards realized she was transgender; every year since then, there has been a demonstration against the Festival's women-born-women only policy. This demonstration is known as Camp Trans.

Also in 1991, the first Southern Comfort Conference was held. The Southern Comfort Conference is a major transgender conference that takes place annually in Atlanta, Georgia, and is the largest, most famous, and pre-eminent such conference in the United States.

In 1993 Brandon Teena, a transgender man, was raped and murdered in Nebraska. In 1999, he became the subject of a biopic entitled Boys Don't Cry, starring Hilary Swank as Brandon Teena, for which Swank won an Academy Award.

In 1995 in Washington, D.C., Tyra Hunter, a transgender woman, died after being denied medical care by ER staff due to her gender identity. In 1998 her mother was awarded $2.8 million after the District of Columbia was found guilty of negligence and malpractice in Tyra's death. The Chicago area organization T.Y.R.A. (Transgender Youth Resources and Advocacy) was created in her memory.

In 1998 the Transgender Day of Remembrance was founded by Gwendolyn Ann Smith, an American transgender activist , to memorialize the murder of transgender woman Rita Hester which occurred in Massachusetts in 1998. The Transgender Day of Remembrance is held every year on November 20th and now memorializes all those murdered due to transphobic hate and prejudice.

Also in 1998, gender identity was added to the mission of Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays after a vote at their annual meeting in San Francisco. Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays is the first national LGBT organization to officially adopt a transgender-inclusion policy for its work.

In the 1999 case Littleton v. Prange, 9 SW3d 223 (1999), Christie Lee Littleton, a post-operative male-to-female transsexual, argued to the Texas 4th Court of Appeals that her marriage to her genetically male husband (deceased) was legally binding and hence she was entitled to his estate. The court decided that plaintiff's gender is equal to her chromosomes, which were XY (male). The court subsequently invalidated her revision to her birth certificate, as well as her Kentucky marriage license, ruling "We hold, as a matter of law, that Christie Littleton is a male. As a male, Christie cannot be married to another male. Her marriage to Jonathon was invalid, and she cannot bring a cause of action as his surviving spouse." Plaintiff appealed to SCOTUS but it denied her Writ of Certiorari on 2000-10-02.

Also in 1999, Monica Helms, a transgender woman, created the Transgender Pride flag. The flag was first shown at a pride parade in Phoenix, Arizona, in 2000. Jennifer Pellinen created an alternative design in 2002.

Also in 1999, the National Transgender Advocacy Coalition was founded by a group of experienced transgender lobbyists, who discovered after lobbying Congress in May 1999 that other organizations that were ostensibly supportive of rights for transgender people had been lobbying against the interests of the transgender community.

Also in 1999, computer scientist Lynn Conway (noted for the Mead & Conway revolution in VLSI design and the invention of generalized dynamic instruction handling), came out as transgender. Her transition was then more widely reported in 2000 in profiles in Scientific American and the Los Angeles Times, and she began a a well-known website providing emotional and medical resources and advice to transgender people. Parts of the website have been translated into most of the world's major languages.

Also in 1999, Calpernia Addams, a transgender woman, began dating PFC Barry Winchell. Word of the relationship spread at Winchell's Army base, where he was harassed by fellow soldiers and ultimately murdered. Winchell's murder and the subsequent trial resulted in widespread press and a formal review of the U.S. "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT) military policy, ordered by President Bill Clinton. The case became a prominent example used to illustrate the failure of Don't Ask, Don't Tell to protect LGBT service members. Addams' and Winchell's romance and the crimes of their abusers are depicted in the film Soldier's Girl, released in 2003.

In the 2001 case In re Estate of Gardiner (2001) , concerning the transgender woman J'Noel Gardiner, the Kansas Appellate Court concluded that "[A] trial court must consider and decide whether an individual was male or female at the time the individual's marriage license was issued and the individual was married, not simply what the individual's chromosomes were or were not at the moment of birth. The court may use chromosome makeup as one factor, but not the exclusive factor, in arriving at a decision. Aside from chromosomes, we adopt the criteria set forth by Professor Greenberg. On remand, the trial court is directed to consider factors in addition to chromosome makeup, including: gonadal sex, internal morphologic sex, external morphologic sex, hormonal sex, phenotypic sex, assigned sex and gender of rearing, and sexual identity." However, J'Noel Gardiner lost her case in the Kansas Supreme Court, which declared her marriage invalid.

