Transgender in America: the History, Culture & Politics

Transgender in America: The History, Culture & Politics

Graduate School of Education & Counseling As transgender people growing up in America, we are expected to accept the following as basic common knowledge and irrefutable fact:

1) There are only 2 sexes – Male or Female 2) Boys are invariably masculine / Girls invariably feminine 3) Nature (or in some cases, “God”) made these rules 4) People who deviate from these rules are defective 5) People who deviate from these rules are sinful 6) People who deviate from these “irrefutable facts” must seek external authentication and verification of their deviation

1-5 Are ABSOLUTE falsehoods. HOW DID WE GET HERE? Gender Diversity: The Original People

Native American societies acknowledged three to five gender roles: • Female • Male • Two Spirit Female • Two Spirit Male • The equivalent of transgender Of all the social structures Indians held, one of the first Europeans targeted for elimination was the “Two Spirit” tradition.

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“When Christopher Columbus and his crew encountered Two Spirit people, he and his crew threw them into pits with their war dogs, and they were torn limb from limb.”

Historical Anecdote

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In 1530, the Spanish explorer Cabeza de Vaca wrote in his diary of seeing “soft” Native Indian males in Florida tribes dressing and working as women.

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• Gender variance was not tolerated

• Europeans and eventually Euro-Americans demanded all people conform to binary gender roles

• Sexual oppression of First Nations people went hand-in-hand with racial oppression

• Spanish Catholic monks destroyed most of the Aztec codices to eradicate traditional Native beliefs and history, including those that told of the Two Spirit tradition. Equity Education by

Jesuit and French explorers told stories of Native American men who had “Given to sin” and “Hunting Women”… the British returned to England with similar accounts.

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“This is one of the most unaccountable and disgusting customs, that I have ever met in the Indian country, and so far as I have been able to learn, belongs only to the Sioux and Sacs and Foxes— perhaps it is practiced by other tribes, but I did not meet with it… and where I should wish that it might be extinguished before it be more fully recorded.”

George Catlin 19th Century Painter, Author & “Historian”

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“In my culture we have people who dress half-man, half-woman. Winkte, we call them in our language.

If you are Winkte, that is an honorable term and you are a special human being among my nation and all Plains people, we consider you a teacher of our children and are proud of what and who you are.”

Russell Means Co-Founder-American Indian Movement

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How might this impact current “traditional” attitudes toward binary gender norms… if it were taught as part of American History in K-12 schools?

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The Kinsey Report “Sexual Behavior in the Human Male” was published in 1948 – having a significant impact on what came to be known as the “sexual revolution” in the United States. Alfred Kinsey Harry Benjamin Publication of the Kinsey Report meant that for the first time frank, public discussions about sex were no longer the sole domain of the church or psychoanalysts.

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© 2017 TransActive Gender Center 1952: Christine Jorgensen This Is Progress? Christine Jorgensen makes gender self-concept a societal talking point 1952-? 1952 Sodomy & cross-dressing Does gender expression is illegal in most states predict homosexuality? 1948 1789-1980’s People of color were The Kinsey Report excluded in research & mainstream news 1492-1890 Tracy Norman Equity Education by Impose binary gender roles & eradicate Two Spirit people & history © 2017 TransActive Gender Center 1966-1976: Visibility & WE have a name Narrative WE are not intersex From the New York Times article: WE must detest all aspects “The men and women who seek sex change of our biological sex, AND surgery are called transsexuals. They are have felt that way since almost always physically normal, but they have early childhood a total aversion to their biological sex that WE must be “passable” dates from early childhood…” over all other considerations “True Transsexuals” want surgery…everyone else is Johns Hopkins only treated patients who: • Were living as their target gender either a: • No history of mental illness • hetero cross-dresser, or • Best fit gender stereotypes; • homo drag queen o Petite trans women over tall, muscular ones Equity Education by o Tall, butch trans men over short, passive ones

© 2017 TransActive Gender Center 1976-1980: Gay Liberation, Renee Richards & The Religious Right The removal of homosexuality from the DSM II sparked an increase in demand for equal civil and employment rights.

Renee Richards brings trans equality into the spotlight by seeking to compete in professional women’s tennis. Conservative Christians Anita Bryant and Rev. Jerry Falwell launch “The Moral Majority” to specifically oppose the expansion of gay rights and Roe v. Wade.

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Trans surgery is offered in many parts of the USA • Most often not covered by insurance Trans rights expanding in metropolitan areas Affirming approach & pubertal suppression for transgender youth (in Netherlands) International Conference on Transgender Law and Employment (1992) Minnesota extends protection against discrimination to transgender people (1993) Brandon Teena is murdered in Nebraska(1993) Riki Anne Wilkins forms GenderPAC in Washington, D.C. (1995) Equity Education by Rita Hester is murdered in Boston (1998)

Gwen Smith starts “The Gazebo” chat room on AOL (1994) • Within two years it has more than 20,000 unique visitors per month

Gwen Smith organizes the first Transgender Day of Remembrance to honor the memory of Rita Hester, and bring attention to violence against transgender people (Nov. 20, 1999) Equity Education by