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Lorraine Channing (1923 - ?) magazine illustrator
Lorraine was a magazine illustrator. When Turnabout: a Magazine of Tranvestism was founded in June 1963, she was the Art Editor, working with Siobhan Fredericks and D.Rhodes/Darrell Raynor. For the...
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Pierre Vacher (1892-1990) doctor and sexologist
Vachet was raised in Givry, Saône-et-Loire, and qualified as Docteur en médecine, Paris, 1915. He later became the Director of the École de psychologie and editor of La Revue de psychologie...
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Annette/Sheldon (1931-1971) businessman, engineer
Sheldon was raised in Idaho, grew to 6’2’’ (1.88m) and served in the military as a Marine sergeant. Sheldon had been cross-dressing since early childhood, with an initial emphasis on shoes. He married...
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Ajita Wilson (1950 – 1987) prolific actress
Original March 2007.Wilson was born and raised in Brooklyn.After a start as a transvestite entertainer in New York in the last remaining burlesque spectacles of the time, Wolson also posed for some...
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Phil Black (1903 - 1975) female impersonator, ball organizer.
Original version December 2008.Pittsburgh’s Hill District had been settled in the 1820s when those who could afford it moved out from Pittsburgh’s industrial core. It became the city’s primary...
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David Petillo (1908 – 1983) hitman, mafioso
Original Version March 2010.Antonio Petillo from Pollico, Salerno south of Naples, emigrated to New York in 1885, and married Michelina, also an Italian immigrant, the next year. They had seven...
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Frank Blunt (1865 - ?) pioneer trans man, gigolo
Original version October 2011.Initially from Halifax, Nova Scotia, Blunt had been raised as a girl named Annie Morris. The father was abusive and at age 13, Morris ran away. Morris was accepted by a...
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Three books – expected but never arrived
All writers have plans that do not pan out, but readers, who enjoyed/appreciated the early book, do have a pang of regret that the promised second volume has never appeared – not even after a...
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The authors of April Ashley’s autobiographies
There are now three book-length (auto)biographies of April Ashley – Odyssey, The First Lady and Inside Out - and two major newspaper versions written by interviewing April (The News of the World. 6 May...
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Shelley Ball (1953–) sex worker, inmate.
Original: May 2011. William Ross Ball was raised, one of four children in Chilliwack, British Columbia. Their alcoholic father killed himself when the child was eight, followed by the mother having a...
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Dorchen Richter/Dora Richterov (1892 - 1966) waiter, cook, maid.
Original July 2008. Revised to include information from Rainer Herrn, Raimund Wolfert and Clara at Lili-Elbe-Bibliothek in particular.- - - - - - - - - -Rudolph Richter, the second of six children of...
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A review of Alison Li’s biography of Harry Benjamin
Alison Li. Wondrous Transformations:A Maverick Physician, the Science of Hormones, and the Birth of the Transgender Revolution. University of North Carolina Press, 2023.There are four biographies of...
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Louise Michel (1830-1905) teacher, anarchist, Communard
Louise was the illegitimate daughter of Marianne Michel, a domestic servant in Vroncourt-la-Côte, Haute-Marne. Marianne was seduced and then abandoned by Laurent Demahis, the scion of the estate, who...
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Phillips vs Brown, 1979 - a trans patient sues
Phillips, who then had a different name, grew up in Pennsylvania, where he was raped by his father and others, and placed in foster homes from age 13.After moving to California, she met John Phillips,...
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Vardaman (1877 - 1945) female impersonator
Mansel Vardaman Boyle was born and raised in Santa Cruz, California. As a boy soprano, Boyle had been in demand for school entertainments. He played light juvenile parts with the Alcazar Theater...
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Anton Hermann (1846-1905) artist
Hermann was born in Vienna and raised as Hermine Gartner. The father was a government councillor, and the elder brother was Theodor Gartner who became a noted linguist and philologist specializing in...
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Books on Gender Variance in 2024 - Part 1: (auto) biographies
Trans AutoBiographyLakshmi Ajoy. From 'Ka' To 'Ki'- Biography Of A Transgender Woman:: A 'Trans'formation Through Strength And Resilience. Kindle, 2024.James Bennett. Spilling the T: Gender...
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Books on Gender Variance in 2024 - Part 2: histories and other
MediaRiki Wilchins. Bad Ink: How The New York Times Sold Out Transgender Teens. Riverdale Avenue Books, 2024.ReligiousRoyal Cravens. Yes Gawd!: How Faith Shapes LGBT Identity and Politics in the...
View ArticleBooks on Gender Variance in 2024 - Part 3: ruminations
There are a lot of self-published guide books this year. This is of course not new. The classic guide books by Virginia Prince, Yvonne Sinclaire and Michael Salem were in effect self-published in...
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Jacqueline Galiaci (1933 - 1992) performer. dog breeder, Burou patient
Original version May 2013Galiaci grew up São Paulo state, in the village of Bocaina which at that time had only 10 streets. Father was a cattle drover. At age seven Galiaci attempted suicide after...
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Jela Hicks (1937 - 1989) cartoonist, housewife
Original version August 2010Čháŋ Óhaŋ (c1840-1877) a Lakota Sioux, was given his father’s name of Tȟašúŋke Witkó on reaching maturity. He became a resistance fighter and war chief defending his...
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Harry Benjamin and the Fortean Society
ForteansCharles Fort (1874-1932) was a writer and researcher who specialized in anomalous phenomena, such as fish falling from the sky, unknown animal species, spontaneous human combustion, levitation...
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Claire Elgin (1905 - 1976) – the first trans woman millionaire - Part I:...
Part I: beginnings Part II: business woman Part III: bibliography and commentsClair(e) Elgin was this woman’s real name, however Joanne Meyerowitz calls her Caren Ecker; Annette Timm calls her Carla...
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Claire Elgin (1905 - 1976) – Part II: business woman
Part I: beginningsPart II: business womanPart III: bibliography and commentsIn 1962 Claire encountered Yugoslavian immigrant Franz Kolterer who founded Micro Science Associates, a precision etching...
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Claire Elgin - Part III: bibliography and comments
Part I: beginningsPart II: business womanPart III: bibliography and comments 1953:“Fails to be New Christine”. The Times (San Mateo). Aug 15, 1953. “Sex Operation Fails; Wanted To Be Like Christine”....
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