[News] [USA] A Look at African-American Trans Trailblazers
Stephanie Stevens
01 March 2012
A Look at African-American Trans Trailblazers
Living honestly is sometimes quite an accomplishment. Check out these
pioneers who dared to be authentic
by Monica Roberts
Though February has passed, there is never a bad time to get
reacquainted with African American history makers- the events that
shaped our lives, our heroes and “sheroes.” Over the last few years
we've been paying closer attention to the accomplishments of Black gay
and lesbian people such as Bayard Rustin. But there is another group
of African Americans who have shaped our people's history: transgender
people.
Transgender African Americans have been active contributors to
history, even though they have often been overlooked. Their presence
and contributions are not a recent development, but can be traced back
through the centuries. Consider the story of Lucy Hicks Anderson
<http://www.blackpast.org/?q=aaw/anderson-lucy-hicks-1886-1954> , who
was born in 1886 in Waddy, KY. She made it quite clear that she was a
girl and insisted on wearing dresses to school. The term
“transgender” didn't exist at that time, but the doctor who examined
her advised Lucy's mother to raise her as a girl.
As an adult, Lucy eventually got married and divorced twice while en
route to Ventura, CA via Pecos, TX. Her second marriage-to soldier
Reuben Anderson in 1944-introduced legal complications that led the
Ventura County district attorney to prosecute her for perjury after it
was discovered that she was born biologically male. He asserted that
Anderson committed perjury when she signed the marriage license
application and swore that there were 'no legal objections' to the
marriage. Lucy expressed her conviction in her gender identity to
reporters during the trial. "I defy any doctor in the world to prove
that I am not a woman,” Anderson said. “I have lived, dressed, acted
just what I am, a woman.” The jury convicted her of the perjury
charge, but the judge sentenced her to ten years’ probation rather
than send her to prison.
In 1953, while much of America focused on the story of Christine
Jorgensen <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christine_Jorgensen> (a White
woman who was the first person widely known to have undergone sex
reassignment surgery) JET Magazine readers learned about Carlett
Brown's <http://www.racialicious.com/2009/07/15/the-story-of-carlett-brown/>
attempt to become the "First Negro Sex Change." Transgender African
Americans actively participated in the Civil Rights Movement of the
1960s, incorporating tactics from those efforts into their own work
toward liberation. The gender non-conforming African American youth in
Philadelphia, PA who kick-started the Dewey's Lunch Counter Sit In and
Protest in April and May of 1965 were a prime example of such
involvement. It was the first protest specifically organized around
and concerning trans issues, and preceded both the 1966 Compton's
Cafeteria Riots
<http://transgriot.blogspot.com/2009/03/screaming-queens-riot-at-comptons.html>
and the better known 1969 Stonewall Riots
<http://www.glaad.org/2011/06/28/42-years-later-lgbt-americans-remember-the-impact-of-the-stonewall-riots-more-than-ever>
in which African American transgender advocates such as Miss Major
and Marsha P. Johnson (pictured) were involved.
In 1967, civil rights and transgender advocate Lady Java stood up
against discrimination and struck the blows that eventually brought
down the odious codes used by the LAPD to harass her and other LGBT
people in Los Angeles. Meanwhile, the Johns Hopkins Gender Program in
Baltimore opened its doors and welcomed one of its first patients, an
African-American transwoman named Avon Wilson. In the 70s, 80s and
90s, Black transpeople played key roles in the emerging trans advocacy
movement. A. Dionne Stallworth helped organize and sign the
incorporation papers of GenderPac. The late Alexander John Goodrum was
not only a founder of TGNet Arizona, but sat on the City of Tucson's
LGBT commission. Lorrainne Sade Baskerville became an award winning
leader in Chicago, a role which was eventually picked up by the late
Lois Bates.
Dawn Wilson and I were part of a team that founded the National
Transgender Advocacy Coalition (NTAC) in 1999, a multicultural trans
advocacy organization. Zion Johnson became the first African-American
chair of FTMInternational, while Trans People of Color Coalition
(TPOCC) founder Kylar Broadus became the board chair of the National
Black Justice Coalition. We also can't forget the people like Justina
Williams, Patricia Underwood, KK Logan, Diamond Stylz, Patti Shaw,
Diana Taylor, and countless others who stood up for their human rights
when they were trampled on by others. They have advanced the movement
toward equality for transgender people.
On a sadder note, we can never forget our fallen transpeople. Rita
Hester's 1998 murder was the impetus to organize the now worldwide
memorial service we call the Transgender Day of Remembrance. And yes,
Black transpeople were (and still are) making breakthroughs inside and
outside the LGBT community. Currently four of us, Dawn Wilson (2000)
Dr. Marisa Richmond (2002), myself (2006) and Rev. Earline Budd (2010)
have won the IFGE Trinity Award
<http://transgriot.blogspot.com/2010/08/ifge-trinity-award-winners-list.html>
, the trans community's highest award for outstanding service in
advocacy. We IFGE Trinity winners, along with countless other heroes
and sheroes organizing locally, continue to serve the trans community
in various ways and make trans history in the process.
The breakthroughs continue. Kye Allums last year became the first
openly trans NCAA Division One athlete. Tona Brown became the first
transperson of any ethnicity to perform for a sitting U.S. president.
Isis King, Laverne Cox and Janet Mock continue to shine in various
fields. Jordana LeSesne, Foxxjazzell, Alyras DeCygne and Katey Red
join Tona Brown as trailblazers in various music genres. As for the
future, we can hope to see even more Black trans history be made in
the second decade of the 21st century and beyond.
--
Monica Roberts, aka the TransGriot <http://twitter.com/transgriot> ,
is a native Houstonian and a trailblazing trans community leader who
transitioned in 1994. She’s a writer, award winning blogger, history
buff, thinker, lecturer and advocate on trans human rights issues who
works diligently at encouraging acceptance of and promoting awareness
about trans people.
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