It is interesting that it really wasn’t until after Stonewall - when the gay, lesbian and bisexual (GLB) and transgender (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 entered 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.
The Transgender Community Forum becomes a major hub of communication for America Online users, and eventually spawns a wealth of information and support websites. Gwen Smith, who later founds the Transgender Day of Remembrance, spearheads much of the TCF’s resources. The explosion of the Internet would ultimately spread awareness and access to information in ways like never before.
Notable descendents would include heartcorps.com (1997, originating earlier on AOL), drbecky.com (1998, originating earlier on Mindspring), tsroadmap.com (1999, originating in 1997 on AOL), transsexual.org (1999), annelawrence.com (1999, originating earlier on Mindspring - also notable for its controversial support of the theory of Autogynephilia), antijen.org (1999) and lynnconway.com (2000).
The 1995 deaths of transwomen Tyra Hunter in DC, and Chanelle Pickett in Boston, gradually bring to the spotlight several issues facing the African-American transgender community including race, justice, discrimination, and transphobia. They emphasize the point that the faces of transgender hate violence victims are increasingly people of color.
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.”
1997 - Milton Diamond and Dr. H. Keith Sigmundson publish a paper that exposes John Money’s claims of success in the “John/Joan” case.
Sigmundson is David Reimer’s (see 1956 and 1972 entries) 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.
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. Female-to-male (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 was 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 (female-to-male transgender person) enters professional kick-boxing - despite taking feminizing hormones - and becomes a legend. She would later go on to have GRS surgery, and her story is told in the subtitled movie, “Beautiful Boxer.”
1999 - Since the Michigan Womyn’s Festival (a noteworthy and popular lesbian community event) continues to exclude transwomen and refuses 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, through the time of writing.
The National Transgender Advocacy Coalition (NTAC) is formed as an advocacy organization across the US.
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. 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.
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.
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 TSroadmap 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. Beyer did so against the odds, having come from a background of sex work, then transitioning and rising to public office.
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 UK 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).
The Transgender Pride flag is designed by Monica Helms, and is first shown the following year at a pride parade in Phoenix, Arizona, USA.
2000 - 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 US Congress, introduces the first known transgender-inclusive resolution proposed on a national stage in the US. It does not pass, but paves the way for later attempts.
Jane Fee becomes the first openly transgender person to attend any political party’s national convention (the Democratic National Convention in LA).
2001 - Erin Lindsey begins producing Venus Envy, a popular ongoing webcomic strip focusing on the life of Zoe 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 partygoers, 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 transsexuals 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. Despite this resolution and a promise to eliminate gender testing, gender testing continues to this day, and the participation of a transsexual in the Olympic Games uncontested has not yet been tested.
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 as a surgical alternative for female-to-male transsexuals.
2003 - Calpernia Addams and Andrea James found Deep Stealth Productions. Deep Stealth produces video work providing advice on voice therapy and makeup / presentation, and supplements the TS Roadmap spectrum of MTF online written advice.
J. Michael Bailey publishes “The Man Who Would Be Queen: The Science of Gender Bending and Transsexualism,” a horribly-researched text that heavily sexualizes transsexuals and popularizes Ray Blanchard’s theory of Autogynephilia, while dividing transsexuals according to sexual orientation. Bailey would later be reduced in status at his position at Northwestern University amidst allegations of not having disclosed to some of his interviewees that they were being recorded (one of whom also alleged that Bailey had slept with her), though the University denied that the allegations had anything to do with the demotion.
Northwestern University and Toronto’s Clarke Institute of Psychiatry (later the Centre for Addictions and Mental Health) would become inextricably linked by the associations and cliquish affirmations between Blanchard, Bailey, Kenneth Zucker, Anne Lawrence, Alice Dreger and others whose work sexualizes and stigmatizes transsexual, transgender and sometimes intersex people.
Mara Keisling starts the National Center for Transgender Equality.
The significant “Re Kevin” set of legal decisions comes down in Australia. They are cited in many cases internationally with regards to identification and access issues, stating that “There should be no escape for medical and legal authorities that these definitions (of man and woman) ought to be corrected and updated when new information becomes available, particularly when our outdated definitions bring suffering to some of our fellow human beings”.
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 US 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 not frequently enforced.
2004 - The Gender Recognition Act of 2004 is passed in the UK, 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. Palmer had been born intersex and assigned male gender at birth.
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 DES. 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, the female-to-male 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. As a consequence, Lana remains out of the public spotlight and a bit of an enigma.
The State of Wisconsin passes the “Inmate Sex Change Prevention Act” to deliberately ensure that the state would not be responsible for the costs of GRS, also having the effect of completely stalling transition for transsexual inmates.
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, 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”).
Next month: Part 6B - Toward the Future (2007 - 2009)
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


Mercedes Allen is a writer who blogs at http://dentedbluemercedes.wordpress.com/, has been featured on bilerico.com, PageOneQ and others, and has also developed the website at AlbertaTrans.org as a resource for transgender information and support.