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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”....
View ArticleHarry Benjamin Bibliography
There has never been a comprehensive bibliography of writings by Harry Benjamin. I did a partial in previous writings, and found partial bibliographies in Bullough, Legg et al., and Wikipedia, Richard...
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Rod Fleming (1956 - ) writer, photographer, lover of trans women
Rod Fleming, raised in Scotland, cis, attended Edinburgh School of Art in the 1980s – where he first met some trans women – and became a journalist and photographer. He married a woman; they had four...
View ArticleAmandus Balitzki (1890 - ?) postal clerk
Balitzki was born in the then German city of Stettin, the illegitimate, later legitimate, child of a railway man and a nurse. Although raised as a girl, Balitzki had no interest in dolls or cooking,...
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A.C. (1920 - ?) day laborer
A.C. (a name assigned by the psychologist) was the ninth of 12 children. The father, who was mean and beat all the children, ran a cotton gin and store in Arkansas. A.C. was assigned female, but even...
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A US visitor present at the burning of Hirschfeld's library
A US visitor present at the burning of Hirschfeld's library, asks what is happening:"Ach! we are burning all the books of the Jews!" the woman told him enthusiastically."! see. But it seems too bad...
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Magnus Hirschfeld’s Die Transvestiten – some observations
Part 1: 3 misconceptionsPart 2: 2 more misconceptionsHirschfeld’s other BooksMisconception #1: the claim that DieTransvestiten is Hirschfeld’s definitive work on trans topics.The Bulloughs, Cross...
View ArticleMagnus Hirschfeld’s Die Transvestiten – some more observations
Part 1: 3 misconceptionsPart 2: 2 more misconceptionsHirschfeld as trans.Misconception #4: the assumption that Hirschfeld was himself a transvestite.The first such claim seems to be Vern Bullough’s...
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Erwin K Koranyi (1924-2012) psychiatrist at Ottawa's 1970-1980s gender clinic
Koranyi was born and raised in Budapest. During the Holocaust Koranyi was compelled into slave labour, and his wife had been arrested and was in a holding camp before transit to Auschwitz, when they –...
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15 other persons worthy of more attention
Buzz feed a few days ago ran a list of 19 trans persons who had achieved something in life. I have two problems with it.It is a list of the usual suspects. Why are such lists almost always aimed at...
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