Legendary Transgender Icons

A collection of influential trans* activists, scholars, athletes, politicians, writers, tradition keepers, and community organizers. Explore their stories to learn more about the powerful historical and contemporary figures that makes our work at the TransLab possible.

Marsha P. Johnson 
and Sylvia Rivera

“No pride for some of us without liberation for all of us.”
Marsha P. Johnson (she/her, on right) and Slyvia Rivera (she/her, on left) were American gay liberation activists of colour. Both were impactful figures of the 1969 Stonewall Riots, known for being on the front lines and for their passion in the gay rights movement. Johnson and Rivera’s efforts towards social justice continued through their founding of the Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR), an organization which focused on housing transgender youth. Rivera also advocated for the acknowledgement of trans people in the gay liberation movement, specifically addressing the Gay Activist Alliance’s rejection of the transgender community’s role. Both Johnson and Rivera continued their mission of fighting for the rights of the transgender community and for people of colour throughout their lives. Several monuments have been created in honour of Johnson’s and Rivera’s advocacy towards the rights of people of colour and transgender community.

Lou Sullivan

“You told me I couldn’t live as a gay man, but now I am going to die as one.”
Louis Sullivan (he/him) was an American author and trans rights activist who emphasized the differentiation between sexual orientation and gender identity. Lou identified as a ‘female-to-male transsexual’ and was denied gender affirming surgery due to the societal expectation that transgender people should adapt to heterosexuality after transitioning and the belief that gay trans men cannot exist. In 1986, Lou was finally granted genital reconstruction surgery, however, was diagnosed with AIDs shortly after and given 10 months to live. He ended up disproving this timeline, as he continued to live with AIDS for the remaining 5 years of his life. Much of his activism surrounded advocating for the recognition of gay trans men. Lou founded FTM International and participated in significant community work surrounding the FTM trans community. Lou created many profound written works throughout his life, including We Both Laughed In Pleasure and From Female To Male.

Susan Stryker

“I’d say being trans is a great BS detector.”
Dr. Susan Stryker (she/her) is an American professor whose research focuses on gender and human sexuality. As a lesbian transwoman, Stryker is known as a prominent scholar investigating transgender history whose work has significantly contributed to the field. Susan has been employed as a visiting professor at several universities, and currently is a professor of Gender and Women’s Studies at the University of Arizona. She also founded the Transgender Studies Initiative at the University of Arizona, where she placed an emphasis on hiring people of colour. Stryker has published numerous books, including Gay by the Bay: A History of Queer Culture in the San Francisco Bay Area and Transgender Studies, the latter she won a Lambda Literary Award for. Stryker also has directed multiple documentaries focusing on the transgender community, with her most recent film being Christine in the Cutting Room.

Parinya Charoenphol

“I don’t think about gender. I think about winning.”

Parinya Charoenphol (she/her), also known by their colloquial stage name Nong Toom/Tum, is a Thai boxing champion. Parinya is kathoey; a gender identity specific to Taiwanese culture comparable to gender nonconforming or transwoman in Western culture, but unique. Despite kathoeys being discouraged to participate in sports at the time, Parinya’s participation reinvigorated interest in the sport, and the government permitted her to compete. Parinya excelled in the sport and competed in the men’s boxing division across Asia to fund her gender affirming surgery. Retiring from the sport in 1999, Parinya returned in 2006 to fight in the women’s league after her surgery. Several books and movies have been created documenting her compelling story, including Beautiful Boxer and Hidden Genders.