Also in 2001, the Transgender Foundation of America was founded.

In 2002 transgender man Michael Kantaras made national news when he won primary custody of his children upon divorce; however, that case was reversed on appeal in 2004 by the Florida Supreme Court, upholding the claim that the marriage was null and void because Michael Kantaras was still a woman and same-sex marriages were illegal in Florida. The couple settled the case with joint custody in 2005.

Also in 2002, Gwen Araujo, a transgender woman, was murdered in California by four men after they discovered she was transgender; the case made international news and became a rallying cause for the transgender and ultimately the larger LGBT communities. The events of the case, including both criminal trials, were also portrayed in a television movie, A Girl Like Me: The Gwen Araujo Story.

Also in 2002, the Sylvia Rivera Law Project, named after the transgender activist Sylvia Rivera, was founded "to guarantee that all people are free to self-determine gender identity and expression, regardless of income or race, and without facing harassment, discrimination or violence."

Also in 2002, Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays established its Transgender Network, also known as TNET, as its first official "Special Affiliate," recognized with the same privileges and responsibilities as its regular chapters.

In 2003 the National Center for Transgender Equality was founded by transgender activists.

Also in 2003, the Transgender American Veterans Association (TAVA) was founded.

Also in 2003, Conservative Judaism's Committee on Jewish Law and Standards approved a rabbinic ruling on the status of transsexuals. The ruling concluded that individuals who have undergone full sexual reassignment surgery, and whose sexual reassignment has been recognized by civil authorities, are considered to have changed their sex status according to Jewish law. Furthermore, it concluded that sexual reassignment surgery is an acceptable treatment under Jewish law for individuals diagnosed with gender dysphoria.

In the 2004 case Smith v. City of Salem 378 F.3d 566, 568 (6th Cir. 2004), Smith, a male to female transsexual, filed Title VII claims of sex discrimination and retaliation, equal protection and due process claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, and state law claims of invasion of privacy and civil conspiracy. On appeal, the Price Waterhouse precedent was applied: “[i]t follows that employers who discriminate against men because they do wear dresses and makeup, or otherwise act femininely, are also engaging in sex discrimination, because the discrimination would not occur but for the victim’s sex.” This is considered a significant victory for transgender people. By reiterating that discrimination based on both sex and gender expression is forbidden under Title VII, the court steers transgender jurisprudence in a more expansive direction. But dress codes, which frequently have separate rules based solely on gender, continue.

Also in 2004, the first all-transgender performance of the Vagina Monologues was held. The monologues were read by eighteen notable transgender women, and a new monologue revolving around the experiences and struggles of transgender women was included.

In the 2005 case re Jose Mauricio LOVO-Lara, 23 I&N Dec. 746 (BIA 2005), the (Federal) US Dept. of Justice, Board of Immigration Appeals ruled that for purposes of an immigration visa: "A marriage between a postoperative transsexual and a person of the opposite sex may be the basis for benefits under ..., where the State in which the marriage occurred recognizes the change in sex of the postoperative transsexual and considers the marriage a valid heterosexual marriage."

From 2007 to 2008 actress Candis Cayne played Carmelita Rainer, a transgender woman having an affair with married New York Attorney General Patrick Darling (played by William Baldwin), on the ABC prime time drama Dirty Sexy Money. The role made Cayne the first openly transgender actress to play a recurring transgender character in prime time.

In 2007, Theresa Sparks was elected president of the San Francisco Police Commission by a single vote, making her the first transgender person ever to be elected president of any San Francisco commission, as well as San Francisco's highest ranking transgender official. In 2003 Theresa Sparks had been the first transgender woman ever named "Woman of the Year" by the California State Assembly.

In 2008 Thomas Beatie, an American transgender man, became pregnant, which made international news. He wrote an article about his experience of pregnancy in The Advocate. The Washington Post blogger Emil Steiner called Beatie the first "legally" pregnant man on record, in reference to certain states' and federal legal recognition of Beatie as a man. Beatie gave birth to a girl named Susan Juliette Beatie on June 29, 2008. In 2010, Guinness World Records recognized Beatie as the world's "First Married Man to Give Birth."

Also in 2008, Silverton, Oregon elected Stu Rasmussen as the first openly transgender mayor in America.

Also in 2008, the first ever Congressional hearing on discrimination against transgender people in the workplace was held, by the the House Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions.

Also in 2008, Cristan Williams donated her personal collection to the Transgender Foundation of America, where it became the first collection in the Transgender Archive.

