Food for Thought: Queer Design Examples (Adrian A) Chapters 4-5 of Eaklor's Queer America

 

The Inclusion/Education of Trans Folks within GLBT efforts and the erasure of trans activism 

    I found it interesting that the first explicit mention of trans folks within this book was Chapter 4. I think it is safe to say that while the persecution and discrimination against gay and lesbian people was very much alive and in practice, it was also present and very much alive in a different way for trans folk. We saw how performers in prohibition and underground bars and spaces would participate in "cross dressing", and how over time this evolved into vaudeville acts and other forms of entertainment within not only queer society, but straight society as well. There was limited education on transgender folks for people from the 20's and on. There were things such as the CBS documentary on homosexuals, but there was not an equal attempt at this for the time period that I know of. I would be very interested in seeing anything of this time period being published for trans folks,  as I was very interested to read the excerpts on trans folks and education about trans folks during these two chapters. 

    Reading about Harry Benjamin and his studies was very interesting to me, as it extends off of my other post regarding sexual studies and research. Benjamin being German is very important to his work within the United States. Berlin was home to an early homosexual emancipation movement, and this definitely supplemented his work within the United States regarding GLBT people. Sexual freedom was something that Benjamin advocated for, as well as the decriminalization of homosexuality. Along with this, Benjamin was one of the earliest leading experts on transsexuality. What was most interesting to me, was that he explicitly distinguished trans people from the practice of cross dressing. Straight people associated trans people with cross dressing if they associated them with anything. To understand that being a trans person was more than physically presenting as another gender identity was revolutionary in educating the straight and cis masses of American people. Benjamin advocated for sex change operations and the usage of hormone therapy in regards to trans individuals. Benjamin's work such as his book, The Transsexual Phenomenon (1966), influenced the creation of centers that would serve trans individuals such as the Johns Hopkins Gender Identity Clinic. The Benjamin Gender Identity Research Foundation accounts for all of Benjamin's work, and without it, trans individuals would not have had the manner of exposure that they had within mainstream society. Similarly to how the straight public needed to be educated on homosexuality, they needed to be educated on transgenderism as well in order for any straight societal designs to be challenged. With this research, transgenderism was not an illness anymore, and trans people could receive gender affirming care or something adjacent to it. These centers would not be seen as "curing" or "treating" an illness, but aiding an individual in living a life that was true to themselves. Through this, and accounts of real trans people being shared to the public, a public idea of trans people was able to be born. Christine Jorgensen was one of the first accounts of a male to female sex change within American culture. Jorgensen had to have this operation done in Denmark, but for people in 1953, this was something that straight cis people could not wrap their heads around or believe. This woman's story helped queer people challenge what straight cis people understood as the societal design and norms of gender. 

    There was a lack of educational information regarding trans individuals, but there was also an erasure of their activism as well. The activism of trans folks was crucial in redefining the societal design of gender and identity, as well as sexuality. At the end of 1962, Jose Sarria, a drag queen, had organized the League for Civil Education and ran for city supervisor in San Francisco. Efforts of trans individuals, or drag queens were largely overlooked by the public, and the Stonewall riots were recognized as a watershed movement unlike any before it. However, this was not true as efforts to fight against police harassment were alive and well before Stonewall occurred. The riot at Compton's Cafeteria during August of 1966 is a great example of activism executed by drag queens and trans individuals that went largely overlooked. The patrons fought against the police who raided the space, and it is considered to be a turning point in transgender activism. 

    Trans individuals constantly fought to be seen and heard as adequately as gay men or lesbians. Their activist efforts are the reason that Stonewall was able to occur. It was an event that was one of a kind for sure, but its energy was present within many trans activist events that came before it. Without these events and the educational information about trans people, it is hard to say that societal designs and understandings of gender would be able to exist as they do now.