Leslie Feinberg

“Remember me as a revolutionary communist.”
Leslie Feinberg (zie/she) was a transgender American butch lesbian. Feinberg self-described hirself as an anti-racist white, working-class, secular Jewish, transgender, lesbian, female, revolutionary communist. Regarding gender identity, Leslie mentioned that she was never in search of a common umbrella identity to be known by, however, zie did prefer the pronouns she/zie and her/hir interchangeably. Feinberg is known as the first theorist to address the concept of transgender liberation, pioneering the terminology for gender studies through her novels Stone Butch Blues and Transgender Warriors. Hir works are considered groundbreaking writings of the complexities of gender. Additionally, Feinberg was a member of the Workers World Party and participated in several impactful campaigns for marginalized groups throughout hir life, including the 1974 March Again Racism in Boston and a national tour in 1983-84 addressing the lack of acknowledgement of the AIDS epidemic in the United States.

Osh-Tisch and her spouse

Esteemed Badé of the Crow Nation.
Osh-Tisch (she/her) was a keeper of the badé tradition in the Crow Nation. A badé person is someone born into a body that Europeans would label male, who lived their life accepted and participating in women’s social and ceremonial roles in Crow culture. Her name means “Finds Them and Kills Them” and was bestowed upon her after valiantly fighting in the Battle of the Rosebud in 1876. As missionaries attempted to force Native Americans to assimilate to European concepts of gender and sexuality, Crow members who did not assume these gender or sexual orientation norms were imprisoned, murdered, and penalized. Osh-Tisch was imprisoned along with other badés due to her gender and forced present masculinely, however, Crow Chiefs expressed their severe discomfort against the United States federal agents, eventually allowing her to be freed. Although Osh-Tisch has been known as one of the “last badés” of the Crow Nation, many Indigenous people are reviving this identity and traditions through contemporary Two-Spirit communities.

Rupert Raj

A founder of Canada’s earliest transgender advocacy organizations.
Rupert Raj (he/him) is a Canadian trans activist and transman. Raj is known for creating Foundation for the Advancement of Canadian Transsexuals (FACT) in 1978, an organization supporting the needs of transgender Canadians. In 1981, Rupert specifically focused on the needs of transmen in Canada, resulting in the development of the Metamorphosis Medical Research Foundation (MMRF). Raj also started the organization Gender Worker and published numerous newsletters which contained information for professional and resource providers working with the trans community in Canada. Rupert is also known for numerous trans-focused research papers and presentations which help inform Canada’s understanding of transgender identities to this day. Raj’s achievements are preserved in the National Portrait Collection of the ArQuives; an online archive preserving Canadian LGBTQ+ history.

Jamie Lee Hamilton

“They’re going to lock me up, but I’m not budging.”
Jamie Lee Hamilton (she/her) was a trans, Two-Spirit Indigenous Canadian activist, writer and politician. Her mother was from the Rocky Boy First Nation of Montana. She was the first transgender person to run for a political office in Canada in 1996 and advocated against criminalization of sex work in Canada. Jamie was also a strong advocate for missing and murdered Indigenous women in Canada, notably placing 67 pairs of high-heeled shoes in front of Vancouver’s City Hall in the 1990s to protest the lack of response from police. She also spoke out against the isolation of transgender patients with AIDS at Normandy Hospital and advocated against legislation which would have required people with AIDS to quarantine. Jamie also helped operate multiple trans and kink communities in Vancouver, such as Rainbow’s End, Queen’s Cross, and Forbidden City.

Miss Major Griffin-Gracy

“I’m still fucking here!”
Miss Major (she/her) is an American author and activist who has fiercely advocated for the rights of transgender people of colour. She participated in the Stonewall Riots in 1969 and is known as a prominent figure in the Riots. Miss Major also contributed to numerous HIV/AIDS organizations throughout the 1980s. She continued her activism into the 2000s by assuming the role of executive director of the Transgender Gender Variant Intersex Justice Project, an organization which advocates for trans women of colour in and outside of the prison system. Griffin-Gracy is also affectionately known as “Mama Major” due to the support she has provided for many young members of the LGBTQ+ community over her 50 years of activism. Miss Major’s life story has been preserved in her memoir Miss Major Speaks: Conversations with a Black Trans Revolutionary. She continues to advocate for transgender women of colour who have experienced incarceration.