Also in 2008, Angie Zapata, a transgender woman, was murdered in Greeley, Colorado. Allen Andrade was convicted of first-degree murder and committing a bias-motivated crime, because he killed her after he learned that she was transgender. This case was the first in the nation to get a conviction for a hate crime involving a transgender victim. Angie Zapata's story and murder were featured on Univision's "Aqui y Ahora" television show on November 1, 2009.

In 2009, due to the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act being signed into law, the definition of federal hate crime was expanded to include those violent crimes in which the victim is selected due to their actual or perceived gender or gender identity; previously federal hate crimes were defined as only those violent crimes where the victim is selected due to their race, color, religion, or national origin.

Also in 2009, Chaz Bono came out as transgender. GLAAD and the Empowering Spirits Foundation were quick to offer praise and support for the announcement. His legal transition was completed on May 8, 2010, when a California court granted his request for a gender and name change. He became a highly visible transgender celebrity, appearing on the 13th season of the US version of Dancing with the Stars in 2011. He also made Becoming Chaz, a documentary about his gender transition that premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network acquired the rights to the documentary and debuted it on May 10, 2011.

Also in 2009, Barbra “Babs” Siperstein was nominated and confirmed as an at-large member of the Democratic National Committee, becoming its first openly transgender member.

In 2010 the State Department amended its policy to allow permanent gender marker changes on passports to be made with the statement of a physician that "the applicant has had appropriate clinical treatment for gender transition to the new gender." . The previous policy required a statement from a surgeon that gender reassignment surgery was completed .

Also in 2010, Amanda Simpson became the first openly transgender presidential appointee in America when she was appointed as senior technical adviser in the Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security.

Also in 2010, Victoria Kolakowski became the first openly transgender judge in America.

Also in 2010, Kye Allums became the first openly transgender athlete to play in NCAA basketball. He was a transgender man who played on George Washington University's women's team.

Also in 2010, the Barack Obama administration inserted language into the federal jobs Web site explicitly banning employment discrimination for the jobs on that website (www.usajobs.gov) based on gender identity.

In 2011, the Social Security Administration (SSA) ended the practice of allowing gender to be matched in its Social Security Number Verification System (SSNVS). Therefore, the Social Security Administration no longer sends notifications that alert employers when the gender marker on an employee's W-2 does not match Social Security records.

Also in 2011, a new directive was issued from the Veterans Health Administration stipulating that all transgender and intersex veterans are entitled to the same level of care “without discrimination” as other veterans, consistent across all Veterans Administration healthcare facilities.

Also in 2011, Vandy Beth Glenn, a transgender woman, won her lawsuit against then-Legislative Counsel Sewell Brumby, who fired her in 2007 for deciding to transition genders on the job. A three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court’s ruling that Brumby, who retired in August 2011, wrongly fired her, and she got her job back.

In 2012 United States Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan announced new regulations that require all housing providers that receive United States Department of Housing and Urban Development funding to prevent housing discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. These regulations went into effect on March 5, 2012.

Also in 2012, in a very important ruling for transgender rights, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ruled that the federal discrimination law does protect employees based on gender identity, such that employers who discriminate against an employee or potential employee due to their gender identity are now in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission declared, "intentional discrimination against a transgender individual because that person is transgender is, by definition, discrimination ’based on ... sex’ and such discrimination ... violates Title VII." This ruling was for a discrimination complaint filed by the Transgender Law Center on behalf of transgender woman Mia Macy, who had been denied a job due to her gender identity.

Also in 2012, Beth Scott, a transgender woman from New Jersey, successfully appealed Aetna's decision not to cover her mammogram; Aetna eventually paid the cost of her mammogram and agreed to ensure that transgender people can access all necessary sex-specific care, such as prostate exams and gynecological care, regardless of whether they are categorized as male or female in insurance records.

Further Reading

• Christine Jorgensen: A Personal Autobiography, by Christine Jorgensen and Susan Stryker (2000)
• How Sex Changed: A History of Transsexuality in the United States, by Joanne J. Meyerowitz (2004)
• The Transgender Studies Reader, by Susan Stryker and Stephen Whittle (2006)
• Transgender History, by Susan Stryker (2008)
• Transgender Rights, by Paisley Currah, Richard M. Juang and Shannon Price Minter (2006)
• Transition: The Story of How I Became a Man, by Chaz Bono (2011)